Homeowners can exacerbate maintenance or preventative maintenance issues when it comes to the upkeep of their home. Listed below are five ways that homeowners’ excitement for home ownership may actually harm your home and or surrounding property.

1. Introducing trees near driveways and or sidewalks. A row of trees to the house will certainly increase curb appeal but adding young trees near driveways or sidewalks could be putting concrete or hard surfaces at risk. As these trees grow taller, their roots will go outward, potentially pushing up the paving and causing it to buckle or crack.
2. Light bulbs that are too bright. You want a well-lit home, but exceeding a lamp or light fixture’s recommended wattage can be dangerous, particularly with incandescent or halogen lights. Using a bulb with too-high wattage will cause the fixture and its wiring to overheat, which could then allow the heat to travel to the wall or erode the insulation on the wires and lead to a house fire. Check the fixtures label to make sure you use the correct wattage.
3. Installing too many can lights. Excessive recessed lighting in a home can cause a lot of air leaks. Recessed lighting is known as causing heat-sucking air leaks, especially when the fixtures are unsealed in vaulted ceilings. Airtight recessed lighting fixtures are available that are rated for insulation contact (IC).
4. Spreading too much mulch and over fertilizing. Over-mulching will suffocate plants, complicate their root systems, and prevent water from penetrating into the soil. Have mulch no thicker than 3 inches. Fertilizing too often can spur more weeds to grow. Also, over-fertilizing can cause nutrient pollution, which is when nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from lawn fertilizers and then leads to an overgrowth of algae that can even pollute local waterways. Many lawn experts recommend only fertilizing twice a year, late summer and fall only.
5. Repainting too much. Excessive paint is detrimental, especially on an older house, which may have layers of thicker oil-based paint, which becomes brittle with age. To avoid thick, cracked, or peeling paint, be sure to carefully remove prior to painting, sand areas that need it, and then use the highest quality exterior paint available.