Home Maintenance Tips

Introduction | Outside Maintenance | Home Maintenance | Exhausting & Ventilation Equipment | Dehumidification Services | Water Heater | Fireplace | Products, Materials, and Furniture | Leaks and Other Problem Areas | Summary

CONSUMER'S GUIDE TO HOME MAINTENANCE

Many consumers overlook the basic maintenance issues necessary to ensure a healthy home. A home is unlike any other product on the market, it requires your attention and care to ensure its long-term health as well as your own. Certainly, with any home, the potential is present for indoor air quality issues to arise. As a responsible homeowner, it is your responsibility to perform daily maintenance to ensure a long lasting and comfortable living environment. New home construction practices are constantly being changed and upgraded to provide the home buying public with the latest construction methods. However, with all of the material and product options available to today's consumer, proper care, maintenance, and use must be taken.

As a consumer, you will be presented with varying degrees of material and product quality to choose from, dependent on your budget. Understand that the materials and products found in your home, no matter the quality, require your long-term care to promote its longevity. While the homeowner or the homebuilder is unable to control the natural elements that may exist in and around your home, it is necessary that your family takes part in understanding how the home operates and what should be done to minimize future structural and air quality concerns.

In addition, the concern of mold has taken center stage in recent years and demands your attention. As many of you are aware, mold is a naturally occurring fungus and under the right set of conditions, it can begin to grow inside homes. This brochure will provide you with some basics about your home and its susceptibility to mold.

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OUTSIDE MAINTENANCE AND LANDSCAPING

Make sure that your gutters and downspouts are clear of debris (leaves, sticks, etc.) that may block the flow of water from your roof.

Properly grade the area under your downspouts and around your house, so that rainwater flows away from your foundation. Splash blocks can help rainwater at downspouts flow in the proper direction. If necessary, extend your downspouts.

It is recommended to set plantings away from the foundation to ensure regular watering does not add to soil moisture around the basement. Ensure that lawn sprinklers do not hit the house or the area next to the foundation.

Ensure that landscaping around the foundation (sidewalks, patios, gardens, etc.) starts at 8 inches down from the top of your foundation wall and sloped away from the home. Failure to do so may cause moisture to buildup at or around the foundation and promote the environment for mold growth.

Keep mulch, dirt and other landscaping material away from veneer drainage system weep holes commonly found on, but not limited to masonry and stucco homes. The veneer drainage system diverts water away from the interior of the exterior wall system and the weep holes allow the water to escape the wall. If the weep holes are blocked or clogged with debris, mold may form on the interior of the exterior walls. The weep holes are found at the bottom of the finished veneer.

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BASIC HOME MAINTENANCE

It is important to maintain a clean living environment to minimize health hazards, especially with highly allergenic individuals. This includes weekly cleanings of the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and general living spaces. Understand that clothing, shoes, other fabric items, and general household and non-household products and materials will transport mold spores into your home. While mold spores are all around us, it is important to minimize the environment for mold and mildew growth. Cleaning with hot water or cleaning as recommended by product manufacturers is necessary to minimize health hazards and indoor air quality related problems. The Center for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency recommend a bleach/water combination or a soap/water combination when cleaning initial surface mold growth. Larger infestation of mold and mildew may require you to hire a professional mold investigator and mold mitigator to sufficiently remove the problem. In addition, household maintenance is necessary for the long-term durability of your home. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

Weekly cleanings of the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and general living spaces, including regular testing and cleaning of household appliance and ventilation equipment.

Conduct visual home inspections throughout the year to ensure your home is performing correctly.

Maintain proper humidity levels within the home using air conditioning, exhaust fans, humidification or dehumidification devices.

You should provide additional caulking on an annual basis or as needed. Your home experiences shrinking and expanding throughout its life, which effects caulked areas. Caulking around windows, doors, chimney, foundation, and other common leakage points is necessary on an annual basis.

Vacuum and clean regularly to remove possible sources of mold growth. Pay special attention to bathrooms and other areas of your home that are likely to generate excessive moisture.

In portions of your home that are susceptible to moisture, use area rugs or washable floor surfaces rather than wall-to-wall carpeting. If you use area rugs, launder them periodically.

Do not store materials such as paper, books, clothes, or other possible sources of food for mold in humid parts of your home or against cold surfaces.

Repair water leaks in your roof, windows, or any other parts of your home within 24 hours of when the leak begins or as soon as possible. Remember, under the right conditions, mold growth can begin within 24-48 hours.

Seeing moisture on windows is not unusual. This is caused by excessive moisture in the environment that can be eliminated by dehumidification and the use of a fan to move the air. Windows are a key moisture indicator, but not the only indicator. Remove the moisture from the windows. Reduce humidity levels through the use of dehumidification devices. Let your windows breathe by opening the shades to avoid trapping moisture.

Clean refrigerator drip pans regularly according to the manufacturer's instructions. If your refrigerator and freezer doors do not seal properly, moisture can build up and mold can flourish. Remove any mold on the door gaskets and replace faulty gaskets.

Properly insulate and ventilate the attic of your home.

Periodically inspect attics after snow has fallen to ensure no snow has entered your home through roof vents or other ways.

Clean up and correct any water problems in your basement as quickly as possible.

Test Sump Pump regularly.

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EXHAUSTING AND VENTILATION EQUIPMENT

Exhaust fans should be vented to the outdoors and not to an attic, basement, crawl space or other indoor areas.

If your home does not have an exhaust fan, open a window to remove the excess moisture. Drastic changes in temperature from one day to the next may produce additional moisture that may become problematic, so be sure to use air conditioning, dehumidification, and exhaust fans to limit the extreme temperature differentials.

To help in maintaining a safe humidity level, it is necessary to run your air conditioning unit during humid conditions and run your exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathrooms during and after use (necessary times will vary).

Kitchen and Bathrooms
The kitchen and bathroom activities have the most humidity and moisture content of any room in your house. It is very important to utilize an exhaust fan during and after bathing or cooking. While the performance of exhaust fans vary from location to location, it is important to run these fans long enough to remove the excess moisture from your house. In addition, it is beneficial in removing standing water from your tub and shower areas to reduce the potential for mold growth. You should consider wiping down hard surfaces to remove surface water.

Basement
Basements may experience naturally occurring moisture from below grade conditions and soils that surround the foundation. While not all basements experience excess moisture, you should determine whether a dehumidification system is necessary to control damp, moist air (typically, dehumidification is required during warm months). In a basement that does not fall within the acceptable Relative Humidity range, it is recommended to run a dehumidifier constantly to remove moist, damp air. You must determine the level of moisture in your basement prior to determining the best humidifier for your basement conditions. The cheapest dehumidifier may not be the best option. In addition, materials (i.e. cardboard boxes, clothing, etc.) that may provide food sources for mold and mildew are not recommended for storage in the basement.

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DEHUMIDIFICATION SYSTEMS

When determined necessary, continuous use of a dehumidifier is recommended in the basement and in areas where humid, moist conditions exist. While most dehumidification units help reduce the amount of moisture in the air, we recommend speaking with a qualified Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning contractor to determine the appropriate unit for your home's moisture condition. There are many considerations to be made before choosing a dehumidifier, including energy use and performance. The cheapest unit may not control your moisture to an appropriate level, while the most expensive unit may not be necessary. Check with an expert to make your final determination.

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WATER HEATER

Most water heaters found in homes today are open combustion, which means the off-gases are naturally exhausting through a vent that is located above or near the appliance.

As with most appliances, a regular maintenance schedule is required to ensure proper performance of the water heater.

It is very important that the off-gases are produced at a normal level and exhaust through a vent to the outside.

Other options available are direct vent and power vented water heaters.

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FIREPLACE

A Natural or open combustion fireplace is a beautiful addition to a home; however, proper operation and maintenance is a necessity.

Maintenance is also necessary for abandoned chimneys.

During operation, it is important to ensure that the smoke is exhausting through the chimney and not off-gassing into the living area. It may be necessary to open a window to allow for a fresh supply of air for combustion.

Regular chimney cleaning will help to minimize the toxins located in your chimney and reduce the off-gas potential.

Check with a professional to determine your best wood burning options.

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PRODUCTS, MATERIALS, AND FURNITURE]

Homeowners contribute a great deal of indoor air pollutants to the indoor environment through home cleaning products, perfumes, paints, and stains. In addition to those pollutants, furniture, flooring, and carpeting release off-gases and contribute different sorts of indoor pollutants that may cause health problems if proper ventilation is not followed. Regardless of your level of immunity to the variety of pollutants present in your home, it is very important to allow fresh air into your home to replace the stale air. This includes opening your window throughout the year and running your ceiling or stand-alone fans to circulate the air. Circulating fresh air is especially important when new products, materials or furniture are present in the home. In addition, ventilation equipment is available to increase the airflow and change of air.

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LEAKS AND OTHER PROBLEM AREAS

If water damage or leaks occur, it is imperative that the water-damaged materials are removed and the leakage point is repaired to prevent future infiltration. Before beginning the repair work, it is important to determine whether the problem is a result of the design, the construction or the maintenance of the home. In the case of the design, the homeowner should contact competent repair personnel to make the appropriate correction so that the problem does not re-occur. In any case, the growth of mold could occur after a flood, a sewer back-up, an overflowing toilet, leaking pipes, roof leaks, window leaks, humidifiers, and any other serious water-related problems. These issues should be addressed immediately after the problem is identified to mitigate the problem.

Conduct monthly checks for leaks and other problem areas. Leaks may cause the creation of mold.

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SUMMARY

Please take the above maintenance tips seriously to ensure a long lasting home. If you are unable to conduct the maintenance necessary, it is important to hire reputable repair and or maintenance personnel member. The above is only a brief list of maintenance tips to provide consumers with a starting point. Further research may be necessary to ensure durability through the life of the individual device, product, and material. Proper care of your home must be a priority.

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