Fall Home Improvements
Date: September 22, 2022
Just as spring is a good time of year to give your home a thorough cleaning, fall is a great time to tackle some home improvement projects. When the heat of summer passes and before the chill of winter arrives, there’s a window of opportunity to protect and beautify your home.
Clean Gutters – Cleaning gutters to remove leaves, pine needles, and other debris should be a top priority on your fall checklist. Rainwater is best directed away from a home. Water pooling around a home can expand in freezing temperatures and lead to a cracked foundation. Overflowing gutters keep water in contact with your home’s exterior leading to mold and moss growth, wood rot, and damage to soffit and fascia boards. The soffit connects your home’s siding and its roof. The soffit is found under the fascia boards, which connect your gutters to your roof. Rotting soffit and fascia means your home is at risk of expensive water damage and invites rodents, birds, and insects to make your home their own.
Exterior Caulk – Exterior caulk is important to prevent water and insects from entering the home at joints or around windows, and helps insulate the home from wind, extreme cold or extreme heat. However, it is important to know what to caulk and what not to caulk. Before you get started with a DIY exterior caulking project be sure to learn about what to avoid caulking, including window weep holes and the bottom edge of siding boards where water is meant to exit.
Exterior Paint – Painting the exterior of your home provides a boost in curb appeal as well as protecting your investment and increasing the value of your house. According to the National Association of Realtors, buyers consider a home’s curb appeal one of the most important criteria in making their property buying decision. A fresh paint job does more than just make your home look good. As the front line of defense, paint helps to guard your property against environmental elements such as rain and sun, and helps keep pests like termites, carpenter ants, and other wood-boring insects at bay.