5 Small Home Improvement Projects Your Family Can Tackle This Winter
Home improvements are a wholesome way for the family to bond, as they change an existing space into something new that everyone can enjoy. If you’re waiting for the arrival of winter in your Denver home, there are a few home improvement projects that are small enough for your family to tackle in the meantime. Have a look at five of them below.
Fix the Water Leaks
Before you do massive overhauls to change spaces like the bathroom and kitchen, consider fixing any water leaks you have. Doing this can save the average homeowner almost 10% on their water bills, an amount that adds up over time. Inspect all your plumbing, from the indoors to the outdoors, and take note of any leaky showers, faucets, or taps. Depending on the severity of the leak, fixing it may be a simple matter of buying sealant from the store and applying it around the leaking area, or buying a new part and installing it. If you find a massive leak that calls for complex tools and processes to fix, you should call a plumber to give you a hand.
Seal Air Leaks for Better Warmth
Air leaks around your home’s doors and windows may be costing you a high amount of energy bills over time. To put a stop to this, inspect your doors and windows on the outside and inside to see if there are any cracks or gaps. Also, check for places where the weather stripping has peeled off and replace it. Seal cracks you find with caulk, which you can get from a local hardware store, and it will be easier to keep the house warm and toasty when winter descends in earnest on Denver. Don’t forget to check the attic, although this may call for a bit more technicality to add insulation and ensure no air is leaking through it.
Touch Up or Apply New Interior Paint
A fresh coat of paint is an easy way to breathe new life into your home, so consider painting your home this winter. An advantage of painting in this season is that you won’t have issues with paint drying too fast due to heat in the air. You can do it in about four days in total, which is the average length of time it takes to paint an average-sized home. If you had painted recently, though, you may just touch up a few areas that you might have missed before or that have undergone considerable wear.
Upgrade Your Interior Lighting Fixtures
If you haven’t worked on your lighting fixtures in a while, this is a great time to do so. You could upgrade them to modern ones, or find ones that will help in energy conservation in your Denver home. Since it’s often a matter of screwing them in, this is a home improvement project that you can tackle as a family with a bit of teamwork. Shop for lighting fixtures that you feel will make a statement and improve your interior’s aesthetics.
Stock Up On Winter Essentials
Finally, make sure that you have everything you need through winter, from food and medication to entertainment and hobby items. Toiletries like tissues and toilet paper and cleaning agents are a must-have, because it’s important to keep the house clean at all times, and you never know when you may be locked in by a snow storm. Also, get enough cold medicine to make sure that in case one person catches a cold, they won’t have the entire house in sniffles. Keep in mind that the symptoms of a cold last anywhere from 48 hours to 14 days, with the average person recovering fully in 10 days.
You don’t have to put your entire home improvement checklist on hold until the sun comes back out. You can find some, like the five listed above, and tackle them right now so that you have more time to spare on winter days that call for a day spent in the snow.
Winterize your Air Conditioner
Air conditioning repairs are a part of having the system. Many people forget to tackle this when winter comes as cooling is not on their minds. So it is important that you have an HVAC company that you trust. They can come out and do regular maintenance such as winterization as well as handle any repairs that need to be done. If you have an AC central unit not cooling, you can have your AC furnace service come out and run an AC diagnostic test to determine what is going on. From there, they can use that AC diagnostic check to decide what repairs need to be done. If you’re trying to do repairs on your own, you don’t have access to the tools and training that they do. So you won’t be able to do the repairs as accurately. You might also do additional damage while you’re trying to fix it.
To get AC repairs done, you should contact a service company in your area. They can give you a quote and recommendations about what needs to be done. Once the repairs are done, they can also help you with regular maintenance to prevent this from happening again.