Home Maintenance to Attend to Every 10 Years

Buying or building a home can be expensive but a rewarding experience. Even after making the purchase, it becomes your responsibility to carry out routine maintenance to ensure your home remains in tiptop condition. While some maintenance is short term and should be done on a monthly, bi-annually or annual basis, others can extend more than a year.

The following are common home maintenance that you should attend to every 10 years.

Replace Hot Water Heater

With proper maintenance, hot water heaters will start being inefficient after a decade. Therefore, it shouldn’t catch you by surprise if you start experiencing water heater problems after the 10-year mark. Before they completely wear out, your water heater will start showing signs, such as failure to heat up water, constant leakages, and the presence of rust and rumbling noise during operation. In order to restore your hot water supply, you can always seek professionals for water heater repair or replacement.

Repair/Replace Garage Door

Garage doors are often taken for granted despite the significant roles they play at our home. Whether you are heading to school, work or attending to some emergency, a garage door will serve as a primary way in/out of your home. They will always wear out or develop cracks and chipped paint over time with such workouts. However, depending on the frequency of use, you should consider doing major maintenance at least once a decade.

Repair/Replace Carbon and Smoke Detectors

We cannot rule out the possibility of fire outbreaks in our homes. In order to remain protected, it’s often wise to install carbon and smoke detectors. With proper installation, carbon and smoke detectors can last long. However, just like any other device, doing repairs and replacements are maintenance measures that can improve their efficiency and functionality. Even if they seem to be working properly, these devices should be replaced every 10 years.

Paint the Exterior

Painting the exterior of your home serves a lot of purposes. First, it protects your home from harsh weather elements or animals. Secondly, it increases the aesthetic value of your home. While the list can be endless, doing the routine exterior painting is one maintenance practice you can’t ignore. Depending on the quality of your paint, you can schedule this maintenance practice after every one decade. However, some people prefer doing it even before the 10 years.

Final Takeaway

If you are thinking of living in your home for a long time, you should add the above mentioned long-term maintenance practices to your checklist. The maintenance tips will help ensure your home remains in good condition. Plus, the practices can improve the value of your home for a better future.

5 Things to Remember When Fixing Up Any Home

No matter how well a home is built, and sometimes no matter how old it is, it might need things that should be fixed up. Whether you're just addressing how the home looks and suits you and your family, or you're trying to patch up actual problems that need to be dealt with, there are things to remember when fixing up any home.

Pace Yourself

No matter how quickly you want everything to be done, it's unlikely that you'll get it all done in one day or weekend. Some projects might not even be able to overlap, which is ok. Make sure each project is done the best way possible before moving on to something else. 

Be Prepared for Budgetary Overrun

Mistakes will happen, and new problems will be discovered. Dedicate a certain percentage of your initial budget to just be set aside to fixing things or dealing with unexpected costs. No one is perfect in everything, even if you are very experienced, it is always good to have a little breathing room.

Professional Help

It's very easy to fall into the trap of looking for things to fix up in a home and then only dealing with the ones you can physically see. It's well worth it to have electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and even roofers professionally come out and check the current situation out of the home. They can find issues you might not discover on your own and offer suggestions on how to fix them, and they will always have recommendations for plumbing upgrades you might want to consider.

It's Not as Easy as It Looks

It's very tempting to try and save money by doing certain fixes on your own. You can look up quite a few home improvement projects or fixes online. Many of them might be easy enough for you to handle on your own. Then again, you might quickly discover some of them really need a professional touch.

Shop Around

Whenever possible, shop around. You can usually do this in two different ways when fixing up a home. First, you can shop around for materials, tools, and supplies you might need. Second, you can also get multiple quotes from any contractors or professionals that you are going to use to find out who has the best bid.

Fixing Up a Home Pays Off

Fixing up a home, when done right, pays off. You can restore its safety and functionality so you enjoy it for more years, or you can improve its resale value when preparing a home to go on the market. In either case, keeping a home fixed up is never a bad move to make.

How to Design a Sustainable Tiny House

One of the fundamental pillars of living small is designing a tiny sustainable home. More and more homeowners are looking for ways to minimize their carbon footprint on the earth and live more responsibly. Tiny House for Us is a leader in the tiny home community and has put together a list of options you can explore  to lessen your imprint on mother nature, and get started today. 

Solar Panels

When you think of sustainable living, the first thought that pops into your mind is likely solar panels. Most tiny homes can get all of their needs met from solar panels. The typical small home requires 15 (fifteen) 300-watt solar panels to keep its electricity up and running. On average, this would generate 4,500  watts of power from the sun. Most solar panels will be placed on the ground outside the home. However, Tesla is developing a solar tile that may soon make solar panels on tiny house roofs more attainable for all sizes of homes. 

Hemcrete

Hemcrete is made from the inside of a hemp plant. When it is mixed together with lime, it forms a concrete-like substance that is exceptionally sturdy yet lightweight. It can be used for roof insulation and flooring. The material protects your home from the usual wear and tear of weather and holds insulation well. Since the material is so light, the shipping of Hemcrete exports fewer emissions than traditional housing materials. Additionally, when a Hemcrete home is torn down, the walls can be used as fertilizer. 

Cork Floors

While it may seem crazy that the same materials as the cork in your wine bottle can be used as your floor, it is incredibly sustainable and functional. Cork floors are lightweight, so they will not weigh your home down if you need to move it cross country. There are many companies that gather hundreds of thousands of wine corks throughout the year and turn them into flooring. Cork floors are hypo-allergenic, water-resistant, and good for insulation. Plus, they are easy on your joints when walking around! 

Paper Insulation

Paper insulation is also known as cellulose insulation. It is made of recycled newspapers, leftover office stock, cardboard, and other paper materials. Using cellulose insulation is much healthier for the environment than traditional chemical foams. Plus, you are taking paper that would otherwise end up in a landfill and repurposing it. If you are using any type of raw paper for your insulation, you need to make sure the paper has been treated with borax, boric acid, and/or calcium carbonate. These treatments are natural and will protect the paper (and your home!) from combustion. 

Make Ventilation a Priority 

Working for a more sustainable future is more than just “turning your air conditioning off”. Look for ways to maximize the natural ventialization of your space in its structure. For example, building a house with two large windows across from one another will allow for a cross-breeze that can fill the home. As a result, you naturally do not need to turn the air conditioning as much as you normally would. 

Energy Efficient Appliances

As technology progresses, there are more and more opportunities to find high-quality energy-efficient appliances. Check online resources like Energy Star to see which machines prioritize pulling the minimum amount of power to function. Additionally, invest in LED lights. LED lights can retain their adequate brightness much longer than other lights. Plus, they are heat resistant, so they do not cause your home to overheat and need air conditioning. 

Rainwater Catchment

Collecting your own water can be as simple as leaving rain barrels out. Generally, collecting rainwater is a passive activity. However, a bit of upfront work can save you some time and energy down the line. We suggest purchasing some water pumps to ensure that all the water entering your tiny home is fresh and clean! 

Upcycle Furniture

The old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is essentially upcycling. It is important to have quality furniture in your tiny home, but that does not mean it needs to be brand new. Instead, consider getting crafty, or hiring a crafty pal, to re-pain or refurbish a piece of furniture. This is not only a great return on investment for you but reduces that piece's carbon footprint. 

Compost Toilets

Composting toilets are widespread with tiny homeowners who live off the grid. However, they are also an excellent option for making your small home more sustainable. Composting toilets work by separating liquid and solid waste into two separate chambers. If you so desire, you will be able to use the solid waste as compost. The pros of a compost toilet are not only that they are eco-friendly, but they are also cheaper than a septic tank in the long run. So while it will require more upfront cash, you will win financially in the long run with a composting toilet. 

Consider Alternative Gardening

A great way to counteract the devastating effects of the mass food industry is to plant your own gardens. Many tiny homeowners opt to turn their rooftop into a garden or invest in vertical gardening. Vertical gardening uses hydroponics to allow plants to grow throughout a sheer panel. So, in addition to being more environmentally friendly, your food will be naturally organic! 

Wind Turbine

The sun is the easiest and most common form of energy creation in sustainable housing. However, consider adding an additional energy creator like a wind turbine. A wind turbine is an accessible power source with minimal impact on the earth. 

To conclude, there are numerous ways you can design your tiny to be sustainable. You don’t need to implement all of these systems at one time. It is okay to focus on one element and expand as you go. For example, consider a cork floor and solar panels before purchasing your first wind turbine or composting toilet. As you implement these sustainable changes into your home, you will help make the world a greener place and encourage future tiny homeowners to look for sustainable options too. 

Which Home Improvements Have the Biggest Impact on Home Value?

First impressions are critical when looking to sell a home, but it can be hard to parse the list of maintenance, repair, and renovation projects that you've been putting off and figure out which are actually going to improve the value and curb appeal of your home. Establishing a budget and prioritizing the repairs for that budget is crucial, and the savviest sellers will order these projects in terms of their cost-value ratio. Fortunately, there are a few common home improvements that reliably offer a great return on your investment. How important each of these improvements will depend on the budget and the state of your home — but here are five renovations every homeowner should consider before putting a house on the market.

Landscaping

The lawn is going to be the first thing that prospective new buyers see — and a good landscaping job can lure the stranger walking down the street into an open house or strengthen your financial position while in the midst of a negotiation. Your financial situation will determine how much you can do here, but landscaping can be as simple as spending an afternoon in the yard with a lawnmower and trimmers.

Kitchen Appliances

The kitchen is one of the two rooms that prospective buyers prioritize the most, and the appliances that are front and center in that room can leave a very strong initial impression about a home's age and value. Even if you can only really afford to replace an appliance or two, having a gleaming brand-new refrigerator front and center can help eclipse any existing flaws in your kitchen space.

Hardwood Flooring 

While housing trends may come and go, hardwood flooring will never go out of style. But that doesn't mean that they don't age. Replacing all of your floors with new hardwoods is ideal, as it creates a more seamless sense of flow to a home. However, it's easy to go overboard if you don't reign in your budget. Installing, replacing, or even just cleaning the hardwoods in your home can boost your appeal for anyone who steps inside.

Light Fixtures

Good lighting can really change the atmosphere of a room entirely, and upgrading your light fixtures is a far more economical choice than trying to tear down walls to add new windows. A brand-new chandelier can anchor an entire dining room, but it's important to make sure that there's consistency between the design and materials of your fixtures in a given room.

Paint

A new coat of paint really can breathe new life into a home, and it's an especially appealing choice because it's one of the cheapest home improvement choices you can make. But since lighting and the environment can have a major effect on how certain paints look, it may be worth your while to spend a little extra on the services of a professional painter or consultant.