A Fresh Coat of Paint for Your Exterior

A fresh coat of paint for your exterior will do wonders when applied properly. In addition to making your business premises or home stand out, it will provide protection to the exterior from the harsh weather elements. This will save you money and time that you would spend on building repairs and maintenance in the long run.

Basically, a fresh coat of paint for your building exterior does more than just enhance the aesthetic appearance. The color of the paint applied on your house can reflect your personality. Thus, in addition to pleasing the eyes, a fresh coat of paint can send a message to neighbors and passersby. But, how do you determine whether your building needs a fresh coat of paint? Here are signs that the exterior of your house needs a new paint job.

Faded Color

Extended exposure of the exterior of a building to sun causes fading of the paint on the west and east sides. Fading starts when paint fails due to sun damage. If the exterior of your building has a faded color, it means you still have time to respond before peeling starts thereby exposing the underneath surface. So, if you notice fading of the exterior paint’s color, consider applying a new coat of paint on your exterior.

Chipping, Peeling and Cracking Paint

Sun and moisture exposure weakens the existing bond between the exterior surface and paint after some time. Typically, this becomes noticeable once the paint starts showing small cracks and it is a sign of failing paint. Eventually, the exterior paint starts to flake and chip off leaving exterior surfaces exposed. Unfortunately, exposed surfaces worsen when nothing is done to protect them. When exposed, the underneath material becomes susceptible to mold, pests, and rot.

Wood Rot

Paint is usually the first defense line for a home against natural elements. If the exterior of your building doesn’t have paint protection, its materials are exposed and susceptible to rotting. Perhaps, you should test the wood in the exterior of your home to find out if it’s already rotting. Use your hands to press the exposed wood. If the wood gives in to pressure, it means rotting has already started. When rotten, wood needs replacement before new paint is applied. Otherwise, the new paint will also fail. Most construction materials tend to deteriorate very fast when not protected by quality paint.

Mold and Mildew

Growth of mold and mildew is a major reason to apply a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of a building. However, removing mold and mildew requires professional cleaning. The exterior of a building with mold and mildew has to be cleaned thoroughly. This can wear down the exterior paint faster than usual. So, if your building’s exterior has spots with faded paint as a result of mold and mildew removal, consider having it repainted.

You don’t have to wait for your exterior paint to fail completely to apply a fresh coat of paint to your home. Hire a professional painting contractor to have a brand new layer of paint applied to your house or facility anytime you notice any of these signs.

Balancing Your Landscape with Enhancing Tree, Plant & Shrub Upgrades

Your choice of trees, plants and shrubs determine the first impression that your landscape provides to the people that visit your property.

I’ve reviewed a professional tree service Brandon MB residents consider highly reputable when it comes to tree landscaping and improving your yards appearance. As you read through you will find some helpful advice inspired by that review. Whether it’s your home or a commercial property, you can balance the landscape with enhancing tree, plant, and shrub upgrades. Essentially, plants give a landscape a more sculptural look and feeling. Flowering plants, shrubs and trees add balancing colors and textures.

For instance, you can use small shrubs to balance large elements in your landscape. In addition to enhancing proportion and aesthetics, smaller shrubs can increase color in your landscape. They can also provide habitat for butterflies, birds and wildlife in your landscape.

Landscaping Shrubs and Trees

Shrubs and trees, especially evergreens, can be used to form windbreaks in a garden that is exposed to wind. House walls and outbuildings can be used to support wall shrubs and climbers. However, this depends on the architecture of a building as well as whether the appearance can be improved by such plants.

If you have a small garden, you can balance the landscape by selecting the right trees, plants, and shrubs to have in the available space with extra care. For instance, you can plant specimen shrubs and trees in your lawn. Such shrubs and trees with colored leaves and shaped actively are ideal for a small landscape. Trees with flowers and berries as well as those with colored barks can also add color to the landscape.

Shrubs with attractive, neat habit are ideal for this purpose. Avoid shrubs with untidy and straggly growth. Basically, go for shrubs and trees that look good when they flower or those with colored barks. It’s also important to consider other landscape features like rocks and stones in your garden when choosing the trees, plants and shrubs to grow. Ensure that the shrubs, plants, and trees in your landscape work together with other features to make the entire landscape more appealing.

Consider the Growth Patterns of Trees, Plants and Shrubs

It’s important to give the size of your trees, plants, and shrubs after some time a special consideration and thought. Trees that become overly large will ruin the proportion of a small garden. However, there are trees that grow tall without covering the shrubs and lawn under them. Therefore, learn about the growth pattern of the trees, plants, and shrubs that you grow in your landscape. Look for trees and shrubs that will enable you to maintain a balance between different elements of your landscape even after several years.

If you plant forest trees like poplars, planes, elms, and limes in a small garden, you will inevitably have to mutilate them with severe pruning after some years. To avoid this, go for smaller, ornamental varieties.

The Bottom Line

Tree, plant, and shrub upgrades can play a very important role when it comes to balancing a landscape. However, there are many varieties of plants, trees, and shrubs to choose from. Each variety has its own characteristics and growth pattern. Therefore, find the most ideal plants, trees, or shrubs to have in your landscape to strike a balance between them and other elements in your landscape.

Home Additions and Finding the Right Renovator

Are you considering a home addition as a renovation project? Then you need to weigh your options and find the right renovator. You cannot tack on a room to your current home and call it your addition. You need tips that will enable you to add the right square footage to the current home. From designing the new space to building the addition, you need help of an experienced professional.

Explore the Available Options

An addition might not be the only solution available for you. There might be other ways of getting the additional space that you need. Therefore, before you proceed with your home additions project, consider alternatives. You can talk to a professional home renovator to find out whether a home addition is ideal for you. Also find out more about home addition styles. This will enable you to choose a style that is suitable for your home.

Plan the Addition

Additions are built in different directions. They also come in different sizes and shapes. It’s important that you consider the design and purpose of your project. A home designer can help you design an addition that will work best for you.

Choose Materials

What materials will you use for the additions? Great home additions look like the original structure. Therefore, talk to an expert about extending the foundation and roof of your home. Also choose finishes carefully and integrate the operational system of your home into the addition.

Find the Right Renovator

To get the home addition built, get the right renovator. Home additions are major undertakings. They involve experts that specialize in everything from the foundation to the roof. Therefore, find a renovator that is trained and experienced in handling home addition projects. Perhaps, you can ask the renovator to provide references of their past work. Ask owners of the additions that the renovator has created if they met their expectations.

If you are thinking about home additions, follow these tips to plan your additions and hire the right renovator.

How to Enhance the Curb Appeal of Your Home

Whether you just desire to spruce up and make your home unique or trying to sell it, there many ways via which you can enhance its curb appeal. Curb appeal refers to the attractiveness of a commercial or residential property’s exterior when looked from the streets. When selling a property, a nice curb appeal attracts more prospective buyers.

However, many people move into a home and live in it for years without changing its curb appeal. Nevertheless, there are minor changes that you can make on the curb appeal to personalize your property. Here are fantastic ideas on how to make your home look stunning by enhancing its curb appeal.

Repaint the Front Door

This is a simple way to enhance the curb appeal of your home because you just need paint and a brush. When done properly, painting the front door will boost the curb appeal of your home significantly. Essentially, many people see the front door first when they glance at a home. Therefore, personalize this door by painting it with your favorite color. Bright and bold colors make a home stand out. However, you can paint the front door with classic black if you prefer something more subtle.

Clear the Pathway

The pathway is the second most visible spot of your home. Rogue slabs and unattended grass patches look awful. However, you can work on these in different ways. For instance, you can lay down a natural looking turf, a nice pathway, or put down wooden platforms in stones. Wooden platforms look great in traditional homes and classic bungalows.

Update Windows

Windows provide a way for visitors to look into a home from the outside. As such, you should treat them the way you treat the front door. Keep windows clean. Repair and replace them when broken or outdated. Your house will look bad with dirty, rotten windows. They will ruin the mood of visitors or prospective buyers when they approach your home. So, bring your home to life by repairing damaged windows and cleaning them. Also consider repainting your windows.

Replace the Roof

To some homeowners, this sounds strange. However, changing the design or color of your roof can change how people perceive your home. If you are a homeowner, you need to personalize your house. The roof might seem immovable but this is not the case. In fact, you can try out different designs and colors to find out what works best for your home. When done properly and after careful thinking, roof replacement will be a great improvement that will enhance the curb appeal of your home. Roof replacement can be done by an experienced contractor like Medicine Hat Roofing. They replaced my mother in-law’s roof a few months ago and did a fantastic job.

Add Life to Your Home

Regardless of the size of your patio or garden, you can add life and color to it. For instance, you can add bushes and plants to give your home a natural feel. Even if your space is tiny, consider planting small flowers or even hanging plants on the exterior of the front door. Essentially, work with sensible plants that won’t grow uncontrollably. Well-maintained plants will capture the attention of your visitors and impress them instantly.

Repaint

If your home has discolored, flaking away, or peeling paint, consider repainting it. You can also paint your house with vibrant shades if the current paint is dull. This will give your home an impressive character. However, paint your house with a color that won’t crash with that of the front door. Make sure that both the house color and the front door color work together.

These are simple tips for enhancing the curb appeal of a home yet they go a long way towards personalizing it. Curb appeal is very important to both visitors and potential buyers since they make up their mind quickly after seeing a home from the outside. Follow these tips to give your home a more impressive curb appeal.

Value increasing ideas

Our home is the largest investment for most of us. To protect our property we have to maintain and improve its home value. Spend little money and time to make your place look better and nice.

If you are planning to increase your home value, you can do major remodeling such as new paint, landscaping, windows and doors. Before starting to do some changes in your home try to look around your neighborhood so you can get a good idea and make comparison on whether to make your home sale price the same, greater, or lower than other homes in your area.

If you want to sell your home right away and want to keep your remodeling to be cheap and simple, you can start up by keeping your lawn in good condition. You can mow it and trim the hedges or even set up some landscaping. You may place fresh flowers to make your home look inviting or provide a small garden and put some plants to add color to your yard. Get your home organized and tidy when showing your home to a potential buyer.

Clean and wash your windows and repaint your interior walls to make your home look good as new. Get good paint rollers so your walls would not look mottled. You can paint your walls with beige to make your home look larger and nice. Put up sheer curtains or blinds to make your home look better without spending too much and to make a good impression.

Waterproofing your home

Waterproofing our home is one of the major improvement we can do and we must do. Water drifts from the roof is not what we want to experience and will wet our basements, floors or even us. Waterproofing our home is a must do considering that water damage may ruins or weakens the structure of our house. Waterproofing a home protects whatever is inside, including those who live in it. When we plan for some renovations or improvements into our homes, bad weather or heavy rains must be considered first.

Planning of waterproofing the home should be done when there is still no major damage in your house though because doing it after experiencing a major damage is very difficult. Doing it by yourself or hiring a professional in waterproofing your home are your options but there would be much difference in the result of both. The damage done will be the one to be weighed whether you have to do it yourself or to do it by hiring a pro Having minor leaks or seeping in the home is considered minor damage and fixing it by yourself would be enough.

You do not have to call the pros if your problem is only some leaks that water may pass through and perhaps weakens the structure, instead you do it yourself. Instead, prepare yourself and the necessary materials and fix it yourself. Fix it yourself and prepare the necessary materials. Remove the old paint and the dirt and let loose the mortar by using a brush when you have located the part of the foundation or structure or roof that the water or moisture builds up. After cleaning and drying, repaint it with a paint that is waterproofed. Three to four coats is recommended for a better result.

Calling a pro to fix the problem is your option if there is a severe damage to be repaired. It may cost you a lot of money, but consider the things it can offer when the job is complete. When the job is complete, it may cost you a lot but consider what it has to offer.} In choosing, who is the best that can do the job, would not always be who bids the lowest but who do the best quality. Remember always to check the interior and the exterior of your walls and clean your gutter always to prevent having water build up in the structures of your home. To prevent water and moisture build up in your home will be prevented by checking your interior and exterior of your walls and also by cleaning your gutter always.

Energy saving tips

People all over the world are now very much concerned about the terrible effects of global warming. Conventional energy sources contribute to this phenomenon and at the same time, it also serves as a great financial worry among homeowners. People want to save the planet but they can’t possibly live without the great conveniences of today’s modern life. If you want to help in saving the environment, consider these home energy savings tips. You don’t have to be an expert in climate change or in alternative energy sources to make changes in your lifestyle. Follow these tips to ensure home energy saving:

Try to ensure that the electrical appliances are turned off. When you’re not using any of the appliances, shut them down. For those using computers with extra monitors, turn off the monitor when not in use. CFLs are better than incandescent bulbs and its energy saving too. When using air conditioners, you can still stay cool by setting the temperature at the lowest possible setting, just enough to hold back heat. You can also use ceiling fans instead so that the air inside the room is circulating. You don’t need to set the air con to maximum temperature because it’s also not comfortable to shiver inside the room.When washing clothes, try to wait until you have a full load. If the weather is sunny, you don’t need to use the dryer and instead, leave the clothes to dry outside on a clothesline or on a hanging rack. Less energy is consumed when the fridge or freezer is full. If you need to heat frozen foods in the over, leave them to defrost first. Unplug all unused appliances especially if you’re going out of the house. The fridge can still be left running but not the unnecessary ones.

5 Saving Energy Devices that can automate saving household energy:

1. Saving Energy Bulbs

Making improvements to your home lighting by switching to energy-efficient light bulbs such as fluorescent compact bulbs, LED lights and outdoor solar lighting is one of the fastest and easiest ways to save home energy. Once new efficient energy lighting technologies are in place, you can move on to the next project because your saving energy bulbs are on auto-pilot working to increase your energy light savings by 50-75 percent.

2. Programmable Heating Thermostat

If your house has central air conditioning, installing a programmable heating thermostat is something you really need to do. There’s absolutely no reason to pay for air conditioning or heating you don’t need. You can save up to 50% on your heating and cooling bill by programming the thermostat to automatically lower your home energy use when you are at work, away on vacation or asleep.

3. Energy Saving Surge Protectors

Vampire or phantom loads are appliances and devices that continue to use electricity after they power down. According to the Department of Energy, vampire energy loss is responsible for up to 15% of a home’s annual energy costs. The best way to get rid of these vampire loads, save home energy and have the devices available for use is to put them on energy-saving surge protectors. This is one of the most cost-effective saving electricity tips you can do as it can save you as much as $400 annually.

4. Star Energy Appliances

Adding these kinds of energy-saving devices throughout your home usually take some planning and budgeting. The important thing to remember though is that when you are in the market for a new refrigerator or dishwasher, purchase star energy appliances that carry the Energy Star logo on them. When you see this logo on appliances it means they qualify as saving energy devices.

5. Motion Sensor Lights and Light Timers

Using saving energy devices such as motion sensor lights and light timers can really help increase your energy light savings with little or no effort on your part except to install the devices. The way motion sensor lights work is the lights will come on automatically when you enter an area, or they go off after you leave. You can use motion sensor lights both inside and outside your home. In the case of light timers, you program them to automatically turn your lights on or off at predetermined times. Using saving energy devices as much as you can throughout your home can practically automate saving household energy. There’s nothing like saving money without having to try.