Chuck is back with another home maintenance tip!

Today’s tip is about downspouts. Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of rain in the Midwest and if your downspouts are not properly set up you may end up with a flooded basement and a lot of damage. Making sure that your downspouts are connected and going either underground or far away from your foundation is essential.

Checking Your Downspout

In the example that Chuck shows us you can see the downspout is disconnected from the drain. In this scenario, all of the water from the drain will run next to your foundation. This will cause the water to build up and go into your sump pit causing your sump pump to work overtime. If your sump pump needs to work overtime often enough it may burn out and be ineffective when you need it most which can lead to flooding.

Chuck’s Recommendation

What Chuck recommends is running your downspout underground to an underground gutter that then takes the water to a specified place that will not cause any damage.

Thank you for reading this month’s maintenance tip! Check out Chuck’s Maintenance Tips for more helpful tips!

Here’s Chuck with another home maintenance tip!

Today we are talking about repairing cracks in the wall with caulk. Cracks in your walls typically happen due to shrinkage from dryness in the heat and lack of humidity over the winter. Here’s what you’ll need to get the job done.

What you’ll need:

• A caulk gun
• A tube of caulk (Latex or Silicone)
• A fine membrane sponge
• Utility knife

First – Using the utility knife cut out any loose paint or drywall and sand it to ensure that the wall is smooth and ready for repair.

Second – Fill the entirety of the crack with the caulk.

Third – Take your sponge and wipe the caulk clean into the crack, let it dry for 24 hours and repaint the wall once you are sure that it has dried completely.

Thank you for reading this month’s maintenance tip! Check out Chuck’s Maintenance Tips for more helpful tips!