Home Maintenance: 2 Repair Jobs That Make a Big Difference

No matter what part of the country you call home, routine home maintenance and repair is crucial. Spring, with its mild weather, is the perfect season to do major upgrades. Some of these repairs require a great deal of familiarity with power tools, as well as the ability to skillfully swing a hammer. It also helps to have some experience with finishing work like replacing trim and painting.

Rot Repair

Regular care such as caulking holes in the home's siding and regular painting of the exterior may prevent water problems that lead to wood rot. It can happen within just two to three years of a home's construction, especially in humid climates.

Rot is generally found on the outside of the house, around windows and trim (the horizontal boards that comprise the siding of most homes, sometimes called clapboard).

Rusty Meador, owner of Dock House Remodeling & Maintenance in Wilmington, North Carolina, says the first thing to do is assess the trim damage. Look for missing, chipped off paint on the trim, and do a light pressure test with a Phillips-head screwdriver. The screwdriver should not go deeper than 1/8 inch. If you find rotten wood, keep poking the screwdriver horizontally until you hit solid wood to determine the size of the affected area.

The damaged wood will be brittle and darker than undamaged pieces. Using a reciprocating (oscillating) saw, cut out the damaged piece at a 90-degree angle to the board. For good measure, remove an extra foot of wood on both sides of the rot. Meador says you also need to peel the trim and save the corners.

"This is so you can transfer the angle measurement to your replacement piece of wood," Meador said.

Once the rot is gone, inspect the framing wood for possible damage.

"If there’s a tiny bit of rot or surface of the frame, you can sand it off and prime it, but never just cover it up," Meador said.

Take the piece of removed trim to a retailer to have exterior semi-gloss paint mixed to match the color of the rest of the house. The new wood should be placed using the removed pieces and corner angles as a cutting guide. Meador recommends using pressure-treated wood if you’re replacing untreated pine or other soft wood to lessen the chance of rot reappearing in this same spot.

Meador says to prime all six sides of the replacement boards. Focus on the ends because they wick up moisture and lead to more water damage. When the primer dries, bead the replacement piece of wood with caulk where it will meet the pieces of trim and push it into place.

Meador says to use polyurethane-based caulk and attach the trim to the structure with galvanized finish nails. Finally, use wood filler after countersinking the nails, and allow it to dry. Sand down the filler, then paint the replacement board.

If the trim rot is small, this project costs under $100 in materials from start to finish. A pro would charge $200 and $400 just for the labor.

Money Saving Maintenance

Some people can cut down on maintenance costs just by checking the soil around the foundations. It should be graded away from the house to keep moisture from running into the basement. Marvin Goldstein, president of the American Society of Home Inspectors, says that a soil check should be done every spring. He says a wet-basement expert speaking at an ASHI meeting claimed the cost to repair a flooded basement can run up to $20,000.

It's also important if you plan to sell the home.

"Because of the housing crisis, tougher home-condition standards are required for loan qualifications," Goldstein said. "Appraisers, in a hot market, would 'overlook' a lot of things — not any longer."

Dave Dutra, owner of Acacia Real Estate Home Inspection Services in California, says costs add up on a poorly maintained home. A roof leak that costs $4,000 to $5,000, or a $10,000 wiring bill, could be avoided with regular maintenance.

"If you neglect part of it, it affects all of it," he said. "I've seen people spend big money on getting their homes back into good repair to sell. The bottom line is that it entails much more work and money than if it's well-maintained all along."

Door Replacement

Mark Clement is a Pennsylvania-based professional contractor and co-host of "My Fix It Up Life" radio show. He's a proponent of working on doors in the spring.

"Springtime is perfect for doing those kinds of projects when you need your doors open -- or off," he said. "Door replacements are advanced, but when done carefully, they can save you a ton of money and improve the look of your house immediately."

A door project can boost the energy efficiency of a home, improve its curb appeal and potentially eliminate a safety hazard for the family. If the house was built before 1978, Clement says there's a good chance you have a lead paint problem.

"The EPA has found that lead-on-lead friction -- exactly what happens when you open a door -- can release these metal microparticles into the air, which is especially dangerous if you have children," he said.

The cost for a basic new front door, or a "commodity replacement door," is in the $500 to $1,000 range. The charge for a contractor to install one would be about $400. Clement says it should take a day to put it in yourself with a little help.

"This is definitely a project where you should have a buddy to help," he said.

A pre-hung door is the easiest way to upgrade. A pre-hung door is already framed and ready to pop into the space left by the previous one. Take careful measurements of the existing door and framing, and take those numbers to the retailer.

To remove the door itself, remove the screws attaching the door to its hinges, then take out any screws and nails attaching the door jamb to the structure of the home. That should make the door frame easy to pull out.

Next, place Z flashing, which keeps moisture out of the home’s exterior, above the door casing. Apply a thick bead of caulk around the sides and top of the doorway and firmly push the new door into place. Use a bubble level at the bottom of the door to check that it is set properly. Place angled wooden shims underneath to correct any imbalance.

Drill temporary screws into the hinge side of the frame, and place shims into any spaces between the jamb and door framing. Insert pilot holes, and use the proper screws (wood or masonry) to attach this side of the frame to the house following manufacturer's instructions. Repeat each step on the other side of the frame.

Finally, close the door and check for proper, even spacing all around. You may need to make adjustments like hammering shims in a little deeper. Remove any jutting-out shims with a sharp utility knife, caulk around the new door frame, and apply weatherstripping before you install new doorknobs and locks.

"There are few projects that have such an instantaneous improvement on your life as this one," Clement said. "As soon as you clean up and you put the stuff away, it looks great, and you'll definitely notice a difference in your heating and cooling bills."