Consumer Guide: Ten Questions to ask a Buyer's Agent

 

1. Are you a REALTOR®?

When you work with an agent who is a REALTOR,you are working with a professional guided by ethical duties under the REALTOR® Code of Ethics, including the pledge to protect and promote the interests of their clients.

2. What types of services can you provide me?

Agents may offer many types of services such as finding you homes that meet your criteria, accompanying you to showings, sharing their analysis of the market and available properties, negotiating on your behalf, and more. 

3. How well do you know the markets where I am searching for a home?

Your agent must be licensed where you are buying a home. But they should also have the market knowledge to help you successfully find a home where you are searching.

4. Do you have experience working with buyers in my situation?

Many agents specialize in working with certain types of buyers, such as first-time buyers and veterans. Some also earn the Accredited Buyer’s Representative designation to gain specialized skills in working with buyers. Ask your prospective agent about their experience and any designations or certifications they have earned related to working with buyers like you.

5. Can you tell me about your approach to scouting properties?

Agents and brokerages across the country have different business models and use and provide various technology, tools, and resources to inform their search process. Discuss with your prospective agent how their unique approach will help you find the right home.

6. What will be included in our written buyer agreement?

Once you are working with your agent and before you tour a home together, your agent may be required to enter into a written buyer agreement with you that outlines the services the agent will provide you, and what they will be paid for those services. These agreements are fully negotiable.

7. How long will we work together?

Talk with your prospective agent about how long you would like to work together and ensure you feel comfortable with that arrangement. This term could be set out in your written buyer agreement.

8. What are my options for paying you?

Agent compensation is fully negotiable and can take many forms, such as a flat fee, a percentage of the purchase price, or an hourly fee. The written buyer agreement will contain the amount of compensation you agree on. You can also ask the seller to pay your broker’s compensation as part of your purchase offer or, in cases where a seller offers a concession, you may be able to use the funds to pay your broker for the value and services they provided you.

9. Can you recommend service providers who can help me obtain a mortgage, make home repairs, or support other closing tasks?

Your prospective agent may have prior experience or trusted relationships with providers in the area where you are purchasing a home and can be a great resource for facilitating these introductions.

10. Do you have references I can speak with?

Many agents will be happy to connect you with satisfied clients they have worked with in the past who can speak to their experience.

 

 

 

April 11, 2022

Getting Your Vertical Garden Ready For Spring

When you don’t have a lot of space or open ground around your home, planting a garden might seem impossible. After all, plants need room to grow and soil to grow in, don’t they? While this is true, there is more than one way to get a garden growing. If you have limited outdoor space or don’t have room for a large garden plot, one option is to set up a vertical garden instead.

 

 

While not every garden plant is feasible for a vertical garden, you might be surprised at all of the things that you can grow vertically. Of course, you’ll first have to get your vertical garden set up and ready for spring planting. You have a lot of options with how you do this, so let’s take a moment to cover the essentials of what your vertical garden should have.

 

Choosing a Garden Location

The first thing that you need to take into account is exactly where you’re going to locate your vertical garden. Your options may be limited depending on where you live, but if you choose a suboptimal location, then you’re going to have a hard time getting your garden to grow. At a minimum, you’re likely going to want a location that gets direct sunlight for at least part of the day, and a full 6 to 8 hours of sunlight will probably be required for most plants. If you have specific fruits or vegetables in mind already, do a bit of research into their sun requirements to help determine exactly what you’ll need. A southern-facing view may help you to get the sunlight that your plants need.

Access to water is also important. While you can always water your vertical garden by hand, it can save you a lot of effort if the garden is located in a spot that will get watered when it rains. Having access to the ground soil may be beneficial as well, though it isn’t a hard requirement; if you live in an apartment or otherwise plan on establishing your garden on a balcony or other location that doesn’t have open soil, you can always create your own growing environment with containers.

 

Establishing a Garden Framework

Once you have a location, your garden is going to need a growth framework so that it can actually start growing upward. Trellises, wire cages, tripods, and even fences can all make solid support structures so long as they are sturdy and able to be secured. These can be attached to the exterior of your home or other buildings, connected to balcony railings, or even secured into the ground. The method of securing your framework isn’t that important. What is important is that it’s secured well enough to be able to stand the weight of growing plants and eventual fruits or vegetables.

With the support structures in place, it’s time to prepare your soil. If planting directly into the ground, you’ll need to till the soil and add compost or other nutrients. If setting up containers, choose a soil or potting medium that will encourage root growth to help ensure that your plants are secure as they start to grow up. The weight of the soil and the eventual fruits or vegetables will help to keep the containers in place, so you don’t have to worry as much about securing them as you do your supports.

 

Growing Your Vertical Garden

Once you’ve got your vertical garden set up, you can plant a variety of beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and even melons and pumpkins vertically. You’ll likely need to tie down the vines early on and provide support for the fruits and vegetables as they grow, but the work will be worth it. The Sedlarik Group can help you find assistance with this as well. 

 

Posted in Home Maintenance
March 10, 2022

Protecting Your Landscape

Protecting Your Landscape 

With the time getting ready to change and the days getting longer, there are a lot of reminders that spring is right around the corner. Unfortunately for your outdoor plants, it might not be quite close enough to save them from a few more chilly nights. Depending on where you live, you may still have to deal with the occasional frost or overnight freeze for at least another month or possibly longer. This can cause significant problems for a lot of plants, and can really set back your landscaping and gardening plans if you wait until the danger of freezing is completely gone before putting things out.

 

 

Fortunately, there are a few different ways that you can protect your plants from late-season chills. While the specific methods you use will depend on where you live, the types of plants you have, and how low the temperature is supposed to drop, you should be able to find something to give your plants the protection they need. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

 

Protecting Roots and Leaves

You’ve likely seen people covering up plants with sheets and other materials when a frost or a freeze is expected, but you might find yourself wondering if that actually works. Turns out, it does! Frost affects the top layer of exposed plant material and soil, so by covering your plants with towels, sheets, or even spare cloth or plastic, you can create a layer of protection between the fragile plant material and the frost. Cloth and plastic bags or similar items can work as well, just so long as you’re careful about not damaging the plants in the process.

Just because you’ve protected the stems and leaves from frost doesn’t mean that your plants are completely safe, though. Low temperatures can also damage roots, especially in times of prolonged cold. Putting mulch, towels, and other materials on the ground around your plants can help to protect against this by adding insulation that will keep the soil a bit warmer for longer. Since freezes typically don’t last too long heading into spring, even a little bit of extra insulation can make a big difference.

 

Providing Additional Heat

In some cases, you may need to provide additional heat to protect your plants against cool mornings or seasonally low temperatures as well. For potted plants this is easy, as you can simply bring the plants inside or place them in warmer areas like a closed garage. For in-ground plants, though, a bit more work is required.

It’s possible to buy or build small greenhouse enclosures that can cover outdoor plants and protect them from low temperatures. These enclosures may be as simple as sheet plastic supported by wire or plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out. Regardless of their construction, heat from the sun will increase the local temperature within the greenhouse unit and give your outdoor plants the little boost of heat that they need to thrive until temperatures start to rise again.

 

Landscape Planning

Putting some extra work into planning your landscaping can also go a long way toward protecting your plants from frosts and freezes. Choosing outdoor plants that are hardier against the cold will help to provide this protection, and a gradual rollout of new plants that’s staged from hardier to less hardy will keep your exterior looking vibrant without adding plants that will suffer from the cold. If you aren’t sure which plants to choose or how to time the rollout of new plants, there should be landscaping experts in your area that can help.

 

 

Posted in Home Maintenance
March 7, 2022

Do's And Dont's Of Home Trends

There are a number of trends in home decoration that you’ve likely seen come and go over the years. Some of them look pretty nice and create something of a timeless look, while others… well, it’s pretty easy to understand why they’re only temporary trends. Like them or hate them, though, following home trends can sometimes have a positive impact on the value of your home if you’re looking to sell. That is, of course, if you strike while the iron is hot.

 

 

But what if you’re not actually looking to sell at the moment and just like the way that a trend looks? Will going all-in on some big trend hurt your home’s value down the line if you do decide to sell later? This could be a legitimate concern depending on the trend. After all, even if you’re on the market and don’t manage to sell right away, you could find that going too far with certain trends will bite you before you find a buyer.

 

Home Trend Dos

There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with following home trends, either to bump up the value of your home in the current market or just because you like the look of them. If you’re thinking of making some changes around the house because of a current trend, here are a few things to think about:

  • Evaluate the cost of a trend before jumping all in; some are surprisingly cost effective, while others will give you a bit of sticker shock
  • Keep an eye on trending paint colors and the “hot colors” that paint manufacturers announce every year to stay ahead of color trends, so that your home can stay trendy without you having to pay a premium for trendy colors
  • Pick and choose the trends you want to follow, and take only the parts that you like if you’re not committed to the entirety of a trend

Don’t be afraid to make some changes and upgrades in trendy styles, but don’t go overboard with it. This is especially true if you’re just looking to make some trendy home improvements before you sell your home.

 

Home Trend Don’ts

Some trends can really bring up the value of your home if you catch them at the peak of their popularity, but if you aren’t that lucky, then they can cost you money in the end. These are the trends that you should avoid unless you really like them. Here are a few things to look out for when considering home trends:

  • Avoid trends that require major structural changes or construction merely for aesthetic purposes
  • The overuse of bright, bold colors occasionally comes into fashion but will almost certainly go out just as quickly
  • Unless it’s just a minor expense, stay away from trends that you just don’t “get” because there’s a decent chance that you’ll implement it incorrectly or miss the height of its popularity and not even realize it
  • Even if it’s popular, watch out for trends that will be difficult for future homeowners to undo; potential buyers might see your trendy changes and start wondering how much it will cost to change them, and that could potentially spoil the sale

Basically, trends can be fun. Think twice about them though if they’re going to be too expensive, create too many headaches for future homeowners, or are likely to come across as garish or ugly.

 

Cashing In on Home Trends

If you do want to make some home improvements or other changes to follow certain trends, it’s important that you find the right pro for the job. Whether you need an interior designer, a painter, or even a plumber to help you follow a new fountain trend, you don’t want to pay more than you have to. 

Posted in Home Maintenance
Feb. 23, 2022

Maintaining your Heating and Cooling

 

Your HVAC system works hard throughout the year to make sure that your home stays comfortable. During the chilly months of winter, it pumps hot air through the home to keep things toasty and warm. Once summer rolls around, cool air circulates to keep things from getting too hot within the home. When it’s operating at its best, you likely barely notice that it’s doing anything at all; the climate of your home remains so consistent that all of your HVAC system’s hard work just seems to happen in the background. Could it be even better, though?

 

 

There are usually things that you can do to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system even more, helping it to run better while also saving you some money on your heating and cooling costs. The specifics of how you accomplish this depend largely on your home’s layout and the sort of HVAC system that you have, but there are generally at least a few improvements that you can make. Here are some suggestions to help you head in the right direction so you can get more from your system.

 

Optimizing Air Flow

One big thing that you can do to get more from your HVAC system is to make sure that the airflow for your system is unobstructed. There are a few ways that you can do this. Periodically check your vents and vacuum or clean them as necessary to make sure that there aren’t any obstructions or dirt deposits in them. Check your cold air return to ensure that there isn’t any furniture or other large items blocking the free flow of air and that proper clearances are being observed. Check your filters to ensure that they’re clean, or install an electrostatic filter that you can buy once and then periodically wash to keep it in peak operating condition. Basically, the goal here is to make sure that there isn’t anything that’s going to interfere with the flow of air through your HVAC system.

 

Assisting Your HVAC System

Once you’ve got air flowing without issue, there are other things that you can do to make sure that your HVAC system isn’t working harder than it has to in order to keep your home comfortable. Consider installing a new thermostat, especially a smart thermostat that uses multiple sensors around the home to check temperatures in different locations, to ensure that the entire house is comfortable. A house fan installed in the attic can also be beneficial during certain times of the year, helping to control the buildup of hot air and making the house easier to heat and cool overall.

Another big thing that you can do to help your HVAC system is to inspect your windows and search for signs of damage or leaks. If your windows are letting air leak freely into or out of your home, your HVAC system will have to work that much harder to keep the temperature where you want it, because outside temperatures will have a much greater effect on what things are like inside. While damaged windows are often easy to spot, be sure to periodically check for breezes or other signs of air leaks while the HVAC system is off to make sure that you don’t have any unwanted air exchanges going on.

 

HVAC Maintenance

Nobody wants to have to call out an HVAC technician on an emergency call because their system has gone out, especially during the coldest part of winter or the heat of the summer months. To help avoid this, periodic maintenance of your HVAC system is essential. Fortunately, many HVAC pros offer seasonal or yearly inspection services to keep your system in top shape throughout the year.

 

Posted in Home Maintenance
Feb. 8, 2022

Ice Free Windows

Keeping Your Windows Free Of Frost

When temperatures drop in winter, it’s not uncommon to see ice and snow outside and maybe even a little bit of frost on the outside of your windows and storm doors. Occasionally, though, you might notice a bit of ice building up on the inside of your windows as well. It’s easy to overlook this as just a sign that the temperature has really dropped outside, but that can be a mistake.

 

Ice appearing on the inside of your windows is usually a sign that there is something going wrong in or around your windows. At best this can drive up your heating costs during the winter, sometimes significantly. At worst, you might be looking at leaks or other damage that could lead to significant repairs down the road. So if you notice ice on the inside of your windows, it’s important that you take action sooner rather than later.

 

Ice Inside Your Windows

When ice appears on your window interior, it’s typically a sign that moisture is condensing on the glass and then freezing as a result of cold air making it through the window barrier. This can occur in a few ways, including cracks or gaps in the window frame or damage to the window itself. The cold air cools down the window glass, making it cold enough for the water in the air to condense and freeze on the glass surface.

This can be problematic if the air leak is a result of cracks in the glass or window frame, as ice can build up within the crack as well. As the ice expands, the crack itself can widen. Multiple freezes over the course of the winter can cause increasingly worse damage, resulting in larger cracks or leaks by the time that spring rolls around.

 

Addressing the Root Cause

There are a few different ways that you can treat the problems that cause ice to appear on the inside of your windows. If you can’t find any signs of damage on or around your windows, it’s possible that the icy buildup is simply a result of your home’s humidity being too high and the windows themselves not being sufficient to keep all the cold air out. If this is the case, you can usually get rid of the ice by using a dehumidifier to reduce your home’s humidity or using home exhaust fans to circulate humid air out of the home. This will prevent ice from building up and potentially causing problems in the future.

If you do find potential gaps or cracks on or around the window, try sealing them with caulk to keep cold air from making its way inside. The caulk can be removed once warmer temperatures come around so that the window will be functional. Applying thermal plastic sheeting or other barriers over the windows may also help to control your icing issue since it will keep humid air in the house from coming in contact with the cold glass of your window. Other solutions such as putting towels or other cloth barriers in place over potential cracks or placing a small space heater near windows that have icing problems may also work. It’s worth noting that none of these are permanent solutions, though they may help you to avoid damage until better solutions can be enacted.

 

Fixing Your Ice Problem

In the end, the only way to really fix a problem with ice forming on the inside of your windows is to repair the problem. This could take the form of making repairs to your window frame, replacing cracked or broken glass in the window, or replacing the entire window itself. Regardless of which solution best fits your need, We can help you find a window installer to get the job done.

Posted in Home Maintenance
Feb. 4, 2022

Frost Free Faucets

 

Frost Free Faucets 

Depending on where you live, this may be the time of year when you keep watching the mercury drop lower and lower as weather patterns come and go. Cold winter temperatures can be difficult for people and pets to deal with, but they can also be an issue as far as your home is concerned. Freezing pipes and faucets can be major hassles that cost a significant amount to repair, especially as they often require emergency service calls that cost extra. This is part of the reason that so much emphasis is placed on freeze prevention during the winter.

 

 

One thing that can make a big difference in the freeze safety of your home is the use of frost-free faucets on your home’s exterior. As the name implies, these faucets are designed to make it much more difficult for them to freeze and potentially crack or leak as a result of cold weather. If you aren’t sure whether your home has frost-free faucets installed and you think that you might need them, read on for more information.

 

What Are Frost-Free Faucets?

As the name suggests, frost-free faucets (which are also called freeze-proof faucets by some) are exterior faucets that are designed to prevent freezing around the valve and within the spigot itself. They do this by using a longer faucet neck and slightly different valve angle to place the shutoff valve of the faucet inside the house instead of outside, ensuring that the valve is in a warmer environment when the temperature drops and therefore the likelihood of freezing is significantly reduced. This protects the valve from freezing damage, but also provides additional benefits as well.

Because the valve is inside of your home, the spigot itself remains dry while the water is turned off. This eliminates one of the other major issues with freezing, damage to the spigot itself that can cause leaks. Since there isn’t any water in or near the spigot, there’s no water available to freeze and expand within the spigot and no way for the increasing internal pressure to cause cracks. It’s worth noting that having a hose connected during the winter can still cause water to be held within it, though, so disconnecting your hoses before cold weather moves in is still important when using frost-free faucets.

 

Frost-Free Faucets on Your Home

There are a few ways to tell if you have frost-free faucets already installed on your home. One way is to look at the orientation of the faucet itself; if it tilts upward at an angle, it’s likely not a frost-free model. Frost-free faucets have a longer screw mechanism that run the length of the faucet neck, so the faucet and valve control are almost certainly going to be situated straight out from your home and perpendicular to the wall.

Another key feature of frost-free faucets is that the neck of the faucet goes into the wall instead of simply being connected to a pipe coming out of the wall. While they may have mounting hardware that helps to hold the faucet in place against the wall, upon closer inspection you will likely be able to tell that the faucet and the “pipe” going into the wall are all part of a single piece of material. Standard faucets will have a separate pipe that will be obvious upon inspection.

 

Proper installation is important for frost-free faucets since even a small leak during installation can increase the chances of freezing during cold weather significantly. As a result, it’s generally recommended that you bring in a plumber so that the new faucets are installed professionally. If you aren’t sure which plumber in your area is the best for the job, we can help! 

Posted in Home Maintenance
Jan. 31, 2022

Home Drainage

 

 

Drainage problems can be a major issue for homeowners. Not only does poor drainage cause standing water in your yard, but it can also lead to leaks and foundation problems with your house depending on where the water collects. As if that wasn’t bad enough, landscaping and lawn upkeep become a lot harder when your yard doesn’t drain well. Is there anything that can be done for these problems?

 

Fortunately, yes. There are actually a few different ways to treat drainage issues in your yard, and this is a great time to undertake a project to correct them. By taking action now, you can avoid problems that might arise from heavy spring rains. The exact solution to your drainage issues will depend on the cause of your problem, so here are a few different options to consider.

 

Grading Issues

One common cause of problems with drainage is inconsistent grading in your yard. This can cause problems if your home is at the bottom of a big slope across your yard, but it can also be an issue if the grading is inconsistent and as a result has one or more low spots in the yard. Water flows along the soil wherever the grade leads, so this can cause it to collect around your home or in low areas which can then become swampy and overgrown.

Regrading your yard can be done either with specialized tools that scrape soil from higher areas into lower ones, or by bringing in additional soil to completely change the grade. Each method has its advantages, with redistribution being favored when there are both high and low areas in your yard, and the addition of new soil being best when you need to change an otherwise mostly good grade. Once the regrading is finished you can seed the graded area and have grass growing by the time spring arrives.

 

Soil Penetration

Another big problem with drainage comes when water simply can’t penetrate down into the soil in time to be absorbed. This is especially problematic because you end up with way too much water in the areas where water collects but the soil in other areas might not get enough. Sometimes this is because the soil has too much clay in its composition so it’s difficult for water to penetrate, and sometimes it’s a result of other issues such as thick thatch. In some cases, it’s even just a matter of the soil being too compacted by traffic and time. Regardless of the cause, though, there are solutions.

Clay-heavy soil is the most work-intensive to correct, but the solution is also pretty simple. You simply need to break up the clay and add soil or sand into the mix to make it easier to drain. Sometimes this is as easy as adding a few holes in the clay-heavy area and mixing it together, especially if the clay is in a relatively small area. In some instances, though, you may need to do some tilling or other heavy mixing to break up larger clay beds.

Other issues can be fixed by using a dethatcher on your lawn to break up the thatch buildup or running tools over the ground that punch small holes to break up overly compacted topsoil. Dethatching and aerating the soil like this are often done together, as the loosening of soil is good for the growing grass as well even if it wasn’t excessively compacted.

 

Fix Your Drainage Problems

Correcting drainage issues can be a big job, but your yard and your home’s foundation will thank you. If you’re in need of a landscaping pro to get the job done, The Sedlarik Group can help with that!! 

Posted in Home Maintenance
Jan. 28, 2022

Building A Home Gym

Timing

Winter and early spring are typically great times for construction projects around the house. Not only do materials tend to be a bit cheaper due to reduced overall demand, but some labor costs may be reduced as well. Because of this, some homeowners tend to start looking for add-on projects or major remodels to undertake so that they can take advantage of lower prices and faster project starts.

 

One popular home project in recent years is adding a home gym, often converting a largely unused basement or garage space into an area for a wide range of workouts. It’s possible that you’ve considered adding a home gym yourself, either as a room conversion or in an exterior building or add-on. Let’s look at this project a little more closely to determine whether this is the year you should let those home gym dreams come true.

 

Home Gym Basics

When you think of a home gym, you might think of some big elaborate space with big, bulky equipment and mirrors hanging everywhere. Sounds intimidating, right? Not only is something like that probably more than you need, but having such an over-the-top gym area in your home could actually make it harder to sell since it’s such a specialized room. This is why most home gyms are generally much simpler affairs, and really only require a few things to make them truly functional.

The basic things that you’ll need for your home gym are floor space (obviously), good ventilation, some storage areas, and access to electricity. In a pinch, you can even make do with a small shed or room corner that has some storage totes and some foam padding on the floor. Even when you go for a full-room conversion, these basics will generally remain the same.

 

Designing the Gym

If you want to convert a room into a home gym, start with adding some impact-absorbing foam panels or something similar on the floor where you’ll be doing a lot of your workouts. Plan out where you’re going to place treadmills or any other equipment that you’ll need to plug in and see if there are outlets nearby; if not, you’ll need to bring in an electrician to add some. You’ll also need an area to store exercise equipment, either in cabinets or totes, and possibly a laundry basket for dirty towels to keep the sweat contained. For ventilation, you’ll either want the room to connect to your heat and air system or to have fans and windows that you can leverage to circulate the air around.

If you want something smaller, take these same basics and scale them down. Instead of plotting a full-room floor plan, arrange your storage solutions along the walls leading into a corner. A small TV in the corner can also help you to access exercise videos and other content to help you with your workouts. A standing fan can help with ventilation, and so long as you make use of your storage you should be largely good to go. Even with minimal changes to the house, it should still be an effective workout area.

 

Building Your Home Gym

A home gym project can be as big or as small as you need it to be. Even if your plans are relatively minor, though, you may still need to make a few changes to your environment or bring in a decorator to help you arrange things in a small space. Fortunately, The Sedlarik Group is here to help you find the pro that you need for your home gym design no matter how big or small the project is.

Posted in Home Maintenance
Jan. 7, 2022

Winterizing Your Home

HOW TO WINTERIZE THE WINDOWS AND DOORS IN YOUR NEW HOME

So you’ve bought a new home.  Congratulations.  Once the dust settles and you finally start to settle in, you come to the realization that you’ve just inherited a laundry list of new responsibilities. 

When the deep freeze starts to set in, the last thing you want to worry about is losing valuable heat due to drafty windows and doors.  In addition to the cost associated with a heating system that has to work overtime, there’s the comfort factor and with more time spent at home in general, there’s something to be said for keeping things cozy–for both sound mind and body.  

UNDERSTANDING THE VALUE OF WINTERIZING 

The process of winterizing your windows and doors seems simple enough–if they leak, they let cold air in and allow heat to escape.  While that’s true, it’s important to understand how serious an impact this can have on how well your home actually retains heat.  It might be tempting to ignore the issue and just raise the thermostat up a bit to compensate, but what you may not realize is by doing this you’re contributing to a problem that will continue to grow–in the form of a much higher utility bill. According to the Department of Energy, drafty windows are responsible for 25% - 30 % of residential heating energy use. That’s hard-earned money that could be saved for a rainy day or spent elsewhere.    

 

BASIC TIPS TO INSULATE YOUR WINDOWS AND DOORS

Most often, the culprit behind a drafty window or door isn’t the product itself.  Over time, when homes settle, what was once a tight seal between windows, doors and the surrounding framing and structure has become compromised.

For windows, insulating film is probably the cheapest method to add some insulation.  It comes in rolls, along with adhesive that you use to apply directly to the surface.  However, this does not address any leaks around the window frame itself. 

For windows and doors, weatherstripping is another easy to apply and affordable solution.  Essentially, the weatherstripping is applied to areas where the actual window or door meet the fixed framing that holds them in place.  Once they’re in the closed position, the weatherstripping helps to cut down on the air flow.        

Another option is to apply a bead of caulk to both the interior and exterior of the window or door frame.  Depending on how handy you are, this could also be a great DIY project for you to tackle.  Just be sure to practice your technique first, since it will be visible and could turn out looking poor if not done precisely.  Also, it’s important to use the right type of caulk for interior applications and exterior applications respectively, the latter being the most different in that it must withstand the outside elements more effectively.       

Sealing gaps has the added benefit of keeping moisture out which can actually deteriorate the window or door and possibly create an environment where mold can form.

If you have a bit of a budget, you could even consider storm windows and doors.  These products are installed over your existing windows and doors.  While there are stock options available to choose from, it may be a case where you have to custom order to fit the size properly.  Whether you hire a pro or decide to do this yourself is all based on your own skills.   

  

HOW DO I KNOW IF I SHOULD REPLACE MY WINDOWS AND DOORS INSTEAD?

Whether you’re a first time home buyer or you’ve owned your home for years, a common misconception is that you have to wait for the weather to warm up to jump into a replacement window or door project.  Fortunately, that’s just not the case.  With some added measures by the installation team to keep your house warm during the project, this is totally doable.  Since each window (or door, if you have more than one), is removed and replaced one at a time, it’s not as if all the openings will be breached at the same time which isolates the heat loss during the process.  Plus, the savings on your energy bills will be almost immediate and it’s one less day of unnecessary wear and tear on your heating system.

Posted in Home Maintenance
Jan. 5, 2022

Is It Time For New Cabinets?

Is It Time For New Cabinets

Cabinets play an important part in the functionality of your kitchen. Unfortunately, over time you might find that your cabinets no longer really meet your needs. This could be because they’re falling into disrepair, or it may be a result of you gradually needing more storage than your cabinets can provide. You might even realize that the decoration of your kitchen and surrounding rooms just don’t match your cabinets anymore. Regardless of the reason, it could be time to consider some new cabinets.

Have you actually reached the point where you need to get new cabinets, though? If you aren’t sure, spend a little time considering how well your cabinets truly meet your needs and what it is that you ideally want. Here are a few things to think about to help you make this decision.

 

Cabinet Condition and Function

One of the biggest considerations when it comes to deciding if it’s time for new cabinets is how well your current cabinets really fit your current life. Your biggest things to think about here are whether the condition of the cabinets is causing you problems, and how well the cabinets actually work for what you need them for. Start with the condition, looking for any damaged areas, doors that won’t close, warped shelves, and other physical problems that you encounter when using the cabinets. If these leave you unable to use some of your space or otherwise cause problems, it may be time to do something about it.

Likewise, if you have certain items that you can’t put in your cabinets because they won’t fit, or if there are parts of the cabinets that you can’t really use due to layout reasons, then you may have an issue with the functionality of your cabinets. Sometimes this isn’t a significant enough problem to replace your cabinets, of course. If using the cabinets is inconvenient or if you have a lot of wasted space, though, something clearly needs to be done.

 

Cabinet Aesthetics

Even though it’s not as pressing of an issue as damaged cabinets or cabinets that you can’t use fully, having cabinets that don’t match your other furnishings can also be an issue if you’re trying to tie your design choices together. Stop and think about how well your existing cabinets go with everything else, and even whether they are visually appealing in and of themselves. Your home is an investment, and if your cabinets are taking away from your enjoyment of that investment, then it might be time to replace them.

Replacing your cabinets for aesthetic reasons can be a standalone job, or it could be something that you do as part of a larger remodeling project. If you’re only replacing the cabinets, take the time to find a new cabinet option that fits in well with your kitchen layout and the dominant design elements within the kitchen. If you’re doing a larger kitchen remodel and have decided to get rid of your ugly cabinets as a part of it, stop and think about what you want in cabinets and then use that to inform some of your other remodeling decisions.

 

Do You Need New Cabinets?

Whether or not you need new cabinets is a big decision, but once you’ve weighed your options you should have something of an idea of whether your current cabinets will last you a bit longer. If you do find that you need new cabinets, then finding the right cabinet maker and installer is the next step in your cabinet journey. Fortunately, Here at The Sedlarik Group we can help with this.

Having worked in The Real Estate business for over 20 years I have a network of professionals in our area and would be happy to refer you to a cabinet pro who will help you with making sure that your new cabinets are exactly what you want and that they’re installed expertly. Happy shopping! Kitchen Cabinets

Posted in Home Maintenance