A rental home’s garage adds a lot to a home’s overall appeal. However, some tenants, wanting to help, unwittingly damage a rental home’s garage without realizing it. Damage to garage interiors, garage doors, windows, and other elements are known to occur, and misuse and neglect aren’t always why it happens.
Sometimes, a tenant tries to help but simply doesn’t know the proper way to clean or maintain a rental home’s garage. When that is the case, expensive and unnecessary repairs are often the result. By giving your Grafton tenants the right information, you can do a lot to prevent unintentional damage and keep your valuable investment in good condition.
A garage is an important part of a quality single-family rental home. An excellent garage door increases the home’s curb appeal, while the interior, windows, cabinets, and even the garage door opener can have a big impact on a tenant’s satisfaction. But none of these elements should be neglected. All of them should be properly maintained to keep them working well. If one part of the garage is damaged, then every other part would also be affected. The whole garage will turn to be more of a burden than an asset.
The garage door, since it’s the most visible exterior element, needs to stay working properly and looking nice. It needs regular cleaning and maintenance. There are multiple ways a tenant could damage a garage door accidentally. They may not know the basic maintenance tasks that need to be performed and end up not doing any maintenance at all. They may also clean the door but use the wrong tools or cleaning products. For example, the materials that make up each garage door varies between different types of doors. Some are painted, while others are vinyl or metal. If a tenant attempts to clean a garage door with the wrong tools, they may be causing extensive damage to the door instead. There are a few people that think it’s a good idea to power spray a painted door clean. Harsh household cleaners may also damage a door’s exterior finish, causing far more harm than good.
Going beyond appearances, a garage door also needs to have a functional opener, springs, hinges, and rollers for it to open and close properly. These components may rust, wear out, or break over time and through heavy use. In fact, when a garage door is noisy when it’s being operated, it is a sign that the door’s hardware is in trouble and needs to be lubricated. This simple maintenance task can greatly lengthen the useful life of a garage door.
The windows, floor, and cabinets in a garage are generally the parts that experience unintentional damage. Many garages have oil stains on concrete floors that come from a leaking car engine. These are very difficult to remove. Exhaust fumes, dirt, and other substances can gather in windows and seriously compromise the tracks, locks, and glass. Cabinets may be crushed or broken by heavy storage items or even parking a vehicle too close. Just like the garage door, all of these issues can be prevented or corrected with routine cleaning and maintenance. The problem is that a tenant may not know how to do it.
As an illustration, motor oil stains are dealt with differently from other substances. The correct tools and cleaning materials should be used or else the effort of cleaning it may make the problem bigger instead. Harsh chemicals or scrub brushes can scratch or damage windows and window tracks as well as cabinets, but regular household cleaners may not be enough to get the grime off either. To stop continued wear and further damage, a tenant should have the correct information and also a substantial amount of oversight to make sure that the garage of a rental home is kept in great working condition.
Keeping track of a tenant’s cleaning and maintenance record can be time-consuming and difficult for property owners. That is why a professional property management company is needed, and choosing to have one is a good decision.
At Real Property Management Metro West-Worcester, we assist the property owners in instructing their tenants on the proper care and upkeep of their rental homes in Grafton and conduct regular checks to ensure that such tasks are being done. Our team of property management professionals can help guard your valuable investment against unintentional damage and prevent expensive and unnecessary repairs. Please contact us online or call us at 508-329-6000 to learn more about how we can serve you.
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