Home Maintenance 101

You closed on the house.

The mortgage is the headline number — but it's not the whole cost.

Here's how to stay ahead of the rest.

The purchase price is the down payment on the real cost of a home. Taxes, insurance, utilities, routine upkeep, and the big-ticket systems that eventually wear out all add up — and the homeowners who get caught off guard are usually the ones who never saw the clock ticking. This is your playbook for staying ahead of it, whether you just bought, you're about to, or you've been in your home for years.

Know your replacement clock

Every home runs on a handful of major systems, and each one has a lifespan. Knowing roughly where yours sits is the difference between a planned expense and a financial ambush.

Roof: depends on the shingle. 3-tab is rated for 15 years but often gives closer to 10 in our climate; architectural shingles are rated for 25 but realistically run up to about 20. Hail and big storms can cut either one short overnight. Metal roofs last far longer.
HVAC: ~12–20 years. Our summers run the AC hard, so the cooling side often lands at the low end.
Water heater: ~8–12 years for a tank model. Hard water, common across the Hill Country, shortens it. Tankless units last longer.
Major appliances: ~10–15 years.

Maintain a system well and you'll reach the top of its range; neglect it and you'll hit the bottom. When you know a system's age, you can budget for its replacement before it fails — not in a panic the week it does.

The seasonal rhythm

A little preventive attention at the right time of year extends the life of every system above and heads off the expensive surprises. You don't need to be handy — just consistent.

Spring

Have the AC serviced before the first 100° day.
Check the roof and flashing for winter wear; clear the gutters.
Look for foundation cracks and check that water drains away from the home.
Check the soil along the foundation for erosion or low, washed-out spots, and top it off or re-sod to keep the grade even. Bare, eroded soil lets ground moisture swing wildly — and uneven moisture is what moves a foundation.

Summer

During drought, water around your foundation evenly to limit soil movement — a Hill Country must.
Watch for signs of pests and moisture.

Fall

Service the heating side of your system.
Reseal exterior wood and check weatherstripping.
Replace smoke and CO detector batteries (tie it to the fall time change so you never forget).

Winter

Protect exposed pipes before a hard freeze.
Check the attic for insulation gaps and moisture.

System-by-system care

The calendar is the rhythm. Here's the system-specific detail — including the tasks that run on their own cadence, not the seasons.

HVAC

Filters: every month for a 1-inch filter, every ~3 months for a 4-inch. Texas runtime is brutal, so err on the frequent side.
Condensate drain: keep it clear and flush it periodically. A clogged drain backs up and overflows — one of the most common, most avoidable sources of ceiling and attic water damage.
Professional service twice a year: cooling in spring, heating in fall.

Water heater

Flush it once a year to clear sediment and scale — especially with Hill Country hard water. It runs more efficiently and lasts longer for it.
Check regularly for leaks or corrosion at pipes and fittings.
Inspect for rust on the water heater jacket or in the drain pan, which is a sign of possible tank failure.
Exercise the T&P (temperature & pressure relief) valve once a year — lift the test lever, confirm it discharges, and make sure it re-seals. On older valves it sometimes won't re-seal after a test; if it weeps or won't reset afterward, that's your sign to have a licensed plumber replace it.

Plumbing

Supply hoses are the quiet risk no one thinks about until one lets go. The rubber lines feeding faucets, toilets, and especially the washing machine degrade with age and are a leading cause of major water damage. Replace washer hoses about every 5 years — or upgrade to braided stainless steel — and check the rest for bulging, cracking, or corrosion.
Know where your main water shutoff is, and make sure it actually turns. The minutes between a burst line and finding that valve are the difference between a mop and a remodel.
Exercise the fixture shutoff valves now and then so they aren't seized the day you finally need them.

Smoke & CO detectors

Test monthly; replace batteries once a year.
Know the date. Detectors have a 10-year lifespan and shouldn't be trusted past it — the manufacture date is stamped on the back. (On a recent inspection I found units dated 2009 still on the ceiling.) Anything past 10 years gets replaced, not re-batteried.

Wood-destroying insects (WDI)

Central Texas sits in high termite-pressure country, so wood-destroying insects are a real, common risk here — not a rare one. Most homeowners would recognize carpenter ants, but few could pick a termite or a carpenter bee out of a lineup until the damage shows.
A clean WDI check today is no guarantee for next year. A periodic look — annually is reasonable in our area — catches activity while it's still cheap to handle.

Exterior paint & caulk

Walk the exterior once a year. Paint and caulk are your first line against water intrusion; failing caulk around windows, doors, and trim lets water in long before a stain ever shows.
Touch up and re-caulk as needed — in our sun, plan to stay ahead of it rather than catch up.

A few more, often forgotten

Dryer vent: clear the lint from the vent duct once a year. Buildup is a leading cause of dryer fires, and a clogged vent makes the dryer work harder besides.
GFCI outlets: the outlets near water — kitchen, baths, garage, exterior — have a test button. Press it monthly to confirm they still trip; they're your shock protection, and they do wear out.
AFCI/GFCI breakers: modern homes are equipped with AFCI and GFCI-protected breakers. Manufacturers recommend testing monthly to confirm they trip and reset. If they don't trip or reset, have a licensed electrical contractor check circuits and replace breakers as needed.
Exhaust fans: make sure bath and kitchen fans vent to the outside, not into the attic, and clean the covers. They're your first defense against moisture and mold.
Garage door: test the auto-reverse — something under the closing door should make it stop and back off. Quick to check, and it matters most with kids and pets around.

Build a home reserve

Treat home upkeep like a sinking fund — money set aside a little at a time, so the big replacements are already paid for when the clock comes due. A common rule of thumb is about 1% of your home's value a year, though budgeting against the actual age of your systems (using the replacement clock above) is smarter. The goal is simple: when the water heater or the AC reaches the end of its life, it's a scheduled expense, not an emergency.

When it's time to sort the findings from an actual inspection by urgency, How to Read Your Inspection Report walks through the red/yellow/green triage for exactly that.

Living in the Hill Country

A few things hit Central Texas homes harder than most: expansive clay soils that move with the seasons (foundation and drainage matter more here), relentless summer heat on the AC, hard water on plumbing and appliances, and hail on roofs. If your home is rural, your septic and well systems run on their own maintenance clocks too.

Your inspection report is a budget, not a verdict

The fastest way to know exactly where your home sits on the replacement clock is a thorough inspection — at purchase, or with an 11-month warranty inspection before a new home's first-year coverage runs out. We're always happy to be a resource.

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Mike McCown · TREC #26408 · InterNACHI CPI · CCPIA Certified

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