Do It Yourself or Professional?

Some homeowners enjoy taking care of their home. Others prefer to pay someone else to do the work. Either way is fine. Consider cost, your schedule, motivation, and skill level. Decide which items you will do and which you will hire others to do.

• Landscaping   Beautiful yards result from many years of work. If your builder provided landscaping, you have escaped only the first round of work. Yards require consisitent attention to flourish. If you are installing everything yourself, keep these suggestions in mind-
  • Create a plan that you can implement in stages.
  • Consider a Xeriscape (low water) approach.
  • Use native plants rather than exotics.
  • Cover soil as soon as possible to prevent erosion.
  • Maintain proper slope away from you home for good drainage.
  • Make provisions for efficient irrigation.
  • Install edgings around decorative rock or bark beds in such a way as to permit proper water drainage.
• Critters The county records office recognizes your ownership. Field mice, woodpeckers, ants, bees, and other indigneous life may not. Whether entertaining or threatening, one thing these creatures have in common is that they are yours to contend with. A notable exception is termite control. In some areas, builders treat the foundation for termites and provide you with a certificate confirming that treatment. In this case your responsibility in renewing this treatment when appropriate.
• Expansion & Contraction: Settling Building materials expand and contract because of changes in temperature and humidity. Dissimilar materials, for example wood trim installed over drywall, expand and contract at different rates in response to these fluctuations. The result can be a slight seperation between the two materials. You may see evidence of expansion and contraction in drywall cracks and nail pops, seperations where moldings meet walls, or at mitered corners of door casings. Doors may need adjustmentss because of these changes. Many people refer to these effects as settling.
• Caulk Over time caulk dries, shrinks, and cracks. Once this occurs its effectiveness diminishes; it no longer provides a seal against moisture and air infiltration. Maintaining caulking will be a routine task throughout the life of your home.
• Concrete Expect some minor cracking in your concnrete flatwork-driveway, patio, and so on. Concrete cracks result from shrinkage during curing (approximately half an inch in a 10-foot width), temperature changes, or soil movement. While cracking cannot be entirely prevented, you can minimize cracking if you remember the following hints.
  • Maintain good drainage away from concrete slabs.
  • Fill low spouts or settled areas near concrete slabs.
  • Seal cracks with a concrete caulking.
  • Remove ice and snow as soon as possible.
  • Protect concrete from de-icing agents.
  • Keep heavy vehicles off your drive (such as a moving van or dump truck).
• Systems The mechanical systems in your new home are likely to perform differently from those in your previous homes. Each home is unique in the way it interacts with wind currents, passive solar effects, its orientation to its neighbors, and surrounding plant life. Each installation also varies even if the same trade contractor does the work.
  
  Officials update government requirements and codes regularly. The reult is that your new home will have to comply with rules that may not have existed when your last home was built. For instance, federally mandated water-savings devices are now required in every new home. One example of such devices is the low-flush toilet, which has been shown by government studies to save water, even though homeowners sometimes need to flush them more than once. Builders must comply with the requirement in spite of the occasional inconvenience to the owner.
  
  Become familiar with the operation of your new systems to maximize their efficiency and your family’s comfort. Know where all main safety shut-offs are for water, electricity, and gas.
• Ventilation Homes today are built more tightly than ever. This tightness saves energy dollars, but it creates a potential concern. Condensation, cooking odors, radon, carbon monoxide, and other indoor pollutants may accumulate. Develop the habit of using mechanical and passive methods available for ventilating your home:
  • Don’t interfere with the fresh air supply to your furnace.
  • Run the hood or exhaust fan when you are cooking and the bath fans when the bathrooms are in use.
  • Open windows when weather permits.
  • Avoid excessive burning of scented candles. The soot they produce can collect on surfaces in your home and is sometimes impossible to remove.
• Paint Years ago paint contained chemicals such as lead that made it dangerous, especially to young people. Increased awarness of these dangers and corresonding government regulations have produced paint formulas that are safer but not as washable. Touching up painted surfaces usually produces more satisfactory results than scrubbing.