People to Contact When You Want to Remodel Your Home

If you are about to undergo a major remodeling project, your first objective is to assemble your “dream team.” Remodeling is rarely the work of just one person or even just one team of people. From the general contractor to the landscaper, there are several people to contact when you want to remodel your home. Read along to learn who they are and what attributes they should possess.

General Contractor

The general contractor is the person who will turn your vision into a reality. They manage and execute the fine details of the project so that you don’t have to fret so much. For any project that requires several thousand dollars and a few subcontractors, it’s in your best interests to hire a reliable leader. You do not want someone who will rip you off. When you interview for a general contractor, you are looking for someone well-established who has a reputation for completing jobs on time and within the budget.

Interior Designer

Of all the people to contact when you want to remodel your home, interior designers are the most artistically inclined. They balance space, furniture, and wall colors to create a cohesive look in your home that matches your aesthetic sensibilities. When you hire an interior designer, you are looking for a creative professional with an eye for detail and exceptional communication skills. An interior designer should have a portfolio and references. Do not be afraid to ask for these, and be sure to review their portfolio for projects that are comparable to your goals.

Landscaper

The outside of your home is still a factor in your appraisal, and it should not be an afterthought during the remodeling process. A landscaper designs and executes an attractive exterior for your house. When you look for a landscaper and their team, you want to make sure they are certified by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) and have a portfolio of similar projects to show you.

Carpenter

The carpenter is the person who takes on the building projects that go into a renovation. Whether it be stairs, cabinets, railings, or house frameworks, the carpenter is the one to manage it. When you hire a carpenter, you want someone experienced in critical thinking, mechanical equipment, and communication. More than anything, you want a carpenter who can pay attention to the very fine details. When it comes to building codes, miscalculations by only a few inches could create problems in the future.

Guest Post - Compelling Advantages of Having a Smart Home

We live in a technologically advanced era, which means that innovations are everywhere. Even if there are still traditional ways of living, these advancements in technologies have made our lives easier. One of these said innovations is a smart home, a home system that controls your appliances and equipment. 

A smart home makes your life easier because instead of manually controlling appliances like home security or air-conditioning, the smart home system does it for you. In the following, we'll list down the several advantages and disadvantages of owning a smart home. 

Advantages of a Smart Home

1. Tighter Security

Whether it's video monitoring or motion detection, a smart home guarantees better security. It can also help you keep tabs on your kids to ensure that they're safe at home. If there are unusual changes that need alerting, an alarm can be set off so you can take immediate action when there is a security breach. 

Whether as a homeowner, parent, or someone who genuinely cares about the overall safety and security of the place they call home, a smart home will give you real-time alerts and updates if anything suspicious is going on. 

2. Energy Management

One of the remarkable benefits is that a smart home helps you save energy and costs. It manages your utilities, appliances, lighting, and other energy-consuming factors that can potentially add more expenses to your monthly bills. 

When you program aspects like your thermostat to a specific temperature for a specific period of the day, you're saving yourself both time and expenses. It really is a smart way to save money and energy in the long run. Smart homes can save between 30–40% of your home's energy consumption. 

3. Convenience

The most obvious advantage behind smart home technologies is the convenience they provide. Think of how much time you're going to potentially save by using a smart home system to get things done for you. This is especially true if you're busy with work tasks and barely have the time to think about responsibilities like changing the thermostat or managing security cameras. 

Having a smart home will make your life so much easier, and it would also ease your mind from potential threats and harms that could happen in your home if you're away.

4. Accessibility

Individuals of all ages are finding the accessibility of smart homes to be very enjoyable. Based on a survey, one in seven adults aged 50 and above have home assistance devices like Google Home. For the elderly who need more assistance, smart homes can help them do labor-extensive tasks. 

The elderly need the most support, and if they're living alone, nobody else can cater to their needs, such as lowering the air-conditioning or turning off lights. Smart home technologies also provide real-time, two-way communication through audio and video, so you're free to check up on your elderly loved ones, even from your office or elsewhere. 

Disadvantages of a Smart Home

1. Expense

While a smart home can save your energy costs in the long run, it's generally not a cheap investment. Since it's a modern technological innovation, expect that this investment will entail a large portion of your savings if you lack the resources. 

Based on a source, you may spend approximately $1,000 on lighting alone by turning each regular light bulb into a smart alternative. While turning your standard home into a smart one is the most ideal and attractive option, it won't be exactly cheap to get to this point.

2. Power Surges

Before you completely turn your home into a smart home, you need to ensure that it's safe from power surges for your own safety. According to the Insurance Information Institute, this is to avoid disasters from occurring when lightning strikes or a storm occurs. 

3. Compatibility

As perfect as a smart home may sound, it's not compatible with all smart home technology manufacturers, so the effectiveness of turning your home into a smart home depends on the appliances and technologies you're using. This is where you need the perspective of a professional to help guide you on which devices are compatible with your smart home system.

Highlights to Conclude

The innovation behind smart homes will help you save energy costs and make things easier for you in managing and looking after your home, even from miles away. Smart home technologies are also one of the modern technological innovations today that can assist your elderly family members or watch over your kids.

Incorporating home automation systems has several benefits, but it's not all perfect as there are still downsides. Even if having a smart home is energy-efficient in the long run, it's initially an expensive investment to make. Therefore, you must look into all the factors before deciding if a smart home is something you need and can afford to have.

About the Author

Serene Yu is the Vice President of New Manila San Juan, the premiere real estate marketplace for luxury properties in the Philippines. Serene is a well-versed writer and marketer that enjoys keeping up with the latest trends in real estate, interior design, and technology. Outside work she enjoys travelling, cooking, and baking.

4 Signs That You Have Mold in Your Air Conditioning Unit

When the temperatures outside are soaring, it is always wonderful to walk inside and immediately feel the cool breeze of an air conditioner. While it's great to be able to cool off in only a few minutes, your air conditioner is also a prime spot for mold growth. Should you think this is not a serious problem, you are wrong. Once mold begins to appear, it is imperative it be addressed right away. To make sure you know the first signs of mold in your air conditioner, here are four classic signs that will confirm your suspicions.

Strong Musty Odors

If you notice a strong musty odor when your air conditioner is running, this makes it all but certain mold has arrived and has no plans to leave. While the smell itself will be very unpleasant to your nose, the good news is that this makes mold detection much easier to verify and remediate.

Respiratory Issues

When mold arrives and its spores start to spread throughout the air, you may start to experience various respiratory issues, especially if you already suffer from allergies or other respiratory conditions. Should you turn on your air conditioning unit and later on start to cough, sneeze, experience watery eyes, and feel a bit fatigued, you should contact mold remediation experts to have your air conditioner inspected.

Mold on Air Ducts

When your air conditioning unit releases its cold air, it comes into contact with vents before spreading throughout your rooms. As a result, mold spores will eventually settle on the ducts. When this occurs, you will start to notice small spots that are either white, black, or green in color. While you can easily clean off the mold that forms on your ducts, it will reappear there very fast if the underlying problem within your air conditioner is not addressed.

Mold Inside Your Furnace or Air Conditioner

While you may not associate mold with your furnace, the fact is the inside of your furnace can be a very common spot for mold growth. As your furnace heats and then humidifies the air contained inside it, the perfect environment exists for substantial mold growth. Thus, if you find mold inside your furnace, take a closer look at your air conditioner, since mold is probably hiding there as well.

Rather than let your mold problem get bigger and more complex, take immediate action as soon as you start sneezing, notice that musty smell, or spot mold on your ducts or elsewhere.

How Tinting Your Windows Can Protect Your Home and Family

If you have been searching for a simple home upgrade that is going to have a huge impact on your quality of life, then you should take a closer look at residential window tinting. Such a simple project is going to provide you with immediate benefits, and an experienced contractor can often complete the process in one or two days.

Lower Energy Bills

The average homeowner spends thousands of dollars a year on their heating and cooling bills, and that is just one of the many reasons why you should consider tinting your windows. Many of the leading tinting materials block UV rays, and that can make it much easier to keep your home at a comfortable temperature. After you have your windows tinted, you might want to seal them up as well to further reduce heat transfer in your home.

Less Damage to Indoor Property

Many people consider contacting a residential window tinting service company because they want to minimize damage to the belongings inside their homes. When furniture and other belongings are constantly bombarded with harsh UV rays, they might become faded or damaged in other ways. Instead of going with heavy curtains that will trap heat inside your home during the hottest months of the year, you can simply tint the windows to minimize the strength of the UV rays that are affecting your home.

Improved Security

When criminals think about breaking into a home, they will often look in the windows to see if there are any items that will be easy to steal and sell. One of the most effective ways to prevent a criminal from casing your home is to tint all of the windows. A high-quality window tint will make it very difficult to see in a home without having a big impact on your view from the inside.

Improved Home Value

When the time comes to put your home on the market, small additions can have a huge impact on your final price. Adding a layer of tinting material to all of the walls could be the exact upgrade that you need to help your home stand apart from the competition. Tinted windows will show potential buyers that you took pride in your home’s efficiency and security.

While it might be tempting to tint your own windows, this project is more complicated than most people realize. Improperly tinting your windows could result in uneven tinting, broken windows, and many other expensive eye-sores that every homeowner wants to avoid.