by Carey, James
Mom’s favorite source for sprucing up the home was the local thrift shop, while the local landfill — we called them dumps back then — was Dad’s hangout. After any given shopping spree, Mom would return home with unusual items, such as an old, metal milk can, an assortment of picture frames, and a light fixture or two. Armed only with her innate creativity and her infamous gold spray paint, she would convert trash into family treasures. The milk can became a lamp, the ailing frames were transformed into sought-after antiques, and the light fixtures would rival those of Liberace. What they all had in common was their radiant gold finish, her trademark.
Meanwhile, Dad would be pulling an old piece of furniture off his truck that he “rescued” from the local landfill. His favorites were old console radios and television sets. Once, Dad took a vintage radio cabinet, tore out all the guts, and transformed it into an elegant glass cabinet that Mom used to showcase all her fine crystal and china. The hinged top that once served as the hatch to a turntable allowed convenient access to her treasures.
Be it painting, plastering, or plumbing, there was always something that needed to be done around our house. With some ingenuity, our parents showed us that these tasks could be fun. And that’s something we want to show you, too.
Maintaining and increasing your home’s value
If you’re like most people, your home is the single largest investment of your lifetime. Besides having a place to live, you may have also made this investment with the hopes of making some money on it when you sell the house. Thus, it makes good sense (and big bucks) to keep your home in tip-top shape.
We learned a valuable term from real-estate professionals whom we encountered over the years in our building and remodeling business: curb appeal. This term refers to how the outward appearance of a home affects its value. A home with a roof, windows, doors, siding, fencing, and landscaping that are well cared for is more appealing to potential buyers and, hence, more valuable. Conversely, a poorly maintained home can be a real eyesore and worth significantly less than its well-maintained counterpart.
Even if you don’t intend to sell your home in the near future, you need to maintain your home in order to maintain your initial investment. We’ve probably beat this message into the ground already, but simple repairs, like replacing a furnace filter, can make a big difference in maintaining this investment. How, you ask, can a home’s value be affected by replacing a furnace filter? Seem like a stretch? Not in the slightest. With a clean filter, a furnace doesn’t work nearly as hard; thus, it places less stress on the motor, fan belt, and other components. Consequently, the furnace has a longer life, and, in turn, you avoid having to replace the furnace prematurely.
Let the Games Begin!
Now that you have an idea of what it is about your home that needs to be maintained and why it’s important to do so, you can use the information in this book to charge forward to tackle projects that have been on your to-do list. Keep in mind that, when it comes to project order, you should crawl before you walk and walk before you run. So as not to become discouraged or end up with a mess on your hands, we suggest that you attempt smaller, more doable projects first. This approach gives you the opportunity to get comfortable using tools and materials that may not be so familiar.
Safety first! Always have the right tools and equipment for the job and never be in a hurry. Haste makes waste and is a recipe for potential injury and poor results. We suggest that you have a look at Chapter 3 for suggestions on what projects to take on first and the basic tools that you’ll need to accomplish most home-maintenance projects. Start with small projects and work your way up the ladder — literally and figuratively — to more-complex projects. With time and experience, you’ll grow increasingly more comfortable and confident wielding a hammer in one hand and a caulking gun in the other.
When all’s said and done, the idea is to protect your home, save money, and have fun in the process. Who knows? You may just find that you like this home maintenance stuff. Yippee!
Chapter 2
Getting to Know Your House and Its Systems
In This Chapter
Getting an overview of your home and its important parts
Looking at the common maintenance tasks for each part of the home
Home maintenance reminds us a lot of the Monopoly board game. Both involve a bit of a gamble with real estate. In the game, dice decide your destiny. A favorable roll can turn you into a real-estate baron with holdings that rival those of Donald Trump. On the other hand, the wrong combination can land you straight in the pokey!
Each time you postpone a maintenance task, you’re rolling the dice with your home’s structural and aesthetic integrity and value. Plus, although it isn’t very likely that failing to keep up your home will have you doing the jailhouse rock, sadly, there are occasions when such negligence can result in tremendous damage for which you can conceivably be held liable — not to mention the personal loss that you can suffer.
In this chapter, we show you that your home is more than just four walls and a roof; your house is actually made up of a group of systems and fixtures, all of which need your loving care and attention from time to time. We introduce you to each of these systems, which we examine in great detail throughout this book.
The Exterior: It’s Nice to Fool Mother Nature
Every area of a home needs ongoing maintenance, but some areas require more care than others. At the top of the “needy” list is a home’s exterior. The exterior is subject to constant deterioration thanks to the forces of Mother Nature — the sun, wind, and rain. Consequently, it’s no accident that you may find yourself spending a majority of your home-maintenance time on the exterior.
The following sections discuss the elements of a home’s exterior that will, from time to time, require maintenance.
Your home’s infrastructure: The foundation and floor frame
The foundation, which we discuss in detail in Chapter 4, is a key component of a home’s infrastructure. The other key component of the infrastructure is the floor frame, also covered in detail in Chapter 4. Together these two support the walls, roof, and other structural elements of your home.
The foundation
Your home’s foundation, whether it’s a basement, a crawlspace, or a concrete slab, is the element of construction that helps a home stay put. A level foundation can usually contribute to a level floor, windows and doors that operate smoothly, and the absence of cracks in walls and ceilings. For homes with basements, the foundation also holds back earth and limits the intrusion of unwanted water.
Checking cracks before they spread and dealing with moisture control are among the most common maintenance tasks associated with a foundation.
The floor frame
The floor frame consists of floor joists and/or girders (beams) and the subfloor. The joists and girders travel horizontally and rest on the foundation. The subfloor consists of lumber or plywood that’s fastened to the floor framing. Finish flooring (carpet, vinyl, hardwood, and so on) is installed above the subfloor.
The floor frame is notorious for the maddening creaks and squeaks that occur when traipsing across it. Aside from the fact that floor squeaks can drive you nuts, they’re considered a sign of inferior construction, which can lower your home’s perceived value. Although this can be true, the reality is that even the best-built homes can suffer from a squeak now and again. Thus, silencing squeaks is the most common maintenance task when it comes to the floor frame. Not far behind are preventing rot and leveling up an out-of-level floor before it damages the structure of the entire home. You can find all the information you need in Chapter 4.
Roofing and siding: Your home’s protective coat
Most people think of siding as either vinyl or wood, but we use the term to describe a wider class of materials — whatever can be used as a finished, protective coat on the exterior walls of your home, such as brick, wood, vinyl, stucco, aluminum, or a composite siding.
Siding is,
by design, expected to endure forces that simply aren’t an issue with interior walls. In the children’s story “The Three Little Pigs,” the Big Bad Wolf didn’t have a chance of blowing down the house with the brick walls. What the story failed to mention was that the Little Pig who lived in the house with brick walls made sure to keep the mortar joints in good condition, the brick well sealed, and all the gaps caulked.
Take a lesson from this smart Little Pig and follow the maintenance routines suggested in Chapter 5 for your siding. You’ll discover that exterior wall maintenance is all about preserving the integrity of the siding.
We think of the roof as the fifth wall of the house. Because the roof is a horizontal surface, it’s subject to all the same forces that siding is, and then some. Like siding, rain and sun are a roof’s biggest enemies. Maintenance on your roof isn’t much different from what you do to maintain your siding. So, we combine roofing and siding in Chapter 5.
Keeping a roof clean is one of the most important maintenance tasks. A debris-free roof improves watershed and prevents rot, mold, and fungus growth. Metal flashing at vents, chimneys, skylights, valleys, and other critical areas are most prone to leak, which requires special care. And although not officially a part of the roof, gutters and downspouts are essential to proper watershed and, when well maintained, can prevent everything from a roof leak to sticking windows and doors. Cleaning, caulking, and painting count among the most common gutter- and spout-related maintenance tasks.
Windows, exterior doors, and insulation
Without a doubt, windows and doors are two of the most important elements of a home. They give you access to the outdoors and, when armed with a key, access to the indoors! Windows and doors also provide natural light and ventilation — two of the most valuable commodities a home can have.
Keeping your eye on the doughnut
Although we were born 12 years apart, we shared many of the same teachers throughout school. One teacher who has a special place in both our hearts is Mrs. Roxie Gibbs. Mrs. Gibbs was our high school English and journalism teacher. She was your classic eyeglasses-sliding-down-the-nose, beehive-coifed, mid-length-skirted, prim-and-proper schoolmarm straight out of Little House on the Prairie.
One of Mrs. Gibbs’s favorite adages was “Keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.” Although these words were initially a total mystery to us, we eventually discovered their meaning. What Mrs. Gibbs was so eloquently stating was to focus on the issue (the doughnut) and not the minutiae (the hole). What does this have to do with home maintenance? Plenty!
When dealing with home maintenance, concentrate on the root of a problem (the doughnut) instead of focusing on the symptom (the hole). For example, people often ask us how to keep a door from sticking. A door sticks for one reason and one reason only: The uniform gap between the door and the frame no longer exists. The gap (which should have been there at installation) allows the door to be opened and closed without interference from the frame.
The sticking door is a symptom of a larger problem, like an out-of-level floor. Accordingly, we don’t want you to be stuck on the stick — rather, we want you to chew on what causes the door to stick. Are we making ourselves clear, or are you stuck? (Chapter 6 tells you all about unsticking stuck doors.)
Windows and doors
Unfortunately, windows and doors are frequently among the most maintenance-intense elements, primarily because, unlike siding and roofing, windows and doors have moving parts that suffer from wear and tear. What’s more, in most homes, windows and doors are also responsible for the majority of energy loss.
Water leaks, air leaks, and condensation are a few of the most common window-related maintenance issues. As for doors, a touch of lubrication to hinges and hardware, shimming a hinge, and adjusting a strike plate or door bottom can be the saving grace to any door.
Chapter 6 offers tips on these window- and door-maintenance tasks.
An out-of-level floor can make doors and windows tough to operate and can be the cause of cracks in walls over windows and doors. If you’re tired of patching cracks and wrestling with doors and windows, head to Chapter 4. Out-of-level floors have virtually nothing to do with the floor itself and almost everything to do with the foundation and soil that support it.
Insulation
Insulation is like a nice, warm blanket on a cold winter’s night. It can make all the difference when it comes to comfort and energy efficiency. Insulation can typically be found in the attic, exterior walls, and floors above crawlspaces and basements. There are all kinds of insulation, ranging from treated paper to fiberglass. Over time, insulation can settle, becoming more compact and less effective. That’s the bad news. The good news is that in Chapter 7 we show you what you can do about it.
Walkways, patios, and driveways
Walks and patios are to a home’s exterior what halls and entertaining areas are to a home’s interior. Can you imagine directing a houseguest down a hall with an uneven walking surface or trying to entertain a group of people in a room with chunks of carpet, tile, or hardwood missing? Doing so would inevitably result in a twisted ankle or a nasty fall — talk about putting a damper on a party! Why, then, would you be any less attentive to the condition of the walking and entertaining surfaces outside your home?
In the grand scheme of things, chances are good that the walks, paths, and patios that surround your home are subject to as much traffic as, or more traffic than, many spaces within your home. In addition to the safety aspects, these and other paved areas, such as a driveway or carport, can have a tremendous influence on the overall appearance (the “curb appeal”) of your home. Accordingly, they should be given the same degree of attention when it comes to home maintenance.
Paths, patios, and other paved areas typically consist of concrete, brick, stone, or asphalt. None of these materials is immune to the need for periodic maintenance. Uneven surfaces, cracks of varying proportion, potholes, and staining are conditions that cry out for attention. Ironically, the need for many of these repairs can be prevented down the road with ongoing maintenance. For example, a driveway remains more resilient and water-resistant and, hence, is less likely to crack when a sealer is periodically applied.
If your driveway looks like an Indy 500 pit stop or your front walk looks like the San Andreas Fault, you can clean ’em, patch ’em, seal ’em, or even stain or paint ’em using the information found in Chapter 17.
Decks
Depending on what kind of deck you have — on grade or on the roof — the surface can consist of wood, vinyl, a composite, concrete, tile, roofing material, or a synthetic elastomeric product. (Elastomeric is a seamless paint or spray-on material that expands and contracts with the substrate. It’s particularly popular for second-floor decks over living space where leak prevention is particularly important.) In any case, the biggest maintenance challenges are keeping the surface clean, preventing leaks, and prolonging its life by patching, painting, staining, or sealing. Chapter 18 is chock-full of information that you can use to make your deck the envy of your neighborhood.
Fences
Fences, like decks, come in all shapes, sizes, and materials. Wood, steel cyclone, ornamental iron, vinyl, concrete block, plaster, and the new kid on the block, composite fencing, are the materials most widely used. In spite of the vast array of material choices, most fences are constructed of wood, including wood posts, wood frame, and wood fence boards (or pickets).
Regardless of the material used to construct it, keeping a fence plumb (upright); preventing posts, framing, and fence boards from deteriorating or being ravaged by pests; keeping fence boards securely attached to the framing; and taking the sag out of a gate are the items that can be found on most homeowners’ checklists. Chapter 18 tells you all about these tasks, and more. (If your fence is constructed of ornamental iron, go to Chapter 19 for care instructions; if it’s constructed of brick, check out the tips for caring for masonry in Chapters 4 and 17.)
Retaining
walls
If your home is built on anything other than a flat lot, you already know that a retaining wall holds back earth that would otherwise come crashing through your home. It can also keep your home or yard from sliding down a hill. You can also use a retaining wall to expand the “usable” area of your property by terracing a slope.
Although more and more retaining walls are being constructed of interlocking decorative block, the vast majority of residential, garden-variety retaining walls are constructed of wood posts and wood boards. The information in Chapter 6 about maintaining retaining walls can add years to the life of your retaining wall.