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Home Maintenance in Harrison Arkansas
10 Important Home Maintenance Tasks You'll Regret Forgetting
You undoubtedly have a house maintenance checklist: change the furnace filter every season, turn off the water spigots before winter, clean the gutters, and so on. That's a fantastic start, but there are some tasks that homeowners sometimes overlook or are unaware of. Here are some crucial home maintenance issues that may not be on your list but could cause you a headache or, worse, cost you a lot of money if you ignore them.
Test Your Sump Pump or Risk a Flood
It's easy to overlook your sump pump, but it's critical that it's in good functioning order. If you don't, you can end up like the homeowner who came home after a weekend trip to find his entire basement floor soaked with 1/2 inch of water. He waded over to the sump pump after turning off the electricity and discovered it wasn't operating. Closer inspection revealed that the cable attached to the float had been entangled in some way. He untangled the wire in two seconds and then spent the next 15 hours digging out soaked carpet, running the wet/dry vac, and shifting fans around. Make sure your pump has a vertical float switch to avoid a similar accident. Check your pump at least twice a year by dropping water into the basin to ensure everything is in working order.
Examine Fixtures and Appliances for High Water Pressure
A technician was aiding a water softener installation who was replacing a relatively new softener after the first one ruptured and filled the pipes with little zeolite beads.
The installer didn't seem concerned about why the previous one failed, but the helper looked into it. A water pressure test revealed a result of more than 110 pounds per square inch. The 20-year-old pressure-reducing valve was to blame. The pressure dropped to roughly 75 pounds after a replacement valve was installed. Pressure-reducing valves are typically situated near the main water shutdown valve, but they are not found in every home. It is determined by your municipality.
Water pressure that is too high can damage pipes, connections, and appliances. It also causes water hammer and wastes a lot of water. Checking for excessive water pressure is an often forgotten maintenance item, and one that's easy enough to accomplish. A new pressure-reducing valve and a basic pressure gauge that connects to a spigot or washing tub faucet, such as this one, are both available at home centers.
Clean Window Weep Holes or Allow Rainwater to Enter Your Home
Many sliding windows and vinyl replacement windows include weep holes on the frame's outer bottom. These holes are intended to drain rainwater that may accumulate in the bottom channel of the frame. Weep holes can become clogged with bugs and debris, causing water to fill the channel and pour into your home.
Pour a glass of water into the track or splash the outside of the window with a garden hose to test your weep system. If you don't observe a constant stream of clean water exiting the weep hole, insert a wire hanger or spray it with compressed air before wetting it down again. If the small flapper (intended to keep out driving wind) becomes jammed shut, it can be removed and replaced with a putty knife.
Clean the coils on your refrigerator or pay unnecessary repair bills
Refrigerator condenser coils are found on the back or across the bottom of the refrigerator. When coils are blocked with dust, pet hair and cobwebs, they can't adequately emit heat. As a result, your compressor works harder and longer than it should, consuming more energy and reducing the life of your refrigerator. Vacuum and clean the coils with a coil-cleaning brush. A coil-cleaning brush that bends to fit into tiny spaces does an excellent job. Look for one online or in hardware stores. Check out our post for advice on repairing your refrigerator without calling a service technician.
Keep window wells clean to avoid a broken window and a flooded basement.
If you've never had a problem with water in a window well, you may not think about cleaning it. What happened to one homeowner who failed to maintain his window wells? After an average rainstorm, a clogged gutter poured a large amount of water near to his house and into his window. The leaves in the well acted like a pool liner, preventing drainage, and the water level progressively rose until the basement windows burst. Gallons upon gallons of water flooded into the basement, causing extensive damage to everything in sight. Unfortunately, he lacked flood insurance for such a tragedy. Don't let this happen to you. Use a window well cover, which is available at home improvement stores, to keep window wells clean.
Remove Sediment from Your Water Heater or Expect a Shorter Life Span
A distressed homeowner called a plumber because her water heater was not heating and was leaking. The plumber immediately inquired if the homeowner had been emptying some of the water from it each year. 'No,' the perplexed homeowner replied. Why?' It turns out that sediment will accumulate at the tank's bottom. On gas-powered heaters, this causes hot patches, which can damage the tank and cause premature failure. Sediment buildup in an electric water heater can cause the lower heating element to fail. As a result, draining a water heater on a regular basis will save energy expenditures and lengthen its life. Water heaters should be drained at least once a year.
Lubricate or replace garage door springs as soon as possible.
Lubricate the overhead torsion springs that are placed above the roller tracks. All springs will eventually fail due to metal fatigue and/or corrosion, however lubricating them at least once a year will extend their life. Spraying can be messy, so use a piece of cardboard to protect the wall behind the spring. Home improvement stores sell garage door lubrication. While you're at it, lubricate the rollers, hinges, and track. Find out more about garage door maintenance.
Check for Mice Nests or Risk Damaged Equipment
Mice prefer to spend the winter in enclosed areas such as engine compartments, window A/C units, and lawn tractor nooks and crannies. Check for mice nests before starting a vehicle or piece of equipment that has been sitting unused for a time. The last thing you want to do is launch your boat only to realize that you have little fuzzy stowaways that have chewed through half the wiring. Mice nests can also overheat electronics and be sucked into and clog carburetors.
Clean your dryer vents or you'll waste energy and risk a fire.
A clogged dryer vent will cause your dryer to run inefficiently, which is undesirable. A clogged dryer vent could also start a house fire, which could be fatal! Because of the longer ducts, centrally situated dryers are the most prone to blockage. Lint isn't the only thing that clogs ducts; nesting vermin and jammed exhaust hood flappers can also cause backups. Stronger scents and longer drying periods are two indications that your vent is clogged. To clean it, you'll need to remove the vent from the back of the dryer. Use a wet/dry vac to remove debris from the ducts, or ream them out with a cleaning equipment that includes a brush on a long flexible rod that attaches to a power drill. The kits are available at home improvement stores. If your ducts need to be replaced, use smooth metal ducts, which will stay cleaner longer than flexible ducts' rough corrugated surface. Plastic ducting should be avoided at all costs since it can catch fire.
Check Garage Door Balance or You May Damage Your Opener
A correctly balanced door is less likely to hurt someone or something, and it prevents the door opener from working too hard, reducing its life.
Close the door and then disengage the opener by lifting the opener release handle to check the balance. Pull the door up approximately halfway and let go. A correctly balanced door will automatically stay in the halfway position. If it decreases, the tension must be raised. If the door raises, the door spring is under too much tension and is working harder than necessary. Check the door at least twice a year. It is difficult and risky to adjust the spring tension.
