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| Home Wrecker
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| One of the most common reasons people give when asked why they are improving their home is that home improvements increase house value.
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With summer vastly approaching so are the home improvement projects. It's the time of year dad can't wait to grab a "cold one" along with his tool box. Wouldn't it be nice to know which projects will bring your wallet the highest percent in payback?
Let’s start with bathrooms and kitchens. While well-maintained and nice-looking kitchens and bathrooms do add value to a home, there’s nothing to say that they have to be the very latest thing. An older room that is
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well looked-after and wasn't a complete abomination to begin with can often help the value just as much as a newly-installed one.
Extensions, on the other hand, almost always increase the value of your home, as they make it bigger. A four-bedroom home can be significantly more valuable on the market than a three-bedroom one, as a bigger family can live in it. However, you need to watch out for building too far out into your garden if you only have a small one: get rid of too much of your garden, and you could knock even more value off your home than you gain from the extra bedroom.
Although it might seem strange, this same rule also applies to garden features such as swimming pools and ponds. While you might like them, not everyone does – and you’ve just taken a piece of garden that could be used for almost anything and turned it into a single-use feature. Also, swimming pools especially can be very expensive to maintain, which can put off potential house buyers.
Overall, just make the improvements that you want, while avoiding any that will really hit your house’s price.
The two most common home improvements are new kitchens and new bathrooms, for a variety of reasons. Few people replace their living room or bedroom regularly, but kitchens and bathrooms have so many fixtures and fittings that can quickly become dated, as there are constant advances in design.
When you’re improving a kitchen, you’re probably most interested in the decoration – function is important to some extent, but in the end kitchens work very similarly, and most modern fitted kitchens will have similar facilities. What you’re looking for is a kitchen that you like the look of, and that suits your style. Metallic kitchens are quite fashionable at the moment, and are worth taking a look at, but there’s nothing to say that you have to blindly follow fashion.
While bathroom improvements might seem similar at first glance (they are often sold in the same showrooms, after all), they tend to be much more about function than aesthetics. Yes, no-one wants an ugly bathroom, but most people who upgrade their bathrooms are doing it because they want a better bath or a better shower from a practical point of view. A popular improvement recently is to turn part of your bathroom into a shower room – it can be very nice if you have room, but don’t try to squeeze it into too tight a space.
Of course, plenty of people also embark on much larger home improvement projects, such as extensions (including conservatories). This might be to add a bigger or extra bedroom onto your house, or a home office, or simply to make your living room larger. As you can’t just buy extensions in a shop, you need to consult a professional architect and a builder first, but don’t worry – a good one will be willing to listen to your needs and ideas and make something unique and great for you.
CONSIDERATION FOR RENOVATION
The Interior Face-Lift
Repainting all ceilings, walls and trim; new carpeting for the living room, dining room and three bedrooms; new linoleum or vinyl flooring for the kitchen and bathrooms.
Sprucing Up the Exterior
Scraping loose paint off; painting siding and trim with one coat of paint; installing new vinyl-sash, thermo-pane windows.
The Bathroom
New fixtures (toilet, fiberglass tub, vanity and fittings); medicine cabinet; partition to enclose the tub or shower area; vinyl flooring; paint for walls, ceiling and trim.
The Kitchen
Moderately priced wood cabinets; mid-priced appliances; laminate counter tops; linoleum or vinyl flooring; paint.
Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
Install an energy-efficient furnace; replace old thermostats with programmable models; improve cold-air returns; upgrade the hot-water system; install a mechanical ventilation system to provide adequate air exchange; upgrade insulation, air sealing and exterior shading devices; upgrade or install an air-conditioning system.
Hardwood Floors
New floors for the living and dining room, foyer, hallways and stairs.
Fireplace Addition
Direct vent, natural-gas fireplace; ceramic glass doors; mantel; trim. Or: masonry fireplace, including flue installation; frame and fittings; fire-resistant drywall; facing; hearth; mantel; chimney top.
Basement Finishing
Three rooms and two closets or storage areas; carpeting; wall and ceiling insulation; drywall ceiling and walls; pre-hung doors; trim; wiring; light fixtures; two-piece bathroom.
Siding
Beveled cedar siding or vinyl clapboard siding over asphalt felt paper.
Adding a Deck
Post hole excavation; concrete footings; pressure-treated lumber; stairs with brick landing; handrails; benches.
In-Ground Pool
Excavation and site work; plastic liner; grading; grass seeding; sidewalk; contractor's fee.
Whichever project you choose to engage in this summer season, make sure to follow safety guidelines and precautions if doing it yourself. Too often in the summer accidents occur around the home due to carelessness caused by summers rewards.
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