Many people treat their home like a disposable one-time purchase. After buying a house, they just let their home be and allow it to deteriorate. All the things that need maintaining pile up, and the house is unorganized and messy. There’s no real benefit to this, and it prevents you from fully enjoying your living experience at home. It’s critical to maintain your house and conduct regular maintenance.
And not just with the interior of your home, but the exterior as well.
The exterior aspect of homes is often overlooked, as not many people actually spend a lot of time in their yard. But the exterior is equally as important- it’s the first thing we see when coming home, and it can make the neighborhood look better. Maintaining your home exterior is a great way to keep the aesthetics and functionality of your house for as long as possible. To help you out, here are other reasons why you should maintain your home exterior.
It Makes Your Exterior Features Last Longer
If we don’t brush our teeth, we’re prone to tooth decay. If cars don’t get maintained, they’re prone to breaking permanently. Houses are the same: routine maintenance helps prevent major damages from ever happening, keeping the exterior appeal and functionality of your home. You want to make sure that your roof has no leaks, that your gutters are emptied, and the sidings are cleaned- especially when the season changes, you want to guarantee that you can be safe in your house.
It’s Your First Line Of Defense
Houses protect us from the elements, and as such, we need to make sure that it stays that way. A leaking roof is the last thing you want during the rainy season, and you especially don’t want a draft during winter. Make sure to factor in the exterior of your home to make sure that you and your family stay safe.
Preventive Measures Protect You From More Serious Damages
Your home exterior can be rather telling of what’s happening deeper. If there’s mold or rot on your siding, it could be indicative of an infestation that can affect your foundation. Neglecting routine maintenance will let this worsen, potentially requiring far more intensive and expensive repair- not to mention expose your family to preventable risks.
Lack Of Maintenance Can Affect Energy Efficiency
By regularly maintaining your home’s exterior, you can actually manage energy efficiency better. If there are any problems, like leaks and openings on your roofs, sidings, or windows, you might be spending more to heat up or cool down your home. Learning how to identify where the problem is coming from and responding with the appropriate solution will help you save money in the long run.
What To Look Out For:
Here are five tips to help you maintain your home exterior, both for aesthetics and safety purposes.
1. Check your exterior house paint job to see whether it’s clean. Make sure that it’s not peeling or chipping. If there are any chips or cracks, make sure to immediately paint over them, or hire a professional to do it for you. Fixing the problem early on will help you keep costs down.
2. Clear the gutters of any debris. Leaves, branches, and other things easily pile up, clogging the gutters and preventing rainwater from draining. Make sure to clear it out and to let the water flow freely.
3. Inspect your roof for any damages. Your shingles might be out of place or need replacing (if it curls up on the side or rises in the middle), or you might need to cover up some leaks. It’s critical to maintain your roof since you don’t want to wait until it’s the rainy season just to fix it.
4. Look at your windows to see whether there are any cracks on the glass or whether the paint is peeling. These types of damages can potentially let air, water, or even insects go through. The elements can also pose a danger to the window frame and make it deteriorate faster.
5. Examine your garden, especially if you have plants planted in your yard. Their roots can grow bigger and reach longer than imagined and affect your home’s foundation. Ideally, your flower beds, shrubbery, and other plants should be relatively far from your home. Or you can use a box to hold your plants in.
Just because you don’t spend a lot of time outside, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about your home exterior. It’s still an important part of your property, and it’s not something that we should ignore. They add an aesthetic value, and more importantly, a safety factor.
