Why should I do home maintenance checks?
Poor home maintenance can invalidate your home insurance. If you need to make a claim and your insurer finds your home isn't well looked after, they might not pay out. So keeping it in good condition is a must.
Here are some monthly checks you may want to carry out inside your home:
- Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms: You should check these once a month to make sure they're in good working order. Ideally, test them every week.
- Boiler checks: Keep an eye on your boiler to make sure it's working properly. If you're constantly having to increase the water pressure, there may be something wrong.
- Water leaks: Water leaks can be identified by devices clipped near your stop tap. These constantly monitor the system and send an alert to your smartphone if there are leaks.
- Damp: Check ceilings and walls for any signs of damp. Damp can cause health problems, as well as damage your furniture, so it's important to fix any damp patches.
- Locks: Check your windowsills to make sure the locks are working correctly. If the window unlocks with a key, check the keys are working and the window properly shuts.
- Bathroom: Look at the grouting on bathroom tiles, and silicone round the edge of the bath. If these are worn they could let in water and damage the flooring or your belongings.
- Subsidence: If the walls have cracks or are out of shape, it could be a sign of subsidence. If this is the case, you'll need to have it checked by a professional.
- Condensation: If the condensation is quite bad in your home it can cause damp and mold. These can cause health issues, so it's important to keep it under control.
For outside your home:
- Gutters: Make sure your gutters aren't blocked or overflowing.
- Pipes: Check there's no unexplained damp patches under external pipes. Also check outside drains haven't become blocked. You can periodically lift the manhole cover to check everything is flowing away as it should.
- Brickwork: Check your brickwork every now and then. Look for missing pointing in the joints or erosion. Filling these in can help stop the damage getting any worse.
- Fences: Make sure trees and plants aren't breaking through fences or overhanging your neighbour's property. If your fence isn't well maintained and breaks down in a storm, your insurer isn't likely to cover this.
- Shed: Check your outbuildings. If the felt on your shed roof has disintegrated it could let water in and damage items within. If you have expensive garden furniture or equipment, you might want to consider extra security.
- Trees: Falling trees can cause huge amounts of damage to your property or your neighbour's property. Regular checks to nearby trees is a good way to prevent this. You might want to trim branches that could fall off during a storm, or get a tree surgeon to check.
Maintenance checks by season
As the seasons change, so does the type of home maintenance checks you'll need to do. It makes sense to carry out some maintenance tasks in warmer weather. But some checks might be necessary in colder months, after bad weather like storms.
Let's have a look at the type of checks you might need to keep on top of through the seasons:
Spring
Spring cleaning anyone? With the weather starting to improve, spring is the perfect time to get some important maintenance checks done. Here's a few things you might want to look at:
Clean the windows: Spring is a good time to give your windows a thorough clean, inside and out. You can check the frames for signs of rot.
Check for winter damage: With winter just gone, it's the perfect time to check if the cold has left any damage behind. This might be damage to your guttering or structural damage to your home.
Check the loft: You'll want to keep your eyes peeled for any damp patches, or holes in your roof.
Summer
With the weather - hopefully - at its best, summer is a good time to get outside. Here are some outdoor home maintenance checks you might want to consider:
External painting: If any of your outside walls need a new lick of paint, now's the time.
Replace the fence: While the weather is good, you can check and replace any fence panels. You can also take the opportunity to tidy up pathways around your home.
Check for climbing plants: To avoid plants taking over your property, prune stray stems and look out for pests and diseases.
Autumn
As the temperature starts to drop, it's a good time to safeguard your home in preparation for winter:
Service your boiler: Book in a central heating service to make sure everything is working smoothly before winter sets in.
Insulate your pipes: You don't want your pipes to freeze, so make sure you have lagging around external pipes.
Service your radiators: You'll want to ensure your radiators are heating properly. If there's a problem, you may need to bleed them to ensure an even spread of heat.
Insulate your loft: Heat escaping through the roof can make your energy costs rise. So Making sure your loft is insulated is a great way to save. You could also start any other projects that improve your home's energy efficiency.
Check the loft pipes: And while you're up there, make sure the pipework in the loft is properly insulated too.
Sweep your chimney: If you have a chimney, it might be time to get it swept. You can also get the flue checked. This is the pipe that takes away waste gases from the fireplace.
Winter
Brrr - the cold weather means that winter isn't ideal for carrying out maintenance checks. But there are a few things you can try to stay on top of:
Check the roof for damage after any storms: If there's a storm, you may want to check for any broken or missing roof tiles. You can also check the chimney to ensure it's still in good shape.
Check gutters: Blocked gutters can cause water to cascade down your brickwork. This can lead to further problems down the line.
Crop overhanging trees: Cut back any overhanging trees to reduce the risk of branches falling. This helps cut the risk of a branch smashing a conservatory window, or causing more damage.
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