Check out your home’s basement, and where there are I-beams or wooden support beams in the ceiling, that’s where the home’s weight rests and you can’t remove walls above it. A good optical illusion will get the best of most of us, so why not use tricks of the eye to your advantage? Hanging mirrors in your small home will reflect light, as well as the room itself to make it feel bigger.
Many utility companies provide free energy audits for their customers’ homes. However, you’ll have to spend a few hundred dollars for a company to do one in some places. Even newly constructed homes can see huge benefits from having an energy audit performed. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies advances understanding of housing issues and informs policy.
Improve lighting and ventilation by replacing an existing light fixture with a ceiling fan. A ceiling fan will help you save money by not running the air-conditioner on those days when all you need is air movement. To keep your family comfortable and energy costs low, set your fan to spin counterclockwise in the summer and clockwise in the winter. The clockwise motion in the winter makes cool air rise and redistributes warm air. The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one’s home.
- HHI have now grown into a multi branch company, covering all Northern Ireland with six branches province wide.
- Improve your home’s energy efficiency by replacing single-pane windows with high-performance double-pane Energy Star-rated windows.
- “Remove the small flange that holds the existing insert, then replace the insert with your material and add wood or metal stops to keep it in place.”
- Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior , exterior or other improvements to the property (i.e. garden work or garage maintenance/additions).
- Grab bars are one of the simplest ways to make an existing bathroom more accessible.
- A common DIY home-improvement mistake, especially when finishing a basement, is making access to essential plumbing valves difficult.
The number of people affected is much higher, however, in expensive cities. In San Francisco, for instance, a quarter of all homes have a gain of over $250,000, thus having a tax impact on any single owners. More than one-third of the homes in San Jose, Calif., do, too. That paperwork is for all the improvements you have made to your home. The cost of those improvements counts against the gain.
How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring in a Kitchen
If your home has single-pane windows, they could be wasting up to 25% of your energy costs. Improve your home’s energy efficiency by replacing single-pane windows with high-performance double-pane Energy Star-rated windows. Look for windows labeled low-emissivity (low-E) or spectrally selective—they have a coating that reduces thermal heat transfer. If a traditional entry closet or a built-in shelving system isn’t an option in your home, refashioned furniture can achieve a look that’s equally stylish and storage-savvy. This small-scale table is a perfect size for beside the front door. Though compact, the table’s lower shelf makes the piece super functional for drop-zone items.
Getting into interior design and need book recommendations. My husband and I tried to install our new over the range microwave. However….he insisted I mount the bar slightly lower than the template so he has room to place the microwave on the bracket.
A quality roof protects your home against all elements. Our Owens Corning roofs come with a manufacturer’s limited lifetime warranty, professional installation supervised by our project managers. Take a page from the farmhouse trend and ditch cabinet doors for an open feel in your kitchen. If you go this route, your cabinets will need to be meticulously organized, but ditching doors on overhead cabinets can really open up your kitchen.
Young House Love
A sliding barn door adds dimension to any home with a farmhouse flair. Perfect for a kitchen or den entrance, a sliding door provides privacy when needed or acts as eclectic decor when not in use. They are relatively easy to install; all it takes is assembling and mounting the hardware and door to a doorway. With just a stud finder and a drill, you can install a medicine cabinet in less than an hour. For quick installation, choose a flush-mounted cabinet that can mount directly to the wall above your bathroom sink, rather than cutting away drywall and recessing the cabinet between studs.
Hang Outdoor String Lights
While you have the painting supplies out, brighten trim with a light-colored, high-gloss paint. If two tests give a high reading, consult a radon mitigation contractor . These contractors can professionally test the house and install a mitigation system for reducing radon to a harmless level. The most effective system is a vent pipe placed in the sump pit or a hole made under your concrete floor slab. The vent runs up through the house and out the roof, or out the side of the house and up to the eaves. A special in-line fan for radon is placed in the attic or outside the house to suck air through the vent.
It’s even easier to add a new light fixture into ceilings connected to attic space, says Daryl Berg, a journeyman electrician in Longview, Washington. “Just cut the hole for the fixture and run the wires through the ceiling joists to a new circuit.” One of the first living walls, window boxes have been a longtime favorite of gardeners. Filled with a lush display of flowers, they add charm to any exterior window. Not only do they give windows a nice finish, but they also bring gorgeous flowers up and into view from inside the home. Plus, you can build the popular curb appeal element yourself.