Watch Out For These Issues When Buying a New Home and Save Yourself a Headache in the Future

Your dream home can quickly become a nightmare if you discover damage and problems that you didn’t anticipate after you move in. Not only is this extremely stressful, but you could also find yourself on the hook for lots of money in repairs and maintenance that you likely hadn’t budgeted for.

The best way to protect your family and to protect your investment is to follow a checklist that helps you to try to uncover any deficiency in your prospective home before it becomes your problem.

Why You Need a Property Inspection

Your house is the source of your biggest debt and your biggest asset, which is why you need to do everything that you can to protect your investment.

The property inspection, done by a certified professional, is your first step towards making an informed decision about your home purchase.

Sometimes, homes can look great on the outside, but when you start digging beneath the surface, there is damage that is expensive to fix or may even be unsafe. At the very least, a property inspection alerts you to this and lets you develop a plan.

You can either amend your offer to reflect the cost, or you can even use the property inspection as a reason to walk away from your home offer contract if it is deemed that the risks or expenses are too great. The property inspection will look at your plumbing, the home’s structure, its roof, heating and cooling systems and more.

Invest in a Well-Insulated Home

Your costs as a homeowner aren’t just limited to your mortgage payments and house repairs. You will be paying for heating and cooling-which can potentially be a lot.

You can do a great deal to reduce those costs by making sure that your future home is airtight. Even if the home that you are looking at isn’t well-insulated, this is something you’ll want to invest in soon.

Winters are chilly here in Boston, MA and if your home isn’t protected against the cold, you’ll have cold air coming in and costly hot air going out.

In addition to making sure that the attic, exterior walls, and foundation are well-insulated, check out the state of the windows and doors, which could be trouble spots too.

Turn on the Lights, the A/C, and the Heat

Check that all light switches are working. Are any connected to a power source? This could potentially be a fire hazard, so you’ll want to deal with this expressly.

Also double check the fans, the A/C and the furnace. You don’t want to move in on a cold day only to find a broken furnace!

This Year’s Fall Checklist: A Homeowner's Guide

The winter weather can be harsh on homes in the Boston, MA area, which is why homeowners are well advised to invest a little time and elbow grease this fall to tend to their homes to protect them from the season that lies ahead.

Not only will taking care of heating repairs and maintenance now save you from headaches as the winter goes on, preventative maintenance can actually improve your home’s energy efficiency, which will reduce your energy bills.

Schedule any Professional Services

The first thing on your fall checklist should be to schedule a furnace tune-up. It is a good idea to make sure that everything is operating smoothly before you turn it on for the winter.

In addition to inspecting the unit for potential problems, the technician will change the filter, which will make your furnace more energy efficient. It will also improve your indoor air quality.

If you’ve got a wood burning fireplace, schedule a chimney sweep before you fire it up for the winter. This can reduce the risk of home fire, and alert you to the presence of animal nests that may have appeared in your chimney over the spring and summer (as they do sometimes).

Your Outdoor Checklist

Remove hoses, put away and turn off interior hose valves. Leaving these valves open can present the risk of frozen pipes as the temperature dips.

Rake up leaves from your lawn. Letting the leaves stay over the winter will damage your lawn with mold and proliferation of pests.

Change exterior light bulbs. Make sure that walkways are even and in good repair; once they are covered in snow they can be very dangerous if there are tripping hazards. Seal up any cracks, because rodents and other animals love to nest in there over the winter.

Check the exterior paint for peeling and touch up before the snow flies. Clean and store patio furniture and lawn equipment.

Your Indoor Checklist

Reverse the direction of your ceiling fans, which will capture warm air as it rises, forcing it back down into the room. This will give your furnace a break (and reduce your heating bills!).

Inspect windows for cracks and replace as needed. Re-caulk around any loose seals. Consider applying a film over the windows, which will keep the cool air out and the warm air in.

Test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Ensure that you have a working fire extinguisher on every floor. In the garage, get rid of any items that might freeze over the winter (i.e. paint, some cleaners etc.). Check the weather stripping around your garage door to make sure that it is intact. This can be a spot for heat loss from your home.

Common Risks of not Cleaning Your Air Ducts

 

Is it really necessary to get your ducts cleaned? The short answer is yes.

There are a number of health and financial implications if you don’t engage in this maintenance on a regular basis (at least every 2-5 years or sooner if you have allergies and/or asthma).

There are a lot of companies out there that offer duct cleaning services, but be aware that not all of them are legitimate.

You need a qualified, highly trained technician to do the job right and to remove the debris properly that can pose problems to your air quality. Here is what is at stake if you don’t get your ducts cleaned regularly.

Signs That you Need Your Air Ducts Cleaned

If you notice a buildup of dust and debris on or around your registers and vents, you need a cleaning. If there is a lot of dust inside your HVAC unit, that could be an indication as well.

If you’ve recently done renovations, you need a cleaning to get rid of construction dust. If you’ve got vermin or mold in your ducts, you need a cleaning as well.

Bothered by Respiratory Infections?

Dust is made up of lots of undesirable particles, like mold, viruses and bacteria. The presence of these impurities can make you and your family more vulnerable to colds, flu and respiratory infections.

Don’t risk your family’s health. Get your ducts cleaned if this seems to be a chronic problem.

Sinus Infections

Are you plagued by sinus infections? Dirt in your ducts might be why. The presence of irritants, like mold, dust and pollen (all of which reside in dirty air ducts) can cause chronic sinus infections.

These irritants will inflame sinuses and the lining of the throat, which for some can be problematic.

Dirty Ducts are a Problem for Asthmatics

You may think that you are doing everything right in your home to try to reduce allergens by keeping the windows closed and dusting and vacuuming often.

But, if you’ve got dirty air ducts, those allergens are just going to continue to circulate through your ducts and back into your home. It’s a vicious cycle.

It’s these allergens that trigger asthma attacks and create problems for allergy sufferers. Clean air ducts give the air a clean, obstructed path to flow through.

Possible Reasons Your Air Conditioning is Blowing Hot Air

As a homeowner, never underestimate the value of preventative maintenance in keeping your home’s components running well. That includes getting seasonal tune-ups done of your air conditioner.

During your tune-up, your technician will inspect and clean all of your system’s parts as well as change your filter.

Changing the filter is important because a dirty air filter can block air flow as well as cause your unit to freeze out.

If your current problem is that your AC is blowing hot air, here are a few suggestions as to what may be happening.

Frozen AC Unit

It’s true! Your air conditioner can freeze, even though its job is to give you cold air.

This happens most commonly when you plummet the thermostat when it is hot outside in hopes that you’ll cool your home down faster.

This actually has the opposite impact.

Because your system is working in overdrive, the coils and other components might freeze up.

The best way to avoid this is to set your thermostat steady at around 72°F.

If your unit does freeze, you need to turn it off so that it has time to thaw. It usually takes about 2 hours.

After it is thawed out, it should cool your air well for you.

Refrigerant Leak

Without the essential refrigerant in your air conditioner, it will definitely blow hot air.

Sometimes your unit can sustain damage or can break down from wear and tear.

Whatever the reason, the coolant leaks out, and it can be difficult to determine this as the cause as the leak out tends to happen quickly.

This is a circumstance where you need the support of a professional technician to assess and fix the problem if needed.

Blown Breaker Switch

In the summer, power needs increase as we try to cool our homes.

It’s not uncommon to have a power surge.

When that happens, sometimes the breaker will blow, and your AC will not function properly.

This is a pretty easy problem to fix.

You simply check what position the breaker is in. If it’s off, turn it on.

Is there Something Around the Condenser?

Head outdoors and check that no debris or other matter is interfering with air flow around your condenser. That can cause a hot air problem too.