Every machine needs regular maintenance since its design is not as efficient as the living being. Your house is something similar, and this maintenance and cleaning list will prime it up.
Someone out there said that ‘cleanliness makes it easier to see the details’. So, with pricey papercrafts to adorn your home interior, it is important to let other people see it clearly without any block of view from cobwebs and dust.
Second comes maintenance or small seasonal repairs. Fixtures and mechanisms inside and outside the house, such as the roof gutters and plumbing fixtures inside the house need some touch up too. Wood, metal, plastic, and all other home interior inclusive, get affected by weather and usage conditions. The average loner would only repair the windowpane joints when they start shaking off. However, most of us who have owned our homes, have people to host and live in a comfortable place with our loved ones. Hence, both cleaning and maintenance activities, and their benefits to the house, that you need every half-year and yearly are noted below.
Things that need to be cleaned in every six months
1. Check the drains and clean the taps
Look around in the drains of your kitchen sink, handwashing sinks, tub drainage, and bathroom drainage. If they seem to be clogged with soap waste or the general hair fall, you must clean it up. You can put instant drain unblocking substances available off the shelf, or you can drop a cube of frozen vinegar down there to unclog the dirt accumulation.
Taps, shower faucets, and faucet screw fixtures must be checked every three to four months. Doing so will give you an idea about the mineral deposit on the taps and faucets that need to be cleaned regularly to allow free-flowing water. It will not only make the faucets and taps look clean but also make sure there is no rust accumulation on the plumbing fixtures.
Bacteria germinating on the taps and faucets are also cleaned out with proper detergent cleaning. If you have guest bathrooms that are rarely used, it’s better to run water through them and flush them a few times every month to make sure there is no accumulation of grime.
2. Give your house a nice wash
After the cleaning of all the bathrooms and sinks, there is a lot of dirt and grime still sticking around. So, give a thorough bath to your home every few months. It is important that all the surfaces and spaces that may have dirt accumulation and the microscopic bugs that accompany it must be cleaned with proper measures. You can choose to wash the uncarpeted areas and clean the carpets and rugs later on. You must also sweep every corner of your home interior for cobwebs and dirt accumulation.
3. Clean the garden
If you have a terrace garden with large pots and mid-size trees, make sure you check them for bugs and pests. Check for seasonal shedding and dispose of the dried or dead leaves. You can turn the leaves over right into the soil, which will also work as compost for your plants. For gardens, have a small dumping hole where you can naturally dispose of the leaves and organic waste. The soil from the areas can be later used as natural manure.
The Annual Home Cleaning and Maintenance Routine
1. Check the roof
The roof is the most important part of the house. Keeping it in perfect shape is important for a comfortable and safe dwelling. Metal roofs must be checked for rusting or paint chippings, and proper repairs must be made before the damage invades the interiors. Roofs made of wood have to be checked thoroughly for weather damage and if wood seems to be rotting, immediately replace the parts, and if possible, switch to metal structures to support the roof.
2. Inspect the fire extinguisher
Every house must have fire extinguishers, even after safety standard tests. It is an essential safety concern, and the extinguisher must be inspected every year for wear and tear, functioning nozzle and lever, and most importantly, its shelf life. If it’s old, get it replaced.
3. Renew the paint
Both exterior and interior paint jobs are recommended yearly. The type of paint and the frequency of renewing the paint is what protects the wall strength and regulates the interior temperature. Always renew exterior paints and make sure you use paint that has heat regulating qualities. Don’t renew the paint right before or in the middle of the monsoon, it will be a waste of money, and it will literally go down the drain.
4. Kitchen Chimneys and gas pipe inspection
Chimneys are an important fixture to keep the air inside your home safe. Any leakage or blockage in the chimney must be fixed immediately as carbon monoxide, and dioxide gases are at no cost good. Gas pipelines must be checked every year for time damage and cracks, change the gas pipelines if any leakage or crack is found during the inspection.
Cleaning is simply a measure to ensure that unwanted and harmful waste doesn’t stay inside the house. The importance of cleaning lies directly in healthy living and preventing unwanted allergies or diseases. With easy to clean home décor materials from HomeLane, godliness is a feeling. Since ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ is what people teach, and including maintenance in it means a higher spectrum of peace and sanity.
