A house book is the running record of everything that happens to a property: when the boiler was serviced, which paint was used in the hallway, where the warranty for the dishwasher lives, and who fixed the roof three winters ago. For generations this was a shoebox of receipts and a drawer of manuals. A digital house book does the same job, except it fits in your pocket and never gets lost in a move.
Start with the basics every home accumulates. Gather your purchase and insurance documents, appliance manuals and warranties, energy certificates, and the contact details of the trades you trust. Add a photo of each meter and its reading. This first pass is the spine of the book, and most of it you only have to do once.
Then capture the things that change. Every repair, every service visit, every renovation is worth a few photos and a short note with the date and the cost. The value is not any single entry. It is the timeline: a clear history of how the home has been cared for, which pays you back when something breaks, when a contractor disputes what was agreed, or when you eventually sell.
Structure it so you can actually find things. Keep one book per property, then group entries by area or by system: the kitchen, the garden, the heating, the roof. A photo taken at the moment of the work, with the room and date attached, is worth more than a perfectly written description added weeks later.
The hard part has never been knowing what to keep. It is keeping it in one place and up to date. EMALINO is built for exactly this: a home memory platform where the photos, documents, tasks and maintenance history for each property live together, on your phone and your laptop, so your digital house book maintains itself as you go.