Four simple home improvement projects you can do inexpensively

Americans spent around $400 billion on remodeling and home improvement projects in 2015. Home remodeling projects can cost quite a bit of money but they don’t always have to. In fact, there are plenty of smaller scale projects that the average homeowner can do him/herself. Here are four simple home improvement projects that you can do yourself without having to pay a professional.

More energy efficient windows

You can easily spend several thousand dollars to have a contractor come in and install energy efficient windows throughout your home. Since new window installation is beyond the ability of the average homeowner, though, it’s not a job you can do yourself. What you can do though is fix your existing windows to make them more energy efficient. For just a few dollars, you can buy self-stick weather sealing from your local hardware store. Then, simply cut the strips according to the dimensions of your window and apply them. You can cut your heating/cooling costs significantly with just one afternoon of work.

Building your own home office

A home office can cost thousands of dollars, but you can also do it for much less and without sacrificing one of your bedrooms. To start, remove the door from a closet that’s large enough. Next, remove any hanging rods and built-in cubbies that will interfere with your office space. Put in an inexpensive desk, an office chair, and as much shelving as you like and you’ve now got a small home office converted from a closet. It should only cost a few hundred dollars at most and a few hours of your time.

Build an outdoor patio

A professionally built backyard deck can cost as much as $20,000. Even a simple patio can cost several thousand depending on how big you need it. But you can build one yourself without having to deal with mixing and pouring concrete. You can purchase pre-cut interlocking patio tiles in a wide range of styles from your local home improvement store or from an online retailer. In the course of a single afternoon you can build your own backyard patio for entertaining guests.

Install baseboard heater covers

If you have an older home with baseboard heaters, you could spend thousands to have an HVAC specialist come in and replace them with a more modern heating system. Or you can spend much less for baseboard heater covers. They simply snap into place on top of the baseboard heaters and make an outdated home look much more modern. You should be able to do your entire home in under an hour.

Source: Seattle Times

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