It’s a great year to tackle some home improvement projects! According to the Boston Herald, the remodeling industry is picking up speed in 2015. More and more homeowners are seeing the value in remaking their homes to meet their needs and reflect their personalities.
If you’re thinking of fixing up your home but aren’t sure where to put your budget, we have some helpful pointers for you. In this blog post from V.C.G. Construction, we’ll be outlining high-impact home improvements. These are fixes that will improve your quality of life every day.
Fortify Your Entry Doors.
Most of the doors in your house are probably hollow, which isn’t a bad thing. Not only are hollow wooden doors less likely to warp, they’re also less expensive and lighter. For your bathrooms, closets, and bedrooms, hollow doors are an acceptable choice.
But if your home has hollow entry doors, switching to solid wood is a high-impact home improvement. Sure, solid wood doors are about 50 percent more costly than your hollow core doors, but when it comes to security, a solid wood door is way more likely to keep trespassers at bay. Everyday protection is worth the cost, so make sure your front door, garage door, and basement door leading outside is solid.
Replace Your Insulation.
You can’t see your insulation, but you can feel the effects if it’s of shoddy quality. A high-impact home improvement you should tackle this year is upping the protection your insulation provides.
Insulation quality is measured by an “R” rating; the higher the rating, the more protection from the heat and cold. If your heating and cooling bills have been high, or if rooms with exterior walls feel frigid, think about upgrading to insulation with a higher “R” rating. Be sure to insulate all exterior walls, HVAC ducts, and cathedral ceilings.
Make Your Home More Soundproof.
You’ll thank yourself every day for this high-impact home improvement. Especially for bedroom additions or basement/attic conversions, soundproofing will keep conversations and sounds contained and let you enjoy your home in peace. Soundproofing between floors isn’t a bad idea, either, if the patter of little feet sounds more like a herd of rhinoceroses.
Soundproofing panels, extra drywall, or another layer of insulation or sound-absorbing foam are all ways to make your home quieter every single day.
Make Busy Spaces More Convenient.
There are some small electrical fixes you can complete to make your busiest spaces easier to use. One high-impact home improvement is simply adding outlets in the bathroom, a fix that doesn’t cost much but lets you plug in more appliances. (Need to charge your toothbrush, blow-dry your hair, and jam out to your iHome speakers at the same time? Now you can.)
Another high-impact home improvement for better convenience is adding closet lighting. Now there’s a fix that’s not a huge project, but makes your life easier every single day.
