On average, homeowners plan to spend $10,000 or more on home renovations. That’s no small chunk of change, but it may not be as intimidating as it sounds. Doing some renovations and home repair can actually save money in the long run for many homeowners.
Home care is so much more than just doing some cleaning and chores. From residential roofing services to brand new windows, any kind of home care you apply to your house has the potential to reap big rewards. You are not only making an improvement you and your family can enjoy right now. You are also investing in your future.
The right kinds of home care can mean your house is worth more later on. Even if you don’t plan to sell, however, the right kinds of repairs could bring down the cost of simply living in your house right now. This includes things like the roof, as well as the heating and cooling systems. Home care tips that are focused on efficiency and sustainability can also help out your wallet in the future.
No matter what your long term goals for your home are, here are 7 home care tips that can help you save money in the long run with a smart investment now.
1. Redo the Roof
The roof is something all homeowners will have to deal with eventually. Roofs take a beating from the elements and time. Shingles can be damages from storms. Water can seep through cracks. A once efficient roof can let out heat and let in cold.
Redoing or repairing the roof is essential for the health of the home. These days, there are many different types of roofs you can invest in, some of which can help you save money over the long run.
You can of course go with classic shingle roofing. Even this isn’t as clear cut as it once was, however.
Shingles can be great because they are friendly to homeowners. You don’t need a long list of home care tips to be able to replace a damaged shingle on your own. The bigger question now is the type of shingles you will invest in when you do those repairs.
For example, you can get asphalt shingles, metal, aluminum, copper, or wood. These will vary widely in price, durability, and longevity. This can also change depending on where you live and what the weather might be like in that region.
There are many more options these days, however. You can even get SPF roof coatings nowadays, along with things like solar panels or green roofs actually composed of plants. These may be a larger and less certain investment upfront, but things like green roofs and solar panels promise to pay dividends in the future. A smart roofing investment now can easily save you money in the long run.
2. Upgrade the Plumbing
Roofs are big and obvious. Plumbing, however, is a bit more sneaky.
Everyone knows when a plumbing emergency has occurred. That’s an easy one. However, not everyone thinks to contact plumbing contractors before something goes wrong and that may be a mistake.
One of the best home care tips is simply to get ahead of plumbing issues before they become major problems. Know what to look out for, like poor drainage, leaks, and clogged drains. Over time, these can lead to larger and more severe problems that could cost you a lot of money to fix.
Local plumbing contractors can help not only identify problems, but also offer advice on home care tips you could implement to save money over the long run. Look for Exterior House Painting experts at painterly in Dublin, Ireland. Something like a low flow toilet or more efficient showerhead might be a costly investment today, but you will see positive results in your water bill for years and years to come.
Many people think of plumbing as a service they only need in the case of an emergency. This overlooks all the ways you can save money simply by doing some home care and repair around your plumbing. Perhaps you want to upgrade your faucets. Maybe you want to renovate a bathroom. Perhaps you’re even thinking of getting a pool. All of these things impact and are impacted by your plumbing. You aren’t going to have a good time filling that pool if your plumbing has issues.
That’s why it’s such a good idea to look at your plumbing services now before anything has gone drastically wrong. You don’t need to do a major overhaul, but you might learn a bit more about your house and your bills by investing even a little in some of your plumbing.
3. Clean Your Gutters
Gutters get gunky. It is an unfortunate fact of life. In some regions of the country, the gunk builds up faster and worse, but this is a universal truth no matter where you live.
No one loves breaking out the ladder and scooping leaves and muck out of the gutters, but this is still one of the most essential home care tips you can follow. Clogged gutters are not merely an aesthetic issue according to nw maids. They can lead to and perhaps even hide more severe damage to things like your roof.
If you aren’t sure where to start or have gutters you can’t reach, it’s always OK to hire gutter services to do the job for you. Like many of our home care tips, this does require an up front investment. However, the issues and damage it could prevent make it more than worth the price.
Clogged gutters are especially dangerous because of the potential for water damage to your home. That’s right. A backed up gutter can actually mean water leaks inside your home. That’s because all that muck trapped in your gutters can also trap in water, which will rot right through boards to let moisture inside the house.
If you live somewhere that gets snow and ice, you could have a buildup of ice in winter that you never even see or know about. Worse, when the weather turns warm again, all that ice can melt and cause water damage. That’s why it’s so crucial for homeowners to invest some time and perhaps some money in clearing out those gutters.
4. Re-imagine Your Basement
Many homeowners are thrilled by the idea of having a basement when they first buy their home. However, that basement can, unfortunately, get overlooked later on and sit unloved and unnoticed as just a big, concrete storage space.
While looking for home care tips that can save you money over time, take a look at your basement! It has huge potential to be so much more than a storage space. You could make it into a spare bedroom, a gaming and entertainment room, or so much more. Some carpeting and future, plus a coat of paint, can do wonders for this sadly overlooked room.
Of course, before doing any kind of renovation, you’ll want to do repair. You might find you need basement crack repair or water damage repair when you inspect your basement more closely. Regardless of whether you plan to renovate your basement or not, one of the best home care tips for your basement is to patch up this damage. It is all too easy to tell ourselves we don’t need to worry about a place like the basement and we can just leave it as-is, but that’s not true. Damage to the basement is damage to the house itself. Something like water damage can easily spread to other areas of the home.
Getting repairs out the way can leave you more freedom and space to redesign the basement. This is a great way to add value to your home. Adding an entire extra bedroom to your house can massively increase the value of your home if you should ever sell it.
5. Get Creative with Landscaping
The basement isn’t the only place where you can get creative with home care tips. What about the yard?
Landscaping is a great way for your to take care of your home and increase its value at the same time. Like the basement, there are some basic things you can do simply to ensure you are preventing and cleaning up any potential damage. A soil absorption test, for example, can show you whether you have a lot of water you need to be worried about.
You should also think about trees and other plants that you need to trim or take care of. A tree that is overgrown can cause damage to the home by clogging up gutters or maybe even posing a risk of falling. Talk to an arborist if you are worried about large tree in this regard.
After that, dream big. Adding a pathway is something many homeowners can do on their own. However, it will add a lot of value and charm to your home and can increase its selling price.
You might also add structures like a deck, patio or shed. These are far larger projects that might take more than basic home care tips to accomplish. Get a professional if you need help with these projects and so you don’t have to limit yourself by what you think you’re capable of building. These structures are functional now, but pay dividends later as they increase the value of your entire property.
6. Take a Look at Heating and Cooling Options
Speaking of upgrades and improvements, you might also look into your heating and cooling options. There are a lot of ways to make your heating and cooling more efficient and that alone is one of the best home care tips for saving money over time.
Even if you don’t plan to change what you have now, you should spend some time maintaining it. For example, if you have an HVAC system, you need to clean it and change filters regularly. For more serious issues, you should hire HVAC repair. The HVAC system is connected to your home’s electricity, which can make certain repairs and types of maintenance dangerous to do on your own.
If you are looking to upgrade or change, keep sustainability in mind as you do. Energy Star-rated products are not merely better for the environment. They can also save you tons of money on heating, cooling and electricity in the meantime. Those bills often prove heft for homeowners, so one of the best home care tips for saving money over time is simply to go green with your heating and cooling.
One way to do that is simply by going more modern with your system. You might have a system that was efficient when it was first installed, but it simply old now. Systems like this will lose efficiency over time from basic wear and tear. Upgrading could be an investment that saves you money in and of itself.
You could also try something like a geothermal heat pump. These are less common, but they are the most efficient home heating systems on the market right now. They do come at a significant cost, but will also drop your heating bills by quite a lot in return.
In contrast, something cheaper like a gas furnace is simply not going to be as efficient. This is a cheaper option for replacing a heating system, however.
7. Get Help
Finally, no matter how you go about these home care tips, get help when you need it. There are a lot of jobs on this list that homeowners can absolutely do on their own. However, there are many that require the help of an expert. A general contractor may even be able to take on multiple home improvement tasks for you, which could save you money when it comes to hiring pros.
If you are unsure if you need help, you probably need help. Some home care tips, like replacing a roof or upgrading your heating and cool, could even be dangerous if you don’t have help. Going into a task like that without the right tools, equipment or knowledge could result in someone getting seriously hurt. No amount of savings on your bills is worth that.
Ultimately, it’s a good idea to take a look at all your projects and plans and then decide which you think you can handle on your own and which you might need some help with. You don’t need to try to accomplish everything on our home care tips list. Just take on what makes the most sense for you, your family, and your home.