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.
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 […]
Reader Question: We recently moved into a beautiful home that is 14 years old. We live in a gated subdivision with an HOA that was developed by the same real estate company which sold us our home. We are the third owner of the house and so far have had no issues. Recently I discovered […]
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 […]
Reader Question: I need termite fumigation. I own property in located in Florida, where termites are a big part of the pest population. I will be selling the five unit building soon, and four units are rented currently. Two of the four units have leases expiring in July. The property has to be tented to exterminate […]
Reader Question: We have a septic tank problem. We moved into our house two days ago. Yesterday, we came in from the yard to discover the toilet in the half bath overflowed and flooded the bathroom, laundry room and part of the kitchen. We searched the rest of the house and saw that the other two […]
Reader Question: We own a townhome, and our paver patio is collapsing due to chipmunk damage. We have seen the chipmunks and their tunnels, so we know that is the issue. We installed the patio with homeowner association (HOA) approval. We don’t wish to do any repairs until we are aware who is liable for […]
Reader Question: I have a mid-century, brick, two bedrooms, and two-bath vintage home in a nice older neighborhood. Paid $215K for it and did some remodeling. The last appraisal was $236K. The soffit is very wide (4′ or so) and is part of the architectural design of the house. I have four spots that need repair […]
Reader Question: We cannot seem to find and keep a good handyman. We are at a loss to understand why they come two or maybe three times, but after that they are booked for months or have some other excuse. We need help. Do you have any advice for us? Don and Betty J. Monty’s […]
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 […]
Reader Question: Monty, I built my house back in 2001. I have a concrete driveway that is 250′ long. It started to lift (push up) in the center of the slabs within years 4-5. Over the last 3-4 years, it has drastically been lifting up. The base of the driveway is slag. The builder put […]
Reader Question: I just sold a home that I have been living in since 1996. The home inspector informs me that whoever built this home installed 40 feet of PVC pipe for the dryer vent. He says it is not up to the code now, and never was. I now have to replace the venting, […]
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 […]
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 […]