04·MAINT
Maintenance Calendar
One merged calendar — monthly, quarterly, seasonal, annual — each task linking back to its system page.
956 N Noble Loop · Showing Edition · Rev A · Aug 2026
Built from the actual manufacturer schedules for this home’s equipment where the make/model is known, plus authoritative general guidance (fire-safety, water-utility, and building-science sources) where it isn’t yet — every row below is cited. Items marked “confirm for exact model” use a safe generic cadence until the walkthrough nails down the specific unit.
Some schedules scale with use — check the system’s own page
A calendar assumes every task comes round on the clock. Two systems in this house genuinely don’t work that way, because what wears them is consumption, not time: the water treatment system (salt is used per regeneration, and regenerations are triggered by gallons) and the steam shower generator (scale is made by boiling water, so an unused generator makes none). Both are also deliberately oversized for this house, which stretches their intervals further and makes it easy to forget they exist. Each of those pages therefore carries a usage-scaled table — by household size for the softener, by how often you steam for the generator — and those tables, not the rows below, are the real schedule. Re-read them whenever the household changes: a house that goes from two occupants to five, or that starts entertaining heavily, has genuinely moved to a different maintenance cadence.
How this calendar is built
Two rows here point back to a device page instead of repeating it: the HVAC filter is documented on the HVAC page (size and cadence confirmed off the furnace’s own service sticker; the Ecobee also tracks runtime and reminds you), and the network-closet dust check is documented on the Network page. Eventually this whole page auto-assembles from every device’s own Maintenance section (Phase D); until then it’s hand-merged here so nothing is a dead end.
Monthly
| Task | System | Why | Source of cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test every smoke & CO alarm (press the test button) | The House | Confirms the sensor, horn, and battery are all actually working — the single highest-value five minutes on this list. | NFPA — maintaining smoke alarms ↗ |
| Check the water softener’s salt level — but on the interval in the usage table, not this one | Plumbing & hot water — usage-scaled salt/hardness/service table | A softener that runs out of salt stops treating water — hard water then reaches every fixture and the tankless heater. Salt is consumed per regeneration and the softener’s Clack WS1 valve is metered (it regenerates on gallons used, not on a timer), so the right checking interval depends on the household: the Plumbing page carries a table running from a 2–3 person household (look every ~2 months) to heavy entertaining (look monthly). Monthly is the safe default if you don’t want to think about it. confirm whether the pool salt stacked near the brine tank is the intended salt type | Clack Corporation — WS1 control valve overview ↗ + the usage table on the Plumbing page |
| Clean the range hood’s metal grease filters | Kitchen | Grease buildup cuts suction and is a real fire risk — more so on a 1200 CFM commercial-style hood that moves a lot of cooking exhaust. hood make/model to confirm | General range-hood filter guidance ↗ |
| Check the HVAC filter; replace every 6 months | HVAC | The number one driver of HVAC strain, higher bills, and shortened equipment life. This furnace takes a 20¾" × 27¾", MERV 8 media filter — per the checked box on the unit’s own HeatGuy LLC service sticker, which also states this 6-month cadence (a media filter, not a monthly 1" throwaway). | ENERGY STAR — heating & cooling maintenance checklist ↗ + the furnace’s own service sticker (photographed in place) |
| Glance at the Tesla app — solar production & Powerwall reserve | Energy — solar & Powerwall | Catches a shading, inverter, or production problem — or an unexpectedly low backup reserve — early, instead of finding out during an outage. | Tesla — how Powerwall works ↗ |
Quarterly
| Task | System | Why | Source of cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run each irrigation zone briefly; look for broken or clogged heads | Irrigation — Rachio | Catches a damaged head or valve before it becomes a dry patch of lawn or a flooded bed. | Rachio support — general operation ↗ |
| Test GFCI outlets (kitchen, baths, garage, exterior) — press “test,” confirm it trips, then “reset” | The House | A GFCI that has silently failed stops protecting against shock without any visible sign. outlet count/locations to confirm at walkthrough | CPSC — general GFCI safety guidance ↗ |
| Wipe down / vacuum dust in the network closet; confirm airflow isn’t blocked | Network (own Maintenance section) | The PoE switch runs warm by design; blocked airflow around it shortens the life of everything in the closet. | Documented on the Network page’s own Maintenance section. |
| Quick tap-water hardness test | Plumbing & hot water | Confirms the softener is actually softening the water, not just cycling. Interval scales with use — the Plumbing page’s usage table runs from every 6 months (2–3 people) to every 2–3 months (full house); quarterly is the middle of that range. confirm this softener’s test-strip/recommended interval | Water-treatment industry maintenance guidance ↗ |
Spring (March–May)
| Task | System | Why | Source of cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gutter clearing (1 of 2 for the year) | The House | PNW gutters fill with debris nearly year-round; clearing before the wettest months return prevents overflow and water intrusion. | PNW gutter-service guidance — twice-yearly baseline ↗ |
| Irrigation spring startup: turn the system back on, run every zone, check for winter damage | Irrigation — Rachio | Confirms nothing cracked or seized over winter before the watering season actually needs it. | Rachio — official winter prep & spring startup guide ↗ |
| Pre-season air conditioner check | HVAC | ENERGY STAR recommends checking the cooling system in spring, ahead of the first hot stretch, rather than waiting for it to fail on the first 90° day. | ENERGY STAR — heating & cooling maintenance checklist ↗ |
| Check exterior hose bibs for winter freeze damage before heavy use | Plumbing & hot water | A cracked bib often doesn’t show until it’s turned back on for the season — better to find it deliberately than by flooding. | General seasonal-plumbing guidance. |
| Steam generator: light descale/clean per its current schedule | Steam shower generator | Mineral scale reduces steam output over time and can damage the generator; frequency depends on how much you actually steam (scale is made by boiling) as well as on water hardness and whether the unit auto-flushes — the Steam Generator page carries a usage-scaled table running from 12 months (occasional use) to 3–4 months (daily). | Steam-generator maintenance guidance ↗ exact make/model & auto-flush to confirm |
Fall (September–November)
| Task | System | Why | Source of cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gutter clearing (2 of 2 for the year) | The House | Clears the year’s second flush of debris ahead of the heaviest PNW rain — the single most common cause of preventable water intrusion. | PNW gutter-service guidance — twice-yearly baseline ↗ |
| Irrigation winterization / seasonal shutdown | Irrigation — Rachio | Protects the system (and the backflow assembly) from freeze damage over winter. | Rachio — official winter prep & spring startup guide ↗ |
| Pre-season furnace check | HVAC | ENERGY STAR recommends checking the heating system in fall, before it’s asked to run every day. | ENERGY STAR — heating & cooling maintenance checklist ↗ |
| Clean the dryer vent | Laundry | Lint buildup in the vent (not just the lint trap) is a leading cause of home clothes-dryer fires. | CPSC — clothes dryer fire safety ↗ |
| Winterize exterior hose bibs | Plumbing & hot water | Prevents a frozen, split pipe from a hard freeze over winter. | General seasonal-plumbing guidance. |
Annual
| Task | System | Why | Source of cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descale the tankless water heater | Plumbing & hot water | Prevents scale buildup that reduces efficiency, shortens the unit’s life, and can void the manufacturer’s warranty if skipped. | Navien — tankless descaling guidance (representative) ↗ confirm actual brand/model |
| Test the irrigation backflow-prevention assembly | Irrigation — Rachio | Required annually for any Ridgefield property with in-ground irrigation, to stop lawn/garden water from ever siphoning back into the drinking-water supply. | City of Ridgefield — Backflow & Cross-Connection (WAC 246-290-490) ↗ |
| Clean/replace the projector air filter; check lamp hours | Media room (own Maintenance section) | A clogged filter causes overheating and shortens an already wear-item lamp’s life; catching low hours early avoids a movie night interrupted by a dead bulb. | Documented on the Media room page’s own Maintenance section; sourced from the Epson 5040UB user’s guide. |
| Water softener professional service / resin check | Plumbing & hot water | Industry guidance calls for a professional check on the resin bed and valve every 12–18 months even when salt is kept topped up — the Plumbing page’s usage table puts a lightly-used household at the 12–18-month end and a full house at annually. | Water-treatment industry maintenance guidance ↗ confirm model |
| Replace smoke & CO alarm batteries (non-sealed units) | The House | NFPA guidance: even with monthly testing, batteries should be swapped at least once a year. | NFPA — maintaining smoke alarms ↗ |
| Full roof & gutter inspection (beyond routine clearing) | The House | Catches missing/lifted shingles, flashing issues, and PNW moss growth before they become an active leak. | General home-inspection guidance; see also the Replacement-horizon forecast on the Reference page. |
| Garage door opener safety-reversal test + lubrication | Garage | The auto-reverse safety feature is the single most safety-critical check on a garage door; lubrication extends the opener and spring’s working life. | General garage-door-opener manufacturer guidance confirm opener make/model |
| Kegerator CO2 tank inspection & line cleaning | Bar & butler’s pantry | Beer-line buildup affects taste and tap performance even when the tank itself is fine. | General draft-beer-system guidance confirm kegerator make/model |
The maintenance log — not just a schedule
A schedule tells you what should happen. A log tells you what actually did — the same pattern a yacht or an aircraft uses for its maintenance record. This manual starts that log with what’s known from the 2017 build, and the printed binder edition continues it with blank, lined pages so whoever owns this house next keeps writing the same history by hand.
| Year | Event | Details / evidence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | House built (custom construction completed) | Whole-home systems commissioned together: solar array, 2 Powerwalls, tankless water heater, water softener, network/UniFi, HVAC. | builder & exact completion date to gather |
| 2017 | Tankless water heater installed | Photographed in place (tankless-water-heater.jpg). | make/model/serial to gather |
| 2017 | Water softener installed | Photographed in place (water-softener-2017.jpg); a separate water-treatment component is also photographed (water-treatment.jpg). | make/model/serial to gather |
| 2017 | Tesla solar array (36 panels) + 2 Powerwalls commissioned | Construction photo sequence (marketing site). | inverter/gateway model, production history to gather |
| 2017 | Network/UniFi system installed | Fiber to the home, 100% PoE — see the Network page for the full topology. | Documented — see network.html |
To complete the log
Still needed: HVAC service dates and who performed them, backflow test dates and pass/fail results, roof/gutter service dates, the projector’s lamp-replacement date and hour count at swap, water-heater descale dates, softener resin/media service dates, and appliance purchase/install dates for anything replaced since 2017. Service invoices and any dated photos are the fastest way to fill these in.
In the printed binder, this table is followed by several blank lined “continuation” pages — the log is meant to keep growing well past the day of the sale.