In 2013 Americans spend an approximate $150 billion dollars in home improvement and repairs. And studies have shown that that amount increases every year.
Home improvement experts agree with the 1% rule that says, 1% of the purchase price of your home should be set aside for home maintenance. Spring time is not only a good time to declutter and clean your home, but it’s a time where home maintenance is required. After the long winter months and spring showers, now it is a time where you have to inspect your home thoroughly to catch problems that were not there the previous year.
Do you need a maintenance list to inspect your home this year? Then follow the links below for more information.
Can You Identify These Common House Foundation Issues?
How many times have you heard someone dismiss foundation cracks as simply an old house that’s “settling”? Ignoring foundation problems such as cracks and uneven floors can lead to serious – and expensive – problems down the road.
Homes are built on dirt and, over time, that dirt will shift and settle. Clay, for example, will contract and expand depending on the moisture. Sand will erode after significant rainfall or flooding. Plus, the average home weighs 160 tons so that’s a lot of pressure on the dirt underneath your home, explains Michael Connolly, marketing manager for Lowcountry Basement Systems, which recently moved into the Charleston market.
“Problems don’t get better, they only get worse, and the worse they get the more expensive they will be to fix,” Connolly says.
Foundation issues can keep doors and windows from opening properly. Moisture can get into the house and create mold problems. Not properly repairing these issues can also make it difficult to sell your home down the road, he adds.
Check Yourself: 7 Home Maintenance Tasks You Should Tackle in May
We’ve been fantasizing about it for months, and finally warmer weather has arrived. We know: You just want to fire up the grill and start working on your tan—we do, too! But before you can kick back in your hammock (or in your pool on your giant patriotic bald eagle float, if that’s your thing), there are a few tasks you’ll need to tackle.
And you can bet they’re all outside.
“The old adage ‘April showers bring May flowers’ rings true and makes May prime time for landscaping and lawn care in most of the country,” says Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Association of Landscape Professionals.
But it goes beyond gardening and yard work. Now’s the last chance to take care of all that winter wear and tear and transform your home’s outdoor space into something worthy of the host with the most.
The good news? We’re here to make it as quick and easy on you as possible—with our handy checklist of home maintenance chores, you can knock them out and get back to that pool float ASAP. We’ve provided tips for doing each task faster and easier—or with the help of a pro.
HUNTINGBURG — Rene Katterhenry and her three children were all asleep on the living room couch inside their home at First and Washington streets when rushing floodwaters and a waterline break caused her brick basement wall to cave in in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
She had been watching a movie with 9-year-old Reese, 8-year-old Logan, and 5-year-old Lexi before they all dozed off. But around midnight, the sound of rushing water woke up Katterhenry.
“I’m not sure if it was the wall caving in at that time or just the storm, I think it was the storm at that time,” she said. “I went to look, because I could hear some rain gushing. The water was pretty much at the top step of the front porch. I could see the top concrete step, but that was it.”
She thought that she should probably check the basement, since water sometimes seeps in during storms.
“I opened the basement door, and there I had one full step and a second step. The water was all the way up to the house,” Katterhenry said. “And I was panicking. The wall was already gone, but I didn’t realize it.”
She called her father. He had to meet up with her brother in his truck to reach Katterhenry’s house.
