But no matter how long you’ve owned your home, there are probably aspects of it that you have no clue about. This can be a problem because you’re relying on this structure to protect you and your family from the elements, to be a valuable asset in your financial portfolio, and to be an attractive place you can be proud to show off to friends and family. In order for that to happen, you need to know some fundamental details about your house. If you don’t know these things, find them out ASAP.
The water shutoff: The main valve that controls the flow of water into your house. It will usually be located outside, but if it’s inside (mine is), it’ll be near the perimeter, and possibly in your basement. Know where it is and how to turn it off.
The gas shut off. Similarly, if you have natural gas piped into your home, know where the shutoff valve is. If you ever smell gas and can’t figure out its source, this could literally save your house—and your life.
Electric panel. Know where your home’s electric panel is located, and familiarize yourself with the circuits and the main in case you need to cut the power to an area of the home—or the whole house.
Circuits
Speaking of your electrical panel, you should know more than just it’s location. Map out which circuits control what in your house by turning them off one by one and checking to see what they’re connected to. Don’t just trust any labeling that’s already in there—these are often not updated properly after renovations and repairs. Having each breaker labeled clearly will save you time and trouble if you need to kill the juice to something that’s malfunctioning.
An evacuation route
If something terrible were to happen unexpectedly, how would you get out of the house? If the front door was blocked somehow, is there an alternate route out? If you’re trapped on an upper floor, how would you escape? Those kinds of emergencies don’t happen often, thank goodness, but now is the time to plan for them. Think about what you would do in a variety of scenarios, so you have a way out even if the obvious exits are blocked.
Type of insulation
A good question to ask the builder, previous owners, or home inspector is the type of insulation in the walls and attic space. In older homes that haven’t been significantly renovated, this could be asbestos-based insulation, which isn’t a problem unless you try to remove it. But even if your insulation is more modern, knowing the kind and how long it’s been in there is a good thing. First, it might not be the best insulation in the world, so you might want to upgrade it. And second, insulation doesn’t last forever, so knowing how old it is will be helpful as you plan future maintenance and budgets.
Water quality
Clean, potable water being piped into our homes is an incredible luxury by historical standards—but not all local water supplies are the same. Your local water utility probably has testing results available, but it’s not a bad idea to test your tap water yourself to see what you’re dealing with—and whether you’re comfortable drinking it, or if you need to look into filters.
If your house was built some time before 1988, it might still have lead water pipes—which means lead might be leeching into your drinking water, potentially making you sick. You should check to see if your pipes are lead, and if you get a positive result, you should contact your local government and water utility to arrange a replacement.
Underneath
It’s not unheard of for homeowners to eliminate crawl space access panels in their homes, or for crawl spaces to simply have no convenient access point—but it’s vital that you be able to access your crawl space for a variety of reasons. You will someday need to access those pipes and wires, after all, and you need to be able to monitor the foundation, humidity levels (and potential mold growth), rodent and pest populations, and potential water issues. When it comes to what’s under your house, ignorance is definitely not bliss.
Your filter schedules
A lot of things in your house have filters (including, possibly, the house itself). These filters all need to be replaced periodically, but each appliance or piece of infrastructure will have its own schedule and specific type of filter. Make sure you know what filters you need and how often it’s recommended they be replaced. Just because something appears to be running just fine doesn’t mean the filter doesn’t need replacing.
Access
You own the house—all of it. You should be able to access every bit of it. You might not want to go into the crawl space or up onto the roof, but you should be able to get into those places. If there is any place you can’t get to, it might also be a place a contractor can’t get to, which could be disastrous in case of an emergency repair. And you should be able to inspect your house regularly as a proactive practice to anticipate problems before they become emergencies. Taking some time to make sure you at least know how you can access each part of your home is an essential piece of maintenance planning for what’s probably the largest asset you own.
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