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Painting, decorating and home improvement tips blog

10 ways to improve your property

Posted by Adrian
June 19th, 2019

Graphic of house on scales with money on other end

10 ways to improve your property

If you are thinking of selling your property or simply want to give it an update but wish to add value to your property also, the following 10 ways to improve your property is a good start. They are in no particular order of importance, cost or value adding potential.

As with all improvements you need to decide the reason behind them, if it is to add value to your house you should always research the local area to find out if doing a job will actually add value. If you just want to update your house for you then it is less of a consideration but be careful not to do things to devalue your property.

Garden – Do you have kerb appeal

Is your garden in need of some work, is the grass up to your knees or does it resemble a jungle? The first thing people see as they come to your property is your garden. Simply by keeping it neat and tidy will increase the kerb appeal. Simple things such as weeding the borders, cutting the grass and having well planned all year round plants is maybe all you need to do. If you wish to go a stage further you could use weed control membrane and coloured slate, some coloured pots and maybe even block pave the driveway, this is obviously more expensive but will improve the look and initial appearance of your home.

Environmentally friendly house

Is your property Environmentally friendly? Many people are looking to buy houses that are Environmentally friendly nowadays, for example short flush toilets, double glazed windows, water collection devices such water butts to recycle rain water or condensing boiler. All these things could not only benefit you, the home owner, but also the environment and are all good selling points.

New kitchen?

The kitchen for most homes is the hub of the house, it is where you make meals, maybe eat, and often meet other family members from the household passing through, it can be the organisational hub also with notes stuck on the fridge. A kitchen is also a great selling point of a property, does your kitchen look old and tired, is it 20 years old? There is nothing wrong with an old kitchen, they will often last for years it’s just the fashion and trends that change but the carcass or the kitchen maybe nearly as good as new.

Instead of ripping the entire kitchen out why not consider either having it painted or just replace the doors and worktops to give your kitchen a modern look and feel. There are lots of companies offering replacement doors and worktops online. And you can save yourself a small fortune at the same time.

Bathroom

Everyone likes a nice bathroom, a nice suite and well heated. So if your bathroom isn’t that welcoming you may consider doing it up, especially before selling. You don’t, unless you want to, need to install an entire new suite, replacing taps and getting rid of that old wooden toilet seat and replace it with a new one or a plastic one could be an idea.

Adding a few tiles could brighten up a bathroom and make it easy for mopping up splashes, especially around the bath or basin. Re-grouting your existing tiles could make the bathroom look cleaner and more appealing to potential buyers.

Another consideration is flooring, carpet may seem a good idea and feel nice on your feet in the morning but if your selling your house people may prefer a tiled floor or a vinyl flooring as it is more hygienic and easier to keep clean.

Flooring – carpets or hardwood flooring

Flooring is a large expense so you have to make to right decision, do you go for carpet or a laminate or hardwood floor? If you have cats or dogs a laminate or hardwood floor maybe a better choice than carpet. A dark carpet rather than a light coloured one would be best in a high traffic area, such as by a front or rear door. Hardwood and laminate floors are quick and easy to keep clean, simply brush them over with a broom.

The expense has to be a consideration also, especially if you are thinking of moving. Saving that worn out carpet will not help sell a house whereby a nice hardwood floor may do.

Storage

Storage is always a problem in most households, there is never enough space to keep everything we have nowadays. If you can build storage space it will certainly improve your properties look as all the clutter can be put away. For example, can you make a window seat with storage under the seat? Maybe you can build cupboards under the stairs, or build a toy box for the end of the kids bed.

Any space that can be utilised for storage will make your home run better and could add value to it also, as people always look for storage spaces when viewing a property.

Build

If you have the money you could always build, either an extension or convert the loft maybe, but you don’t have to go for a full on build, simply re-thinking a house and altering it may make the house work better and add value, for example adding an en-suit. A garden room or conservatory is another way of extending and would make a great play room for the kids, or a nice quiet place to relax in an evening.

You could also consider a garage conversion if you don’t use your garage for a car, but consider this carefully as it could affect the selling price later on.

Redecorate -Interior

It may seem obvious but redecorating is a relatively cheap way of improving your property, all houses need to be decorated from time to time as the décor gets tired and may suffer from the knocks and scratches of everyday life. Buying a tin of paint and painting a room can transfer how it looks, bringing it up to date by using a fashionable colour perhaps.

Adding wallpaper, even a feature wall can make a room more sophisticated and doesn’t have to cost the earth.

Redecorate – Exterior

The exterior of your house is just as important if not more so to maintain. Keeping the exterior paintwork such as fascia’s and soffits, doors and windows painted will keep the weather out and reduce the risk of them rotting.

Masonry also needs to be kept in good condition to stop damp from getting in.

Having a well maintained house gives a property great kerb appeal and could help sell a house.

Insulation

Cavity and solid wall

Sounds boring doesn’t it? But a well insulated house will have smaller energy bills than those houses with minimal or no insulation. Cavity walls and loft insulation can be done at any time and you may even be able to get a grant to help with the costs. If you haven’t got cavity walls you could line the walls with a thermal liner to reduce heat loss.

Upvc windows and doors with special coated glass will keep the cold out, look for the highest rated glass when you have them fitted. Also adding Upvc windows and doors is nowadays a great selling point as not only does it reduce the energy bills but also noise and or course there is no maintenance except cleaning them.

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Spring decorating ideas

Posted by Adrian
May 5th, 2013

Photo of bluebells

Spring decorating ideas

As the weather begins to warm up and the first signs of spring start to appear you may start thinking about doing some jobs around the home and garden. After what feels like an eternity since last years washout Summer and a very long Winter the house may well have been neglected for a year or so and in need of some decorating.

Interior decorating

If the weather turns for the worst or we get more frosty nights it is not the time to be painting your house outside, so why not turn to those decorating jobs inside. It’s time to clear out the spare room and give it a lick of paint, or give the home office new modern look. After such a long dull cold winter any room would benefit form a nice bright Spring like makeover.

If you are looking to keep your house looking ‘on trend’ then how about looking at the colour trends for 2013 and using some of the colours from this years palette, such as the colour of the year 90BB 09/186 or indigo blue to give it its name. This could be used as a feature wall to create a stunning modern look to any home.

You may want to do a little more than just paint the walls, you may want to do some repairs or make a room look more modern. If you have a nasty crack around the ceiling and wall line you could put some coving up, it will hide the crack and give a softer edge to the ceiling and wall line.

It could also be the time to tackle the job most DIYers hate, wallpapering the hall, landing and stairs. You could, if you prefer paint the hallway instead.

Exterior decorating

If your house needs some attention outside, wait until there are no more frosts before painting. Otherwise your hard work will not last long and the nice gloss finish on your front door will end up with a lovely bloom over it by the next day, and you will have to do it all again.

Wait for a day that is going to be dry and not windy ideally, not always easy in the UK! But for best results it is best to pick your day.

If you are thinking of painting your fascia or soffits or maybe the masonry there is an order in which to paint, if you paint in the correct order you will get the best results and make your life easier.

If you have algee, mould or dirt on you house, ensure you wash all of this off first, and never paint over it. If you have lead flashing that isn’t paint, don’t paint it just treat it.

If you have plants growing up the outside of your house, be aware the plants could damage your house. Ivy for example can suck the moisture out of the mortar or render and pull it out. Plants can also hold moisture against the house and cause damp issues, so be aware of this.

If you do not have rendered walls and you have plastic Upvc windows, do not forget the other exterior parts of the house, the fascia boards, soffits and bargeboards, these will need painting every few years. If you neglect these for long enough they will rot, birds will be able to get in and nest and they will be able to get into your loft space. You could also get other unwanted wildlife in your loft space such as squirrels.

Spring and Summer decorating

Hopefully this post has given you some ideas for decorating this Spring, and if the weather is bad there are always jobs inside you can do. I hope you found his post interesting, please feel free to leave a comment and share on Twitter and Facebook.

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How plants can damage your house

Posted by Adrian
July 17th, 2011

Climbers and Ivy can damage your house

Climbers and ivy growing up a wall or your house can look very idyllic but you could be heading for costly repair bills if left to grow.

This post comes after decorating an exterior of a property recently. The walls were rendered and needed re-painting with masonry paint. One wall had in the past had ivy growing up the wall but had been removed.

The main issues was that when the ivy was pulled off the wall it took some of the old masonry paint with it, and left lots of the ‘suckers’ from the ivy. The wall looked ‘hairy’ and after my best efforts scrapping and pulling all the bits off, I couldn’t remove all of the old ivy from the wall, luckily it was in an area which could not be seen, which is, I guess why the ivy got a hold in the first place. After painting, the wall looked OK although you could see where the ivy had been.

If you have ivy or any climbers climbing up your walls be aware they could potentially damage your house, many climbers will pull the mortar out of the brickwork exposing gaps between the bricks where water can get in, also any evergreen climber that has leaves on all year round can trap water against the wall and create damp indoors.

Climbers can also, if allowed to, will get behind fascia board and under soffits and even lift roof tiles.

So it maybe a good idea, to consider how these plants can affect your house before planting climbers against your house walls.

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