Ask HN: How to Homeowner?
Does anyone have any resources on things homeowners need to know regarding home maintenance and repair? It seems like an entire domain knowledge that one needs to quickly build when transitioning from renting to owning.
Think of all the times you called the landlord - those are the things to mainly worry about, and you can throw cash at the problems if needed.
But since it is now yours you can do more than just repair and maintain, which is nice.
Find out where the various utility shutoffs are, and make sure you know how to turn off water in an emergency (there are the shutoffs below the sink or toilet, the shutoff next to the water main in the house, and some hidden shutoff somewhere else in the yard).
Your home inspection may show you where these are. Be aware! A shutoff that has never been used may fail when it is most needed, but don't go to try one unless you're ready for a leak.
Once you know how to shut off utilities, most problems are reduced from "panic" to "need to fix this eventually" - in which case, YouTube can help.
Get to know both your local "cheap hardware store" (Home Depot, etc) and the closest hardware store (this may be an Ace, Walmart, etc). Walmart has many parts and is open quite late in areas. Be friendly with them, you will visit them MANY TIMES for random things you never thought of, especially if you now have a yard.
Go to GoodWill or similar and buy a "homeowners' bible" book to read for fun. They're always cheap.
Talk to your neighbors, get recommendations on plumbers, painters, etc. If you see a neighbor having work done on their house, consider if you want the same on yours, often you can get a discount if the crew is already in the neighborhood.
* A sewer pipe breaks. In a house built on foundation. Where contractors need to destroy your new floors to find and replace said pipes.
* You discover mold deeply embedded into your house framing.
* Your roof needs to be repaired. Or replaced.
* You discover all of the framing/wood/doors leading to your patio are hollowed out from termites. Also, you have termites.
* You move a cardboard box you haven't used in a while in your garage and cockroaches scatter. Everywhere.
* The central AC system in your old, barely accessible attic dies.
* One night you hear little footsteps in the walls around you. Because somehow some mice, or rats, found their way in. You trace every exterior wall of the house and see zero entrypoints.
* Your washing machine malfunctions during a load and dumps water throughout your entire house. Floorboards start warping. And popping up.
* Your garage door opener dies and needs to be replaced.
Shall I go on.
If you put an empty line between your bullet points it'll make a list.
The quip about “renting doesn’t build equity” doesn’t hold up very well when a home eats thru savings. If you hit all the highest cost things, you can actually lose money if you sell in a short time period after.
When I was in between houses and renting I noticed a lot of stuff that was poorly maintained and it was a huge relief to just call maintenance. Ice maker broke? They swapped fridges. Stuff like that. People complain about rents going up but all the costs of maintenance have gone up as well. Roof needs replacement down to the wood sheathing? The cost of wood has been 4-10x at varying times over last few years.
If you can find someone who will go through the house with you, and give you good actionable information, it's much more worth it. Ask to see some inspection reports from other homes.
* Have good home owners insurance and seriously weight the cost/benefits of a good home warrant subscription. Home warrant on a used home is like premium insurance in that it is usually there is no deductible and they are willing to fix a lot of things.
* Get solar panels. They are good for about 15 years and if you over produce the electricity company will pay you money for over producing.
* Make good use of your land, such as planting fruit trees. Herbs make for good ornamentals for flower gardens and many are low maintenance perennials. We have a Florea fig that grows about 8 feet a year and its leaves make for a superior and highly sought after tea.
* Spend the extra time and effort to insulate your home. This requires regular maintenance.
* Hard floors are easier to clean than carpet. They show all the dust that otherwise just gets trapped in carpet.
* If you are putting hard floors in always apply some layer of water sealant between the floors and next layer.
* Consider investing in a heating on demand system for heating water opposed to a water heater tank.
* Keep large metallic things (including insulation) out of your attic and consider investing in a lightning rod. Lightning is the number one reason you may loose your house to environment disaster.
* Ensure your land is away from a flood plane.
* Perhaps the most important thing is to build strong relationships with your neighbors. Trade keys, keep an eye on their property, when they are out of town collect their mail for them.
Make sure water does not run up to the foundation of your house. The ground should ensure the water drains away.
Be careful of some trees, their powerful roots can damage your house / sidewalk / driveway.
Be aware of carpenter bees they will damage your house as bad as termites or carpenter ants.
If you have septic tank, there are a bunch of things you need to understand.
If it freezes be sure to cover outside faucets.
In the US your property taxes can change each year. Assuming you have a mortgage, prepare for the monthly payment to change. Sometimes up, sometimes down.
Here is Sweden we have freeze safe faucets, otherwise it is not enough to cover them you need to empty the water from the lone leading to them (Source- I skipped that and a pipe burst)
That being said, research safety elements of owning a home, this is usually where gas, electricity and water come into or out of your house. I mean all the gases, not just natural/fuel. Air is a gas and a blocked dryer vent is a common cause of house fires. Carbon monoxide can be lethal, have detectors and change their batteries. You probably like computers, research some safety stuff about circuits you’ll be powering them from and GFCI and how things may fail. Next after human safety would be knowing what to do for major mechanical system failures to prevent them from compounding. For example if you live in a cold climate, how to shutoff water and drain pipes if your heat goes out (so while you are at a warm nearby hotel waiting for a HVAC repair your pipes don’t burst).
Knowing about general safety stuff and how to turn things off is a great start. Beyond that you can just pay someone else for nearly anything that comes up. Insured/bonded and licensed trades people from medium sized companies are a good place to start. Getting an astronomical quote to connect a couple sinks to existing PVC pipes might motivate someone to DIY it from a home center. When you’re at the home center, know that you will, without a doubt, be making multiple trips because you don’t know shit, so when you have a thought like “I think this is the right fitting” buy 1 size larger and 1 size smaller and just return the unused ones on your next visit.
Yes there are books and YouTube but many times I encounter problems that I don’t even know how to describe. (ChatGPT been helpful here though)
What I would really like is a sort of walkthrough with a real person. Someone who can show you what various hard to describe pipes, wires, things, knobs, are. Also walk you through regular maintenance.
There is a concept of pool school for new pool owners. We did that and it was really helpful. So a same concept for the whole house.
Home inspectors are probably the most qualified for this. Our home inspector gave a quick overview of some stuff after inspection but we probably need multiple sessions to cover various things in detail.
But many people are "first generation" homeowners. I was thinking of building a "Uber" for virtual consultation/education for these kind of questions with a handyman. Thought about calling it something call-a-dad.com.
My wife pointed out there are a lot TikTok accounts about home maintenance where they also do private consultations.
Might be worth investing time in learning fundamentals, like electricity for one (if you lack the knowledge). Knowing how to use a multimeter for debugging is very useful.
Rule number one (for me) is: buy good quality tools and the return will soon happen. A DeWalt power-drill might be expensive up front but it won't flinch when you have to drill through a wall - and again in 10 years!
Wow... this is for advanced users and even more. I rarely use a multimeter and I have somewhat of the right background (or maybe European electricity is simpler)