Give Your Home a Checkup

Why should I give my home a checkup?

  Well that's an easy one to answer, because you want to keep your home in the best possible condition.  Periodic checkups help identify maintenance and repair issues and you might be able to catch them before they become major concerns.  Like I have say often "It's easier to stay caught up then it is to get caught up"

Spring tips

• Check all the fascia and trim for deterioration
• Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher accessible.
• Review your fire escape plan with your family
• Have a professional air conditioning contractor inspect and maintain your system as recommended by the manufacturer
• Check for damage to your roof
• Gutters and downspouts
• Check your windows and doors
• Repair all cracked, broken or uneven driveways and walks to help provide a level walking surface
• Check your water heater
• Check the shutoff valve at each plumbing fixture to make sure they function
• Clean clothes dryer exhaust duct, damper, and space under the dryer
• Replace all extension cords that have become brittle, worn or damaged
• Inspect and clean dust from the covers of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
• Replace your furnace filter
• Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter
• Check your electrical system
• Run through a severe-weather drill with your family

Check all the fascia and trim for deterioration

These areas can become weathered and worn and may lead to potential water damage.

Have a professional air conditioning contractor inspect and maintain your system as recommended by the manufacturer

Maintenance should include:

• Cleaning the evaporator coil
  
• Lubricating fans and motors
  
• Tightening or changing the belts
  
• Checking electrical safeties
  
• Checking the drain pan for leaks
  
• Testing the capacitors
  
• Check the condensate drain
  
• Test the crankcase heater
  
• Calibrating the thermostat
  
• Visually checking the wiring for potential short circuits

These steps can help decrease the chance of fire, save money by making the system run more efficiently and help prevent breakdowns.

Things you can maintain:

• Check the condensate hose to be sure it is not blocked with algae.
  
• Clean the outside condensing unit screen of leaves.
  
• Listen for unusual noises.

Check for damage to your roof

Inspect your roof, chimneys and vents from the ground with binoculars or from a ladder at the eaves.  Do not get on the roof if the pitch or weather conditions present a safety hazard.  If you spot any problems, it is recommended you hire a professional to do the work.  Roof coverings should be checked in spring and fall for any visible missing shingles, damaged coverings, moss build up, nail pops, or other defects.

Gutters and downspouts

One of the best ways to keep your basement dry is to control water run off from your house.  Gutters, downspouts and extensions are installed for exactly this purpose.  Make sure there is no leaking in the joints or in the corners.  The extensions should be in place and the slope next to the house should slope away from the house at a 1" per foot for 5 -6 feet.

Check windows and doors

These can be an enormous source for lost energy.  Maintain the caulking around the frames on the exterior.  Inspect all doors and windows for proper fit, chipped or peeling paint, cracked or missing caulk and loose or missing putty.  Check storms for weep holes, they allow water to drain from the window sills.  Check weatherstripping on the doors and windows, make sure it fits snugly.

Repair all cracked, broken or uneven driveways and walks to help provide a level walking surface

This will help prevent guests and family members from slipping, tripping or falling.

Check the shutoff valve at each plumbing fixture to make sure they function

Know the location of all valves and what equipment and water lines they serve. Teach all family members.  Every one in the house should know how and where to turn off the main water supply.

Check your water heater

• If you have a gas-fired water heater, check to make sure it is venting properly. Light a match next to the vent and wave it out (don't blow it out). See if the smoke is pulled up into the vent. If it isn't, have a professional inspect and repair it. Otherwise, carbon monoxide and other combustibles can build up in the home.
  
  
• Check around the base of your water heater for evidence of leaks. If your water heater is over 5 years old, it should be checked monthly for any leakage or rusting at the bottom. If water leakage or rust is found, the water heater should be replaced.

Clean the clothes dryer exhaust duct, damper and space under the dryer

Poor maintenance allows lint to build up in the exhaust duct and cause fire.

Replace all extension cords that have become brittle, worn or damaged

Exposed wires may cause arcing, which will produce heat and can start a fire. Care should also be taken to keep appliances and their power cords away from water or a heat source because this will damage the cord's insulation.

Replace or clean your furnace filter

It should be checked once a month and replaced or cleaned as needed. Some filters are reusable and are supposed to be taken out, washed with a hose and re-inserted. A dirty filter can lower the efficiency of the heating/cooling system, increase heating costs and cause fires.  Date the filter to know for sure the last time it was changed.

Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter

Keeping this clean of cooking grease will help keep a stove top fire from spreading.

Check your electrical system

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• Trip and reset the circuit breakers regularly.
  
  
• Remove any combustible materials such as paper boxes or flammable liquids from the area near the main electrical panel. Sparks caused by arcing inside the panel can ignite material stored nearby.
  
  
• Check all electrical outlets for loose-fitting plugs they are an indication of a worn out receptacle. Worn receptacles should be replaced as they cause overheating and fires. Also check electrical outlets and switches to be sure they work properly. If any switches, outlets or receptacles do not work, have a qualified electrician determine the problem and fix it to avoid fires inside the walls of your home.
  
  

•  Install safety covers to help protect children from electrical shock. Any appliance or tool that gives even the slightest shock should be unplugged and checked by an electrician or repair shop.  

• Check Ground Fault Current Interrupted (GFCI) outlets.  Trip them and reset them every month to make sure they work properly.

Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher accessible

Make sure it is Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listed or Factory Mutual (FM) approved. Check the gauges to make sure they are charged and ready to use.

Plan and practice a severe weather action plan

Sit down with your family and go over what to do in case of severe weather.  Know where to go, have flashlights, batteries, candles on hand and readily accessible.

Ask for help

If there are things that you don't understand about your house, ask for help.  Not every home owner has the proper tools, ladders and knowledge to do a good home checkup.  You could always bring in a professional home inspector to do a maintenance inspection for you, and then you could decide what projects you can do yourself, and what ones to hire out.

Crawl Spaces

Every once in a while I have the pleasure of inspecting a crawl space.  Upon exiting, I usually get a host of comments and in some cases a little shock of how dirty they can be.  In Wisconsin most houses are built with a full basement due to the fact that you have to excavate below the frost line for the foundation footings and you may as well go the rest of the way for the full basement.  Besides,  the basement IS the best place for a man cave.

Though homeowners rarely think about that small space under their houses, builders should give crawlspaces careful consideration. Some of the most common—and damaging— building problems stem from moisture in crawlspaces. Poorly constructed crawlspaces can contribute to mold problems, indoor air problems, and inefficient operation of the home’s mechanical equipment. Carefully considering design and construction of crawlspaces, as part of an overall quality construction strategy, can reduce problems for both builders and homeowners.

Now for the big question, vented or unvented.  To explain this in simple terms, the diagram shows the differences and identifies them as heated vs. unheated.  Crawl spaces used to be built with vents to the outside air.  The thinking behind that is it will cut down on moisture and humidity with the moving air through the vents.  The heated crawlspace has insulation on the floor and walls of the space.  The unheated version has the insulation under the floor, leaving the space to get cold and create a list of potential problems like the ones mentioned.  The moisture contributed to the conditions in the first picture.  In the winter time, the floors would be very cold and any duct work run through there would make the mechanical systems inefficient and cause high utility bills, not to mention the possibility of a frozen water pipe bursting.  By closing up the vents, and moving the location of the insulation and opening the crawl space to conditioned (read heated) the benefits start to become evident.

To have a conditioned crawl space, we have to have certain criteria met just like a full basement.  The foundation walls need to be built on footings with drain tile and a sump pump.  The wall system must not leak air or water.  A drainage system for roof water to be collected and drained to a correctly sloping grade so the water flows away from the crawl space.  Next, a continuous and sealed high quality 6 mil polyethylene vapor retarder on the ground in the crawlspace and protect it with a concrete scratch coat or a layer of gravel.  The purpose of the vapor barrier is to keep the moisture in the ground where it belongs, IN THE GROUND.  The walls need to be insulated to the proper thickness for your area.

Benefits of unvented crawlspaces.
Crawlspace vents effectively become the “determined hole” in a home. In winter, warm air exiting the attic or ceiling creates a negative pressure at the lowest openings in the home. This negative pressure causes cold air to enter through the crawlspace vents and rise through holes in the sub floor to the first floor. This phenomenon creates the “cold floor syndrome” prevalent in cold climate homes with vented crawlspaces.

The cold air can also carry unwanted moisture and gases from the soil, and odors from the crawlspace into the home.  In unvented crawlspaces, the walls, instead of the floor, should be insulated to limit heat transfer from outside to inside the crawlspace, and vice versa. When properly built, an unvented, insulated crawlspace helps to eliminate problems with comfort, odor, and health associated with mold, mildew, and bacterial growth.

Once the crawlspace is insulated and unvented, it should be treated the same way as any other space in the house—supplied with a certain amount of heated or cooled air from the mechanical system. Conditioning the crawlspace can help the mechanical components that are housed in the crawlspace (the air handler, duct work for the first floor zone, and plumbing line, for example) operate more efficiently and last longer because they are not subject to temperature and humidity extremes.

Ideally, the crawlspace temperature should be about 55°F to 65°F year-round. All ducts should be well sealed with mastic to prevent unwanted air leakage. This air leakage increases energy consumption because the outside air has to be heated in the winter and cooled in the summer.

Will these improvements increase construction costs? Probably not significantly. You can save money when replacing underfloor insulation with wall insulation, because the square footage of crawlspace walls is typically significantly less than the square footage of the first floor. The required insulation R-value is generally lower for crawlspace walls than what is required for floors.