Maintaining a building is an on-going process. Just as an MOT is required for a vehicle, it is useful to carry out regular inspections to your property to ensure it remains wind and watertight and to safeguard your investment.
Here you can get information, advice and contacts about maintaining your building.
You can find some handy tips on maintaining your home on the SPAB website (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings)
If you own a common property such as a tenement Under One Roof (UOR) is a very popular website providing information and impartial advice to flat owners in Scotland.
For information about how you can work together with your neighbours, set up an Owners Association to keep the tenement sound, your responsibilities and how the council can help, see the our Private Sector Housing Pages.
Owners and occupiers of historic buildings can tap into Historic Environment Scotland’s (HES) expert building advice. Here you can browse guides for tips on caring for your traditional property.
You can also watch past video broadcasts from HES and the Engine Shed, topics include an overview of traditional buildings, floors and roofs.
Help and advice on hiring the right contractor for the job is available on Historic Environment Scotland's Engine Shed website - Hiring a contractor
Ten Minute Home MOT
(Using binoculars can be helpful! )
1) Do you have a chimney?
- is it leaning?
- is there any growth coming from the top?
- can you see if there is any mortar missing from the joints?
2) Check your roof covering
- if it is covered with tiles or slates, are any slipped or missing?
3) Look at the ridge tiles along the top of your roof.
- are they all there?
- are there gaps where they join each other - i.e. can you see daylight through the joints?
4) Check your gutters
- are they leaking at joints?
- do they overflow?
- are they catching water from the roof or is it running down the wall?
5) Behind the gutters are the soffit and fascias and at the end of the roof quite often there are barge boards
- are they bare wood or have cracked paint?
6) Are your rainwater pipes working?
- are they cracked?
- are they fixed securely?
- are they blocked with things like leaves, twigs, tennis balls and even dead birds?
7) If your windows and doors are made of timber they need painting every three to five years
- is there bare wood especially on the cills and the lower parts of the opening sashes?
8) Look at the bottom of the rainwater pipes to check the gullies
- have they been regularly cleaned?
- are they working properly?
9) Check all growth against the building especially trees bushes & ivy
- have you removed, cut back and pruned carefully where necessary?
10) If your 10-Minute Home MOT has identified problems consult a builder for specialist advice
- have you checked out your advisor and asked for references?