Ways of Improving and Maintaining Your Home

As homeowners, people are continually looking for ways in which to improve their home while reducing costs. Anyone who owns a home will know all too well how high the costs of general day-to-day maintenance can be.

When it comes to maintaining your home you’re essentially left with two choices. You can either carry out the maintenance work yourself or pay somebody else to do it for you.

Naturally, how much of this will all depend upon how skilled you are, your physical condition and enthusiasm for completing the work. Much of this work can be avoided by keeping a close eye on your property and knowing who to call and when to call them.

Maintaining Your homeGutters can often cause homeowners a number of problems. Each and every autumn the leaves which fall from the trees start to block the gutters. Providing you have a ladder and are comfortable with heights you should aim to clean out the gutters once during winter and again during the spring. Although falling leaves do cause blockages the main problems with gutters comes from leaking joints. Most gutters are made from plastic which can expand overtime and push against adjacent sectors. This can be preventing by keeping a close eye on your guttering and pushing the joins back in to place and making sure that the supporting brackets are providing sufficient support.

Although ivy can look rather attractive its roots run deep in to the mortar joins and as the roots grow they can force the bricks apart. As the leaves from the ivy begin to fall they gather at the base of wall and can hold moisture, leading to wood rot and can insect life. It’s advisable then to ensure that any plants or vegetables are kept a good distance from the base of your property.

Painting external woodwork can significantly increase the lifespan of your timber windows and doors. This will provide an additional level of protection from rain water and the sun. If you own a property with original timber you should treat the timber every five years by smoothly sanding the exterior and then applying a fresh coat of oil based gloss.

Having quality, uPVC double glazing installed can significantly reduce your energy and heating bills (see Double Glazing UK – MyLocalPrices).

Not only will double glazing help you save money, it will help you to maintain a more regular temperature all year-round. Additionally, it can lead to a reduction in the level of noise and provide added security benefits.

Maintaining Your Home – Some Best Practices