Saving Money on
Home Improvements
1.
Try doing simple home improvement projects
yourself. You can find tutorials online for tasks like painting, minor repairs,
and Gardening.
2.
Visit salvage yards or reuse centers for
building materials and fixtures. You can often find good quality items for a
fraction of the price.
3.
Buy materials and tools during sales events like
Black Friday or end-of-season clearances.
4.
Attend free community workshops to learn new
skills and techniques for home improvements.
5.
Invest in energy-efficient windows, doors, and
insulation. These can reduce your energy bills in the long run. Observe the
golden rule of insulation. If you can see the top of the floor joists in your
attic, you’ll likely save energy dollars by adding insulation. The
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that homeowners can save an average
of 15 percent by sealing their homes and adding insulation in attics, floors
over crawl spaces, and basements.
6.
And batten down the hatch. Insulating your attic
entry — often
called the hatch —could save $150 a year in energy costs. The goal is to keep heat
out of the attic. Since heat rises, an uninsulated hatch drains heat from your
home. Home centers carry hatch insulation to fit most situations.
7.
Know when to prime. Painting over low-gloss and
using a similar color? Skip the primer. But in other situations, primer will
save you Money. Use primer when painting porous surfaces, such as bare drywall
or wood or surfaces with high-gloss paint.
8.
Wait for winter. Many people don’t want to start
indoor projects during the winter due to the cold and holidays. But this means
contractors are looking for work during those months and are more likely to
give you a better deal as well as their full attention.
9.
Know how to improve home value. If you plan to
sell your home down the road, check out Remodeling Magazine’s helpful annual
Cost vs. Value survey at remodeling.hw.net. Most financially helpful in 2023
was converting a fossil-fuel furnace to an electric heat pump, averaging an
$18,366 return on $17,747 in cost. By comparison, a $23,430 deck would return
just $9,325.
10. Rehab
your tub. Replacing a stained and worn bathtub can run you $10,000 or more
because you’ll likely have to replace everything that surrounds it too. But for
$150 or less, you can refinish it with an epoxy-based finish, such as Ekopel 2k
or the Rust-Oleum Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit.
Originally Published on https://boomersnotsenior.blogspot.com/
