Homeowner Maintenance

Keep it as good as closing day.

A well-built home doesn’t stay that way on its own. The Pacific Northwest is hard on houses — nine months of moisture, fir needles in every gutter, and freeze-thaw right when you stop paying attention. This is the schedule I’d follow in my own home.

None of this takes special tools or a contractor. If you ever find something on this list that doesn’t look right, call me before it becomes a project.

Every quarter

Four times a year · about an hour

  • Replace or check HVAC filters. A clogged filter makes your furnace or heat pump work harder and wear faster. With pets or nearby construction, check monthly.
  • Test smoke and CO detectors. Press the test button on every unit. Thirty seconds, every floor.
  • Test GFCI outlets. Press TEST then RESET on the outlets in kitchens, baths, garage, and exterior. If one won’t reset, have it looked at.
  • Look under every sink. Run the water, feel the supply lines and trap. A slow drip under a vanity does more damage in a quiet year than a burst pipe does in an afternoon.
  • Run water in unused fixtures. Guest baths and bar sinks — run them a minute so the traps stay full and sewer gas stays out.
  • Clean the range hood and bath fan grilles. Your bath fans are your first defense against PNW moisture — they only work if air can move through them.
  • Check the garage door. Watch a full open-close cycle and test the safety reverse with a block of wood under the door.
  • Walk the exterior after a hard rain. Water should be moving away from the foundation, downspouts discharging where they should, no pooling at the slab.

Twice a year

Spring and fall · a weekend morning

  • Clean gutters and downspouts. Fall after the leaves drop, spring after the fir needles. Overflowing gutters are the #1 source of siding, fascia, and foundation damage here.
  • Look at the roof from the ground. Binoculars are fine. Lifted shingles, moss starting on the north face, debris in valleys. Treat moss early — don’t pressure-wash a roof.
  • Inspect exterior caulking and siding. Check joints around windows, doors, penetrations, and trim. Any gap or cracked bead lets water behind the envelope — recaulk before the wet season.
  • Clear window weep holes. The small slots at the bottom of window frames drain water out. Keep them clear of dirt and debris.
  • Service the irrigation system. Blow out and shut down before first frost; inspect heads and check for leaks at spring startup.
  • Drain exterior hose bibs in fall. Disconnect hoses before the first freeze. A split hose bib floods the wall cavity from the inside.
  • Check the crawl space or basement. Flashlight pass: standing water, dampness, disturbed vapor barrier, pests. Crawl space moisture is the silent killer in our climate.
  • Wash the dryer lint screen and check the vent flap. The exterior flap should open freely when the dryer runs and close fully when it stops.
  • Replace detector batteries. Even sealed units — verify the manufacture date. Detectors expire at 10 years.
  • Check deck and exterior rail fasteners. Tighten anything that moved over the season; look for soft spots and finish wear.

Once a year

Annually · some of these are a service call worth paying for

  • Have the furnace or heat pump professionally serviced. A tuned system lasts years longer and holds your efficiency where the energy code intended it.
  • Flush the water heater. Drain sediment from the tank (or descale a tankless unit). Test the pressure-relief valve while you’re there.
  • Have the dryer duct cleaned end to end. Not just the screen — the full run. Lint in the duct is a genuine fire risk and a slow dryer is the warning sign.
  • Reseal granite and natural stone surfaces. Drip water on the counter: if it darkens instead of beading, it’s time. A fabricator’s son will tell you — sealing is cheap, stain removal isn’t.
  • Inspect the attic. Look for daylight where there shouldn’t be any, compressed or shifted insulation, and staining on the sheathing that means a slow leak.
  • Touch up exterior paint and stain. South and west exposures weather fastest. A gallon of touch-up every year beats a full repaint every five.
  • Service the fireplace. Gas units get an annual check; wood-burning chimneys get swept.
  • Exercise the main water shutoff. Close it and open it once a year so it works the day you actually need it — and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is.
  • Clean the heat-recovery ventilator (HRV/ERV) core and filters. If your home has one, it’s doing more for your air quality than anything else in the house. Follow the manufacturer’s schedule.
  • Walk the lot. Grading still sloping away from the house, no new low spots, tree limbs off the roof, fences and retaining walls standing straight.

The one rule that covers everything

In the Pacific Northwest, almost every expensive repair starts as water going where it shouldn’t. Gutters, caulking, bath fans, crawl spaces, hose bibs — most of this list is really one job: keep water moving away from the house and moisture moving out of it.

Do that, and the home I handed you on closing day is the home you’ll still have in thirty years.

Not sure about something you found? Send me a photo before you call anyone else. And remember — your home is backed by the 2-10 warranty program.

Contact Mike The Warranty