Five Essential Home Maintenance Tips 

Sealing the deal with your agent is just the first step at arriving at your new place. After buying your preferred furniture and picking your home ornaments, a more important step follows: Ensuring the functional operation of its utilities and appliances. The untrained eye might miss nuanced or minor signs that indicate a malfunction. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of things you can carry out to identify certain malfunctions. 

1. External Inspections 

None of us would choose to spend our weekend mornings on our rooftops inspecting ACs or down on our knees removing pipe grease in our kitchen sink. Though these tasks may seem tedious, they are crucial to making your new home a  cozy and relaxing environment for you and your family. Let’s start with the aesthetics. Walk around your home and search for chipped-off or peeling paint. In case you notice any of these minuscule imperfections, a new fresh coat of paint is in order where the damage has been identified. Why? Well, paint has multiple benefits, the admiration and complimentary comments from your neighbors are one of them, but the real benefit is the protection against water filtration and rot. 

2. Check your plumbing system

Deducing that something is wrong with your plumbing system is simpler than you think. You can find out the hard way when an outrageously high water bill greets you at the end of the month or you can remain vigilant for specific signs. These may include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Leaky Faucets 
• Gurgling toilets 
• Overflowing sinks 
• Damped drywall

These tend to be the most common indications of a leaky or clogged pipe. Make sure to call an expert as soon as these come to your attention, long term damage comes at a cost. Preemptive inspections are always a great investment new homeowners can curtail future home maintenance costs. Our friends at Octopus can give you a reasonable quote for quality work! 

3. Dust off your Place

We mean this quite literally. The best thing you can do before settling in is run a thorough clean-up. Every corner, cabinet, closet, and HVAC system included. Dust’s ubiquitous nature makes it difficult to scrub, wash or blow it away, especially inside your air ducts. Many pathogenic organisms invade these corners and use their hairy flagella to swim up to your nostrils. This task is quite complex, which is why we recommend requesting assistance from a trusted expert that can guarantee a thorough clean-up. 

4. AC Inspections 

Frequent inspections from your home maintenance professionals are always recommended to ensure the functional operation of your AC unit. However, there are certain signs that can help you detect when you’re in need of an emergency call out. For instance: if your AC is blowing out warm air, your first step should be to verify that the thermostat matches the room temperature. Its incoherency may be due to a restricted airflow or a compressor issue. In which case, the best thing to do is call our friends at Octopus, available 24/7 for emergency call-outs!  

5. Watch out for your Electrical Circuits!

Due to its precarious nature, electrical check ups require meticulous and safe attention to detail, usually carried out by professionals during regular inspections. However, there are other nuanced tasks where a subtle observation will suffice. But can come a long way when it comes to safety and reducing your electric bill. 

Outlet protectors: If you have kids or furry friends with a considerably dangerous curiosity, it’s best if you purchase the right equipment to cover your outlets. Remember, when it comes to electrical safety, preemptive thinking is your ally.

Frayed wires: An immediate concern and calls for an instant replacement. Frayed cords are prone to propitiate a short circuit, ultimately becoming a fire hazard. Regardless of its location, whether it’s an internal or from an external source, (i.e: computer charger) they’re an exposed and dangerous element to your new home. 

Extension cords are temporary, not permanent: We usually enjoy placing these next to our nightstand, their multiple outlets are a convenient solution to charge multiple devices on. This is the proper use. However, connecting home appliances that require a high volume of wattage can be a dangerous practice. Avoid connecting your fridge, mini-fridge, water dispenser or even your washing machine. Phones, air pods, tablets, and computers are fine. 

Inspect, Inspect, Inspect 

The best way to keep your new and cozy home in check is to run frequent inspections. Proper home maintenance is more about preemptive planning, rather than a responsive action. We can’t think of better home maintenance providers than our friends at Octopus. Annual Maintenance Packages are the solution you need to keep a functional home all year round!