Category Archives: building a home

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Building a home is an exciting and thrilling process, with loads of fun jobs to do along the way, and a great sense of achievement to be earned from the finished product. You will have to learn an awful lot on this journey. It will be hard to design a building without any prior knowledge, and even things like picking materials will be a challenge unless you’ve done the background work. When it comes to the roof of your home, it becomes crucial that you have a good understanding of the field, though a lot of people ignore this area when they first start.

Materials

The very first area to consider is the materials which form your roof. The option you choose for this will be largely dictated by your budget, but things like weather and location can also play a role. Tiles, slate, metal, and plastic are all commonly found on roofs, nowadays. Each has its own benefits, with the options from a site like https://eriemetalroofs.com/ offering a good balance between affordability and durability, but not always matching the style preferences people have. It can be worth talking to your construction team to figure out what they think will be best.

Roof Styles

Along with the materials which are used to make a roof, you also have to think about the style of roof you want to go for. A lot of people go for standard styles, with a triangular slant which has its highest point in the middle of the house. You should choose your style based on the rest of your home, while also taking climate into account. For example, you shouldn’t have a flat roof if you live somewhere with a lot of snow, as it could collapse under the weight of it.

Creating Space

A lot of traditional architecture makes use of space far better than people do today. Roofs present an excellent opportunity to make a new room inside a home, as they often have a huge empty space right below them. It’s worth thinking about this before you design your home, as this can have a huge impact on how much room you have for living, without taking much away from the style of your home. The taller your roof, the more space you will have.

Functionality

Roofs are designed to do a lot more than simply keeping the inside of your home dry. Some will have chimneys which can expel smoke from a fireplace, while others will have windows which can let a lot of light in. Whatever you choose, it will be worth thinking about how you will use your roof. If you don’t think you’ll need features like this, you can ignore them, though it’s a good idea to make sure you don’t ignore things you might want in the future.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of creating the perfect roof for your home. A lot of people struggle with work like this, finding it hard to know what needs to be done when they are working on the top of the house.

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Most of us are focused on the idea that bigger is better when it comes to houses. However, there can sometimes be financial and practical advantages to going against the grain and moving to a smaller home. Here are just a few ways in which downsizing could the solution to your problems.

It can be a great way of escaping debts

Smaller properties cost less to live in. Not only could you be reducing your rent/mortgage rates, you could be paying less in energy bills as you’ll have less space to heat up and light up. This can be a great way of getting yourself out of debt. It could even allow you to live mortgage-free in some cases. Even if you’re financially coping and you just want more disposable income each week, downsizing could allow you this.

It can be a good retirement plan

Downsizing can be an effective retirement strategy. By selling your home for a smaller and cheaper one, you could make a large amount of money – money which could be used to help fund your retirement. It could be money put towards weekly spending or you could spend all at once on travelling the world.

It could be a way of saving up money to upsize

You could downsize as a temporary way of saving up for a bigger property. With less bills to pay, you might be able to put more money aside for a down payment on a bigger place. Any possessions that can’t fit into this smaller home could be put into storage in the meantime – by searching for fantastic storage units near me you should be able to find something nearby. Storage prices vary but are usually fairly cheap.

It could be practical if you no longer need the space

Those with growing families are unlikely to want to downsize. However, if the kids are starting to move out or you’re no longer with your partner, you may no longer need all the space in your home and somewhere smaller could feel cosier and more suited. Another possible reason for needing less space could be if one of your family has developed mobility issues – moving from a two-storey property to a smaller bungalow could be easier for getting around.

Your home will require less upkeep

Smaller homes are also easier to keep clean and tidy. There won’t be as much floor to vacuum or as many skirting boards to dust or even as much lawn to mow. If you don’t have much free time to maintain the house and you find that it’s become a real chore, moving to a smaller place could free up this burden. Moving to a smaller home could even give you a motive to declutter your home if you feel you’ve got too much stuff. A smaller home could force to part with some of these possessions, as you physically won’t have the room for them.

There’s truly no place like home. No matter how exciting you are about buying and then moving into a new place, it’s going to be a house for a while, instead of a home. You’re going to have strange feelings that will tell you, it was a mistake to move out of your previous home, and perhaps it was too early or too large of a step to move out. On top of this, you’ve just moved into a new neighborhood, where the properties are different from you old one. The location has with it, a new scenery and backdrop which is also going to take some getting used to. The question that lingers in many people’s minds is, how can they immediately make their new house, feel like a home? There are certain techniques you should follow to start feeling at peace within your new surroundings.

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Air the place out

Immediately when you move in, you’ve got to get rid of the smell of the previous occupiers. They might have had a dog or cat, and perhaps even farmyard animals like rabbits and chickens. There is such a thing as family scent, which is a collective smell of the people who live in a small area, together. They might have also had newborn babies, and we all know what babies do a lot, and that is going to the bathroom. Open all the windows, and the front and back door. Tie the curtain back and allow the full breeze of air to rush through your house. Put rest stops in front of the doors, so they don’t slam shut and allow the air to take away the distinct smell of the previous owners.

Clean the place out

You never know what kind of people were living in the home you have just purchased. You don’t know what their hygiene level was, and how well they treated the home with regards to regular cleaning. The main things you need to clean, are those that hold the most amount of dirt and germs. The furniture, carpets and curtains, all need to be thoroughly vacuumed. If both parents are working full time, you could hire an expert house cleaning service. Such a business offers great and extensive scouring of the home with cleansing products and techniques that really get out deep levels of dirt, grime, germs, and stains. Make sure you go all throughout the home, so clean out the garage, both gardens, as well as the attic and basement.

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Mentally settling in

You may find it necessary to plug in your appliances as soon as you move in, so you have some way of cooking meals and performing basic homemaking tasks like ironing. However, these actions can feel like a chore, and the feeling of you being in somebody else’s home is still lingering. To mentally, absorb your environment and settle in, put all of your clothes in the wardrobe. Hang them on the rails, fold your socks and underwear inside the drawers and place the cabinets, nightstands, and wardrobes in your bedrooms. Get the beds constructed and put back together in the bedrooms, and make them ready to be slept in.

When moving into a new property, it takes time to fit in and melt into your new home. The things you do on the first day or in the first week, determine how fast you’ll be able to settle in and truly call the house a home.

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When making the decision to buy a house, especially if you are trying to save money, you might consider buying one that is a little run down and renovating it. From a financial perspective, you obviously have to calculate whether the reduced price is reduced enough not to make it more expensive when you end up investing money in fixing it up. You might also be worried that renovating a house is too big a job for you. It can be physically exhausting and if you work during the week and intend to work on your property on the weekend, then doubly so. However, many people find that it is, in fact,a cheaper option. It also allows you (or forces you depending on your perspective) to create the house in the exact way that you want it. It is a blank canvas just waiting to be made beautiful. Here are a few tips on how to go about renovating a house and saving money at the same time:

The most important thing to do first is to get a survey and make sure that the house is structurally sound. Next, you should concentrate on the parts of your home that are going to last the longest. These include the bathroom suite you choose and the kitchen that you have installed. You can spend the rest of your life tinkering with the small details, and you will redecorate many times over the years, but you will not replace something as substantial as your bathroom or kitchen perhaps more than once. It is a big decision. You should think about adopting a style that is more sedate and less something that is currently fashionable. Tastes change much quicker than you can afford to keep up. The wiser option is to go for something that you hope will look good in twenty years too.

Thirdly, once you have tackled the more substantial issues like any problems with access to the utilities of gas, electricity, and water, a good tip is to paint the entire house a base colour of white or off-white. It is a versatile, non-committal colour that will initially lighten the rooms in your house and then you can take them in any direction that you want. You can paint any colour over white. It gets a lot more difficult to paint over darker colours because you need many layers. If you feel overwhelmed by the idea of painting an entire house (which could take about a month or more if you’re only working weekends) then hire someone like the Prime Painting Group. It will be easier, less time consuming and it will allow you to move on to other things.

You will then want to start planning how you want your house to look. With an empty shell you can do anything but you do not want to rush. Take your time and enjoy the process of creating the exact home you always wanted. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, once you’ve finished the project, invite your friends over for a dinner party to show it off!
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If you’re thinking about buying a family home, then you have two options. You can either buy a new house or an older one. A new house is a house that’s recently been built and has never been lived in before. An old one has been lived in previously and was built a long time ago.
But, which is better for your family? Read on to find out:

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Old Houses
Chances are you will find way more old houses for sale than new ones. As such, it’s often seen as the norm for people to look at the old houses before the new ones. But, what benefits are there of buying old, and are there any negatives?

Benefits
A big benefit of buying an old home is that they can be a lot cheaper than new ones. It’s the same as with cars. If you want a brand new car, then it will cost a lot of money. Why do that when you can get an older car that looks the same and functions similarly for a lot cheaper? Older houses are still expensive, all houses will cost a lot. But, stack an old build next to a new-build in the same location with the same specifications and the older will always come out cheaper.
Another benefit is that your family has far more choice when it comes to buying old homes. As mentioned, there are so many of them on the market. Depending on where you live, there might only be old homes on the market. Plus, there will be old homes everywhere, in every area within the city/town your family wants to live. This means you can figure out where you want to live location-wise, and there will always be properties there for you. With new homes, this isn’t always the case as they’re not everywhere.

Finally, with an older home, there’s more room for improvements. This means that you can work on the home while your family grow up, and increase its value considerably. By the time your kids are grown up, and everyone has moved out, you can now sell the house for a huge profit. Remember, older homes are cheaper to start with so the profit margins will be bigger. Now, you have lots of money to find a retirement property while saving some in case your kids need help.

Negatives
As well as these positives, there are some serious downsides to buying an old home. Firstly, you buy something that could well have been inhabited by two or three families before you, possibly even more. This means there are sometimes reminders of the previous occupants left behind like scratches in wood or height charts on walls. As well as making you feel uncomfortable, this can also mean you spend more money as you need to eradicate all the old memories.
With an old house, you get something that’s been around for decades and been blasted by all manner of weather conditions, not to mention any additional bother from previous families. Upper floorboards could’ve taken a battering from kids jumping up and down over the years. This means the chances of structural problems occurring are pretty high and they could happen sooner rather than later. Again, this means more money to fork out on repairs.

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New Houses

Now that we’ve seen the pros and cons of an old house, what about buying a new one? Let’s start with the benefits and go from there:

Benefits

The major benefit with new-build homes is that they’re completely fresh for you. There’s no trace of another family living there, which means you’ll have no additional work that needs to be done. When you buy the home, you can pretty much move in right away and not have to worry about carrying out repairs or getting it redecorated. Of course, redecoration might still occur, but it’s less likely as new homes tend to follow modern interior design trends anyway.

Secondly, as they’re new, it means new-build homes are set to last for a very long time. Purchase an old home, and you purchase years of wear and tear along with it. Purchase a new one, and you get something in mint condition that should last for a very long time before any structural problems start to occur.

Next, new homes are full of new and updated technology. A lot of new-builds come with underfloor heating which is proven to be more energy efficient and far better looking than having radiators all around the place. It’s become more and more common to see a new house for sale with built-in solar panels on the roof to provide renewable energy to the home. Then, you have things like Smart technology built into a new house already as well. With all this new technology you have a home that functions incredibly well and can save your family money on energy bills thanks to all the Smart controls and renewable energy features.

Negatives

After reading the benefits, you probably think there’s no downside to buying a new home. However, there are a few negative points that you might want to think about as well. Mainly, new houses tend to be very expensive. They’re built in new housing estates which are often in prime locations. The chances of you finding an affordable one are very slim, not impossible, but harder than finding an affordable older home of a similar size and build.

Furthermore, from a family perspective, what’s one of the key things you look for in the perfect family home? You want a nice neighborhood surrounded by plenty of nice friendly families that form a close community for your kids to grow up in. With new houses, there is yet to be a neighborhood. All the houses are new, no one has lived there before. With older ones, you’ve got residents in the area that have been around for years, and you can tell if a neighborhood is nice or not.
Both options have their pros and cons, but it ultimately comes down to money. If you have the cash to afford a nice new home, then go for it. On the whole, they’re probably the better option for families. But, if you can’t, and have to buy an old home, don’t worry. They’re still perfectly fine!

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So your home needs a little tender loving care to make it look as lovely as it should, and you’re thinking of going down the DIY route. If you’re new to fixing things in the house by yourself, it is easy to get so fired up with enthusiasm that you forget about the practical implications. Luckily for you, we’ve put together a handy guide to help you decide when DIY is the way forward – and when you should call in the professionals.

Is the work worth doing by yourself? People often embark on DIY projects around the home in order to save cash, but it might not be as much of a saving as you’d thought. You’re going to have to put time into your work – so think carefully about your other commitments before you decide to go ahead. There’s not much point in saving on decorating costs if it’s going to involve having a complete meltdown trying to do the work while your kids create merry hell on the side lines!

It’s also a good idea to check out how much your materials are going to cost before making the decision to go ahead. With some home projects, professionals can get better deals thanks to business discounts and buying in bulk – and buying materials as an individual can put the price up.

What can go wrong? Builders, roofers and all kinds of tradespeople all conduct a risk assessment before starting any work. This means that you work out exactly how the job will be done, what you will use to do it, and predict any problems that might come up as you go along. If there is a risk to your safety or the potential for causing damage to your house – you may have to call in the experts. For example, if you have a leaky roof – don’t risk injury by trying to fix it on your own, call OC Pride Roofing to protect yourself and your home.

Do you have everything you need to complete the work safely and successfully? You should have at least a basic level of understanding of how something works if you are going to be able to fix it, and you should also have some experience of doing this kind of job previously. Only a mad woman would attempt to rewire the house, for example, without any electrical knowledge or expertise! Plumbing is another area that is best left to the professionals – you don’t want to risk flooding the place!

Completing work on your house by yourself can be fun, satisfying and potentially save you money. If you’d like some inspiration on how to get started, have a read at this article.However, if you aren’t sure whether or not you are up to the job, or you think it might take you weeks or months to get it finished – think about getting some help. You can put your own personal stamp on your home with clever décor – you don’t necessarily have to remodel the place!