Home Maintenance Tips for First-Timers

How to keep your house clean today so it sells in the future

Congrats, you’ve just purchased your first home! It’s a life-changing investment, so of course, this calls for celebration. This isn’t where the work ends, though. In fact, it’s just getting started.

Caring for your first home in the present is important for a successful home sale in the future. You may not consider knowing how to sell a single family house— after all, you just bought the house! It’s wise to take care of your home’s exterior throughout your time owning it, so that when it is time to sell, you have less to repair, fix or replace. Here are some of our top tips for home maintenance for first-time buyers.

first time home buyer

Keep Curb Appeal Your Priority

There are plenty of ways to improve your home’s curb appeal, but maintaining a clean exterior is a good place to start.

Pressure washing can clean most home exteriors, but it might not be the solution for everyone. Knowing how to clean the outside of your house will pay off in the future. If your home has any exterior problems, like wood rot or crumbling stucco, pressure washing can worsen them. Done correctly and with the proper safety measures, power washing is a viable option for cleaning the outside of your home.

Get the right nozzle and use the proper pounds of pressure for your home. Pressure washer nozzles vary by angle and stream intensity. Consumer Reports recommends a 40° angle or a low-pressure nozzle for easily damaged surfaces like wood or stucco.

Perfecting your patio’s aesthetic also adds curb appeal points, and you can use a power washer to safely clean these surfaces, as well. Experts say using a setting of around 1,500 PSI (pounds-per-square-inch) or less for soft wood and porous pavers and stained concrete, or between 2,000 to 3,000 PSI on harder surfaces. For nozzles, Consumer Reports recommends using those with a 25° or 40° angle—especially for wood decks and porches. Got moss? Unless you treat your wood with a solution that has chemicals, moss will continue to grow back. Treat stone, brick and concrete patios to prevent moss, mold, and mildew from growing back. In fact, you could skip power washing altogether and simply apply a plant-safe cleaning solution to clean your pavers.

With so many cleaning tasks to do inside your house, it’s tempting to leave cleaning the outside of your home off of your to-do list. But if you give it a thorough scrubbing, you can enjoy your home longer (and help its next owners do the same).

Interior Maintenance Must’s

Keeping your home clean and not letting clutter, damages, and messes pile up is a surefire way to enhance your home’s longevity. As first-time home buyers, you might be lost on what to clean and with which product. Our cleaning supply list makes that easy for you.

Of course, maintaining a clean house at all times isn’t always doable, but by regularly cleaning, you can keep big messes at bay.  A great cleaning philosophy is to go room by room, and not start a new room until your first room is spick and span.

Next, clean your flooring and carpeting, especially if you have pets or kids. Regularly polish, clean, and shampoo your carpets, tile, and hardwood floors. According to large company Stanley Steemer, having carpets cleaned costs around $99 per room, hardwood costs around $145 per room, and tile costs around $149 per room. Prices vary area by area, but as you can see, a proper floor clean costs big bucks. Home Depot offers these tools for as little as $20-50 per day for each.

Do a short “before bed” cleaning checklist to knock tasks off your list in no time. Wipe down bathroom surfaces and kitchen surfaces, dust night stands or dressers, put all the laundry in its respective hamper, and take a quick pass at your floors to sweep up pet hair, dirt, and dust.

When you clean little by little, home maintenance is less daunting. Although it may seem like a lot, you’ll find it’s worth it in the long run. A clean home inside and out makes for a happy homeownership experience.

 

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Written By: Russell Smith