It’s 2015, Ya’ll!: 7 January Home Maintenance Tips For Your East Texas Home

It’s 2015, Ya’ll!: 7 January Home Maintenance Tips For Your East Texas Home

 Happy New Year everyone! Now that the champagne has bubbled and 2015 has begun, it’s a great time to get a few home maintenance items checked off that “to do” list!
Check out these 7 Tips for January home maintenance in your East Texas home:

1. DON’T BEEP AT ME – Test the batteries in your smoke detector and if needed, change them out. This is an easy one to check off!

2. PROTECT THE PLANTS—Bring any warm-weather plants indoors or to the garage so they have a fighting chance to survive the winter (Unless they are already dead from the chill, which, in that case…R.I.P.). Add mulch to your flower beds to create a warm “blanket” for the plants. It’s also a good idea to have a few blankets or towels ready for your most delicate plants, in case we have some deep or extended freezing weather.

3. BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES— If your house is a pier and beam foundation, take a quick walk around the house and make sure that all crawl space openings are closed up to prevent more cold air going under the house and straight to the pipes. Assuming you haven’t done this already, drain and disconnect your garden hoses and wrap/insulate all exterior pipes and install faucet covers to protect your spigots. Also, if you don’t have central heat, you may want to consider wrapping interior pipes—especially those on exterior walls to prevent an interior pipe busting.

4. CHECK YOUR CHIMNEY—Before you light that first fire of the winter, be sure to check your chimney for buildup (or better yet, have it professionally cleaned). Chimney fires are easy to prevent with a little maintenance.

5. FILTER CHANGE—This is a 2 minute fix! Hooray! Change out your HVAC air filter. It will help your system run more efficiently and save you some money.

6. INDOOR PROJECTS—Now is a great time to start an interior project or two. You’ll be spending more time inside to escape the frigid weather, so might as well put the time to good use! Painting walls in a room or repainting woodwork are both great cold weather projects that don’t take too much time but offer a fantastic fresh update.

7. APPLIANCE 911—Since you’ve got all this free time indoors (ha!), it’s a good idea to give your kitchen appliances a deep clean. Don’t forget to clean your refrigerator coils, also. It will substantially prolong the life of your refrigerator. Every model is different, so check your manufacturer instructions on how to do it. If you’ve lost the manual, google the make and model and you’ll likely find a free printable replacement manual. If your fridge has a water filter, check it to see if its time for a filter replacement.

If your New Years resolution was to stay on top of your home maintenance tasks, don’t worry, I’ve got ya covered. Cheers to a fantastic 2015!
 
Lisa E. Priest can’t believe its already 2015 and is an East Texas Area REALTOR® with Picket Fence Realty, Inc. You can reach her via phone or text at 903-948-3343 or email [email protected] or at BuyPalestine.com.