Building structures deteriorate very quickly so here are a few tips to help you prioritize home maintenance:

Gut your Gutters: Here in the Northeast we are about to get slammed with the "rush hour" for leaves. Gutters clogged with leaves allow rain water to push its way back up under the roof, around soffits, down walls and flowing over windows, doors and trim all the way down to the foundation and into your basement. Along the way, the water will hang on to every possible surface and find its way into every single crack and crevice in your home. Once in those cracks and crevices, it can work its way into the wood, resulting in peeling paint and eventually, rot. And if water is one of the building envelope's biggest enemies, its evil twin is ice. You don't even want to know what happens when water gets into those cracks and then freezes. We have a love-hate relationship with water -- we can't live with it and we can't live without it but in the case of your gutters, you need to give it room to flow. So clean those gutters -- often. Once is not enough.

Lead the Way: Lawn crews are notorious for kicking the hose away from the leaders and not putting it back. You must lead water downhill, away from your house. Remember, water will follow the path of least resistance and that is downhill. Make sure it's moving away from your home, not toward it.

Inspect and correct: It's amazing what you will see if you just take a nice long look at your house. Walk slowly around your perimeter and look at the foundation wall and all of the places where pipes and wires go in and out. About one out of every three houses I look at has some major opening that is not covered or is clogged. Check to see that the sewer vent cover is in place and that the big wire that feeds power to your house has caulk around it. Make sure the cable guy hasn't mutilated your wall and failed to caulk around the wire. Check the dryer vent. Does the Flap flap? And is the opening clogged with lint? Inspect the joint between the foundation and the siding. If it looks bad, it probably is. Check the wood trim. If there are signs of peeling paint, look closer for signs of rot. If it is rot, determine where the water is coming from and how it got in.

One of my favorite books to help with house maintenance is House Check by Taunton Press (http://www.amazon.com/T auntons-House-Check-Finding- Problems/dp/1561585890). It's a simple "how to" book that will help any homeowner start down the right path to undertaking the simple, quick fixes that can head off some major problems down the road.