Home Owning

Home maintenance and repair

Home maintenance is different than making home repairs. It is to fix by replacing, cleaning, oiling or painting the components that make up the physical home and keeping them doing what they were intended to do. When those components fail, we fix it with a repair or replacement.

Some examples of maintenance items are painting trim, oiling an electric motor, replacing or cleaning furnace filters, replacing light bulbs and keeping the lawn and shrubs free of weeds and trimmed. If maintenance items are left unattended the components cannot function indefinitely before something goes wrong. If the aforementioned examples were left unattended; wood would rot, motors would burn out, filters would clog and strain the furnace, the house would be dark at night and the lawn choked with weeds.

There is a multitude of remedies, tricks, theories and products offered to help homeowners maintain their homes in the market place. “How to” questions about maintaining a home are often asked, browse the questions, search by subject or just Ask Monty. We are here to help.

  1. Is Our House A Lemon?

    Reader Question: Is Our House A Lemon? We bought our home about six months ago. The house seemed perfect. It is very well-kept, and it came through the home inspection with flying colors. We have met some friendly neighbors, and we love living here. That said, we have experienced some expensive issues; the water heater […]

  2. Do you have any tips on taking care of a home?

    Reader Question: We will be buying our own home in the next year or so. There are numerous published articles about the hidden costs of home maintenance and caring for a home that offer conflicting information. Do you have any tips on taking care of a home? Monty’s Answer: Taking good care of a home […]

  3. Is radon gas harmful or not?

    Reader Question: Our home is currently “for sale” and a prospect has visited the house several times. They asked us if we ever tested the house for radon gas, and we have not. They want us to have the house tested, but we have heard conflicting stories about radon. What can you tell us about […]

  4. Who is responsible for a sewage leak in the basement?

    Reader Question: Monty, I am seeking a resource that might be able to help a client with a unique problem. They entered into a contract for the construction of a home near the local university. The initial contract was with a building contractor, who sold out to another building contractor that finished the home. They moved into the […]

  5. What is radon gas?

    How Small Is Small? Radon is a radioactive gas which occurs in nature and has always been present in the air. You can not see it, taste it or smell it, and it can only be detected with specialized testing equipment. Radon is measured in units, called picocuries. The curie is a standard measure for […]