Home insurance - tips & advice - home maintenance

Home maintenance will not only keep your belongings in tip-top condition, but will help the house structure too. However, when the worst happens and unexpected damage is caused to your property for example by storm or flood, it’s good to know that Direct Line Home Insurance is there, with a comprehensive package, including the Home Repair Network (Available to Direct Line Home Insurance Policyholders only. Applies to claims between the threshold values stated on your policy documents) for repairs.

In the meantime, there are several steps you can take to protect your contents from basic wear and tear. Here are just a few:

Textiles

• Remove wax from a tablecloth by ironing it through blotting paper
• Remove chewing gum by chilling it with a bag of ice
• Vacuum delicate materials by placing a net over the nozzle and using a low suction
• Never scrub a carpet or use commercial cleaners after a spill. Place a cloth or paper towel over the spill and tread on it gently until the liquid is absorbed
• Treat tea, coffee or wine stains with soda water

Wood

• Display furniture away from bright lights
• Leave a gap between furniture and walls so air can circulate. This prevents wooden furniture drawing moisture out of damp walls
• Do not use aerosol polishes – use good quality beeswax instead

Metals

• Clean intricate surfaces with a cotton bud dipped in a fine paste polish
• Clean painted metal with a pencil eraser as solvents may damage the surface
• Wear gloves when handling silver to minimise tarnishing

Glass

• Wrap taps in cloth and use a plastic bowl when washing precious glass
• Free a stuck stopper by spraying around the edge with oil, then twist, don’t pull

Fully covered

Finally, one in five UK homeowners are at risk of being underinsured on their home contents, as they don’t know the replacement value of their possessions. For example, owning PCs, iPods, camcorders and home entertainment systems (including CD and DVD collections) significantly increases the level of cover required.

With Direct Line Home Insurance, you only need notify us of any valuables worth more than £1,500, or if your valuable items in the home are collectively worth more than 30% of your contents sum insured.

You can also use our handy Home Contents Calculator, to work out how much cover you need on your home contents insurance.