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First-Year Maintenance for a New Home: What the House Is Doing While You Unpack
Warranty Maintenance From a builder
First-Year Maintenance for a New Home: What the House Is Doing While You Unpack
A new house spends its first year drying out, settling down and showing you where the builder was in a hurry. Most of what it needs is attention, not money. Here is the first year by season, and the list for the year-end warranty form.
Short version: Year one is about moisture and movement. Keep indoor humidity between about 35 and 50 percent, run the HRV, change filters, watch the grading settle and fix it, test the sump, and write down every crack, gap and sticky door for the year-end Tarion form. Do the seasonal checks below and the house will tell you what it needs before it becomes a repair.
What the house is doing
Thousands of litres of water went into the house as concrete, mortar, drywall mud and paint, and lumber that was wetter than it will ever be again. It leaves over the first year, and as it does, wood shrinks, drywall moves, trim gaps open, and doors change their minds about latching. Truss uplift lifts the ceiling corners in the first winter. None of this is a defect; it is the house arriving at its final dimensions. The year-end warranty form is where it gets tidied up, once, after the movement is done.
Season by season
| When | Do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Move-in week | Set the calendar: 30-day form, year-end form, second-year form. Photograph every room. Find the main water shut-off, the panel, the sump, the HRV filters. | The warranty runs on deadlines, and you want to know where things are before the night something leaks |
| First month | Run the HRV continuously; keep humidity 35 to 50 percent; pour water in the sump and watch it pump; note every deficiency for the 30-day form | The house is at its wettest; the HRV and a dehumidifier in the basement do the drying |
| First fall | Clean the HRV filters and core; set the furnace or boiler for the season; check caulking outside; clear eavestroughs; put downspout extensions on | Water is the enemy, and fall is when it arrives |
| First winter | Keep humidity nearer 30 to 35 percent in deep cold to stop condensation on windows; watch for ice damming; listen for the HRV defrost cycle; note drywall cracks and door changes | Dry winter air is when wood gaps and ceilings lift; condensation on windows means humidity is too high for the outdoor temperature |
| First spring | Walk the grading and fill where the backfill settled; check downspouts; test the sump and the backup; look for water in window wells; check the roof and flashing from the ground | Spring melt is the biggest water event of the year |
| First summer | Service the air conditioning or heat pump; run a dehumidifier in the basement; check the deck and railings; touch up exterior caulking | The basement is still drying; summer humidity is when it shows |
| Month eleven | Walk the whole house with a notepad and the construction performance guidelines; write the year-end list; file it in the last 30 days of the year | Everything that moved is now still; this is the one list that gets fixed in one visit |
The year-end list
Walk every room in raking light. Drywall cracks at corners and above doors, nail pops, trim gaps, doors that rub or will not latch, cabinet doors out of line, caulking that split, tile grout cracks, floor squeaks, windows that stick. Measure cracks; anything over the guideline width goes on the list. Outside: siding movement, caulking, grading, concrete steps. File it through the Tarion portal in the last 30 days of the first year on a covered home, and send it to the builder under their own warranty on any home. Tarion’s coverage by year sets out what qualifies; cosmetic vs serious defects sorts the list.
Habits that keep a house dry and the warranty alive
- Never switch off the HRV. It is the lungs, and the warranty on finishes assumes it ran.
- Keep a hygrometer on the main floor and in the basement; humidity decides most first-year complaints.
- Change furnace and HRV filters every three months; write the date on the filter.
- Keep water away from the walls: downspouts out, grading sloped, window wells clear.
- Keep every document in one folder: forms, photos, manuals, warranties, the as-builts.
- Report water the day you see it, in writing. Why new basements leak tells you where to look.
Things that are not warranty items, and are still yours to do
Final grading after settlement, landscaping, sealing a driveway, caulking that was fine when the house was built and split in year three, filters, descaling a tankless heater, cleaning the dryer vent, and the roof after a storm. The warranty covers defects; the rest is ownership, and a new house is easier to own than an old one only if you start the habits in year one.
Related guides on this site
Sources and further reading
Questions people ask
What maintenance does a new house need in the first year?
Mostly moisture and movement management: run the HRV, keep humidity 35 to 50 percent, change filters, fix grading that settles, test the sump, check caulking and downspouts each season, and write down cracks and sticking doors for the year-end warranty form.
Why are cracks appearing in my new house?
The house is drying and settling. Lumber shrinks, drywall moves and trusses lift in the first winter. Hairline cracks are normal and go on the year-end list; wide, stepped or growing cracks are not and need a look now.
What humidity should a new house be kept at?
Between about 35 and 50 percent in most seasons, lower in deep winter cold to stop condensation on windows. The HRV and a basement dehumidifier in the first summer do most of the work.
When do I file the Tarion year-end form?
In the last 30 days of the first year from possession. Walk the house in month eleven and write the list then.
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Reviewed and updated October 2026. Costs are Ontario ranges, not quotes; code references are to the Ontario Building Code in force at that date.
