Home Maintenance: Key Areas to Really Focus On

Home maintenance should feature high on your list of priorities. At the end of the day, this is a process that will help you to create a living space that you are comfortable in and where you will be happy to spend your time. It will make sure that your space is safe and functional. It can also help to maximise the value of your property, making it more appealing to prospective buyers if you wish to sell down the line. Of course, there are many things you can do to maintain your home, but hopefully, some of the suggestions outlined below should help you to maintain your home as best possible.

Repairs

The very first area you should focus on when it comes to maintaining your home is repairs. Most properties will require repairs at some point or another down the line. This is just a part of wear and tear that comes hand in hand with living in a building. Of course, we all know that we should repair broken parts of our property as soon as possible. But all too often, people sweep these issues under the carpet. The truth is, problems rarely resolve themselves and, instead, begin to worsen, creating larger problems that will come hand in hand with a larger price tag to put right. Make sure you have a list of reliable contractors you can reach out to should you need them. This could be a plumber, a roofer, a glazier, an electrician, a gas technician and more.

Decluttering

Another key area you should always focus on when it comes to home maintenance is decluttering. All too many of us have countless belongings in our homes that we neither want nor really need. If something in your home doesn’t have any practical use, doesn’t have decorative value or doesn’t have sentimental value, chances are, you don’t really need it. These items simply take up room in your home, making a mess and creating a space that feels cluttered, overwhelming and generally unpleasant to spend time in. Decluttering can really help you to clear out your home and have a blank canvas to work with. You’ll find yourself with more space, freed up storage and a more presentable living space. Decluttering doesn’t have to be a difficult process. You just need to take a look through all of your belongings and be honest with yourself. Look at each item and ask yourself:

• When was the last time I used this? – if this was over a year ago, and it’s not an occasional item like festive decorations, chances are, you don’t actually need it from a practical perspective.

• Does it hold decorative value? – decorative items are fine to have for the sake of looking good too. Just make sure that you actually like them and want them in your home.

• Does it hold sentimental value? – if something has sentimental value, you can keep it for the sake of it. However, you should do your best to minimise the amount of sentimental items you have.

By the end of this process, you are likely to have a selection of items you no longer need and are ready to part with. Don’t just throw things away. Instead, make sure that you sell the items you can, gaining some money back. You should also look into donating items to charity or, at the very least, recycling items.

Deep Cleaning

Deep cleaning is also essential for home maintenance. Of course, all of us have routine chores that we carry out on a daily or weekly basis. These help to deal with most dirt that surfaces as a result of our lifestyle. But you need to make sure that you carry out some deep cleaning every once in a while too. Deep cleaning is a form of cleaning that tackles all of the areas of your home that are commonly missed. It can involve less regular tasks, as well as harder tasks that can be more time consuming and can require more specialist equipment to undertake successfully. An example of a deep cleaning is carpet cleaning. If you have carpets, chances are, you have a vacuum cleaner and run this around roughly once or twice a week. This will pick up surface dirt and keep the carpet looking fresh. However, you need to make sure to hire a professional carpet cleaning machine every once in a while too. This will thoroughly wash your carpet, lifting ground in dirt.

Painting and Decorating

If you want to give your home a fresh look, you might want to consider redecorating. This is a simple process that starts out with choosing what rooms you want to paint and what colour scheme you want for each room. You might want one colour scheme per room, or an ongoing colour scheme that spreads throughout your entire property. When choosing colours, it’s always a good idea to get small sample pots and to try painting the colours you like directly onto the walls you’re decorating. The paints can dry a different colour to how they looked in the pot, or you could find that they look different in the light in your home. When it comes to actual painting, it’s important that you choose wisely. Do you have the equipment and experience it takes to paint your home yourself? If not, you could find that you’re better off hiring a professional painter decorator who will be able to take the hard work off your hands, reaching awkward places and giving everything a professional finish.

Renovations

If you’re open to more large scale home maintenance and improvement projects, you may want to consider renovations. Renovations change the structure of your home for the sake of aesthetics or for the sake of functionality. There are countless home renovations out there, ranging from extensions to loft conversions, basement conversions, garage conversions and more.

Hopefully, some of the suggestions above will help to guide you on the right path when it comes to home maintenance. Each will make all the difference, so give them a try!