Make Plans For Home Projects Now

Frightful weather outside the house and delightful warmth inside make this the time of year to sit back and appreciate your home. But it’s no time for complacency; now, while you have time to think about it, is the ideal time to make plans for refurbishing and remodeling projects in the new year and to make resolutions about taking care of the place.

Many people make an annual new year’s list of resolutions which, we admit, don’t always get done. But we’re about to run out of 20th-century years to complete all those put-off tasks, and unless we want to face a doozy of an end-of-millennium list, it’s time to get started.

Here are some ideas for home resolutions:

Buy new garbage cans and paint the house number on them.

Repair exterior concrete, especially gaps between house and slab, to prevent leaks. Winter freezing and thawing cycles are especially hard on concrete, and repairs need to be made at the earliest opportunity.

Prep exterior and repaint. This can’t be done in the dead of winter, but it can be done early in spring. Most of the work is in the prep. Scraping, priming and caulking are the most important parts of painting.

Clean out the garage/attic/ basement and have a yard sale.

One good winter project is remodeling a basement. Close the door at the top of the steps to keep all the mess downstairs and require workers to use an outside entrance, if you have one.

When the thaw comes, pay attention to how your yard is draining. There are a number of easily installed plastic snap-together drain systems that can eliminate the problems that lead to leaks and damage.