How long will your home last? There isn’t an easy answer to that question. Many factors impact the lifespan of a home and its components, plus not all products, materials and appliances are built to the same standards or durability.
However, you can apply a few rules of thumb—and these are the same estimates and guidelines used by many home inspectors.
In general, the overall life expectancy of your home depends largely on the quality of the installation, the level of maintenance, weather and climate conditions, and the intensity of use.
Still, even with these uncertainties, the general life expectancy of a wood frame house with a concrete foundation is 100 years or more—assuming the home has been properly maintained and cared for over that lifespan. This is good news since 38% of homes built in the U.S. are now more than half a century old (built before 1970). In Canada, 29.7% of homes were built between 1961 and 1980 and another 22.2% were built before 1960.
Have An Emergency Fund? It Still Pays to Learn How Long a House Lasts
Out-of-sight-out-of-mind is a bit of a default position for most homeowners—at times, even myself. This is not problematic if you have emergency money set aside. However, there are other reasons to consider the lifespan of your home and its components.
For instance, if you plan to add a central air conditioner to your home, you’ll want to budget for that expense. However, if you consider the age of your furnace and the internal ductwork—and find these components are nearing the end of their life expectancy—you’ll save yourself time, money and aggravation shopping for all these components at once. (It’s still expensive, but buying more than one HVAC component will usually trigger some deals.)
Knowing the lifespan of all your home and its appliances and keeping track of their performance can help you avoid unpleasant hits to your maintenance budget.
To help you plan for the direct replacement costs of standard housing components, here’s a brief idea of the life expectancy of typical housing components.
How Long Will Your Home Last?
By and large, a newer home or one that was extensively renovated in the last 10 years will probably require far fewer repairs and replacements than a home built a few decades or a century ago.
Each of your home’s major components, appliances, and all the interior and exterior facets have a lifespan—a timeframe before significant repairs and complete replacement become necessary.
There is a greater likelihood of a component, appliance or fixture failing, prompting either a repair or replacement for older homes.
For example, gas or electric water heaters only last about 10 years, according to the Life Expectancy of Home Components study collected and compiled by the National Association of Home Builders.
How to Plan When It Comes to Your Home’s Life Expectancy
A smart homeowner knows their home’s systems and appliances won’t last forever. Unfortunately, everything has a lifespan, and as things get older and parts stop working, you’re bound to face costly repairs and pricey replacements.
If these costs crop up unexpectantly, they can wreak havoc on your budget. To avoid surprises, you need to:
- Have an emergency fund
- Budget for home maintenance and repair costs
- Know how to strategically time updates and remodels (to avoid expensive repairs or unnecessary costs).
To help, here’s a life expectancy snapshot of some of the more significant household components, along with a lifespan list of standard appliances. Use this cheat sheet to help plan your remodel and renovation projects or estimate when you need to set aside a bit more for a potentially more extensive repair or replacement bill.
Life Expectancy of Home’s Foundation
We tend to think of our home’s foundation as a solid, infinite structure that will last until the end of days. But as homes age, so do foundations, and even the best foundation may need upkeep and repair.
To help you determine if there is a need to repair or replace, here’s a list of common foundation materials and builds and their estimated life expectancy. Remember, quality workmanship goes a long way, with properly built foundations lasing indefinitely.
- Poured concrete footings and foundation — 100+ years
- Concrete block — 100+ years
- Insulated concrete forms (ICFs) — 100 years
- Permanent wood foundation (PWF, treated) — 75 years
- Post and pier — 20 to 65 years
- Post and tensioned slab on grade — 100+ years
- Slab on grade (concrete) — 100 years
- Wood foundation —5 to 40 years
- Bituminous Coating Waterproofing — 10 years (Note: If it cracks, it is immediately damaged.)
- Weeping Tile System:
- Plumbing Concrete Waste Pipe — 100 years
- Cast Iron Waste Pipe — 100 years
- Termite Proofing (pre-treatment during construction) — 12 years
Life Expectancy of Home’s Roof
How long does a roof last? Or, perhaps, a better question to ask is: How long does a roof last in Canada? The answer to these questions depends on several factors, including local weather conditions, quality of installation, design, material quality and proper maintenance.
Here’s a list of common roofing materials and their estimated life expectancy.
- Aluminum roof coating — 3 to 7 years
- Fibre cement — 25 years
- Asphalt shingles — 20 to 25 years
- Modified Bitumen — 20 years
- Copper — Lifetime
- Simulated Slate — 10 to 35 years
- Wood — 30 years
- Clay/Concrete — Lifetime
- Slate — 50+
- Coal and Tar (common for a flat roof) — 30 years
- EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) Rubber —15 to 25 years
- Green (vegetation-covered) — 5 to 40 years
- Adhesives
- Roofing adhesives — 7 years
- Roofing cement — 15+ years
- Sealants — 8 years
Life Expectancy of Home’s Roof System
While a roof is a critical component of your home’s external defence, there are complementary systems that are just as vital. The gutters, downspouts, soffits, eavestroughs, and other seams and channels that help your home shed water also have a lifespan.
To help, here’s a list of the common materials and products used to help get water off the roof and away from your home, along with their estimated life expectancy.
- Fibre-cement soffits/fascias — 50 years
- Exterior wooden shutters — 20 years
- Gutters and Downspouts
- Copper
- Gutter — 50+ years
- Downspout — 100 years
- Aluminum
- Gutter— 20 years
- Downspout — 20 years
- Galvanized Steel — 20 years
- Vinyl — 25+ years
- Copper
- Soffits and fascias
- Fibre-cement — 50 years
- Aluminum — 20 to 40 years
Lifespan of Appliances
Household appliances tend to become an integral part of our daily routine, so people take them for granted. However, when one of these appliances breaks, it can pose a significant inconvenience or safety concern. For instance, if your hot water tank stops working during the winter months, you may be forced to purchase a new tank sooner than expected or go without warm water until a solution is found.
Knowing the lifespan of all your appliances and keeping track of their performance can help you avoid unpleasant surprises. Although you can sometimes get away with minor repairs, the costs could be too high at other times.
Turns out that appliances have the shortest lifespan compared to all other home components. Dehumidifiers, microwaves, and trash compactors last the least amount of time, needing replacement within nine to 10 years in most cases. On the longer-lasting end are gas boilers (21 years), furnaces (20 years), and ranges (15 years).
To help, here’s a list of the most common household appliances, along with their estimated life expectancy.
- Kitchen
- Trash compactors — 6 to 10 years
- Dishwashers — 9 years
- Exhaust fans — 10 years
- Food disposal — 12 years
- Freezer — 11 to 20 years
- Microwave — 9 years
- Range
- Gas — 10 to 18 years
- Electric — 13 to 15 years
- Hood — 14 years
- Refrigerator
- Standard (family size) — 13 years
- Compact — 9 to 13 years
- Laundry room (gas or electric)
- Washing machine — 5 to 15 years
- Dryer — 13 years
- Dryer vent
- Plastic — 5 years
- Steel — 20 years
- Mechanical Room
- Water heaters
- Standard — 10 to 11 years
- Tankless — 20 years
- Furnace
- Gas— 15 to 20 years
- Electric — 15 years
- Oil —20+ years
- Central vacuum — 20 years
- Boiler
- Electric — 13 years
- Gas — 21 years
- Heat pumps — 16 years
- Dehumidifier — 8 years
- Water heaters
- Humidifier (portable) — 8 years
- Air conditioner
- Room (portable) — 10 years
- Window — 5 to 8 years
- Central — 15 years
When Should You Replace Appliances?
The lifespan of a typical appliance depends greatly on how much it’s used and how well it’s maintained.
However, in today’s decor-obsessed society, appliances are often swapped out well before the need to replace them. Not waiting until an appliance is worn out has a lot to do with personal preference, technology updates, and the desire to save on energy consumption and costs.
The key to establishing when to replace an appliance is to determine how long until the end of its expected lifespan, how expensive repairs and updates cost and whether or not there are optimal ways or times to buy that appliance.
For instance, a homeowner starts to shop around when they inspect their home maintenance list and realize their dishwasher and refrigerator are coming close to the end. After shopping around, they realize:
- Waiting until Boxing Day sales would help them save quite a bit
- Buying in a bundle will also help them save a bit
To maximize savings, these homeowners can start to save for the eventual purchase of these appliances, plus shop the package deals to see what options they have when the time comes to pull the trigger.
(Package deals are sales promotions offered by stores that give you savings when you buy two or more appliances simultaneously. These savings can be significant, with some homeowners shaving 30% to 50% off the original price.)
How To Prolong the Lifespan of Household Appliances?
There are ways to help make appliances last longer. For instance, arranging for vital service and timely maintenance could help you delay major repairs and replacements to a great extent. Here are a few tips on extending the lifespan of your household components and appliances.
Clean Appliances Regularly
Dirt and grime accumulate inside different areas of an appliance and, quite often, will shorten the appliance’s lifespan. In most cases, learning how to clean out filters or clean coils or other components is relatively easy with a great deal of online information. Remember, however, that saving a penny isn’t worth putting your life at risk.
Invest in Protective Devices
You could protect your appliances and housing components by investing in protective gear or systems. For instance, surge protectors can protect expensive electronics, including appliances, from damage due to major power outages and electrical surges. Similarly, a brine tank can soften the water and extend the lifespan of your plumbing system.
Schedule Preventative Maintenances
Consider keeping a maintenance checklist and schedule rather than waiting for problems to pop up. Then, use this list and the schedule to book inspections appointments to help detect potential issues and hopefully fix minor problems before they become major costs.
Final Thoughts
If you plan and budget accordingly, keeping potential repair and replacement costs in mind, you can save tens of thousands in housing component replacements.
Not a Guarantee
Please keep in mind this report isn’t a guarantee or warranty. You should not make buying decisions or product selections based solely on the information contained in this article. Instead, use the information as a starting point to make more informed decisions. Things can—and will—break; components and appliances can—and will—stop functioning, which can happen earlier or later than their estimated lifespan. Various factors go into these estimates, and decades of research make them good benchmarks but it’s not an exact science and progress and upgrades can always tilt the scale, one way or the other.
