Home. It's supposed to be the place where you feel safest, where you feel protected and in control. But as a first time homeowner of an 11-year old home, I didn't realize how many expensive home systems requried proactive care and eventual replacement to keep my home from becoming a place of fear for what's going to break next. ​

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A couple years into homeownership, my wife told me to add the the kitchen sink garbage dispoal to my weekend project list because it wasn't working well. That weekend, I look under the sink and find it's been leaking all week through the cabinets and into the floor. You may already know what I did not at the time, that the average garbage dispoal only has a lifetime of about a decade, and - once they stop working - they start leaking.  So, I called the plumber, who brought out the industrial fans and cut out the floor and several thousand dollars later I learned my lesson about garbage dispoals (and marriage - always act immediately when your wife asks you to look at something).

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While the plumber was there, they checked the water heater and told me I had lost a couple years on my water heater's lifespan because I never drained it annually, so I should be prepared for about a $2,500 replacement fee once it gives out likely in the next year. I wasn't aware draining the water heater was something you're supposed to do, but it certainly would have been good to know earlier.