Maintaining your looks is a good investment

After you've bought the right house, properly maintaining it is the next smart choice.

Just like you and your car, good maintenance of your home brings a fleet of benefits. 

A well-maintained home:

• keeps you safe and secure
• rewards your family's health
• assists with lowering power bills
• reduces impact on the environment
• saves money by fixing problems before they get bigger
• protects what is usually your biggest financial investment.

Home maintenance tips

• Know your DIY limits - sometimes it's cheaper and less stressful to hire a building professional rather than make costly mistakes.
• Combat damp through insulating, ventilating and quality heating.
• Seek advice and get your place thoroughly investigated if you think it could be a leaky home. Often this may be a maintenance issue.
• Maintain all claddings - whether they are monolithic fibre-cement, weatherboard, brick or concrete block. Follow the manufacturer's maintenance recommendations and inspect annually.
• Check that balconies and decks allow water to run to a collection point. Check for rotting, swelling, cracks, rust and keep drainage points clear.
• Check your roof, chimneys and flashings annually. Look for corroded or lifted flashings and crumbling chimney mortar.
• Be an active body corporate member and make sure your townhouse or apartment complex has a long-term maintenance programme.

There is no such thing as a 'maintenance-FREE' house

Having a no-maintenance house is a myth. Modern homes require less attention than older homes but all properties need maintaining.

Maintenance covers:

• preventative work, such as gutter cleaning - this can stop water and dampness entering your home
• repairs to prevent small problems growing
• major maintenance tasks like reroofing which should be planned for time and budgetary reasons
• preparing for emergencies, like knowing how to turn off water, gas and electricity.

http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/

Any home, regardless of its age or style, can develop problems if the property isn't properly maintained or renovations are of low quality.

Following the simple steps in these checklists will help to protect your investment and your health. Taking action will also mean you enjoy your property more and reduce the chance of costly and stressful problems further down the track.

Complete home buyers' and home maintenance checklists can be found on the ConsumerBuild website.