Summer Home Maintenance: 'Tis the Season
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
The end of year holidays and a long, hot summer is a great time to give your home a little bit of love too with some key home maintenance jobs, which will help ensure it keeps giving back to you and your family for many years to come. Below are my top recommended tasks for your to-do list this Summer season. Reach out if you need further assistance, or have any questions. Sam
One of the most common tasks I am hired for is hanging things on walls - sometimes they’ve been on the floor or hiding in a cupboard for years waiting to be mounted! This is such a simple task - with a little knowledge of screws, plugs, substrates (ie: timber studs or brick) and how to use a drill you'll have an art-filled home in no time.
In Bang! Club you’ll find a How-To guide to hanging things on walls, or keep an eye out for a ToolSchool workshop to teach you how.
In the meantime:
Choose screws that are suitable for the material you’re fixing to (eg: timber), are long enough to hold the weight of the item, and have the right head for mounting (eg: button head screw)
Plasterboard has a maximum holding capacity of 20kg/m3. No heavy mirrors! Secure heavy items to the frame itself by stud finding (see Bang! Club for a handy resource about accurate stud finding techniques).
If you are fixing to plasterboard or masonry, use the correct plug type for the material & the appropriate sized plug - you cannot just bung a screw in and hope for the best! Read the manufacturer info.
Cleaning the filter on your split system is not just about air quality, but also its energy efficiency. The cleaner the filter, the less hard it needs to work to condition the air it's delivering to your space. And do you really want all those dust particulates it's collecting to contaminate the air you're recirculating? Reusable air conditioner filters should be cleaned every few months, or disposable ones replaced usually 6-12 monthly (refer to the manufacturer in both cases).
As for how-to:
‘Bill’s How To’ is an EXCELLENT Australian-based YouTube channel with very easy-to-understand, comprehensive videos on a large range of topics. This is his video on how to do this task.
Your air con manufacturer may have its own channel or a video hosted on their website, otherwise refer to the owners’ manual.
If you have ducted heating & cooling, you might consider paying a company to do this job, but beware that it seems like a common scam front, so due your due diligence before hiring someone, and NEVER pay (in full) upfront.
The cost of water supply in Australia really doesn’t reflect its value, in my opinion. In the country of “droughts and flooding rains”, unfortunately our rainfall doesn’t necessarily fall where and when we need it to, so protecting this precious commodity is critical.
The sound of a dripping tap or showerhead is so annoying (especially in the middle of the night!), but a burst or a leak can cause major damage and lead to a very expensive repair bill. Prevention is definitely better than a cure here!
Basic, regular, proactive maintenance is the key:
Older style taps will have a washer, which is actually called a ‘valve’ or ‘jumper valve’. Buy one with an Australian Standards watermark - they’re universal (i.e.: any washer will fit most indoor taps that have a washer), and cost very little. You can usually only get nylon (plastic) ones these days, but you may find copper ones with a rubber seal too. See image below for tap components to help with changing them.
Mixer style taps have an internal cartridge and usually cannot be repaired (or the cost to do so doesn’t make financial sense). Changing them is relatively easy, although technically supposed to be done by a licensed plumber. Bang! Club has an infographic (with a video coming soon) about this process.
Many modern taps have quarter or half turn ceramic disc valves (instead of washers), which are more similar in construction to older style taps. They’re more durable and easier to use – you may consider a tap upgrade if you’re having frequent leaky tap issues.
While you’re at it, you know that little bendy hose that connects the inlet tap to your cistern? Well, they degrade and burst! A new one every 5 years or so will only set you back $20.
She Bangs doesn’t really venture into outdoor living spaces as part of my handywoman services, but I have been a keen veggie gardener, so I know all too well that over a hot Aussie summer, the watering requirements are intense, especially in a raised bed or pot-based garden.
A drip watering system keeps the water at ground level, protecting the leaves from mildew, and together with mulch, is a waaaaay more effective system than watering from above. Plus they’re automated so less work, more play!
For the How-to, I’ll leave it to Better Homes & Gardens for a video.
Meanwhile Gardening Australia has a really comprehensive video about drip irrigation more broadly if you need more thorough guidance.
For the balcony gardeners out there, I also really love wicking boxes, which are incredibly efficient, self-watering planters that ‘wick’ the water up as needed by the plants from a chamber underneath the layer of soil. It’s a really awesome D-I-Y project too! Just remember, ideally use heat-treated (not chemically) timber, which hasn’t been painted etc. It may be stamped as HT. Also, lining your box with builders’ plastic is an absolute must to prevent wood rot.
The Home Owners’ Operators Manual is filled with other tips for taking care of your biggest asset from pre-purchase inspection through to financing renovations. Download the complete e-Guide now.
