Ensuring your home stays in top condition can be harder than you’ve anticipated. While we all love spending money on new televisions, appliances and carpets, there are several other things inside our home that need to feel the benefits of a bulky wallet.
To give you a glimpse of the budgets you can expect to see over the years, we’ve put together an easy and quick checklist of the several improvements and repairs you’ll have to start budgeting for. This article will tell you what you’ll need to make your house feel like a home.
Keeping Dampness at Bay
If you have crumbling rendering outside of your home, you may turn a blind eye towards it. The problem is that while you can put up with the slightly shabby look it presents, it’ll feel like your opening your front door to rain and wind. Before you know it, moisture will get behind the remaining render and soak easily into the brickwork.
It’ll be a lot easier to pay a plasterer for half a day’s work and get them to patch up the outside before you have to get your whole house treated for dampness in two to three years.
Know Your Financing Options
That said, most house upgrades won’t pay for themselves. If you’re in between jobs, you’ll have to think of ways of getting a loan when you are unemployed. Apart from loans, there are several other ways of financing your repairs without putting your house at risk. Credit cards and personal loans can be helpful if it’s a small-to-medium-sized project. However, this depends on the interest rate and terms.
Lines of credit (HELOC) and home equity loans (HELs), on the other hand, can help you finance major repairs and renovations. These improvements can increase your house’s value and cut down the private mortgage insurance payments you make. However, always bear in mind that you’ll have to pay to get your house reassessed.
Check the Roof
Heavy rain and high winds can easily dislodge the slates on your roof. You may think that losing one or two isn’t a cause for concern, but you’ll have to think again. A roof is built in a particular way, and they’re only as strong as their weakest link. If there’s a route damp and rain can take, they’ll eventually find it.
If that happens, it’s going to be your joists and timbers that’ll need to be replaced, and that’s going to cost you a lot more than just a few slates.
Your Kitchen Must Have Fire Ducts
If you want to make a kitchen that’ll last for several years, you’ll have to start thinking about getting a fire duct. They are essential to staying safe while you work on your culinary magic in the kitchen.
Replace Worn Out Rugs or Carpets
Evaluate your home’s soft flooring and ask yourself, are your area rugs and carpets worn or stained? Nothing will turn buyers away more than the thought that they’ll have to replace the entire flooring of a home they’re buying.
Ideally, it’s better to replace all of them, but if a tight budget puts a snag in your plan, start by replacing the carpets one room at a time. Start with the room with the most damage signs, and then replace others as you have the money.
Add Your Finishes
Whether it’s a door handle, a light fixture, a faucet, or a cabinet, several different elements around your house can use a finish. Moreover, there are additional modern finishing options in the market that give your house a unique touch. Some of them are:
- Sleek steel,
- Bronze,
- Rose gold, or
- Mod matte black
But remember, finishes don’t stop at hardware. You can also add crown moulding to your home for an additional charm. With just a few materials from a home goods store and with some measurements, you can make a huge difference inside your house.
Update the Filters
Perhaps one of the most followed tips of home improvement is checking your filters. You’ll have to ensure that the water and air your future homeowners get is clean at all costs. Replace all the air filters in your home and do the same every two or three months if you have pets. Having clean vents can also ensure that your allergies don’t act up since dust won’t be getting around your home that easily. To do this, always keep tabs on when you have to clean your water and air filters.
But if you truly want to take things to the next level, we’d recommend changing the filter covers. Remember those shiny finishes we talked about? Since so many people want to switch up the non-traditional bits of their home, you can also find ways of sprucing things up.
This means that you can find vent covers in beautiful patterns, finishes, and colours. So not only are you going to clean up, but you’re also going to add a neat touch to your home.
Introduce Colour On to your Window Sills and Garden
When a buyer stops in front of your home, the first they’re going to notice is your house’s exterior. If it lacks vibrancy, consider adding some flowers to the mix. Landscaping is one of the easiest ways of adding beauty to your home.
Look into the plants and flowers that you can find in your area. If these flowers attract birds and bees, it’s a bonus. You’ll get beautiful blossoms and also help the environment while you’re at it.
Give Your Bathroom a New Look
The bathroom is one of the most vital parts of a home. Sometimes, you can come across a buyer who wants state-of-the-art bathrooms in the home they live in. If you want to freshen up your bathroom’s design without incurring a high cost, you’ll have to switch up a few things. Consider adding a fresh layer of caulk and grout around your sink, bathtub, and tiles. You can also update the finishes, mirror, lighting, and handles.
Wrapping Up
When one project ends, another one begins. Planning your next upgrade can be hard when you have all the good ideas while you’re working on a repair. Keep a diary with you at all times, in which you can know what’s coming next.
