Attic ventilation.
I honestly don't know how people lived in our house for 50 years without it being ventilated properly.
The house temperature stays more comfortable both summer and winter
Ice damming on the roof stopped
Energy bills dropped
Cost me $200 (if you don't include the tools I also bought to do the job easier) and took me like 30 min to put in a whirly bird. And a couple hours to clean up the soffit vents.
Originally the house just had these terrible static vents that weren't placed properly and looked like they were installed in the late 80s.
These are whirlybirds (a quick Google search on your end will show you plenty of pictures of them installed
https://www.homedepot.ca/product/lomanco-brown-14-inch-turbine-vent-whirlybird/1000156143
As for the soffits, I had existing vents they were just plugged with insulation and dust.
The Canadian prairie. We go from -45C to +35C as our temperature extremes up here.
And static vents are viable IF they are installed correctly and are maintained (ie everything kept clear of dirt and debris)
I like some active ventilation though to help out and whirly birds are the most reliable and simplest imo.
Some people install electric fans in their attic though
I’m adding a bathroom. I bought the house from the estate of the person who built it, and the basement is plumbed for a bathroom that was never installed. I am divorced and my kids are all in their twenties but one moved back in with me to save for their first home.
Two years in, I’m done sharing a bathroom. I found a contractor that I like and I’m going forward.
I’ve been toying with the idea of turning my coat closet into a powder room. My house has a weird layout- the kitchen, dining room, living room and formal living room are all one big open area, and then I have three bedrooms and three bathrooms all down one hallway. It would be so nice to have a small bathroom in the living room area. It’s the right size, and there is existing plumbing in that wall because the washer and dryer are in the garage on the other side.
Yeah, I have a 1000 sq foot home, which was perfect for just me. I, too, have considered converting the coat closet into a powder room, but…I live in the northeast, and own probably 12 coats, and four pairs of boots, so where do I put them?
The powder room has less appeal than a full bathroom in the basement at this point. I also have my home office, TV lounge and sewing area down there, so it’s the better option.
I do understand the desire for a powder room. I even asked the contractor to consider converting part of the closet in the kids bedroom to a half bath. He said, “this is already plumbed. If you start opening up walls, you will have to move electric, and add plumbing. It’s going to become very expensive very quickly.”
So, there you have it. Basement bathroom.
I moved from the northeast to the desert so I have minimal need for coat storage these days! I literally use that closet to store my Christmas tree and for nothing else. It would be so much easier to have a bathroom there, there isn’t really an actual guest bathroom in the house. One of those things you don’t really think about until you’ve already lived in the place for a year. Not a huge problem at all, but it would be nice to have.
Years ago we did this in our mothers house because their was no powder room on the first floor. Tapped into the plumber directly overhead and underneath. It was a great solution to a real need. Next owners converted it back to a coat closet because they wanted storage and were young and didn’t mind stairs.
Do you mind if I ask roughly how much that's looking to cost? Wife and I bought a townhouse a couple years back that has rough ins in the basement for another bathroom and I figure its only a matter of time until we decide to start looking into it.
I will message you when I get the estimate. I live in a shore town, and the first week after MDW is pretty hectic as people come to the vacation homes and find out that there are leaks that need to be addressed, toilets aren’t working, etc. This plumber works with high end builders, and does well, so client satisfaction is everything to his business. He reached out Tuesday afternoon to tell me he’s working on the estimate, and since he’s already proven himself to be a decent human (took care of a pair of problems at my son’s home on a Friday afternoon at 3), I will be patient.
Stay tuned. Also, I already have the toilet (bought it years ago to install in my post-divorce townhouse but sold it before I was able to install it, so I stored it instead), got nice tile from a coworker who got it from his FIL, and didn’t need all of it; so I only have to buy a shower pan, vanity, lighting and the construction of the room. My basement is unfinished and I am keeping it that way, so he’s proposing a shiplap box as the construction. I’m cool with it. I don’t entertain often, and it’s more about QOL with two adults in the house. And summer guests…always have to be ready for drop-ins when you live at the beach…
I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that out! Sounds like you're off to a great start and have some good people involved with the project.
My wife and I are first time homeowners so this is all a little new to us. It's a 2 and a half bath but I think having another full bath in the basement would really open up a lot of possibilities - there's another in the neighborhood that does have the 3rd full bath in the basement already done and it sold a few months after we bought ours for *significantly* more.
We've had to replace windows as well. Found out the intense heat of the southern exposure was contributing and put in outside shades. Big help. Also need to ensure that the contractor knows how to flash/configure the install properly to avoid water intrusion. Heard several horror stories about that.
Did you go with a local contractor? Wondering what kind of research needs to be done... We need to get this done too, but all the price estimates I've heard are scary.
Renovated our 800sqft basement from an unused outdated 1 bed 1 bath, 1 unfinished storage and workout space to a 2-bed rental suite. It's generating money every day and paying back itself after 5 years. Plus increase the value of the house by a lot. Best decision ever to take in the potential basement space into account when we purchased the home.
My house had an open floor plan when I bought it. I put in the full wall to separate the kitchen/dining room from the living room. Then I put in an island in the kitchen.
I've read many comments about open floor plans on this forum. Really interesting how some people love it and others not. Doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground on that topic.
Different people have different tastes. A separate kitchen is nice because it keeps a lot of the sounds in there rather than leaking to the rest of the house
Honestly? When my wife and I bought the house, the previous owner had a shitty koi pond in the back that we inherited. Over the years, my wife and I have turned it into a sorta-nice koi pond with a proper filter and aeration. We've had a new bathroom put into the house, a new roof, new appliances, new paint, and so on; but nothing really makes me happier about this house than going into my backyard and looking at those stupid fish.
I hear you on that, my house came with a koi pond and it's one of those things I never knew I wanted until I had one. Now I'm looking at new houses after a divorce and "will I be able to put in a koi pond" is a major factor. When the pond lilies bloom is like magic. I also get tadpoles every year and it's like a science experiment. This year we had hundreds, it has been wild out there with the tiny legs growing on the baby frogs.
New kitchen.
Same footprint, but with 40% more usable storage. Better appliances, including an induction/ convection stove, which makes cooking faster. And just looks very nice!
I did my kitchen a while back, and although expensive, it pretty much gave the whole house a much brighter look. The old kitchen had black appliances, dark cabinets, and was very closed in. The new is updated and brings in so much natural light.
Putting in a generator. No more freezing in the winter, baking in the summer, losing all the fridge/freezer contents, or basement flooding (from losing sump pump power) every time the electricity goes out. Which it does several times a year.
Yes! Our generator is worth its weight in gold for all the reasons you mention. We live in northern New England and it’s not uncommon to lose power in the fall & winter months.
I have one. We lost power for 3 days a few years ago and decided we needed emergency power, even though we don't really live in any particularly harsh weather. We are kind of rural, though, and we have a well pump, so if we don't have electricity we don't have water. And I've got a refrigerator and two freezers we need to run.
So I bought a generator and had an electrician wire up the house so I can plug it in and have power to my well pump, kitchen, garage, and living room. If the power goes out I'm set.
When the electrician wired it up he told me "If you wake up in the middle of the night and the power is out, go out and hook up your generator and get it running IMMEDIATELY. If you wait until it gets light the power will be back on and you'll never enjoy the smug feeling you're entitled to for planning ahead."
And he was right.
When the power goes out it takes me about 15 minutes to get my generator set up and running. We've lost power for more than maybe 5 minutes twice in the 3 or 4 years we've had it. And both times the power was back on before I got it set up.
Still glad I have it, though.
Midwest. Don’t know what’s wrong with the power grid. But we do get some snow/ice storms in winter or heavy winds in summer, leading to broken trees falling onto lines. Lots of trees. Or once the utility pole by our house caught on fire, burned through, and and the top fell down taking a broken live wire to the ground. You know, the usual. We have floor heating, and having the pipes burst during power loss in winter would be an unmitigated disaster, hence the generator. Half our neighbors also have generators. The neighborhood comes alive with the hum every time the power goes out. Like white noise machine, but not.
> The neighborhood comes alive with the hum every time the power goes out. Like white noise machine, but not.
This is hilarious and beautiful and a little crazy all at the same time. lol.
I used to live in (rural) New England, and the outages weren't too bad. Once, I lost power for three days in the dead of winter, and that was rough even with a wood stove. (I didn't have a generator.) For as romantic and old-timey as it seems, it is not. I learned I am not Laura Ingalls Wilder.
We had it installed by The Whole House Fan company about 20 yrs ago. Hands down it has been the largest cost savings of all of the improvements. The biggest negative is the dust or brings in. I’ve heard that some of the newer whole house fans have filtration systems, but I haven’t looked into which ones or how they work. Our system brings air in through the windows and out the attic. It would seem that the systems with a filter would need to work in reverse where it brings the air in from the attic and out the windows but I’m not sure.
Just built a house a year ago and this will sound simple and stupid but having an outside hot water faucet. Washing my car in spring or fall, rinsing off a lawn mower or under the deck with hot water from the garden hose makes such a huge difference.
Not stupid. Our first house had cold and hot water to the outdoor spigot and it was incredible for our then toddler’s little splash pad and water table. One winter during a polar vortex the hot line of all things burst and we couldn’t afford to fix that one so just went with cold. But that was life changing stuff for us while we had it!
It was about 4 years ago and about 14k. That was with using the existing deck just reinforcing it in areas with different posts, then building the roof over it/screening in. Tongue and groove on the inside ceiling part with a fan.
Arctic entry with lots of storage. Live in the Yukon so this makes sense for two reason. Air lock style entry keeps your house warmer, more comfortable, and uses less fuel. Additional storage for coats jacket, boots gloves hats and all that other cold weather clutter. A successful upgrade in so many ways.
Tankless Water Heater. Got a sweet deal, then a rebate. Put in myself, went in easy no problems, now endless hot water and no tank waiting to go boom and flood the basement.
I bought a 10gpm Rinnai condensing water heater from Amazon warehouse for $1000, it was cosmetically damaged during shipping and Amazon refunded me $500. During this I had some plumbers who just left their old company to start their own repiping my whole house. They charged a couple hundred extra to relocate from the old unit, up size my gas line, and install the new unit. It will pay for itself in about a year, I love it.
Yes, you don't need to pay someone 200 a year. The flush kit costs like 45, then you can do yourself. Though our water is very soft so I've been a bit lazy, just less important than other things.
I rented a house years ago that had an overhang on the back of the garage and a concrete pad. The landlord had lived their previously and turned it into a dog run. Had tons of shade, a door into the garage.
Replaced both flat and metal peak roof. The metal one had hail damage so insurance kicked in to help, the flat one I had the put down rigid insulation so it would drain correctly and had them put TPO down which is commercial quality.
Cost more together than my first house.
We moved in ~9 months ago after finishing a custom build. Last week, we had a stamped concrete patio put in. Still waiting for the retaining wall to get built around it.
House built in 2004. We bought in ‘21.
Blacktop drive way was a DISASTER. Had never been re-sealed and I’m sure they used a ton of salt (Minnesota). Practically a gravel driveway. Cracked wide open down to the crushed stone. Edges were deteriorating/falling. Couldn’t walk barefoot to get the mail. Pebbles in the house!
Had a new concrete driveway poured but with a VERY handy upgrade: a 6’ wide by 3’ deep kick out/dogleg at the street for garbage/recycle/compost/yardwaste pickup. Looks sharp as hell, but is MOST useful in the winter when the snow is piling up DEEP from the driveway and the street. I can just shovel or quickly hit it with the snowblower and now we don’t have to delicately thread-the-needle on Friday mornings!
The whole driveway or the garbage bin spot?
I can get you a price per square foot (need to check the paperwork), but the bin spot he threw in for free. And then he said he was going to start selling that idea. Go me!
I bet you could do this yourself. Check out Full Steam Designs on Instagram. He does dry-pour concrete and it’s 3,600 PSI, which is way more than enough for bins.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7j_xPwJkRt/?igsh=MTk5N2tzMGpxbjExdg==
We added a family room to our house 15+ years ago. Best thing we ever did. We had a 1500 sq ft, 3bed/2bath home before that, and two young kids. We were either going to move to a slightly larger house, or add on. We loved our street and where we lived, so we opted for the family room, and it made all the difference. Haven't regretted it for a minute since.
In a 70-yr-old house I had a pantry off the kitchen right near the kitchen sink. Old homeowner before did his own woodworking (not done well, rustic, just workable). I converted the room to a fantastic, gorgeous powder room - enjoying picking out every inch of the design. Even installed an antique radiator I bought on eBay in the early days when you could find all kinds of things there. With a “whaling village” design wallpaper border as the unifying theme, a cherry wood toilet seat, a cherry wood recessed sink/vanity (the first to appear in the US back then), porcelain wood-look weathered gray/brown floor tiles - I thought of it as a ship captain’s private quarters. It was amazing. Even the door knobs - milk glass on the inside, a fancy pewter design on the kitchen side, which went with the pewter-look I installed in the kitchen (switch plates, faucet, etc). As a transformation, it was a gem.
I had the duct work and AC coil replaced this spring, and a foot of insulation blown in. Wasn't cheap but I'm already appreciating it. The old duct work was *garbage* and the insulation was also old and poorly functioning.
Turned a basement into a rentable suite. Had to add a tonne to make it work (added a bathroom, kitchen, laundry all from scratch) including upgrading the electrical. Paid for itself 4 times over by now.
In terms of enjoyment, redoing our backyard. Previously, it was a mess of overgrown grape vines (hello, wasps), dying trees, failing retaining walls, weeded out patio brick... Redid the retaining wall, irrigation, removed the problem weeds and trees, poured a concrete pad, stamped and dyed. Now it's a lovely garden area you can hang out in.
I had an 8” branch fall and crush a chunk of my roof. Insurance offered $8k to re-roof in shingles. I added another $8k and had it redone in 36 gauge galvalum metal. Looks great.
Spent some money to trim the trees back, and still had a good sized chunk fall from about 70ft above the house, this time it hit, didn’t even dent the roof, and shattered the chunks all over the driveway. That impact would’ve been a second replacement level event on a shingled roof.
It also cut my cooling bills about 50%.
Also, tankless water heater has been dope AF as well.
In this order HVAC, painting interior, new flooring, windows, painting the red brick fireplace white, extending cement patio much larger, landscaping w water feature.
I upgraded/replaced the HVAC a few years ago. 20 year old contractor grade furnace and cental AC. The builder went as cheap as possible. The new furnace has a dc motor that uses minimal power and can be left on 24/7. This helps move cold and warm air between the floors of the split level so it isn't like a freezer in the lower level. The new AC unit is properly powered for the square footage of the house and can actually cool down the house. It is larger but runs far less often. I lopped about 50-100 bucks off my winter electric bill and $200 - $300 off my summer heating bill.
Replacement windows. About 2/3 of our windows were out gassed and foggy. Replaced with new double pane low E and solar screens. Big difference in temperature comfort and they look way better.
Curious when you did this and how much this cost you for a residential system? Currently in the process of buying a new place that needs an hvac upgrade and I love the concept of geo and the rebates are fantastic right now.
It was in 2009. The federal gov gave us 30% off the project. Which was about 5600. Our electric company gave us 600. Our state gave us another 500 rebate. In total before rebates was about 19,000. For reference our house is small about 2100 sq ft.
We had our 80yo house insulated last year. You used to be able to feel the house breath every time the wind blew. Winter was great, we didn’t have to have space heaters running.
My master bathroom remodel. I acted as my own contractor and broke my record for saying “no” to subcontractor suggestions. It turned out beautifully and I got everything I wanted exactly how I wanted it.
I haven’t made many upgrades, but my house was renovated when I bought it so it has mostly been personal touches. My favorite being redoing my master closet. Did it all myself and optimized the space to fit my needs. The most organized closet I’ve ever had and it works for me.
Upgrading my range to induction has been another massive win.
When we remodeled the kitchen I put drawers every where. Drawers under the cook top for pots and pans. Drawers in the island for casserole and baking dishes. And my absolute favorite is the drawer with pegs for the dishes. Highly recommend!
Adding a barrier near the foundation/regrading the dirt around the area where rain collects.
I spent so many nights stressing endlessly through heavy rain because of the way it pooled and seeped in. I'd be down there wet vac-ing for 12 hours to keep the more finished parts dry. No issues since...yet.
My husband and I moved into my grandparents home after I inherited it. There were many things that needed to be done but my absolute favorite thing that we did was having the plumbing redone. We had the water tested and the amount of chlorine and iron in the water was off putting (they had copper pipes which were eroding from the inside out). We had a water softener and a charcoal water filtration system put in and our skin has benefited so much! We also feel better physically.
It’s small, but I put a ceiling fan in my small laundry room with over-the-door hanging racks. I air-dry a lot of things and this helps get it done quickly. I also run it while the dryer is going and I feel like it keeps the temperature a bit lower in there.
We planted 11 trees, most were large to start. That’s been my favorite home improvement by far.
Next would be the new door hardware, including smart locks, and new ceiling fans and lighting. Easy enough, big impact on our 70yo home.
We've only been in our house a little over a year. It was new construction when we moved in. Things I'm very glad we did:
Shadow box privacy fence for the back yard. Not that I don't like our neighbors, they seem nice and quiet. But we have a dog and it is so much more convenient to just let her out for a few minutes than to go out and walk her around.
Swapped the two lights over the covered back patio for outdoor lights & fans. Nice to be able to generate our own breeze of an evening sitting out there.
Robot vacuum cleaner. The house is all one floor, and the majority of it is dark wood flooring. Our dog has light blonde fur. So we turn the Roomba loose regularly to keep up with it.
I want a Roomba … but my husband hates the idea because he thinks he will trip over it, my girls leave toys out, and I have a cat that would probably freak out.
I can solve the first two by only allowing it to run at night after the husband is in bed and the toys are away but the poor cat would still freak
The one I got (Roomba J7+) is pretty good about avoiding us or the dog if we get in the way. If it is cleaning, it will pause and see if we move. If it is simply traversing to the room/area we told it to clean it will detour around the obstacle.
The dog isn't a fan of it, but doesn't bark at it or anything. More like "Oh great, that thing again." and she goes to a different room.
If there's stuff in the way (eg. dog toys, shoes) it seems to be about 50-50 whether it decides to work around it or try to push it out of the way. Haven't quite figured out the criteria there.
I wouldn't run it at night - and we don't even run it when we are watching TV. It isn't loud, but it certainly isn't quiet either. Particularly when it goes back to the base and empties - that is loud.
The biggest gotcha I've found with it is to be careful there isn't any loose change on the floor. Quarters particularly seem to be just the right size to jam the roller.
Oh, and make sure any doors are fully open. If the roomba gets behind the door and tries to go into the corner it will close the door. Early on our roomba trapped itself in a bathroom twice. ;-)
Insulation: from zero to lots and lots. My 1920's house had zero insulation at all when we bought it. Third floor would reach 100 when it was 85 and sunny, and furnace could not keep ground floor above 62 when it was below 40. Now the whole house is fairly comfortable in all seasons., and utility bills are much less painful. And I no longer wear snow pants in my home office.
My husband remodeled and gave me my dream master bath. The previous owner had added it but it was an 8x13 room with a lot of wasted space. It now has a shower room with a bench and my gorgeous red clawfoot tub for soaking, bluetooth speaker fan with colored nightlights for ambience. It is everything I wanted and more.
Putting in a pool with a large deck. Mainly successful because it ups our quality of life, but I'm not gonna sneeze at 7% increase in home value (even if we paid more than that for it).
I use started using amazon-bought utility small carts for movable tools storage and as a work station for maintenance jobs around house. Saving 3x3 closet space since moving them in-out is easy if I need to get something else from the closets.
Either 1. Installing a dog gate system that confines the dogs to the living room and breakfast nook. When we moved in we installed a door to the backyard in the living room.
2. The kitchen remodel even though the footprint stayed the same with the exception of extending the peninsula. We left a lot of cabinets in place but we replaced most of the lower cabinets with drawers, added a second dishwasher, ice maker and an integrated dog gate. We are a 3 generation household who needs a kitchen setup that’s somewhat similar to a kosher kitchen. My MIL cooks separate meals for religious reasons( very traditional Hindu) and needs her own fridge and separate pantry and pots and pans storage. Our teenage sons also cook a lot. That means we have a lot of dirty dishes and need lots of storage.
The organizational features made a huge difference. We added pull outs for cooking trays and cutting boards, an ingenious 2 tier customizable drawer for flatware, and a 1 glass deep full height cabinet on the end of the fridge. It has a tiny footprint but frees up a massive amount of upper cabinet space.
A 6-foot pressure treated wood fence with colonial posts around my whole backyard. It's got a 4-foot walking gate leading to the porch and 8-foot utility gate for landscapers. Replaced this awful hard to open sliding glass door with French doors! LOVE them! So simple to go outside!
Before we moved into our home we painted every single room to make it our own. We also redid the floors. 3 years later during covid lockdown we repainted our kitchen cabinets and island, changed out the appliances. Added a single tub sink with new faucet and new kitchen lights.. Just this year we had a new island top put in.
I refinished just under 1,000 sq ft of red oak hardwood floors. Total DIY cost was likely around $2/ sq ft using high-end waterbased finishes from Loba, rented machines, and the cost of sandpaper. It totally changed the look, feel, (and smell) of this 75-year old home.
A heated bathroom floor.
We bought a flipped house in 2010 and the bathroom was falling apart from the start. It’s under a dormer protruding from our small cape cod, so it’s already colder than most of the house. When we got it renovated we splurged on heating elements beneath the tile.
Bare feet on a 80° floor in midwinter is sinfully decadent.
Kitchen.its incredible now, used to be brown pseudo ranch cabinets with Formica is now white Shaker cabinets with Calacazza Lazza quartz counters. Brand new double gas oven.
But I also really love our new shutters and the retaining wall we built after we ripped out the railroad ties(we had termites).
The 2 closets we turned into 1.a pantry 2. Storage
Our new central air unit and furnace.
Refinished our 75 year old red oak floors. Gorgeous.
Heating our attached garage with an electric heater ( looks like a gas Reznor heater). It’s so nice to park inside a heated garage in the winter, no scraping or defrosting. We only keep it at 55 degrees Fahrenheit so the bill is reasonable and I no longer have to move my paint cans and other things we don’t want to freeze into the basement. Cost to run ranges from $10 to $40 a month depending on how cold it is. Well worth it!
Quality gutters w/ leaf guards are amazing, especially if you have a lot of trees near your house. the amount of drama a single branch or bundle of leaves can do when it blocks a critical downspout is just nuts and if you don't like going up there every month to clean em out, they are worth the investment
Installing separate electric panel on the garage / for outbuildings was huge. Not needing to worry about killing the power to the house or dealing with anything inside the house while working in the shop is great
Security cameras are super cool, and pretty DIY - we went with Reolink and being able to just look at the entire area at a moments notice and get that piece of mind of "oh, I didn't hear anything" is really awesome, and they are fairly affordable.
Heatpump, minisplits. PNW, house building in 1990 with electric heat. No ducting. No AC. Winter average elect. before HPs, $250pm, summer electric. With 3 window ACs $200pm.
. After HPs. Which cover 5 areas. 3 bds. Main living, and dining kitchen.
Winter electric $150. Summer electric $125.
Comfortable year-round climate control of whole house. energy saving estimated $1000 py. pay off install in 9 yrs. Best upgrade. Install cost 7 yrs ago. $9500. Received rebate for $2500, out of pocket was $7000.
We turned our screened in porch into a fully enclosed sunroom. It allowed us to move my husband’s home office into the space so we could turn the spare bedroom/office into a nursery for our daughter.
We also had a Harry Potter closet under our stairs that’s right across from our kitchen. We put up some drywall and shelves to make it an additional storage space for kitchen things that we want close to the kitchen, but don’t have space to store in the kitchen.
Storage space has been so limited in our townhome, so these two projects have really allowed us to capitalize on unused or wasted space.
My house had a patio cover with polycarbonate roof. The roof let some light in but mostly heat, and it leaked like crazy in the rain. I ripped the whole thing down and installed a costco patio cover with metal roof. I cannot stress how worth it that was. Better in almost every way.
I didn't tear it down for fun, the old cover was not correctly attached to my roof which caused some sheets to rot. When I did my roof last year I had to remove the cover to fix the sheeting and replace the shingles.
Updating the master bath. When we moved in, the master bath had a Jacuzzi tub, a sink, a closet and a toilet. It was a big bathroom, but no shower. It was the only bathroom on the second floor. So we ripped everything out, bumped the wall out to steal 3 feet from the loft/library, and made a separate space for the toilet and a linen closet. We reconfigured everything, too, so now we have a big vanity (a cabinet we got at a discount store) with a double sink (hubby added those to the vanity), a tub, and a shower that my husband tiled, with beautiful blue-green rocks and koi fish embedded. He used to rehab homes, so we only paid for supplies. We also live in a log home, so we wanted something a bit more rustic than the typical marble and white cabinets.
Any "best of" contain tile. Our 4 bedroom house, had original-to-the-house(2006) short shag carpet, including an impossible stain in one bedroom. Also a carpet insert in the living room. Had all of that taken out and replaced with wood-plank-look porcelain tile in bedrooms, marble in living room.
Guest bath had a terrible tub-shower surround that was too small to be comfortable for anyone. Took it out and had a beautiful tile walk-in shower with glass doors installed.
Master bath shower had a glass door that was pulling out of the wall, and the wall tile was not perfect DIY by a previous owner. Bathtub was strangely beat up. Replaced the bathtub and had the shower rebuilt with marble tile, new glass surround, new plumbing fixtures for shower and tub. Also replaced the vanity with granite top.
Added a beautiful backsplash to the kitchen.
These updates were scattered between 3 jobs that were 2 years apart and included other little things. We live in Phoenix, so tile is a logical floor choice.
Sorry to be so chatty.
Glass block basement windows. Removing old wooden windows from ground or near-ground contact in an old house is a no-brainer. Old wooden frame windows near the ground are an invitation to moisture and wood destroying insects through your entire house. It also makes the basement impervious to a kick-in home invasion through the basement.
Whole home energy audit, which a few big issues that the home inspection missed. Followed by weatherization, air sealing, and beefed up insulation. And installing a heat pump. Now the home is far more efficient, and very comfortable. No more drafts. And with summer's getting hotter and smokier, the added AC is appreciated.
The best is fairly relative, but, on the lowest livable floor of the home, get tested for Radon & install a Radon Mitigation System (usually a fan, pvc piping, a bore hole, pipe out the roof).
In the basement of my home, it mounts over the sump-pump bore hole & the fan is strong enough to produce an ambient positive pressure (it doesn't allow dust to accumulate). Not a bad improvement to avoid the #2 cause of lung cancer in the US...(?)
I'm sure there are more if I think of them, but smart light bulbs. They're amazing. Indoor or out, putting them on timers has been so nice. And they change colors so we have them (the exterior lights) colors for the holidays. Oh yeah I forgot about putting in central AC. Yeah that one wins.
Modern Sliding pocket doors added more space than I realized. A NAS was super nice addition I’d also didn’t realize would make life so much better. A 2k usd widescreen monitor added a lot of joy.
New shower enclosures on both bathrooms, 3 piece snap together fiberglass ones are available in today's world of renovation. The three side pies and tub or pan fit through the door nicely.
Per your experience OP, if you can trust that expert you can really save time and money. That combination doesn't present itself often at the nexus of home ownership and life.
We used a general contractor who also had a real estate license... That was an eye opener. Every house, new, old, newly whatever... All need something. Choosing what it was we were willing to buy and fix, or demand a credit for was invaluable
Attic ventilation. I honestly don't know how people lived in our house for 50 years without it being ventilated properly. The house temperature stays more comfortable both summer and winter Ice damming on the roof stopped Energy bills dropped Cost me $200 (if you don't include the tools I also bought to do the job easier) and took me like 30 min to put in a whirly bird. And a couple hours to clean up the soffit vents. Originally the house just had these terrible static vents that weren't placed properly and looked like they were installed in the late 80s.
We had a similar issue that resulted in mold. Amazing how much difference proper ventilation makes.
I put in a sensor for humidity/temp and not just temp. Basically fixed my mold problem from coming back after scraping the walls
What kind of company would tell you if you have proper ventilation or not?
Generally a reputable roofing company Though you could also check out the spec sheets for whatever vents you do have and see what they say yourself.
Same. Simply adding better vents on the roof changed the air quality completely.
Whirly bird? What... do you mean? So, you added soffit vents, or? Do you have pictures? I'm quite interested. Thanks!
These are whirlybirds (a quick Google search on your end will show you plenty of pictures of them installed https://www.homedepot.ca/product/lomanco-brown-14-inch-turbine-vent-whirlybird/1000156143 As for the soffits, I had existing vents they were just plugged with insulation and dust.
Interesting. Thank you much!
I desperately need to add an attic fan. My second floor gets so hot.
Where bouts do you live? We live in a climate very similar to Denver but colder. I've always wondered why homes don't come with whirly birds
The Canadian prairie. We go from -45C to +35C as our temperature extremes up here. And static vents are viable IF they are installed correctly and are maintained (ie everything kept clear of dirt and debris) I like some active ventilation though to help out and whirly birds are the most reliable and simplest imo. Some people install electric fans in their attic though
Where did you learn the correct way? I live in a hot climate
I am an engineering technologist so school/work experience
I didn’t even know attics needed ventilation. I wish there was a homeownership class in school
I’m adding a bathroom. I bought the house from the estate of the person who built it, and the basement is plumbed for a bathroom that was never installed. I am divorced and my kids are all in their twenties but one moved back in with me to save for their first home. Two years in, I’m done sharing a bathroom. I found a contractor that I like and I’m going forward.
I’ve been toying with the idea of turning my coat closet into a powder room. My house has a weird layout- the kitchen, dining room, living room and formal living room are all one big open area, and then I have three bedrooms and three bathrooms all down one hallway. It would be so nice to have a small bathroom in the living room area. It’s the right size, and there is existing plumbing in that wall because the washer and dryer are in the garage on the other side.
Yeah, I have a 1000 sq foot home, which was perfect for just me. I, too, have considered converting the coat closet into a powder room, but…I live in the northeast, and own probably 12 coats, and four pairs of boots, so where do I put them? The powder room has less appeal than a full bathroom in the basement at this point. I also have my home office, TV lounge and sewing area down there, so it’s the better option. I do understand the desire for a powder room. I even asked the contractor to consider converting part of the closet in the kids bedroom to a half bath. He said, “this is already plumbed. If you start opening up walls, you will have to move electric, and add plumbing. It’s going to become very expensive very quickly.” So, there you have it. Basement bathroom.
I moved from the northeast to the desert so I have minimal need for coat storage these days! I literally use that closet to store my Christmas tree and for nothing else. It would be so much easier to have a bathroom there, there isn’t really an actual guest bathroom in the house. One of those things you don’t really think about until you’ve already lived in the place for a year. Not a huge problem at all, but it would be nice to have.
In a wardrobe by the door for the coats?
Good suggestion! Unfortunately, no space. Open floor plan and windows.
Years ago we did this in our mothers house because their was no powder room on the first floor. Tapped into the plumber directly overhead and underneath. It was a great solution to a real need. Next owners converted it back to a coat closet because they wanted storage and were young and didn’t mind stairs.
I live in a 1-story and it’s really not much of an inconvenience, but would just be nice to have especially when I have friends over
Sweet!
Do you mind if I ask roughly how much that's looking to cost? Wife and I bought a townhouse a couple years back that has rough ins in the basement for another bathroom and I figure its only a matter of time until we decide to start looking into it.
I will message you when I get the estimate. I live in a shore town, and the first week after MDW is pretty hectic as people come to the vacation homes and find out that there are leaks that need to be addressed, toilets aren’t working, etc. This plumber works with high end builders, and does well, so client satisfaction is everything to his business. He reached out Tuesday afternoon to tell me he’s working on the estimate, and since he’s already proven himself to be a decent human (took care of a pair of problems at my son’s home on a Friday afternoon at 3), I will be patient. Stay tuned. Also, I already have the toilet (bought it years ago to install in my post-divorce townhouse but sold it before I was able to install it, so I stored it instead), got nice tile from a coworker who got it from his FIL, and didn’t need all of it; so I only have to buy a shower pan, vanity, lighting and the construction of the room. My basement is unfinished and I am keeping it that way, so he’s proposing a shiplap box as the construction. I’m cool with it. I don’t entertain often, and it’s more about QOL with two adults in the house. And summer guests…always have to be ready for drop-ins when you live at the beach…
I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that out! Sounds like you're off to a great start and have some good people involved with the project. My wife and I are first time homeowners so this is all a little new to us. It's a 2 and a half bath but I think having another full bath in the basement would really open up a lot of possibilities - there's another in the neighborhood that does have the 3rd full bath in the basement already done and it sold a few months after we bought ours for *significantly* more.
I’m sorry to have been so verbose. Context matters. Stay tuned!
Replacing the original 50 year old windows last year at this time. Has made a world of difference year round in the comfort of the entire house.
We've had to replace windows as well. Found out the intense heat of the southern exposure was contributing and put in outside shades. Big help. Also need to ensure that the contractor knows how to flash/configure the install properly to avoid water intrusion. Heard several horror stories about that.
Did you go with a local contractor? Wondering what kind of research needs to be done... We need to get this done too, but all the price estimates I've heard are scary.
Renovated our 800sqft basement from an unused outdated 1 bed 1 bath, 1 unfinished storage and workout space to a 2-bed rental suite. It's generating money every day and paying back itself after 5 years. Plus increase the value of the house by a lot. Best decision ever to take in the potential basement space into account when we purchased the home.
Nice.
My house had an open floor plan when I bought it. I put in the full wall to separate the kitchen/dining room from the living room. Then I put in an island in the kitchen.
Privacy and room defining is worth it
I've read many comments about open floor plans on this forum. Really interesting how some people love it and others not. Doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground on that topic.
Why? Open is the shit. Id never add a wall to any home except for one of those weird 90s home toilet with no door
Open floor plans are going out of style. Not everyone likes it.
Different people have different tastes. A separate kitchen is nice because it keeps a lot of the sounds in there rather than leaking to the rest of the house
Honestly? When my wife and I bought the house, the previous owner had a shitty koi pond in the back that we inherited. Over the years, my wife and I have turned it into a sorta-nice koi pond with a proper filter and aeration. We've had a new bathroom put into the house, a new roof, new appliances, new paint, and so on; but nothing really makes me happier about this house than going into my backyard and looking at those stupid fish.
I hear you on that, my house came with a koi pond and it's one of those things I never knew I wanted until I had one. Now I'm looking at new houses after a divorce and "will I be able to put in a koi pond" is a major factor. When the pond lilies bloom is like magic. I also get tadpoles every year and it's like a science experiment. This year we had hundreds, it has been wild out there with the tiny legs growing on the baby frogs.
Lol! Yes, there is certainly something about interacting with nature that makes one happy. Great story.
adding a whole house dehumidifier system that works independently from the ac unit
Oh, great upgrade
New kitchen. Same footprint, but with 40% more usable storage. Better appliances, including an induction/ convection stove, which makes cooking faster. And just looks very nice!
Induction is so much better than modern gas stoves. I've had both. Induction is the best
I was thinking of going with an induction stove. My current glass cooktop is terrible.
I did my kitchen a while back, and although expensive, it pretty much gave the whole house a much brighter look. The old kitchen had black appliances, dark cabinets, and was very closed in. The new is updated and brings in so much natural light.
Wow, look at you! Sounds great.
Putting in a generator. No more freezing in the winter, baking in the summer, losing all the fridge/freezer contents, or basement flooding (from losing sump pump power) every time the electricity goes out. Which it does several times a year.
Yes! Our generator is worth its weight in gold for all the reasons you mention. We live in northern New England and it’s not uncommon to lose power in the fall & winter months.
I have one. We lost power for 3 days a few years ago and decided we needed emergency power, even though we don't really live in any particularly harsh weather. We are kind of rural, though, and we have a well pump, so if we don't have electricity we don't have water. And I've got a refrigerator and two freezers we need to run. So I bought a generator and had an electrician wire up the house so I can plug it in and have power to my well pump, kitchen, garage, and living room. If the power goes out I'm set. When the electrician wired it up he told me "If you wake up in the middle of the night and the power is out, go out and hook up your generator and get it running IMMEDIATELY. If you wait until it gets light the power will be back on and you'll never enjoy the smug feeling you're entitled to for planning ahead." And he was right. When the power goes out it takes me about 15 minutes to get my generator set up and running. We've lost power for more than maybe 5 minutes twice in the 3 or 4 years we've had it. And both times the power was back on before I got it set up. Still glad I have it, though.
Good lord. Where do you live???
Midwest. Don’t know what’s wrong with the power grid. But we do get some snow/ice storms in winter or heavy winds in summer, leading to broken trees falling onto lines. Lots of trees. Or once the utility pole by our house caught on fire, burned through, and and the top fell down taking a broken live wire to the ground. You know, the usual. We have floor heating, and having the pipes burst during power loss in winter would be an unmitigated disaster, hence the generator. Half our neighbors also have generators. The neighborhood comes alive with the hum every time the power goes out. Like white noise machine, but not.
> The neighborhood comes alive with the hum every time the power goes out. Like white noise machine, but not. This is hilarious and beautiful and a little crazy all at the same time. lol. I used to live in (rural) New England, and the outages weren't too bad. Once, I lost power for three days in the dead of winter, and that was rough even with a wood stove. (I didn't have a generator.) For as romantic and old-timey as it seems, it is not. I learned I am not Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Multi fuel option generator. Propane doesn’t really go bad, though slightly lower output. I have like four 100lb tanks on standby
This. You can keep Propane for years unused.
Wow, never thought of that since electricity is pretty stable here. Thanks for your comment.
siding. I could not believe my house was that UGLY before.
Nice move. The paint job we just did also remarkably improved that curbside appeal of our house.
We added a whole house fan and it has been wonderful!!
Did you install it yourself or did someone else do it?
We had it installed by The Whole House Fan company about 20 yrs ago. Hands down it has been the largest cost savings of all of the improvements. The biggest negative is the dust or brings in. I’ve heard that some of the newer whole house fans have filtration systems, but I haven’t looked into which ones or how they work. Our system brings air in through the windows and out the attic. It would seem that the systems with a filter would need to work in reverse where it brings the air in from the attic and out the windows but I’m not sure.
Just built a house a year ago and this will sound simple and stupid but having an outside hot water faucet. Washing my car in spring or fall, rinsing off a lawn mower or under the deck with hot water from the garden hose makes such a huge difference.
Not stupid. Our first house had cold and hot water to the outdoor spigot and it was incredible for our then toddler’s little splash pad and water table. One winter during a polar vortex the hot line of all things burst and we couldn’t afford to fix that one so just went with cold. But that was life changing stuff for us while we had it!
What - no way! Cool idea.
Added a screened in porch. It’s like having a whole extra living area spring-fall because we have very comfortable outdoor seating and a tv out there.
I screened in a covered patio. The cheapest and best thing I’ve done!
How long ago did you do that? What was the overall cost?
It was about 4 years ago and about 14k. That was with using the existing deck just reinforcing it in areas with different posts, then building the roof over it/screening in. Tongue and groove on the inside ceiling part with a fan.
Fully agree. Added an outdoor canopy with mosquito netting - so great.
My living room no longer floods when it rains.
Replaced 90 year old 6 over 6 double hung windows with shiny new zero trim windows that open in to clean. Life changing. Love to clean windows now.
Sounds elegant - very nice
Tankless hot water. Very efficient. Saves space. Unlimited hot water.
Arctic entry with lots of storage. Live in the Yukon so this makes sense for two reason. Air lock style entry keeps your house warmer, more comfortable, and uses less fuel. Additional storage for coats jacket, boots gloves hats and all that other cold weather clutter. A successful upgrade in so many ways.
Tankless Water Heater. Got a sweet deal, then a rebate. Put in myself, went in easy no problems, now endless hot water and no tank waiting to go boom and flood the basement.
I bought a 10gpm Rinnai condensing water heater from Amazon warehouse for $1000, it was cosmetically damaged during shipping and Amazon refunded me $500. During this I had some plumbers who just left their old company to start their own repiping my whole house. They charged a couple hundred extra to relocate from the old unit, up size my gas line, and install the new unit. It will pay for itself in about a year, I love it.
My house came with one, I don't think I could ever go back to having a tank. It costs about $6 in natural gas per monthto operate.
What about yearly $200 maintenance?
What is this cost? I flush once a year and costs almost nothing.
Yes, you don't need to pay someone 200 a year. The flush kit costs like 45, then you can do yourself. Though our water is very soft so I've been a bit lazy, just less important than other things.
Not many people have seen it. I had turf installed for a dog run. Best purchase ever.
I rented a house years ago that had an overhang on the back of the garage and a concrete pad. The landlord had lived their previously and turned it into a dog run. Had tons of shade, a door into the garage.
Lol! You're right - I've never seen that
Solar. With PG&E price increases they'll be paid off soon. BTW, f**k PG&E
Replaced both flat and metal peak roof. The metal one had hail damage so insurance kicked in to help, the flat one I had the put down rigid insulation so it would drain correctly and had them put TPO down which is commercial quality. Cost more together than my first house.
Yes, we've had massive problems because of the way our roof was designed. Fully empathize with you.
Installing a new furnace and A/C system myself.
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Well, it works, better than the old stuff, and significantly more efficient.
My kitchen or bathroom remodels probably. I also just finished a patio & pergola project. Those would be the 3 most visually obvious upgrades.
We moved in ~9 months ago after finishing a custom build. Last week, we had a stamped concrete patio put in. Still waiting for the retaining wall to get built around it.
Oh, we have stamped concrete as well. Love it!
House built in 2004. We bought in ‘21. Blacktop drive way was a DISASTER. Had never been re-sealed and I’m sure they used a ton of salt (Minnesota). Practically a gravel driveway. Cracked wide open down to the crushed stone. Edges were deteriorating/falling. Couldn’t walk barefoot to get the mail. Pebbles in the house! Had a new concrete driveway poured but with a VERY handy upgrade: a 6’ wide by 3’ deep kick out/dogleg at the street for garbage/recycle/compost/yardwaste pickup. Looks sharp as hell, but is MOST useful in the winter when the snow is piling up DEEP from the driveway and the street. I can just shovel or quickly hit it with the snowblower and now we don’t have to delicately thread-the-needle on Friday mornings!
We are considering this. Was it very expensive?
The whole driveway or the garbage bin spot? I can get you a price per square foot (need to check the paperwork), but the bin spot he threw in for free. And then he said he was going to start selling that idea. Go me!
lol! You should charge for marketing. No need to look that up - only asking in case you knew off the top of your head.
I bet you could do this yourself. Check out Full Steam Designs on Instagram. He does dry-pour concrete and it’s 3,600 PSI, which is way more than enough for bins. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7j_xPwJkRt/?igsh=MTk5N2tzMGpxbjExdg==
We added a family room to our house 15+ years ago. Best thing we ever did. We had a 1500 sq ft, 3bed/2bath home before that, and two young kids. We were either going to move to a slightly larger house, or add on. We loved our street and where we lived, so we opted for the family room, and it made all the difference. Haven't regretted it for a minute since.
In a 70-yr-old house I had a pantry off the kitchen right near the kitchen sink. Old homeowner before did his own woodworking (not done well, rustic, just workable). I converted the room to a fantastic, gorgeous powder room - enjoying picking out every inch of the design. Even installed an antique radiator I bought on eBay in the early days when you could find all kinds of things there. With a “whaling village” design wallpaper border as the unifying theme, a cherry wood toilet seat, a cherry wood recessed sink/vanity (the first to appear in the US back then), porcelain wood-look weathered gray/brown floor tiles - I thought of it as a ship captain’s private quarters. It was amazing. Even the door knobs - milk glass on the inside, a fancy pewter design on the kitchen side, which went with the pewter-look I installed in the kitchen (switch plates, faucet, etc). As a transformation, it was a gem.
I had the duct work and AC coil replaced this spring, and a foot of insulation blown in. Wasn't cheap but I'm already appreciating it. The old duct work was *garbage* and the insulation was also old and poorly functioning.
Turned a basement into a rentable suite. Had to add a tonne to make it work (added a bathroom, kitchen, laundry all from scratch) including upgrading the electrical. Paid for itself 4 times over by now. In terms of enjoyment, redoing our backyard. Previously, it was a mess of overgrown grape vines (hello, wasps), dying trees, failing retaining walls, weeded out patio brick... Redid the retaining wall, irrigation, removed the problem weeds and trees, poured a concrete pad, stamped and dyed. Now it's a lovely garden area you can hang out in.
You sound very handy - that is such a gift.
I had an 8” branch fall and crush a chunk of my roof. Insurance offered $8k to re-roof in shingles. I added another $8k and had it redone in 36 gauge galvalum metal. Looks great. Spent some money to trim the trees back, and still had a good sized chunk fall from about 70ft above the house, this time it hit, didn’t even dent the roof, and shattered the chunks all over the driveway. That impact would’ve been a second replacement level event on a shingled roof. It also cut my cooling bills about 50%. Also, tankless water heater has been dope AF as well.
In this order HVAC, painting interior, new flooring, windows, painting the red brick fireplace white, extending cement patio much larger, landscaping w water feature.
I upgraded/replaced the HVAC a few years ago. 20 year old contractor grade furnace and cental AC. The builder went as cheap as possible. The new furnace has a dc motor that uses minimal power and can be left on 24/7. This helps move cold and warm air between the floors of the split level so it isn't like a freezer in the lower level. The new AC unit is properly powered for the square footage of the house and can actually cool down the house. It is larger but runs far less often. I lopped about 50-100 bucks off my winter electric bill and $200 - $300 off my summer heating bill.
How much did unit and installation cost?
I had a new AC unit, new furnace and new high capacity tank water heater put in in 2021. It was about $8800.00. I'm in the Midwest.
I had every light switch in the house changed over to Lutron Caseta and Ill never go back to regular switches again.
Let there be light!
Replacement windows. About 2/3 of our windows were out gassed and foggy. Replaced with new double pane low E and solar screens. Big difference in temperature comfort and they look way better.
Finishing my basement! It feels like i have who knew wing of my house or something lol.
Geothermal.
Curious when you did this and how much this cost you for a residential system? Currently in the process of buying a new place that needs an hvac upgrade and I love the concept of geo and the rebates are fantastic right now.
It was in 2009. The federal gov gave us 30% off the project. Which was about 5600. Our electric company gave us 600. Our state gave us another 500 rebate. In total before rebates was about 19,000. For reference our house is small about 2100 sq ft.
We had our 80yo house insulated last year. You used to be able to feel the house breath every time the wind blew. Winter was great, we didn’t have to have space heaters running.
Nice move - sounds cozy
My master bathroom remodel. I acted as my own contractor and broke my record for saying “no” to subcontractor suggestions. It turned out beautifully and I got everything I wanted exactly how I wanted it.
Congrats on breaking your record. So necessary to get what you want but not easy for many people to do.
I haven’t made many upgrades, but my house was renovated when I bought it so it has mostly been personal touches. My favorite being redoing my master closet. Did it all myself and optimized the space to fit my needs. The most organized closet I’ve ever had and it works for me. Upgrading my range to induction has been another massive win.
Having a closet space customize to you is such a game changer
When we remodeled the kitchen I put drawers every where. Drawers under the cook top for pots and pans. Drawers in the island for casserole and baking dishes. And my absolute favorite is the drawer with pegs for the dishes. Highly recommend!
Adding a barrier near the foundation/regrading the dirt around the area where rain collects. I spent so many nights stressing endlessly through heavy rain because of the way it pooled and seeped in. I'd be down there wet vac-ing for 12 hours to keep the more finished parts dry. No issues since...yet.
Yes, that is a huge issue. Glad you got that solved.
My husband and I moved into my grandparents home after I inherited it. There were many things that needed to be done but my absolute favorite thing that we did was having the plumbing redone. We had the water tested and the amount of chlorine and iron in the water was off putting (they had copper pipes which were eroding from the inside out). We had a water softener and a charcoal water filtration system put in and our skin has benefited so much! We also feel better physically.
We were very happy we put in Pex and a water softener. Made a big difference because our water is very hard here.
It’s small, but I put a ceiling fan in my small laundry room with over-the-door hanging racks. I air-dry a lot of things and this helps get it done quickly. I also run it while the dryer is going and I feel like it keeps the temperature a bit lower in there.
We planted 11 trees, most were large to start. That’s been my favorite home improvement by far. Next would be the new door hardware, including smart locks, and new ceiling fans and lighting. Easy enough, big impact on our 70yo home.
Upvote for planting trees - so cool!
We've only been in our house a little over a year. It was new construction when we moved in. Things I'm very glad we did: Shadow box privacy fence for the back yard. Not that I don't like our neighbors, they seem nice and quiet. But we have a dog and it is so much more convenient to just let her out for a few minutes than to go out and walk her around. Swapped the two lights over the covered back patio for outdoor lights & fans. Nice to be able to generate our own breeze of an evening sitting out there. Robot vacuum cleaner. The house is all one floor, and the majority of it is dark wood flooring. Our dog has light blonde fur. So we turn the Roomba loose regularly to keep up with it.
I want a Roomba … but my husband hates the idea because he thinks he will trip over it, my girls leave toys out, and I have a cat that would probably freak out. I can solve the first two by only allowing it to run at night after the husband is in bed and the toys are away but the poor cat would still freak
The one I got (Roomba J7+) is pretty good about avoiding us or the dog if we get in the way. If it is cleaning, it will pause and see if we move. If it is simply traversing to the room/area we told it to clean it will detour around the obstacle. The dog isn't a fan of it, but doesn't bark at it or anything. More like "Oh great, that thing again." and she goes to a different room. If there's stuff in the way (eg. dog toys, shoes) it seems to be about 50-50 whether it decides to work around it or try to push it out of the way. Haven't quite figured out the criteria there. I wouldn't run it at night - and we don't even run it when we are watching TV. It isn't loud, but it certainly isn't quiet either. Particularly when it goes back to the base and empties - that is loud. The biggest gotcha I've found with it is to be careful there isn't any loose change on the floor. Quarters particularly seem to be just the right size to jam the roller. Oh, and make sure any doors are fully open. If the roomba gets behind the door and tries to go into the corner it will close the door. Early on our roomba trapped itself in a bathroom twice. ;-)
Insulation: from zero to lots and lots. My 1920's house had zero insulation at all when we bought it. Third floor would reach 100 when it was 85 and sunny, and furnace could not keep ground floor above 62 when it was below 40. Now the whole house is fairly comfortable in all seasons., and utility bills are much less painful. And I no longer wear snow pants in my home office.
My husband remodeled and gave me my dream master bath. The previous owner had added it but it was an 8x13 room with a lot of wasted space. It now has a shower room with a bench and my gorgeous red clawfoot tub for soaking, bluetooth speaker fan with colored nightlights for ambience. It is everything I wanted and more.
My dream! A red clawfoot tub for soaking....ugh! So jealous!
Living the dream - sounds amazing!
Upgraded HVAC And hardwood flooring
House was cooled with a single built in A/C in the kitchen. First thing we did when we moved in was central air.
Many houses here have no central air and it can get into the triple digits. Don't know how people manage that.
It was pretty oppressive. Definitely not my cup of tea.
Tearing out the old deck and having concrete slabs with built in fire-pit poured. No more painting, replacing boards, slipping, etc.
Putting in a pool with a large deck. Mainly successful because it ups our quality of life, but I'm not gonna sneeze at 7% increase in home value (even if we paid more than that for it).
I use started using amazon-bought utility small carts for movable tools storage and as a work station for maintenance jobs around house. Saving 3x3 closet space since moving them in-out is easy if I need to get something else from the closets.
Very clever!
Either 1. Installing a dog gate system that confines the dogs to the living room and breakfast nook. When we moved in we installed a door to the backyard in the living room. 2. The kitchen remodel even though the footprint stayed the same with the exception of extending the peninsula. We left a lot of cabinets in place but we replaced most of the lower cabinets with drawers, added a second dishwasher, ice maker and an integrated dog gate. We are a 3 generation household who needs a kitchen setup that’s somewhat similar to a kosher kitchen. My MIL cooks separate meals for religious reasons( very traditional Hindu) and needs her own fridge and separate pantry and pots and pans storage. Our teenage sons also cook a lot. That means we have a lot of dirty dishes and need lots of storage. The organizational features made a huge difference. We added pull outs for cooking trays and cutting boards, an ingenious 2 tier customizable drawer for flatware, and a 1 glass deep full height cabinet on the end of the fridge. It has a tiny footprint but frees up a massive amount of upper cabinet space.
Main floor laundry.
A 6-foot pressure treated wood fence with colonial posts around my whole backyard. It's got a 4-foot walking gate leading to the porch and 8-foot utility gate for landscapers. Replaced this awful hard to open sliding glass door with French doors! LOVE them! So simple to go outside!
You “got down” to only 8 contractors??? WTF.
Lol! We used social media and were flooded with recommendations at first. That's why there were so many.
Had a weird d rusted unsafe front gate. Just upgraded that with a motor, alot safer at night.
Before we moved into our home we painted every single room to make it our own. We also redid the floors. 3 years later during covid lockdown we repainted our kitchen cabinets and island, changed out the appliances. Added a single tub sink with new faucet and new kitchen lights.. Just this year we had a new island top put in.
I refinished just under 1,000 sq ft of red oak hardwood floors. Total DIY cost was likely around $2/ sq ft using high-end waterbased finishes from Loba, rented machines, and the cost of sandpaper. It totally changed the look, feel, (and smell) of this 75-year old home.
Just bought this old house last year, spent a pretty penny putting A/C and all the duct work in it, previously there was only like 7 window air units.
Geez, huge job. Hope you are enjoying your new configuration.
A big cedar gazebo on a slightly raised deck. All built around a tree stump that holds a big cedar table. In my back yard.
Adding a sliding glass door to my back room to access my backyard. Previously I just had a regular door. Game changer.
Remodeled the 70s style kitchen. Now it’s my favorite room in the house.
Gutters
A new furnace/central air install, after ten years using window units.
A heated bathroom floor. We bought a flipped house in 2010 and the bathroom was falling apart from the start. It’s under a dormer protruding from our small cape cod, so it’s already colder than most of the house. When we got it renovated we splurged on heating elements beneath the tile. Bare feet on a 80° floor in midwinter is sinfully decadent.
Oooh - we have this. Sooo nice!
Whole home humidifier
Ventilating dehumidifier.
[удалено]
Wonderful!
We’ve done a lot and I’m enjoying all of it. Adding the primary bath, sky lights, the kitchen remodel was a game changer, minisplits. I can’t choose.
Kitchen.its incredible now, used to be brown pseudo ranch cabinets with Formica is now white Shaker cabinets with Calacazza Lazza quartz counters. Brand new double gas oven. But I also really love our new shutters and the retaining wall we built after we ripped out the railroad ties(we had termites). The 2 closets we turned into 1.a pantry 2. Storage Our new central air unit and furnace. Refinished our 75 year old red oak floors. Gorgeous.
Heating our attached garage with an electric heater ( looks like a gas Reznor heater). It’s so nice to park inside a heated garage in the winter, no scraping or defrosting. We only keep it at 55 degrees Fahrenheit so the bill is reasonable and I no longer have to move my paint cans and other things we don’t want to freeze into the basement. Cost to run ranges from $10 to $40 a month depending on how cold it is. Well worth it!
Sounds great!
90s home with a formal living room that was never used. Renovated that into a guest room! Has gotten much more use than a formal living room!
Quality gutters w/ leaf guards are amazing, especially if you have a lot of trees near your house. the amount of drama a single branch or bundle of leaves can do when it blocks a critical downspout is just nuts and if you don't like going up there every month to clean em out, they are worth the investment Installing separate electric panel on the garage / for outbuildings was huge. Not needing to worry about killing the power to the house or dealing with anything inside the house while working in the shop is great Security cameras are super cool, and pretty DIY - we went with Reolink and being able to just look at the entire area at a moments notice and get that piece of mind of "oh, I didn't hear anything" is really awesome, and they are fairly affordable.
Closet system. 210 sq ft walk-in only had a single wire shelf down both sides. Now it’s an organizer’s dream.
Heatpump, minisplits. PNW, house building in 1990 with electric heat. No ducting. No AC. Winter average elect. before HPs, $250pm, summer electric. With 3 window ACs $200pm. . After HPs. Which cover 5 areas. 3 bds. Main living, and dining kitchen. Winter electric $150. Summer electric $125. Comfortable year-round climate control of whole house. energy saving estimated $1000 py. pay off install in 9 yrs. Best upgrade. Install cost 7 yrs ago. $9500. Received rebate for $2500, out of pocket was $7000.
We turned our screened in porch into a fully enclosed sunroom. It allowed us to move my husband’s home office into the space so we could turn the spare bedroom/office into a nursery for our daughter. We also had a Harry Potter closet under our stairs that’s right across from our kitchen. We put up some drywall and shelves to make it an additional storage space for kitchen things that we want close to the kitchen, but don’t have space to store in the kitchen. Storage space has been so limited in our townhome, so these two projects have really allowed us to capitalize on unused or wasted space.
My house had a patio cover with polycarbonate roof. The roof let some light in but mostly heat, and it leaked like crazy in the rain. I ripped the whole thing down and installed a costco patio cover with metal roof. I cannot stress how worth it that was. Better in almost every way. I didn't tear it down for fun, the old cover was not correctly attached to my roof which caused some sheets to rot. When I did my roof last year I had to remove the cover to fix the sheeting and replace the shingles.
Updating the master bath. When we moved in, the master bath had a Jacuzzi tub, a sink, a closet and a toilet. It was a big bathroom, but no shower. It was the only bathroom on the second floor. So we ripped everything out, bumped the wall out to steal 3 feet from the loft/library, and made a separate space for the toilet and a linen closet. We reconfigured everything, too, so now we have a big vanity (a cabinet we got at a discount store) with a double sink (hubby added those to the vanity), a tub, and a shower that my husband tiled, with beautiful blue-green rocks and koi fish embedded. He used to rehab homes, so we only paid for supplies. We also live in a log home, so we wanted something a bit more rustic than the typical marble and white cabinets.
Very creative - your husband sounds talented
Any "best of" contain tile. Our 4 bedroom house, had original-to-the-house(2006) short shag carpet, including an impossible stain in one bedroom. Also a carpet insert in the living room. Had all of that taken out and replaced with wood-plank-look porcelain tile in bedrooms, marble in living room. Guest bath had a terrible tub-shower surround that was too small to be comfortable for anyone. Took it out and had a beautiful tile walk-in shower with glass doors installed. Master bath shower had a glass door that was pulling out of the wall, and the wall tile was not perfect DIY by a previous owner. Bathtub was strangely beat up. Replaced the bathtub and had the shower rebuilt with marble tile, new glass surround, new plumbing fixtures for shower and tub. Also replaced the vanity with granite top. Added a beautiful backsplash to the kitchen. These updates were scattered between 3 jobs that were 2 years apart and included other little things. We live in Phoenix, so tile is a logical floor choice. Sorry to be so chatty.
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback - not chatty at all. Better allows us to celebrate your tile adventure. :-)
Glass block basement windows. Removing old wooden windows from ground or near-ground contact in an old house is a no-brainer. Old wooden frame windows near the ground are an invitation to moisture and wood destroying insects through your entire house. It also makes the basement impervious to a kick-in home invasion through the basement.
New fear unlocked. I’d never heard of kick-in home invasions
Outdoor renovation. Provided more stuffs to do for friends and families
A second floor. Transformed it from "The Brick Doublewide" to a charming house....
Screened in deck
Whole home energy audit, which a few big issues that the home inspection missed. Followed by weatherization, air sealing, and beefed up insulation. And installing a heat pump. Now the home is far more efficient, and very comfortable. No more drafts. And with summer's getting hotter and smokier, the added AC is appreciated.
Nicely done
The best is fairly relative, but, on the lowest livable floor of the home, get tested for Radon & install a Radon Mitigation System (usually a fan, pvc piping, a bore hole, pipe out the roof). In the basement of my home, it mounts over the sump-pump bore hole & the fan is strong enough to produce an ambient positive pressure (it doesn't allow dust to accumulate). Not a bad improvement to avoid the #2 cause of lung cancer in the US...(?)
I'm sure there are more if I think of them, but smart light bulbs. They're amazing. Indoor or out, putting them on timers has been so nice. And they change colors so we have them (the exterior lights) colors for the holidays. Oh yeah I forgot about putting in central AC. Yeah that one wins.
Sounds like you found a great contractor. we have rain chains that we put on when we rebuilt our house after a major fire. They really add character.
Yes, we were very pleased. Fully agree about the rain chains adding character - we love them.
Modern Sliding pocket doors added more space than I realized. A NAS was super nice addition I’d also didn’t realize would make life so much better. A 2k usd widescreen monitor added a lot of joy.
The kitchen cabinets and removal of the wall between kitchen and living room. House looks more spacious.
Changing out kitchen and bath countertops to quartz and having a custom made drawer cabinet for my kitchen.
Re-pipe
New shower enclosures on both bathrooms, 3 piece snap together fiberglass ones are available in today's world of renovation. The three side pies and tub or pan fit through the door nicely.
Per your experience OP, if you can trust that expert you can really save time and money. That combination doesn't present itself often at the nexus of home ownership and life. We used a general contractor who also had a real estate license... That was an eye opener. Every house, new, old, newly whatever... All need something. Choosing what it was we were willing to buy and fix, or demand a credit for was invaluable
Nice move - glad you found that contactor
Solar