There’s no doubt; garage conversions are one of the most attractive options for homeowners looking for more space in their home. If you have an attached garage and a need for more living space, you are fortunate since a garage conversion is one of the most affordable ways to add square footage to your house. 

Here are some quick pluses about turning your garage into a living space:

Before You Start a Garage Conversion

As you’re eyeing that garage, planning what to do with it, there are several basic facts to keep in mind. Many of these won’t be deal-breakers. However, it’s good to keep in mind what your complications will be.

Parking & Storage

What will you do with your cars, bikes, gardening tools, and storage items?

The great part of an attached garage is its proximity to the warm house in the winter months. It eliminates the need to clean the snow off your car before work, and it gives you more storage space.

All of that would be gone, and how will you plan for it? This question is often foremost on homeowners’ minds. Good options include: 

If your garage has become the catch-all for storage that you no longer need, now might be the perfect time to go through and eliminate some unwanted stuff. A garage sale is an ideal kick-off for your new building venture.

Blending Your Garage Conversion

Another top-most concern is how to blend the new garage conversion to the rest of the house. The question often becomes what to do with the large openings for the garage doors.

You might consider large sliding doors or French doors. A conversion is an excellent opportunity to frame a beautiful, large picture window or bay window as well.

Matching siding and trim are important for making the exterior blend with the rest of the house.

Flooring

Most likely, your garage sits on an uninsulated concrete slab. It’s also a few feet or inches below the floor level of the inside house – which is often the telltale sign of a garage conversion. Often, the concrete slab is slightly sloping toward the door or a drain. 

One option is to build a new floor on top of the slab, making it blend even more seamlessly with the rest of the house and masking the fact that it was a garage.

You will have to build a curb in front of where the garage door used to be to make sure there is no leaking into the new room. Sometimes, a contractor will level the floor and add radiant heat before installing the new flooring. 

Heating & Cooling

While it is sometimes possible to tie a garage conversion into the ductwork with the rest of the house, it often has to be heated and cooled independently of the house with electric baseboards, wood stoves, gas space heaters window air conditioning units.

Electrical & Plumbing

The wiring to the garage is often sufficient for the new purpose after the renovation. However, depending on how you use the space, you may need to add another 20-amp circuit for the room. A single lighting circuit for a garage doesn’t cut it for the needs of a living space.

Plumbing may be the single biggest issue for a garage conversion. If your laundry room sits next to the garage, you could be in luck. Running a water supply to the new room is easy, but supplying drainage for that water can get complicated, which is why so many garage conversions don’t have bathrooms. Plumbing lines often become the most expensive problem for a garage conversion. 

Garage Conversion Costs

How much does a garage conversion cost? Depending on your location and the job specifications, costs can range between $10,000 and $15,000.

Bring it Home

If you are considering converting your attached garage to living space, these considerations will hopefully help you visualize how best to use your space.

If you live in Southeast Michigan and have any questions, please call. We would love to help! 

Call Today!

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Are you struggling to serve the needs of your family in a tiny kitchen? A kitchen bump out addition may be the answer!

Though many homeowners would undoubtedly love a kitchen makeover with new floors, cabinets, countertops, and appliances, most kitchens’ real need is more space. 

While some old houses were designed for servants to access the kitchen, others kept the kitchen costs minimal. That often meant leaving kitchen square footage at a minimum as well. 

These plans don’t serve today’s families. Kitchens are already hard-working spaces with many jobs. Add the fact that the kitchen has become a gathering space both for the family and guests. Families often want an informal eating area in the kitchen, as well. That’s a lot to ask of one space! 

A Kitchen Bump Out Provides More Space Less Money

It’s hard to spend the money to update a kitchen that doesn’t serve you size-wise. However, a full-sized addition can often reach into six figures. Most people would rather move than spend that much on an addition. But what if you could have 30-50% more space in your kitchen for under $30,000?

Better still, a bump out is a moderate renovation that doesn’t require a foundation or new electrical or HVAC. 

Kitchen Bump Out – Supporting Considerations

The one consideration you will have to make is how big of a span you would like your bump out to cover. Every exterior wall of your house is a load-bearing wall, and a bump-out cuts into that wall. Picture a window seat. It is technically a bump-out, however, a kitchen bump-out is bigger. 

With only three extra feet bumped out from a 15-foot section of your kitchen wall, you would have 30% more room in the kitchen. Now, your kitchen renovation can add function and updated style to your home.

To make sure the wall still performs its function, the builder will install an engineered wood beam across the span. A more significant span means more beams or bigger, more expensive beams. Often, the extra space can be heated and cooled along with the rest of the house.

One more thing to consider is how well the bump-out can match the exterior of your house. With brick siding, it’s usually not a problem to find a coordinating siding.

Sometimes we can match other types of siding closely enough not to cause a problem. However, sometimes, there’s nothing you can do but replace all the siding at the same time.

What Will You Do With 30% More Space?

Just as with the exterior siding, matching flooring and paint colors can be so much of a challenge that it’s worth replacing the entire kitchen floor and repainting.

Many homeowners take this opportunity to re-work their kitchen layout, working a planned kitchen renovation into the micro-addition. A more significant renovation could require moving gas lines or water pipes, but it is well worth it in the end. 

With more space, you could add that island with seating for kids’ breakfasts and guests. You could add a pantry and more cabinet space. You could opt for bigger appliances, a dishwasher, and a sink that can finally accommodate pots and pans if you’re currently working with a truly tiny kitchen. 

Bringing it Home

Kitchen bump out additions, while costing less than half the price of a regular addition, can deliver a hefty benefit. If you’ve wanted more space in the kitchen in your existing house, it could be precisely what you’re looking for.

Do you live in Southeast Michigan? Call us for more information! We’re always happy to help. 

Call Now

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We’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about finding more livable space inside your house with a basement or attic renovation. Now, let’s talk about how to add space by building home additions. 

Do you love your neighborhood, your house, your kids’ school but need more room to stretch out? When your kids get older and bigger, it can be challenging to fit everyone in a small space, especially if your attic and basement don’t work as living spaces. 

You might be starting to think about building an addition to your home instead of leaving your beloved neighborhood.

What kind of home additions are possible? How expensive are they? Read on to find out.

Garage Conversions

Some people look at their attached garages and think that it seems like prime real estate for a bed or a couch instead of a car. What are a few early mornings scraping snow off your car when you could get a whole new living area or bedroom for a fraction of the cost? 

Garage conversions are attractive because the structure is already there: walls, roof, and flooring. All you have to do is add plumbing, electrical, flooring, and finishing work to make it a cozy new room. Oh, and replace the doors with walls. 

While garage conversions can be less money, they may make your house more difficult to sell down the road. People love garages – especially in Michigan during the winter.

Sunrooms

Three season rooms are a popular, less invasive, and less expensive way to get another living space. You can build a sunroom in several ways – sometimes with traditional lumber framing and sometimes with pre-fabricated structural pieces. 

The great thing about a sunroom is that you could make one with almost all windows and let the sun heat it. The drawback is that sunrooms generally aren’t heated or connected to electricity and are therefore much colder in winter months, bordering on unusable. 

One Room Additions

The solution to the problem both these first options present is to build a one-room addition or bump-out on your existing house. 

Technically, a small 3-foot bump out from your kitchen or dining room is an addition. I’m sure you’ve seen these types of additions hanging in mid-air. They can be handy if all you want is a little more space around the dining table or room to fit an island in your kitchen.

If you need a full-sized room with heat and electricity, you can build a one-room structure that is permanently open to the rest of your house. Many homeowners do this to get more bedrooms or living space. 

One room additions are usually for a single purpose, and they can be expensive. You have all the cost of building a new house, just scaled down to a single room: framing, permits, HVAC, and electrical work, plus tying a new roofline into your existing roofing system. 

House Additions

The most significant kind of house addition project is like building a whole new mini house onto your existing home and then opening it permanently to the new addition. The best additions blend seamlessly into the old house.

Home additions typically involve a significant change, like two stories of bedrooms and bathrooms. Unless you plan to rent the other side, home additions don’t generally add second kitchens. 

New home additions are tricky, and the process can be very long and challenging. Proper permits and planning are required to pull it off. You may have to move out of your house entirely for several days or weeks during parts of the process. Additionally, putting up with months of construction can wear on anyone. 

In terms of cost, you might as well be building a whole new house, as a home addition can equal or surpass the price of the original house. However, home additions generally achieve a large return on investment when you go to sell. 

Bringing it Home

A home addition is worth considering at almost any level, from a bump-out in your kitchen to a two-story addition. You may have to put up with some noise and mess, but what you get in return is a more functional house. 

If you live in Southeast Michigan and have any questions, please give us a call. We’re here whenever you need us!

Let’s Get Started

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Do you have a traditional fireplace? Are you interested in improving your home’s energy efficiency? A fireplace insert may be the answer.

You may have noticed that it feels colder in your house when you build a fire in your traditional fireplace unless you have a good blaze going. This is because 90% of that heat escapes through the chimney rather than heating the room. 

Do you know what else happens when you light a fire? It can hurt your energy bills on the coldest days as the convection pulls the heated air from the room up the chimney as well.

Unless you have a well-insulated chimney and flue, some warm air is escaping up your chimney all the time. 

Cold Solution

Nothing beats the beauty and charm of a traditional masonry fireplace. Still, a fireplace insert can not only stop cold air from coming in and warm air from going out.

However, certain fireplace inserts can also supplement or even completely replace your furnace power by warming up to 3,000 square feet of space. 

According the Energy.gov, “High-efficiency fireplace inserts have proven effective in increasing the heating efficiency of older fireplaces.”

What is a Fireplace Insert?

A fireplace insert is an extra, closed firebox connected to an insulated flue that fits up your chimney. It has a door that allows the heat from your fire to stay inside the firebox and a fan to help force out and circulate the hot air around your house. Inserts are made to fit into your existing fireplace. 

However, not all fireplace inserts burn wood. Some of them can burn wood or biofuel pellets, which are even more energy-efficient, or gas.

Wood Burning Inserts

Firewood burning inserts may be the easiest to find and most likely to work with a standard masonry chimney, as they require a 6″ vent pipe. They are also the most like a wood-burning fireplace if the ambiance and cheer is something you would like to keep while making your fireplace more efficient.

If you have access to free or cheap firewood, the insert will pay for itself in no time, as you decrease your heating costs. 

Even if you don’t have access to free firewood, an insert will make the act of building a fire energy-efficient, cutting down on heat loss. It won’t save you as much money, but it will still save you some.

As with a traditional fireplace, you will have to clean out the wood ash and find something to do with it. 

Wood Pellet Inserts

If you are looking for efficiency, an insert that burns wood pellets is much better than one than burns firewood. It’s a mess-free wood burning stove that feeds itself pellets as they burn.

Wood pellet inserts require electricity to keep the mechanism going but can operate with battery backup power during a power outage. If you want good heat with virtually no ash and high efficiency, this is your insert. 

However, they are harder to find, and although the fuel is usually available at big hardware stores, it is expensive, and you may use up to 40 lbs. of fuel in a day. Other pellets available include biofuels made from corn, sunflower seeds, and wheat.

Gas Inserts

One of the great things about a gas insert is its ability to be put, in some cases, where there is no ventilation. You could have a fireplace overnight without having any masonry.

You still get the advantage of heat, efficiency, and a dancing flame to watch, but without any cleanup. There are sleek and ultra-modern designs and models made to look like the “real thing.” 

The only drawbacks are that you need a gas line to be run or already present and that your gas bill will go up as you use the insert.

Bringing it Home

If you need to take control of your home’s heat efficiency, and have a traditional wood-burning fireplace, you should consider a fireplace insert. In many cases, these inserts will pay for themselves in savings, and they will turn your winter fires from heat-sucking to heat-producing. 

You may also like to read Top Energy Efficient Home Improvements to Ultimately Save Money

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Your deck is one of the most significant investments in your home. It’s a place for relaxation, entertaining friends, and extra living space for several months of the year.

Like the rest of your outdoor investments – your roof, fences, driveway, and garden – it must be maintained to keep it looking and functioning well for the needs of your family.

A wood deck that has been neglected will soon warp, buckle, split, or show a raised grain. Eventually, it will harbor mold and mildew and begin to rot, becoming unsafe. 

What’s the best way to protect your deck: paint or stain? 

The answer is that either one can do a great job protecting your deck. However, they both need different maintenance types regularly.

It’s up to you to decide which method brings the look you want and which kind of maintenance you want to do yourself or pay for.

Natural or Stained Wood Deck

If you like the look of wood grain and you want to preserve as much of its natural beauty as you can, you want either a clear sealer over the natural wood or a stain and then sealer.

The sealer protects the wood from damaging UV rays, and the stain can even out inconsistencies in color and make the deck complement the rest of your home’s exterior. 

If you want color on your deck, as well as weather-protecting properties, you want to paint. Paint can also be used to revitalize a wood deck that can’t be brought back to its original luster but is otherwise sound.

It’s complicated – and in most cases damaging – to go from paint back to stain, so make sure you want to keep the painted finish if it’s what you decide.

Stained Wood Deck Maintenance

All maintenance projects start with repairs and cleaning. Wood that is always outdoors will build up a lot of grime in a year. If your deck doesn’t need any repairs, you can go straight to power washing, followed by scrubbing difficult spots.

However, make your repairs first. Inspect the boards to see if you need to replace any that are splitting or warping. Use a wood deck cleaner and brightener and follow the manufacturers’ instructions. 

After you clean your deck, it’s time to sand and vacuum. Not all decks will need to be sanded or not in all areas. You may need to spot sand with a random orbital sander.

Don’t use too fine a grit, or the sawdust will remain in the wood pores and prevent the stain from sinking in. Sandpaper that is too coarse will damage soft woods like cedar.

Vacuum the dust but don’t powerwash again as it may raise the grain on surfaces you just sanded. 

Re-sealing your deck requires using the right product. Most outdoor products are stains and sealers in one. Some are semi-transparent with just enough pigment to even out the wood’s tone. They come water-based or oil-based, and the common consensus is that oil-based stains penetrate the wood more effectively and provide longer-lasting protection, one that will not need to be re-applied every year. 

Painted Wood Deck Maintenance

Many people like the color options and easy maintenance offered by painted decks. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to clean and repaint your wood deck.

Everything about cleaning and sanding above applies to painted decks as well. Paint does protect well against UV rays and other damaging weather, but it chips and wears away. 

Painted decks must be repaired, power-washed, and sanded before they can be repainted. Sometimes all you need is spot-sanding after the chipped places are washed away. In other cases, the paint is peeling so badly that the whole deck will need to be sanded for a smooth finish. 

On bare boards or previously stained wood, you will need to use a primer first. Painted decks need several new paint coats over the old paint, leaving two days between each coat. 

Bringing it Home

Whether you like the look of natural wood, stained or unstained, or the colors paint gives you, there are many attractive options to maintain or update your backyard deck.

The best thing you can do for your deck is to clean and repair it every year and regularly re-seal to keep that wood healthy and beautiful for many years to come. 

Do you live in Southeast Michigan? If you looking for professional deck installation or refinishing, please give us a call. We are here whenever you need us!

Call Now

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If you are thinking about adding a bedroom to your attic level, and you have determined your attic can be built to accommodate a living space, you are probably thinking about adding a bathroom up there as well. 

As with adding a bathroom to any basement living spaces, having a bathroom in the attic is essential for the house’s function and its resale value. It’s something you want to seriously think about if you plan to house members of your family up there or sell your house someday.

Adding an Attic Bathroom is Relatively Inexpensive

An attic renovation benefits from the fact that the structure of your room is already built. In many cases, plumbing and electricity can be run relatively smoothly to the third floor, as well as heating and cooling ducts.

What’s left is to change the insulation, shore up the floor joists, and finish with walls and fixtures.

To add a small, basic bathroom to this plan can still be relatively inexpensive. Additionally, it leaves you with a considerable value-add. 

Building Codes & Permits

If you are wondering if attic bathroom renovations are a good idea to DIY, remember they are under the same building code restrictions as any other room.

When you hire professionals, not only do you get expert plumbing and framing, you know that your attic conversion is up to code, and all permits are pulled.

Structural Support

Most attics aren’t designed to hold more than what’s called “dead weight load.”

Dead weight means homeowners can only use the space for light storage and limited traffic.

In contrast, live weight load means the total weight:

• Furniture
• fixtures, and
• temporary objects, including people.

The joists – or structural “beams” create the floor’s support. They will be spaced closer together to accommodate a live load or further apart for a dead load. The joists can be supplemented with more wood to make them stronger if designed for a dead weight load. 

Full or Half Attic Bathroom?

A full bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower or tub will add the most value for your money. Moreover, this is especially true if you live in a house without a proper master suite.

However, they are more costly and labor-intensive than a small half-bath. A bathtub or shower can add significant weight to the floor – meaning you may have to shore up your floor joists even more.

Bathing facilities can become more complicated as you have to consider water supply to the attic and drainage lines back down.

If you decide a full bath isn’t in the cards for your attic renovation, a half bath with just a toilet and sink still means guests don’t have to stumble downstairs in the middle of the night. 

Making Plans

One of the first decisions you will be making is where to place the attic bathroom.

You will need headroom for a shower, adequate supports for a heavy tub and additional traffic, and access to water supply, the sewer line, and vent stack.

Ideally, an attic bathroom could be situated over a downstairs bathroom or kitchen, and it would still sit under the highest peak of the roof. If that’s not possible, sometimes a simple dormer can create the necessary space. 

Not every attic bathroom plumbing can be tied straight into the plumbing of the bathroom below. Sometimes, it will need to be vented to the basement. This type of plumbing job isn’t one you want to get wrong. It’s always best to have an expert plumber for a new bathroom. In addition, an expert contractor will  know how to finish your space perfectly.

Bringing it Home

In conclusion, are you thinking about converting your attic space to a living area? Would you like to include a half or full bathroom to your attic? Do you live in Southeast Michigan? Give us a call! We are happy to answer your questions. 

Call Now

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How often do you think about your attic? Do you know how it works and how it affects the rest of your house?

Whether you want to finish an unfinished attic space, safely use it for storage, or update your home’s energy efficiency, there are some things you need to look for.

Use this guide to help you pinpoint trouble spots or answer basic questions before you call a contractor.

Attic Anatomy

There are two basic types of roof construction: rafters or roof trusses. The type of roof framing drastically impacts your attic’s space, whether it can bear any load – like storage containers – or whether it can be finished into a livable space.

Rafters

Rafters are typically constructed from engineered lumber. They extend from the ridge board at the roof’s peak to the top plate of the exterior wall.

Rafters naturally “hang over” the eaves of the house. They are cut and installed one at a time – or one “stick” at a time – so a roof framed this way can be referred to as a ‘stick framed” roof.

The joists which make up the attic’s floor are placed first with this construction method, and they can bear weight like a standard floor.

Roof Trusses

Trusses are constructed using angled “webs” of lumber extending from the top chords to the bottom chord, similar to rafters. However, they aren’t the same.

Trusses do not leave large areas of open space in your attic. The bottom chords aren’t made to support heavy loads.

Your Home’s Envelope

Houses are made to contain either heated or cooled air in an “envelope” of insulation.

Depending on the type of roof framing you have and whether your attic is meant to be finished, your insulation may rest on your attic’s floor, or it may be installed between attic rafters.

Insulation on your attic floor means your home’s envelope doesn’t include your attic. If you want to finish your attic, you will need to move the insulation up to the rafters if it’s not already there.

Ventilation

Attic ventilation is important for a functioning roof system. If you have an unconditioned attic, adequate ventilation is essential to keeping moisture, mold, and rot from ruining your roof decking. In addition, you don’t want them getting down into your house.

You may consider installing an attic fan to aid in proper ventilation. If you are planning to finish your attic, the space will be enclosed in the house’s envelope. It doesn’t need the same type of ventilation, although building codes require ventilation for habitable space. 

Attic Energy Efficiency

Sealing air leakage in the central part of your house is critical for energy efficiency. For example, windows, doors, and vents are easy areas to close.

However, did you know there are many ways your attic can be inefficient?

Here are some places your attic could be contributing to your home’s inefficiency:

Heat escapes through these cracks into your attic – which doesn’t need the warmth and which can contribute to ice dams on your roof. However, when heated air goes up, it creates a suction effect inside the house that can draw cold air from leakage points inside the lower part of your home.

It’s called the “stack effect.”  In a cold climate like Michigan, the stack effect can significantly negatively impact your energy bills. 

How to Combat the Stack Effect

To combat the stack effect, start by air-sealing your attic. Then, increase the attic’s insulation. It’s cost-effective and it will save you money in the short and long term. Moreover, it is the number one return-on-investment improvement when you go to sell your house. 

Here’s what else you can do to minimize the stack effect:

Bringing it Home

In conclusion, attics are dynamic and vital spaces for the overall health of your house. Do you live in Southeast Michigan? Please call with questions regarding your attic, insulation, or roof. Remember, we’re here whenever you need us!

Call Now

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Have you been thinking about converting your attic to living space?

We have covered basement renovations for more interior space in your home. Basement renovations are very popular, and they can be beneficial.

Unfortunately, some basements will never be friendly spaces to hang out. This is usually true of old cellars.

However, if you are looking for an unfinished room in your house to claim for a necessary hideaway from the kids, a playroom, an office, or a guest bedroom, your attic could be a goldmine. 

Attic Assessment

Attic spaces have very different considerations from basements. If your ventilation and roofing system is done right, you should have no moisture problems, unlike some basements. If you do find moisture problems in your attic, make sure to call us right away. It’s not something you want to save to fix later. 

Most people will not believe there is enough space to finish in their attic. It’s true, if you live in a typical ranch house, there may not be enough attic space to finish.

However, you might be surprised if you live in a bungalow or another style of home. While it does sound amazing to have a full third floor with tall ceilings to finish, you could be surprised by what’s possible using dormers and skylights. 

Attic Space and Livability Requirements

There are a few rules to keep in mind for finished living spaces as you survey and measure your attic. 

Finished Space

You will need to know if your attic will have enough space once it is finished. According to building codes, a habitable room must have at least 70 square feet and measure 7 feet in all directions. For rooms with sloped ceilings like most attics, at least 50% of the room must have 7-foot ceilings. 

Framing Concerns

Rafters or Trusses?  

If it looks like your attic has space, you probably have rafters or attic trusses. These create large open space beneath the roof’s peak. Conventional trusses have what is called webbing. These are supports that zigzag through the attic space. If you look up there and see those, forget about finishing your attic unless you want to rebuild your roof. You can’t cut into them without damaging your roof’s support. 

Insulation Space

Your rafters must provide enough depth for insulation, but this varies quite a bit by location. You can increase the area, but it might reduce your precious headroom.

Floor Framing

 Do you have joists or truss members? Attic trusses are built to support living space. However, that’s not the case with all attic framing.

A rafter-framed attic may have floor joists to support the weight associated with a living area, or it may not. They have to handle 30lbs per square foot of live load (people and stuff). The further apart the joists are from each other, the larger they need to be. In some cases, inadequate joists can be shored up.

Accessibility – Stairs and Egress Window

Generally, stairs must be at least 3 feet wide and provide at least 6 inches of headroom. There must be a 3-foot landing space at the top and bottom of the stairs. If you have pull-down stairs, they may not meet requirements. The chances are good that you will have to build new stairs.

Did you know attics have to have an egress window too? Unless your attic already has a balcony, you will need to provide a window big enough to climb out of and an egress ladder for a quick escape in case of fire. 

Habitability – Light, Heating & Ventilation

All rooms other than kitchens must meet several habitability requirements. They have to have enough natural light, heat, and ventilation for essential human comfort.

For every 100 square feet of floor space, you need at least 8 square feet of windows or 8% of the floor area. The room must have a means for heating other than a portable space heater, and it must be able to be heated to 68 degrees Fahrenheit measured from the middle of the room. It also must have ventilation equal to 4% of the floor space – in other words, an operable window. 

Bringing it Home

The first step in converting your attic is to look around and take many measurements. A contractor should be able to look at your attic and tell you in a few minutes whether the space can be finished as-is.

Do you live in Southeast Michigan and have questions about converting your attic or any other building-related matter? Please call. We’re honored to help.

Call today!

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Are you hoping to remodel or finish your basement with flooring, ceiling, and extra rooms like bedrooms and a bathroom? Wondering how to maximize your return on investment or ROI?

One of the first things any homeowner wants to know is the potential return you could get for your investment. When you sell your house in the future, will the finished basement be worth putting more money on the home’s sale price, or will you end up eating the cost of that investment?

There are two parts to this question since basement remodeling often goes hand in hand with basement waterproofing. So, let’s break it down by parts:

• Waterproofing alone and
• Finishing the space to make it another living space in your house. 

Basement Waterproofing ROI

If you’ve ever lived in a house with a basement that leaks, you know what a disaster it is. Not only can that flood destroy your belongings, but getting rid of the water can disrupt your life while dealing with the mess.

Then, there is the question of whether mold will grow once everything is wet. It’s not worth putting any money into finishing your basement unless you are positive there are no leaks. 

Waterproofing your basement against leaks is the first step before you can consider any remodeling.

The good news is that it works in your favor if all you do is waterproof your basement. You can expect a 30% return on investment for waterproofing.

The bad news is that if you have a basement that leaks, it can be almost impossible to sell it until you fix it. An inspector is very likely to spot any evidence and tell the buyers to have you waterproof it anyway.

If you live in an area prone to sewer backups during heavy rains, you know it can make your life miserable with flooding in your basement once every few years.

There are ways you can keep floodwaters from your basement. However, it’s a more significant project involving re-grading your lawn in some cases. Ultimately, it might be worth it. 

Finished Basement ROI

Once your basement is bone dry, it’s safe to make it into your new haven for parties, workouts, kids, and more.

The great news is that a dry, finished basement is worth about 75% of what you paid to remodel it. That means, if you spent $10,000 to finish it, you could expect to get an extra $7,500 from the sale price, as long as the space is finished for general use and not highly personalized.

Whether you use carpeting, tile, or hardwood, having a warm floor in the basement is a huge plus. It can help drive away the extra moisture you sometimes get with an underground room.

Rooms with plenty of light and space are a must-have in the basement, with neutral colors. A bathroom is a good idea in a large basement as it allows guests and bedroom occupants to be more comfortable. 

Bringing it Home

You can be confident your basement remodeling investment will give you good returns as long as it’s waterproofed. Make sure the space is clean, bright, and neutral, and potential buyers will love it.

If you live in Southeast Michigan and have any questions regarding finishing your basement, please call. We would be honored to help.

Call today!

The post Basement Remodeling: How to Get a Good Return on Your Investment appeared first on Renovations Roofing & Remodeling, Inc..

Are you considering adding an egress window to your basement?

People are spending more time at home than ever these days. Having that extra space to stretch in a finished basement is key to making home a place you want to be.

A finished basement can give you another hang-out space, away from the main action. Plus, there are opportunities for a home gym, extra bedrooms, bathrooms, and offices.

If you have a large enough basement, you can almost double your house’s usable square footage by finishing your basement.

The top concern for making basements into living spaces is the moisture, leaking, and mold issues that sometimes come with finishing a room underground.

Once you have dealt with leaking or moisture build-up, it’s essential to provide anyone sleeping or living in the basement with a route of escape in the event of a fire.

What is an Egress Window?

Most basements aren’t built into a hill, allowing a walk-out or large windows. If you get any windows at all in a basement, they are most likely tiny and high up in the walls.

Egress means to “get out” or “escape.” An egress window is designed to be big enough to allow anyone trapped in the room to escape to the outside quickly.

Egress windows in basements are built by digging a window well from the house’s foundation and cutting a large window shape into the concrete foundation wall.

You can install a prefabricated, easy-to-open window into the spot, or buy a specialty window. Prefabricated windows are generally the cheaper option, usually starting around $2,000. However, you can spend up to $7,000 on a custom egress installation.

How Easy is it to DIY an Egress Window?

As with many aspects of home remodeling, it’s best left to professionals unless you have a lot of experience. The positive side of using a professional team is that you can usually have the job done in one day, start to finish. They come in with a mini excavator to dig the well, cut the hole, install the window, and backfill to finish the outside. 

Here are some considerations before you try to install an egress window yourself:

Bringing it Home

Adding an egress window to your finished basement will make it safer, more livable, up to code, and give you tons of natural light. It’s a no-brainer if you’re thinking of remodeling.

Is your home located in Southeast Michigan? Please call if you have any questions about this or anything else remodeling. We’re always here to help. 

Call today!

The post How to Add an Egress Window to Your Finished Basement appeared first on Renovations Roofing & Remodeling, Inc..