There are several good things to do when you first move into your home that will increase your safety and reduce the chance of any surprises that can lead into disappointment. First and foremost, Read over your Inspection report and read it well, don’t just skim over it. Understand it’s contents and follow the recommendations. Remember, any issues mentioned as Health and Safety are of most importance and should be carried out immediately. So lets get started:

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors. I often recommend replacing the ones in the home with new ones just to be safe and lean on the side of caution. One never knows if they have been tampered with or damaged. They usually have a live cycle of about 10 yrs on average and this will also help you to remember when to replace them.

Label your electrical panel: It is important to have your panel labelled just incase of an emergency and a circuit needs to be shut down. Furthermore, if your panel is already labelled, make sure it is accurate. Make sure it shuts down the listed areas and also check your AFCI breakers and any GFCI receptacles once a month to make sure they are working and protecting you. Lastly, do the electrical improvements and recommendations in your report as soon as you can. It is for your safety.

Locate and label the Main shutoffs for your Plumbing, Electrical and Gas. It is important to know their locations and make sure everyone in the family knows where they are too. There is no worse feeling when you have a pipe burst, water is leaking everywhere and your family member doesn’t know where the shut off is while you’re at work.

Change all the locks on your doors and look into having a security system installed. Many times this equates to greater Insurance savings and peace of mind.

Change your laundry rubber hoses to stainless steel braided hoses. Rubber hoses have a greater probability of rupture and can cause quite a bit of water damage in a short amount of time.

These are just a few things you can do when you first move into your new home. Remember the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure