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Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition (For Dummies Series) - Softcover

Carey, James

 
9780470430637: Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition (For Dummies Series)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 047043063X ISBN 13: 9780470430637
Verlag: For Dummies, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

A hands-on, step-by-step guide to properly maintaining your home

Your home requires regular maintenance to operate safely and efficiently. The expert advice in this second edition of Home Maintenance For Dummies can help you save literally thousands of dollars each year by showing you how to perform home maintenance yourself!

This new edition provides the latest tips on how to tune up your home and make repairs to every room of the house, from basement to attic. By combining step-by-step instructions and expert information, this practical guide gives you the skills to tackle everything from furnace tune-ups to leaky roofs. You'll also learn how to conduct routine inspections, keep major appliances running efficiently, and increase energy efficiency.

  • Shows how to keep your home in tip-top shape, preserve its value, and avoid costly repairs
  • Covers all rooms of the house, in addition to the roof, foundation, and exterior
  • Explains how to keep all home systems and major appliances running smoothly
  • Includes a seasonal maintenance schedule
  • Provides the latest green maintenance options to help lower your utility bills

James Carey and Morris Carey have a radio show, a newspaper column, and a Web site, all called On the House, and appear regularly on CBS News Saturday Morning. They are also the authors of Home Remodeling For Dummies

If you've always wanted to tackle home repairs like a pro, Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your ideal resource!

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

James Carey and Morris Carey Jr. share their 55+ years of experience as award-winning, licensed contractors with millions of people nationwide through a weekly radio program and syndicated newspaper column, both titled On The House. They also appear regularly on CBS News Saturday Morning.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

The easy way to keep your home in tip-top shape!

Just like a car, a home requires regular maintenance to operate safely and efficiently. Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition, gives you the latest tips and advice on how to inspect, tune up, and make repairs to every part of your house! You'll get expert, step-by-step information that will empower you to roll up your sleeves and make your home safer, more comfortable, and more energy efficient.

  • Home maintenance and you ? practical information on the benefits of home maintenance and the major systems and components in your home

  • The energy envelope ? guidance on understanding your home's exterior surfaces and associated components, like windows and doors, the roof, the basement, and the foundation

  • Plumbing and HVAC ? instructions on how to tackle problems with mechanical equipment, common household appliances, and heating and cooling systems

Open the book and find:

  • Ten home maintenance skills you'll be glad to have

  • Tips on preserving your home's value and avoiding costly repairs

  • Green maintenance and cleaning options

  • Tips on day-to-day repairs from walls and appliances to decks and fences

  • Straightforward advice on what you can tackle yourself and when you should call a pro

  • Step-by-step instructions on everything from replacing a furnace filter to insulating your home

Aus dem Klappentext

The easy way to keep your home in tip-top shape!

Just like a car, a home requires regular maintenance to operate safely and efficiently. Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition, gives you the latest tips and advice on how to inspect, tune up, and make repairs to every part of your house! You'll get expert, step-by-step information that will empower you to roll up your sleeves and make your home safer, more comfortable, and more energy efficient.

  • Home maintenance and you — practical information on the benefits of home maintenance and the major systems and components in your home

  • The energy envelope — guidance on understanding your home's exterior surfaces and associated components, like windows and doors, the roof, the basement, and the foundation

  • Plumbing and HVAC — instructions on how to tackle problems with mechanical equipment, common household appliances, and heating and cooling systems

Open the book and find:

  • Ten home maintenance skills you'll be glad to have

  • Tips on preserving your home's value and avoiding costly repairs

  • Green maintenance and cleaning options

  • Tips on day-to-day repairs from walls and appliances to decks and fences

  • Straightforward advice on what you can tackle yourself and when you should call a pro

  • Step-by-step instructions on everything from replacing a furnace filter to insulating your home

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Home Maintenance For Dummies

By James Carey Morris Carey

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-43063-7

Chapter One

Home Maintenance: What It Is and Why It Matters

In This Chapter

* Making your home a safer and more comfortable place to live

* Enhancing your home's value

* Saving money on repairs and energy

We grew up in house that was built by our grandfather shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Our family (all six of us) continually did maintenance on that house - painting, plastering, plumbing, repairing window screens, and a billion other tasks. Or so it seemed.

However, maintenance is not reserved for older homes. Home maintenance should begin the day the house is completed, and continue for as long as the structure exists. But please don't think that you've signed up for years of drudgery. In this chapter, we show you how home maintenance can be fast, easy, and even fun - and how it can save you money in the long run.

Keeping Up with Upkeep

Some homeowners think of maintenance as a challenge, something to take on, overcome, and, with luck, complete. Some see it as a learning experience, looking to master new skills, and, in the process, improve their home. Some get into the Zen of it, finding enlightenment in knowing - and truly understanding - the inner workings of their dwellings. And some focus on the bottom line, seeing maintenance as the preservation and enhancement of their huge home investment. Most just want their homes to look nice and work well.

However you approach maintenance (and regardless of whether you achieve insight into the meaning of your existence), you have to stay on top of your to-do list, because you need to keep little problems from becoming big trouble, because it's smart to keep everything looking good, and because keeping your home's systems working efficiently makes financial sense.

From little to big

Maintenance is not about big, time-consuming, and expensive projects. In fact, one of the most effective and worthwhile tasks - painting a room - requires only a couple of gallons of paint, a $10 brush, and a $3 roller cover. Changing the furnace filter takes two minutes. Caulking a drafty window frame is a five-minute, $5 job. Doing these little things, and doing them continuously or as needed, makes a huge difference in the appearance, comfort, and efficiency of your home.

Over time, there will be more little projects than big ones. Our advice: Do the little ones yourself. Most of them are easy to do. You'll save money, your home will look and work better, and you'll feel as though you've accomplished something.

Medium-size projects - like cleaning and adjusting your furnace, adjusting a sticking exterior door, or replacing a toilet - need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. To decide whether to do them yourself or hire a pro, ask yourself these questions:

  •   Do I have the right skills and knowledge?

  •   Do I have the necessary tools?

  •   Do I have the time?

    If you have to say no to any one of these questions, you need to think hard before taking on the job. You may be better off hiring a pro.

    Which brings us to the big projects, things like replacing the roof, re-siding, and pouring a new driveway. Unless you have some really awesome skills, solid experience, and know-how, as well as a workshop full of tools, hiring a pro is best. As a friend of ours says, "I know how to build a deck. But I've never done it before. There are people who build decks every day, people who know how to do the job right. It's worth the cost of hiring a contractor to be satisfied with the end product."

    Many of our radio-show callers are homeowners who've taken on projects that are way beyond their expertise, require the purchase of expensive tools, and are taking much longer than expected. And they're not calling to share how wonderful the projects have gone. They need help putting things back together or advice on how to find someone who can get the monkeys off their backs, so to speak. Don't get caught in this trap. Be smart. Know your limitations.

    All the chapters in Parts II through V contain many of the most common small and medium-size maintenance tasks that you can tackle yourself (with our help, of course). And when a task really should be left to a pro, we tell you that, too.

    From inside to outside

    Homes are complicated. They have many components and systems that need to be monitored and maintained (see Chapter 2). Inside, the systems include plumbing, electrical, and heating/air conditioning. Plus, you've got the foundation, structural framing, walls, floors, appliances, countertops, cabinets, sinks, bathtubs, fireplaces, and more to care for. It sounds like a lot (and it is), but you can find all the details you need in Parts II, III, and IV.

    Outside, the components that require attention include windows and doors, roof, chimney, garage door, concrete, masonry, and siding. The key thing to know about problems on the outside of your home is that, if you don't attend to them, they can become problems on the inside, too. That's why we devote an entire part (Part V) to helping you prevent and address problems outside.

    Benefiting from a Little TLC

    There are five major benefits to maintaining your home well:

  •   Improved safety

  •   Increased comfort

  •   Enhanced home value

  •   Money savings

  •   Energy efficiency

    Here's what this list tells you: that home maintenance literally pays off. To put it another way, these five big benefits prove that an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. And, as you'll soon discover, those are words to live by when it comes to your home.

    To your health (and safety)

    A poorly cared-for home is not just an aesthetic problem - it can hurt you:

  •   A rotted subfloor can result in an unexpected visit to the floor below - complete with bumps, cuts, bruises, and maybe a trip to the hospital.

  •   A poorly maintained furnace can leak deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is the leading cause of poisoning deaths in the United States.

  •   An air-conditioning system that fails in the heat of summer, or a furnace that takes a hiatus in the worst of winter, can lead to extreme indoor temperatures, which can be dangerous, or even fatal for the elderly and very young.

  •   A smoke detector with a dead battery doesn't work - it's literally playing with fire.

    Simple home maintenance can prevent these disasters and make your house a safer place to live for you and your family. For example, the one 9-volt battery, vacuuming, and three minutes that it takes to maintain your smoke detector could prevent you from losing your home, a pet, or a loved one.

    So how do you spell safety when it comes to your home? M-A-I-N-T-E-N-A-N-C-E!

    Comfort: You'll miss it if it's gone

    Your house contains a number of systems that make it a comfortable place to live (see Chapter 2). Most people take the comfort systems in their house for granted. They don't think about them until one of the systems breaks down. And then the result is a distinct lack of comfort.

    For example, your home's electrical system powers lights, your refrigerator, your water heater, and your washer and dryer, among other things. You may...

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    Verlag
    For Dummies
    Erscheinungsdatum
    2009
    Sprache
    Englisch
    ISBN 10 
    047043063X
    ISBN 13 
    9780470430637
    Einband
    Taschenbuch
    Auflage
    2
    Anzahl der Seiten
    408
    Kontakt zum Hersteller
    FOR DUMMIES
    danilo.gaviraghi@hoepli.it

    Via Hoepli 5
    Milano
    20121
    Italien