Install and Maintain Paths and Walkways
Make sure you check sidewalks and driveways for cracks. If you don’t fill them now, water can seep in and freeze, making them even larger. Take the time to resurface worn concrete now and save you a whole lot of time and money later.
Light the Way With Outdoor Lanterns
Less daylight calls for illumination. You can also enhance the nighttime curb appeal of your home, while adding a measure of safety and security by installing low-voltage landscape lighting. You can also add a charming lamppost to mark the start of your driveway.
Prep Your Landscape and Start Composting
Grass roots keep growing until the ground temperature reaches around 40 degrees; so it’s a good time to seed a new lawn, start a compost pile and trim shrubs and trees.
Build a Trash Shed to Hide Unsightly Containers
Build a sturdy storage house that hides two 32-gallon trash cans and several stacked recycling bins. Flip-open lids give it easy access so that you can quickly toss something away in the right place. Bifold front doors make it easy to move heavy cans in and out.
Put Light Where You Need It With a Garage Floodlight
Install a motion-sensor garage floodlight to keep you company while you throw out the trash after dinner clean up. It’ll also welcome you and your guests home with its warm illumination.
Freeze-Proof Exterior Faucets
If not immediately noticed, a ruptured pipe can be both expensive and time-consuming to clean up. Fortunately, the pipe that’s most susceptible to extremely cold weather-the outdoor hose faucet- is also one of the easiest to protect from freezing. Replace an existing hose faucet with a freeze-proof faucet. You can do it yourself in just a few hours.
Get Your Entry Guest-Ready
Make sure that the front door is weather sealed. Lucky for you, making your door draft-free is a straightforward exercise, far cheaper and faster than installing a new door. Once that’s done, enhance curb appeal with aesthetic entry upgrades like adding exterior trim, flanking the door with sconces, throwing down a doormat, and swapping entry locksets.
Build a Mudroom Bench With Storage
Create a stopping area just inside the entry where everyone can leave the weather and dirt from their day behind. Build a mudroom bench that’s the perfect catchall, complete with an open top shelf, coat hooks and flip-top bench storage.
Maintain Your Washer and Dryer
Left unattended, a burst washing-machine hose can spill hundreds of gallons of water an hour. Likewise, a dryer can erupt in flames if lint is allowed to build up inside the machine or its ducts. Preventing such mishaps is as easy as replacing a washer’s old rubber hoses, ideally with steel-jacketed ones that can’t split open. You can also discard the dryer’s flimsy vinyl duct and put a metal one in its place.
Drape Away Drafts
Even after you’ve weather-stripped and caulked them, windows in older homes can still be drafty. The right shades, curtains, and even blinds will help retain some portion of the estimated 10 to 30 percent of heat lost through windows in wintertime.
For more easy fall preps for a warm and cozy home, visit our source: This Old House
