Should You Buy a Fixer Upper?

homezweethome.info -When buying a house for the first time, the first question you should ask is, how much repair are you willing to put into the house? If you want a bargain house, a fixer upper just might be your cup of tea. The work could be extensive, but it will be worth it when you are able to live in your dream home or sell the house at a price higher than your purchase price. You should buy a fixer upper if you have the time and devotion necessary to create a dream home for you or for someone else.

 

Fixing up a home requires capital. You'll want to know about huge expenses right away, which is why you need initial building inspections. Ask a surveyor to review the house and the land, because you need to know your options. Understanding what type of land you have and what type of foundation comes with the house will help you understand what changes you can safely make. Ask for these reports before making the purchase; if the home is too far gone for your budget, you'll want to know before you get into something that's over your head.

Understand your limitations and your capabilities. After the building inspections and surveyor reports are finished, make a list of what you can do and what you can't do yourself. Consider the price of each and work that into your budget. You'll need to make sure all the work can get done, but it needs to be done properly. Do not attempt to rewire the house if you're not an electrician. Don't tear down walls if you don't understand what a supporting wall is or why it exists. If you attempt to do something that you're not used to doing, you could make your fixer upper worse. Be realistic and call in the professionals when necessary.

Finally, you need to decide if you will live in the house while it is under construction. This is an important question to answer especially if you don't plan to flip the house when it's finished. If you don't plan to live in the house, will you have two houses? If you are living there, will you renovate around your family or will you live in one section of the house while renovating other sections? These are questions you need to answer with your family to determine how you will handle the renovations. You also need to consider how you will handle the children. Will they help you? Will they be involved in the decision making in the house? Will they need to go to a sitter while you're working, and can they live in a home with construction materials? These are all important questions to answer when fixing up your home.

After you've finished the renovations, your home will be an amazing work of art. You can proudly live in or sell the home, knowing that you have put a better place on the market.

A Kitchen Make-Over Need Not Break the Bank

Renovating your kitchen does not have to mean tearing it all apart and spending a fortune for a complete renovation. If you want to update to something more modern and create a whole new look, you can simply replace the kitchen benchtops also known as counter tops.

You want to have a special and inspiring place where families and friends gather and have lively conversations and dinner parties.  Benchtops are the first visually dominating element that you and everyone else sees when entering the kitchen.

Two major factors that will influence your choice of colors and patterns are what appeals to you personally as well as the necessity of staying within a budget. Different materials can vary greatly in price, and it is also necessary that you choose a material and colors that match the existing flooring, walls, cupboards and drawers.

It is also important to know what the structural soundness is of your existing kitchen and if it is possible to lay a heavier benchtop than that which originally existed. Additionally, you will be limited to the existing layout of the kitchen, so replacement of the kitchen counter tops is an option that works best when you simply want to update.

Granite is chip and scratch resistant and is very durable. You can put hot items directly on the surface as well as use it for food preparation. However, be aware that, since granite is porous, it will need to be sealed about once a year.

Marble has many of the granite qualities. Because it is a smooth surface, it is favored by many bakers for the preparation of pastries and doughs. It, too, is porous and will require sealants to be applied even more often than granite.

Corian is a blend of natural and acrylic minerals and allows for a seamless finish. It is non-porous, hygienic, and resists heat and stains. It comes in a variety of colors; and the finishes are matte, semi-gloss or high-gloss.

Quartz is the most durable. It has a natural stone look and is non-porous, is resistant to staining, has low maintenance, and is very hygienic.

Concrete benchtops must be pre-cast in a mold or cast on the premises. Concrete is rising in popularity but needs to be sealed to resist water damage and stains.

Hardwood, or “butcher blocks”, are constructed of maple pieces that have been stacked and glued together. These are highly favored by serious cooks and chefs.

Tiles, while more commonly used as trim or a splashback, can be used as kitchen benchtops if they are strong. Tiles have raised, painted or inset designs and are made from ceramic, glass, porcelain or natural stone.

Laminated benchtops are the most common and traditional and are an economical alternative. Laminated benchtops are made up of layers that have been pressed together. Although laminate does not have the durability of stone, it is still highly versatile and is available in a wide variety of textures, finishes, contemporary colors and designs including elegant timber-inspired wood grains.

Just Bought a New Home? Here's Why You Need Emergency Cover

homezweethome.info -When you purchase a new home, though you may spend a great deal of time ahead of confirming your purchase looking over the home to ensure everything looks to be ship-shape you can never be a hundred percent sure that all is well behind the scenes.

For this reason, purchasing emergency cover for certain areas of your home from the moment you set foot into it after purchase is crucial, as it allows you the peace of mind of knowing that should something go wrong, you have the means of dealing with it without having to pay out enormous repair bills. The same is true whether you’re simply remodelling a room or buying a brand new home; you need to have everything protected before any problems can occur, not after.

Emergency home cover comes in many forms, the most common of which will help you out in situations such as the following:

Incase Your Boiler Needs Repairs

It goes without saying that the older the boiler in the home you’ve just bought is, the greater chance there is of it needing to be repaired from time to time.

With that said, even new boilers can sometimes need to be be repaired on a consistent basis, making repairs of this nature something you will almost certainly have to deal with at one point or another. When you have emergency cover you know you won’t fall foul to high call-out feels and repair charges, as these will all be covered in your plan.

Incase Your Radiators Pack In

Similar to the above points, boilers and radiators can be very temperamental, especially around the winter time when they’re being used the most.

If you’ve moved into a home with old radiators, though there may be no indications to suggest that these radiators won’t work well you may want to immediately get covered just to be on the safe side. Opting for central heating cover is a sensible move, as we all know how expensive these charges can be if you’re not already covered. In this situation, making sure your radiators are working at full capacity over the winter months should be your soul focus.

Incase You’re Locked Out

Getting locked out of your home is bad enough as it is, but matters are always made significantly worse when you’re hit with an absurd lock-out fee to get you back into your home.

If you feel that this is something you’re likely to do yourself (possibly on a regular basis) you may benefit from adding lockout cover to your plan to make the pain of being locked out that little bit easier to bear.

Incase Your Plumbing Gets Blocked

We may all fancy ourselves as being handy with a spanner, but there’s a good chance we’ve all experienced the horror of a botched personal plumbing job that made us wonder why we ever thought attempting to fix our plumbing ourself would ever be a good idea.

Calling out a professional plumber is expensive, but adding this onto an emergency cover plan often isn’t, therefore doing so is a great way of making sure you don’t suffer from another one of your DIY plumbing disasters…

In conclusion, when you purchase a new home you can never be a hundred percent sure that all is well behind the scenes despite how long you may spend looking over it. For this reason, purchasing emergency cover for certain areas of your home is a smart move, as it can cover repairs to your boiler, radiators, plumbing, and even pay lock-out fees if you lock yourself out.

About the Author : A company with access to a network of over 500 engineers and contractors in the country, Emergency Cover is one of the leading providers of central heating cover in the UK.

A Weir

This Katulampa Weir functions to regulate the flow of the Ciliwung River and monitor the water debit. Location : Bogor (West Java, Indonesia).

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