Replace Your Home Air Filter
Your air filter helps capture allergens like pollen, dust, and ensures your heating and air system has consistent airflow to prevent breakdowns. According to a recent study from the Illinois Institute of Technology, by Dr. Brent Stephens, increasing the MERV rating of your air filter can result in decreased risk of contraction of the tested infectious diseases. While using a MERV 13 air filter will not make you immune to the flu or other viral infections. According to the study, it can decrease the odds of you and your family catching them in your home. The study can be found here. MERV 13 filters are estimated to catch up to 87% of virus-carrying particles, compared to a mere 11% by fiberglass filters. Additionally, it’s best to check and replace the filters in commonly used appliances, to keep them free of debris and working properly.
Get Virtual Advice
San Francisco–based home maintenance startup Sheltr has developed a service to help people remotely, by offering them access to free guided video calls to resolve plumbing, electrical, and HVAC difficulties. Once you set up an appointment online, one of the company’s experts will help you troubleshoot your matter virtually.
Use Tech To Manage Home Services
Our home management platform allows homeowners and renters to manage and pay their existing home service providers remotely. Now your gardener, housekeeper, pest control service, and more can be easily managed through this web-based platform. It provides the option of having critical home maintenance and repair services performed, with contactless management. You can sign up here.
Disinfect Surfaces
Disinfecting surfaces like doorknobs, phones, flush handles on toilets, remotes, and computer keyboards can reduce the spread of germs. This is applicable especially when many are working from home and using these surfaces more often. Additionally, bacteria can enter your home through your shoes. Hence, it’s best to remove them before walking through your home and vacuum more than normal, to pick up any extra particles.
Manage Your Breaker
Whether you’re working remotely or homeschooling, your electronic usage is higher than normal. This additional usage can create an overload, which can lead to breaker tripping. To help prevent this, try unplugging appliances and other devices when not in use. This gives your circuits a breather and reduces additional loads on your electrical panel.
Keep Pipes Clear
With all the extra use your home plumbing will be receiving, it’s a good idea to turn off the main water valve to your house and clear out the pipes once a week. You can do this by opening all the faucets in your home (outdoor spigots, sinks, washing machine, shower, etc.). Then turn the primary water supply back on and let the faucets run. This will help clear out any air trapped in your pipes and ensure that you’ve flushed out any mineral deposits.
Combine Projects In One Visit
If you need to hire a professional service for essential home maintenance or repairs, try tackling several projects at the same time. For example, If you need service for your heater or a leaking faucet replaced, you can ask your plumber or heating and air service to do a quick maintenance check, to ensure, there are no other issues that could create a problem in the near future and require an additional service trip.