After years of using by residents, it’s hard for a house to stay its condition as good as the beginning. The components have their life expectancy.
The average life of the cooling system is 10-15 years, except window air conditioning is 10-20 years.
Regarding the heating system,
- forced air furnace 10-25 yrs
- oil tank 40 yrs
- water/steam boiler-welded steel 10-30 yrs
- water/steam boiler-cast iron 30-50 yrs
- water/steam circulating pump 10-25 yrs
How about plumbing?
- galvanized water pipe 20-25 yrs
- septic/sewer pump 5-10 yrs
- hot water heater 5-15 yrs
- well pump 10 yrs
Appliances
- oven/range 15-20 yrs
- dishwasher 5-12 yrs
- garbage disposal 5-12 yrs
- washing machine 5-15 yrs
- dryer 10-25 yrs
It’s a good suggestion to inspect your house annually. Let’s watch a video from the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors called Looking for Problems in Your House.
If you don’t maintain them regularly, they might become out of order and cause you to panic, headache, and inconvenient on your life. A repair usually cost much than maintenance.
Don’t wait until it’s too late if your home has shown signs of foundation problem: windows and doors stick or don’t close, unleveled floors and sagging roofline, cracks on ceilings and walls, water drainage issues, gaps between bricks/door frames/windows.
If there is a large tree near your house, make sure the tree branches do not contact with the roof to avoid potential damage of the roof. Also, the branches might become a bridge for a small animal to nest in the attic under the roof.
Large, old trees may have wandering roots that can grow into structures, pavement, pipes or utility service lines. It could cause a toilet stuck only special machine can help.
In case you have a digging project, contact 811 before you dig! Buried utilities can exist just about anywhere on our property. It’s important to check with DigAlert before digging.
You can prevent damage to underground utilities and avoid service interruptions simply by utilizing DigAlert Express or calling 811 two working days not including the date of notification prior to starting your excavation. This is a 100% free service and more importantly – it’s the law.
Questions homeowners should be prepared to answer when calling 811: Who will do the work? What type of work? Location? Permit required? When do you plan to start? Have you pre-marked in white the area to be dug?