Winter is hard on your home. The weight of snow puts stress on your roof, and the cold expands and contracts the materials your home is made of. Now that winter weather is behind us, here’s where you should start with post-winter home maintenance.

Roof and shingles: It’s pretty common for shingles to get damaged or detach completely after a long cold winter. Thoroughly inspect your roof to ensure that shingles are in good condition and the roof is structurally sound. It may not be time to replace your roof yet, but consider how many more years it has left and start preparing a budget.

Check your gutters: The weight of heavy melting snow and debris is more than enough to make your gutters sag or loosen. Clear out all the leaves and other debris that’s collected in the gutters, and make sure they’re still securely attached at all points.

Check concrete surfaces: Fluctuating temperatures cause concrete to expand and contract. This can lead to damaged driveways, walkways, and other surfaces, and that can spell bad news for water drainage. Fill the cracks with an appropriate material, and seal your surfaces if possible.

HVAC service: Before you put your central air conditioner through a rigorous summer, clean the coils and change the filter. Better yet, bring in a professional for yearly maintenance.

We may be a little removed from New Year’s Day, but it’s not too late to make some 2016 resolutions for your home.

1. Start a home repair slush fund: Things in your home are going to break and need to fixed. It’s just a fact that comes with home ownership. Rather than letting expensive repairs take you by surprise, start planning for them. Set aside some money each month that you can eventually draw from when an appliance breaks or unexpected damage occurs.

2. Inspect your fireplace: Even if you have a gas fireplace, you should still inspect the valves and ceramic logs yearly to ensure that everything is operating safely and correctly. If you have wood fireplace, hire a certified chimney sweep to do the job.

3. Maintain your garage door: Garage doors are big and heavy, and that puts a lot of stress on the hinges and tracks that are use to open and close the door several times a day. A regularly scheduled $50 inspection could save you hundreds or thousands in the long run.

4.Tune up your furnace: Regular furnace inspections will help identify minor problems before they turn into major ones. Also, set reminders to replace your furnace filter.

5. Clean your coils: The No. 1 refrigerator maintenance task should be cleaning the condenser coils. They can get clogged with hair and dust, reducing your fridge’s efficiency. Have you cleaned yours lately? You can hire a professional to do it, but it’s also an easy do-it-yourself job.

Making your basement an enjoyable place to spend time can be tricky. Without the right lighting it may feel too much like a dungeon (unless you’re into that!). Here are a few quick tips.

1. Maximize the natural lighting. Trim back shrubs and other plants that block sunlight from window wells. If the window well has a cover, keep it clean or replace a cover that blocks light with one that lets light pass through.
2. Choose light colors for walls, carpet and furniture. As much as we all miss the dark brown faux wood paneling from the ‘70s it doesn’t do much to create a bright space.
3. Accent Lighting. This will not only make the space brighter, it also makes the space feel less like a basement because lamps make the space feel decorated and lived in.
4. Light Bulbs. Depending on the types of fixtures in the basement there are various new types of lightbulbs. Consider talking to a lighting expert to find which type of bulb is going to give you the best results.
5. Create a false lighted window. This is simpler and more effective than you might think. Just frame and trim a “window” on a basement wall, and use creative lighting and decor (blinds, reflective paint, daylight spectrum bulbs) to make the light coming from the window look natural.