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The Home Improvement Blues

     When I sit down to write something, I do so for two reasons; the first is that yes, I want to remember my thoughts and feeling about a particular moment in time, so in some ways this blog serves as my journal.  The second reason is that I hope to impart some knowledge or information on.  In the hope that you, gentle reader, might learn something new or, more likely, avoid the mistakes I make.   

    I leave that decision up to you.  

    Thus, in some ways you can blame our youngest cat, Bobble, for our upcoming spending a lot of money on window's and other home improvements.  

    Our first winter in Western Pennsylvania was not really that bad.  This year it seemed we had weeks of sub zero temperatures and several feet of snow.  Our house was physically colder.   Now if your wondering why I'm blaming the cat then please read on dear reader. 

    Bobble was born in the early spring of last year, so he's still a kitten come winter.  A kitten with very sharp claws and a tendency to run around and jump on everything using his small but very deadly sharp claws.   The plastic sheeting that we placed around the old windows to help insulate them the winter before, simply wasn't going to survive a rambunctious kitten with a tendency to go crazy and jump into windows.   

A young very cute terror
 

    We decided it was time to replace the original windows in the house with something a bit more energy efficient and increase the value of our home if we intend to sell it somewhere down the line.

    The cost to add 3 block windows to the basement and 13 double pane windows to the rest of the house through a general contractor we have worked with in the past added up to just under 10 grand.  He's going to be some other smaller work for us as well.  Generally speaking you recap 85% of that on the sale of your home.

    By using a general contractor instead of a window contractor, we are saving roughly 10 grand on the insulation itself.  We found a well respected general contractor at the beginning of our home improvement journey and have continued to use him, this in turn leads to lower costs overall. 

   Almost everything in this house was original and while it may have been fine in the 1970's, it's not meeting today's codes or sensibility.  The kitchen and bath, which at one time was covered with an ugly blue shag carpet, need updating badly.   The rooms need painted, especially my office; which was once the third bedroom,  is painted in light pink and while I have to admit it's grown on me over time it's not exactly "clean" looking and certainly not our style.    

    We have budgeted $25,000 to get everything done, so the biggest issue is do we wish to update the kitchen first?  Or the main bathroom?   Or paint?    The kitchen we are relativity happy with, we are going to move some things around, remove the island and add 2 cabinets.   In moving things around we actually gain three feet of counter space as well as additional storage space.  We will update the appliances, paint and add a backsplash, remove the God Awful pendent light and tile the floor, but that's it.  Total cost estimate?  Five to Eight Thousand.

The Original Kitchen

    The bathroom make over is going to be the pricey project.    Because we are talking tile for both the shower walls and floors, replacing the tub with a walk in shower, grab bars in the shower, replacing the lighting, replacing the single sink with two vessel sinks and replacing the toilet with a dual flush option to save water.  We plan on buying WaterSense and Energy Star labeled products for both the kitchen and bath, which not only save power and water but are tax deductible; in addition to being something that consumers want.

    This cost is probably going to be much more than the cash we have we hand, but for reasons I won't go into here, this is the project that I would like to get done sooner rather than later.  Although it is probably going to be off for now.

The original bathroom.  :(
     

    With interest rates set to raise and a probable bust to the housing market coming (lowering the values of homes) then it makes some sense to update and improve now, not only to lock in a lower rate but to hedge against any losses in home value.

    If we spend all of our admittedly small budget, we will probably increase the value of our home by at least $30,000 dollars.   Our home is estimated in the low 200's now, and even if the price drops due to an expected "adjustment" it's likely to still be worth more than what we owe.   

    Always be smart with your money.    To read a bit more about home improvement and how to pay for it, I've written this article here.  

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Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

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