Wood repair is one of the most common home repairs

How can you save money? Wood rot is caused by wood destroying fungi that breaks down the wood cells which are a food source, producing wood rot or decay. When you repair wood rot, you are essentially removing the fungi which is causing the damage and replacing or repairing the damaged sections of wood. Until the fungi is gone along with the conditions (moisture and temperature) needed to support the fungi, more damage will occur.

Where to Find Wood Rot On Your Home’s Exterior

Your home’s exterior is exposed to the weather year round and many homeowners don’t realize the most important role of exterior paint is to protect the wood from water damage. The wood trim that bumps out from your home is vulnerable to wood rot because it takes a beating from the weather, and if you don’t paint frequently enough, water finds its way into the wood where it can support wood eating fungi and yes, carpenter ants which we found frequently in my handyman business.

Sadly some homeowners remain in denial like the woman in Salem, NH who didn’t believe her house was infested with carpenter ants (photo shown). It wouldn’t surprise me if her home is condemned because she refuses to deal with the Masonite siding problems that are destroying load bearing walls (learn about the Masonite class action lawsuits). 

So where should you be inspecting your home to find wood rot before it gets bad?

• Wood trim just below the roof line, both the vertical fascia boards and the horizontal soffits.
• On the gable ends of a house, there’s also wood trim and gable vents. My handyman business replaced many gable vents, and one homeowner who insisted on wood vents, had us install metal vents about 6 months later.
• Corner boards bump out from the house, so they’re a common home repair.
• Window trim and especially window sills have lots of wood rot, making them a top home repair. Even though the sills are sloped down for runoff, fine silt from the air collects in the corners and traps water … and you know the rest of the story.
• Wood trim around doors, and the door itself, suffers wood rot damage when not painted often enough. A common problem is not realized doors have 6 sides that have to be painted.
• Vertical board just below exterior doors (front door, side doors and sliding patio doors) is one of the worst for wood rot because rain hits the step and splashes back up onto this board.
• Columns and other decorative trim around your home and especially near the ground (splash back similar to the front door) is prone to wood rot.
• Decks attached to a house using a ledger board, are another common home repair that’s very stressful for homeowners and your handyman. When do-it-yourselfers install their own decks, they don’t understand how critical flashing is to keep water away from the house.

Different Ways to Repair Wood Rot Damage

This article isn’t meant to scare you. This article is to open your eyes to potential wood rot projects you want to prevent, or when they do happen, motivate you to make required repairs right away. There are numerous options available and they’re gaining more visibility via YouTube. Here are factors to consider when deciding if you’re going to handle wood rot repairs yourself, or hire a professional with lots of experience. 

• Do you have the tools and experience working with the materials needed for the job?
• Can you reach the area in need of repairs from the ground, or will the work need to be done from a ladder?
• Most important, is there potential impact to the structural integrity of a window, door or a load bearing wall that supports the weight of your house? 

Running a handyman business for 8 years involved lots of wood rot and rotted window sills so everyone I interviewed had to explain the tools, type of window sill they’d install and the steps to get the job done.

There are lots of great videos on YouTube. They don’t always tell the whole story, so  if you don’t know what a sawzall is, or what window sill nosing looks like, then you should find someone who’s done more than 20 window sill replacements. If you want to learn more, here are 2 videos I liked.

• How to Fix Wood Rot with 2-Part Epoxy, from This Old House.
• How to Repair Shutter with Wood Rot, from RonHazelton.com.

Have you got a wood rot question?
… or wood rot story to share with us?

Home ownership is exciting and scary at the same time.

Can you remember worrying about painting the walls in your apartment? Or dreaming about the day when you wouldn’t have to worry? Funny looking back to my first apartment when I painted a dark green stripe on my living room wall, and didn’t get my security deposit back.

When we bought our first home, we painted the kitchen white – boring. We added color with furniture and accessories until I learned to decorate with fabric. You can enjoy your favorite colors and today’s wonderful geometrics, stretched over foam board (my home office below right).  That’s why we’ve created Home Tips for Women, to help you get rid of any fears you have around home ownership, so you can enjoy your home! 

Financial Independence Through Home Ownership

Home ownership is a big decision for everyone. When you rent, only utilities change from month-to-month and you can call the landlord to handle problems. As a homeowner you have a mortgage, taxes and insurance that should be relatively stable, with a fixed rate mortgage versus a risky, variable rate loan. 

• Buy a house you can afford today, including a 20% down payment so you’re not house poor unable to live out your homeowner dream. 
• Get a fixed rate mortgage.
• As your income rises, pay down your principal as ideally, your mortgage is paid off when you’re ready to retire. 

The exciting news is more than 20% of new homeowners are single women, who understand the financial benefits of home ownership. Congratulations and welcome to our community of women homeowners, where we provide resources for all your home related questions, projects and more, plus a community of women homeowners supporting each other (learn about Sharing Homeowner Stories). 

The Lifestyle Benefits of Home Ownership

When buying a house, we think in terms of location, square feet, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. These features are included in real estate listings to make it easy for homeowners, sellers and buyers, to exchange information. What listings don’t reflect are the areas of our homes, activity centers, that support our lifestyle.

When moving to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, our realtor asked the usual homeowner question, how many bedrooms? I explained that bedrooms weren’t important as our children would be away at school – what we needed was space, possibly an attic, for my quilting studio plus a basement or garage for my husband’s workshop. So here’s what the spaces looked like:

• We loved our Portsmouth, NH home (Victorian Kitchen Remodel) with a fantastic basement and instead of the 4 room “attic apartment”, my quilt room fit into one of the extra bedrooms. 
• When down sizing to a condo, the quilt room doubles as the guest bedroom with a Murphy bed. My husband’s workshop is now in the garage which is also perfect for his collection of telescopes. 

You’ll be happier with your home when it supports your lifestyle. If you’re working at home frequently, even running a business at home, make sure you’ve got the space to do that comfortably. Avid gardeners need a potting shed or similar space in the garage and families that are home schooling, need classroom space.   

Responsibilities of a Homeowner

When the biggest investment of your life is a house, you should learn how to protect that investment. My first home was in El Cerrito, California – 2 bedrooms and 1 bath on a postage stamp lot. We had big windows and on tip toe, you could see San Francisco Bay over the kitchen sink! Buying the house took all our savings and with my husband a full-time student at UC Berkeley, we didn’t have a lot of money so we made small, incremental improvements.

We loved our $15, old fashion lawn mower and the 15 minutes it took to mow the front lawn. Buying our first washing machine and dryer was an adventure, and we were thrilled to invite everyone from our old apartment building, for our first formal dinner. We lined up boxes on the floor and used my quilting fabrics for tablecloths.

Here are my favorite tips from owning more than a dozen homes. 

• Invest in your home with routine maintenance (check out our home maintenance checklists, written for the woman homeowner).
• Make incremental updates to your home, so you’re prepared to move for the right personal and/or professional opportunities.
• Save for home emergencies or better yet, plan and budget for timely replacement of key home systems like your hot water heater, appliances, a new roof, heating and air conditioning systems.

Tell us how we can help you be a smarter homeowner …
by leaving your comments and questions below.

We don’t realize our dream house will reflect our personality and lifestyle, and be influenced by television, magazines and friends. 

Reality arrives when you’re buying a house and you have to make compromises. You might pick a smaller house in a neighborhood with better schools. You might start with a larger house or yard, and a kitchen that needs updating in a few years. It’s important to prioritize what you want in your dream house.

That’s why I wanted to share this story by Debbie Reynolds, a realtor in Clarksville, TN. Debbie and her husband built their “almost perfect” house once, and got to build it a second time and discovered it still wasn’t the dream house they imagined. 

Your Dream House Might Not Be a Perfect House

There is No Perfect House was written by “The Real Debbie Reynolds” 

There is No Perfect House yet many real estate agents claim they’ll find buyers their dream house, a perfect house. Hogwash! In my humble opinion, there is no perfect house!

There are houses with many features that appeal to buyers. There are great houses that fit the lifestyle of buyers. There are houses in the buyer’s “right” neighborhood. But there are no perfect houses because even after the buyer moves in, they will wish it had something a little different. Home buyers need to accept compromise as part of the home buying process, and be prepared to pick a great house that isn’t perfect.

I speak from personal experience. My husband built our dream house. It wasn’t perfect and we had tons of input during the building process, including hands-on control of the materials used and the subcontractors who worked on the house. We did everything we could to create our dream house, knew it backwards and forwards and it was not perfect!

We eventually had to sell our home and relocate, which gave us the chance to build our dream house again. We were determined that this time our new home would be perfect. Not! We did make some of the changes that bugged us in the first house. It came closer to our dream house but it still wasn’t perfect. We still had to compromise to build a great house, but not a perfect house.

Why a Great House Won’t Be a Perfect House

There is No Perfect House. Why aren’t houses perfect? Because they are made with men’s hands and Mother Nature’s products. These two components have tendencies to mess up from time to time. The other reason your dream house won’t be perfect is we’re constantly changing. So today’s dream house for how you live today, will likely need some other little bells and whistles we forgot when we were building (or buying an existing home) or we might wish we had left something out that we really didn’t need. Our families change and sometimes that can happen overnight, so the perfect or not so perfect house isn’t the right size anymore.

Realistic Expectations Focus on A Great House

So when real estate agents tell buyers they’ll help buyers find the Perfect House, you are setting expectations that can’t be met. It may be a great house, one the buyers love, one that meets their “today” needs, one that fits their budget and one they can be proud to live, all these things can be true even when the house isn’t perfect. Something will go wrong sometime and usually sooner than later. As real estate agents, our job is to help buyers set realistic expectations. It’s important to prioritize the features you want in your dream home, so you’re prepared to compromise with many, but not all, of you’re desired features. This will help the home buying process go more smoothly, and you’ll find your dream house a whole lot quicker.

There is No Perfect House. There are great, wonderful, fantastic houses for buyer willing to compromise. You’ll find a great house that will make you happy for many years to come, a dream house you’re happy to purchase. Be open-minded to compromise and best of luck finding that … perfect, oops great house that can make your dreams come true!

What features do you want in your dream house?

About the author: Debbie Reynolds is a realtor in Clarksville, Tennesee. She enjoys helping women homeowners love and maintain their dream homes, even when they’re not perfect. 

Buying caulk isn’t easy because there are so many different kinds. Unless you’re a handyman who uses caulk every week, for different home repair projects, you probably don’t realize that picking caulk is a lot like picking a new sofa – there are an endless number of choices. 

With caulk, you might not realize you used the wrong product until you have to replace it again. A friend has been asking me to write this article for years as she’s tired of removing the old caulk from her bathtub, applying new caulking  and a year later, she’s got black mold again. Because there are so many different kinds of caulk on the market, the decision can be a difficult one. We’ll focus on the two most common types used by homeoweners, latex and silicone.

Different Types of Latex Caulk

Latex Caulk

Latex caulks are gaining popularity for durability, last up to 20 years, and they’re paintable making them perfect for indoor use. Latex caulk doesn’t stand up to temperature changes well, however, so check the label before you use it outdoors if you live in a cold climate. Using the wrong type of caulk often means you have to redo your caulking.

Acrylic Caulk

Like latex caulks, acrylic caulks are easy to work with because they can be painted and cleaned up with water, so they’re good for touch-ups and filling small gaps. Elastomeric caulk, a generic term for high-performance acrylic caulk, is designed for greater elasticity and is quickly becoming a favorite in a market that values ease and speed.

Siliconized Acrylic or Latex 

Siliconized caulk is acrylic or latex based which has had silicone added for increased durability. It can be used both indoors and out, including wood siding, cracks in brick and stone, and for weatherproofing windows and doors. Some types of siliconized caulk can be painted to match your color schemes.

Specialty Caulking for Kitchens and Bathrooms

These caulks are designed for use in areas with high moisture. They can stand up to mold and mildew growth and are excellent for use in and around sinks, bathtubs, shower stalls, toilets, and tile. Most are paintable, and if you’re looking to caulk around tile, you can find colors to match your grout. 

Silicone Caulks

Where latex caulks can be cleaned up with water, silicone caulking (or 100 percent silicone sealant) needs to be cleaned up using a solvent which can be messy. 

Silicone caulk is what people tend to be most familiar with. It is usually clear and has a rubbery, flexible texture when dry. It is especially useful on non-porous surfaces like glazed tile, glass, metal and plastic. Because it stays flexible after it dries, silicone caulk rarely loses it’s seal or cracks as a result of extreme temperatures or rapid temperature changes.

However, silicone has poor tear and abrasion resistance, and is not a good choice in high-traffic areas. It is very challenging to apply and has quite an offensive odor. Silicone cannot be painted in it’s pure form.

Other Caulks

As a homeowner, having a tube or two of latex or silicone based caulks in your tool kit will allow you to tackle 90% of home repairs. However, there is still polyurethane,  butyl rubber, asphalt and many other caulks which many homeowners find daunting. These tend to be more specialized caulks used by professionals or seasoned do-it-yourselfers.  There is a great article by Fine Woodworking, Making Sense of Caulks & Sealants which goes into more details. 

Still have questions? Ask us!

 To find out more about caulking around your home, check out our other articles in the series: 

• Getting started with caulk, read Caulking Basics: How to Pick the Right Caulk
• Buying caulk, Caulking: How Many Types are There?
• For more on home maintenance, read Where & Why to Caulk Around Your Home
• For tips on how to caulk, read Learning the Basics of How to Caulk

Home repair is a challenge for everyone

A successful home repair project is one you complete in one day, with only one trip to the store! My passion is helping women homeowners gain the confidence to handle any home repair or remodeling project. I don’t expect you to do everything yourself (that’s why we have a directory of home professionals) but there are basic skills you can learn to handle the most common home repairs.

Last night I stopped at Lowe’s to take some photos and here’s what I learned …

Caulking, A Common Home Repair

Box stores can be overwhelming. My handyman technicians always knew where to find the materials they wanted but they go one/more days a week. You’ll save time by asking where to find things and wouldn’t it be nice if there was a directory at the door? 

Finding the caulk aisle was easy but with 200+ kinds of caulking, picking the right one is a challenge. That’s why we’ve written a series of articles on caulking starting with How to Pick the Right Caulk.  

Lowe’s had a few scraping tools near the caulking with a larger selection of scraping and removal tools one aisle over, near the painting products. I couldn’t find the backer rods needed to fill really deep or wide gaps before applying caulk, and got several people searching. We finally “found” the backer rods near the weatherstripping products. That’s why you need to research and write down the materials and tools you need before you go to the store!  

Replacing a Screen: An Easy Home Repair?

Screen repairs are another common home repair. It’s easy to remove the old screen fabric, and requires some experience and patience to use the spline roller tool. The biggest challenge when replacing old screen fabric is finding the same fabric to match what you have.

Screen fabrics come in lots of different materials, colors and a variety of fabric weights and hole sizes and each store carries products from different manufacturers. Maybe you’re beginning to realize why this home repair isn’t so simple, and why many homeowners prefer calling a handyman versus being a home diy (do-it-yourself) You’ll also need the tubular “screen spline” that is used to hold the screen fabric in place, comes in different sizes based on the size of the channel. What seemed the most practical was the 3-in-1 spline kit that includes the 3 most common diameters, in case you forgot to measure your existing spline.  

Home Repairs Start with Research

By now you’ve realized that home repair projects require knowledge, skill gained from practice and the right tools and materials. If you’re a home DIY, pick home repair projects that get done on a regular basis, to make the time you spend building your skills worthwhile. If you don’t have the interest or time, hire a handyman and save money, by buying the materials for your each home repair project on your list.   

We love when our readers share their home repair stories
… to help us identify the home repair tips you want to read!

Credit for backer rod photo (upper left) goes to www.demandproducts.com which sells to businesses in quantities of 330 to 2,500 linear feet.

Many indoor plants filter out airborne chemicals that make us sick (read Pollution Inside Your Home). Unless you smell the chemicals, e.g. many people don’t like the smell of paint, you never realize there are toxins in your home  - furniture, bedding, cleaning products and more. As houses become more airtight to reduce energy costs, the chemicals get trapped indoors 

Indoor Plants Can Filter Out Chemicals to Keep Us Healthy at Home

Like allergies, each person reacts differently to the chemicals they breathe. Some people suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) or severe sensitivity to pollutants including solvents, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), perfumes, gasoline, smoke, and chemicals in general, both naturally occurring  and synthetic chemicals.  

So let’s look at where these toxic chemicals come from? Chemicals that prevent us from being healthy at home come from building materials, furnishings plus the products we use daily for personal care and cleaning.

• Building materials – paints, carpeting, synthetic building materials and materials with solvents (varnishes, adhesives, treated woods).
• Furniture – matresses and bedding, synthetic fabrics.
• Personal care products - perfumes, deodorants, body lotions, shampoos.
• Cleaning products – detergents and pesticides like anti-lice products.
• Products derived from petroleum – like acetone, camphor, benzens, aldehydes, ethanol, g-terpins and others. 

Carpeting makes the situation worse because it absorbs many solvents, that are released gradually over long periods of time. 

Green Plants That Keep You Healthy

NASA research has identified indoor plants as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, low energy and completely natural way of detoxifying our houses. During the day, plants breathe in oxygen and use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Plants also sweat which helps control humidity levels. NASA has tested 19 ornamental green plants for their effectiveness in removing many toxins connected to indoor air contamination. 

Here are the indoor plants tested and confirmed to help you keep the air inside your home healthy.

• Heartleaf philodendron 
• Elephant ear philodendron 
• Corn plant
• Common ivy 
• Spider plant
• Weeping fig tree
• Golden pothos 
• Peace lily 
• Cut-leaf philodendron 
• Chinese evergreen 
• Palm tree 
• Snake plant 
• Dragon tree
• Gerbera daisy 
• … and if you look around the web, you’ll find more healthy, green plant recommendations.

What are your favorite indoor plants?

One of my favorite green plants is the golden pothos (impossible to kill)!

Photo credit to Julie Knapp via her article, 15 Houseplants To Improve Indoor Air Quality.

To illustrate the point, let me share my experience when picking our Tokyo apartment, which gave me insight into how people live in other countries. We were leaving our 2,500 square foot, contemporary house that we built on 1.5 acres near Poughkeepsie, NY, and moving to an apartment. Here are some ah ha moments from our house hunting trip:

• Natural sunlight is very important to me – lots of windows, large windows and an upper floor to minimize buildings blocking my sunlight (and you might not realize, Natural Light Keeps You Healthy). 
  
• Outdoor play space for young children (my boys were 8 and 12) is critical. In Tokyo that means streets with a minimum of traffic (cars and people) as they don’t have yards.
• A smaller living space means less furniture to buy (we could only ship 1,500 lbs to Tokyo), lower utility costs and learning to use space creatively.

Living in Tokyo taught us you don’t need a big house, a big kitchen or big anything! We loved our 1,400 square foot apartment which didn’t feel small because of the open concept living room / dining room with glass doors and windows along 2 full walls. When we returned to the US and moved to a 2,100 square foot house with a small yard, it felt like a big house!

We didn’t have a big house (apartment) in Tokyo but we did have great storage, something the Japanese include in their small houses. We never had a problem putting away 3 months of groceries – we just had to remember where the chips were (front hall closet), the soda (Ryan’s closet), the cereal (Jason’s closet) … as everything came in quantities of 12 or more. 

Added Costs With a Big House

When you buy a house, it’s true you want to buy a house that will grow with your family so you don’t have to move. At the same you should weigh the benefits of a big house versus better schools, a shorter commute to work and consider the lifestyle in your community as a neighborhood park is far more valuable than a big back yard.

There are many forgotten costs when buying a big house, or bigger than you really need.

• More furniture to buy, and unfortunately we fill our homes with lots of unneeded items.
• More windows that need window treatments.
• With a big house, you’ve got more square feet to light up and keep warm/cool, so your utility bills will be higher. 
• Lots more painting with more rooms and larger rooms.
• Home maintenance takes more time and money with a big house.
• More time getting and staying organized, and then finding what you’ve stashed … somewhere?

Benefits to Picking a Small House Over a Big House

Living in Tokyo and working throughout Asia taught me to pack efficiently, and I review what didn’t get used after each trip. In the same way, I look at my home and the spaces I’m not using, to see if there’s a better role. The best example is our loft – first it was going to be a library but the books are everywhere, so finally we set the room up as an exercise room. In a big house you might have separate rooms for different hobbies but there’s no reason why one room can’t serve multiple purposes.

Downsizing to a condo with 1,000 feet less than our big house in Portsmouth, NH meant letting go of lots of things. We gave away furniture, wall hangings and there’s less storage which I really only notice in the kitchen. What I love is there is less confusion about where things are stored, and over the years we’ve started to get rid of unnecessary duplication like 3 can openers (you might enjoy reading Kitchen Gadgets: How Many Do We Really Need?). 

Do you really need a big house? What’s your dream house size?

Photos from my small house(s):

• Boys eating dinner in Tokyo, where we entertained 20 to 25 people, with children sitting on the floor. 
• Today’s loft with exercise equipment (same coffee table as Tokyo photo), showing flexibility of smaller furniture, especially when you downsize from a big house, to a smaller home.
• Today’s open concept kitchen – dining room – living room, makes a small house feel bigger.

• Alternative energy refers to energy sources that don’t burn fossil fuels or split atoms, as both of these affect the environment in undesirable ways.
• Renewable energy sources are ones that are continually replenished, including water, wind, the sun, the earth (geothermal) and biomass energy from energy crops like corn. 

This article focuses on emerging energy sources covered by the 2013 Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency. We’ll review solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines. This article will not look at renewable resources like hydropower (dams across rivers and under the ocean), biomass (direct heating like burning wood in a wood stove or generating electricity) or fuel cells which are used in transportation. For resources to help you explore these topics further:

• For industry news on alternative energy for homes and so much more, visit www.alternative-energy-news.info.
• To find alternative energy tax credits and rebates for your state, visit www.energy.gov.
• If you’re thinking about building an new ENERGY STAR certified home, find builders on this Energy Star website.

Alternative Energy with Solar Power 

Solar technology uses the sun’s energy to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity and even cooling, for homes. Currently solar energy represents less than 1% of the energy used in the US, and increasing as new and more efficient (cheaper) solar technologies become available. The challenge is availability of sunlight – short winter days and cloud cover reduce the number of hours each day that solar energy products produce energy.

Different types of solar collectors are used to meet different energy needs. Passive solar building designs capture the sun’s heat to provide space heating and light. Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly to electricity. Flat-plate collectors absorb the sun’s heat directly into water or other fluids to provide hot water or space heating. 

The most common use of solar energy is heating domestic hot water although these systems almost always need a backup system for cloudy days and peaks in hot water needs. Surprisingly there isn’t as much variation in available sunlight across the US, making solar energy a viable future resource.

Geothermal, an Alternative Energy Resource

Geothermal is an alternative energy source, coming from the heat stored inside the Earth. Today most geothermal power is generated using steam or hot water from underground. Geothermal power generation is available continuously and environmentally friendly but today, provides less than 1% of US power needs.

Geothermal heat pumps, one of three geothermal technologies used in the US, are used for space heating and cooling as well as water heating, for residential and commercial applications. Geothermal relies on the relatively constant temperature below the Earth’s surface throughout the year, warmer than outside air during the winter and cooler in summer.

A geothermal heat pump transfers heat from the ground to buildings during the winter, and heat from the building back into the ground during the summer, for a renewable energy source. The heat pump consists of a series of pipes, buried in the ground. Fluid circulates through the pipes to absorb heat from the ground or return heat from the building, to the ground. Geothermal heat pumps are a viable, alternative energy resource in most areas of the United States.

Wind Energy, the Fastest Growing Renewable Energy Resource 

We’ve used windmills for hundreds of years, to pump water or grind grain, without thinking about it as an alternative energy resource. Today large wind turbines generate electricity, for individual use or to generate electricity for utility companies. Wind turbines usually have two or three blades mounted on tall towers where they can capture more energy because winds above the ground tend to be faster and less turbulent than those near the surface. When the blades turn, the central shaft spins a generator to make electricity.

Wind energy is the world’s fastest-growing alternative energy technology, currently supplying about 1% of our needs. Wind turbines placed at sites with strong, steady winds can generate electricity economically, with the strongest winds in Alaska, the western United States and the Appalachians. 

While wind power produces electricity without producing pollution, there can be negative environmental impacts including wildlife deaths. Recent studies suggest the number of birds and bats killed by wind turbines is far lower than the number killed by collisions with other tall structures like buildings, so picking the right locations can reduce the impact on wildlife. Noise, a problem with older turbine designs, has mostly been eliminated through improved engineering.

Are you planning to use alternative energy in your home?

Borrowing from Williams-Sonoma’s article, How to Find Well-Made, High-Quality Furniture, let’s use their definition for different quality levels as people wonder if custom homes are “built-to-last” the way historic US homes have withstood the test of time. It’s not that one level of quality home is better than another, it’s a matter of buyers finding a home builder who’s quality matches their expectations and budget.

• Good furniture (or custom homes) is readily available and good enough for the present.
  
• Better furniture is semi-custom with a lifespan of ten to fifteen years.
• Best furniture is totally custom, heirloom quality, and built-to-last. 

Custom Homes Have Different Quality Levels

Most often the perceived quality of a house is based on the finishes used, i.e. what you can see in the finished home. Finish features are the ones homeowners pick like windows, cabinet styles and counter tops, lighting fixtures, flooring and more. Much of the quality that goes into custom homes, ends up hidden behind the finish walls. Digging deeper, lets’ look at the factors home builders focus on to deliver quality custom homes.

• Structural stability from the framing down to the foundation, helping houses withstand severe weather.
• Quality materials and flawless installation to keep the house watertight, from the roof to the siding, trim and foundation.
• Energy and water efficient home systems (plumbing, electrical, heating, air conditioning and ventilation) to keep the home comfortable, healthy with budget sensitive.
• Custom home builders guide their clients in picking products and materials that are durable and easy to maintain. Where they have experienced problems, they will explain their issues with products to reach decisions that satisfy everyone. 
• Attention to detail in how each home feature is installed sets apart quality conscious home builders. Check where materials come together to see if there are clean, square cuts in the trim around doors and windows, in crown molding and even outside in places seldom viewed like the foundation. 

Quality Home Builders Offer a Great Experience 

Picking the right home builder can be daunting as there are hundreds of decisions to make and limited knowledge of how your choices will affect the look of your house, and your ability to maintain your home. You want to pick a builder who offers the best quality craftmanship that your budget can afford, to insure you get the quality you want at every step of the construction process.

Learn what each prospective builder emphasizes in building their custom homes. You want to insure you share their views on quality, to insure an effective partnership as there will be lots of give and take on a day-by-day process. When we built our house,  our builder called every morning at 7am and after a few days, we learned when to say “we’re going to hold firm on this decision”.  

Custom Homes Should Budget for Home Features 

Few people building custom homes have an unlimited budget. Small decisions can have a big impact on your budget before you know it, so it pays to outline a budget for key home features and stay within your budget. 

Work with your home builder to explore options on big ticket items like roofing, siding and windows. You want curb appeal and don’t need to buy high end materials for every home feature. For curb appeal, pick one or 2 features to draw the eye. Maybe you can use native stone for an accent wall, combined with lower cost siding or windows. Remember we don’t use our front doors that much, so pick  features you’ll enjoy seeing each time you come home. Maybe you want to spend more on the garage door, instead of a high-end front door?

Drive around and get ideas from older, historic homes with beautiful trim. It’s amazing when you see a row of houses with a similar facade, yet the variations in front doors and window trim can make them look very different. Visit an architectural antiques company to find something unique to add to your home like the stained glass show here, which can add light to a stairwell too. 

Photo credit goes to Nor’East Architectural Antiques in southern NH.

What features do you feel define custom homes?

Home repair estimates are never easy

For example, one of my handyman jobs where we remodeled a bathroom in Portsmouth, NH ended with an unhappy customer, who’d previously been happy with our work. When I say the poor survey response, it was time to call the client and here’s what I learned. 

• Finished bathroom was great and met all expectations. 
• Communication during the job was excellent.
• Problem was due to a budget overrun … because we found the bathtub wall and exterior window were rotted and needed to be replaced, but weren’t part of the estimate!

The homeowner forgot about a leak discovered several years earlier, and never repaired. There was  lots of hidden damage adding a large home repair project, to the bathroom remodel. We replaced a window and insulation, added structural support and new drywall, causing the project to exceed our estimate.

With small home repair jobs like this, it’s hard to absorb extra time when a problem is discovered after the repair estimate is given to the customer. That’s why home builders, remodelers and handyman businesses use change orders to outline the cost of new features or home repairs, added to the scope of a job already underway. 

Problems Affecting Home Repair Estimates

For fun I’ll use a small home repair at my house. My husband can handle most small projects. We had a leak in the master bedroom shower, found when a stain appeared on the ceiling over the dining room table. We removed enough drywall to figure out the water was coming from the shower (black streaks on the floor joists) and called our plumber. 

Once the leak was repaired, my husband thought it’s just a small opening, so he picked up drywall to close up the hole. Oops, drywall comes in lots of different sizes (thicknesses) from 1/4 inch to 5/8 inches (see Home Depot’s Drywall Buying Guide) and after he bought the wrong drywall, decided to let my old handyman company finish this home repair.

Home Repair Estimates: What’s Included

When homeowners think about painting a room, or other home repair projects, they focus on the time it takes to paint, replace a toilet or whatever the steps are to complete the work. The reality is much of the time spent on home repair projects happens before and after the actual “painting”.

So let’s explore the steps involved in most home projects, whether a home repair or you’re updating some feature in your home. We’ll explore in another article, why it’s so difficult to estimate each step.

• Research and pick the product or materials you want to use.
• Buy products and materials you need for each home repair, and homeowners may need to buy a new tool.
• Plan project schedule so you have enough time for setup and cleanup each day, and know when your home repair or home update will be done. 
• Prepare the work area to protect your furnishings. This might include painters tape, plastic sheeting to protect furnishings or more extensive prep when lead paint is involved (read about Lead Safe Rules from the EPA).
• Setup tools and materials to insure safety for workers, and to let them work efficiently. 
• Get to work … 
• Clean up tools like paint brushes and work site, putting things away. 

Home Repair Estimates: Homeowner or Handyman?

Hopefully you now see why small home repair projects take longer than you think. Three (3) small repairs might require setup and cleanup in 3 different areas of the house, and use different tools and materials. That’s why I always recommend homeowners pick a few home repair skills to learn, along with the tools to complete the work efficiently. 

Projects that require skills and tools you’ll only need once in a lifetime, are best left to home professionals unless … home repair is a hobby for you? If you want to save money on home repair projects, ask your pro if you can buy the materials and handle setup and cleanup? They’ll often say yes, as searching multiple stores for matching roofing shingles or screen fabric takes more time than anyone realizes.

What are your favorite home repair projects?