360renos: Renovation priorities are the first step

How to make your home stand out when selling

We can help your house sell quickly and at a good price -- even in a slow market.

It takes a lot more than sparkling windows, scented candles and chocolate-chip cookies to sell a home in today's market.

Improvements should be made so that the property shows well, is consistent with the neighborhood and does not involve capital investments.

Beyond any doubt, the best investment you can make is new paint. Painting can make a room or an exterior façade look brand-new, and totally transform the look and feel of a room or the entire residence. It is always wise to be somewhat restrained when choosing colors for a home-staging paint project. Avoid choosing colors that are too individual or flashy and favor neutral colors and schemes. This does not mean painting everything white, however.

Use subtle color schemes to accentuate the home's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Dark colors, for example, tend to make a room feel smaller, while lighter colors and pastels can make a room feel bigger.

There is another benefit to painting as well: the process of preparing the interior or exterior surfaces of a home for painting automatically allows us to go over the entire area receiving paint in great detail, and this can often expose items or areas requiring repair. It seems you always discover where the caulking has let go, where the wall is dinged.

It is always preferable that we discover and deal with these items before the real estate agent (or worse, the prospective buyer) points them out to you!

Dave - 360renos

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Renovation priorities are the first step

Article by Hammer & Nail

For many homeowners, renovations can make for a long-term process that takes place in stages over a number of years. Decisions are driven by what needs to be done, how much money is available, and personal preferences.

Old bathroom faucets can be both outdated in style and water-efficiency. New faucets that meet WaterSense criteria reduce water usage by up to 32 per cent without affecting performance.

If you will be renovating in stages, the Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association says it makes sense at the outset establishing long-term priorities. Among the considerations it recommends:

- Decide how long you plan to stay in your home. Five, 10 or 15 years? More? The answer to that question will influence the renovations you undertake, the time frame for the work and the amount of money you will want to spend.

- Evaluate your overall space needs, now and for the future. How will they change over time? Do you have children whose needs for space may change? Do you have aging parents who might move in with you in the future? Can you find extra space within the existing framework of your home, in the attic or the basement?

- Evaluate the condition of your house. Go through it with a renovator or home inspector, listing repairs and replacements that might be required over the coming years.

- Make a list of your renovation objectives. Divide the list between the things you need in the short term (a new bathroom, for instance) and the things you would like to have (perhaps incorporating a spare bedroom into the master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom.)

- Develop a financial overview. Your renovator can advise you on the approximate costs of repairs and renovations. You can also contact suppliers and subcontractors for information. Next, determine where the money will come from, and how much you can afford.

- Be prepared to make trade-offs. Experienced renovators advise homeowners to find the balance between lifestyle improvements and repairs/ replacements needed to keep your home in good shape.

For instance, you may want to redo the bathroom and include a skylight to brighten it. But if your roof is in poor condition, it may be better to repair it and install a skylight first, and renovate the bathroom later.

- Consider the impact of a renovation. If you plan extensive renovations over time, careful planning will help to minimize inconveniences and disruptions to your household.

- Build into one phase what you need in the next. By planning ahead, you will get the best out of your renovation dollars and save money in the long run.

For instance, for a few extra dollars, your renovator might be able to install the connections for a future bathroom in the basement while renovating an existing bathroom on another floor.

- Put your plan in writing.

Dave Bennett
Owner 360renos
phone 613.429.5000
mobile 613.282.2124
email dbennett@360renos.ca
www.360renos.ca

1 comment:

rowlind said...: good article; July 12, 2011 at 12:12 AM

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Which Paint Is It - Latex or Oil?

Determining, definitively, whether a given paint was oil or latex has always been a bit of a problem, but an important one as you can paint oil over latex, but not latex over oil unless you use a special 'super adherent primer' first.

I used to recommend taking a bit of paint thinner on a clean contrasting colour cloth and wiping hard. If any colour comes off, it is oil based paint. If nothing happens, it is latex. But that didn't always work. Sometimes if the paint was very old, nothing at all came off.

Now a product has come out that reverses those rules. These swabs have acetone in them and they have no affect on oil based paints, but do take off latex. If the surface is stripped, it is Latex paint. If it just cleans or polishes the surface, it is Oil/Alkyd paint. Instead of the special swabs you could just use acetone and a contrasting coloured rag, if the paint colour shows up on the rag, it is latex. Acetone will do nothing to oil based paints. Old fingernail polish removers were made with acetone, and many still are -- look for a bottle that does not say 'without acetone'. You should test it first on a surface that you know is latex paint to be sure you have acetone in your liquid.

By the way, if you really want to paint latex over oil -- you can do it if you sand off the gloss and apply a "super adherent latex primer" first. Then you can continue with ordinary latex paint!

Dave - www.360renos.ca