Home Maintenance For Dummies
Timesaving, Trouble-Preventing Strategies for Maintaining Your Home

By James Carey, Morris Carey

Maintain Your Home In Tip-Top Shape

A hands-on, step-by-step guide to properly maintaining your home

Your home requires regular maintenance to operate safely and efficiently. The expert advice in this second edition of Home Maintenance For Dummies can help you save literally thousands of dollars each year by showing you how to perform home maintenance yourself!

This new edition provides the latest tips on how to tune up your home and make repairs to every room of the house, from basement to attic.

By combining step-by-step instructions and expert information, this practical guide gives you the skills to tackle everything from furnace tune-ups to leaky roofs.

You'll also learn how to conduct routine inspections, keep major appliances running efficiently, and increase energy efficiency.

• Shows how to keep your home in tip-top shape, preserve its value, and avoid costly repairs
• Covers all rooms of the house, in addition to the roof, foundation, and exterior
• Explains how to keep all home systems and major appliances running smoothly
• Includes a seasonal maintenance schedule
• Provides the latest green maintenance options to help lower your utility bills

James Carey and Morris Carey have a radio show, a newspaper column, and a Web site, all called On the House, and appear regularly on CBS News Saturday Morning. They are also the authors of Home Remodeling For Dummies

If you've always wanted to tackle home repairs like a pro, Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your ideal resource!

About the Authors:

James Carey and Morris Carey have a radio show, a newspaper column, and Web site, all called On the House, and appear regularly on CBS News Saturday Morning. They're also the authors of Home Remodeling For Dummies

Table of Contents:

Foreword.

Introduction.

PART I: Home Maintenance and You.

Chapter 1: Why Home Maintenance Is Important.

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your House and Its Systems.

PART II: Exterior Maintenance.

Chapter 3: The Foundation and the Floor Frame.

Chapter 4: Your Roofing and Siding.

Chapter 5: The Energy Envelope.

Chapter 6: Decks, Fencing, and Retaining Walls.

Chapter 7: The Swimming Pool and Spa.

Chapter 8: Landscape Irrigation.

Chapter 9: Ornamental Iron.

Chapter 10: Walkways, Patios, and Driveways.

PART III: Interior Maintenance.

Chapter 11: The Plumbing System.

Chapter 12: Plumbing Fixtures.

Chapter 13: The Drain, Waste, and Vent System.

Chapter 14: The Heating, Ventilating, and Cooling Systems.

Chapter 15: Fireplaces.

Chapter 16: Walls and Ceilings.

Chapter 17: Appliances.

Chapter 18: Cabinets and Countertops.

Chapter 19: Flooring.

PART IV: Safety, Security, and Shutdown.

Chapter 20: Safety and Preparedness.

Chapter 21: Shutting Down Your Home.

PART V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 22: Ten Important Preventive Maintenance Tasks.

Chapter 23: Ten Tasks to Address Every Month.

Chapter 24: Ten Hints for Your Maintenance Checklist.

PART VI: The Home Maintenance Schedule.

The Home Maintenance Schedule.

Index.

Book Registration Information

 

Soft-cover, 408 pages
ISBN: 047043063X
ISBN-13: 978-0470430637
Published October, 2009