Top 5 Home Improvement Projects for Fall

Of all the home improvement projects Hyedi Cribben and her boyfriend had on their to-do list, building a patio was one project they were looking forward to completing so that they could it enjoy it during the summer months. So why then did they get started in the fall?
"No one likes to do that kind of work in hot weather," said Cribben. She and her boyfriend, Jesse, are lucky enough to have parents willing to help them get their Minneapolis fixer-upper into shape.

"There was some sifting through dirt, because there was a lot of rock," she said, "and bringing in concrete. It's pretty labor intensive.

"With the humidity and hot weather this summer, it would have been too much. With our parents helping us, I thought, for health reasons, we should wait until fall."

Saving those heavy lifting jobs for fall makes a lot of sense, said Spike Carlsen, former executive editor of Family Handyman magazine and the author of "Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual" and, most recently, "A Splintered History of Wood."

"If you have the time to wait until fall to do them, it will be less strenuous and more enjoyable," Carlsen says. Here's what else he suggests tackling this fall: