It's easy to let home maintenance and upgrades slip away. When that honey-do list occupies multiple pages, things are getting out of control. This is a good time to set down with pen and paper in hand and line out a plan of action as part of your New Year's resolutions.
In order to be practical, if you don't win that Powerball lottery, you must take your maintenance budget into consideration. Consider both your household income and how much of your federal income tax return you can afford to dedicate. Keeping your home equity intact is just as important as that big vacation.
Spring Seasonal Home Maintenance
These are items you should be doing anyway. How extensive your list is is partly determined by your home design and where you live. Here are a few things to consider.
- Exterior painting or cleaning aluminum and vinyl siding. You may get lucky and only have to do this every other year or so, but it still warrants an inspection. If your home has a brick veneer exterior, your maintenance is minimal, but you should still have a look and see if you need to repaint your brick.
- Cleaning your rain gutters. Everybody loves this one, right? Even if you have effective micro-mesh gutter guards you should check this. You might have to do some gutter cleaning more than once if your trees shed a lot during the spring re-leafing period.
- Tuning up your landscaping tools. Start the year by tuning up the lawn mower. Sharpen the blade, change the spark plug, change the oil (Mobil 1 synthetic oil is a good choice), and tighten all nuts and bolts. Sharpen and lubricate your chainsaw if you use one.
Interior Remodeling Projects
These tasks could be as mundane as refreshing your walls with a fresh coat of paint or as big as a kitchen or bathroom remodeling project. Obviously, the larger the project, the more planning will be needed. This is especially true if you're going to be evaluating contractor construction bids.
Go Green With Energy Saving Appliances
Whenever the project calls for appliance replacement, look for Energy Star appliances. It might pay to spend a bit more in a ROI (Return On Investment) strategy if you can not only get energy saving devices, but also secure an energy tax credit.
Retrofitting to save money on utility bills doesn't stop there. Another effective thing to do is to install radiant barrier foil in the attic. Replacement windows will lower heating and cooling costs if it's in your home improvement budget.
These are just a few home upgrades and maintenance tips for your DIY New Year's resolutions. Develop your plans now and follow through next year.
Kelly Smith - Kelly has over 30 years experience as a journeyman carpenter and 20 as a freelance writer and photographer.
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