For removal please cut drywall here

• Posted on July 25, 2016
• by mikew
• in Fix It & Use It
• No Comments.

How’s your memory? I’ve got a pretty good memory on some things and my wife will tell you I have a terrible memory where it really counts! For all of you who want to make it a little easier for your self in the future I want to encourage you to label things!

My favorite label I have ever seen happened at a recent home inspection. I climbed into the attic of an older home where the furnace was installed. As I looked around I came across this sign no one could miss! There was an area of the ceiling drywall that was to be removed in order to replace the furnace. They even took the trouble to stencil it on a piece of plywood. Here is what you should label:

1. Be sure every circuit breaker in your electrical panel is labeled. It makes maintenance and repairs so much easier and safer in the future.
2. Identify your main water shutoff with a large clear label. Be sure this is accessible too. Often these are buried behind storage in garages and closets.
3. Be sure the date of our last furnace servicing and filter change are labeled on your furnace. This will help you see how long it has been. Filters should be changed or cleaned every six months. I recommended a full servicing every 18 months.
4. In a recent drywall installation I diagramed and labeled where the wood studs were so I could find them more easily when hanging a wall-mount TV stand.
5. Label other quirky aspects of your house that someone may have a question about in the future (like the picture above!).

No need to purchase a high-tech labeler. Masking tape and a Sharpie are all you need to do this. It is not how pretty it looks but that the information is there and recorded for posterity! The minute you spend labeling now will save you minutes if not hours in the future!