Nov 17th, 2008
Staying on Top of Maintenance
“That crack in the sidewalk will wait.”
“We can paint next year.”
We all say these types of things all the time. We rarely have enough time to take care of everything in our home (or the rest of our lives) and to keep it perfect, but ignoring these small problems can lead to a big problem later.
If you follow the “Broken Windows” theory, these small problems accumulate over time and have a significant psychological effect. The theory asserts that each neighborhood in decline started with one broken window that was never fixed. Over time, broken windows throughout the neighborhood become the norm, and pretty soon you can say the same thing about graffiti, crack dealers, and other forms of crime. For more on this, see “Fixing Broken Windows”, it’s a great read, even if it doesn’t have Bob Vila on the cover.
This can happen in an individual home too. We all know someone who has started a remodeling project that has never been completed. Something just always seems to come up that is more important. Pretty soon, navigating around ladders and paint buckets becomes normal for the family. Then another project seems more important, we we have a few more ladders, maybe some more tarps out. There is a snowball effect that occurs over time until the home is in such disarray that most people clean it up and sell it (at a discount).
This is why it is so critical to stay up to date on your home maintenance. Start with a checklist of small projects that can be completed quickly. Don’t be ambitious! There is more glory in a new kitchen, but if the rest of the home suffers, the overall effect could well be a decline in your home’s value. A new kitchen with all stainless steel appliances doesn’t increase your home’s value if the roof starts leaking and warps the walls.
There are good times for homeowners to pursue these big projects, but they shouldn’t even be attempted until all the basics of annual maintenance are performed.
Luckily we’ve built a checklist to help you stay up on all the annual maintenance tasks you should be doing to make sure your home retains its value. You’ll have plenty of time later to put in the jacuzzi tub, right now you probably need to be double-checking your sump pump!
Tell us more about your horror stories in the comments. I’m sure we all have some.
In one of my finer moments, I decided I was going to stain the deck in the morning before a birthday party for a friend who lived out of town. Three trips to the hardware store later, I was 2 hours late and that deck is still splotchy to this day!