Your Handyman: Save time & money with simple maintenance tips

Save Time & Money with Simple Maintenance Tips

Home Maintenance Tip #1: Prevent costly interior water damage.

One of the most common and expensive homeowner’s insurance claims in Santa Barbara is for the repair of water damage to interior cabinets, flooring and drywall. The more frequent sources of such a water leak are an aged water supply hose to a faucet or clothes washer, a faulty or off brand plumbing fixture, or a leaking water heater.

Check the cabinets under your sinks periodically to make sure that the water supply lines from the wall valves to the faucet are in good condition, can be completely shut off, and the supply hoses are made from woven stainless steel and not the older style white plastic. If the wall valves have crusty mineral build up or can’t be shut off completely, it’s time to replace them. The white plastic water supply hoses are prone to leaking and should be replaced, the new stainless steel hoses cost about $10 each and are easy to install. Check the operation of the water supply valves to your clothes washer also and the hot & cold rubber water hoses should be replaced if they show any signs of cracking or are older than 10 years. All homes will have a pressure regulator valve on the main water line where it enters the home. If your interior water pressure exceeds 60 psi then the pressure regulator needs adjustment or replacement; high water pressure is the cause of many plumbing leaks.

When buying plumbing fixtures like faucets and toilets, stay with major brands and avoid buying off brand fixtures from online merchants even if they have 1000’s of 5 star reviews. The life of your water heater can be extended by draining it every 2 years or so to flush out minerals and scale, and it should be sitting in a shallow metal pan with a drain to contain the leak that may eventually develop.

Battery powered water detector alarms can be purchased at most any hardware store for about $20 and the sensors can be placed on the floor in sink cabinets, laundry rooms, air conditioner overflow pans, and water heater closets. The first few drops of water from a leak will set off a screeching wail like a smoke alarm giving you time to shut off the valves before water flows to your beautiful wood flooring or saturates your expensive cabinets.

Ideally your home should have an easily operated main water shut off valve that controls the supply of water to the interior of your home without affecting the outside sprinklers and hoses. When leaving town for even a weekend it is a good idea to shut off the interior water supply in case a plumbing leak happens while you are off enjoying yourself with no idea that your house is flooding.

Home Maintenance Tip #2: Clean the lint from your clothes dryer regularly.

Keeping your clothes dryer and vent clear of lint is an easy way to reduce your electric or gas bill and also to prevent a potential house fire. The moist hot air expelled from your dryer contains fabric lint not caught by the lint screen which readily coats the interior of the dryer and the exhaust vent. If the lint is allowed to build up over time it will make the dryer run much less efficiently and creates the potential for a smoldering fire that can spread to your home.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 5% of all house fires in the United States originate at a clothes dryer, primarily due to poor maintenance. Simple to use brush kits for clothes dryer lint cleaning can be purchased at most hardware stores and a household with four or more people should inspect their dryer annually and have it cleaned if needed. If your dryer has an older style flexible plastic duct, it needs to be replaced with a metallic duct. And remember to never store combustible items like paper bags or cardboard aside or behind the dryer.

Home Maintenance Tip #3: Don’t wait to repair a roof leak until the first rain of winter.

If your roof, chimney, or skylight had even a minor leak last winter, now is the best time to call a roofing contractor. The phone rings off the hook at the roofer’s office at the first rainstorm of the season when many otherwise responsible homeowners are confronted with that small leak from last winter that was so easily forgotten about during the dry days of summer. A roof leak rarely seals up on its own, it will usually leak progressively more each year, and the last thing you will want to deal with next winter is the damage that rainwater streaming into your home will cause.

Home Maintenance Tip #4: Make your home more comfortable and energy efficient with inexpensive weather stripping.

No matter how well insulated your home is, a draft from a poorly weatherstripped door or window can run up the heating or cooling bill and make the home less comfortable for the residents. Even the smallest gap can allow a troublesome draft to pass through and change the temperature of the home from comfortable to unpleasant. Mice, lizards and insects can crawl through even the smallest gaps under a door and become unwanted house guests.

Basic weather stripping is reasonably priced and can easily be installed by most homeowners. Check the rubber sweeps at the base of your front and back doors to make sure they are in good shape, and these also can be replaced if needed. Some brands of windows and doors may require replacement stripping to be ordered direct from the manufacturer and a local glass shop or window dealer will be able to assist you if needed. Otherwise, any weather stripping you may need should be available at your favorite hardware store along with friendly advice on how to handle the installation.

Hiring a Contractor: Before hiring anyone to work at your home, take the time to make sure that they have the appropriate contractors license and insurance. No license = no insurance. Accidents do happen, workers occasionally do fall off ladders, and work trucks do sometimes get backed into expensive gates. Go to www.cslb.ca.gov to check license status and to confirm workers compensation coverage. Check references, avoid hiring contractors who are from outside of the area, and don’t make the final payment until all work is completed and you are happy with the job. Don’t take a chance with an uninsured contractor. If a worker gets injured while on the job at your home and his boss didn’t bother to get insurance, your retirement may be postponed while you figure out how to pay for his hospital bill and his retirement.

Mark Baird is a General Contractor & the Owner of “Your Handyman” servicing Santa Barbara since 2006. You can contact Mark at 805-968-1234 or email him at: mark.baird@sbcoxmail.com. Visit his website at: www.yourhandymansb.com.