The Importance of Maintain your Sump Pump
If you live in an area that is prone to heavy rain, or you have groundwater in your community; you likely have a sump pump installed in your home. Not all homes require sump pumps, but when they are deemed necessary because of groundwater, site grading, etc.- Covington Homes installs a sump pump. Sump pumps are designed to help prevent water damage by removing excess water from your basement mechanical room or crawlspace. While sump pumps are an important tool for preventing water damage, they require regular maintenance to ensure that they are functioning properly.
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Homeowner Maintenance - Grading and Drainage
Covington Homes emphasizes that maintaining proper grading and drainage around your home is essential for preventing water damage and keeping your property in good condition. Unfortunately, many homeowners forget the importance of this and neglect this aspect of home maintenance, which can lead to costly repairs and even significant damage over time.
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GFCI Tips & Pointers
As a homeowner, one of your most important responsibilities is to maintain your home's electrical system. Electrical fires and other hazards can be caused by malfunctioning outlets, switches, and other electrical components. One important component to keep an eye on is the GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet.
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How to paint/touch-up your foundation and area wells
Covington Homes paints all foundation and area wells for stucco elevations. We believe this is a better solution for long term maintenance rather than applying stucco which is Cementitious (concrete) directly onto the concrete.
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Care and Maintenance of Cabinetry
Cabinetry is one of the biggest highlights of a kitchens look. Covington Homes prides ourselves on providing above average standard kitchens, but as well high-end cabinetry to match. With these resourceful tips from trade partners and professionals, you can have your cabinets looking as brand new as the day we put them in.
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Caulking Concrete Cracks
Step 1: Make sure that the cracked area is clean of grease, oil, or any other substances. After, rise with water and let it dry. This will allow the caulk to set and bond properly when applied.
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Maintain, Repair, and Re-finishing of your Hardwood Floors
Whether wood is being freshly cut or being laid in your home it will have a tendency to flex and expand with the climate it is exposed to. The drier or more humid an area is the wood will reciprocate. From this we want to make sure that the climate our wood is exposed to is consistent.
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Heating and Cooling Do’s and Don’ts
In Colorado Springs, we are constantly having weather that is ever-changing and with this comes drastic temperatures. One day it will be a high of 93° and the next a low of 53° with rain showers. But one thing we all want to keep consistent is our homes temperature. Here are some tips on ways you can make sure that when the seasons hit your heating and cooling system it is ready for the challenge!
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Stucco Care and Cleaning
The outside of our home is the very first thing people see and we always want to make sure that the exterior looks its best. Whether your home has acrylic or regular stucco we always want to make sure it is properly maintained to last its full capacity. Here are some easy steps you can take to make sure your stucco lasts against the test of time.
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Adding Onto an Existing Drip Irrigation Line
Did you go to Lowes or Home Depot and find that perfect rose bush? Do you think that there aren’t enough evergreen shrubs in your yard? Or perhaps you want to add dimension to your yard by adding grasses and flowering perennials? You need to add to the existing drip irrigation to add these extra shrubs and plants. Too hard you think? Well, it’s not too hard at all.
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Painting and Caulking Your Baseboards
We recommend that the baseboards in your home be cleaned on a fairly regular basis. We also recommend to caulk and touch up paint the baseboards in your home on an annual basis. Even when you clean the baseboards monthly or every few months, the caulk gets dusty and dirty. Ideally removing the caulk and re-applying the caulk is the maintenance item that should be performed, but let’s face it- that’s a lot more work than reapplying caulk and painting over the existing caulk and paint.
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Pointers for Yearly Maintenance on Floors and Thresholds
Three tips on keeping your thresholds looking and functioning great. Hinge squeaks and sticking entry door latch, Reducing the air blowing under the Thresholds & Regular maintenance of the weatherstripping.
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Programming Irrigation Controllers
Today’s irrigation controllers offer a variety of features and program options. As much as these modern marvels help improve the flexibility of an irrigation system, they do increase its complexity and, sometimes, the frustration you’ll experience servicing it. The following tips will help give you a basic understanding of how a controller works, how to program it and what some of the more complex features might be.
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How to Clean or Replace a Faucet Aerator
A faucet that has weak water pressure for both hot and cold water may just need the aerator cleaned. Another symptom of a dirty aerator is an irregular spray pattern or a stray stream of water going off at an odd direction. Cleaning or replacing the aerator is very easy and you might be able to do it without any tools.
...Read More First of all, close the drain so you don’t lose any parts. You don’t need to turn off the water supply for this repair. The aerator is the assembly and screen water passes through as it leaves the spout. This part at the tip of the spout unscrews in a clockwise direction (righty tighty, lefty loosey). Dry both the spout and your hands before trying to remove it with your fingers. If it is too tight, then you are going to need to use adjustable pliers. Before using the pliers on the faucet, wrap several loops of masking tape or a rubber band around the aerator to reduce the risk of marring the finish.
Once you remove the aerator you will notice one or more parts contained within. Note the order and orientation of the parts as you remove them. As you take them out you will probably find grit and rust. Rinse the pieces with water and brush off the debris. For difficult to remove deposits, soak the parts in white vinegar for a few minutes and scrub with a toothbrush. If any parts are cracked or broken, replace them. If the washer has hardened, it should replaced.
With the debris cleaned out, reassemble the aerator and screw it back onto the faucet. Hand tightening should be adequate. If water leaks around the threads, give it a fraction of a turn with the pliers and then remove the masking tape.
That’s it, you’re done. - Source: acmehowto.com
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Irrigation Start-up
To start a sprinkler system after winterizing you must first know where the sprinkler system shut offs are. If you had an irrigation service company shut down, blow out, and drain the system sometimes it is easier just to call them back to turn it on. Many lawn service companies will even shut your sprinkler down for the winter and start it back up when the time comes. If you can find the main sprinkler shut off valve and have a key to turn it back on then you can turn it on yourself.
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Caulking Your Tub and Shower
Caulking the connection between your shower walls and tub prevents leaks and reduces mildew buildup. Removing old caulk and recaulking joints between tiles and your tub is an annual bathroom maintenance job.
If you have tile shower walls, as the house moves (a natural process that occurs in every home), a hairline crack can occur that allows water to get into the joint.
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Repairing Small Holes in Drywall
Small holes in drywall can be easily repaired. These types of holes include nail or screw holes (like those left from picture hooks), paper tears and indentations made by furniture and other hard objects.
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Touching up your Grout
Grout is a typical maintenance item when owning a home. Sometimes grout can last years, and other times it lasts a few months before it starts to dry out and crack. It usually depends on the area in question. Grout at tile in wet areas needs maintenance more often than grout in dry areas. Even though sealer is applied over the grout the moisture eventually breaks down the sealer and grout over time, thus requiring the areas to be re-grouted.
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Landscaping Do’s & Don’ts
In order to encourage the longevity and health of your landscaping, our landscaping contractor has provided this homeowner guide to basic landscape care in Colorado. Here are some helpful Do’s & Don’ts to help you with your landscaping! ...Read More
Need to know about Interior & Exterior Caulking
There are many places on a home where caulking has been used. Since caulking is regular homeowner maintenance, make sure to check for your at least twice a year for areas that need caulk touch ups or to be re-caulked.
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HVAC Heating FAQ’S
Covington Homes answers what are the most important things I need to remember when heating my new home in the winter?
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HVAC COOLING FAQ’S
Covington Homes answers what are the most important things I need to remember when cooling my new home in the summer?
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Grading & Drainage: Do’s & Don’ts
Here are some quick and easy to follow Do’s and Don’ts about grading and drainage!
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Garage Door Helpful Hints!
Covington Homes provides Home Care Tips: Garage Door Helpful Hints!
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HVAC FAQ’s: HERS Fan
A HERS fan is installed in every Covington Home. This fan’s location can vary per home but is most commonly located in the laundry room. Since our homes are built tight, insulated right, and energy efficient they need to breathe! This fan helps the home breath correctly and properly.
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HVAC Maintenance
Yearly vs. Monthly
What as a homeowner do I need to take care of?
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Sealing Countertops
When installing countertops such as Quartz, Granite, and Engineered Countertops, the manufacturer does not apply a sealer to them. This is because surface sealers are specific to homeowners’ preferences, their daily needs, and dependent on the surface itself.
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Maintaining Concrete & Cosmetic Concrete Cracks
There is a saying in the construction and building industry: “Concrete is guaranteed to do three things; Get hard, turn gray, and crack”. Cracking is very common, expected, and is normal for concrete.
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Important Tips: Gutters
Have questions about how to maintain your gutters? Here are some need to know tips that will help ensure your gutters can last the test of time!
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Handy Hints for Home Care and Maintenance
Now that you have moved into your Beautiful Brand New Covington Home the fun begins! Moving your furniture in, decorating your rooms, hanging the curtains, putting up your blinds, and getting your Dream Home all 'settled in.’ Here are some Helpful Pointers on how to care and maintain your New Home.
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Springtime Sprinkler Tune-Up Checklist
Article From Rain Bird on Tips To Help You Save Water, Time and Money in Your Yard.
As the temperatures warm and the lawn and garden begins to thaw, there is no better time than springtime to make sure your automatic sprinkler system is ready for another season of efficient lawn and garden watering.
...Read More Just a few simple steps will go a long way towards saving water, money and preventing a mid-summer landscape catastrophe at home. Get the warm watering season off to a great start with the following tips:
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Spring Maintenance
As a Homeowner there are seasonal maintenance items that need to be pid attention to and addressed. But that is what owning a home is about. Taking care of the roof over our heads. And it really CAN be fun and rewarding!!
Here are just a few Spring Homeowner Maintenance recommendations. These are our Top Items to consider and take care of, but always remember that there may be other items in your home that require maintenance.
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Cabinet Care & Cleaning
Covington Homes has partnered with Aristokraft cabinets in our New Homes. How do you keep your high quality cabinets looking great and last a long time? We look to the experts in this case - Aristokraft. Here are their care and cleaning instructions.
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Draining Your Sprinkler System in an Emergency
This does NOT take the place of a proper winterization and blow out by a professional. However, if you turn on your irrigation too early, or a cold snap occurs and you have to shut down the irrigation system then follow these simple steps to mitigate the risk of a freezing backflow or sprinkler line.
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Lawn Care 101
When it comes to your lawn, there’s no such thing as fashionably late. Get the most out of your efforts by giving your lawn what it needs, when it needs it. An article by Eric Liskey – Better Homes and Garden.
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Optimizing your Weatherstripping
If you feel a slight draft of air coming in underneath your house door it may be that your threshold needs to be raised. This is fairly common and typically occurs as the threshold ages, people walk on it, or in the first few years of the home while the home is ‘getting comfortable’ for duration of the home.
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Garbage Disposal Stops Working
Perhaps one of the most common maintenance items in a home, but one that most people do not typically know how to fix. Therefore they call a plumber and pay him (or her) to ‘fix’ the disposal when it could had been done without the plumber.
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