Remodeling Tips

Here are a few things to consider when you remodel:

1) Electrical: Make sure you understand the space. When placing electrical outlets, you will need to meet code, however, you can make sure the location of the outlets fit your room layout. Tell your electrician exactly where you want the outlets and jacks to be (and how high you want them as well). This is especially true if you have an idea where you want your furniture to go and you want to hide the outlets and jacks behind the furniture.

2) Paint: Make sure the painter leaves a few cans of paint, labeled, in your garage so you can do your own touch ups after you've completed the work.

3) There is an unknown rule of thumb when remodeling. Spend the money where the water is. That means kitchen and bathrooms. A quick face lift of these areas will completely change your entire house look.

4) When hiring a contractor, keep in mind: You can only have 2 of these 3: Fast, Quality, Cheap. ie, if the work gets down fast and cheap, chances are you won't have the quality. If you want the job done quickly with excelent quality, changes are it won't be too cheap, etc...

5) Adding a bit of crown and trim around the house can dress it up a bit, for a low cost.

6) Find out if there are rebates available for the products you purchase for your home. Rebates are commonly found in appliances.

7) Make sure you buy a roll of blue tape and mark clearly the areas you need to touch up or fix for your builder.

8) No matter how well you plan, expect the project to “cost more and take longer than you think,”

9) Landscaping: It is easy and fun to plant trees and watch them grow. If you plant a very young tree, it can resemble a weed to a yard maintenance man in a hurry! Be sure to put a colorful piece of tape around it so that everyone knows that it is not to be destroyed.

10) Here's an area where renovators often cut corners: Exterior trim should be backprimed. This means that the decorative pieces of wood on the outside of your house should have paint on all sides before they are attached to the house. Without backpriming, the wood can absorb moisture, which can cause warping, rotting, and shorter paint life on the front of the piece of trim.