Archive for category: Homeowner Tips

As our population ages, the homes we live in need to age with us.  Whether you are anticipating a need to adapt your home for yourself in the future, or for aging parents or grandparents, there is a benefit to being prepared for future eventualities.  Even active adults may suffer a broken leg, suffer an illness or need a hip replacement, so universal design features will be critical to making your surroundings adapt to these events.

One of the first design features to consider is having at least one zero-grade entry into your home.  In other words, is there at least one threshold that can be crossed without a step?  You should be able to enter into the home without lifting your feet, if necessary.  Another design feature that should be considered for those age 55 and up are grab-bars in at least one bathroom.  Grab bars can be beautiful, unobtrusive design features, that will come in handy when they are needed later.  As a default, consider installing backer-board into the wall if you are doing a bathroom shower remodel, to make it easier to install a grab bar at a later date.  Another corollary design feature for bathrooms is making one shower curb-less.  Removing the step will also increase your home’s resale value as the population ages.

Moving onto the kitchen, do you have at least one cutting surface in the room that is at a height where you can sit and use it?  A kitchen island, or a lower table area?  Also, do you have plenty of cabinetry that is down low, and easily accessible?  Also, how is your lighting where you have steps?  Good lighting is critical to permit visibility of changes in elevation, as is task lighting in areas such as bedrooms, medicine cabinets and kitchens.

If you’re building a new home, you’re in the optimal position of requiring some of these design features being installed with much less expense. At minimum, consider installing 36-inch wide doors (at minimum at one entrance to the home and one bedroom and bathroom) in case a family member is confined to a wheelchair.  Zero-grade entries to the home are another feature that is much easier to incorporate when a home is being built.  Finally, consider having your builder install electrical outlets at a higher location on the walls.

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Keeping your home safe from fires is of paramount importance when it comes to safety in your residence, but it may not be something that is in the forefront of your mind.

First and foremost, do you have a home fire safety
evacuation plan?  Does every member of your family know what to do when there’s a fire?  Are there are two ways out of every room?  And does each member of the family know where they are?  Can all windows be easily opened?  Can the window screens be removed quickly?  Does everyone know how to check doors to see if they are hot, and if so, how to find another way out?  Fire safety experts recommend using towels if they are handy, for handling, touching or grabbing items to avoid burns, and also they can be used as a cover to protect faces and cover mouths.

If you have a second floor, do you have an escape (rope) ladder in a central location, near windows?  And does every family member know where it is, and how to use it if there is a fire?  Also, have you designated a meeting spot outside of the home where everyone can meet if there’s a fire?  Everyone needs to understand that once they exit the home, they can’t go back inside for any reason (even if there are pets inside).  Finally, do the adults have a plan to find and transport any pets in the home if there is a fire?

Another fire safety tip, while a bit more obvious, is to make sure all smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your home are in full working order.  The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that you change batteries in these devices at least once a year. If you have children or older individuals in your own, you may want to change these batteries twice a year.  Following a replacement schedule is the easiest way to remember to do this (ie, on New Year’s Day and on Fourth of July, every calendar year).

However, changing the batteries alone isn’t sufficient.  Setting a monthly schedule to test each detector is also critical.  (You can write it on your family calendar to remind yourself).  Oftentimes, fire departments discover that fires occur in homes with smoke detectors that weren’t operational, either because the battery wasn’t working, or because they were disconnected temporarily (ie, after a smoky cooking incident).

We hope you find these tips to be useful!

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Good contractors . . . when you find one, you’ve got to hold on and never let go.  Whether you’d like to update your existing home, or you are considering listing your home for sale, and making much needed updates to maximize your ROI (return on investment), you’re probably going to be enlisting the services of a contractor.  Finding a good, reputable contractor out of the thousands out there may seem like a daunting task.  However here are some suggestions on how to find the best person to help you update your home:

First, ask your coworkers, friends and family if they’ve used a contractor in the past. A second source of recommendations to consider is your neighbors.  An easy way to crowd-source your neighbors’ recommendations is through the website www.nextdoor.com.  This free website is a great resource for anything neighborhood-related, and members are very willing to share their experiences with contractors, good and bad.  A third source of recommendations to consider is your local tile store, flooring store and hardware store.  Chatting with the store manager or employees will often yield several names of reputable contractors in your area.

Checking these individuals out, once you’ve got a list of 3-4 names, is critical, to ensure they are reputable and legitimate.   In Arizona, the Registrar of Contractors maintains a list of all registered, licensed contractors in a handy database available to the public: http://www.azroc.gov/forms/contractorsearch.html.  This database contains an up-to-date record of the status of the contractor’s license, any complaints that have been filed against the contractor, the amount of bond they maintain, as well as how long they’ve maintained a license in this state.

The next step will be to contact the contractor and to interview them (by phone or email).  Some questions to ask include:  Do they take on projects of your size?
Can they give you a list of previous clients?  How many other projects would they have going at the same time?  How long have they worked with their subcontractors?  Would they be personally supervising the project?   The next step would be a face to face meeting, in which they can see the project you’ve got in mind, and so you can ascertain their personality and see if it’s a good fit.  Follow up this in person meeting with phone calls to 2 or 3 of their references.  Ask how their remodels went, and ask if you can see photos of the final product.

The final step is to collect bids (always ask for itemized bids in writing) as well as payment schedules.  Typically, with larger remodeling projects, contractors require 10% at the time of signing the contract, with 3 payments of 25% evenly spaced throughout, and then the final 15% once the remodel has been completed.   Then, it’s off to the races with a remodel that’s sure to increase the value of your home, or of your continued enjoyment of your home.

As always, we’d be happy to share with you who we have had success working with on home remodels, as well as to conduct a walk-through of your home to discuss what we recommend updating when getting your home ready for sale, or alternatively, where to spend your money in your new home, to increase ROI for selling your home in the future.

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Thanks to Arizona’s dry and hot temperatures, and more days of sun than not, painting the exterior of your home is of critical importance.  Whether you are living in the home of your dreams, or you’re listing your current home for sale, there are some factors that will determine when and how you paint the exterior of your home.   An improperly or poorly painted home will not bear out a higher sales price.  

As for how often you should paint the outside of your home in Arizona, the basic rule of thumb is every 5-10 years.  The determining factors here are the type of paint that was used, as well as the orientation of the home in terms of direct sunlight.  If the original paint was not 100% acrylic, the paint job will not last much longer than 5-7 years.  Paint that is of higher quality and 100% acrylic should last at least 8-10 years, with proper application.  Again, if your intention is to prepare your home for sale, then you may not want to go with the more expensive 100% acrylic paint.

Proper preparation of the exterior of your home for painting is critical for the application of the paint to be successful, and to look good.  Many of the homes in Phoenix and Scottsdale are stucco, due to its durability in the desert climate.  Stucco needs to be cleaned very well before painting, so be sure that a wire brush is used to remove sand and loose paint before the painting begins.  A pressure washer should also be used to remove surface dirt and grime, and all holes and cracks must be patched.  A paint sprayer is typically used on stucco exteriors, with the trim being painted by brushes and rollers.

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As we’re fully immersed in the heat of summer, there will be more and more days spent in the pool.  Critical to enjoyment and relaxation is making sure the pool experience is a safe one for everyone involved.  Here are a few tips to help you maximize pool safety this summer, courtesy of the American Red Cross:

1. Install a physical barrier to your pool, especially if children have access to your backyard and/or pool.  A 5-feet high fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate is the legal minimum (Source: here. )   Also consider placing a safety cover on the pool or hot tub when not in use, and remove any ladders or steps used for access. Pool alarms may offer a secondary layer of security and peace of mind.
2. Supervise children at all times, and be in physical proximity to kids (with arm’s reach) at all times.  When enjoying the pool in large groups, make sure to designate one person to actively watch the children.
3. Consider swimming lessons for young children, either through private companies or your local Parks and Recreation Department.
4. Establish and enforce swimming pool rules such as “walk, not run, near the pool” and “no diving.”
5. Make sure adults near the pool understand how to respond to emergencies by having appropriate safety equipment and taking water safety, first aid and CPR courses from the Red Cross.

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