Three Maintenance Tips for First Time Homeowners

Contributed by Jennifer Cebulak

My husband and I purchased our first home during the $8,000 tax credit offered by good ol’ Uncle Sam awhile ago. We found a split-entry house built in the late seventies, updated and with lots of character (like huge windows facing the Wasatch Front mountains).  Best of all, the house would not need any work at all before we moved in.

Prior to purchasing our first home, we rented for several years a beautiful brick townhouse, with grounds maintained and well-kept throughout the four seasons. Bob, the “maintenance man” of the townhouse complex, could frequently be seen strolling across the sidewalks with tools in hand, ready to fix a leaky faucet or check a broken tile.  Bob came by to change the air filters every three months, religiously. Oh how wonderful to put in a maintenance request and simply let Bob take care of it! To his credit, Bob tried to teach us about the broken disposal as he worked on it. He showed us how to fix something in the toilet tank.  We smiled and half-listened, thinking we would never have to turn a screwdriver.

As the real estate sale went through and we started to pack, my husband and I knew that we would miss Bob the maintenance guy when we were homeowners. Hoping to maintain our neighborly friendship, we invited Bob over to the new place a couple of different times. He never did make it, though, so we lost the only handyman we knew.

For the first while everything went well in the new house. No repairs were necessary and we lived with crossed fingers, hoping we would never need to find another “Bob” to help us with our home repairs. It wasn’t too long, however, before some regular maintenance items began to show up. The air filter needed to be changed months ago, the humidifier stopped working, and we still didn’t know where to locate the water main.

In a feeble attempt to be a good, conscientious homeowner, I opened the breaker box in the basement and found it to be baffling in its scant labeling. My husband was no better (perhaps worse!) in the home repair area. We called a reliable uncle to help us turn on the sprinklers, but a few sprinkler heads were busted and we were overwhelmed with the enormity of the task of getting the sprinklers to work.  That was okay, though, because we didn’t own a lawn mower and and had to borrow one from our neighbor every six weeks.

How can new homeowners, faced with the task of maintaining an asset worth a quarter-of-a-million dollars, get by during that first year ?  Here are three maintenance tips for first time homeowners:

Be Realistic About Repairs

Maintaining a home is costly; every tiny repair adds up. Be ready to head to the Home Depot for all sorts of tools and equipment you didn’t know you would need. Swallow your pride and ask a helpful orange-aproned employee to direct you.  If you haven’t started a tool collection, it’s time to get a few basics together: hammer, screw drivers (two kinds), wrenches, tape measure, and anything else a good handyman would have in his tool belt.

Google It

As a computer geek, the first place I look for information is the internet. Once when the disposal stopped working, I panicked for awhile. Then I googled it and learned that an Allen wrench could fix the problem.  I found the correct wrench in a junk drawer and followed the detailed instructions.  Simple . . . and it worked!

Look for an Honest Repairman

When a pipe in the kitchen started to leak about a month ago, I thought it would be the undoing of my marriage. I was frantic at the sight of water dripping where it shouldn’t be, while my husband seemed to shrug it off.   When water came down from the ceiling into the laundry room in the  basement, I took matters into my own hands.  I felt a little better once I had determined that there were two leaks.  I used a fan to dry out the one leak I could control and called a handyman company that I found online (of course).  I called and listened as an enthusiastic employee told me how wonderful the company was.  Insured, accredited, and on and on.  Then he hit me with the price:  it was something like $125 for the first hour to get a plumber to come to the house.  I mumbled something quite rudely and hung up.  Finally, I just settled down to wait for the plumber my husband found to arrive.  In the end it all turned out well.  The plumber stopped the leak for $50, I purchased a Badger Disposal at my local Home Depot, and an electrician (recommended by the plumber) completed the wiring for $65.  Very reasonable!  We could have been gouged for hundreds at the hands of the national handyman chains; thankfully, honest blue-collar business owners charged us a reasonable price.   How can you, too, find an honest handyman?  Personal referrals are the way to go; ask family members, friends, and neighbors for recommendations.  You can also read reviews online, which are helpful if they are not paid ads and endorsements.

What about you?  Do you have any home maintenance tips to share?  Leave a reply below.