What Projects First? | Prioritizing Your Repairs & Renovations

If you’ve invested in a “fixer-upper” then good for you – you’re able to see the potential in a home with a lot of character hidden under peeling laminate floors, outdated fixtures and a roof that’s certainly seen better days.

The question is, where on earth do you start?? Well, HAConstruction believes there are four areas you should focus on. Below is a brief overview, and we will expand upon each in future posts to help you really plan and get a handle on the projects you have looming.

Personal Safety

When you buy and older home, the first thing you notice are the cosmetic issues, such as the pink carpet or mustard yellow shower (or both in the same bathroom???). However, it’s those hidden problem areas that could truly put your family in danger. Bad electrical wiring could easily cause a fire. If you have a gas furnace or stove that’s not in proper condition, that can result in carbon monoxide leaks. While you can install CO detectors, your safety still may be compromised, so possible leaks need to be addressed before they become problematic.

Additionally, if the structural integrity of the home isn’t sound, you’re risking injury. It’s important to verify that your home, new or old, is built to code – the last thing you need is unstable walls, doorframes or floors. There are many causes for these problems, including termite and water damage, as well as a strain on the structure from settling ground. This goes for outside structures too. If there is a deck, it’s important to verify that the boards haven’t suffered water damage and that it’s properly fastened to the home.

Home Protection

It’s also important that the integrity of your home is protected from future damage. Siding in bad shape is susceptible to water damage and bugs. A leaky roof and gutters that are falling apart will cause even more water damage than you want to think about (or pay to repair). You might also run into water damage if poor landscaping causes improper water drainage during rain – you home may even flood under the conditions of a thunderstorm if your yard isn’t graded properly.

Home Efficiency

Without the right precautions, repairs will take a hit to your budget. But so will an inefficient home. Without the proper insulation, pipes in your home can freeze during winter, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Improper insulation in your walls, attic and around your windows means outrageous utility bills. An HVAC system that is ill-equipped for the size of your home means it will be working overtime to heat or cool (more high utility bills) and burn out faster, needing repairs or even replacement.

Aesthetics

Grandma’s 1970s dusty rose carpet isn’t only an incredible eyesore, but packed full of nearly 50 years of trekking the outdoors in, water damage, and goodness knows what else you’ll find underneath. While other cosmetic issues in your home—such as wallpaper covered walls, drop ceilings and mustard yellow tile—aren’t necessarily something you have to worry about in regard to the safety of your family or integrity of your home, they are still important to your lifestyle and comfort of living. Not to mention the fact that, if you plan to sell the place eventually, you’ll need to address these things.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll address each of these areas in more depth, giving you the guidance you need to discern where you should begin, what you can do yourself, and what you might need assistance with. Of course, Andy and his team are always hear to help. 

Saving Money by Making Your Own Household Cleaners

Coupons, daily deals, bartering… these are all popular ways to save a buck. Many have also taken to making their own household cleaning products in order to keep costs down. Rather than spending hours on Google searches or Pinterest trending topics, we’ve put a variety of effective methods for home-made cleaners and remedies all in one place. Many of these have actually been tried by our staff, so we know they’re legit.

Laundry Day

Let’s compare store-bought laundry detergent to a home-made batch. We’ll go the cheaper route and compare to one gallon of Purex, which costs approximately $8. Utilizing this recipe for liquid laundry soap (which is usable in front loading washers), the cost breaks down to approximately $0.38 per gallon. The recipe makes five gallons and lasts for about a year for a family of four. So that’s $40 a year for the store product versus $1.90 a year for the homemade product. A no brainer in our book!

And let’s not forget fabric softener. Now, the easiest fix here is simply to put vinegar in the dispenser. This method limits static, but doesn’t really soften the clothes. If you’re looking for that soft touch too, without the expense, then utilize this fabric softener recipe. After experimentation with several scents, we recommend Suave’s everlasting sunshine conditioner. While the scent of the vinegar and conditioner does not transfer to the clothes once dry, it can be strong out of the bottle and these two scents complement each other quite well.

As far as price comparison goes, a 75 ounce bottle of Snuggle fabric softener runs approximately $6 and it costs about $1.25 for 88 ounces with the home-made version, which equates to 99 cents for 75 ounces (as opposed to $6).

Tidying Up the Place

As a starting point, our research showed that this dishwasher detergent recipe didn’t save any money when compared to the off-brand at the store and was actually more difficult to use, and proved less effective. Additionally, homemade dish soap didn’t work very well or save much money.

However, home-made disinfecting wipes are certainly the way to go! With the guidance from this home-made wipes method, we used an old disinfecting wipes container and it works great! Store-bought wipes breakdown in cost as follows:

• Redi-Wipes (off brand at Wal-Mart): $3 for 75 ct = $0.04 per wipe
• Lysol: $4.50 for 80 ct = $0.056 per wipe
• Clorox: $4.63 for 75 ct = $0.062 per wipe

We’ve found that the distilled water the recipe suggests is not necessary. By using the tea tree oil, our wipes have never molded and it usually takes a month or more to go through a container of them. Bownty paper towels are about $6 for a package of eight, so that’s approximately $0.38 per use when cut in half. While tea tree oil can be expensive to purchase outright, it comes out to about $0.20 per pack of wipes. And we used the Fabuloso Lavender Scent, a generic Pine-Sol for about $3 for 56 ounces; with half a cup used it comes to $0.21 per set of wipes. With 52 sheets per roll of paper towels, that comes to $0.015 per wipe; or $1.14 for 75 as opposed to $3 for 75 count in the generic brand. And they work and smell great!

Additionally, Eartheasy provides recommendations for several homemade cleaning solutions and combinations that will give you quality cleaning results, save money and are all eco-friendly. You might also find use for these homemade options tried and tested by a member of our staff, and guaranteed to continue to save you money:

• Liquid Hand Soap
• Bees Wax Chapstick
• Lotion
• Swiffer WetJet Pads and Mop Solution

Carpet in the Bathroom | N-to-the-O!!

First glance, there is something seemingly odd about this house for sale in the UK with an online listing that recently went viral on the Internet. For most, the virility was tightly connected to the color choice for the entire home (that’s a whole other blog post in itself), but something that stuck out to us was the garishly long carpet in the bathroom!

Now, some are avid supporters of carpet in the bathroom, and we admit that there are some advantages to it. First, it’s cheaper than putting in heated floors – carpet feels awfully nice under your feet when you step out of the shower on a cold winter day. You’ve got us there. Not to mention the fact that tile can be slippery when wet, but carpet isn’t.

Therein lies one of the major problems, however: wet carpet. Carpet and moisture are not very good friends. In fact, their relationship is pretty damaging. Rhoda’s blog post about her carpeted bathroom on Southern Hospitality shows why; check out that second image and the bottom of the carpet. Do you see all the water rings?

And that is a particularly “best case” scenario. Most often, one can find mold growing in a carpeted bathroom because the moisture never fully dissipates.  This is not only bad for the people that live in your home, but moisture collection can cause the carpet pad and even the sub-flooring to decay.

Let’s not forget about the germs – it’s just a matter of fact. Lots of germs escape from the toilet due to flushing or, in actuality, bad aim. But, consider for a moment what would happen if your toilet overflowed. How much easier that mess would be to clean up if you had anything other than carpet on the bathroom floor. Not to mention the fact that you could be certain the floor was clean and sanitary with tile or laminate, but no matter how your tried, you couldn’t guarantee that the carpet was clean unless you ripped it out and replaced it.

According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, the 2007 edition of the International Building Code states that carpet cannot be in commercial bathrooms. Now, while bathrooms in businesses clearly see more traffic than the bathroom in your home, that code is a clear indicator of how damaging a carpeted bathroom can be. While there may be some advantages, it is the opinion of HA Construction that the disadvantages far outweigh them.

There are many more affordable options for your bathroom floor – contact us and we’ll help you find the right one for you.