Here are a few home maintenance tasks that can keep your house drama free. HomeLight even provides a transferable Google calendar<\/a> and reviews of various maintenance apps<\/a> to keep you accountable! When you\u2019re ready to sell your home, you\u2019ll mitigate bigger problems, manage buyer doubts, and have a better grasp on your home inspection.<\/p>\n You bathe in it. You drink eight cups of it a day (or at least you\u2019re supposed to). You water your beautiful garden with it. Yet it can be the most destructive force in your home. The Insurance Information Institute reports nearly 30% of homeowner insurance losses<\/a> come from water damage.<\/p>\n Prevalent in the Midwest and Northeast, basements are particularly susceptible to water damage\u2014thanks to gravity\u2014but water damage isn\u2019t a risk just for those with rooms below ground. Pipes freeze (and burst), storm damage causes loose shingles and leaky roofs, and water heaters don\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n Renee Christman<\/a>, a top-selling real estate agent in Madison, Wisconsin<\/a>, says stopping unwanted water from entering the house is the single-most important preventive home maintenance task you can do.<\/p>\n A tiny leak from your backyard into your home can at best, ruin your carpet; worst case, cause rot, mold, structural damage, and of course, if it\u2019s aggressive enough, extensive flooding, and maybe even fire if you have gas or electric appliances.<\/p>\n Fixr, a site estimating repair costs<\/a> says, \u201ca basement that is full of standing water or water more than an inch deep covering the entirety of the room will cost around $4,000 to clean up.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t have a basement? It\u2019s bad for you, too. When water runs toward your home, siding, clapboard or even brick can rot from the outside in.<\/p>\n This will cost a ladder, a bucket and a Sunday afternoon, seriously. You can DIY much of this maintenance. If you physically can\u2019t, hire a teenager (or a handyman) in your neighborhood for a few hours to walk your yard, clear the gutters and climb up on the roof.<\/p>\n If you must pay to regrade your yard<\/a>, you\u2019ll pay somewhere between $976 and $2,933, according to HomeAdvisor, which is nothing compared to the $7,500<\/a>+ you might spend to repair drywall and carpeting in the event of water damage (and if you have damage, you\u2019ll have to regrade the yard anyway otherwise it\u2019ll just happen again).<\/p>\n Install a French drain<\/a> around your house. These are a lot like underground gutters. In addition, be sure your gutters have downspouts, providing a place (besides toward your house) for water to flow.<\/p>\n Preventing water damage seems like a no-brainer because most buyers don’t feel good about water issues when they’re looking to purchase a home. Christman says it\u2019s a \u201cbig concern\u201d because it\u2019s not an easy one to fix once the damage is done. Prevent it before there is damage.<\/p>\n Your home inspector will have eagle eyes for water damage. It\u2019s better not to have damage at all, but if you have it, call in a professional<\/a> ASAP.<\/p>\n The filter in your HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system is the barrier between the air that enters your house and your lungs\u2014so changing it monthly is ideal, but changing it yearly is critical. Servicing your furnace and your air conditioning unit is an annual task.<\/p>\n An HVAC system needs to be checked yearly because:<\/p>\n Angie\u2019s List reports 75% of \u201cno-heat\u201d calls<\/a> in the winter are because homeowners didn\u2019t do preventive maintenance. We\u2019re not just talking about having to bundle up next to the fireplace though.<\/p>\n The stakes are higher for the \u201cH\u201d part of HVAC because heat can mean fire. By not maintaining your furnace, you are literally playing with fire. With maintenance, you can catch a gas leak early. Miss a gas leak and BOOM. Suddenly selling your home just got a lot more complicated.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t want to spend $6,000-$10,000 to replace your HVAC system right before moving, maintaining regularly is your best bet.<\/p>\n As a homeowner, the best thing you can do is stay up to date with your \u201cwellness visits.\u201d The same way you go in to the doc for your flu shot, call a tech to come out every year before your cold season to ensure all is in shape.<\/p>\n According to Trane, a trusted name in HVAC, a professional will check<\/a> the flue, the vent connector, the return air duct connections, and the physical support and structural integrity of the furnace. They\u2019ll check there\u2019s no blockages or obstructions and change that filter.<\/p>\n HomeAdvisor states a routine annual <\/a>checkup will cost you between $80 and $150. If you have to replace a unit completely, it can cost you between $2,500 and $5,900. This means you can service your unit about 25 times for the cost of a new one!<\/p>\n If a homebuyer is already paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, they\u2019re not going to be very excited when they find out they have to replace large, expensive items like the roof or the HVAC system.<\/p>\n Home inspectors will check for the following HVAC system defects<\/a>:<\/p>\n Finding these types of repairs during a home inspection gives buyers fuel to negotiate. Christman estimates buyers will double the cost of repairs (since they\u2019re concerned about all the things they can\u2019t see) and subtract that amount from an offer. \u201cDon\u2019t get to this point,\u201d she says, recommending instead homeowners keep up with regular maintenance.<\/p>\n Windows have a lot of jobs<\/a>\u2014they let light in, they work as insulation and toward energy efficiency, they keep the elements out when you want them out (snow, for example), and let the elements in when you want them in (summer breeze) and they add to the overall look and feel of a house.<\/p>\n Potential buyers remember the house with the big bay window in the front or the roll-up glass garage door. They also remember the house that looks haunted because of all the broken windows with spiderwebs.<\/p>\n Though understated, windows play a big role and therefore deserve some regular preventive maintenance.<\/p>\n Old, inefficient windows are likely to hurt your energy bill. HomeAdvisor estimates good windows can save an average of 25% on your energy bill. But that\u2019s just the beginning, if you don\u2019t maintain your windows and they all need to be replaced before you put your home up for sale, you\u2019re looking at an average of about $500 per window. HomeAdvisor says replacing the windows<\/a> in a three-bedroom, single-story home with ten windows can cost between $3,000 and $7,000; a price that could double for a two-story home.<\/p>\n Steve Anderson, a home inspector for National Property Inspections<\/a>, recommends taking advantage of the slew of YouTube videos available for home maintenance tasks. Check out these YouTube videos about how to maintain a sliding window<\/a>, inspect your wood windows<\/a>, or recaulk<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maintaining your windows is a minimal cost\u2014a cup of touch-up paint, a can of lubricant, a little soap and water. And you can do much of this preventative maintenance yourself. But these costs add up fast when you have to replace a window, as it\u2019s difficult to DIY.<\/p>\n A buyer can walk into a beautiful house and dirty windows can ruin it all. Buyers often assume that if one area of a home is neglected than all the areas are neglected, says Christman. Windows are easy to maintain, easy to clean and show a lot of care in just a little bit of work.<\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/red-roof-home-preventative-maintenance.jpg\")
<\/a>1. Don\u2019t let drainage and grading issues become a water-related crisis for your house.<\/h2>\n
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![\"Air](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/fan-home-preventative-maintenance.jpg\")
<\/a>2. Give your HVAC system a tune-up and keep it in good working order.<\/h2>\n
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Worst case scenario if you don\u2019t maintain:<\/h4>\n
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![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/window-home-preventative-maintenance.jpg\")
<\/a>3. Keep the windows clean, defogged, and in top condition.<\/h2>\n
Worst case scenario if you don\u2019t maintain:<\/h4>\n
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