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"  frank wouters/Flickr To really impress the mothers in your life this Mother&amp;#039;s Day, tackle a few home DIY projects that have been lingering on the to-do list. Chances are you&amp;#039;ve been promising Mom you&amp;#039;d take care of them sometime. Well, here&amp;#039;s your chance to make it up to her with five easy fixes that shouldn&amp;#039;t take more than a Sunday to complete. And when you&amp;#039;re done, treat her to dinner, okay? Clean Behind the Stove and Refrigerator I&amp;#039;m guessing Mom doesn&amp;#039;t drag out the stove or fridge to clean back there as much as she should. Nobody does\u2014it&amp;#039;s a pain. So help her out: First, damp-mop the floor in front of the appliance. To move the stove without scratching the floor, place a sheet of hardboard shiny-side up in front and leverage the appliance onto it. Ease it out as far as it will come and grab the vacuum cleaner. The fridge should roll straight out without too much trouble. Just be careful you don&amp;#039;t pinch the water line when you roll the appliance back in place. Stop Floor Squeaks A squeaky floorboard\u2014the one that for years alerted your parents that you were breaking curfew\u2014is an easy fix. The squeak is most likely coming from the subfloor. If you can access the subfloor from below, drive a screw up into the area that&amp;#039;s making the noise. Don&amp;#039;t forget to use a screw short enough that it won&amp;#039;t penetrate the floor. While you&amp;#039;re at it, fix a hole in the carpet with a scrap of remnant cut to size and held in place with double-sided carpet tape. Fix a Leaky Faucet Most leaks are caused by worn-out O-rings. To fix, switch off the water to the unit. Then disassemble the faucet and locate the offending part before heading to the hardware store for a replacement. Recaulk Around the Bathtub Reapplying caulk can be quite tricky, but it&amp;#039;s something that needs doing every few years. First remove all that gross, peeling, mildew-infested caulk from around the tub with a utility knife, pliers, and a painter&amp;#039;s five-in-one tool. Then, make a nice, clean cut in a new tube of caulk and carefully squeeze it into the corners, using a wet finger to clean up the joint. Pressure-Wash the Siding If you have access to a decent pressure washer, this shouldn&amp;#039;t take all day. If the mildew is bad, pretreat the mildew-stained areas using a pump garden sprayer loaded with a solution of liquid bleach, Jomax mildewcide, and water. The washer can&amp;#039;t do it all alone, though. Grab a bucket and a nylon brush for stubborn gunk. While You&amp;#039;re at It Got a few more minutes to spare? After you&amp;#039;ve cleaned the gutters, check for dead smoke-alarm batteries, and make sure all ground fault circuit interrupters are functioning properly. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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