Paint on the exterior of a home will need to be redone periodically
Windows will probably need to be cleaned once a year to be clear
Buy a drain snake and learn to use it. You’ll inevitably need it
Dust will accumulate faster than you expect, especially if you have/get pets
Change you furnace/AC filters regularly
Hose down your outside AC coil annually
Maybe learn to clean the flame sensors in your furnace. They can get covered in soot type material or oxidation over time and stop your furnace functioning
If you have a water softener, play with the regen timing. Old owners needs and your may vary, you may need more or less often
Garage doors have gears, those gears may need to be greased periodically
If you have bathrooms you don’t use normally, use them once in a while to keep the p-traps full (every 6 months at least)
If you have a demand water heater you should flush it annually. Learn to do it yourself. It’s not difficult and the one time equipment cost is less than you’d pay a plumber to do it for you.
Where “annually” depends on how hard/soft your water is…
Make sure the responsible people in your household know where the main water, gas, electric shutoffs are and how to use them properly. For water and gas, make sure they still are accessible and work by actually turning them off then on.
Almost everything in a house has a lifespan. Know what it is and where yours is at in terms of life left. Different roofs, siding, HVAC systems etc all have different lifespans and odds are you’re gonna have to replace most of them at some point in ownership.
Spend some hours on YouTube watching this old house or something similar. You’ll learn a lot of random things that mashes people handy, even if it isn’t directly applicable to your situation. How to replace a doorknob, how to change an outlet, unclog a drain, etc.
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This. Also, tanked water heaters only last 6-12 years. Ours is at 18 and has just started leaking. Please for the love of all that is holy: replace your water heater before you are forced to. Just received a replacement but the delivery guy damaged it and as a result I’m in RMA hell. They’re telling me that the replacement for the replacement could take weeks.
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Even draining it once a year is good.
If you are from somewhere that doesn’t freeze often you probably don’t know it’s a good idea to cover up external water faucets when it gets that cold outside. They even make special insulating covers for them.
Where I am it’s standard practice (although apparently not code) to install an interior valve. We turn off the exterior hose bibs before the first deep freeze, drain the line, and leave water off until spring.
Do you need to though if they are “frost-free” hose bibbs? Does it depend on whether the other side of the wall from the hose bibb is (heated) living space or not?
Those are great questions I don’t really know the answer to. In my own personal experience, a bedroom on the other side of an unprotected external faucet in a poorly insulated old house was enough warmth when there was a week of record setting cold that caused people I knew to experience a burst faucet.
Wow, crazy!
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Clean your gutters and get the mesh tops installed so they don’t clog again
It is worth putting ~1 cup of mild cleaning agent like distilled vinegar down your AC drain line every time you change the filter if you live in a humid area! All kinds of stuff can build up or live in that line leading to a clog, leading to a float switch cutoff or even a bit of mild flooding of your Aircon closet.
All good comments. Get any chimneys regularly cleaned by a chimney sweep. Get Heating systems checked by a pro every year. If you are heated/cooled by air, replace the filter(s) regularly. If you are heated by hot water, drain the system regularly. Drain the hot water tank regularly. Grease/Oil almost anything that moves. Service the lawn equipment regularly. Keep everything sharp.
If you’ve got a sump pump, check that it’s in good condition. It’s not a bad idea to have a backup pump and back up power.
