Home Maintenance Advice

That funny smell in your laundry room could be a dirty washing machine drain hose. Drain hoses need to be cleaned regularly. Accumulated gunk sticks to the corrugated tubing and gives off an unpleasant odor.

Caulk is a waterproof sealant used to bridge gaps between surfaces. It’s produced in a variety of hues to blend into most surfaces. Pictured here are tubes that require application with a caulking gun. Colored caulk has the same durability as white caulking.

Pictured here is the comparison of two 2 x 4 wood studs. It shows the difference between old growth wood vs. new growth wood. The old growth piece is from 1918. It has 60 rings and is much stronger and insect resistant than the 2018 piece. The new growth piece…

Keep your crawl space vents properly sealed. Pictured here is a crawl space vent with a hole in it. Holes in crawl space vents allow rats and other pests access to your structure. Once inside they make a home and will enter your living area. Regularly check your house perimeter…

Maintain your wrought iron gates and fences so they last longer by repairing rust spots. Visually inspect your wrought iron every six months to locate rust spots. Apply rust inhibitive primer and two fresh top coats of paint when necessary. Pay special attention to areas where sprinklers hit the iron,…

Pictured above is the proper way to keep ivy, away from the base of a tree. Keep your tree roots and bases free of invasive plants and debris that can cause rot or insect infestation.

Pictured here is the wrong way to keep ground covering around a tree. The tree here has ivy around the base of the trunk and climbing up the tree. Keep vegetation away from the base of trees and from growing up them. Plants around the base of a tree can…

Dry rot is a fungus that eats your wood. Once it gets into wood, you either have to replace the wood or repair it. It is either visible as a mushroom or invisible and seen as a puckering in of wood. Pictured here are both forms of dry rot. Regular…

Divert your air conditioning condensation line water away from the foundation. During the summer, a condensation line can put out as much as ten gallons a day at your foundation. Over a month, that adds up to 300 gallons under your house or foundation. This can allow unseen mold and…

Make sure your under house access points are secured against pest intrusion. Pictured here is a crawl space cover that is falling apart and is open to rats and possums. It needs to be replaced.