Episode 17: You Just Bought a House! Now What? (The New Homeowner Checklist)
Welcome back to How to Handyma'am! With the spring housing market heating up, a lot of you are getting ready to close on your new homes. But before you move a single piece of furniture through the front door, there is a very specific checklist of things you need to do first!
We broke this list down into three categories: Must Do, Should Do, and Nice To Do. Let's get into it!
The "Must Do" Checklist
These are the non-negotiables. For your safety and security, you absolutely must do these things before spending your first night in the house!
Change Your Locks: This is the single most important thing you can do! You have no idea how many previous owners, renters, family members, or contractors still have a spare key to your house.
Change Keypad Codes: If your house has an electronic keypad on the front door or the garage, change the code immediately.
Check Your Smoke Detectors: You don't know the fire risks of your new home yet. Make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are installed and have fresh batteries before you sleep there.
Install Window Locks: Do not move into a house with broken window latches. If the latches are broken, you can buy replacement packs at the hardware store, or simply cut a wooden dowel to fit inside the window track so it cannot be opened.
Install Curtains or Blinds: This is a major safety issue, especially for women living alone. You do not want to be in a lit room at night with bare windows, so hang up some blinds—even if they are just the cheap paper ones for now!
The "Should Do" Checklist
These items won't necessarily put you in immediate danger if you skip them, but doing them right away will save you a massive headache later.
Locate the Water Shut-Offs: You need to know exactly where the main water shut-off valve is for the whole house in case of a major plumbing emergency. You should also locate the individual shut-off valves under your sinks and behind the toilets.
Check for Leaks: Before you put all your cleaning supplies and toilet paper under the bathroom sink, run the water and check the pipes for leaks. Pro-Tip: Place a clean piece of paper towel or tissue under the pipes while the water runs. If it gets wet and dries, the paper will stay wrinkled, giving you proof of a slow leak!
Clean the Dryer Vent: A clogged dryer vent is a major fire hazard. Clean out the lint trap and the actual vent pipe before hooking up your dryer.
Find the Breaker Box: Figure out where your electrical panel is and how to turn the main power off.
Change the Furnace Filter: You have no idea when the previous owners did this last. Start fresh with a clean filter!
Update Your Address: Change your voter registration, update your driver's license, and make sure all the utilities (water, trash, electric, and gas) are transferred into your name so nothing gets shut off!
The "Nice To Do" Checklist
If you have the time and energy before the moving truck arrives, doing these things will make your new house feel like your home.
Deep Clean the Appliances: It is so much easier to deep clean the refrigerator, microwave, stove, dishwasher, and washing machine before you put your food and clothes in them!
Change the Toilet Seats: You can't truly deep clean a toilet seat unless you completely submerge it in a bathtub full of bleach. Save yourself the "ick" factor and just buy a brand new $20 soft-close toilet seat!
If you just bought a house, congratulations! If you want more DIY advice or want to join our Handyma'am community, head over to howtohandymaam.com and sign up for our newsletter. We'll see you next week!
Episode Transcript:
Hi guys, welcome back. Welcome to Have a Handyman, the podcast where we tell you what to do once you get the keys when you close on your new home. Do not move in until you do these things. We're talking about safety, maintenance and what's the last. Hygiene. Hygiene for your home. So these are some perfect things, especially with the spring season coming up. We also start our episode with three minutes of chaos and it's a little more than 3 minutes guys, but just a little. We know, but we're trying to rain it in. We're trying to rain it's. Better than 19 minutes of chaos, yeah. Amen. Probably better for our editor, too. And then we also talk a little bit about our experience at the Lansing Home and Garden Show and give you a few tales from the field. But thank you for coming back for another Friday. And we love you. We missed you so much. I haven't seen you in 10 years. Yeah, you. Guys, did Mason break? But we haven't recorded in like 3 weeks. I know we used up our entire. Back. Oh my gosh, and who are you? I'm Emily. I'm Marley. And I'm Samantha and this is how to handyman. And this episode is dedicated to my sister-in-law Gene, who I've actually done this dedication before. But I've done it twice. I have done it twice but neither of those episodes. Got published. So, so I've had two practices to do this, but my sister-in-law Gene was an early believer. She was somebody I went to and said I have an idea and she did not kick me out and she did not leave the restaurant. She's someone that's been incredibly supportive and believed in us since the very beginning and really cheered us on in a way that gave us the courage to keep pressing forward. When someone who's incredibly intelligent and incredibly capable and someone that you respect and love and care about a lot tells you that what you're doing is important, it really helps you keep your courage when things get tough. So we appreciate you more than you know, and we thank you just for being you. And she like, is so good at showing up for specifically the women in her life. So be more like Gene. I was just going to say that. Be more like gene. Yeah, be a gene for somebody. Yesterday. Well, welcome back folks, and let's get into it. It's 3 minutes of chaos, let's do it. Who wants to go first? Hold on, we gotta. Get a timer out, Samantha. You said you had one and you wouldn't tell me what it was. I. Know well she said she had three 3 minutes of chaoses. I have three to fit in my one minute. OK. OK. Do you here, I'll let you see the time so you can. OK, OK, OK, OK guys, this will have been cut out, but I just I had to say that I just crashed out on. Samantha. And gnarly so they can weird. Cut that out. I think you should leave it. It's like. 3 minutes to leave me like stop saying she's. Like you stop talking. You hush, don't say it, all right? You can't start my timer yet. That was your chaos. Samantha just kept. I'm sorry. All right, I. Don't know what it felt like when I would ask why a bajillion times to be a child. All right folks, this is 3 minutes of chaos and I get to start. All right, Are you ready? OK, so I only have a minute. So first of all I'm going to tell you a recommendation. So go watch Seeking Persephone. It's a four part Victorian era romance and you can watch it with your grandma because there's nothing spicy in it. It's just all love story. OK, that's it for that. The second thing I wanted to tell you is, remember how I talked a while ago about like, oh, I'm at the end of menopause, Isn't that so great? Yeah, well, today I found out my reproductive organs are not actually completely shriveled up. Oh no. So. I was like, oh, I'm almost a year, which is like that when you haven't had a period for a year, that's the end of menopause. And this morning I was like, damn it. All right. The last thing is. You should have a baby. I was. Chasing Winnie, our golden retriever, through the house. You know that one part of the rug that moved socks? I hit that and became a cartoon animal. I was like whoa, whoa, and I fell. On the floor and. When he was so freaked out she came over and stuck her butt on me, she was like calm down. As much as I'd love to elaborate, yeah, not the deficient use of time. I only went over. Like 10 seconds. There we go. Yep. Mine isn't very fascinating, but. Tell us it's it's your amendment. You get to do whatever you want. Yeah, you can be boring as hell if you want to. You could be like, and the astrophysicist said, no, I mean, I used one of mine to talk about bears. And then I was watching it back and I was like, she's a psycho. Let me name the eight types of bears. I didn't name the eight types, I just said I want to push them. Okay, let's start Arley's minute. Okay so this is my minute and I think I might have told you guys about this before but a weird thing is happening in my fish tank currently. Okay so I have 4 Corrie catfish and two guppies in my fish tank. But like and I count them every day just to make sure that they're all there. Well one day only three Corrie catfish were there and I was like where's the other one? But they're kind of hiders so I was like looking all around. I was like well maybe I just can't see him. And then the next day he still wasn't there. Oh no. It's been months and I've cleaned out their tank and I cannot find. And those other catfishes ate him. Well, it was like one day it was there and the next it was not. But I went and I looked on Reddit and apparently this is like a thing that happens. Cory catfish just go missing. Do they sound like a portal? I got so because somebody said I checked them in the morning and at night and at night I was missing them and there's no way that the other catfish could eat them that fast. They ate them. They don't eat them that fast though. Well, clearly they do. I I think that's the, they're the. Have you ever heard they're the Jeffrey Dahmer of the fish? World that's not. True. I heard it. They're air before. My brain. They don't even eat each other. Oh my gosh. All right. OK, thank you for sharing. Listeners, if you know what happens with Cory Catfish, write in to HTM at my handyman.com. Yeah. Also, I did say that Corey Catfisher Herbert Wars and I honestly don't even know if that's true or not. It's. Just in my pellet bed nurse. Because they eat little pellets. What did you say? You tell yourself that to sleep at night. They don't eat each other. I've never had one go missing before, but one of them that's in the tank I've I've had for longer than I've been dating Jace, so it's like probably a decade. What? I had no idea fish live that long. I don't either, I thought they died like every couple years. Or so. OK, raining in the chaos. OK, All right. Are we ready for this? Is your one minute? Let me use my one minute to shout out my dog's groomer because my dog is a lot. So if you're in the Lansing area, I love Old Town Tails, which is where I take lemon. It's only place I've ever taken lemon because I am a helicopter dog mom and I was so nervous because she has like a seizure disorder and I just like was like, here's all my dog problems. Can you take her? And they're like, oh, absolutely. And the first time I didn't give her any Trazy Dazzy. She needed trazy dazzy. So now she goes really dragged up. But Katie is her groomer and she's amazing And the woman who owns the salon, who I'm sorry, I can't remember her name right now, is also amazing. So if you're looking for a groomer in the Lansing area, check out Old Tails because they're just the best and they take such good care of like me and like, I don't worry about her being there. And they also help manage the mud season that's coming up. On us? Oh yes. They like even her paw paw pads and like other areas and it just makes life easier. So shout out to you old timetables. All right, she's a muddelicious. She's a mud hunter. Yeah, she can sniff out mud 3 miles away. She's like, packed. Again, do either of you have a tail from the field? If not, I have one. I just have one thing, one take away from the home show. Oh, the home show. We didn't even talk. Go ahead. Yes. I didn't have a voice yesterday guys, so if I hear me clearing my throat or like lose my voice, I'm sick. But anyways, here is to all male contractors out there. If you came to our booth and said this, I'm not upset with you, but I just need to educate you. Women do this work too and the amount of times I got asked if men did the work for us was kind of ridiculous. And I know you don't mean badly by it or I'm just going to choose to think you don't mean badly by it to sleep at night. But friends, first of all, our business name is my handyman. So like, it wouldn't really make sense if we just like sent men out to do the work. But also it is kind of a rude question to ask. Someone if they're. Actually good at. Yeah, the amount of people that were like were like kind of looked at me and I was like, I want to do air tile installing or whatever. And I was like, you can look at the work on our wall and like, one guy was really like, yeah, you know, I'm not sure some of the guys were actually like fairly. I gotta say, there were a lot of really supportive. No, it was, it was amazing. It was amazing. I'm just saying. For those handful of you. Out there, yeah. Yes, women do actually do. This I know, it's impressive that our delicate dispositions cannot handle the work, but we do it. We do it. Wasn't the home show amazing? It was so amazing. I'm also exhausted and I'm pretty sure it made me sick but. I mean, when you're on for four days straight. Hold on, let me see if I can find the voice and then all of what I sounded like. The week ahead of time it takes to get ready and then the month ahead of time it takes to plan for that. OK, yeah, I'm gonna play it into my mic. Are you guys ready here? I'm ready. I started. Yep, here it is folks. Here's what my voice sounds like. Don't play any more of that. That's extremely creepy. Sounds like Skeletor. They made it back. Just didn't like your JFK impression. My RFK Junior. Oh yeah. We won't get political, but just now it's special. And if you're close to me, I'll let you know. Yeah. If you want to pay $100, Emily will send you a voicemail. Cameo, I like to say RFK Junior is my sleep paralysis demon. All right, moving on. Moving on. OK, So that was our tale from the field. But there was this. I do have to tell this sweet story, and maybe he listens to the podcast, but this man saw our story in City Pulse and he's in a grief group, yes. Steve or Scott, one of the two we met 15,000. People. Yeah, but he made personal business cards for us to hand out to the women in his grief group. And he also saved us from a man who didn't think we knew what we were doing. And so that was really. The home show felt less like seeing a bunch of attendees and more like your aunts and uncles and cousins and grandmas. Well, there was. Stopping by to tell you they're. Proud of you. Some guy said I listen to your podcast, so if that was you, shout out. He said I was funny, so double shout out. My ego got huge at the home show, but the last day I knew I was getting sick. And then Arlie and Allison came early and I was like, I would kiss you if that wouldn't get you sick right now because I need to leave. All right, I have a tale from the field. I have one more thing to add about the home show. OK, go ahead. So I do have to think normally we don't think a ton of men for our podcast and some of the work that they do because that's not usually what we're doing. But I do want to say thank you for a lot of the men out there that were super supportive because a lot of the people who are unsupportive of us will not listen to us. Or you know what, I'm, you know what I'm saying? Like they don't listen to girls, but they listen to people like you because you're men and they can respect you. And advocating for us is really powerful coming from somebody who is a man. So thank you for being out there and being supportive of us and hopefully encouraging some other people who maybe normally wouldn't be accepting us to maybe reconsider. But I met a lot of people that I did not think originally when they were walking up that they would be as kind and supportive and they were. And I was surprised, and I was filled with a little bit more hope of humanity. Yeah, there's some of our like, recent Instagram comments and stuff. But now I feel a lot better and I'm glad that there's people out there like that. Yeah, thank you. Your Instagram algorithm. Please don't put us on that side. Instagram ever again, I know. It. Was like one week of go make a sandwich. Oh my gosh. So on a related note, that's our like, hey, maybe be supportive, like for the teaching side of the business. Now on the construction side of the business, this has actually happened to me more than once, but it hasn't happened to me in a long time because Emily does most of the estimates, but I sent somebody an estimate. Actually, this happened to me twice in the last month where the person I sent the estimate to sent me one a very long e-mail and recently a very long voicemail explaining to me just why and how horrible our prices are and how they were astonished and taken aback and they almost fainted on their fainting couch. And OK, people just hit the decline button when they get real easy to say no. So for those of you out there. Have your mouth and mouth who it was to me. No. So for those of you out there that get estimates from contractors, sometimes the contractors prices are too much because the contractor's crazy, and sometimes they're too much because things are expensive. And it just sucks either way. That what they're charging is what they need to charge to run a business with insurance and workers compensation and appropriately compensate their employees and to do training and to buy new tools and to insure vehicles. So just so you know, it's OK to just say no or even to ghost them if you don't want to. So yeah, we don't. It's OK if you don't if like for us, it's OK if you don't like our pricing if that's not right for you. We make it very easy for people to say no without it being awkward. And so please do. Yes. And also most good trunk contractors do this. But we spend a lot of time really thinking about what could go wrong in the project, how long it'll take because it's important to us to not have surprises down the way with projects. And so our price might be higher up front, but unless something like catastrophic happens when we open a wall, that price is going to remain that price. And so it takes us like because of our price guarantee, we are meticulous about putting up estimates. If you're a customer who complaints nonstop about the contractors who ghosted you and also complain about the contractors who charge more, you need to learn how to do it yourself. And we have a side of the business for that if you're interested. Yeah. And not gonna be an asshole, but to have prompt communication, someone who knows what they're doing, an estimator who knows what they're doing, people to review the estimates, like all the stuff that people love about our business, it takes a lot of overhead. Yeah. Yeah, it does. And like, we all get paid pretty well. And if, if something doesn't go right, we come out and make it right. And that has to be built into your business model. So just I won't dwell on that. I just like I'm giving you permission to just say declined. Yeah, we have a really nice unique decline button that's like. Makes it super easy. I have a tale from the field. OK, what is it? OK, so you guys know click and lack flooring? Yeah, Samantha hates that. I don't mind it usually I find it really satisfying when you to pound it and together and it goes my fingernails. Hurt. Yeah, because I've lost a few from doing that. Yeah, yes. Don't do that. Anyway, so I did something very challenging this week. So we're working in one of my favorite clients homes and we took. They have a dog named Hellboy, yes. They have a doggy named Hellboy. He's a greyhound and I think he used to be a racer. I see. He's a rescue baby. And. In case you can hear that in the back background, that's both of our dogs. Going crazy. They're our neighborhood watch. Sorry for that. My bunny's being very quiet at home, taking his nap, all right Anyway, so this was extremely challenging because normally I start on the side of the room that has like the least amount of like obstructions, like the straightest wall. Yep. In this case, I was not able to do that because one side of the wall had like stuff on it and the other side of the wall had stuff on it. So what I did is they have a hallway that leads into like a dining room that leads into the kitchen. So I started in the dining room and I started from the click and lock that we've been using. You have to start in the left upper hand corner and you move over and then you can move down. And so I moved over and down until I got to the kitchen. And so when I got to the kitchen, it went like around the cabinet. And so I put a piece in there, but it ended up being in the middle of the kitchen. And then so basically I had to backtrack and go up into the upper left corner of the kitchen and then start there and go back to the piece that was already in. It was so hard, but I did it. I had to do like a lot of pounding things in and but I did my math correctly and I got almost all of the entire floor laid today. It was really challenging and I've been doing it so that it doesn't need a lot of baseboard or cord around or anything, so that was even harder. But I did it and I'm proud of myself. And I also did some fun little angles in the hallway and some cool little things. So I have to take some pictures and we can post them and stuff. But it was hard and kind of frustrating, but it was very satisfying and it's nice that it's like almost finished. So if you're doing quick and lock flooring and you're getting frustrated, I get you girl, I get you and just keep on trucking all. Right, let's take a pause for the pee break and then we'll come up and dive into today's topic. All right, listen, this is exciting because especially we're heading into spring, a boatload of people are going to be buying houses this spring. Not in the Lansing area. Based off the stats we. Just heard. So today we're doing you've just closed down a house. What now? You know what not now. Don't just move in. There's stuff you got to do first. Are you OK? So super jazz, this is the must do, should do nice to do game. All right, I'm going to tell you some important advantage. Because I own a home. Maybe, but I think Garlie knows some stuff. Wait, what are the categories? Must do, should do, nice to do. OK, so middle thumb up thumb. But it's all stuff you kind of should. Do like I would recommend you do all of it. So if you're an overachiever, then do it all. But if you like have to prioritize, then we've got must do should do nice to. Do can you tell that we all like getting A's in school? Yes, is that? Right. Like read. On So here's the thing, I have a certain number of cards and if you get it right first you get the card. Wait, we didn't talk about what I would win? Yeah, what does she win? She wins. Get a toy for lemon. A toy for lemon. She's going to RIP it apart in two seconds. I know, but I will. I will buy her. I will buy her a toy that you know she is allowed to RIP up. All right, so I see so much joy going on here. All right, so if you get it right first, you get the card at the end. Whoever has the most cards wins and there's a bonus round. So the first round you get one point for each card you have, and then there are three bonus round questions. I feel the competitive spirit of me going. All right. Are you ready? This is the same energy win. Samantha comes to us after like us doing like being totally exhausted and she's like I. Have an idea this? Is the same energy. On all three of us. I'm so exhausted right now. You're not allowed to have an idea for at least maybe 5. Business days. OK, well, we're doing strategic planning tomorrow. So that's a problem with Han. I'll be like, I am not allowed to have ideas for another week. OK, I'm going to tell you the thing and you're going to tell me. Must do, should do, nice to do. I think we should do it. We're like she gets to answer first for one and if she gets it wrong then I get to do it and then I get to answer first because if we try to answer this. Just shout, OK? Ready. Arlie, you're first clean out your dryer vent and lint trap. Must do. Nope. Should what? We just. Talked about how it's the number one reason for house fires. Remember. This is before you move in. What you should do before you move like you should not even move anything in before you do it. So this is a should do, but your house probably won't burn down on day one. All right, Emily, Are you ready? I. Cleaned Hannah's out and it was disgusting. Change any electronic house keypad or garage keypad codes. Must. Do Emily wins? Yeah. Ding, Ding, Ding. Because I will tell you, you have no idea how many prior owners, friends and family of prior owners and contractors have the codes of the house. So do not sleep there, not even once until you change the codes. Everybody in the on our crew and all the contractors we've ever worked with knows to go to my house. What are you going to do? To Do List for later. All right. Are you ready? Arlie change that. All right, find your breaker box and know how to turn the power off. You got this. Should do, yes. Should do did it. Yes, you definitely should know how to turn your power off. It's probably not going to be a problem the first day you move there, so you don't have to do it before you move in. But you really should do it soon, because when something happens, you want to know exactly where to go, not try to be figuring it out when you're panicking, correct? Corn. I don't know. Are you ready? All right, Emily, you have to answer this one first. Clean your refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, stove and washer. I feel like this is a should do but it's disgusting. So musty. Nope, this is a nice to do. Wait, I didn't even get to. Guess oh, sorry, you went well, you weren't going to get it, obviously. Nice to do so you know you're going to move in, you're not going to be licking your refrigerator shelves like so it's not a must do because you could set your food in there and not contaminate it. But it would really be nice before all your stuff is in the house to clean, deep clean those. Things yes, I got a steam cleaner. It's so fun. So if you know someone moving in that house, like it gets in the crevices of your fridge and like you know how like the fridge has like the accordion seal on it, like. First of all, disgusting. Lucas and I are disgusting humans because I didn't think my fridge was that bad and then I got up in the accordion and I that hasn't been cleaned so it's probably the past. So that's great. So ask yourself, how long has it been in my current abode since I have deep cleaned my refrigerator, my dishwasher, my microwave, my stove and my washing machine? OK, you have that answer in your head. That's why you need to do it in your new house, because neither did the people you bought the house from. All right, ready for the next? One I have a few more product OK. They also make like tablets for your dishwasher and washer to clean it and they make garbage disposal ones which are really nice. Oh, mine's not like oranges. I know they're just. Planks. Just go to the like cleaning section. I'm like picturing the Menards cleaning section right now 'cause it's so beautiful and has so many products. But yeah, just get that stuff. All right, Arlie, you get to answer this one first. Install curtains and blinds. Should do. Must. Oh crap, I did it again. I'm not very good at this game I invented, so I say must because I'm thinking of our daughter who lives by herself. And you really, as a single female, should not move into a house that does not have curtains and blinds. But I'm not a single female. OK, well if you want to like take your. Chance and I moved in without curtains or blinds. Landlord. Talk to your landlord about that. You're my landlord. OK. Yeah, I think that's a must do. It's a safety issue. So the must ones. Even like paper blinds which is what we got her for the first little bit, but also I didn't have them on my first floor for a. While but it's not awesome, is it? No, but I did. I do always, like we always have them in the bedroom, in the bathroom. Yeah, so I I split these into the must do, should do nice to do is safety, maintenance and hygiene. That's another split. All right, so you're ready for the next one. Oh wait, me is he handed this to me because you said must. Working smoke detectors. Must do. Yes, must do. You do not want to spend one night in a house, and especially since you don't know how well that house has been taken care of. You really don't know the fire risks in the house yet, so you shouldn't take a chance. You should always make sure that if there aren't smoke detectors, they get installed before you sleep there for the first time, and that if they have them, check the batteries. And maybe get carbon monoxide. Yeah, Carbon, my next side. Yeah, and you definitely should, because apparently you shouldn't clean on your dryer burn, so you're probably going to have a fire. And so you should make sure that those are really good. All right, ready for the next 1 Harley get to? Guess Harley's not butt hurt or anything. Change your furnace filter. Good to do that is freaking maintenance. Wait, what are the options again? Must do, should do. Nice to do. Change your furnace filter. Oh, should. Should it's middle 1 you? Should do it. Yeah, you should clean your furnace filter. Yeah, middle thumb. Did you win though? Wait, did you actually mean to say the middle one? I don't know, maybe. Eagle, OH. That's nice. That's nice. It's because she's still winning. Oh, she's being a gracious. Winner. No, I'm the gracious lizard too. Is it your turn? Yeah, it's your turn to go first window locks. Must. That's absolutely a must. You do not want to move into a house that does not have locking windows. And we have a video on that we do. I'm not to fix old latches. Start with your downstairs windows, yes. It's hard to get to the upstairs windows. It is yeah. Or statistics on break INS. And sorry, it's really not likely that they're going to go through a second story window. It's really hard and you'd probably your bladder hit your house. Yeah, you're it's a lot more likely that they'd go through your garage door. Oh geez, I know. If you can't figure out how to fix your latches, you can just get dabbles cut at the hardware store. Yeah, which is just a piece of wood that keeps the sash from opening. And if you have a sliding glass door, you should always have a piece of wood cut that when the door is closed is the exact width of the other sash, so you just put it down in the little groove. Because it doesn't matter how nice a door it is. Doesn't matter if it's an Anderson sliding glass door. The locks are not adequate to keep someone out that really wants to get into your house. Yeah, it's like the. Yep, but a stick of wood not getting in. All right, whose turn is it? I can't remember. Your turn to go first. All right, the next one. Check all your water sources for leaks. Like your toilet? Check your toilet. Check under your sinks. Should do. Good job, it's not going to burn your house down or ruin your entire house, but you should just before you start putting things under cabinets and you know, before you start covering things up, just run everything and make sure nothing's leaking. Oh, I have a little tip on that. Tell us, OK, so if you have a dry area and you want to make sure that it's not leaking, put paper towel underneath it, specifically paper towel. Or my favorite is a Kleenex. Yeah, because they get. Wrinkled and don't like If you have a really nice paper towel, you might not be able to tell if it got wet if it dries out. Yeah, I, I always so like after we do something, we do whatever our leak test, especially if something had been leaking, I dry it off really well and then I get a fresh clean paper towel or whatever I have around me and I put it underneath and then I run it and then I kind of make sure where it was leaking or whatever that I don't get like little droplets. Yep, because you can't always tell with like a towel, because you might not always see if you get like the one that'll drop. Because sometimes maybe it's the leak has slowed down and so it's only like a tiny bit, but eventually it'd turn into a puddle. But this way you know for sure. And if it dries, it still wrinkles I feel. Like I have a super random plumbing tip, OK, But I think it's helpful whenever you install like your plumbing yourself, always do like a full to flush test, like fill up the sink all the way and then pull the stopper because at some point you are going to do that to your sink. And it's a great way to see if your drain can handle the flow of water because sometimes it's kind of like we bought our rental, the sink had a funnel instead of a drain. I was just going to be like, can I tell a tale from the field into this? It had a funnel under it and honestly that works. It worked. It worked most of the time. But if you dump a bunch of water, it can't handle it and then it overflows. The same thing with your drain. You'll be able to tell us there's an issue or something. Just so everybody knows, we did not put a funnel under the sink. We bought this three unit rental building and we had someone that needed emergency housing so that it was definitely not inhabitable, but it was better than them being on the street. So we're like, OK, we'll like fix up the lease gross unit so they can just have a place to stay for a little while. And they call them, they're like when we run the sink in the bathroom, like on high, like it leaks underneath. I was like, OK, I'll come over and check it out. So I go over, I open up, I look under, there's literally an oil funnel. There's no tailpipe on the drain. It's just a hole in the sink and under it is an oil funnel going into the Pete trap. And I was like, what have we bought? And that's what my husband now. It's actually calls the Nightmare St. This is how they bleep out the street name. Oh. Nightmare on Bleep St. Can you bleep out the street name please? All right, whose turn is it to go next? Emily. OK, deep clean toilets, showers, tubs and sinks. Nice to do. Nice to do. Yeah. I mean, if you were, like, a super germaphobe, it's probably going to be a must for you. But like, again, not only is it better to do it, but it's a lot easier to do these things before you move all your stuff in. And also, I can tell you from experience, once you start moving your stuff in, you really don't want to do anything. You're like, I'm hungry, I'm tired. I'm going to put sheets on my bed and then order a pizza, and that's all I'm going to do. So do it ahead of time. That's a tale from the field for another day. All right, Arlie, change your toilet seats. Oh, oh, shoot. We're in the bonus round. We're in. The bonus round. Now Are you ready? Change your toilet seats. This ones worth 2 points. For me it is an absolutely must do, but I feel like it's a good to do. Yes, very good, good to do. It's not strictly necessary, but I will say this is one of the most underrated things to do in a new house. Toilet seats, unless you take it off and you like fill up a bathtub or like a really big bucket. Unless you fill up a really big bucket where you can like put water and vinegar and other things and like immerse it and then clean it with a toothbrush. It's like really hard to completely clean a toilet seat and that's not your yuck on there, that's somebody else's yuck. So you can get a toilet seat a soft clothes for like 20 bucks. 10 bucks at Walmart. Take all the old ones off and put a new one on. Trust me. OK next one ready. This is bonus round. Identify where all the water shut offs are. I thought you were like asking me to do that, and I was like, what you're like. Whose house? Where is it? What is it? No, doing this, it should do, yes. Good job. 2 points for you. All right, folks. I feel like the main one's kind of a must do just just in case shit hits. Yeah, this is one of the most important things you can do before you move in your house and again, before you've moved all your furniture and your crud into the basement. It's in front of what you need to get to. You need to make sure you know how. So three things. First of all, you need to know where the main shut off is. So if like just shit hits the fan, you can just turn off the water to the whole house. Secondly, you need to go around and identify where the shut offs are at the specific items. And 3rd and most importantly, if you have items that do not have their own shut off valves, you need to know that because if you like, if your toilet starts spewing water, well toilets always have a shut off valve. Bad example. If your sink starts spewing water everywhere and you need to change the faucet and then you go to look underneath and there's no shut off valves, you're like wasting precious time where you could be running to the basement to shut off the water to the whole house. I know it seems like that wouldn't actually be the thing where you didn't have shut off valves, but sometimes there aren't shut off valves at the source, or two, they're buried inside your wall. Or you can't turn them. Oh yeah. We always talk about like whenever we have to change like a faucet or a toilet, we always expect that we're going to have to change the shut off valve because after a while they don't leak when they have. Mineral buildup on them. They're almost certainly going to either not work, or they're going to leak after you've used. It my favorite are the quarter turn kind. Yeah, those are good. The ones with the old fashioned handles that they don't seem to hold up too well. It's literally threading in and threading out. OK, so I know we could have just like, read you this list, but if you go back and listen again, or if you just remember the things, these really are the 15 things you should do after you've gotten the keys to your house and before you sleep there the first night. And there's one more thing. This is the you can go for. It well, this is I'm going to have you guess this because we already know we're down to must because we've already done the other two in the bonus round. What is the single most important thing you should you must do before you move into your house? Change your locks. Change your locks. We did like electronic codes. This is. Like, 'cause you do, somebody has a key to your house still. So the very first thing you should do is before you start moving your stuff in is change your locks. Yeah, So all right. Sorry I'm yelling so much. That's all right, so good job. Add them up. Remember, the bonus ones are worth 2 points. 3471. Good job, Woo Tara toys for Lemmy. And you also. Still buy me ice. Cream. Yes, I will. Thanks, but I will buy her vanilla ice cream. No, this is. Bullshit. This there's some bullshit she's. Like vanilla ice cream with marshmallow sauce? And what's the equivalent of banana? Chocolate equivalent of. Oreos, the vanilla. Oreos more like Graham cracker. Yeah, Graham cracker. It's like the blonde. It's like, it's like the UPS in the Upside Down. This is your ice cream order in the Upside Down, OK. Well, I have some tips for new homeowners. OK please tips for new homeowners. OK, change your voting registration. Voting is important. Change your license Like where your license registration and get like the sticker on the back. Do it immediately so that you can vote. Yeah, and make sure you're an Oregon donor friends, because that's what good neighbors do. And need them organs when you're gone. Make sure all the utilities are in your name. Yep. And this might be embarrassing to my husband, but I am going to tell you that we got our gas shut off not from a financial reason, but because we didn't read our mail and I didn't know the gas revenue. Oh yeah, so for you millennials and younger buying houses, please check your mail. Yeah, when you get a pink slip, it means they're gonna shut your gas. Off Oh my God. Baby, I told that story. Love you. I have but one. Get one of those. Stickers on your front door, Let's say whether you have pets or not. That's a great idea, I. Think I've talked about these before, but I think there's the most genius thing in the home. They really are. Put them on the front door and maybe the back door too. And even if you don't have a security system, maybe get a sticker that. You do. Yeah, might as well. And a front door camera is really nice. You're like 70% less likely to get broken into if it appears that you might have a security system. And I'm not gonna rag on the brand that I don't recommend, but I do recommend Schlag for locks, Yes, Yeah, really. They have really great locks. They're hard to pick, and statistically they're really great. So Schlag, you don't sponsor us, but if you want to, I'll be using. We do like to talk about the products that we absolutely, yeah, we really do. And also if you like, so it's kind of funny how the locks work. You find like the same number lock and you can get matching sets so the house has the whole the same keys. But if you don't want to do that and or if like your house has really expensive locks on it cuz some locks are. Or like original to the house. Get a locksmith, they'll re key your entire house to the one key and it's really handy. We have a client who legitimately has eight extra interior doors and we reheat our whole house to it. Solved so many problems. So yeah, if you like, say you have, I have an original door handle, but we just swapped out the deadbolt for something non original. But like if you want to keep the original deadbolt and all those things, if they're still in working condition, do that. And I had, oh, make sure you transfer your mail friends, make sure you do that. Make sure you transfer the trash into your name and look up the terms of your mortgage. Yeah. And then we see. So, yeah, Wi-Fi make sure like just look up like what Wi-Fi is available in your area. Yeah. And then be prepared to emotional abuse. Then once a year when your bill goes up. That's for another tale from the field. All right, folks. Well, thanks for joining us. If you are enjoying the podcast, then the best way you can help that continue to happen is by telling other people about the podcast is by listening the day it comes out. Remarkably, the velocity at which your podcast gets watched rockets you up the charts. So if you love this, then subscribe and you'll get notified right when the episode comes out and then you can watch that same day and then we'll move up the charts, which means the podcast platforms will show us to other people as a suggestion, which is how you grow. Yes. I thought, I thought she was going to say the podcast gods. Yeah, that's why I. Thought so too. Or you can subscribe to our newsletter and Miss Arley will send something to your mailbox twice a week. And that says K, yeah. Also yes, join the community and by that I mean go to How to Handyman. Community. Go to how to handyman.com and drop your e-mail and the reason for that is we start in person events in June and the e-mail subscribers get first crack at registration. So if you think you might be interested in attending an event in person, then just give us your e-mail and you'll get notes and updates but also early registration access. And we have gotten a ton of buzz about the first one and it's gonna be kind of exclusive because it won't be as big as. Future ones. The future. Ones cuz guys, this is the first time we're yeah this. Is the first time we're doing it so but over 200 people I think are signed up right now or something like that or want to be signed up so. Going to be a Max of 40 spots. Yeah. So definitely if you really want to do it, then get your e-mail on and we'll do like a countdown or something before. Exactly. So the newsletter, if you get the newsletter, I mean, not only from the e-mail will you know when registration opens, but you will know when it's going to open. So if it's really important to you to be able to get a slot, you'll get a notice ahead of time and be like Emily every time a Taylor Swift concert goes on sale and she's like, I'm sick. And then she gets on the computer to wait for ticket sales. No, I'm kidding. I was actually. Sick when that happened, which was convenient because otherwise I would have taken half a day. I am a survivor of the Ticketmaster War of 2020. Two OK, folks. Well, if you just bought a house, congratulations, we're excited for you. And you're listening for some reason. Love you long. Time. OK, folks. Thank you. Thanks for coming. We'll see you soon. We missed you. Bye. Bye.
