What do you wish you'd known about maintaining a home (house or apartment, etc.) when you started out

80 replies

OneFancyTealQuail · 15/08/2025 12:40

Can be anything

OP posts:

LillyPJ · 19/08/2025 03:13

Seaitoverthere · 15/08/2025 13:43

That on a strip of rawl plugs there is a hole for you to put the drilling end of a drill into to find the right size drill bit and 2 holes for the minimum and maximum screw size So you can find a screw between the hole sizes that will fit. Also that if you use the correct drill size it doesn’t matter how deep your hole is because rawl plugs are designed to flare stop them falling into the hole.

No matter how careful you are drilling hole for rawl plugs, your wall is liable to disintegrate if you have an old house so you need filler on hand at all times and some of the metal filler tool things (or a credit card).

HG mould spray and Wickes antifungal wash are great.

Misted double glazing units can be replaced without needed a whole new window and you can get universal window handles online.

Zinsser bin and bullseye 123 as a first coat mean you can paint over most surfaces.

Thanks! I never knew that about the rawl plug hole guides. I've just put up some shelves and started with a small drill bit, then had to work my way up four sizes before I could hammer in the rawl plugs. I could have saved a lot of time.

Astrabees · 19/08/2025 07:22

If you buy a brand new house and think you don’t need to worry about maintenance then you are sadly deluded. A few years in and all of a sudden lots suddenly needs doing, then all your kitchen appliances will die in the same year and you will also need a new boiler. If I did it again I’d set aside some money each year from the start to be ready for this.

PolarCrane · 19/08/2025 08:16

That not everybody loves gardening or making house or inviting people round.

MagnoliaTreeBlossom · 19/08/2025 08:17

Well-established trees require an arborist every 2-3 years to maintain them... and it is expensive but essential.

Replacing a driveway may cost more than the car parked on it.

Shopping around for major appliances is essential to find the best model for your household's needs and to check current promotions or discounts.

Icecreamandcoffee · 19/08/2025 10:01

MagnoliaTreeBlossom · 19/08/2025 08:17

Well-established trees require an arborist every 2-3 years to maintain them... and it is expensive but essential.

Replacing a driveway may cost more than the car parked on it.

Shopping around for major appliances is essential to find the best model for your household's needs and to check current promotions or discounts.

To add to this. Well established trees with tree protection orders are incredibly expensive in both money and time to maintain. This is especially the case when the tree was neglected by the previous owner for decades (ex rental house with overseas owner who pretty much left the letting agent in charge of running the property).

Also, any property that was an ex rental is full of absolute bodge jobs, cowboy builder solutions and requires time, unlimited patience and money to put right. Looking at you letting agent maintenance person who decided the solution to a leak and associated damages was to fix the leak and just stick a layer of lino floor over the kitchen whilst the floorboards and joists were wet. Then when said lino floor was coming up to just shove a laminate floor on top of the lino. Also props for the great idea to "fix" the windows that didn't close properly was to just screw them shut so the tenants couldn't open windows rather than just buy new handles. Also, loved the rag tied round the leaky under bath pipe - really solved the leak problem.

Flip

1 2 3 4