Maintenance Benefits

There are a lot of benefits to maintainable systems too.  I promise, even through fixing deferred maintenance, there is a lot of good to be had (though it has been our biggest year of fixes!).  The soul of a maintainable item contributes to the character of the home, and it helps create an environment that is sustainable.  

Maintaining and preserving our built environment is a huge key to keeping the embodied energy in the materials from becoming another hole in a landfill.  Items that can be maintained instead of replaced are often much less expensive to maintain than their replacement counter-parts.  Good sealing for winter and using time-tested systems can definitely create spaces that don't need the maintenance of replacement.  

Any "maintenance free" product is a product that cannot be repaired and must be replaced.  Maintenance free is just future trash, and replacements are often expensive.  That expense often negates any minimal gains from the new equipment!  So, going through the daunting process of repairing deferred maintenance is often a way to build equity while saving on cost-overrun.

Single pane windows with storms are just as efficient as their new replacements, while reglazing regularly, adjusting weather-stripping, and keeping the exterior clean can take a toll for time, it is far more cost-effective than replacing windows every 5-25 years.  Including tools, I'm about $200 in on materials, and I'll definitely have enough supplies to fully restore the ones I have, and with continued maintenance, these will last another hundred years.  Whereas, our high-end replacement windows -which replaced broken vinyls- were around $1500 each. The quality vs. cost being a huge factor in these as well.  

Equity

Any notable change to a home affects the equity available in it.  The inherit value of "new" over "old" often disappears when the "old" product is brought up to like-new condition.  Proper and prompt maintenance makes all the difference in developing equity in a building. 

In comparisons, the biggest things that detract from equity aren't the age of the products, but the conditions they exist in.  That's why the biggest benefits for equity are the conditions as they stand.  It's nice to have a new, shiny range, but the equity from it isn't very different than the old, clean range!  Systems in good, working order are always key, but with a little time and patience (and sometimes some hired help), character-defining features don't need much to keep equity at a huge benefit to homeowners.  

​A huge part of that equity in maintenance comes directly from the time available to put into it.  Sadly, in a market ripe for house-flipping, homes that are move-in-capable get purchased for cash by investors, who tear out character-defining features for fast installations of future trash.  The time vs. money factor gets muddled when the purpose of a project is making the highest profit instead of bringing a structure back into well-maintained status.  

Still, as homes are purchased and sellers favor the slow game waiting for the right new steward, homes can -and do- retain their character and spirit.  All the same, that maintainability leads to preserved history and the retention of embodied energy in every part of the building.  At the end of the road, a maintainable house is a sustainable one.