The editors here at Popular Mechanics would like you to know that we’re not perfect. Whether tackling home improvements or making automotive repairs, we’ve all made our fair share of mistakes. Here are some of the worst. If you’ve got some that you’d like to share, send them to pmwebmaster@hearst.com, along with any lessons that might have been gleaned from the experience.

View the annual report on the relationship between remodeling costs and resale value. You can compare national and regional averages for 33 popular remodeling projects and you can also download a PDF with project data for any one of 80 U.S. cities.

Waste materials at construction sites typically fill several large dumpsters that are eventually emptied into landfills. We put a 1,500-square-foot addition on our home that involved the removal of the old garage roof and a treated-wood patio deck. During all phases of this deconstruction and construction project, I made a concerted effort to recycle nearly all of the construction waste.

In the end, the accumulated waste amounted to one half-filled dumpster. This was far less than the three dumpster loads our contractor expected. In fact, at the completion of this construction project, our contractor said our recycling efforts resulted in significant savings and deducted $1,000 from our final project invoice. This was a nice way to be compensated for our laborious recycling efforts. Here is how we utilized the various waste materials:

You have probably been amazed by how quickly construction projects in your neighborhood have progressed and how clean the site always seemed to be. The person responsible for that is the project’s general contractor.

A remodeling project in your home isn’t a project that you drive past, it is a project that you will be living with while underway. Do you want it to move quickly with quality workmanship, a clean work area, and to end up with a finished product that you are happy with? Of course the answer to that is “yes” and the way to achieve that is by hiring a good general contractor.

As of April 22, 2010, federal law requires that all U.S. contractors be certified to work with lead-based paint in homes, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978. Details of the new RRP (Renovation, Repair and Painting) rule appear in a brochure, “Renovate Right,” which contractors must give homeowners before work begins. The law requires certified renovators to be on-site to ensure that employees follow specific practices to prevent lead contamination. These include posting warning signs, taping up heavy plastic to contain the work area, minimizing dust by wet sanding, then cleaning with a HEPA vacuum and a wet mop. Certification takes 8 hours of training by an EPA- or state-accredited provider and costs from $200 to $400 per trainee. Not every employee of a remodeling firm needs to be certified, but the firm itself pays a $300 fee to obtain EPA certification. Contractors failing to comply could get hit with a civil penalty of up to $37,500 per incident, per day.

Most experts and program managers agree that financing is necessary to encourage homeowners to participate in weatherization programs and meet the goal of reduced energy consumption.

Organizers working with local governments to set up programs that provide homeowners with loans for energy-efficient improvements are choosing a variety of formats. Some are considering low-interest loans; some are using PACE (Property-Assessed Clean Energy) financing, where homeowners pay back the loan through their property taxes; others are opting to use the PAYS (Pay As You Save) system where homeowners pay loan installments through utility bills.

Remodeling projects inside and outside the home can bring a good return on your investment while adding curb appeal for selling your house.

Even though housing prices nationwide have dropped over the last year, homeowners continued to improve their investments. Whether you’re considering remodeling to lend curb appeal or to make your homes more comfortable to live in now, there are projects that bring a solid return on your investment.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a seven percent overall drop in home prices in the last year. But Remodeling Magazine’s 2008-2009 Cost vs. Value Report shows that moderate upgrades and maintenance-related home improvements continue to pay returns. Recovering your investment often depends on your location, and payoffs are simply slower to recoup than in recent years when the market was booming.

Top Remodeling Projects in 2008
Homeowners want to know how much of the money they invest in remodeling will show up in the total housing price when they sell. In 2008, the greatest paybacks came from outdoor, curb-appeal projects such as new decks, replacement windows, and siding. For inside jobs, kitchen remodels reported the greatest returns nationwide in increased valuation, according to the NAR. Here are the winning projects:

1. Fiber cement siding (upscale) brought an 86.7 percent return on investment (ROI)
2. New wooden decks (using mid-range materials) brought back 81.8 percent
3. New vinyl siding (using mid-range materials) returned 80.7 percent on investment
4. Foam-backed vinyl (using upscale materials) held an 80.4 percent ROI
5. A minor kitchen remodel (using mid-range materials) delivered 79.5 percent returns
6. Vinyl window replacements (using upscale windows) had an ROI of 79.2 percent
7. Wood window replacements (mid-range materials) brought back 77.7 percent
8. Vinyl window replacements (using mid-range windows) had an ROI of 77.2 percent
9. Wood window replacements (upscale materials) had a 76.5 percent return
10. Major kitchen remodeling projects (using mid-range materials) had a 76.0 percent ROI

Keep Up with the Joneses
In deciding on improvements, you should evaluate what your neighbors are doing. If you’re in a subdivision that was built in the 1980s, for example, it pays to see if your neighbors have upgraded their kitchens or baths, have built improvements outside for curb appeal, and so on. That’s what you’ll be up against if you decide to sell.

Much of ROI has to do with your region. For instance, a remodeled basement might bring an ROI of 92.7 in California, while in New England you might be lucky to draw as large a return as 61.9 percent. In the Northeast, improvements that increase energy efficiency do better than they do in the Southwest.

Here are some easy-to-complete improvements which can also increase curb appeal:

• Clean up the yard, front and back, removing trash, clutter, and overgrowth
• Paint the exterior
• Wash windows and skylights and replace burned-out lighting fixtures
• Reface kitchen cabinets and re-paint the kitchen
• Finish floors and shampoo carpeting

You just might accomplish immediate gains by employing elbow grease and a few hours as opposed to spending a fortune.