A low-maintenance home and garden allow you to spend more time with family and enjoy lives.
Homes that need less care may also save you money. Consider not having to buy gas for a lawn mower, or re-sand and re-seal a deck or wall cladding, or trim rose bushes and remove dead heads on a weekly basis.
Many aspects of family home need a significant investment of time and money, but this doesn’t always have to be the case.
Here are some low-maintenance housekeeping tips:
Select durable material
Choosing high-quality, long-lasting materials while constructing or renovating the house may help you save time and money in the long tun. You’re looking for long-lasting, low-maintenance decking, wall cladding, screen doors, kitchen cabinets, and flooring.
You pay for what you receive. When the cheaper item wears down after five years and no amount of cleaning, polishing, or painting helps, you may come to regret your low-cost purchase at the first point.
Declutter
The less visible clutter you have in your home, backyard, or garage/shed, the neater it will seem and the less you will have to clean and maintain. First and foremost, declutter.
Do you really need all of those dusty decorations? Be ruthless! Display the main items and save or sell the rest. (Is it spring cleaning yet?)
Storage of (junk)
If you don’t have enough built-in storage, you may buy cabinets and shelves. Create. You might build a cupboard under the staircases. A beautiful cabinet may conceal clutter while also decorating an empty wall. Purchase DIY shelves for your shed and store goods in plastic tubes and bins, or rent storage space.
Everything you own should not be on display all at once.
Carpeting
The next step is floor maintenance. Some types of flooring are easier to maintain than others.
Carpets are more difficult to clean than tiles and wood. Wood floors scratch, are prone to moisture damage and warping, and must be re-sanded and re-polished on a regular basis.
Engineered timber and vinyl flooring are simple to clean, maintain, and shine. Many current styles look quite similar to wooden floors even.
Larger tiles need less grouting, so use a darker grout to conceal dirt. White tiles are difficult to clean. To hide dirt, use darker or more natural-looking tiles.
Exterior and interior walls
Walls accumulate dirt streaks and chips, and vacuum cleaners are notorious paint and plaster destroyers.
There are style and aesthetic alternatives to plain bare brick. Cladding protects your walls while also creating a visually appealing décor that is easier to maintain than a painted plaster wall.
Consider using modern cladding instead of natural wood, which will need re-sanding, oiling, staining, or painting. Natural wood may flex, splinter, and fade, making it a high-maintenance material.
Many contemporary cladding solutions need little upkeep. Aluminium and composites are among the emerging materials that do not need oiling, staining, or painting.
Windows and doors
Window and door frames work on the same principles; why choose high-maintenance wood when aluminium is less expensive and will not warp, discolour, peel, or splinter?
landscape maintenance
Everyone loves a lush green lawn. Who wants to water, feed, mow, and weed it?
To save watering and mowing, choose low- to no-maintenance ground coverings.
- Artificial lawns are softer, don’t absorb as much heat, and last longer than their predecessors.
- Mulch is natural and works well in small areas. Some front yards are rockeries with natural ground covers and succulents that need little water and maintenance.
- Paving is obvious, but it is not for everyone, especially if you want to replace a large front lawn. Weeds will sprout in the spaces between the stones.
- Stamped Concrete – Again, not for the front of your home, but for large outside areas that need little upkeep, concrete is a great option, providing sturdy surfaces for enjoyment and a place for kids to ride and skate.
Decking
Decking is being used to cover areas of the backyard that people do not want to maintain and to create a more appealing recreational area. In low-maintenance pool gardens, decking is used a lot.
Consider the disadvantages of wooden decks. Termites, fades, warps, splinters, cracks, and nails are all attracted to natural wooden decking boards. You’ll also need to re-sand, re-oil, and re-paint it. These problems do not exist in today’s composite decking boards.
Choose a colour, install it, and you’re done. Super Deck’s composite decking is available in a variety of fashionable colours and finishes.
Plants and flowers
Installing a reticulation system that delivers water on time may save you both time and money.
Water-guzzling or high-maintenance plants will not make your life easier. Roses need frequent dead flower head removal and trimming.
Choose plants with care. Some plants prefer temperate, damp climes, while others prefer the tropics. Choose low-maintenance plants that are climate-appropriate, such as succulents and Australian natives.
Gutter Guards
Gutter guards (mesh installed in roof gutters) keep gutters from overflowing with leaves during wet winters. Summers that are hot and dry are bad luck in a fire zone. With a gutter guard, you won’t have to clean your gutters as often.
Contact us for more information on how Super Deck composite decking may make your life easier.
0430 308 829