Fresh water and safe drainage are important to your families health and well being, and the longevity of your home. The items listed below should be checked at least once per year.

Plumbing checklist

1. Exposed pipes outdoors. These are the plumbing entries into your home, or extensions such as outdoor faucets. We recommend learning where your water supply meter is located, and becoming familiar with it’s operation in case of problems, and also learning where you main drain line clean out is located if you don’t know this already. Check for things like wet spots, puddles, or corrosion on outdoor pipes.

2. Exposed pipes indoors. Most exposed pipes indoors, are under sinks, or behind the toilet. Check for wet spots, drips, and other moisture problems. Look for excessive oxidization on fittings and connections. These can be a sign of a small leak, and severe corrosion can cause leaks.

3. Reduced water pressure. Low water pressure at the faucet can have several causes. It can be a leak, which is bleeding off pressure, or, it could be a blockage, such as sediment in the nozzle of the fixture. Check for obvious things like water bubbling up from the ground, and hissing sounds. You can also turn off all water fixtures in the house, and see if the meter is still turning. If it is, a leak is probably the cause. If not, start with simple things like removing the splash screen from the offending faucet. If there is sediment inside, clean it, or replace it with a new one, and reinstall. The same thing should be done for slow shower heads.

4. Drains. Check drains for the speed with which they empty out. If it seems to take too long, you may have a partial clog. Such clogs in kitchen and bathroom sinks can usually be removed by removing the “p trap” and cleaning it out.

5. Vents. Vents are a part of your homes drainage system, and are in place to allow air to replace draining water to avoid poor drainage through vacuum lock. Check the vents visually, most vent problems are related to the vent becoming covered, or clogged. We have run across vents clogged by birds nests, and other natural occurrences.

6. Valves and valve handles. Valve handles should be checked for tightness. Look for seepage around the handles.Toilet handles should be checked for proper movement and play.

7. Tile and caulking in tubs and showers. Broken bathroom tile, and missing caulking can allow water to damage your walls and floors. They can also be a sign of damaged plumbing. Check and repair.

8. Mold and mildew. Fungus can be a problem itself, and can point to other problems. Most fungi grow in the presence of water, if you find any, try to determine why it is growing in that particular place. Clean the area thoroughly with bleach, or other suitable products.

9. Check for solid connections on fixtures. Fixtures should be snugly attached to their bases. Tighten as needed.

10. Hot water heaters. Check the top pop valve to be sure that it is not allowing water to bypass. If it is bypassing, replace it, or have a plumber replace it for you. Look for rust and corrosion, as these could be a sign of other problems. When dealing with hot water heaters, it is a good idea to have a gas or electric expert do the work.

11. Washing machine connections. Washing machine supply lines should be leak free, so check for good connections, check the condition of the hoses as well. The washing machine drain should be checked for proper position and drainage.

Home pest control by attrition

Most people approach pest control as though at some point, if we kill enough of them, they will eventually go back where they came from.

There are a few problems with this theory:

• Bugs and weeds do not think, they only react, and their reaction will always be the same as long as nothing changes in their environment.
• The bugs and weeds are already where they came from. When we build a home, we are the interlopers in their territory, and we have displaced them. They will always try to get it back.

Pest control by attrition is a life long commitment to the war against “bugdom”. It is a series of battles that will go on forever, unless something is done to modify the environment. We are occupying territory that they once dominated, and they are always trying to reclaim it!

Home pest control by prevention

In order to make any progress in keeping our property free from these pest insurgents, we have to make our property less inviting, and less accessible to pests. In other words, we must modify our environment to favor us and not the pests. We must make it difficult for pests to gain entrance, and difficult for them to survive. We must create an environment that:

• Denies them what they need to survive.
• Exposes them to natural predation.
• Seals them out.

That is pest prevention in a nutshell.

The practice of home pest prevention

There is a logical sequence that should be followed for controlling home pests by preventing them. The practice involves removing the things that insects and rodents need to survive from the outskirts of your homes environment.

1. Start by clearing away any brush, weeds, rubbish, or rubble from your property. That is what insects use for cover, and for food. If you remove the cover, they will fall back to the next available cover, which will probably be your neighbors yard, so, you might want to share this with your neighbors. Now move toward your home. Remove the things that provide cover throughout your lawn, and mow your lawn more often. I know it is a pain, but it really helps. If the grass is high, insects and rodents use it to provide cover for getting closer to your home.
2. As you move closer to your home, look at your trees. If they are hanging over your roof, or touching your roof, they are providing a way for pests to get to the top of your house, so, trim them back. Don’t just cut the ends off, but trim them back to a lateral branch. If you do this improperly, you could cause an increase in pests, and disease in your trees. Keep your own safety in mind, use ladders cautiously, and pay special attention to power lines.
3. Your landscape beds next to your home are an important area for your pest control efforts. The typical landscape bed is a hotbed for pest activity. Keep vines away from the walls, they provide a road for insects. The same is true for the shrubs in the bed, they should be cut back a foot or more from the wall. Landscape mulch should be kept at least a foot from the homes exterior. This is not standard landscape practice, but it needs to be done.
4. Regulate your irrigation carefully. Too much water invites all sorts of critters into your place. Too little can weaken the lawn, and invite weeds to live in the place of the lawn grasses and landscape plants.
5. Now, to the exterior of your home. Seal everything! cracks, openings around doors and windows, replace worn weatherstripping, caulk around frames, caulk around all pipes, wires, cables, inlets, and anywhere else a bug might get through. Make sure all eve and soffit vents are screened. The same goes for your dryer vent.
6. Do the same inside, with all the corresponding areas. Almost every hole in the outside will have a corresponding hole in an inside wall, and they should all be sealed.

Consider a lawn and landscape makeover

While going through this process, you should also consider major modification to your entire lawn and landscape. Don’t let the word major bother you, this is one area where a little change can be done over a long period of time, and have a major impact, without huge expense. In fact, this could save you money in the long run.

Encouraging natural predation can help lower insect populations. This can be done by adding native trees and shrubs, where lawn once existed, and replacing non natives with native plants in the existing landscape. The native plants will be less susceptible to pests, and the native birds will have more of a reason to hang around and eat the remaining bugs. See: Lawn And Garden: Less Lawn More Garden for more information.

The number of wooden or composite surfaced homes built in the United states is much smaller than fifty years ago, but there are still some being built. Outbuildings, like garden sheds, utility buildings, cabanas, and storage buildings are often built with wood or wood composite materials, which require a little extra attention to keep them looking good and functioning properly. A planned maintenance schedule for preventative maintenance can increase the life and functionality of any structure, and this is nowhere more of a truth than with wood or composite structures.

Even if your building is covered mostly with brick, there are still wooden areas that need your attention. The most likely spots are the upper portions of the gable ends, the soffit, and facia boards.

Preventing moisture is the key

Moisture is the enemy of wood. To preserve your wooden structure, you need to prevent moisture from getting into the wood. This is accomplished with paint, stain, or some other type of wood preservative, to seal the moisture out. The edges and ends are most susceptible. The will need extra protection where they are exposed, or joined. This is the job of caulking and trim.

Build a planned maintenance schedule

The best way to go about this is to have a schedule for cleaning, painting and sealing your wooden building. This is best done once a year, or at least every 18 months. This may seem like a lot, but you are dealing with the life of your structure, so it is important.

Wood structure preventative maintenance checklist and tips

Please follow the order listed below. If you caulk the building, and then realize you need to level it, your caulking may separate when the building is being leveled.

• Check the building for levelness. Do this first.
• Check for wood to ground contact and correct this.
• Check for termite trails on the sides of any concrete blocks.
• Scrape off any loose paint. Completely clean the entire building exterior. This is important for finding potential problems, and for assuring a clean surface that your coating will adhere to.
• Check for missing or damaged shingles.
• Remove any brush, limbs, or other debris.
• Check the edges of the eves and overhangs to make sure that there is nothing rotting there. If there is any potential damage from moisture in this area, you should consider adding, or extending metal flashing.
• Check directly under the roof, where it contacts the outside of the building, caulk any places where there are gaps.
• Check the corners of the building, look for gaps, and caulk accordingly.
• Check around doors, and windows.
• Check the door and window weather stripping.
• Check the siding, and caulk any exposed nail or screw holes.
• Apply your paint, stain, or wood preservative only when these other steps have been taken, and the building is clean and dry.

If you have a planned maintenance schedule, and practice preventative maintenance, it will increase the longevity of your building, and the building will stay in good condition as long as you continue your planned maintenance schedule.