Whether you’re trying to increase your home’s value or simply beautify the place a little bit via a few needed improvements, you should know that there’s a lot more that can go wrong than can go right. This is just the inevitable nature of home improvement work. It takes skill to be a gifted carpenter. Sometimes, being a handyman isn’t enough for home improvements. That’s what makes good home improvement advice (such as that given below) so vital.
Add shutters to the outside windows on your home for a dramatic change in architecture. If your exterior looks a bit drab or flat, you can use this simple tip to give it much more depth and interest. Paint them a coordinating color to your house, often the color of the front door.
When renovating, weigh carefully the value of personal touches against the return you will get when you sell your house. It might be hard to sell if you add too much or a personal touch to your home.
When renovating your home, you should always stay close to the home’s original character. If your street is lined with Victorian-era tudors and you choose to turn your home into a glass-fronted homage to modern architecture, it will stick out uncomfortably and annoy your neighbors. Also, the more you differ from the home’s original structure, the higher the cost of the renovation and the less your chance of getting a return on investment.
You can handle repainting your porch on your own. Use exterior paint that is good quality. Always use paint that has the same type of base as the previous coat. Oil-based paint should be used for trim, but not on walking surfaces. It does last longer but can get slippery.
When removing cabinets as part of a kitchen remodel, make sure you don’t just unscrew and yank them off the wall. You will more than likely end up taking some or all of the drywall off with you. Take time and care to remove each and every screw, and use a utility knife around the edges to break the caulking that was most likely used to seal between the cabinet and the wall.
If you have any doors that squeak upon open or closing, try using a little lubricant. Apply a small amount of commercial lubricant to the door hinge and open and close the door to allow it to enter the crevices. You can also try this with cooking oil, though the results may not last as long as a commercially available lubricant.
If you don’t like to nail pictures to the wall because of the holes the nails make, an easy solution is buying mounting squares. Mounting squares can easily hold a few pounds and can be quickly removed without damaging your wall. Stick four squares altogether, one in each corner of your frame to mount your picture properly on your wall.
Improvements to your home will not pay you back right away. Don’t make any upgrades or improvements to your home if you will be moving in less than three to five years. This is now the time frame that it takes in order to recoup the costs of the upgrades that you make.
One of the most expensive things a homeowner can do is to replace the roof. Solicit price quotes from no less than three contractors and make sure you have verified their references. Tile, metal and wood shake are some options for roofing materials you can decide on. A good roofing contractor will help you decide.
For the budget-minded homeowner working on a plumbing home improvement project, plastic PVC piping makes an entirely suitable substitute for expensive copper piping. PVC has been extensively tested and used for years without danger or failure. It is easy to work with and highly durable. The money saved by using PVC can be applied to more visible, usable home improvements.
Some home improvement projects are surprisingly simple and even fun. Some of them are actually downright simple. But you can do a lot of harm unless you really know how to accomplish them. In this article, you have learned some valuable home improvement information. Take advantage of them.