5 WAYS YOU’RE RUINING YOUR HOUSE

Whether you just bought a house or you have owed for years, protecting your investment should be top priority to extend the life of your home. There are simple maintenance tips that will instantly add years to your home that take minimal time and investment. If you are not keeping up with these you are ruining your house!

1. NOT CHANGING YOUR FURNACE AIR FILTER

Furnace filters are the only part of your furnace that need to be replaced regularly. Picture all of the air in your entire house circulating to one point (the air filter) before being blown through the house again. Some air filters are so old and clogged they are causing stress on the furnace and are physically bending with the pressure. Changing your air filter instantly improves the quality of air being circulated in your house. If you have pets, the need for replacing becomes even more important.

Replacement steps:

• Locate the furnace filter (it is the sliver usually between the large L-shaped ducting beside the furnace and your furnace)
• Record the size of the furnace filter. The size includes 3 measurements: length, height, and width. It is important to replace the filter with the appropriate size so there is a tight fit with minimal to no gaps.
• Buy in bulk. Once you know the size of your furnace filter, buying in bulk is key to saving money. There are multi-packs available at most hardware stores. When you have a pile of new filters by the furnace, it's more likely you'll change it on time. And remember, we are talking air quality for human health PLUS furnace health so changing your filter without hesitation is only a positive.
• Pull the old filter out and slide the new one in. Making sure the arrows are facing the right way for the air flow. Sometimes there is a cover to remove to access the filter. Replacing the filter is best done when the furnace fan is not running. So either turn off the power switch/thermostat, remove the bottom cover of the furnace to stop operation or wait until it is off. However, if you slide the air filter out while the furnace fan is blowing and you hear a difference in sound such as the furnace gasping for air, that is a sign the air filter was clogged!
• Set a recurring calendar event every 30-90 days depending on household and furnace warranty recommendations. For cleaner air, every 30 days is recommended especially if you have pets.

Don't get too caught up with the filter MPR rating unless you have specific health risks that require finer filtering or if you want to test out some luxury air quality for a while. If you are changing your filter monthly and don't have pets, a "Good rating" of 601-1200 MPR will probably do. If you have any concerns about it then opt for the "Premium rating" of 2200+ MPR and get the benefits of filtering mold spores, smog particles, and bacteria (depending on manufacturer).

2. GRADING AND EXTERIOR WATER

Sometimes all it takes is to go outside with an umbrella and watch your house while it rains. Water is the most common threat to deteriorating a house in most locations. Taking the time to inspect your home during a storm is a worthwhile investment of your time.

What to look for around your roof:

• Macro: The largest surface area on your house is your roof. Your roof is designed for water to run off into specific places. Follow the path of water from the top down. Are there any areas where water is splashing? Are there any areas of bottle necking where storm water is overloading a specific point? Are the eavestroughs carrying water away or overflowing? Are the down spouts attached and draining water away from the house?
• Micro: Are there areas on your roof that have more water travelling across it than others? Usually this happens because of the design of the roof, causing water to collect in specific locations due to large slopes, dormers or valleys. Key rule: anytime that you can have water running through a downspout instead of across the roof surface adds years to your roof. Metal/plastic downspouts and eavestroughs are more resistant to water than most roofing materials, so adding additional downspouts to direct water into eavestroughs is usually an inexpensive way to improve storm water flow, save roof material from deterioration, and eliminate bottlenecks.

What to look for on the ground:

• Macro: Stand at one corner of your house and do your best golfer reading the green impersonation. Crouching down to have a look at where the land meets the exterior wall of your house. Is the land sloping toward or away from your house? Is it consistent or is there specific areas where the slope is interrupted, perhaps by mechanical equipment or pavers? The slope you are seeing either towards or away from your house is called "grading". You want the grading all around your house to be sloped AWAY, causing water to flow into the yard and not into your basement. This is the simplest way to keep your basement dry by correcting grading.
• Micro: Check for splashing. Even without an active storm if you check the walls around your house you may see signs of staining, discolouration and sometimes deterioration of brick if there is an ongoing water splash. This will likely be caused by clogged eavestroughs overflowing, disconnected downspouts, or odd roof design leading to water run off. Fixing any point where water touches your house is the goal. Sometimes with close neighbours this can be an issue but just know that is one of the ways you are ruining your house. Adding downspouts, redirecting water, and perhaps seeking help from contractors could be needed.

3. FOGGY BATHROOMS

Who doesn't love a hot shower? Steam filling the air in giant clouds, water dripping down the mirror seems innocent enough. For the sake of your house health — STOP! Bathrooms that endure consistent moisture will have resulting damage such as mold spores on surfaces and over time behind and inside walls leading to other major issues. Utilize the bathroom fan or open a window to prevent this.

How bad is your bathroom and how do you fix it? First, look up. Ceilings are usually the first place to spot damage because heat rises and if it has no where to go, it settles on the ceiling. Second, check exterior walls. Because of the temperature difference between that of inside your house and outside, hot air hitting a colder exterior wall will create condensation (i.e. the dripping walls). Look for discolouration, dark spots, surface growth, and speckling dots. This is a clear sign you need to run your ceiling fan longer or potentially upgrade. Surface staining can be repaired by cleaning, and if the stain still exists afterwards, use a stain blocker paint, which is generally an oil-based paint product. Paint companies have special paint for bathrooms and kitchens to mitigate the effects of high humidity, so ensure your walls have the appropriate paint. If the drywall is crumbling and falling then consulting a restoration contractor is recommended. In most cases with water damage, you only see 10% of the problem on your side of the drywall and the other 90% is behind the wall. The damage could affect the insulation, framing, and exterior sheathing. Hot showers aren't sounding so hot now, are they?

The balance: quickly eliminate the fog!

Your bathroom fan is the easiest solution to defend your house from your hot showers. Simply running the fan during and after a shower will save your house. If your fan cannot remove the air in 30 minutes, it is time to investigate why:

• The fan is clogged with dust. Removing the cover (with the power off, for safety) will reveal if the fan is gunked up. All it should take to clean it is soupy water and a rag, and this should be part of your bi-annual deep cleaning schedule.
• The fan exhaust is not vented properly. The bathroom fan has an exhaust vent that leads the air outside either through the attic to the roof or soffit, or through the joist cavity to the exterior wall. It seems like it would be rare to find a bathroom fan not exhausting, but unfortunately, it is common! Attic installations are notorious for having fan exhaust vents just laying on top of the insulation, causing hot humid air to be pumped into your attic and resulting in issues we will address in point #4. Air needs to be led outside, and if not, there are major side effects.
• Fan is undersized. As a general rule you want about eight air changes per hour. That means all of the air inside your bathroom is changed out eight times if you run the fan for an hour. This is the best way to get hot wet air out. Fans use cubic feet per minute (CFM) to determine the appropriate size. For the most part you want one CFM per square foot of your bathroom. Average bathroom is 5 feet by 10 feet, equaling 50 square feet, so 50 CFM is the minimum fan size.

When buying a new fan keep in mind that sones is the measurement of how loud the fan is. Higher the sones number, louder the fan. To ensure all of the family will enjoy running the fan during their bath time, pick the lowest sones you can afford. 1.0 sones or less is ideal. You will thank yourself later.

4. TOO MUCH INSULATION

Historically there have been incentives and "green house initiatives" that rewarded home owners for installing more insulation into their attic. This led to lots of insulation companies installing as much insulation into attics as possible. The issue now is that there is such thing as too much or too much in the wrong places.

Air from your house rises to the attic and insulation is what helps keep the desired air temperature around as long as possible, adding to the efficiency of the heating or cooling system. Inside your attic, insulation lines the floor and it should be laid evenly across the entire attic space. Now this is where we get technical. Around the perimeter of your roof there is a soffit, which is designed to let exterior air into your attic. That air circulates through your attic and up to the roof vents. Too much insulation and not enough ventilation clogs up the air circulation needed to: a) help roofing materials breathe, b) exhaust hot, humid, and stale air, and c) create a flow of air for the entire house.

The most common issue in an attic is covered soffits. When blown-in insulation is used, there is a high likelihood that insulation is covering the soffit vents. As just mentioned, soffit vents bring circulation to the attic. When the circulation is compromised, the air in the attic becomes stale, which could lead to mold growth on the roof sheathing.

Attic Inspection:

• Are all the exhaust ducts from bathroom or kitchen fans properly vented? Mixing indoor wet air into the attic commonly leads to mold growth on the underside of the roof sheathing. This is a major issue and health risk. It is also generally an expensive problem to clean/repair.
• Can you see baffles? Can you see light around the perimeter? Either of these are good and signs the soffits are not covered with insulation. Feeling adventurous? Then have a walk inside WALKING ONLY ON THE JOISTS. If you don't know this already then it is probably not a good idea to poke around up there you risk falling through your ceiling, actually.
• Does the insulation appear level throughout? This is an easy one to inspect. Is the level consistent? If not, then moving blown-in insulation around would resolve this issue.
• Is there any dark staining on the sheathing? Roofing nails can sometimes rust and stain the sheathing. This isn't too concerning unless there is a hole that is causing a leak. What you are looking for is mold, which is usually consistent across the sheathing or in a specific area. Recall the effects of clogged soffits. Sometimes there are not enough roof vents; there should be one vent every 300 square feet of of attic space. Check if there are enough of those. A roofer is required if you need more added.

Baffles are less than $3 each and they are all you need to defend your soffit air flow as it creates a cavity for that air flow. They are installed on the underside of the roof joists wherever there is a soffit vent. They are a cheap product to save you from ruining your house.

5. ALL PLUGGED UP

What goes down the drain should stay down the drain. If you haven't had the experience of a sewer backup, consider yourself lucky. They are worth avoiding. A back up is caused by a drain clog not allowing water to drain. There is something obstructing the drain which stops the flow of water, once water goes down the drain it meets the clog and starts to come back up the drain. This happens on a small scale in an individual sink or large scale at the main drain. Here are some tips to make sure it doesn't happen:

• Have the main drain cleaned out annually. Some cities provide this service for free. They use a scoping tool to access the "clean out" and clear the drain all the way out to the street sewer. If the city does not cover the charge then contact a local plumber.
• Replace old damaged drains. Depending on the age of your house there could be a combination of many drain materials. Clay drains were used often and are subject to cracking and collapse. Commonly, tree roots can crack and collapse clay drains. Plumber's scoping tools can identify the drain materials and it is advised that you replace old drains whenever possible, although this could be costly.
• Be careful what you put down the drain. Children's toys, feminine products, and abundance of hair are common to find clogging up drains. Yup dinosaurs get flushed down the toilet while mommy and daddy have no idea. Cooking fats and grease can cause clogging. The key here is to know if you have Rapunzel, mischievous children, and bacon grease down the drain every Sunday have your drains cleaned!

Home maintenance does not need to be expensive and you can save yourself a lot by paying attention to detail. Do not ignore the signs and take action today. These are the simple maintenance tips that will instantly add years to your home. If you are not keeping up with these you are ruining your house!

Let me know what you thought. Were you ruining your house? Did you know all of these tips? Do you have any hacks to house maintenance? Comment and share!