Purchasing a complete home warranty would certainly help you protect your home and save you from major expenses. Home warranties have been gaining popularity, with leading warranty companies like Think Homewise offering more coverage and flexible warranty plans. You may use a home warranty to cover the majority of your appliances and other systems at home. However, the most efficient way to protect your home is to carry out some simple maintenance from time to time. It would eliminate the need for service calls to a great extent by helping avoid damages in the first place.
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How does a complete home warranty work?
Homeowners often confuse home warranties with home insurance plans. They tend to think that they would not need one if they have the other. However, it is necessary to understand that a home warranty is entirely different from home insurance. While home insurance offers financial cover in case of a fire, a natural disaster, or a similar incident that damages or destroys your home, home warranties cover regular repairs and replacements.
Thus, if an appliance or system covered by your home warranty breaks down, you may contact the insurance provider to file a claim. The company would then send a technician to check whether the damage is eligible for warranty coverage. In case it is, they would arrange for repairs, and if necessary, a replacement.
Maintenance tasks that you may undertake
Simply because you have a home warranty coverage, it does not mean that you should not maintain your home. In most cases, home warranty plans have a specific claim limit or a limit on service calls. You would want to avoid issues from coming up in the first place, thereby reducing the need for filing warranty claims. This would help you save money in the long run and save your service calls for other problems.
Moreover, before approving your warranty claim, the company would check whether you took enough care of the faulty system. If it turns out that the damage is due to negligence on your part, you may not be eligible for the claim.
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Pay attention to the HVAC filter
While repairing a damaged HVAC unit is expensive and your home warranty might cover it, taking care of the filters is a cheap and easy way to keep it running properly. One of the main reasons behind faulty HVAC systems is a clogged filter. All you have to do is clean the filter at least twice a year and replace it once in a while if needed.
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Take care of your roof
Roof repairs can turn out to be quite costly if you do not fix the issue at an early stage. In case you notice a few missing or damaged shingles, you may replace them yourself to stop the problem from expanding. Also, arrange for roof maintenances once in a while to remove any mold that may have started to grow.
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Maintain the cleanliness of your refrigerator coils
Dirty refrigerator coils can reduce the unit’s energy efficiency and even lead to various faults. The coils usually lie at the bottom, or the back of the fridge and help hot air escape. Over time, dust can build up on the coils. While you probably clean your refrigerator regularly, do not forget to clean them as well. You can do this quite easily, using a vacuum cleaner hose or a brush.
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Maintain your rain gutters properly
One of the key ways to avoid expensive roof repairs is to ensure that your rain gutters are functioning in the right way. Check for leaks or cracks regularly, because rainwater or water from melting snow can seem into the walls or the basement of your home. A clogged gutter that prevents rainwater from flowing away would cause water to pool up on your roof, resulting in severe damage.
As a responsible homeowner, you should always take proper care of your property and belongings to prevent problems from emerging at all. Your home warranty plan should ideally act as a last resort if any repair turns out to be too expensive. Wasting your warranty coverage for issues that you could have avoided would only be counterproductive. At Think Homewise, we offer complete home warranty plans that provide comprehensive and flexible coverage.