When you invest in home renovation/improvement projects, it’s important to do so at the right time of year. With the winter months turning out to be ideal for certain home improvement and maintenance projects, it’s never too early or too late to get started. Winter is the perfect time to tackle projects around the house because winter months are when building materials are less expensive, and labor costs will be lower than during the summer. 
Here’s a list of some winter home improvement projects that take advantage of potential savings and can definitely provide that fresh feeling buyers seek in a home on the market once spring and summer arrive.
1. If your home leaks air and heat, consider sealing up those cracks. Seal up cracks in your home’s walls, windows, doors, and vents. This will keep out cold drafts and improve the efficiency of your heating, cooling, and insulation systems. This can also save you an average of 15 percent on heating and cooling costs, or an average of 11% on total energy costs.
2. Make sure to maintain your heating system. Always take time to check the water levels in your boiler to make sure they don’t fall too low and check/change the heating system filters. Filters need to be changed at least every three months but you can also change them as often as once a month considering some factors such as having pets, living with someone who has allergies or any respiratory conditions, someone in the household smoking, you live in a windy area or occasionally uses the fireplace.
3. Insulate the attic, ducts, and foundation. If you live in a colder climate, you may have done this already, but if your attic isn’t insulated, you’re guaranteed to lose air and heat. It is recommended to do air sealing in any areas of your home that need it before tackling insulation. An insulation contractor can determine how much and what type of insulating material your home needs.
4. Give those rooms, paneling, or cabinetry a fresh coat of paint. Fresh paints on old tiles, paneling, walls, and other parts of the house make a huge difference and guarantee to add beauty to your home. Paint is inexpensive and has a lot of best deals offered during the late fall and winter and also the time when professional painters are less busy and offer lower rates. Factors such as moisture and humidity in the air are much lesser during this season, which makes paint bond to surfaces better and dry faster.
5. Cleaning and painting the garage floor is a plus point especially when you are planning to sell your house in the future. A garage floor free of oil spots, grease, and rust stains looks impressive. Choose a water-based floor epoxy or solvent-thinned epoxy created especially for garage floors.
6. Have the troublesome trees on your property removed. You can save a lot by doing this in the winter, particularly in February and March because tree companies become busy in the late spring and summer when there is a lot of emergency tree removal done due to windy and stormy weather.
7. Prepping your lawn in the early winter ensures a more lavish-looking yard in the spring according to some lawn professionals. Mowing the lawn before the first freeze also prevents the grass from growing too tall in winter, offering mice and other burrowing animals a warm hideout. You’ll also want to pick up any stray items—logs, toys, and even lawn furniture— because these can create dead spots in the grass come spring.
8. Consider switching to LED light bulbs. LED light bulbs are known to last 25 times longer than incandescent lighting and use at least 75% less energy. The quality of LED lighting also makes your home look much cleaner and can improve the colors of your home when taking real estate photos.
9. Another inexpensive, nice indoor project you can do during winter is replacing locksets, door handles, and cabinetry hardware. Purchasing them in bulk can save you money. Amazon is one place that offers the best deals and discounts for these hardware tools/materials when purchased in bulk. They also offer guides for home improvements for free.
Doing these projects or improvements during the Winter season not only helps you save money but also helps a lot in increasing the value of your home, especially when you’re planning to list your home anytime soon.
