Why You Should Improve the Exterior of Your Home

You might be putting off home improvements due to the cost and time they require. However, the reasons why you should improve the exterior of your home far outweigh the difficulty of coming up with a budget for your yearly home maintenance. Taking care of your home is just as important as taking care of your car, body, or brain. Keep reading to learn all the benefits of improving your home’s exterior.

Increase the Value of Your Home

Simple home repairs can boost your home’s curb appeal. Even if you don’t plan on selling anytime soon, you should keep up with repairs and maintenance so that you don’t have to do a big renovation all at once. If you maintain your exterior elements, your home will look amazing while you live in it, and its value will only increase over time. The most common exterior features of your home you should pay attention to include:

• Windows

• Doors

• Siding

• Fencing

• Gutters

• Roofing

Protect Your Home—and Your Family

Your home’s exterior protects your home’s interior—which protects you. For instance, the siding on your home prevents inclement weather and flying objects from penetrating your home. You should regularly inspect your house to ensure that water hasn’t seeped through your siding, roof, or windows. Water damage can lead to dry rot and dangerous mold problems.

Save Money on Energy

Improving the exterior of your home makes it look better, but it can also save you money in the long run. Properly insulated roofing, windows, and siding will keep heat and cool air inside your home during the appropriate times of the year. If you notice your energy bills starting to rise, inspect your home’s exterior for places where you can make improvements.

Perform Less Maintenance on Your House

Choose a trustworthy window and siding contractor to help you pick the right materials for your home so that you won’t have to perform as much maintenance. With the right siding, roof design, and window materials, you can pressure wash your house once a year and let rain do the rest.

You’ll find many reasons why you should improve the exterior of your home. Whether you want to save money or make money, maintaining your home will protect your family and anyone else who may live in your house after you. Let safety and security be your motivation for being a good homeowner.

Details and Accents That Can Make Your Home's Interior Design Pop

Your home's interior design is a reflection of you and your family. You want it to tell people who you are. Of course, you also want it to look good. And if it pops, that's even better. However, if you're not an interior designer, it can be difficult to create a design scheme that pops and looks attractively cohesive. Instead of blindly trying to figure out what to do, consider these details and accents that can make your home's interior design pop.

Create an Accent Wall

One of the easiest ways to make your home's interior design pop is to create an accent wall. There are so many varieties of accent walls that you have limitless options. You can paint it a bold color or with chalkboard paint. You can showcase a single brick wall or cover it with shiplap. A bold color or texture adds a lot of feeling to a room. You can also use one wall for lots of artwork or personal photos to add personality. With a little bit of thought, your accent wall will stand out from the rest of the place with ease.

Use Functional Items as Decor

When you think about interior design and decorating your home, you might often think the decor needs to be pretty stuff that remains in place. Here's a different thought, though: turn functional items into decor. 

For example, many dinnerware sets are as beautiful as they are functional these days. Display your dinnerware sets on floating shelves or behind glass-fronted cabinet doors when they’re not in use. This way, they can serve as both dinnerware and decor. This strategy can also apply to things like bathroom towels, clothes hampers, storage bins, and baskets, depending on what area of the house you’re redecorating.

Make Bright Furniture a Focal Point

Like an accent wall, a piece of furniture can function as a stand-out piece of decor. A bright pink or yellow sofa in an otherwise white room can really pop. Even if there's more color in the room, large pieces of furniture like sofas, futons, and oversized chairs can grab attention in any room. Try a sofa in a bright color and a couple of smaller end tables or coffee tables in a complementary pastel color for greater effect.

Combine Themes With the 70/30 Rule

Can't decide between two different styles? Maybe you like one and your spouse or roommate likes another? Try the 70/30 rule to give the space some character and avoid an argument. Decorate the room 70% in one style, with the remaining 30% in a totally different style. Decorate a room in a contemporary style with a few traditional pieces for spice, for example. This serves as both an accent and a better expression of the personalities in your home.

You don't need to be a pro to make your home's interior design look like it was done by an interior decorator. You just need a few little details to make your design pop. Give these a try and see what you think.

How to Check for Siding Damage on Your Home After a Storm

After your home has been through a severe storm, it is quite possible it may have suffered various types of damage. If you have siding on your home, this can be one part that is prone to being damaged by wind, hail, and various things that may be flying through the air. But once the storm passes, you need to be proactive in checking for siding damage so that you can arrange for whatever repairs may be necessary. To make sure you realize where damage has taken place, here are some signs to look for during your inspection.

Splits and Cracks

If your siding is starting to age, high winds or debris that hit against it in a storm may result in splits and cracks to individual pieces. Should you find this type of damage, you may be able to seal up the cracks as a temporary fix, but then should concentrate on getting any damaged pieces replaced.

Soft Areas

After a storm that has had plenty of rain, check your siding for any soft areas that may exist underneath the siding itself. If you touch a piece of siding that is warped and feels soft behind it, chances are this means water has been getting behind it and rotting out the wood underneath. If this is the case, work with storm damage restoration specialists to get your home back in top condition.

Discoloration

In some situations after a storm, you may notice certain areas of your siding are discolored. While this may indicate some rotting has taken place in that part of your home, it could also mean you have additional problems such as termite infestation. Along with getting the damaged siding replaced, you should also get your home checked out by a pest control specialist to make sure you don't have termite problems of which you were unaware.

Dents and Dings

If you live in an area where hail is a common part of thunderstorms, it is almost a certainty that your home's siding will suffer some dents and dings after the storm has passed. Since this type of damage is usually covered by homeowners insurance, it should be no problem to work with your insurance company to get it replaced.

While you certainly hope your home's siding comes through a storm unscathed, knowing how to check for damage and get the necessary repairs enacted as fast as possible can save you time as well as money.

Guest Post - What to Do About Hazards Uncovered During a Renovation

Home renovation can be such an exciting opportunity! Out with the old and worn out and in with the new, sleek upgrades. They can mean making the most of the home that you love and creating a more livable and appropriate space for the things you like to do. Beyond that, home renovations can greatly improve the longevity of your home as well as the overall home value should you decide to sell in the future. 

However, home renovations are no joke either. Many movies and home improvement shows skim over the real tough and dirty work and focus on characters laughing as they get into a paint war, some hip 80’s music as they move ladders around, or tears of joy as the work is finished and shown off. In reality, home renovation projects can take months and leave a portion of your home unusable during that time. They are fantastic when finished, but the process can be a real bear.  

Perhaps one of the most dreaded things associated with home renovations is the risk of pulling back the carpet or wall and discovering a hazard. These finds can grind production to a halt and greatly increase the cost of home improvement. But they are necessary to deal with, so it is important to have a plan. 

Understanding the Risks

There is a plethora of hazardous building materials that could be uncovered during any home renovation project. The mid-1900s brought hundreds of wondrous building materials that turned out to be a bit less than what they were cracked up to be. Materials such as lead, asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals, and radioactive products could turn up. 

Most of the time, these materials aren’t too much of a hazard if left undisturbed. For example, asbestos — which was used heavily in construction between the 1940s and 1970s — is pretty safe if left untouched. However, if disturbed during a home renovation, the tiny particles can easily be breathed in and burrow deep into the lungs. Ultimately, asbestos exposure can cause all sorts of respiratory issues from asthma to certain types of cancer. 

Sometimes it isn’t necessarily the materials used that are the concern, but rather the methods. Older wiring, for instance, can lead to all sorts of problems such as outlets and lights that randomly don’t work to increased fire risk. The electrical wiring in homes wasn’t originally intended to last more than 30-40 years, so considering electricity when starting a renovation project is well worth the extra time and money. 

When to Call in Backup

Uncovering many of these unexpected hazards can mean significant changes to your home renovation plans. Oftentimes, fixing and cleaning up these hazards appropriately and safely can be a real challenge. It may be well worth the extra funding to call in a professional to help, especially if it is something that could put your family or home at risk if not completed properly. 

Some situations may also warrant calling your insurance company. For example, if you are exposed to asbestos or other contaminants you could have some of the costs associated with fixing the problem and dealing with any serious health risks covered by your insurer. Take a moment to review your policy and determine if this is something you can do.  

Finally, before doing any work or renovations on your home, try to make sure you know what you’re potentially getting into. Just like when you move into a new place, do an assessment. Review your home’s information and see if any asbestos or lead was reported in your mortgage purchase, check for leaks and their causes, review where electrical wiring likely is, and search out hazards that could exist. 

With any luck, your renovations will be hazard-free, and you’ll be well on your way to the home you’ve always dreamed of living in! 

Author Bio: Noah Rue is a freelance writer.