Category: Home Improvement

Basement Renovations: Flooring And Ceiling Options

Posted by Chief – March 16, 2012

If you’re fortunate enough to have a basement and you’re in need of additional space your basement is probably the ideal location for you to create that additional “living” space you need. While most basements are cold and dreary and full-blown basement renovations can be as expensive as adding another room to your home, there’s really no need to spend a ton of money on making some minor improvements to your basement so you can spend more time there. Whether you’re thinking about a home theater, a home gym or a home office, we’ve got some tips to help you spruce up the basement without breaking the bank!

Before you do anything in your basement you’ll want to check and make sure you don’t have a moisture problem. Excessive moisture can lead to mold and hopefully you’re aware of the health complications mold can cause. While I don’t have enough time to get into the details of how to check for and treat moisture you can check out this article: How to Check for and Prevent Moisture in a Basement to give yourself a better idea of how to deal with moisture in your basement. Just make sure you don’t have too much moisture before you start spending too much time in your basement because it can be bad for your health. Ok on to upgrading your basement on a small budget…

Flooring

Ok so the problem with most basements is that they have concrete for a floor, concrete for walls and they have no structural ceiling. Let’s start with the floor. Since basements are damp and humid, a lot of the flooring options that would work in any other room in your house probably won’t be ideal in your basement. Carpeting, for one, will definitely pose some issues since it is absorbent and will harbor moisture and mildew which could lead to mold.  Hardwood floors are also a bad option in basements because they are organic and also absorb moisture. So what can you use?

basement concrete floorVinyl flooring is actually a pretty good option for your basement provided you apply some type of moisture barrier underneath it. Vinyl is great for a basement because it’s easy to clean and won’t absorb moisture the way carpet will. Vinyl will also give you several options as far as appearance goes. If you’re really on a budget and you don’t mind a cold floor, you may want to consider painting or staining your concrete floor. Check out the concrete floor to the left. Doesn’t that look awesome?

Other flooring options for your basement are bamboo, cork floors, laminate flooring and ceramic tiles.

 

Ceiling

Ok let’s move onto your ceiling. As far as ceilings go the two most oft used options in a basements are suspended-tile ceilings and the typical drywall ceilings you find in most homes.

Drywall ceiling are not a good option in a ceiling because of all the critical pipes and ducts you have hanging from your basement ceiling even if you don’t have one right now. Just think if you have a leak from a pipe on your basement ceiling and you need t get to it? What are you going to do? Basically you’re going to have to cut through the drywall. For that reason, suspended tile ceilings are a good option for your basement and the cost is close to what a drywall ceiling will cost. Suspended-tile ceilings will allow you the access you need to all those important ducts and pipes on your ceiling.

On a tight budget? I have a somewhat different idea that I’ve seen in a friends basement and in some Chipotle restaurants to a extent. Check out the image below:

basement ceiling

So you have ducts and pipes on your ceiling? Why not take advantage of them and create an industrial type look in your basement? The ducts on your ceiling are most likely made of galvanized steel so they won’t need any work and by painting your actual ceiling a dark color to offer a nice contrast you’ll have a pretty interesting and unique look going in your basement!

So there you have it! Some basement flooring and ceiling options as well as some options for those of you considering a basement renovation on a budget.

How A Handyman Gave Me Back My Weekends

Posted by Chief – July 23, 2011

Several years ago my family and I moved into an older home that many would consider a “fixer upper.” Call it what you will but it was the perfect home for me and my wife and our two young little boys. That is until I discovered all of the work that it really needed done, how literally it seemed like every week something else was breaking down or needed repair and how every weekend I seemed to be working on something or other that had to do with the house. That is until I found myself a good handyman to help out with a lot of the stuff I finally decided I no longer had time for.

First of all let me tell you… Finding the right handyman for me was tough. The first thing I did was call of some of the handyman franchise companies because they came up first when I first did a search online. Most of these companies seem great but they were charging far more than what I was willing to pay and I was discouraged because I saw my dream of free and leisurely weekend disappearing before my eyes.

Fortunately for me I decided to do some research and I started to do some reading on how to find and hire good contractors and handymen. Lo and behold there was some valuable information on the topic and armed with this new information I was ready to find me a handyman that would free up my weekends!

Now it may not be the same case for you but for me the best thing to do was to hire an independent handyman. As soon as I called a couple of handymen to check their rates I immediately noticed a huge difference in pricing between the independent handymen and the bigger franchise companies. But I remember reading one thing that really stuck with me when I was doing my research and it was from a retired real estate flipper that advised to never hire the cheapest contactor and to always get several bids for all projects. So with that I continued on my pursuit of finding more handymen to bid on my project.

If I didn’t mention it before I’ll mention it now. I was new to the area so it wasn’t like I had any friends or family that I could rely on for referrals so I was completely operating blind. My research told me to use search engines like Google to find more handymen and to seek out complaints and reviews from past customers to vet the handymen. So I did just that and a search for my city plus the word “handyman” returned several handymen that had plenty of reviews for me to look through.

Immediately I found two handymen in my area that had several glowing reviews so I contacted them first and also found a third handymen for a total of three quotes. The work I had was ongoing as I had all types of work that needed to be done so I wanted to talk hourly rates and I also wanted to bring them over to see if they were familiar with this type of work. When I had them over to look at the work I asked them about insurance and references. All had at least a few references and all gave me a verbal that they had no problems producing a certificate of insurance.

In the end it was a difficult choice for me because I ended up with three handymen that all had great references and reviews. And to make things worse they were all great guys that I had no problems communicating with. Unfortunately for me this is exactly the type of position you want to be in when you’re hiring a contractor because it’s almost impossible to go wrong.

In the end I ended up using a couple of the handymen here and there for a lot of the work I needed done. I now have my weekends back and I’m spending more time than ever with my wife and kids and finding a good handyman made that all possible.

 

Tips For Finding A Plumbing Contractor in an Emergency

Posted by Chief – July 9, 2011

There’s nothing quite like waking up in the middle of the night only to find a floor covered with water. Nothing feels quite like an emergency to a homeowner like water spraying in all directions and the homeowner not having a clue on how to shut the water off. Unfortunately most homeowners also don’t realize that calling a plumber in the middle of the night to take care of your plumbing emergency is probably going to be pretty expensive. Same goes for most weekends and holidays. So what’s a homeowner to do in a plumbing emergency?

Hiring plumbing contractors during a plumbing emergency is a little different than hiring a plumber during normal working hours. For one thing, as I mentioned above, if you’re having a plumbing emergency during a holiday or in the middle of the night and you contract a plumber you will most likely be billed at a much higher rate. Of course it only makes sense because the plumbing contractor is being pulled away from his family or friends in the middle of the night or on a holiday. So if you’re a homeowner and you’re facing a plumbing emergency the first thing you want to do is shut off the main water supply.

Shut Off the Water Supply

Before you can shut off the water supply to the leak you’ll have to determine what or where the water supply is. If the leak is coming from a  toilet or a water heater you can just shut off the water to that individual unit. Both your toilet(s) and water heater should have a shut-off valve located on the floor and behind the unit itself. Below is an image of a toilet shut off valve to give you an idea of what one looks like.

toilet shut off valve

The shut off valve on your water heater may or may not look similar to the toilet shut off valve above. The shut-off valve on my water heater actually has a lever. Nonetheless what you’re looking for is a line coming out of your wall and going into your water heater and a valve that will allow you to shut off the water supply. Make sure you’re shutting off the water supply and not messing with the gas line!

If it’s a much bigger leak and you can’t tell where it’s coming out of you’re probably going to have to shut off the water supply to your house. Luckily most homes have a shut off valve that makes this a fairly easy process. For most homes the shut off valve is located by the water meter to your home. Most homes in my area have the water meter located in the front yard by the curb like the picture below:

water meter shut off valve

 

Once you locate the water meter, all you have to do is pry off the lid and turn the lever to shut off the water going to your house. After you shut off the water you still want to confirm that your leak has indeed stopped. Once you have the leak stopped you can now move onto looking for a good plumber to actually fix the leak so you can have running water again. Below are some tips we recommend for finding a good plumbing contractor:

Get several bids – the more bids you get from different plumbers the more bids you’ll have to compare and contrast and should lead to a better plumber. For best results make sure to screen and qualify the plumbing contractors prior to having them bid. You can look for feedback, complaints and reviews from past customers by doing a search online. You can also check for complaints with the Better Business Bureau and your local state licensing board.

Ask for references – A good plumber should have plenty of references for you to look at and possibly contact. If you want to get the most out of references you actually have to contact them and ask questions about the plumber and his quality of work. If possible ask the plumber if he can assist you in getting in touch with some of his past customers.

Verify the plumbers license – Checking to make sure the plumber has a valid license from the state is a good idea as the state will put plumbers through a background check, the state will fingerprint the plumbers and also administer a general competency examination to ensure the plumbers are familiar with standard plumbing practices.

Check for insurance – It’s imperative that the plumber you hire have some form of general liability insurance in the event that something goes wrong. General liability insurance will protect your home and should cover any expenses to bring things back to normal. If the plumber you hire plans on using any employees you should require that he have valid worker’s compensation insurance.

Plumbing emergencies can be pretty frustrating and unfortunately finding and hiring a good plumber is no walk in the park either. Make sure to follow our tips and advice above and you’re sure to experience much less stress and frustration the next time you have to deal with a plumbing emergency.

How To Find A Good Roofing Contractor

Posted by Chief – May 28, 2011

Finding good roofing contractors to inspect, maintain and replace your roof can be pretty difficult for a homeowner and even more so when you consider the cost of replacing a roof. The average cost of replacing a shingle roof is somewhere between $7,500 and $15,000 depending on the size of your home. Finding a good roofer to take care of your roof is therefore imperative particularly when you consider you’ll be depending on this guy to tell you when your house needs a new roof.

roofing contractorsConsidering how much you’re about to spend on replacing your roof, it’s best to look at hiring a roofer as a business decision. And frankly it is a lot like hiring an employee because that’s essentially what you’re doing; you’re hiring an independent contractor. To find a good roofer you’ll want to speak with several roofers and have the best three to five bid on your project. The more bids you have to look at, the easier it’ll be for you to find a good roofer at a reasonable price.

There are all sorts of ways to come up with the names of several roofers. You can begin by asking friends, relatives and associates. From there you can seek referrals from your local home improvement stores and and local real estate agents or general contractors you may know. If there is a major roofing materials supplier in your area, you can try there as well. Ideally you’ll start off with more than five names and you’ll screen these roofers prior to having them bid on your project.

The reason you want to screen the roofers prior to having them bid is because you want to have “apples to apples” comparisons when you look at their bids at the end of the process. To screen the roofers you can do a quick search in Google and look for reviews and complaints under the roofer’s business name. More and more homeowners are leaving feedback online about contractors they’ve worked with and Google does a great job of aggregating that data for you. Make sure to search for reviews and feedback in Google to see what other past clients have said about the roofers you’re looking into.

A good roofer will also carry a license from the state to operate as a roofer so that’s definitely something you’ll want to check for. You can check for a license easily online but I recommend you actually contact them so you can kill two birds with one stone…

By contacting your state licensing board, which is the organization you’ll have to contact to check for a license, not only can you check that the roofer has a valid license but you can also ask about any complaints that have been filed against the roofer. I should also mention that the state licensing board is the number one place for unhappy homeowners to turn to to file a grievance against a contractor. And finally another great place to check for complaints is the Better Business Bureau.

After you’ve checked for reviews, feedback and complaints you should have a much better idea of who you want to bid on your project. Have the best three to five roofers bid on your project so you have plenty of bids to compare and contrast.

When having the roofers bid on your project, it’s imperative that you mention that they need to be adequately insured. Adequate insurance means they have some form of general liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance if they plan on using employees which they probably will. Insurance is a must when hiring someone to work on your roof.

Another must is asking for and checking references. There’s really only one way to ensure the roofer you’re dealing with knows how to install a roof and that’s to speak with some of his past clients. A good roofer should have plenty of references to share with you but it’s up to you to contact them and see about stopping by to check out the roofer’s handy work.

Another idea for checking out the roofer’s work is asking him if he’s currently working on any other projects when he drops by to bid on your project. If he answers yes, you can ask if you can drop by to inspect his work. Whenever possible you should make every effort to actually see a roofer’s work as that will give you the best idea of what he is capable of.

Finally when checking out the bids on your roof, make sure to rake notice of the warranties and guarantees on workmanship and materials as these can have a huge impact on overall value of the bid.