Homes can cost a lot of money and take a good amount of effort to maintain. However, you may be unnecessarily spending extra money on upkeep.
Here are the 10 most expensive home maintenance mistakes you might be making in your home:
1. Using Traditional Light bulbs
If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, you could be throwing a lot of money away every month on inflated electric bills. Over the life span of an incandescent bulb, it can use over $180 of electricity, whereas a CFL light bulb will only use $41 of electricity over the same time period. Even better than a CFL bulb is an LED bulb, which uses only $30 of electricity. Think about the energy cost savings if you replace every light bulb in your home.
2. Ignoring a Leaky Faucet
A leaky faucet that drips one drop per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year, and that’s enough water to take more than 180 showers. Some of us live in areas where water is plentiful, but for those of us in areas plagued with drought, a water leak could cost you a small fortune. Fix or replace your leaky faucets and save a ton on your water bill!
3. Using the Wrong Air Filter Size
We all sometimes forget to change out the air filters for our HVAC systems or accidentally purchase the wrong size. But using the incorrect filter or even a dirty filter can increase your power bill and cause expensive problems for your furnace down the road. Use the correct furnace filter for your system and set a reminder to change it once a month. You won't regret it.
4. Not Customizing Temperature
Invest in a customizable or smart thermostat for your HVAC system. If you’re away at work all day or on vacation, you can program your furnace or air conditioner to adjust a few degrees while you’re out and then shift back to normal temperature shortly before you return home. Heating or cooling an empty home wastes a lot in energy costs.
5. Not Adjusting Air Vents Properly
Is one room in your home hot, while the others are cold? Oftentimes homeowners will crank up the air conditioning in the whole house to combat hot or cold temperatures in certain areas. Instead, adjust air vents to direct the flow of air more evenly throughout your entire home. If you need further help solving this issue, HVAC professionals can come to your home and make recommendations or service your HVAC unit to regulate airflow so that your entire home is a more equalized temperature.
6. Over Watering Lawn
Many homeowners have their sprinkler systems programmed to come on in the early morning hours for optimum lawn health. This can become a problem, however, if you’re never around to see what the sprinklers are actually watering. A broken sprinkler head could be causing a fountain, or the trajectory of your sprinkler may be directed at a fence instead of your lawn. Periodically run sprinklers when you are home to check the performance and to ensure you’re not unnecessarily increasing your water bill, like with leaky faucets.
7. Water Heater Temperature Set Too High
Unless you have a tankless water heater, your water heater is keeping the water 24/7. If you don’t keep an eye on the temperature as each season changes, you may be increasing your energy costs to heat your water. Decrease the temperature in the summer, and bump it back up when winter comes.
8. Leaky Windows and Doors
Leaky windows and doors are great places for cold, winter winds to enter your home. Many homeowners simply ignore them and crank up their heaters. Caulk leaky windows and put rubber seal around doors to keep winter winds out and warmth in.
9. Paying a Handyman
Don't pay a handyman for a job that is sim
ple enough to do yourself. If you’re unsure of how to do something, look up video tutorials online. Doing simple tasks yourself can save you a lot of money.
10. Ignoring Curled Shingles
It may be easy to ignore problems on your roof, but it will only lead to bigger problems later. If you see any possible issues with your roof, repair them as soon as possible. This will save you significant repair or replacement costs later.
Use these ten tips to help reduce your home maintenance costs today! I hope you don’t run into bigger issues when performing your home maintenance, but if you do, please refer to my preferred vendor list for trusted home maintenance professionals in the area.
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