One of the downsides to being a homeowner is needing to foot the bill for expensive home repairs. Home repairs can come in the form of a leaky roof, a cracked foundation, or any plumbing issues in general. However, some of them can break your bank if the situation worsens and this is exactly why the adage “a stitch in time saves nine” rings true. There are two important things to prevent this: regular maintenance and actually spotting the issue before it exacerbates into a major headache.
Home repairs can be expensive when they have not been taken care of over a long period of time. The longer you delay fixing something in your home, the more expensive it will become. Not to mention, you need to find the right technician/plumber/handyman to do the job for you. To prevent a serious financial damage, you need to regularly maintain your home’s various systems and fix issues immediately when they arise.
Here are 3 issues infamous for creeping up when you least suspect it:
1. Foundation Issues
Water will weaken or break your home foundation. This should be a red alert for Malaysians since it rains every other day here. Water disrupts your home as it flows through the concrete, basements, and empty spaces, causing your foundation to crack and spread havoc to the rest of your home. Cracks are created by drying shrinkage, thermal movement, and other causes. When the crack is minor, they would not cause any problems. However, minor cracks will grow larger over time and can lead not only to irreplaceable damage but to an unsafe structure. The best way to avoid this costly repair is by keeping water away as far as you can from the foundation.
If you’re looking at building your house from the ground up, you need to make sure that the ground around the foundation area should slope slightly away from your home to prevent rain water from pooling around the foundation and weakening your foundation’s structure. This should affect house buyers from reputable developers as well since Malaysian homeowners tend to add a concrete porch in front as part of their renovation efforts.
Repair the cracks immediately and get help from the professionals. You would not want to end up spending thousands more when it becomes unmanageable. Remember, always maintain your home in its tip-top shape! You might just want to sell your house someday and foundation issues will make your home difficult or impossible to resell.
2. Water Damage in the Bathroom
The bathroom is another place where people let water go unchecked. Often people spot gaps appearing between the walls and the bathtub or between the walls and the sink for example but they tend to ignore them. What happens next is it will mold and water will rot under the surface and chew through the shower pan. This will damage the shower function and you will have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to get it replaced. To avoid this, as homeowners, you should check your bathroom regularly. You need to check for gaps in the caulking around the shower or the tub as well as check for any missing grout. Use silicone caulk in your bathroom to keep water and moisture away from surfaces with cracks and crevices where mold or mildew could potentially develop.
3. Treating Termites
It can be devastating when termites go unnoticed and unchecked. Termites destroy clothes, books, wood panels, and eventually entire homes. It is a common issue in many houses in Klang Valley and homeowners are engaging pest control companies to treat their homes, costing them thousands of ringgit.
Termites usually gain entrance into building through cracks and crevices, following the electrical or pipeline system. They live in colonies and the nests are usually located underground, around woods or trees. When they go unnoticed for a long time, it will create a structural damage that can cost a fortune. It is vital to do an annual termite patrol at your home. It does not cost a lot money to get a professional for termite checks rather than having to pay for the casualties later on. Even when your affected neighbor’s house has been treated, bet your bottom dollar that the termites will still make their way into your house sooner or later; therefore, It is advisable to join forces with your neighbors to get your houses treated. See this infographic from the Pest
Control Association of Malaysia.
Can you share some of your home repairs experience that you think costs more than you expected?
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