TradesNetwork-Home Improvement Projects & Ideas

Fall is the season most homeowners have been waiting for. It is the perfect time to tackle home improvement projects, as the weather is neither too warm nor too cold. In addition, fall is the best time to prepare your home for the coming winter. By working on different upgrades this season, you can make your home more appealing, durable, and weathertight as the temperature begins to drop.

The best start to your line of fall home improvement projects this year is a thorough evaluation done by a qualified professional. Though this can initially cost you some, this step will prove to be worth more than your money’s value. By discovering damages early on, you will save yourself from grave surprises instead of them finding their way to you and your house from silently deteriorating.

Roofing

Being among the areas most exposed to damaging elements, natural and not, your roofing should be the first area to look into when considering fall home improvements. Especially with the snow on the way, patching whatever roofing problems would be crucial. Things to look for include:

· missing or damaged shingles,

· slits between flashes where the siding and roof joins with flues and vents,

· damp and moldy spots,

· and broken mortar surrounding the chimney especially at caps joints, and washes.

Clean and Tune Up

Simply cleaning your surroundings and tuning up important systems can take your efforts for fall home improvements a long, long way. The seemingly harmless accumulation of dead leaves and branches on your gutters can easily bleed you financially. If your gutters got clogged and standing water freezes, this could not only impair the existing gutter system but could also affect efficiency and condition of basement, foundation, walls, crawl spaces and even landscaping. Consider the installation of gutter guards that prevents debris from getting into your gutter system. Also make sure that your drain and gutter system efficiently draws water away from your house.

Other fall home improvements that fall under this category include:

• Sweeping chimneys

• Mowing and removing leaves and dead branches on your lawn to avoid snowmolds

• Checking and maintaining furnace

• Winterizing lawn by nitrogen fertilizing

• Avoid freezing by adding insulation to pipes

• Checking thermostats and considering a programmable one to replace your old thermostat