Time, constant use, the elements, and a bunch of other factors can wear down the condition of your home. Regular maintenance is essential to keep it in a good state for a long, long time. Some jobs, like changing air filters, trimming trees and shrubs, and taking out sediments in the boiler, need to be done several times in a year.

Others only need to be attended to until several years when they start showing signs of wear or damage, like the flooring, foundation, and seal grout (though this doesn’t mean that you can’t inspect them at least once a year). However, there are certain maintenance tasks that need to be addressed immediately; otherwise, you risk more damage to your home and ultimately losing money.

Worn door sets

Contrary to popular belief, doors, especially front doors, are the favourite gateway of intruders to people’s homes. In order to secure your home, you must make sure that you have a robust door with sturdy locks, hinges, and strike plates. The weakest part of a door is usually near the door knob. If you’re not using a high-quality metal strike plate, burglars can easily kick the door open.

If you can pick doors with a good set of lockpick tools, there’s no reason that others cannot, so you must guard your doors against that too. Watch out for signs that your lock has been picked, like your door set having scratches that weren’t there before. When you see them, change your locks, fix loose screws and hinges, and install an alarm immediately. Don’t wait for something bad to happen before you act.

Broken windows

Unless it’s done by you or by one of the members in your family, a broken window can be another sign that your home isn’t as safe as you thought it was. If getting through the front door isn’t viable, intruders will check the windows next.

As soon as you notice any cracks on the glass and damaged parts on your windows, get them replaced or fixed immediately, a quick search like Windows Cheltenham will pull up local services to you. Further, avoid leaving out anything that criminals can use to climb to your second-story windows.

Better yet, install an alarm that sounds out when your windows are tampered with. A broken and accessible window leaves your home vulnerable to the outside and unsafe for you. It’s up to you to guard your home against all intruders.

Leaky pipes

Ignoring a leaky pipe is a costly mistake that can result in serious damage to your home. A tiny leak can get worse, affect your home’s entire plumbing system, cause a flood, create a conducive environment for moulding, and make you lose a lot of money.

Never leave a leak unattended for a long time. Fix the problem before it blows out of proportion. Most leaks aren’t discovered until they cause major problems. You must actively and frequently inspect your plumbing system and pipes to catch a leak before it gets worse.

Running toilet

Running toilet, also called as phantom flushing, isn’t caused by a ghost haunting your bathroom. It happens because of a problem in the toilet’s flushing mechanism in the tank. The problem usually lies in the flapper that blocks the water in the tank from flowing to the toilet. When you press the flush button, a mechanism lifts the flapper and releases the water. Over time, the flapper wears down, hardens, or gets misaligned, so it stops serving its purpose.

Open the tank to determine the problem. You can easily replace the flapper if it’s worn or hardened. If it’s misaligned, adjust the chain connecting the flapper to fix the alignment. In the event that the flapper is not the problem, check the valve controlling the water flow in the tank. It could be that the setting is too high, so there’s excess water in the tank.

If the problem is more than just the flapper or valve setting, it’s recommended to get it checked by a professional plumber to determine the real issue and fix the problem. If worse comes to worst, you may have to replace your old toilet with a new one, which is a good chance to switch to a water-efficient model like the Saniplus upflush toilet for more water savings and easy installation.

Final word

Every person wants to live in a clean, beautiful, and peaceful home, but it takes work to have a home like that. Nothing can escape the effect of time, not even the sturdiest homes. As the homeowner, you can do a lot to keep the effects at bay and reverse the damage. The key is regular maintenance.