Keeping Your Beach Home Pristine: The Importance of Regular Maintenance

As beach homeowners, we often find ourselves mesmerized by the breathtaking views, the tranquil ambiance, and the pleasure of living near the sea. However, owning a beach home is not without its share of responsibilities. Regular maintenance is an essential aspect of homeownership that ensures your beach home remains not only beautiful but also safe and efficient. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of regular maintenance for keeping your beach home in pristine condition.

The Perks and Perils of a Tropical Beach Home

Beach homes undoubtedly offer an unparalleled lifestyle with their serene surroundings, the soothing sound of the waves, and stunning sunrises and sunsets. Nevertheless, these homes are also exposed to harsh elements like wind, sand, and salt, which leads to accelerated wear and tear. From corroding metals to weathering paint, the impact of these factors can gradually degrade your beach home’s appearance and functionality.

Importance of Regular Maintenance

Regular maintenance is crucial in mitigating these effects and preserving your home’s charm and integrity. By conducting frequent inspections and upkeep, you can identify potential issues early and address them promptly, preventing minor problems from escalating into costly repairs.

Creating a Maintenance Schedule

A maintenance schedule can help ensure that nothing is overlooked. This schedule should include daily, weekly, monthly, and annual tasks. Daily tasks might include cleaning and checking for any visible issues. Weekly tasks could involve a more thorough cleaning and checking appliances. Monthly tasks might include checking and replacing HVAC filters, while annual tasks could involve professional inspections and servicing of heating and cooling systems.

Exterior Maintenance

The exterior of your beach home bears the brunt of the environmental factors. Regular washing can help remove salt deposits that might corrode metal fixtures and degrade paint. When repainting, using high-quality, weather-resistant paint can provide added protection. Check your roof, gutters, and down pipes regularly for debris or signs of rust.

Interior Maintenance

Inside your beach home, high humidity can be a challenge. Proper ventilation can help maintain comfortable humidity levels and prevent the growth of mold or mildew. Additionally, regularly check and clean air conditioning units, as these can quickly collect sand and salt.

Maintenance To-Do Lists

We track things that need to be fixed in Apple Reminders because it’s on our phones, and I just make a note when I find something that needs fixing.

Home Maintenance List

Some I can fix myself, of course, which I do once a week, usually on Tuesday mornings. I have a list named Home Maintenance that has a lot of weekly and monthly things that I do to maintain the home. If I can’t do it or run out of time, then I delegate it out to my handyman or electrician/plumber.

• Water outdoor plants – every two days unless it rained in the last day
• Water indoor plants – once a week
• Fill salt water softener – weekly
• Clean pool filters and skim surface – weekly – we have a pool cleaner, but he only comes after storms
• Sharpen kitchen knives – weekly – this helped me a lot when I was responsible for making breakfast and lunch, now our personal chef does it when needed
• Spray out the hot tub filter and top off small chlorine tables in floater – weekly – the hot tub filter lasts longer if you spray it clean with water
• Clean bug zappers – monthly
• WD-40 all door keyholes – monthly – this is a new item due to having to recently replace three doorknobs and one was inside due to rust
• Change hot tub filter – every 3 months
• Flip mattress – every 6 months – lasts longer
• Trim front gate bush – yearly – it starts to block our entrance to our house

Home Repairs

I have a list called Home Repairs for items that are not done by me or my maid and require a specialist. Any items in this list tag are tagged with the type of repair. I have tags for #electrician, #handyman, #treetimmers, #septictank, #palapa, and #windowrepair who are all different people that we have used. Our handyman made our pool, steam room, sidewalks, and a ton of other things around the house, and he can fix anything but electrical and plumbing, which requires some official training.

So, I needed a power outlet, three light sockets fixed, and two showers were dripping. And our electrician/plumber found that our water pump had quit working and our tinaco (water tank) on our roof was empty and had fallen over in a recent storm, and we had no idea.

PHOTOS

The water softener pump alone got water throughout the house, and our backup water supply on the roof wasn’t being used. The roof water was for when the power goes out. We still have water thought the house, but our solar system with battery is supplemented by the electrical company, so we never noticed a problem.

• Trim palm trees dead branches and coconuts – every 9 months – we can last about 9 months before too many coconuts start falling every day to make it a little dangerous to walk around outside
• Seal granite counters and pool stone – yearly
• Paint outside areas – yearly – we have very little painted outside to reduce maintenance, most of our exterior is done with a concrete finish that looks beautiful
• Paint outside metal – yearly – we use marine rustproof paint
• Pump out septic tank – yearly
• Seal roof – yearly

Smart Lists

With everything tagged, I’ve created three smart lists in Apple Reminders for Electrician/Plumber, Handyman and Maid, so I can see all the items for each of them. Handy when I’m assigning them tasks and later inspecting results before paying them. I also put all these list under a Home folder.

Landscaping

Landscaping is another area where regular maintenance pays off. Native plants accustomed to the local climate and sandy soils can enhance your property’s beauty while requiring less care. Regular pruning of trees and shrubs not only maintains your property’s aesthetics but also reduces the risk of damage during storms.

Our gardener comes over when we request her. We go a month without needing her and then a storm hits us. Quite a few palm tree branches fell down, along with several coconuts, so we have to have her come a couple of days to clean up.

We have spare pots and cuttings rooting for her to add to the patio.

Pool Cleaning

Pool cleaning is pretty easy. I skim the pool after removing the pool decorations when needed and check the chlorine level once a week. Our pool pump puts in chlorine, so it’s usually good unless it rains, when I need to manually add some chlorine shock.

If too much tree debris collects on the bottom of the pool, I send a WhatsApp text to my pool cleaner and schedule him to come out and vacuum the pool. He has a pool vacuum and leaves the pool spotless.

Regular Inspections

Regular professional inspections can identify potential issues that might be missed in your routine checks. This includes inspecting the property for pests, checking the foundation and structural elements for any signs of damage, and inspecting the electrical and plumbing systems.

Our handyman and electrician/plumber come at least once a year to handle the yearly tasks listed above and look over things to notice anything we haven’t.

Recently, we had a few electrical outlets quit working and a shower knob as well. So we scheduled our electrician/plumber to come. He noticed our water pump had quit working and our tinaco (water tank) on our roof was empty and had fallen over in a recent storm. We had no idea.

The water softener pump alone got water throughout the house, and our backup water supply on the roof wasn’t being used. The roof water was for when the power goes out. We still have water thought the house, but our solar system with battery is supplemented by the electrical company, so we never noticed a problem.

Conclusion

Owning a beach home is a dream for many. However, to maintain its value and preserve its charm, regular maintenance is essential. This may seem like a daunting task, but by staying on top of the upkeep, you can enjoy the beauty and tranquility of your beach home for many years to come. Remember, preventative maintenance is far less costly than neglect. So, embrace the routine of regular upkeep to ensure that your beach home remains the idyllic seaside retreat you’ve always dreamed of.