Home maintenance workbook / checklist / calendar system?
May 6, 2022 7:34 AM Subscribe
About to step into house maintenance responsibilities for the first time. It seems like there's a lot of maintenance to keep on top of. What are good books, workbooks, calendars, software that will help us keep track of all of this?
Ideally it's a single system that generates a bunch of tasks w/ suggested degrees of frequency and also one where we can add tasks to it too. We would have the ability to check things off, re-schedule, etc. Kind of like a big to do list system, but with more stuff pre-populated. I am open to any format, but prefer a thing that is more comprehensively focused on house maintenance (vs. a general to do list app).
We are in the Pacific Northwest, in the event there are geo-specific programs.
Thoughts?
Ideally it's a single system that generates a bunch of tasks w/ suggested degrees of frequency and also one where we can add tasks to it too. We would have the ability to check things off, re-schedule, etc. Kind of like a big to do list system, but with more stuff pre-populated. I am open to any format, but prefer a thing that is more comprehensively focused on house maintenance (vs. a general to do list app).
We are in the Pacific Northwest, in the event there are geo-specific programs.
Thoughts?
Our home inspector gave us a checklist of things to do, maintenance-wise - if you're purchasing a home and haven't had an inspection yet, you might get one or be able to ask for it.
posted by misskaz at 8:32 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by misskaz at 8:32 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I hope something turns up with 'house maintenance checklist as a service', but in the meantime, I can offer my compilation of home maintenance AskMes.
Every man's home is his weekend project
Adventures in Home Ownership
What regular maintenance should I schedule for our new home?
What, besides scheduled maintenance, should I do to maintain my car?
How often should I change my pillows?
What's on your home maintenance calendar?
Adults just know these things, I guess
What should go on a home maintenance schedule?
Old Houses Guides for New Owners?
posted by zamboni at 8:50 AM on May 6, 2022 [25 favorites]
Every man's home is his weekend project
Adventures in Home Ownership
What regular maintenance should I schedule for our new home?
What, besides scheduled maintenance, should I do to maintain my car?
How often should I change my pillows?
What's on your home maintenance calendar?
Adults just know these things, I guess
What should go on a home maintenance schedule?
Old Houses Guides for New Owners?
posted by zamboni at 8:50 AM on May 6, 2022 [25 favorites]
Best answer: (The first book you need for home maintenance is your CHECKBOOK. Har, har.)
You can make a three-ring binder with a section for each month, and keep notes of periodic tasks in the respective month. (Like Merlin Mann's "43 Folders" plan.) Each month you just look up what work is required. After a few years, you will probably no longer need this. :7)
We buy a big ol' kitchen calendar each January, and my wife spends an evening copying over important dates and certain annual tasks. This system falls down on less-than-annual tasks, unfortunately.
Taking a different tack, in our filing cabinet we have folders for each system (yard, heating, A/C, appliances, kitchen remodel...) and we keep the relevant history of paperwork there. It's good to flip through the yard folder at the end of each winter: it reminds us about turning on the sprinklers and ordering mulch and the first fertilizer for the lawn and getting the central air ready. And in the fall we look up blowing out the sprinklers, shutting down the central air, getting the snow-blower ready, etc. But if we forget to open a given folder, we will forget there is annual work in it -- so I don't recommend doing this on your first house!
posted by wenestvedt at 10:32 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
You can make a three-ring binder with a section for each month, and keep notes of periodic tasks in the respective month. (Like Merlin Mann's "43 Folders" plan.) Each month you just look up what work is required. After a few years, you will probably no longer need this. :7)
We buy a big ol' kitchen calendar each January, and my wife spends an evening copying over important dates and certain annual tasks. This system falls down on less-than-annual tasks, unfortunately.
Taking a different tack, in our filing cabinet we have folders for each system (yard, heating, A/C, appliances, kitchen remodel...) and we keep the relevant history of paperwork there. It's good to flip through the yard folder at the end of each winter: it reminds us about turning on the sprinklers and ordering mulch and the first fertilizer for the lawn and getting the central air ready. And in the fall we look up blowing out the sprinklers, shutting down the central air, getting the snow-blower ready, etc. But if we forget to open a given folder, we will forget there is annual work in it -- so I don't recommend doing this on your first house!
posted by wenestvedt at 10:32 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: This system falls down on less-than-annual tasks, unfortunately.
I have a suggestion to add to wenestvedt's good advice: if you perform a task this September and want to do it again in 2025, write "get septic pumped in 2025" on this year's calendar, and transfer it in future years along with all the other scheduled maintenance. (If it's something that requires outside help, you could change that to an August note, "call to make appointment for September 2025 septic tank pump.")
posted by kate4914 at 11:19 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a suggestion to add to wenestvedt's good advice: if you perform a task this September and want to do it again in 2025, write "get septic pumped in 2025" on this year's calendar, and transfer it in future years along with all the other scheduled maintenance. (If it's something that requires outside help, you could change that to an August note, "call to make appointment for September 2025 septic tank pump.")
posted by kate4914 at 11:19 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
We have a shared section in Todoist for household maintenance. Very useful for things that work better if you do them early, viz. ordering more filters before smoke season, etc. Also we can leave notes in recurring tasks to do them better next time.
posted by clew at 11:44 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 11:44 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Home maintenance tasks are really dependent on the house and region and your activities, which makes it hard for anyone to come up with The List. We have 144 entries in ours, which includes monitoring some old-house peculiarities, bookkeeping, car maintenance, minor improvements, and personal quirks (eg switching the hats, spring and fall).
posted by clew at 11:58 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by clew at 11:58 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
This is something I would use Colornote on my phone for, but if you need to share with the family you need something different
posted by TimHare at 1:12 PM on May 6, 2022
posted by TimHare at 1:12 PM on May 6, 2022
Best answer: Get a permanent marker, and write the name & number of your tradesmen on the systems they install -- especially if their failure could be a disaster, like water heater and furnace.
When we bought this place, the water heater tank had the plumber's name & number who installed it scrawled on the side -- with the date, too. Very handy if it had croaked suddenly!
(Alternately, they make small adhesive pockets that can hold a 3"x5" card [example], or job jackets [example] for larger papers, which can be hung right on the appliances.)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:44 PM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
When we bought this place, the water heater tank had the plumber's name & number who installed it scrawled on the side -- with the date, too. Very handy if it had croaked suddenly!
(Alternately, they make small adhesive pockets that can hold a 3"x5" card [example], or job jackets [example] for larger papers, which can be hung right on the appliances.)
posted by wenestvedt at 1:44 PM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Maybe Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House, though it's a long time since I read it and it will be dated on technology if nothing else.
posted by paduasoy at 11:12 PM on May 6, 2022
posted by paduasoy at 11:12 PM on May 6, 2022
« Older What do I need to know about working at a very... | Excel - Conditional Formatting or CountIf? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 7:47 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]