Avoid these home maintenance mistakes at all costs!
As a homeowner, you always want to take the right precautions and do whatever you can to avoid any severe, not to mention costly, damage to your humble abode.
While that obviously includes turning off lights and electrical appliances before you leave to eliminate the chance of a fire and not starting the washing machine or dishwasher if you won’t be home while it’s running, it’s rather rare that accidents like these happen.
Instead, the home maintenance mistakes you aren’t even aware you’re making can lead to major restorations in the long run.
And with the the more time you spend at home, you’re also spending more time cleaning, cooking, and doing home projects, which creates more opportunities for error.
That’s why, with the help of builders, architects, and other home experts, we’ve rounded up 14 home maintenance mistakes causing damage to your house without you even realizing it. Continue reading to find out what you’re doing wrong.
Letting rooms with hardwood floors stay humid
Want to keep your laminate or hardwood floors looking brand new? If so, the answer isn’t some expensive cleaning product—it’s a dehumidifier! If humidity is above 55%, moisture can seep into the wood, causing your flooring to swell and warp over time.
Not using an exhaust fan in your bathroom
That exhaust fan in your bathroom isn’t just optional. If you don’t run it, at least for a little bit when you get out of the shower, you could be causing some severe damage to your space without even realizing it.
If you only turn the fan on for the duration of your bath or shower, you should know that the average exhaust fan for a bathroom won’t eliminate enough of the moist air during this time. Moist air mixed with complete darkness causes mold to begin forming.
Using too much shampoo on your carpets
You obviously want to eliminate any and all dirt from your rugs and carpets. But overdoing it with the carpet shampooer could cause more harm than good. If you don’t remove all the product from your carpets, you might accidently cause a mold issue to start growing.
To prevent this home maintenance mistake, be sure to remove as much moisture as you can with the carpet vacuum and open your windows to help your carpets dry out faster if they still feel damp after cleaning.
Cleaning your dishwasher with vinegar
Vinegar can effectively clean many surfaces. But it’s a huge no-no when it comes to your dishwasher.
Vinegar’s acidity can be hard on the rubber parts of your dishwasher, as well as any seals constructed of fluorosilicone, polyacrylate, and Buna-N. So, using vinegar will eventually cause your appliance to fail.
Not cleaning your dishwasher trap
While we’re on the subject of dishwashers, even though many folks see theirs as a self-cleaning machine, it COULD use a little TLC every once in a while.
At least once a month, you should clean your dishwasher trap, which is typically located on the bottom part of your dishwasher around its sprayer.
The soap holder and rubber gasket also need a good wipe down. Otherwise, you could be shortening the lifespan of your washing machine. Do you really want to risk making a home maintenance mistake like this?
Pouring grease down your drain
In this case, the best thing to do is to let that dirty pan cool on the stove instead of trying to pour hot cooking grease down your drain.
Oil, grease, and fats will solidify and create blockages in your pipes, which not only negatively impacts the environment but also creates issues for your septic system.
What kind of home maintenance mistakes exactly? It could be something as bad as an overflow of your plumbing. Do you really want to deal with that?
Putting appliances near your thermostat
Where you place your appliances matters way more than you may think. So don’t make this home maintenance mistake.
Since practically all appliances emit some sort of heat, if you put them close to your thermostat, they can register the rise in temperature and react accordingly, leading to a colder home in the winter and higher bills in the summer.
Keeping your blinds open all day long
Keeping your blinds open constantly might make your home look much brighter and cheery, but doing so can also cause severe damage to your flooring if you aren’t careful.
Intense UV rays can cause premature discoloration and fading to floors, especially hardwood flooring, according to a flooring expert.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to live in the dark. Just make sure you close your blinds when you head out for the day to avoid this home maintenance mistake.
Sweeping rather than vacuuming
What’s wrong with breaking out the ole’ broom to sweep up the dirt on your hardwood floors? Well, it turns out that it can actually shorten their lifespan.
If you’re going to sweep or mop, make sure you vacuum first to prevent moving those tiny particles and abrasives, like sand, along the floor’s surface, which can scratch or harm your floors, leading to a significant home maintenance mistake.
Ignoring flickering lights
Those flickering lights aren’t always just an eccentricity of your older home or the result of a defective bulb. And letting them go rampant can mean you’re putting yourself at risk for a serious home maintenance mistake.
A flickering light can also be an early warning sign of scary wiring problems. Experts recommend first checking that your bulb is screwed in accurately and replacing it if the issue continues. If that doesn’t seem to resolve things, it might be time to call an electrician.
Using chemical cleaners on painted cabinets
Do you want to get your cabinetry sparkling? If those surfaces are painted, avoid the bleach and ammonia-based cleaners you use in other areas of your home to prevent a home maintenance mistake.
An associate at a refinishing company explains that harsh chemicals wear down the finish, resulting in a faded look. Likewise, wax-based products can leave surfaces sticky and dull and need professional cleaning.
Allowing the ground around your home to dry out
We all know that having too much water around your home’s foundation can cause some severe damage. But a Sahara-like environment isn’t any better, either.
The ground is like a sponge, and when it dries out, it shrinks, forming an unstable base for the entire foundation of your home, explains the president of a Houston-based masonry repair and restoration company.
As time goes on, this can lead to cracks in your home’s foundation and might even allow water to sneak inside.
To prevent this home maintenance mistake, make sure to water the grass and dirt surrounding your home frequently, especially during scorching summers, just not so frequently that water pools near your foundation.
Not draining your water heater
If you’re not draining your water heater at least once a year, this home maintenance mistake could set your home up for significant damage over time.
The mineral deposits in your water heater create a crusty, thick coating that will start to chip off and clog your drains, faucets, and the water heater valve, according to experts. This can force the inner lining of your water heater to burst, ultimately requiring a replacement.
Removing your downspout extensions
Even though downspout extensions, which are long pieces of gutter that run along the ground, might not be attractive, removing them can lead to much more significant issues later, which makes it a huge home maintenance mistake.
Downspout extensions keep water away from your house’s foundation, and by eliminating them, you risk letting water pool directly around your foundation, increasing the risk of ending up with water in your basement.
Not only can this compromise your foundation, but it might even dampen the wood framing of your house, attracting pests and causing structural issues.
Did you know about these home maintenance mistakes?
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