August 1, 2007

Home Design for Reduced Maintenance

If you design for low maintenance from the beginning, or spend time making a few changes designed for low maintenance, you can reduce your regular chores for years into the future, a great way to get a really huge time-savings payback!

Reduce the amount of mess and dirt coming into the house

This is your first line of defense. Mats should be placed outside and inside all doors. The kind of mats you want are the ones which really remove dirt from shoes, not the kind which are decorative only. If your family tends to have REALLY muddy shoes and boots, a bootscraper outside the door is an old-fashioned item which still works well.

To cut down on airborne dirt, seal and caulk all gaps round windows and doors and other building penetrations like pipes and wires. This will help with heating and cooling bills too. If you need to in your area, use insect screens on your windows and doors.

Inside, corral the mess and limit its spread

Assuming you do actually want to LIVE in this house, not just exist, it’s impossible not to create any mess at all - but you can take steps to make it easier to clean up.

Do mess-creating activities in one specific area, preferably with a closable door. If you’re doing something that makes dust, shavings, fumes etc, close the door to keep them out of the rest of the house. Make sure to clean your filters frequently if you have a forced-air heating or cooling system, to stop dust and dirt being spread around the house.

Simplify everything:

create built-in seating and storage (no spaces underneath or behind to clean)
reduce the number of decorative objects and twiddly bits
keep window coverings to the fewest, simplest number of layers that will do the job
limit open display to only those objects you really love, and keep everything else behind closed doors
reduce the amount of stuff you own (declutter!)

Choose easy-to-maintain finishes:

brushed plumbing fitting finishes instead of shiny.
easily-cleaned paint finishes (usually gloss, satin or eggshell rather than flat)
hard floors with few joints (avoid the hardwood or laminate floors with chamfered groove joints between every plank!)
wall-to-wall carpets instead of area rugs
smooth kitchen finishes instead of textured