Reading

Guides

The sheets are the point of this site, but a blank form only helps if you know what it is for. These are the explanations behind them — what needs a schedule, what records are worth keeping, and why.

  1. How Often Should You Service Everything in Your Home?

    A reference to how often the systems and machines in a house need servicing, why the intervals differ, and how to find the right figure for yours.

    Home systems 4 sheets
  2. How to Build a Home Maintenance Binder That Survives

    A ring binder beats an app for house records, but most binders die within a year. The sections that work, what to file, and how to keep it alive.

    Property records 5 sheets
  3. How Often to Change Every Filter in Your House

    A walk through every filter in a typical house, what actually governs each interval, why annually is usually the wrong answer, and the size trick worth doing once.

    Home systems 4 sheets
  4. Why Small Engines Will Not Start in Spring

    Stale fuel is why most mowers, strimmers and generators fail after storage. What happens inside the carburettor, and the two storage methods that prevent it.

    Outdoor machines 4 sheets
  5. What a Boiler Service Should Actually Include

    What a competent heating service involves, what should appear on the paperwork afterwards, the questions worth asking, and what to keep in your own records.

    Home systems 4 sheets
  6. What Home Service Records Are Worth When You Sell

    Why a documented maintenance history changes how buyers and surveyors behave, and which records are actually worth keeping for a sale.

    Property records 4 sheets
  7. Car Service History: What to Keep and Why

    What a service history actually consists of, how stamped books and digital records differ, what a private buyer looks for, and how to handle gaps honestly.

    Vehicles 4 sheets
  8. What Your Insurer Asks For After a Leak or a Fire

    Home insurance claims turn on evidence of maintenance and evidence of loss. What that means in practice, and what to record before anything happens.

    Property records 4 sheets
  9. Hour Meters, and Why Machines Are Serviced by Hours

    Small engines, tractors, generators and boats are specified in running hours rather than dates. What an hour really measures, and how to track them without a meter.

    Outdoor machines 5 sheets
  10. Testing Smoke Alarms Properly

    The test button does not test the sensor. What it actually checks, why alarms have an expiry date, and how to keep a register that tells you which one you tested.

    Safety checks 4 sheets
  11. Landlord Maintenance Records: What to Keep

    Why response time is the figure that decides most tenancy disputes, how to keep evidence that holds up, and why every requirement here has to be checked locally.

    Rental property 5 sheets
  12. Winterising Your House and Outbuildings

    Frost damage is a drainage problem more than an insulation problem. What to drain, what to isolate, and how to leave a property that will not burst.

    Property records 5 sheets
  13. Septic Tank Record Keeping

    A private drainage system is invisible and entirely yours. What to establish about it, why emptying dates matter more than they look, and the warning signs.

    Home systems 4 sheets
  14. Private Well Water Testing Records

    A single water test tells you about one moment at one tap. A run of results tells you what your supply actually does, and that is where the value is.

    Home systems 4 sheets
  15. Pool and Hot Tub Water Records

    A spot reading is one frame from a film. Logging chemistry as a series shows what your water is doing, and filter pressure tells you more than you think.

    Water and pools 4 sheets