We could all benefit from a lesson in home maintenance

OUT of all the landmark moments in your life, getting the keys to your first house is something you never forget. So it’s tough to see so many of today’s new generation struggle to get a foot on the housing ladder.

The reasons for that are many and complex, but the combination of a growing population and a limited amount of space means that housing probably will always come at a premium in this country.

But this column isn’t really about that. It is about all of the lessons you learn once you have achieved the seemingly impossible and bought your first home.

A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, managed to buy last year after renting for decades. Having moved out of his flat, he found himself at a loss of where to start. It reminded me of the fact that I was also relatively clueless when I first bought a house, and had to make plenty of mistakes – in fact, I still do.

Even once you’ve cleaned the house from top to bottom, removing the traces of the previous occupants as best you can, there is a new world of challenges to face.

How do you operate your boiler? Is that damp patch on the wall something to worry about? How about that small crack? Why is the radiator warm at the bottom and cold at the top?

And of course, mould. I’ve lost count of the number of stories I’ve read about families in rented property who are at their wits’ end because of issues with damp and mould, and the fact their landlord won’t fix it. But what do you do when it’s your house, and so your responsibility?

Only last week, I found a couple of patches where mould had started to appear on a wall where I had moved a cupboard out to allow an electrician room to work.

I’ve had mould in other houses too, usually where there is too little ventilation and where the cold of the outside meets the warm of the inside. The condensation creates a dampness, and so the mould grows.

Before this turns into some kind of DIY self-help column, I should probably say this is not about offering answers.

For the record, washing the wall with anti-bacterial spray, painting with a mould-resisitant paint and having plenty of house plants that purify the air are all good ways of dealing with mould, as long as it isn’t being caused by a structural defect.

But the point is that homeowners don’t get a manual on how to solve these problems, and that when you buy, it becomes your responsibility to learn how to deal with it.

It starts even before you’ve bought really, as what you look for in a home can reflect your experience.

Now, the first things I look for in a house are the state of the roof and the age of the boiler.

As well as location. It’s all about the location...

If you can get a house that doesn’t need a new roof or a new boiler that is a start. Most other things can be fixed, at arguably lesser expense.

My friend is still at the stage of needing to pay for almost everything which needs doing. I can understand that as even if you know what you are doing, acquiring the tools to do the jobs can be costly.

But it did make me think that for those who don’t have the knowhow, maybe it is something we should be seeking to teach in school, just as pupils learn about cookery and woodwork.

Home maintenance is something we could all benefit from knowing a little more about, not least those who are renting and might feel less vulnerable if they have a landlord who isn’t so keen on responding to problems.

Getting a house might feel like a long way off to some, but at least they might know what do to when they get there.