Americans are searching for houses that require little or no maintenance, but as even buyers of brand-new houses can tell you, such creatures don't exist.

Consider, for example, the outdoor faucet. If you live in Miami, don't worry about it. If your home is in Duluth, make sure you drain it and shut it off before the temperature falls below freezing this fall.

Sounds logical, doesn't it? Not necessarily.

Gary Schaal, vice president of sales and marketing for Orleans Homebuilders in Bensalem, Pa., says that several times each December, he gets calls from recent buyers about "faulty" outdoor faucets that have frozen and then broke, sending water gushing back into the basement.

Choosing new over old doesn't absolve a buyer of responsibility for routine maintenance.

"People who buy new houses are striving for perfection," said Jean Dimeo, editor of Building Products magazine in Washington. "Old-house buyers know that they aren't buying perfection," she said. "New-house owners want everything to remain new forever, and they are disappointed."

Most major -- and costly -- home repairs can be avoided with routine maintenance. Fall and spring are ideal times for such tasks, since those seasons come on either side of winter, which is usually when the lack of maintenance is most apparent.

Regular maintenance not only saves you money. By keeping things in good shape and in working order, you will have fewer problems to tackle when you finally decide to put the house on the market.

Maintenance doesn't have to become all-consuming. And unless you want to, it isn't something you necessarily have to handle yourself.

Late summer is the ideal time to take note of potentially serious problems that could require the services of experts, such as roof work, chimney pointing, gutter replacement or furnace repairs. Fall is the busy season for repair people, and you'll need to be squeezed into their schedules. Alternatively, few roofers in northern climates are willing to work in the dead of winter to help you with roof problems.

The typical homeowner can handle many routine tasks. To begin, list potential problem spots. Then inspect the house, note where repairs are necessary and establish priorities.

Focus on the roof, the basement and the furnace.

Most problems associated with winter result from the accumulation of ice and snow on roofs. If the snow is heavy enough and frigid air remains locked in, snow will melt while the sun is shining and then freeze after sunset.

This process creates ice dams, which often lead to leaks in drywall and plaster ceilings and walls, and require costly repair or replacement. If your roof tends to develop these dams, you might need professional advice to prevent them.

However, many leaks result from faulty metal flashing around chimneys, plumbing vent stacks and roof seams. If these places are readily accessible, simply apply roofing cement to the areas where the adhesive holding the flashing to the roof surface has cracked.

If possible, thoroughly inspect the roof. Broken or curled shingles should be replaced. Loose shingles should be secured.

Inspect the chimney. Make sure that the mortar in the joints between the bricks is not loose or missing. When water gets into joints with loose mortar, the action of freezing and thawing can turn the mortar to powder.

Tree limbs that hang over the roof also can be a potential problem, especially in ice and wind. If you can reach the limbs safely, trim them away from the house, and make sure that none is hanging over the electrical, telephone and cable lines coming in from the street to your house.

Check the gutters and downspouts. Sometimes they pull away from the edge of the house or get out of alignment. Clean leaves and other debris from the gutters and repair any holes that have developed in the trough.

To keep dirt and leaves from accumulating in the gutters, you might want to install screening or gutter guards.

Make sure that downspouts are secure and have no leaks along the way to the ground. Once the gutters and downspouts are cleaned, fill the gutters with water and check the drainage. If the water drains toward the house, you should adjust the downspouts so water will drain away from the house, and use splash guards to ensure that it does.

Many downspouts feed directly into municipal storm drains, and often are blocked by dirt and leaves. The downspouts require regular cleaning so that water won't back up and find its way into the basement.

Speaking of the basement, broken water pipes are a major source of winter damage. Much of the damage is caused by prolonged loss of a heat source, as when a furnace is inoperable because of loss of electricity needed to start and operate it.

Most homeowners don't think to drain the water from pipes that run along cold basement walls. The water freezes, then expands, often when the heat comes back on, and the pipes break.

Insulate the basement pipes as much as you can, especially on the side that is in contact with cold walls. Even if you have heat, pipes can freeze if that heat is not kept at least 65 degrees, so insulating the pipes can cut down on energy use.

You don't want the furnace failing in the dead of winter, so have it checked out professionally each summer or autumn. Have it cleaned of soot buildup, especially if you have oil heat. Change the filter if you have forced air heat.

Have a professional determine how energy-efficient your present furnace is. New ones tend to burn more cleanly and efficiently than older ones, so having one installed before the start of the heating season will begin saving you money as soon as you turn it on.

For more articles by Al Heavens, please press here.