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A Note to Do It Yourselfers about Qualified Home Remodelers & Builders

As a home owner looking to make improvements to your house - whether it be simple- carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, painting, roofing, landscaping, or major home remodeling like building an addition, renovating kitchens or baths, building a deck, replacing windows or doors, new flooring, ceramic tile, or building a new house. I suggest you to seek out qualified professional remodelers that can supply references and samples of their work. Price alone can not qualify a contractors ability to perform the quality of workmanship you are searching for. Your home is a large investment and you should have pride in the products you install yourself into your home.

Jerry’s do it yourself - do not attempt a do it yourself project larger than you can handle. An incomplete project or one that takes months or years to finish usually shows the signs of  poor workmanship & inexperience and will not be an asset to your homes value, but rather be a deterrent to buyers if you choose to sell your house.

Home Maintenance- Duct Cleaning and HVAC Service

Many homeowners ask- “Do I really need to have my home air duct system cleaned?” You and your family spend about a third of your life in your home, so breathing clean healthy air is very important. The age of your home doesn’t really make a difference for doing this maintenance. Many people think because their home is new that this is not needed but the contrary- if you have just moved into a new house it is the best time to have the air system fully cleaned. During the construction process there are many dust creating tasks and these dust particles have most likely settled in you duct system from sawdust to drywall gypsum particles. These are some of the most common eye and nose irritants and should be removed before you move into your new home.

If you have just purchased a resale home it would be wise to consider having the air system cleaned to remove any harmful dust particles that have settled in the ductwork from previous years. Having the ducts cleaned in older homes may also remove odors and cooking particles built up from many years of use. Before occupancy of any existing house at minimal, you should change all air filters and clean all the air supply registers and return air grills. If the thought of whether or not to have your HVAC duct system cleaned is in question than consider the following tips.

1st – What about Health and Air Quality? Everyone has a concern about the quality of air we breathe. Many allergies, respiratory and breathing problems are related to particles and mites in the air. Regular changing of air filters in your home air system is a good maintenance practice and is an important step in keeping the air within your home healthy. Just as important is having the HVAC system serviced and cleaned periodically. Babies, young children and the elderly are the most susceptible to having respiratory problems due to poor air quality.

2nd- How do I know if my home system needs cleaning? Every home heating and air conditioning system with forced air requires the air filtration media be changed regularly. Make it a practice to change air filters at least 4 times a year, a visual inspection may show to change more frequently as the dirt is visible. Free air flow also lets the unit run more energy efficient.

3rd- When should duct cleaning be done? Every home environment is different and the outside air quality also contributes to when this should be done. As a rule of thumb I would suggest at least every 2-3 years. Include with this cleaning your dryer vent and possibly exhaust fans. Consult a professional duct cleaning contractor for recommendations of services.

4^th- Can a homeowner do it yourself? A good portion of HVAC maintenance can be done by a do it yourselfer. If you are familiar with your forced air heating & cooling system, changing of the air filters is relatively easy. There are different grades of air filters available, use the mid to upper priced filters as they collect finer dust particles. Also, if you are handy you may want to attempt cleaning the air supply registers and returns. Simply remove the register and clean the grill and use a vacuum cleaner to clean inside the wall box. Repeat the same procedure for the return vents.

5^th- Is there any other benefit from duct cleaning? Your home will be cleaner and require less dusting and possibly remove odors from your household. The overall air quality will be healthier for you and you family.

Major home improvements and renovations are changing as the largest generation is getting older. Different from the past these homeowners are improving their homes and planning to stay there rather than moving into retirement complexes. More and more we are finding that the average household is being occupied by 2 or more generations and for families to live in harmony the overall home environment has to take on changes. Some of these changes we are seeing are as simple as changing access to different areas of the house to full blown 2 story additions.

Baby Boomers Home Equity Retirement

As this generation heads into retirement, the picture of the American homestead is going to drastically change its face. The keywords here are change and adapt to the new economic trends the boomers will set, just as they have in the past 50 years. This shifting of generations is already creating major economic events in our housing outlook and retirement planning. The current slump in our housing market is not temporary and doesn’t necessarily have all to do with interest rates or the employment rate. The change of generational habits, wants and needs is now taking place and we must adapt as home values and equity slide downward.

The baby boomer generation has been steering the prices of real estate for over 40 years and they broke the traditional mold of what they want as home buyers. The boomers massive buying power usually drives the way American companies market their products to sell to them. The building industry listened to the call and produced homes to fit the boomers wants and they must listen again to the changing buyers needs in their senior years. In the past this generation has created the demand for bigger houses and set the pace for the average family to own 2 - 3 houses during their lifetime, compared to most of our parents having only 1 home in their life span. It is hard to predict if the boomers are really ready to downsize to new smaller homes or retirement centers, but you can bet whatever trend they choose will become popular by many. There is not much we can do to stop what is coming our way as the boomers plan retirement. Some will stay in their existing homes, but the majority will downsize or require assisted living residences.

For those of us looking to stay in our existing houses, we need to be prepared for the price of our properties to trickle downward. The fact is it will be a buyers market for years to come. Some professionals are estimating there will be 3 homes for sale for every buyer, this translates to lower prices and a surplus of larger houses in the real estate market. The generations behind us are struggling to save and buy townhomes or starter homes and can’t qualify for jumbo mortgages as we did in the past. I think there is another trend going on in many households, it is the return of their children after college and some returning married with kids of their own. The baby boomers may have no choice other than to take in their children or possibly their parents, living with them under one roof because of the high cost of living in the metropolitan suburbs.

Retirement  Income. Our parents, different than we, did not count on the equity value of a house to be part of their retirement income, they saved that asset in case of emergency and most of the time for their children’s inheritance. A majority of baby boomers on the other hand, have planned to use this equity for a large portion of their retirement fund and this is where boomers are going to fall short as home values decrease and equity lessens. The cost of maintaining a large home, taxes and healthcare will be higher than retirees income and maybe the boomers will need the financial help of their live in children and families to survive. So maybe your kids moving back home won’t be so bad after all, they will probably be paying part of your living expenses and will inherit the house in the long run. That’s better than selling the house to put you into assisted living somewhere else.

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