When It Comes to Interior Home Maintenance, There’s No Such Thing as a Free Pass

I’m always surprised when I see stuff in people’s homes that tells me they are not maintaining them. What’s most surprising is that, many times, they are very simple things to take care of.

Last time, I wrote a little bit about the myth of the maintenance-free exterior. This post will be about the interior of our homes and some typical simple things we should all do to maintain them.

Cleaning

This may sound obvious to the other clean freaks out there, but we see a lot of houses where regular weekly cleaning is not being done at all. Sometimes it’s because the house finishes are so worn out, they simply are impossible to clean well. This is a sure sign your kitchen or bathroom finishes are worn out. You need to remodel!

If you can’t blame the grime on worn-out rooms, and you can’t clean the house yourself, you should consider hiring a professional cleaning service. Grime that builds up will be harder to clean in future. It damages your home’s finishes. It creates a toxic environment for your family.

Painting

We have tenants who think a house should be repainted every year. They must think this because every year they move out and we have to repaint the whole house. They are always surprised at how quickly painting can eat up their security deposit.

For most homeowners, though, painting walls every five years is typical if regular wall washing and touch-ups take place. In general, wood trim can be washed clean with simple soap and water. This is especially true of the older oil-painted surfaces.

A good paint job up front means you can keep it clean and looking good longer. Don’t scrimp on painting. You’ll just end up doing it more frequently.

Wood Floors

My German mom and her immigrant friends all got on their hands and knees to scrub and wax their wood floors. They had to do it every six to 12 months. What a mess. But they were house-proud immigrants and stay-at-home moms. It did smell great, and we kids could skate all through the house on our socks.

Now, we have polyurethane finishes, and my favorite is still the oil-based variety because it’s hard and lasts a long time. If you maintain that polyurethane layer, you won’t ever have to hire someone to sand down to the raw wood. It usually entails a light sanding and a couple of finish coats. The newer soy or water-based polys are not to my liking since they are not very hard. I’ve heard complaints about stickiness or easy marring of the surface.

Caulking/Water Control

A lot of the damage we are brought in to fix is caused by water. So you can look to the wet interior areas of your home to find maintenance that needs doing.

Bathrooms – Keep the caulk at the seam between the tub and the tile walls caulked. Caulk the seam at the top of the tub and shower control escutcheons. If the tub sits on a tile or vinyl floor, often it’s a good idea to caulk the seam in between, especially if the floor gets wet often. Also, if your toilet is running, you need to fix that. It’s costing you money. If the floor at the foot of the toilet is wet, it could be the wax seal is broken. That’s a cheap fix, and you can probably do it yourself.

Kitchens – Same principles apply. And never use a maple butcher block as a sink counter. The maple will turn black from the wetness.

Carpeting

Personally, I don’t like wall-to-wall carpets. Did you know they weigh 30% more when they are taken out than when they were put in? Can you imagine what’s in them? YUCK!

When we took the 1970s green carpeting out of my mom and dad’s living room, we found about two gallons of sand on the beautiful oak floors underneath. This was in a frequently cleaned home. Many times, when we take up old, grubby carpets, we find beautiful wooden floors hidden beneath.

If you do want a rug, I suggest an area rug that can be sent out for professional cleaning.

Safety

Be sure to test and replace batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors at least twice per year.

Windows and Doors

Check their seals and replace or repair any damaged weather stripping. Locking them will provide a better seal, and this is especially true of windows where the locks create pressure on the moving units, pushing them closed tightly.

Air Leaks

Winter – when your house is likely to feel cold and drafty – is a good time to make a list of leaks so you can fix them or bring in a pro to do it.

Fresh Air

Be sure to let fresh air into your home by opening some windows for a while every couple of days. In summer, many of the older homes we work on stay cool without air conditioning, by opening small windows in the attic that let out hot air and draw cool air into the house from ground level. But even in winter, bringing fresh air into your home is important to your health. Indoor air quality can be very dirty and unhealthy when a home is sealed up tightly and airborne toxins build up.

Have a Plan

This is always great advice, but especially when it comes to home maintenance. If you have a plan, you can work through the items methodically, and they won’t get ahead of you. We can help create a plan for maintenance items and the things that really need to be replaced, as well. We can help you prioritize items on the list so they get done in the right order. This will save you money by not repeating tasks when it comes to remodeling. Remember, maintenance is generally much cheaper than replacing!