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Maintaining Your Property Good for You, Good for your Neighbors, and Cost Effective by Nikki Willhite Spring is here, and with the warmer weather, many people start planning home maintenance chores. I would like to encourage everyone to do what you can this year to beautify and repair any property that you own. This is for your benefit, as well as your neighbors and community. While it does take money to keep your property in good repair, it is cost effective. If you don't take care of it, it will lead to problems that will take a LOT of money to fix. No matter now simple your house, it can be made to look nice if both it and the yard are well maintained. If you don't have a lot of time to work on your landscaping, remove any high maintenance items. You don't have to have flower and shrub beds next to your foundation. If you can't take care of them, it would look better to just grow the grass straight to the house. Here are some of the things that can happen if you neglect your home - Roof shingles not replaced in time cause water damage to the underlying plywood, which then has to be replaced. - Gutters not kept clear of debris back up. They no longer do their job. This causes more water damage. - Siding not painted and protected becomes warped, and cracked. Again, water may reach the plywood underneath the siding. Usually the siding is so ruined it will never look good, even when painted. - Insufficient caulking  leads to water damage, both inside and outside the home. Subflooring and the foundation of your home may be compromised. I've seen people have to hire someone to crawl under their home and replace the whole foundation. - Overgrown foliage touching your house provides secret tunnels for insects to invade your home. Large trees planted too near your home will spread their roots through your drainage pipes (not covered by insurance) and push up sidewalks and foundations. In some areas, not spraying your foliage leads to ugly gray scales on the branches, that you can never get rid of. Neglected lawns turn into nothing but weeds and moss. Often they have to be totally stripped and replanted. - Water damage and insect infestation are the biggest consequences of neglecting your home. One leads to another, as insects love wet, rotting wood. Termites and carpenter ants can destroy your home. You can keep the costs as low as possible by doing most of it yourself. There is nothing wrong with taking shortcuts. You may not have to replace all the shingles on your roof. Sometimes you can just patch it. You can spray for pests yourself. You can just paint the south side of your home, which usually takes the biggest beating, and so forth. Home ownership is a big responsibility. While you own it, that home is under your stewardship. Like all things, it's better to leave it better than you found it. Keep up with your home so that it doesn't become an overwhelming job to fix it up. About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money!  Article first published at www.allthingsfrugal.com

 

 

 

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