In the same way that regular maintenance of your car can prevent the need for costly repairs, carrying out regular planning maintenance on your home can catch problems before they cause major damage.
The act of carrying out regular planned maintenance tasks such as gutter clearing and redecoration provides an opportunity to look over the whole building, especially those less often accessed parts and which can often help to pick up any potential problems that might be brewing. A missing roof tile or slate, leaking chimney back gutter or dripping overflow pipe for example might lead to water ingress and saturated walls and timber which if left unchecked can caused serious damage and ruin that perfectly decorated interior which you have just had commissioned.
Churches and other historic public buildings will usually have planned ‘quinquennial inspections’ carried out at five yearly intervals. These inspections set out and record regular maintenance requirements and inspectors will range over the building identifying both necessary immediate repairs, as well as those likely to be required down the line which should be budgeted for. Often comments will also be made upon desirable works such as thermal improvements. Whilst this procedure may seem excessive on a small dwelling, the general good principles of inspection and maintenance apply to all buildings. On a large, listed house, a similar inspection every five years is a wise investment – potentially identifying items of repair or maintenance before they create expensive damage inside the house.
Understanding your building and its maintenance needs also leads to designing sympathetic additions and alterations when the need arises. Nye Saunders have extensive experience in ‘caring for’ historic buildings as we like to consider it, and can advise on suitable maintenance regimes and additions and alterations.
