The Toolbox DIY Home Maintenance Guide

Home Maintenance – Prevention Saves You Money!

Happy New Year, everyone! This year starts off with something new from Toolbox DIY. I’m pleased to announce that this is the first of twelve episodes on routine home maintenance. This is the Toolbox DIY Home Maintenance Guide. I know that sounds really boring, but bear with me for a moment. Routine maintenance is an important part of owning a home, condo, or townhome. Staying on top of maintenance can save you thousands of dollars a year. Also, routine maintenance can help keep you and your family safe. The best part is that you don’t have to do all the maintenance yourself. It’s entirely your choice. You can tackle it all, do some of it yourself, or hire it all out. It’s just important that it gets done.

As my good bud Benny Franklin once said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Get Ready!

Here’s what you can expect from this series. There will be a new episode released every month on the Thursday preceding the first full weekend of the month. Condo and some townhome owners can skip the outside tasks and just focus on interior maintenance. I have a corresponding checklist that you can download for each month (if you enabled cookies, you can use the website as your active checklist!). The checklist may evolve over time so keep an eye out for new tasks as the years progress. As always with all my videos feel free to ask questions in the YouTube comments and please subscribe and click the bell so you can stay on top of the series as each month’s episode gets released.

Is Home Maintenance Necessary Every Month?

Now, I try to spread out home maintenance tasks over the year so we aren’t overloaded in any one weekend or month. You’ll notice throughout this series that some tasks aren’t really tied to a particular month. This is by design just to smooth out the workload. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the exact month on every task. The only exception to this is the winterization tasks we’ll do in the fall and the de-winterization tasks that we’ll do in the spring.

The Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks I Recommend

This month we’re going to start with five tasks that I recommend you perform every month. Most of these are safety related but not all five.

Safety First

The first task is to test our GFCI outlets. I’m sure most of you are familiar with these outlets. Sometimes they trip and we have to press the reset button. I’m not going to go into the technical details of how these work. It is important to know that these have the ability to detect when electricity is flowing where it shouldn’t be…like through the human body! That’s why it’s important that we ensure these outlets are always doing their job.

I prefer to use an external tester rather than just the test button on the outlet. A tester such as the one in the video can be used. You plug it in, it tells you if it’s wired correctly which is good info the first time you test your outlets, then you hit this button to test the GFCI function. If it trips, you’re good. If it doesn’t trip, the outlet or receptacle needs to be replaced.

I recommend spending a little more money on a combination circuit finder and outlet tester version of the GFCI tester. It’s your choice, but if you think DIY is for you, this model will come in handy in the future when you need to do some electrical work that requires figuring out which fixtures or outlets are on what circuit.

The second monthly task we perform is to test our smoke detectors and CO2 detectors. Using the built in test button is adequate here. It doesn’t hurt to occasionally light a match and make sure the smoke is actually detected. If your smoke detectors are tied into your home security system, hold off on this one until I explain the next task.

Security Second

The third monthly task may not apply to everyone. Test your home security system if you have one. Some of you may pay a monthly monitoring fee. Don’t forget to call or go on your monitoring company’s web portal to put your monitoring in test mode so you don’t accidentally call the fire department or police.

Each month, I arm my system and I use a different window or door to intentionally trip the alarm. I also reset the alarm and test the distress code. This is a good time to remind members of your family about the distress code, how to operate the alarm system, and what your password is if the monitoring company calls you after the alarm goes off. After you run your tests, contact your monitoring company to ensure they received the correct types of alarms. In some cases, they may even be able to confirm which sensors we’re tripped.

Money Savers Next

With our safety tasks out of the way, we now move onto the fourth monthly task. That is replacing our HVAC filter if it is more than 3 months old or if we have reason to believe it should be changed. The general rule is to replace the filter after 3 months but if you have pets or allergy issues, you may choose to replace it more frequently. We replace these not only so we have clean air, but we want air to freely flow through our filter so the air mover doesn’t have to work harder. The harder it works, the more energy it uses, and the more money it costs you.

Our last monthly task is to check and replace any water filters. I find that my refrigerator water filter needs to be replaced almost monthly. So I check the flow rate and if it’s running slowly, I replace it. If you have a whole home water filtration system, you’ll want to check that filter. You’ll also want to replace any point-of-use water filters. And of course, check the fridge filter. On a related topic, if you have a water softener, check your salt levels and top those off if needed.

So those are the five tasks we are going to perform each month. This sounds like a lot of work, but after you do it a couple of times, it will take no time at all. I’m simply going to remind you about these five tasks each month. I won’t cover them in detail since we’ll have much more to cover.

Finishing Out Our Home Maintenance Tasks for January

I have one more task that we perform in January. This is something we’ll do every quarter and that is pest control. I prefer to hire this out to a pest control company. I’m not a fan of  storing and handling the chemicals. I find the cost to be relatively low so it gets hired out. If you want to do this yourself, there are a number of DIY resources out there. Here are some helpful DIY links:

[Note: Toolbox DIY has no affiliation with these organizations or websites]

• https://diypestcontrol.com/
• https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/diy-pest-control-strategies/
• https://www.callnorthwest.com/diy-pest-control/

That does it for our first episode in this series. If you have any questions, please put those in the YouTube comments and I’ll get to them as soon as I can. I will see you in about a month and I hope to see you back here every month this year so we can make sure your home stays in tip top shape!

Welcome everyone to the February episode of the Toolbox DIY Home Maintenance Guide! We have a relatively easy month again as we patiently await the warmer temperatures and bluer skies of spring. This month we have some rather easy interior maintenance to perform, but first we start with our five monthly tasks.

The Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks I Recommend

Refer the January video for the specifics on each of these tasks. In summary, the five tasks we perform every month are:

1. We test our GFCI outlets.
2. Check and test our smoke and CO2 detectors.
3. We perform a test of our home alarm system.
4. Replace your HVAC filter if its older than 3 months.
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels.

Batteries Are a Home Maintenance Task Too

After our routine tasks are complete, we are going to shift our focus to batteries. Whether it’s alkaline batteries, sealed lead acid batteries, or lithium coin cell batteries, this month we are going to replace the batteries on any critical systems that we have. We are going to do this proactively because we don’t want batteries failing at an inopportune time. So here are the types of systems and batteries that we’re talking about.

1. Garage door openers – both the unit itself as well as any battery powered key panels or remote controls
2. Irrigation timers if yours is battery backed
3. Your home security system if it has battery
4. Any electronic locks that might be battery powered
5. And lastly, any uninterruptible power supplies or UPSes that you might have for computers, networking equipment, or electronics.

For devices that use alkaline batteries, I recommend replacing these annually. For devices that use sealed lead acid batteries, I replace these every three years. I also use a three year schedule for any coin cell batteries that you might find in a garage door remote control.

Here’s a hint for remembering when to replace batteries. For sealed lead acid batteries, I use a paint pen to write the replacement date when I install a new battery. For all batteries you can also put a reminder in your phone calendar or task manager. Doing so when you install a new battery is the best time so you don’t forget. 

Hardcore Hardware

Our next task this month is hardware maintenance. This is a broad task that will vary based on what’s installed in your home, but here are some examples, some of which are common to all of us.

1. Door h/w and lock lubrication – this is an often overlooked home maintenance task. By lubricating locks, spindles and latch assemblies, you keep everything functioning and get the most life out of your hardware. 
2. Tightening up any loose handles, towel bars or any type of kitchen or bath hardware.
3. Third is tightening and adjusting any cabinet h/w. If you have any cabinet doors that are not aligned properly. You’ll want to get those corrected. There’s a crash course in the video explaining the basics of adjusting cabinet hinges. 
4. Lastly, lubricate drawer slides if you have any that are not smoothly opening and closing. 

Spring Into Action Early With Lawn Tools

Our final task for this month is to get our lawn tools ready for spring. This is a good time to sharpen your mower blade or have it done somewhere. If you have any gas powered lawn tools, you’ll want to dewinterize those. Perhaps change the oil, spark plugs, or give it a once over to make sure nothing is broken or requires replacements. For battery powered tools, charge up your batteries and make sure they are all holding a charge. Sharpen up any garden tools you have and start making your list of tools that need to be replaced this spring. 

Okay folks, that does it for February. Next month we start to get a little busy as we prepare for spring. The next three months are the busiest but also extremely important. So good luck with your tasks this month and I will see you in March. I’m Chris with Toolbox DIY. Thanks for watching.

We’re on the home stretch, folks. Winter is almost over which means we have a decent amount of maintenance to do, but we’ll spread it out over the next few months so we don’t have to give up too much of our weekends. If you’ve been following our series you know that every month we perform the following five items:

The Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks I Recommend

Refer the January video for the specifics on each of these tasks. In summary, the five tasks we perform every month are:

1. We test our GFCI outlets.
2. Check and test our smoke and CO2 detectors.
3. We perform a test of our home alarm system.
4. Replace your HVAC filter if its older than 3 months.
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels.

Home Maintenance Tools

Here are the tools we’ll be using this month:

• GFCI tester (I prefer this one)
• Dryer Vent Cleaning Kit
• Awl (for testing for rotted wood)

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Clean Clothes Require a Clean Washer and Dryer

Home maintenance starting inside…we’re going to the laundry room this month. We have two tasks to do here. First, we’re going to move our dryer and clean out the dryer vent pipe with this nifty tool. It has extensions so we can just keep adding extensions until we completely clean out the pipe. Second, we’re going to clean or replace the inlet screens on the washer. We start by shutting off the water then disconnecting the hoses at the washer. Inside the inlets, you’ll find a screen. Inspect it for debris and clean if necessary. Replace if it has any tears or large holes.

Exterior Inspection – The Key to Successful Exterior Home Maintenance

Now we’re going outside to get ready for spring. The first thing we want to do is an inspection. Primarily we want to inspect any wood and painted surfaces. This inspection may serve as our to do list for April and May. We need to determine what surfaces need to be painted or stained this season. So inspect your windows, decking, fencing, railings, siding, you name it. Make note of any peeling, bubbling, or fading paint. This needs to be repainted.

Also, keep an eye out for any rotted wood and make note of that. It could be trim, fascia boards, doors, or even decking. You want to address rotted wood as soon as possible to mitigate the damages and the cost. You can see in this video I have some bubbling paint that needs to be addressed. Even worse, I found some rot on this window. This wasn’t there last year so I’m going to a more thorough inspection to see if I can identify why water got behind the paint and to the wood.

Rotted Wood

If you run into rot, don’t panic. It’s usually fixable and in some cases you can do it yourself. If the area is small and doesn’t require replacing wood, you can do this yourself. If the area is large and requires replacing wood, you may want to consult a professional if you’re not comfortable tackling this yourself. In the case of wooden windows, I usually consult a professional.

Exterior Hardware Inspection

During your exterior inspection, you also want to look for any metal that might be rusting. This could range from hardware to bolts and screws to your mailbox. You’ll want to address rust quickly so don’t have to replace any expensive metal hardware. Screws and bolts are typically cheap so feel free to replace those. And I recommend replacing them with the stainless steel version. Stainless steel however is not totally impervious to rust like many think. SS requires the occasional rust removal and should be maintained annually. For details on caring for stainless steel, refer to this video. 

Weep Holes

While you’re inspecting windows, you also want to inspect and clean any weep holes that exist. These are normally found on storm windows at the bottom where the screen fits into the channel. Weep holes allow the water to drain out the channel instead of just pooling there. Even if the weep holes don’t appear to be obstructed, it’s not a bad idea to blow them out with compressed air just to be sure.

Finishing Up March

Okay, now for our last home maintenance task for the month of March. We’re going to test all of our exterior electrical outlets or receptacles. This may sound like a strange task for March but there’s a good reason for doing this now. Next month, we will undoubtedly be plugging in various tools and we don’t want a bad outlet to slow us down. So we want to test them now and fix any problems we find. 

If you followed our advice from our first episode in January, you bought a GFCI outlet tester and you learned how to use it. Go around to every outlet on the exterior of your home and make sure the LEDs light up properly and then hit the button to trip the GFCI function. All exterior outlets should be protected by GFCI. If yours are not, I highly recommend replacing those with a GFCI receptacle. 

That will do it for this month. Next time I see you, it will be spring and we will be busy. However, it’s not all work and no play. We’re going to have some fun at the end of April’s episode.

Welcome to Spring and to our April edition of the Toolbox DIY Monthly Home Maintenance Series. With Spring comes a fairly long list of home maintenance items so let’s jump right in. If you’ve been following our series you know that every month we perform the following five items:

The Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks I Recommend

Refer the January video for the specifics on each of these tasks. In summary, the five tasks we perform every month are:

1. We test our GFCI outlets.
2. Check and test our smoke and CO2 detectors.
3. We perform a test of our home alarm system.
4. Replace your HVAC filter if its older than 3 months.
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels.

Home Maintenance Tools

Here are the tools we’ll be using this month:

• Electric Pressure Washer
• Hose washers
• A/C Condenser Fin Comb
• Shop Vacuum (my current favorite model or my favorite compact model)

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De-winterization Gets Us Ready for Spring Maintenance

After the routine items, it’s time to de-winterize our home and get ready for the warm weather. We’ll start by calling our HVAC technician and getting an appointment setup for an A/C tune-up. Next, it’s time to turn back on our exterior hose bibbs or spigots. If you opened them for the winter and shut off the water supply, make sure you close them before turning back on the water. If you put insulated covers over yours, now is the time to remove those. We’ll connect any hoses that we like to have always connected, but before you do that inspect the hose washer or gasket. I recommend always having a bag of these on hand and replacing them every year. Why deal with an impending leak over a gasket that costs less than a dollar?

With our hose connected, we can now clean our a/c condenser if it’s needed. If you see a debri between the fins, run a hose through it. You can use a nozzle to increase the pressure but please do not use a pressure washer. If you find any bent fins, use a fin comb to straighten those out. 

Exterior Cleaning – Spring Cleaning for the Outside of Your Home!

Next on our list, is doing all our exterior cleaning. Let’s go to the easy stuff. We need to inspect and clean out water ways. So you want to remove any debri from sump pump wells, landscaping drains, swales, dry creek beds, gutters, and roof drains (if you have them). Anywhere water is meant to be diverted make sure it’s free of obstructions and clean.

Now we we’re going to clean the exterior of our home. The siding, fencing, stone, slabs, driveways, window wells – you name it. The obvious choice here is to bust out the pressure washer, but I want to caution you about using a sledge hammer to drive a finishing nail. I see far too many homeowners either use or hire someone with a 3000psi or higher gas powered pressure washer. I think this is overkill and you will likely prematurely age the materials you are pressure washing.

So I have a couple of things for you to consider – if you have seams, gaps, or junctions where two material meet, you might want to wash this by hand or with a hose. These areas usually can’t tolerate the high pressure. If you are using a pressure washer, most homeowners get by just fine with an electric pressure washer under 2000 psi. I use to have a 2800 psi gas powered unit until some jack wagon stole it. I replaced it with this and i couldn’t be happier. Plus it is a lot easier to maintain and store. If you do use a high powered  pressure washer, start away from your material, slowly approaching it until it starts removing the dirt. Then stay at that distance. If you have tough grime try a bristled brush before you put the pressure wash tip too close to the surface. 

This is also a good time to remove window screens and clean those. A spray cleaner or simple dish soap and water followed by a hose is usually enough, but you may need to take a soft brush to screens with a lot of dirt. 

Consider Sealing Your Concrete Now That It’s Clean

Sealing exterior concrete is a great way to reduce your home maintenance workload. It can also prolong the life of your concrete. Believe it or not, concrete won’t last forever and it takes some work to keep it looking nice. I have a whole series on the topic that you can check out here: Sealing Concrete – Video Series.

Don’t Forget Mechanical Items

After we get everything clean, we want to inspect, lubricate and repair any mechanical items on the exterior. This may include any stair or railing hardware, fence gates, retractable awning, etc. If it moves or has hardware – let’s take a look at it and make sure it’s up to snuff. I have cable railing here and you can see that a couple of cables have lost their tension so I’ll get that fixed.

Summerization?

We’re just about done with this month’s list. If you live up north or somewhere that gets a lot of snowfall – you might have a snow blower. This is the time to summerize your snow blower to prepare it for storage. So drain the fuel from your snow blower, wipe it down and spray exposed metal with a rust inhibitor. Cover it and then store it in the driest place possible.

Finishing Up April

Lastly, it’s time to clean the grill, the smoker, the egg, whatever your outdoor cooking appliance of choice is. I highly recommend doing this as the last maintenance item of the month. I tried doing it first but I found I procrastinated all my chores and ended up eating a lot of ribs. Then I had more work in May and more required exercise!

Reward yourself for all your hardwork and cook up your protein of choice.

Alright I’m out here. I’ve got some ribs to smoke!

May is upon us DIY’ers and we may or may not have a long to do list of maintenance this month. It really depends on your specific situation. But as always let’s start with our five monthly maintenance tasks:

The Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks I Recommend

Refer the January video for the specifics on each of these tasks. In summary, the five tasks we perform every month are:

1. We test our GFCI outlets.
2. Check and test our smoke and CO2 detectors.
3. We perform a test of our home alarm system.
4. Replace your HVAC filter if its older than 3 months.
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels.

Home Maintenance Starts Inside This Month

With the routine items out of the way, we have two inside tasks this month and four outside tasks. Starting inside, we want to switch the direction of ceiling fans if you reversed them for winter. I reverse them in winter especially in rooms with high ceilings to avoid all the heat from collecting at the ceiling where it does me no good. For summer, fans should spin counter clockwise to help keep things cool. You’ll either have a switch on the fan or if you have a DC motor fan you can usually switch the direction on the remote itself. 

Weatherstripping Will Help Keep Energy Cost Down

Next we want to do a weather strip inspection so we make sure to keep the cool air in and the hot air out this summer. Look for any tears, gaps, or missing pieces. You’ll want to check around doors and windows. Don’t forget to check the door sweep as well. Placing a flashlight on the other side of the door helps you find any gaps.

Time To Paint

I said we have four tasks outside, but to be fair it could be much larger than that. This is the month where I do any necessary painting or staining. If you recall, in March we did an inspection of what all needs to be painted or stained. I wait to perform that work in May because I live in Atlanta where the pollen is very heavy throughout the month of April and somewhat into may. So get out your painting supplies or call your favorite painter to get that work completed. 

Irrigation System Check

 Next we are going to do an irrigation system check. We want to turn on each zone walk around to make sure all sprinkler heads or drip emitters are functioning and also check for any possible leaks. If you have a zone with low output, this could mean you have a leak somewhere in that zone. While you do this, set your timer for about 5 minutes so you can also verify that your timer is functioning properly. 

Check The Chimney? In Spring?

This next task may seem a bit unusual but bear with me. If you have a wood burning fireplace, now is the time to have the chimney swept. If you have a gas burning fireplace or direct vent fireplace, you only need to do an inspection. The reason for sweeping the chimney now is so that the humidity of summer doesn’t result in a nasty stink coming from the build up inside the chimney. If you burn gas, then this is nothing more than inspection to make sure your chimney cap is intact and not blocked by any debri. If you have a direct vent like this one, just do a simple visible inspection to make sure it’s not damaged or blocked.

Optional: Septic and Well System Inspections

Okay the last task this month is for those of you who have a septic system and/or get your water from a well. For a septic inspection, I would pay for the inspection. This only needs to be done about every 3 years. It’s typically only a couple hundred bucks, but if you are knowledgeable about these systems and know how to inspect them, then by all means save yourself a few clams. At a minimum, I would recommend a dye test be performed. 

For those of you with water wells, I would do a visual inspection every year to look for any leaks. You might want to use a water pressure gauge on one outlet to start recording the pressure and look for any pressure drops over time. This could indicate your pump is on it’s way out. If you have a well, more than likely you have a septic system as well so I would recommend getting your well professionally inspected every three years along with your septic inspection. 

See You in June

Okay friends, that covers everything for May. It’s starting to heat up here in Atlanta so I’ve structured the next three months so we get to stay inside and out of the heat. I’ve also structured it so we don’t have as much to do. We’ve got better things to do this summer and if we want to be in the heat this summer, but we want to be holding a beer not a paint brush.

Welcome to June, DIY’ers. For many of us, the heat is already upon us so this month I’m keeping everything indoors. Before we jump in on the June tasks, let’s recap what we do every month that was introduced in the first video in January.

1. Test our GFCI outlets
2. Smoke detector and CO2 test
3. Alarm system test
4. Replace our HVAC filter if older than 3 months
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels

Please don’t forget to subscribe, click the bell, and always comments and questions are encouraged.

Don’t Ignore Your Pipes

Okay with our monthly tasks done, we’re now going to focus on plumbing and bathrooms this month. We’re going to start by doing a visual inspection of the plumbing system and components. I start with the water supply line and I visually inspect all pipes looking for any leakes. Since my water heater is right here I inspect that as well, I test valves by turning them to make sure they aren’t frozen. If you find any leaks or inoperable valves, you’ll want to address those quickly or have a plumber do it.

While you’re at the water heater, now is the time to drain your water heater. You should have a hose thread outlet with a valve to which you can connect a hose that you run to a drain. Make sure you warn everyone in the hose though that the hot water will be out for a half a day. You want to shut off the water supply to the water heater first, then open the drain valve. When it’s done draining, close the drain valve, remove the hose, and then re-open the supply valve. 

Kitchen and Bath Home Maintenance

We finish out the plumbing inspection by checking every faucet, valve, and drain. We’re looking for active leaks or signs of previous leaks, we’re testing shutoff valves, and checking overall operation of a faucet or toilet. Unfortunately, not every member of the household or guest informs us when things don’t work properly so we have to inspect things annually to prevent expensive repairs. 

Aerators and Drains

While you’re at a sink, this is a good time to change the faucet aerator and clean the drain. Aerators are simple, but some can be tricky – check out this video for help on the tricky aerators. To clean your drain you can pour some white distilled vinegar into and let it sit for half an hour. If the drain remains slow you have three options:

1. Snake the drain – sometimes one of these simple drain cleaning tools will do the trick, sometimes you need a real snake such as this one.
2. Remove and clean the P trap
3. You can try a stronger cleaner such as mixing equal parts baking soda, salt, vinegar and then add about 20 parts boiling water. First pour the baking soda and salt down the drain, add the vinegar, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then pour the boiling water to wash it all down.

Shower Head

Since you have the vinegar out, you can also use that to clean your shower heads. If it’s a small shower head, you can pour the vinegar in a quart size bag and rubber band it around the shower head. Let it sit for a few hours, take it off and turn on the showerhead and rinse off the stem and shower head. If you have a large shower head you can remove it and soak in a larger container of vinegar or you can take a soft bristle brush, dip that in vinegar, and get to scrubbing.

Toilet and Commode Maintenance

While you’re in each bathroom, check the toilets for proper operation. It’s also a good idea to inspect the inside of the tank to look for any deterioration of rubber pieces, excessive rust of metal pieces or anything that doesn’t look right. Better to replace those now while the toilet is operational rather than getting caught with your pants down…literally. I recommend turning off the valve, flushing, and then inspecting without water in the tank.

Outdoor Spigots

Lastly don’t forget to check any exterior hose bibbs or spigots if you didn’t already check those in April. If you find a leaky hose bibb, those are actually quite easy to fix without replacing the valve. I’ll provide some links in the description.

Closing Out the June Home Maintenance Checklist

Before we leave for the month of June, the only other inspection I perform is to check tile grout and caulk in the bathrooms and kitchens. If note any missing or loose grout that needs to be replaced. I make note of any that needs a deep cleaning. I also make note of caulk that needs to be removed and replaced. I schedule those anytime over the summer when I feel like being productive but need a break from the heat.

Okay friends, that does it for this month. Next month is going to be an easy month. You’ll be done with July before you even make your 4th of July shopping list. So I’ll see then. I’m Chris with Toolbox DIY. Thanks for watching.

Happy 4th of July Toolbox DIY fans! We have a short and easy month of maintenance which I know is welcome reprieve from the busy spring we had. As always, we start each month with five routine tasks:

1. Test our GFCI outlets
2. Smoke detector and CO2 test
3. Alarm system test
4. Replace our HVAC filter if older than 3 months
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels

Pest Control…Again

Now for the month of July, we have three things to accomplish. It’s time for quarterly pest control so we either pick up the phone if we hire that or we grab our supplies to get to treating if we do it ourselves.

Fire Extinguishers Need Maintenance Too!

After pest control, we are going to inspect our fire extinguishers to make sure they haven’t expired and that they have adequate pressure. You should have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, garage, and utility room at a minimum. I also recommend each bedroom have a fire extinguisher in the closet and that the occupant of that bedroom know how to operate it when they are old enough. Not all fires start in the kitchen, garage, or basement. It goes without saying how relieved you would be if you put out fire instead having to dial 911. 

When the time comes to replace a fire extinguisher, an expired extinguisher is a great learning opportunity. Use these to train every member of your household how to use a fire extinguisher. We want them familiar with the process so they are taken by surprise in the middle of an emergency.

Learn how use and choose a Fire Extinguisher: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/extinguishers.html

Emergency Planning – A Must for Every Family

Since we’re on the topic of safety, this is a nice lead into our last task of July which isn’t really a home maintenance task it’s more of a home preparedness task. This is the month to create or revise your family emergency plan. I’m going to provide you with a link in the description below which will walk you through that plan far better than I can. In a nutshell, this plan provides instructions to members of your household on what to do to prepare for a disaster, avoid a disaster, and respond in the event of disaster. I hope you never need your plan. But not having one can sometimes mean life or death. Putting together, revising and reviewing your plan every year is a small investment and your family is worth it. If you’ve been putting it off, there’s no better time than now. 

Don’t Forget The Go Bag

This is also an excellent time to inspect and replenish your go-bag. My go bag is designed to have food and water for 3 days along with a comprehensive first aid kit. I make sure all the food is not past date and that any medications or ointments have not expired.

Well that does it for this month. I told you it would be easy. And you know what since August is hot and we’d rather be on vacation, we’re going to keep August short as well so join me next month and we’ll get it knocked out quickly. 

I’m Chris with ToolboxDIY, thanks for watching. 

Home Maintenance Guide – August

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening wherever you are. It is the month of August and here in Atlanta it is either hot out or raining. So we are staying inside again this month. We’ll be in the kitchen for our home maintenance tasks, but fortunately we have another short month in front us so we don’t have to peel ourselves away from the summer fun for too long. As always, we are going to start with our five routine tasks. For more details on these tasks, you can refer to the January episode where each one is covered in detail.

1. Test our GFCI outlets
2. Smoke detector and CO2 test
3. Alarm system test
4. Replace our HVAC filter if older than 3 months
5. Check and replace water filters and/or check water softener salt levels

Kitchen Appliances – The Forgotten Home Maintenance

After the routine tasks are done, let’s focus our attention on the kitchen appliances this month. Most of what we’ll be doing is cleaning and inspecting. Let’s start with our refrigerator. To properly maintain our fridge, first put a thermometer in the fridge and freezer to make sure those compartments reach the temperatures you set. I prefer 38 for the fridge and 0 for the freezer. While your thermometers get to their temperatures, we are going to shift our focus to the dishwasher. 

Dishwasher Cleaning and Maintenance

First, we want to clean the filter and spray arms. Remove the baskets for these tasks. I run the filter under the faucet. I make a 50% diluted vinegar solution and soak a towel in it to clean the spray arms and wipe down the seals. While I’m cleaning the seals, I’m also looking for any rips or tears. Seals are relatively cheap so it’s easiest to buy a new seal and replace it if you find a problem. Lastly, I put the baskets back in and put a dishwasher safe container in the bottom basket and fill it with a cup of vinegar. Now run the dishwasher on a regular cycle to give it a final clean.

Cooking Range and Hood

Now we’re going to take care of our range and range hood. For the range, inspect each burner. If you have electric burners, look for any cracks. Turn a burner on high and see if there are any cold spot or spots that aren’t getting red hot. Crack or cold spots means it’s time to replace that element. For gas burners, look for any crack or clogs. Fire up each burner and ensure you get a uniform flame around the circumference of the diffuser. 

Now let’s look up and inspect the range hood. Most of us have some sort of filter so we remove those and clean them. You can wash them by hand or run them in the dishwasher if they will fit. With the filters off, this is a good time to clean the inside and outside of the hood. Also, check your blower motor for a drip pan such as this one. Empty and clean as needed. While things are exposed, check for any loose wires or melted wires (yes, fires happen, most of us have been there). 

If your range hood vents to the outside, be sure to check the outlet to make sure it is not blocked or clogged. If you don’t use yours often, you may have a nest in there that could impede your airflow.

Refrigerator Maintenance

Let’s move back to our fridge now that our thermometers should be at temperature. If the temps are close to what you expect, you may just need to tweak your temperature setting. If they are wildly off, it’s probably time to call the appliance repair company. Next, we are going to inspect and clean our seals. I inspect and clean at the same time. I use the same diluted vinegar solution we used on the dishwasher. If you find a damaged seal like the one I found here, call your local appliance supply store and tell them your model number. Seals are cheap and quite easy to replace. If you’ve never done it before, ask the store for some pointers. They are usually quite helpful.

Next up we want to vacuum our refrigerator coils. The hardest part about this is accessing them. Sometimes they are in the front, sometimes in the back. We want to keep those coils clean, to keep the refrigerator running efficiently. Remove the grill, if you have one, unplug the fridge and vacuum with a brush attachment.

Natural Gas Line and Valves

Last and certainly not least, is to check our gas lines and valves if you have any natural gas appliances. A visual inspection of the gas lines will uncover any obvious problems such as corrosion, cracks or loose connections. While you’re at it, make sure your gas valves are still operable. If you need to replace any of these, call a professional. Gas goes boom if you’re not careful. There’s no shame in hiring this one out all the time.

That does it for August. Next month is another pretty easy month before we get into the fall where our workload is going to increase a little bit. If you’ve been following along all year long, then you’re in good shape and the worst of it is already over. Okay, good luck in the kitchen this month. Don’t forget to leave us a comment telling how things went and don’t forget to subscribe and/or click that bell to get notified of next month’s video.

https://youtu.be/7fv6ojWLczg

Welcome to the September episode of the Toolbox DIY Home Maintenance Guide. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. School is back in and we’re all getting busy once again. Luckily, this month is pretty straightforward on the home maintenance front. It shouldn’t take too much time, but it really depends on your situation. 

If you’ve been enjoying the home maintenance guide, please don’t forget to show your support and click the subscribe button and sign up for our mailing list.

Start With Our Usual Routine

Before we dive in, just a reminder to perform the 5 routine tasks that I covered in the January episode  – GFCI outlets, smoke detectors, alarm test, hvac filter, and water filters. Once you get those out of the way, let’s start September by picking up the phone and calling a carpet cleaning service. We need to deep clean carpets once a year and this is something that’s usually pretty cheap so we hire this one out. There’s really nothing special about doing this in September. You can do this anytime of the year and you might want to choose a month that better fits your family’s lifestyle or needs. 

Termites Bite

We’re actually going to make two phone calls this month. We are also going to schedule a termite inspection. If you live in an area without termites, you can obviously skip this one. For the rest of us, this is money well spent to protect our investment and avoid costly termite damage repairs.

Exterior Door Maintenance

Now for the real work…this month we are inspecting our interior and exterior doors. Let’s start with exterior door specifics. First off, we want to clean the exterior surfaces of our doors. Keeping dirt, salt, and other contaminants off of our door helps extend the life of the door. While your cleaning, be on the lookout for any damage, rotted wood, or rust. You’ll want to get those issues addressed sometime this fall. If you have doors with glass panes, check the glazing beads or seals for any damage. Re-glazing may be necessary if your door has some age on it. Lastly, check weather stripping to see if it needs to be replaced. We also did this in May ahead of summer but it doesn’t hurt to check these again.

Door Hinge Maintenance

The next few items now apply all your doors, both interior and exterior. We want to clean and lubricate our hinges. Usually a sponge with mild soap is enough here. For the tough stuff you can turn to the old household favorites such a white vinegar or a baking soda paste or just good old 409. Rarely have I had to break out the industrial degreaser. 

After you clean the hinges, you should lubricate them. I will usually use either dry teflon (PTFE) or furniture polish. Paraffin wax is an option, but I don’t think it’s worth the hassle. To really lubricate your hinges, remove the pin and wipe spray or wipe lubricate over the entire pin and then work some into the hinges. The pin does not need to be lubricated every year. This can typically be done every 2-3 years.

While you’re at the hinges, inspect the hinge screws to make sure there aren’t any broken heads or screws that have backed out a little bit. Also check for loose hinge plates and tight those where necessary. 

Mold Inspection…Yikes!

The last task for September is to perform a mold inspection. I know what you’re thinking…I’m not qualified to inspect for mold. While there is some truth in that statement, a simple visual inspection is all we really need to do here. If we find a real problem, we’ll call in for backup. 

When looking for mold, I focus on specific areas. The basement – I check pretty much every surface in the basement. If you have an unfinished basement, don’t forget to look up. Sometimes you may get mold on the underside of the floor trusses. In addition to the basement, I check around all door and windows, around air vents and returns, around appliances, and in bathrooms. Bathrooms can be tricky since it’s not uncommon to find mildew in the bathroom especially in the tub or shower. Mildew is typically flat and powdery. It can be white, gray or brown. Mold usually black, green, or even red and in some cases, mold will start to get a little fuzzy.

Tackling mold is not always easy. There is no one solution for every situation. The first step is to try to identify why you have additional moisture. Leaks are an obvious culprit. Sometimes high humidity in certain areas is the culprit. Condensation can also be a contributing factor. If you are able to address the problem, you pretty much just need to stick to the annual inspection. In the event that you can’t correct the problem, you may want to purchase a mold test kit so you can assess the possible risks with the type of mold. You can always call a mold remediation specialist to help tackle the problem.

https://youtu.be/LqSMib2Vqo8

Welcome to autumn, Toolbox DIYers! We have some very important home maintenance tasks to cover during this month of October so let’s jump right in starting with the five tasks we do every month: test our GFCI outlets, our smoke detectors, our burglar alarm, change our HVAC filter and change our water filters. If you need details on those five routine task, please refer to our January episode where that is covered in detail.

Also this month, it’s time for quarterly pest control so pick up the phone or pick up your equipment and get that knocked out sometime this month.

Now before we dive into the good stuff don’t forget to subscribe and click the bell. When this video is over please leave me a comment to let me know how I’m doing here. I want to make sure you’re getting value out of this video series.

Pre-Winter Inspection

Okay, the first major task of this month is to perform a pre-winter inspection which is actually quite simple. The first task is to have the heating system inspected by a professional. I pay about $120 for this service and it’s well worth it. I’d rather have things discovered now before the cold really sets in rather than wait and compete with all the other poor souls whose heat failed in the dead of winter. Those HVAC techs can get really backed up after a severe winter storm. If you get in front of things now with an inspection it can save a major inconvenience.

Next, we want to go around to all windows and do a weather seal inspection. We’re looking for any torn or missing weather stripping. We’re also looking for any cracks or gaps around doors and windows that might let in the cold air of winter.
During my inspection this year, I found a torn door sweep under the door that goes out to my garage which is not climate controlled. So I will be getting that replaced very soon. As you perform your inspection, take notes on what needs attention so you can create your buy list for the hardware store.

Weep Freely (or Clean your weep holes)

This is a great lead-in to the next task of the month. Since you’ll be going around to each window, this is the perfect time to clean the window weep holes and lubricate your windows, if necessary. I like to do this before winter so any snow that might accumulate up against the window will properly drain after it melts. I also find that doing it now means you don’t have to do it in the spring before the rain starts.

Metal Maintenance

Next up for this month is to clean and polish any hardware especially the outdoor hardware. I do this in fall not only to procrastinate raking the leaves but also to apply any protectants before the harsh conditions of winter and potential exposure to salt. This is not much of a problem here in Atlanta but it can be for my friends up north. So examples of hardware that get cleaned and polished are this mailbox, any door hardware, metal railing, gate hardware, etc. On this metal railing here, I do a full clean and passivation every year. For more information on what passivation is and how to do it, you can refer to one of my other videos which I’ll link to up here.

Winter Ceiling Fan Direction

Before I forget, one thing we also do this month is to reverse the direction of our ceiling fans. In winter, we want fans to circulate clockwise to help push heated air down rather than staying trapped near the ceiling. This is entirely optional but you can help reduce heating costs by reversing the fans and running them at a low speed.

Garage Door Maintenance

Lastly, this month we are going into the garage to take care of our garage door. We are going to inspect our garage door and the opener and we are going to perform complete lubrication of all moving parts. This is something that you can hire out but it’s actually quite easy to do this yourself. I have a video on this topic as well that you can access here or from the link in the description.

Okay everyone, that will do it for this month. I hope you enjoy halloween. I will see shortly thereafter for the November video which is one of the most important videos since we’ll go over the winterization process.

Welcome to the November episode of the Toolbox DIY home maintenance guide. This month is arguably the most important month of the year so I’m jumping right in with the highest priority item first and that is winterization. The farther up north you live the sooner you’ll want to tackle winterization. Some of you may even prefer to do this in October. 

Winterization

Freezing Water and Thawing Ice Are Your Enemy!

The number one thing we want to avoid this winter is freezing water or thawing ice causing damage. So step number one on our list is to remove or purge seasonal water supply lines. If you have any hoses that have been attached since summer, you’ll want to remove and store those. Remove any water timers such as this one here. If you have any permanent water supply lines that are outside, you’ll want to shut off the water to those and purge the water in those lines. A drain valve such as this comes in handy not only because you can drain the water but leaving it open provides room for expansion for any residual water left in the pipe. If you don’t have a drain valve, you can always open both ends and use an air compressor to blow water through the pipe.  

For outside spigots and hose bibbs, make sure you shut off the supplies to those if you have them. If yours don’t have a shut off valve, installing an insulated faucet cover should be installed. 

If you have an in-ground irrigation system, turn that off if you haven’t done so already. And if you live in an area with prolonged freezes, you should probably drain your system. Every system is different, but in a nutshell you want to find the supply valve which is located where the water main ties in with the irrigation system and close that valve. Then locate your sprinkler valves and manually open those by about a half turn. Then once winter is over, undo that process. 

Next up is to clean out the gutters and/or roof drains if you have those. We want to make sure water can easily move through those drains so there’s either less water that can freeze or we want to make sure thawing ice or snow has an easy escape route.  

Close Up Foundation Vents

We only have a few more winterization tasks before we move so let’s tackle the rest. If you have a crawl space with foundation vents, you’ll want to close or seal most, if not all, of those vents. If you have a mold or mildew problem even in the winter, keep two vents open on opposite walls but try to close them somewhat. And make sure you close vents that are near any water pipes. 

Sump Pump Test

If you have a sump pump, let’s test that by taking a 5 gallon bucket of water, removing the sump pump lid and pouring that water into the pump to make sure the float activates the pump and water gets ejected. Call in a pro soon, if your pump is not functioning.

Finishing Up Winterization

The last two tasks are quite easy. If you don’t already have an a/c condenser cover, get yourself one of those and cover your condenser for the winter. Lastly, if you have a snow blower, put in fresh oil and fresh gas and give it a test. 

Avoid the Drafts

That pretty much covers winterization but there are a few other tasks I like to do in November. Winter is coming so when a windy fall day arrives, I use this as an opportunity to go around to each room checking for drafts. If I can seal it from the inside with caulk or sealant, I tackle that now. The outside temperature will determine if you can address a draft from the outside. If you can’t tackle that now, make yourself a note to address that in spring. 

The Woods and The Yard

Before we close out this month with our five routine tasks, this is also a good time to stock up on firewood. And don’t forget to rake the leaves and aerate the lawn. 

Don’t Forget Our Five Routine Tasks

That covers everything we need to this month except our five routine tasks. We still need to test our GFCI outlets, test our smoke detectors, test our alarm system, replace our HVAC filter, and replace any water filters. Don’t forget you can find details on those five tasks in our January episode. 

Thanks for watching everyone. Have a happy thanksgiving I will see you back here to describe what is a very easy December which you’ve earned! 

https://youtu.be/EcMGDvWCqcI

Well friends, we’ve made it to the end of the year with our final episode of the Toolbox DIY Home Maintenance Guide. Luckily, this month is very light! We’re all very busy come this time of the year so fitting in home maintenance isn’t really a high priority. If you’ve followed along this year and kept up with your home maintenance, there really shouldn’t be much left to do so you can take this month easy.

However, we’re not completely off the hook. This is the time of year when family and friends come to visit so it is extremely important to make sure our home is safe. That’s where our five routine tasks come in. I covered these in detail in the January episode but let me recap those here as the first three deal with safety. And don’t forget you can download a checklist for any month of interest at WEBSITE.

Back to the Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks

(For details on the Five Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks, please refer to the January episode. )

The first task is testing our GFCI outlets. This is important for multiple reasons. Anyone using a hairdryer in the bathroom needs to be protected with a functioning GFCI outlet. Christmas lights should be plugged into GFCI outlets as well. It can get wet this time of year so having the protection of a GFCI outlet is very important. So please take 15 to go around and test every outlet. 

The second and equally important task is to test your smoke detectors. Don’t wait until your mother-in-law burns the turkey to find out if they work. Tackle this now so you can sleep soundly when your guests come to stay knowing that they’ll be safe.

The third task is unfortunately more important this time of year thanks to those scumbags that like to go around stealing things that don’t belong to them. Burglars and thieves like this time of year so make sure your alarm system is tip top shape.

The last two tasks are easy and may not have to be done every month. Replace your HVAC filter if it’s older than 3 months and then check and replace any water filters and/or top off the salt if you have a water softener. 

Winter Storm Preparations

There are two other things I’d like you to do this month that are also quite easy. First, stock up on winter storm essentials. Here’s everything I think you need for a winter storm:

• Water & food (at least one week’s worth)
• Can opener
• Sterno stove (with a few cans of sterno)
• Batteries
• Flashlight
• Radio
• First aid kit
• Thermal blankets
• Propane or Kerosene space heater (ONLY if rated for indoor use – very important!)
• 1-2 week supply for any unique needs (Baby, Medications, Etc.)

Closing Out the Year

And lastly this month, is planning for next year. If you get some time this month, this is a good time to map out big projects for next year. I find the more I plan for a big project, the smoother it goes. I also like to set cost expectations for myself so I’m not taken by surprise later.

You can also reflect on your home maintenance task of the year and figure out if you need to make any changes. The guide I’ve presented here isn’t perfect for everyone in every region. You may need to tweak it due to climate or you may just not like doing certain tasks in certain months. It’s your home and your time, so figure out what works best for you. 

I hope you found this series useful. If you just joined us, please feel free to go back and watch the previous episodes. They are all relatively short coming in around 5 minutes or so. And if you like the series and want to see more DIY videos please click that subscribe button and hit the bell so you get notified about new videos in the coming year.

I’m Chris with Toolbox DIY. Signing off and wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Habari Gani, and Happy Festivus. Thanks for watching.