Spring Home Improvement Magazine Special Feature
Keeping your home ready to sell changes the planning for your mechanical systems
By Jim Youngquist

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[May 09, 2015]  LINCOLN - Your home is composed of three parts: The actual structure of the home, the landscape or outdoor portion of your property; and the mechanical systems that provide heat, electricity and water services to your living space.

While the structure and the landscape are important items, consider living in your home without heat, without electricity, and without being able to flush the toilet or take a shower and you realize just how important the “Mechanical” portion of your abode really is.

When you are planning on how to “keep your home ready to sell,” keeping your mechanicals well maintained and adequately updated is a very important part of the plan.

Showing a house with leaky plumbing and dripping faucets is a definite turn-off. People who come to see your home will test every faucet in the place and flush every toilet to check if they are functioning properly, have good water flow and if they drip or leak or even make funny noises. Nobody wants to buy a leaky house. So, keeping your plumbing in good shape is important.

Adequate attention to plumbing items like toilets and faucets is important. If a toilet runs-on and annoys you, it will certainly attract the attention of every prospective buyer and be a major turn-off. With today’s pre-packaged toilet kits, the home owner can basically maintain or even improve the toilets in the house without professional help. Turn off the valve that lets water into the toilet, remove the flapper, the float apparatus, or the handle and arm; go to your local hardware store and ask the experienced hardware people for their help in choosing the right replacement parts and how to install them. The instructions that accompany the parts generally are very helpful in the process, and if you don’t understand something or need further instructions, Google the issue and watch a few YouTube videos on the subject. If the project becomes too taxing or too difficult, a professional plumber can relieve the stress.

Drains, garbage disposals, water softeners and faucets are a bit trickier. It might be advisable to have a recommended and trusted plumber consult with you on these items to make sure that they are handled appropriately. You should have leaky faucets and leaky plumbing repaired and consider updating faucets and fixtures which are outdated. A walkthrough with an experienced plumber can help you size and plan these updates.

There’s nothing like being able to relax in a hot shower or a hot bath to take the edge off. Having your hot water heater maintained yearly by flushing and refilling can extend its life, and replacing it every 10 -15 years is necessary in the plan to keep your home ready to sell. Replacement time is the perfect time to lower your energy bill by choosing a water heater that is more energy efficient. Some of the signs that your hot water heater needs to be replaced are leaks around the base of the tank, that it works erratically or not at all with water that isn't as hot as you want it to be, or a stream of hot water in the shower that doesn’t last through the time it takes to take your shower. Consult your trusted plumber for appropriate recommendations.

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The electrical system of your house needs to be maintained in as modern an approach as is possible. Old post-and-tube wiring needs to be modernized, and even two wire systems need to be upgraded to three wire grounded systems. Ground fault outlets need to be present in the kitchen and in bathrooms. Every home should have a 200 amp main and a breaker box instead of an 80 amp main with a fuse box. These upgrades need to be planned and orchestrated by a trusted local electrical contractor and if done over time, they can be completed without breaking the budget.

When you are “keeping your home ready to sell,” keeping your heating and cooling systems in more than working order might be important. If you are planning on staying in your home until you die, then the cost of replacing your HVAC equipment needs to be weighed and balanced with the cost of your operating efficiency. But if you are planning ahead to a time when you might have to sell your home, then the operating efficiency of your HVAC system becomes much more important because older equipment and a lower operating efficiency may cause prospective buyers to offer less or look elsewhere. Consult with your local HVAC dealer concerning the age of your systems and ask if it is a good time to consider replacement.

The age and condition of your mechanical systems is an important consideration in the quest to keep your home ready to sell. Keeping them well maintained and up-to-date will help you to avoid the avalanche of last minute updates or repairs and will help you get more money for your home-sweet-home when the time to sell comes.
 

Read all the articles in our new
2015 Spring Home Improvement magazine

Title
CLICK ON TITLES TO GO TO PAGES
Page
Keeping your home ready to sell 4
Curb Appeal:  Is your home smiling for the picture? 6
Spiff up your house with landscaping 12
It's home:  What do you color it? 17
Don't over-improve 21
Decluttering:  Learning to live with less! 25
Keep your home's value by maintaining your mechanicals 27

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