A Guide To Home Improvement and Maintenance

Purchasing a house is one of the largest investments that many people make in their lifetime. To safeguard that investment, it is essential to take the time to make home improvements and practice regular maintenance—especially if your home is older. If you are a new homeowner, it can be hard to identify all the different areas of your home that need to be maintained, let alone knowing how to properly maintain them. To help you out, we have composed a simple guide on home improvement and maintenance for each area of the house. Continue reading to learn more about some of the most essential home maintenance practices and home improvements you can make to increase your home’s value and keep it safe.

Attic

Because most homeowners don’t spend a considerable amount of time hanging out in their attics, it can be easy to forget to practice proper attic maintenance or invest in attic improvements. However, foregoing attic maintenance and improvements can have a significant impact on the comfort of your home.

For example, if your attic isn’t insulated properly, keeping your home at a comfortable temperature will likely prove exceedingly difficult. Even with a top-quality air conditioner or heater, your home will not be able to maintain a comfortable temperature if the warm air is constantly leaving or entering your home through the attic.

To prevent the flow of warm air into and out of your home, it is crucial to invest in quality insulation. In addition to improving the comfort of your home, doing so will also greatly reduce your electricity bill by reducing the amount of power your heater or cooler needs to expend in order to effectively control the temperature of your home.

Due to the many benefits of proper attic insulation, it is important to monitor your insulation periodically and replace it when it becomes compressed, damaged, worn out, or otherwise ineffective.

Deck and Patio

Your deck and patio often require more maintenance than other areas of your home because they are constantly exposed to the elements. Over time, the sun, wind, rain, snow, and other types of weather can wear down the appearance of your deck and patio and cause damage. Fortunately, proper maintenance can help preserve your patio and deck to keep them looking good as new for as long as possible despite their vulnerable location.

One of the most effective ways to keep your deck and patio in tip-top shape is by power washing them. Power washing your deck and patio can help eliminate mold, mildew, algae, dirt, and grime that can accumulate over time and cause rotting. Removing such impurities doesn’t just prevent damage, but it can also restore the patio or decks original appearance so that they look like new after just one wash.

Ideally, you should aim to power wash your deck and patio once a year. Between washes you can complete other maintenance practices such as removing debris and sweeping regularly.

Driveway

Your home’s driveway can have a substantial impact on the curb appeal of your property. After all, it is one of the first things people see when they pull up to your home. If your driveway doesn't make a good first impression, the market value of your home could take a hit. As such, it’s essential to practice good driveway maintenance to preserve the curb appeal and value of your home.

One of the most effective ways to preserve the appearance of your driveway is to invest in annual seal coating services. Seal coating is a form of preventative driveway maintenance where a sealing coat is applied to its surface to protect it from damaging elements such as water, U.V. rays, and oil. In addition to preventing damage such as oxidation, premature cracking, substantial weathering, and stains, seal coating your driveway can also repair existing damage such as small cracks or chips to prevent them from becoming worse.

Aside from seal coating, other important forms of driveway maintenance include removing trees near driveways to prevent their roots from cracking the asphalt, shoveling or brushing away accumulated snow and water, and cleaning your driveway as soon as possible when oil or other fluids spill to prevent staining.

Roof

Roof issues are one of the most expensive home problems to fix – not to mention one of the most dangerous. After all, leaky roofs can often lead to harmful mold outbreaks or flooding inside the home which can become extremely hazardous if the water reaches electrical components. To prevent roof leaks or collapses, proper maintenance is essential.

If you live in a cold environment, one of the biggest threats to roofs are ice dams. Ice dams form when an attic isn’t properly insulated and heat escapes through the roof. If there is snow and ice on the roof, the escaped heat will melt it and cause it to slide down the roof, re-freezing towards the edge where it is cooler. As the snow on the roof melts and refreezes, a ledge or dam begins to form at the side. This wall effectively prevents water from rolling off of the roof, instead forcing it to accumulate on the middle of the roof. The pooled water places added stress on the roof which can lead to leaks and even roof collapses.

To prevent such roof damage, it is important to properly insulate your attic. Proper attic insulation will block warm air from escaping through the roof which will prevent ice dams from forming. As such, updating your attic insulation when necessary is actually one of the most important roof maintenance practices you can follow.

In addition to updating attic insulation, some of the more obvious roof maintenance practices include trimming branches that hang over the roof, cleaning gutters, cleaning shingles, and replacing roof sealant when necessary.

To keep your home in top shape, take a look at Paragon Protection’s extensive home maintenance services. Our services include power washing, seal coating, and spray foam insulation in McHenry County and Lake County. In addition to being the most trusted spray foam insulation contractor in the Chicagoland area, we also offer several other insulation types such as fiberglass, mineral wool, and cellulose insulation. For more information on our home improvement and maintenance services, contact us today.