Help with home improvements

Refinancing is a low-interest way to get tax-free cash for remodeling your kitchen, finishing your basement or anything you choose. The best time to get a skylight installed is when you’re getting a new roof. “Nobody will install a skylight on a roof that’s not brand new,” explains Pacific-Northwest agent Dawn Rushton in HomeLight’s guide to the added value of skylights. Why install complicated light fixtures when natural light can pour in from above? Adding a skylight to a room brings the outside in, and the sky view will make a room feel more spacious.

  • Make a dramatic impact with a weekend’s worth of work and a frameless glass shower kit, which starts at $450.
  • For a unique, eclectic look, scour antique shops for hardware pieces.
  • It’s better to be safe than sorry, which surely applies to your home security!

If you’re looking for a “safe” color, gray has been trending in recent years, Norris says. A cash-out refinance isn’t the only way to get funds for home renovations, but it’s likely to be easiest on your budget. Home equity loans, personal loans and credit card debt add extra payments and more interest.

Hidden benefits of home improvement

You could gain access to some of your equity and lower your mortgage payment at the same time. The minimum amount of equity you’ll need to leave in your home when you refinance varies by loan type and by lender. If you want to take cash out with a conventional loan, you’ll typically need to leave at least 15 – 20% equity in your home. When you opt for a cash-out refinance, you refinance your mortgage for more than you owe and take the difference in cash. The more equity you have built up , the more money you can convert to cash.

Be sure to choose a high-quality paint, which will cost you $30 to $60 a gallon, but is totally worth it. While you have the painting supplies out, brighten trim with a light-colored, high-gloss paint. If two tests give a high reading, consult a radon mitigation contractor . These contractors can professionally test the house and install a mitigation system for reducing radon to a harmless level.

This is lame, but I love the home improvement house! I wish I could live ther

Emma’s work has been featured in Huffington Post, NPR and XOJane. When she’s not combing her neighborhood for open houses, she’s writing about technology, real estate or data. Funny, friendly experts with serious answers and great ideas to help with all of your home improvement projects.

For more information about your landlord’s responsibility to do repairs, see Repairs in rented housing. Mortgage-to-rent scheme Describes the mortgage-to-rent scheme, which allows people in mortgage difficulty to switch to renting their homes. Contact your local authority to check whether this scheme operates in your area. Norm Abram, a regular fixture on “This Old House,” hosted his own home improvement series, “The New Yankee Workshop,” on PBS for two decades. Occasionally, episodes also include information on how to maintain and restore antique furniture as well as short biographies of notable furniture makers from decades past. Light fixtures for dining areas or pendant lights can be a few hundred to thousands of dollars, depending on source and style, Norris says.

If you’ve nowhere to extend sideways, one option is extending down – into a cellar, or by adding a basement. Cellar conversions are comparatively inexpensive, but creating a new basement can be seriously pricey. All these simple steps are attractive to home buyers and give the impression the inside of the home will be cared for as well. Across the full range of our products and operations, ROCKWOOL is dedicated to enriching modern living.

Depending on the size of the wall hole, the compound may need to dry overnight. Try this project on just the set of cabinets flanking your stove or the cabinet over the coffee counter. Schedule a time for our specialist to start making your project a reality.

I’m looking for some advice on how to tackle a closet space I have. I had a family friend who is a contractor help me in renovating my basement. Looking back I’m not sure if things were done in the best way and I am concerned about the strength of th… I have all sorts of outlets that will ruin the look and so I plan to wire wiremold under the cabinets and move the existing outlets to the far side of the wall to satisfy code requirements. What is lighter than Dove Wing but can still be paired with a white trim . Trim in whole house is simply white but i dont want simply white on the walls.

Apart from the benefits listed above, there are other things you should consider before doing a cash-out refinance. Based on the purchase/refinance of a primary residence with no cash out at closing. Try our refinance calculator for an idea of how much cash you could take out on your home. To calculate how much equity you have, simply subtract your mortgage balance from your home value.