Best New Year's Resolutions for Homeowners

1/5/2018 (Permalink)

2018 is a great time to start improving in your home maintenance!

At SERVPRO of Belle Meade / West Nashville, we want to help you get your new year started right. That's why we've put together this list of New Year's resolutions for homeowners that will keep your home and property in tip-top shape all year long.

Resolution #1: I Will Do The Following Things Every Month

For this resolution, you'll need to stay on top of the monthly maintenance around the house. These are all small jobs that can be done relatively quickly. It's January - the best time to start a monthly habit of checking and/or replacing your HVAC filters, cleaning the range hood and checking your fire extinguisher. These tasks are all pretty much self explanatory, but the HVAC job could possibly get pushed back to every other month if you live alone or without pets.

Resolution #2: I Will Do The Following Things Every Three Months

Test your smoke and carbon dioxide alarms. Seriously, every three months. Over half of in-home fire deaths every year happen in houses without working smoke detectors. Feel free to stop reading and go check them now (but then come back and finish reading). Not nearly as urgent but still very important is your plumbing. Cold weather (even in Nashville) can mean frozen pipes. Check the pipes under sinks, in the basement for leaks, and be sure to check the ceilings and walls for discolouring from a possible leak as well. While you're getting in the habit of this quarterly walk-through, it's a good time to check your water softener if you have one.

Finally, there are a few resolutions that don't need a particular time of year to be effective. Take time to enjoy your house more, inside and out. It holds a lot of great memories. Plan for home improvement projects, and then plan again. Nothing is ever perfect. Don't let the quick, routine maintenance turn get put off until it's big, expensive maintenance. That's never fun.

There are plenty of things we could add to this list, but we know you're already busy enough. These resolutions will be a good start, though. Follow our advice here, and your home (and your wallet) will thank you.