HOME MAINTENANCE MADE EASY - THE SITE
by Dwell Building Services | August 2020 | Building Inspections Tweed and Gold Coast
Because we’re passionate about property we believe maintaining your asset is the name of the game!!
Your property is always in need of TLC. But don’t get discouraged by the on-going nature of home maintenance. It’s easy to prevent your home from deteriorating slowly over time. It’s about more than just the aesthetics - really looking after the bricks and mortar, keeping an eye on the actual condition of things. Doing the preventative stuff instead of the repair work.
Friends have asked us before – How would I know if my house was about to fall down around me? The easy answer is call us in, we’ll tell you. The DIY answer is also easy – follow our home maintenance check list, put time aside to complete tasks that need to be done, then do them!
The professionals start with the site, and so should you:
Driveways and Paths – Most concrete driveways and paths show cracking over time, and there’s not much you need to do about this, just keep an eye on it to make sure the cracks don’t become a trip hazard. If it’s beyond that point and they are currently a trip hazard, you can grind the lifted concrete back to make the crack even, or you could think about re-concreting the area.
Don’t fret about this kind of cracking, almost all driveways have it
Retaining Walls – Over time, timber retaining walls experience slumping from the pressure behind them. The only real way to fix a retaining wall is to dig out the material that is being retained, repair the wall and replace the back fill. This should be undertaken if the retaining wall is near collapse. Slow deterioration of timber retaining walls is normal and a well-built retaining wall should only be expected to last between 10-20 years. Rock walls don’t experience this and have a much longer life span, but can be subject to erosion to the soil behind if the water drainage system behind the rocks has worn away.
Surface Water Drainage – It’s so important to the interior of your property that you make sure that water can get away from your house. Water is the enemy of any property from within and without so in any home maintenance situation, if there’s stray water anywhere, alarm bells should be ringing. If there are any spots in your yard, especially near the exterior walls, where rain water pools it’s a good idea to make a drainage ditch or re-plane the ground to slope away from your house. This also applies to balconies that angle slightly back towards the property – they should be re-covered to drain away from the exterior wall, as water always finds a way in.
Garden Sheds – Most garden sheds are pre-fabricated metal sheet constructions set either on a timber or concrete slab. If your metal has started to rust around the edges, you can grind the rust back then apply an anti-corrosive agent to stop further rusting. If the shed is sitting on a timber base, check it to make sure it’s not been eaten out by termites – look for termite mudding, tap it firmly and listen for flaking timber/mud. If it has been damaged, you’re better off removing the timber and replacing it with a concrete slab to prevent someone falling through deteriorated timber sheeting.
Fencing – Timber fencing requires regular maintenance. If it’s starting to look “tired”, check along your fence with your hammer and nails, reinstating any palings that have detached. Check for moisture damage, and if you see any, sand back the damaged timber – it should be relatively fresh underneath depending on how long the damage has been there. Replace any palings that are too far gone. Then paint or stain the fence. This prolongs the life of the timber, preventing future moisture damage. Ideally, a timber fence should be protected against the weather biannually. Check all moving parts on gates to make sure they are working – DW40 is your friend.
If any particular element listed above is too far gone for your to tackle, or you think you need some outside help, call us and we’ll point you in the direction of a good local maintenance guy.
That’s it for your yard – next we’ll talk about the outside of the building.
