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Home Maintenance Tips from Handymen

A homeowner’s work is never truly done. Even after all the necessary repairs and improvements have been made, your house will not stay perfect.

Many people, particularly those buying a home for the first time, find year-round maintenance to be quite daunting. One homeowner went as far as to say that “doing home maintenance work is kind of like getting a filling – without Novocain.” Yikes!

We interviewed members of our team and collected a few home maintenance tips that we hope will kill the pain this summer!

Exterior Paint – Matchmaking

Members of our team conduct a thorough review of their homes’ exterior, from the foundation to the roof, at the beginning of every summer. It isn’t exactly summertime fun, but the warmer months allow paint to dry more easily.

If the damage is too widespread, having the entire structure professionally repainted may be the best option.

Here’s exactly what to look for (click to zoom): 

              Blistering                                 Peeling                               Cracking

 

You’re more likely to find small areas that need to be touched up. When we started collecting home maintenance tips from our team, we thought this might be a timely place to start. How can you touch up your home like a professional handyman?

Not only can you do this in a weekend, but many professional painting services will refuse to. They fear that nonmatching paint colours will result in imperfect results. For homeowners, there is a simple solution:

(a) If you have the paint can, take it to the paint store and they’ll easily be able to recreate the colour based on the label.

(b) If you don’t, remove a few chips and take them to the store. They’ll be able to recreate the colour using computer-based paint matching software.

Once you have the matching paint, paint a test patch and allow it to dry. If there are no noticeable differences, you’re free to proceed. Where’s the Novocaine?

Decks – The Splash Test

 

It’s every homeowner’s fantasy to spend the warm nights in your backyard, enjoying a few glasses with friends. This is why a well-maintained deck, on average, has a return on investment of more than 80%. 

That’s right. Whether you know it or not, your deck is an investment, and one of the best ways of protecting it is staining.

While different stains have different strengths and weaknesses, all protect your deck from water, sunlight, and mold and mildew.

The stain creates a ‘film’ around or beneath the surface of the deck, and this effectively shields it. In other words, it does much of the work of maintenance for you – and it looks like this:

 

The website Deck Stain Help has provided a detailed overview of the options available.

Staining isn’t a magic bullet, however. Every 2-3 years, your deck will need to be re-stained. When asking the team for home maintenance tips, they described a very easy method known as “the splash test.”

Splash a little water on the deck, and observe:

(a) If the water appears to penetrate the surface of the deck, then it is time to re-stain.

(b) If instead you see it bead up like so, then this means that it is effectively repelling water and is still in working order.

Goodbye novocaine, hello novostain! 

Front Door – Fresh Face

 

Your front door is arguably one of the most important parts of your home’s exterior. First impressions are everything, and this is where that crucial battle is won or lost.

According to Better Homes & Gardens: “Your home’s front entry is the focal point of its curb appeal.”

Contractor Scott Slider put it this way: “The front door is the only part of your house that anyone will stand and stare at, with nothing else to do.”

Unfortunately, your front door is also used multiple times every day and is constantly subjected to the elements. This includes rain, snow, direct sunlight and environmental moistures, as well as sand and dirt blowing in the wind.

In other words, your front door shares many enemies with your deck. There is a similar solution as well.

According to Home Depot, a new coat of paint will protect exterior parts of your home from “moisture, fading and temperature changes.”

They recommend using a glossy paint, as it is hard, durable and easy to clean – in other words, low maintenance

Another way to accomplish this is to replace your front door with a steel unit. Steel doors are easier to clean and maintain than any other type. In our article Pick Your Door, we briefly looked at the many reasons why you may want a steel door.

Some manufacturers will even coat the door in a weather-resistant material, usually paint, as well as a layer of zinc oxide, which prevents rust and corrosion.

Make it Easy

Maintaining your home is indeed the task that never ends. No amount of effective shortcuts will truly change that. Well, except one.

Make a single call to (416) 520-1161 or fill out this simple form and you will have booked a visit with what a representative at Royal LePage described as “a professional chore elimination team.”

That’s right. While some view home maintenance as a colossal headache, “the small stuff” is our company specialty. Book today and reclaim your free time!