What Are You Responsible for as a Homeowner?

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Today, I want to briefly cover the differences between homeowner warranty and homeowner maintenance. From time to time, we get some questionable calls from homeowners, so we thought we would explain this topic in some detail today.

Let's start off in the kitchen. The area where the counter meets the back-splash is a grout caulking. If any of the grout chips out, it is covered under warranty. However, if the grout caulking starts to wear, all you have to do is caulk it using a caulking gun, which is relatively inexpensive and easy to do yourself. 

Another maintenance item you should keep an eye on and maintain is where the under mount sink meets with the counter-top. About once a year you'll want to make sure it's neatly caulked. Additionally, transitions from the window frame to the actual window also need to be caulked with acrylic caulking.

Moving to the front entryway of the house, you'll want to check your closure on your storm doors. Periodically you may need to push the adjustment screw in or out to adjust how fast or slow the door closes. The further in the screw is, the slower the door closes, the further out the screw is, the faster the door will move. You also want to check your front door entryway thresholds. Make sure the door isn't rubbing in order to keep from tearing the weather-stripping.

As a homeowner, you are responsible for maintaining your own yard. This includes regular fertilization, watering, and mowing. As long as you don't change or alter anything, warranties cover just about all electrical. As a homeowner, you're responsible for replacing light-bulbs, even if they're very high up.

At the new home orientation, your builder will walk you through the home, room by room, and go over not only the ins and outs of the house, but also all imperfections that might exist. All imperfections will be addressed by your builder before close. After closing, if you happen to scuff up a wall or two while moving in, you can find the flat paint downstairs so that you can touch it up after closing.

In the bathrooms, you want to make sure the inside corners of your tiled shower stay caulked, as well as your tub if it has tiled area around it. Any wet areas should be checked routinely to ensure no separation has occurred.

Next, make sure you change out the 9V battery in your smoke detectors. Although the fire alarms are hardwired together, the battery serves as a backup; if a wire is severed, all fire alarms will still send an audible signal in the event of a fire. Once you've replaced the battery, press and hold the reset button to reset all of smoke detectors. This will let out an audible alarm as a test throughout the house, and should be done once a year.

I haven't covered all the differences between maintenance and warranty items, but this is a very good start. If you have any questions about new home construction, or if you would like our assistance, don't hesitate to call us or visit our models.