Many young people these days feel like owning property is a pipe dream, due to exorbitant prices and low home supply. Those who manage to scrounge up enough savings for a house or an apartment count themselves lucky. However, just because you own property doesn’t automatically mean that you know how to maintain it. Mistakes can and do happen and we all learn from them.
Reddit user u/Cheirogaleidae sparked a discussion on the r/homeowners online community when they asked everyone about the ways that they’ve damaged their homes through sheer ignorance. We’ve collected the best stories and tips so that you avoid these errors, Pandas.
#1
New homeowner at 26 and grilled too close to the plastic siding of my house and warped it
Image credits: IAmTheeMoose
#2
Brick is meant to breathe. Painting it can trap moisture inside your walls.
Image credits: jo-z
#3
Moved to texas around a year ago. Learned the hard way that during dry hot months you are supposed to water your foundation to help the clay like soil settle in and around it. Wtf ,water my house?
Image credits: Hotsaltynutz
Home prices are through the roof (pun not intended) in the United States. CNN reports that in August 2023, the median home price was $407,100. Now compare the situation to just a few years ago. Back in August 2019, the median home price in the US was just $278,200.
With price spikes like this, it’s no wonder that many working Americans feel like owning property is out of the realm of possibility. At least for now. So they continue to rent.
What doesn’t help the situation, at least in the US, is that there is a shortage of homes: there’s lots of demand for (affordable) property, but very little supply. So even if you have a decent job and some savings, it doesn’t mean that you’ll find anything in your price range in the area where you want to live.
#4
Putting egg shells down your drain/garbage disposal. Tons of people do it. It can create a cement and clog your drain. A plumber told my wife that decades ago so we never did it. I figured there’s no harm in not doing it so better safe than sorry. Then some friends of ours had plumbing problems. Lucky for them, the point of compaction was above an unfinished room so it was easy to get to. He cut out a section of PVC pipe and it was like a chunk of cement inside. All caused from egg shells.
Image credits: CaptainAwesome06
#5
Not paying attention to wooden things that need periodic painting. Porch posts, door trim, fences, etc. If you don’t keep up with it, it rots. Then you have to replace porch posts, door trim, fences, etc.
I had no idea until things rotted. ?
Image credits: MeowMobile999
#6
Furnace filters. Replace them more often than you think you need. Don’t run ultra high MERV ratings. You need airflow over your indoor coil for the system to work well.
Image credits: 69stangrestomod
You may end up paying more than you initially wanted to. Or you may have to compromise on where you plan on living. While having some flexibility is definitely a good thing when looking at listings, the reality of the situation can mean that you’re forced to make a decision that you’re not fully happy with. How much you’re willing to compromise on the ideal you have in your mind is entirely up to you.
However, if you do end up owning a home (congratulations, by the way, we’re genuinely happy for you), it doesn’t mean that life’s going to be full of rainbows and sunshine from thereon out.
Older homes might need a decent amount of repair and upkeep. And even newer properties will require you to spend time, energy, and cash to maintain them over the years. Failing to do so means lowering your own quality of life and reducing the property’s worth.
#7
Ignoring very basic maintenance like clearing debris causing water to pool on roofs. And ignoring caulking around windows.
My Aunt and Uncle had a beautiful Spanish mission style house from the 1920s. And it was in really good condition when they bought it.
Roughly 20-25 years later, the only thing in halfway decent condition were the wood floors. Roof was shot and actively leaking in multiple rooms. Causing plaster ceilings to just fall.
Exterior walls were destroyed. Framing was completely destroyed, and again plaster just falling off he walls.
The house stood in great condition for over 70 years. And through minor neglect, fell apart in the last 20.
Image credits: Sparky_Zell
#8
I was this dummy. My toilet started running. Intermittently at first but then more frequently. I kept putting it off. Then I had three major surgeries back to back and put off looking at the bills until they were due at the end of the month. My water bill was somewhere around $550 dollars. It is normally $50!
Then because I’d put off looking at it until the end of the month and the water bill invoices for the month before that, I hadn’t caught it in time. So when the next month’s bill arrived it was $650ish!
It was just piece inside the tank that needed swapped out. A $10 part that literally took 4 minutes. It cost me over $1k just because I kept putting off looking at a toilet that had started running.
Image credits: MountainHighOnLife
#9
Our sump pump was working when we moved in but about 9 months later we had a week of heavy spring rains. I realized I hadn’t heard the sump pump making noise for awhile so I went into the garage to check the 3ft crawlspace we never use which runs the length of our entire house. I kid you not — we had a 2ft deep swimming pool under our home. We spent $7k on getting the water pumped out, mold mitigation, getting a vapor barrier installed, and replacing the sump pump with one that has an alarm. The old sump pump was the cheapest one our plumber had ever seen. Would’ve been nice if our home inspector had bothered to mention it.
Image credits: Vlascia
Broadly speaking, there are two main paths that you can take when it comes to home maintenance. You can either learn to do some DIY using free resources on the internet to fix up your home. Or you can hire a contractor. In the first case scenario, you’re sacrificing your time and energy in order to save money. The upside is that you learn some handy skills that are going to be useful in the years and decades of homeownership to come.
In the second case, you’re prioritizing your free time at the expense of money. You’re relying on other people’s expertise to ensure you haven’t missed anything essential during maintenance.
It might not be a bad idea to learn a bit of DIY for some smaller repairs and to rely on actual pros for the more important stuff, like serious plumping problems and fixing dangerous electrical faults.
#10
Oh pick me! I had a wash sink next to my washing machine. Had NO idea that the washing machine actually drained into the sink. Left a pile of rags in the sink and flooded the whole basement. I would like to say this was isolated, but I went on to do it two more times. The shop vac was my friend.
Image credits: anon
#11
Friend decided to finish his basement. Built his stud wall on the ground and tipped it up to place, discovered it was an inch or two taller then it should have been. Instead of taking it down/apart and cutting to size, he managed to force it into place essentially jacking up a section of his 1st floor. Upstairs, tile grout began to crack and come up, doors didn’t shut/latch properly and you could see new gaps between the baseboards and flooring.
Image credits: Mr_Midwestern
#12
A future customer replaced the ballcock in his second floor toilet and then went out of town.
A neighbor called the police the next day when water started coming out the front door.
Always call a licensed plumber.
Image credits: Five-and-Dimer
One issue to definitely be on the lookout for is water damage. According to Forbes Home, it’s a problem that costs American homeowners up to $20 billion (yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘b’) every single year.
Depending on the damage caused by leaks and floods, you may have to contact not only a water restoration professional but also a mold specialist who can inspect the house. The best remedy for costly water damage is prevention: regularly inspecting the pipes for any cracks, leaks, or serious damage.
#13
I once left a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner on the laminate countertop. It leaked and permanently etched the countertop.
Image credits: EsqueezeMe-
#14
Flushing “flushable” wipes.
Image credits: SousVideAndSmoke
#15
I only learned recently about the filter in the dishwasher and I’m so grossed out.
Image credits: Freshouttapatience
#16
Forgetting to clean the condensation line on my HVAC.
During a hot streak in the summer, the condensation line got clogged. Water slowly leaked out of the HVAC (it was in a utility closet so no idea how long it was leaking.) The water leaked under the drywall to the adjacent room, and ruined all of the flooring.
Image credits: Randmness
#17
Not paying attention to termites invading his garage. The framing was so chewed up that the only thing keeping it standing was the outside stucco. And he won’t take advice on it
Image credits: greginvalley
#18
Husband’s coworker hired someone to remove a tree from his backyard. They quoted him $600 to do it. Dude was not insured or licensed. Near as we can tell, it was just a dude who owned a chainsaw.
Tree fell on the house, damaged part of the roof, siding, and took out the electricity. His insurance wouldn’t cover it because the dude who did it was just a dude. Took 4 days to get the electricity fixed. The dude who took down the tree “felt really bad” about the damage he caused, so is going to fix it all himself.
Husband’s coworker had owned the house less than a month.
Image credits: JezebelleAcid
#19
Previous homeowners bricked over the only (tiny) access point to the crawlspace. It’s been super fun trying to fix copper plumbing lines they ran under the house, up an exterior wall to the 2nd floor laundry. Every winter they freeze a few times. There’s supposedly a heating line on them but I expect it’s no longer working.
I’m using next weekend to pull out the floor in the back stairwell to create a new access point so I can get under and see what’s happening. I dread going into the crawlspace, been here for 7 years and I have no idea what to expect ?
Image credits: InvisibleSoulMate
#20
Forgot to take a hose off of the spigot before the first freeze of winter.
Image credits: sudifirjfhfjvicodke
#21
Something I learned late in life but thankfully early in homeownership… ladies – tampons aren’t flushable!!!!!!!
#22
Check for gas leaks regularly!!! The detectors are less than $20 on Amazon. You can get acclimated to the rotten egg smell they add to make it more noticeable. Whole neighborhoods have been wiped off the map by gas leaks. Our newly purchased (one year) home nearly killed me this year. A pocket of leaked natural gas had floated into and sat in our nearby bedroom from the kitchen after I made a whole bunch of stuff for dinner with the gas oven and stove.
#23
My daughter looked at a house for sale where the owners poured unused tile grout down the tub drain. Totally clogged.
Did NOT buy that one.
#24
I had a solar energy system in Florida. When there was to be a freeze, I had to manually override the thermostat for the pump to run non stop. Deathly iIl from the flu on Dec 28, I received a call from my neighbors I had a waterfall from my roof. Too sick to watch weather or go to pump. Solar panels froze, shattered, very costly and I was so sick. Oh yeah it was my birthday. That’s how my birthdays always go. Badly.
#25
Filters. Find them, change or clean them.
Dishwasher filter (newer models)
Microwave (if over the stove) or range hood
Sediment filters on the end of faucets (some)
Refrigerator (if you have water/ice)
Dryer (lint trap)
HVAC (don’t get a filter that’s over-rated)
If somewhere smells bad or damp, do not give up until you have found the source of the problem. I can’t emphasize this one enough from experience.
If there’s somewhere in your home that has water pipes or is on a lower level and you aren’t daily in this area, get water alarms. This can save you thousands.
Clean the gutters. Check the grading around the house especially if you live somewhere with snow or flash floods. (I didn’t know what grading was when we bought a house. House didn’t even have gutters! Then it rained. We did unpack really fast.)
Walk around your foundation and look for any openings. If it’s block you can easily fill these yourself and prevent pests from coming in your home. I don’t know much about other foundations.
Spray for spiders and bugs around your foundation especially if you have an unfinished basement. We use Tempo but go in on it with a few neighbors. (Termites are uncommon here.) If you see one mouse, assume there are many, many more.
Trim the trees. Don’t let them grow over the roof. Don’t plant anything that will.
Don’t let your roof go too long. If you do, get up there with a tarp or some other kind of waterproofing that’s temporary. The worst thing is to replace not only the roof but the roof decking and ceilings. You can prevent that.
Keep an eye on your windows if they’re old. Look carefully from the outside with a flashlight.
If you have a septic tank don’t use those cleaning tablets that sit in the tank and get septic safe tp. It’ll save you from problems down the line. Don’t put coffee grounds down your garbage disposal. Consider a bidet too.
#26
Probably the biggest one I see a lot (insurance agent) is people not trimming trees over their roof. Usually the company has something to say about it, and it’s not just because you want to avoid having a giant limb fall onto your roof during a storm, but also because the falling leaves/pine needles will make short work of your roof by encouraging moss, rot, whatever else to propagate. I’ve told clients if they won’t trim the trees, they’ll want to get up there once or twice a year with a roof rake/broom, so it’s easier to just take down the limbs and be safe
#27
Previous owner tried to touch up the tile in the showers. In one she put a fiberglass mold on the floor without support then covered it with tile, so my heel went through it the first time I stepped in.
In the other one they either cheaped out on tile or didn’t have the means to cut tile to the right size, so left a nearly inch-wide band of grout between the shower floor and the wall. I didn’t notice the narrow wall-length crack in it until water started pouring through the seam and onto the floor.
Thankfully this was in a finished basement level with tile and no damage was done. If it was on an upper floor with hardwood flooring I would have been screwed beyond belief.
Moral of the story: don’t F with water seals unless you know what you’re doing.
#28
The first 10 years we owned our house, we rarely (maybe never, I can’t recall) got our gutters cleaned. We didn’t see the value in it. Eventually we had to replace an entire bay window and the surrounding wall. I think it cost $10-15k twenty years ago.
#29
* ignoring the anode rod replacement requirements of your hot water heater
* not changing furnace filters often enough, can damage carpet with gross stains and put stress on the HVAC unit
* using those chlorine tablets in your toilet tank, causing plastic parts to degrade and eventually fail
Image credits: empyreanhaze
#30
Don’t turn off your pilot lights!!! Your gas fireplace is supposed to have a tiny flame going at all times, and your furnace!
#31
When every adult does not know where the whole-house water shutoff valve is.
Image credits: Pot_Flashback1248
#32
Ignoring problems. If paint is peeling or something is leaking, it’s always going to be easier and cheaper to fix it right away instead of waiting.
#33
Putting duct tape or plastic bags over bad siding. House has mold now. New buyer who is rehabbing it has a lot of fun ahead.
#34
A friends daughter once cleaned her basement floor using petrol. Then the boiler clicked on. She didn’t have serious injuries, but the house was destroyed.
#35
Hubby and I did a major FUBAR with our first home. Clogged gutters… for years, water pooling in our crawlspace without even knowing it. I mean, standing water for weeks at a time. We were blissfully unaware at first. It wasn’t until the house started getting shifty and wonky that we grasped what was going on.
Disclosed to buyers, they bought it anyway. Must’ve had a lot more disposable income than us. Didn’t think we could sell it with those issues. Still turned a helluva profit. We moved into a smaller home, but lesson learned: the gutters are pristine and in good working order.
What were we doing owning a house?! We’re much older and better now… or at least I’d like to think so. lol
#36
Things wrong with my ex’s house!
Carpenter ants! Everywhere!
There was a leak in the basement so he dug out the back of the house where it was leaking and just left it exposed. Now the hole fills up with water when it rains and needs to be pumped.
Cut down his own tree. Its a miracle no one died. (I think the trunk is still up)
The main water shut off for the house has always been broken. He will never fix it because he would have to call the city and he thinks it costs 1000$ to do that.
Thats just the few i can think of right now. That place could have been so nice but watching it get destroyed was so depressing
#37
A good way to damage a home through ignorance is ignoring heating/AC unit maintenance. The AC/furnace unit is kind of like the house’s lungs. You want to make sure your house is always able to breathe freely without restriction. This will save so much money and keep your unit running better, longer. Change your filters inside every few months (more if you’ve got a lot of dust or fur). Keeping the unit at a steady temp, not turning it to 60°F when you’re hot then sliding it to 80°F when you get cold.
The area that seems to be ignored the most is also the part that can do a lot of expensive damage is not keeping the outside AC unit intake clean and free if debris. I’m a landscaper and I see it so often. People, naturally, want to hide it from sight but will plant things that are either way too close or that drop tons of petals, pollen, seeds and/or leaves that then get sucked in and stuck to the unit. The best outcome in that situation is a much shorter lifespan on the unit and a higher energy bill. The worst outcome is you’ll burn up your unit to the point that it would cost as much to repair it as it would to replace it. Things like dirt, leaves and petals mix with pollen, rain and condensation and are sucked up and stuck to the unit. This is like trying to breathe with a heavy, damp blanket plastered to your face. Just like you, the unit will keep sucking in that little bit of air creeping through but just like you, it will work harder and tire faster doing so. Every so often, check to make sure grass, weeds or plants haven’t grown to tall or too close and hose it down with a high power spray. No maintenance man required.
Also, one thing my dad always told me was never let ivy or any type of an invasive vine grow up the side of your house. It will destroy your grout, take apart your bricks, ruin your paint and destroy your window casings. It will pretty much just eat the outside of your house a lot faster than you would expect. This will lead to water leaks which leads to cracks which leads to all bad things. It also provides a super highway into your house for any type of bugs or small pests that might want to have a slumber party, not to mention drafts and higher heating and cooling costs.
#38
* Don’t ignore a dank smell in the basement, get a dehumidifier ASAP because that smell is going to only get worse and ruin anything stored there stink, and eventually black mold will arrive
* If you get roof leaks, it’s time to replace, not patch
* Clean out the dryer lint trap every time you use it to keep all the c**p from clogging the exhaust hose and vent which could get hot and/or even catch fire
* Keep the gutters cleaned out and test the downspouts annually to make sure they aren’t clogged up (if you get a big frozen gutter waterfall, melting ice can pull the gutter down if it gets too heavy, and it can cause water to drip into the house in ways that normally wouldn’t happen (I had a wall waterfall running past my basement washer and dryer outlets which was terrifying)
#39
Not replacing sump pumps before they stop working
Not cleaning out gutters or making sure water flows away from your foundation.
Unplugging smoke detectors instead of changing batteries. Also smoke detectors do wear out and need replacing.
Not having a carbon monoxide detector.
Not caulking windows, tubs, etc. Water is your enemy.
Not reroofing your house. Water will leak in and start ruining your house. Also mold. You do not want mold!
Not cleaning. Dirt and grime accumulates and then is near impossible to clean after awhile.
Not maintaining and updating as you go. Your house is an investment. Keep it so when you do want to sell you get something out of it.
Image credits: CriticismTurbulent54
#40
Ignorance in process with my neighbor. They have a very large Oak in their front yard. Its worked its way into their septic and the trunk is only about 10ft from the house. All of the weight is to one side and about 10 years ago the soil was flat around the whole trunk. Hurricane came in, all the sudden the back is elevated a bit. Told the owner, he moved, told the new owner. They have ignored it, then this last year the back soil raised about 2-3 inches in a day. The opposing side, the ground has sunk a couple inches. Bottom line is the tree is leaning bad, neighbor was told again. It is going to fall, just a matter of when. The way it sits and leans, it will destroy their septic system, any cars in the driveway, and take out the front 10ft of their garage. The trunk could hit the house and do a lot of damage, but the roots pulling will damage the foundation for sure. The roots also have their water line running through them so they will lose water. They could spend 3k now and remove it but will probably let it do $50-150k in damage instead.
Image credits: jimfish98
#41
Failure to have the chimney of a wood burning fireplace inspected and cleaned before lighting a fire in your new home. Burning cardboard in a fireplace. That house burned down day 3 when the family decided to get rid of boxes.
#42
Putting hamburger grease down the drain.
#43
Not routinely checking your crawl space. Had a main drain line plumbing leak and rodent infestation. Not sure how long, but it was bad when we found it.
#44
I destroyed my swimming pool heater by turning and incorrect valve and shutting off flow to the pool itself. It was dramatic.
#45
Check your attic
#46
*Anything with water*.
Water is evil in liquid form.
#47
Gutters, downspouts, and deciduous trees over your roof
#48
I’ve seen stone countertops destroyed by the use of the wrong cleaners and lack of proper care.
#49
Garbage disposal, flushable wipes, and never pumping your septic tank.
#50
First appartment, I washed the bathroom sink with steel wool. It removed all the shine.