The process of remodeling your home is an exciting time for many homeowners. It gives you the opportunity to enjoy a fresh look without needing to buy a brand-new home. However, home remodeling is not that cheap, and with inflation and rising prices, the costs of remodeling a home can be quite scary.
For this reason, it is important to know how to go about the remodeling process in the best way and what aspects you should really be focusing on.
Contractors often have their own agendas, and it can be really difficult to find good advice if you don’t know someone in the business or if you don’t know a friend or family member who has recently done a bit of remodeling.
In this article, we are going to explore precisely what you should be looking at and some key points to remember if a remodel is on your mind.
Table of Contents
Why Do People Remodel Their Homes?
Before anything else, a distinction needs to be made between renovation and remodeling.Homes need to be renovated every 15 to 20 years to make repairs caused by normal aging.
It can also include some forms of upgrades. Renovation is a normal part of home ownership, and owners are usually aware of its need when they buy a home. Many people also ensure that they have specific funds set aside just for renovation purposes.
Remodeling, however, refers to a more drastic change. It often involves tearing down walls, adding new floors, or completely redesigning the layout of your home.
When such drastic changes are involved, upgrades become an important element that is added to the planning. Technology moves rapidly, and within a span of 10 to 15 years, the number of home improvements in terms of electronics, HVAC systems, home automation, and more can drastically improve your quality of life.
At some point in time, the costs of living without such upgrades are no longer worth and homeowners eagerly await the remodeling stage to install them.
Both renovation and remodeling are also great for increasing the value of your property.
While you may not be able to recoup the costs of a major remodel, it is still possible to save a significant amount by making wise upgrades and conducting maintenance regularly.
Just look at the state of Oregon. It has one of the highest median property sales values in the country in 2023. People love moving to Oregon because of the many pros it is known for. These include access to great educational institutions, making it a wonderful place to raise a family. It also features a strong job market and a vibrant culture.
If someone was considering buying a home in a city like Salem, they would need to shell out about $418,000. Finding a custom home remodeling contractor in Salem, OR, can help you raise that figure, helping you get a better deal if you so decide to sell your home sometime in the future.
To get an idea about what to look for in a remodeling contractor, one could look at Q&R Construction Services, a well-known option in the city of Salem that offers a slew of interesting construction services. These range from remodeling to even the building of pools, decks, fences, and additions to your home.
It can be a good idea to hire a contractor that offers such a range of services when thinking about a remodel for your home.
You also want to ensure that you make the right upgrades when remodeling your house. This is because you should be remodeling not just for the benefit of getting a good price while selling but also for your own quality of life.
#1. Proper Wire Routing
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A remodel is a good time to consider taking a close look at the wiring of your home and making modifications to the routing for any changes in the home’s design. Tearing down of walls or the addition of floors will all require new wiring options. Consider running wires in the conduit.
This refers to a protective tubing that protects the wires from damage and also makes it easy to upgrade the wiring in the future. For example, today, CAT6e cables are standard and should be fine for most homes.
However, in the future, when CAT7 or CAT8 cables become the norm, it becomes much easier to change out your old ethernet cables when they are run through a conduit.
#2. Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning Systems (HVAC)
You probably want to get your HVAC system upgraded if they weren’t a priority in your last remodel or when you bought the home. When remodeling, keep in mind logistical aspects and double-check and research the models that your contractor or designer recommends to you.
If you are getting a new HVAC system, a good tip is to ensure that you have uniformity and are able to find spare parts such as filters easily in the future. The last thing you want is to struggle with finding filters that are in sizes that are no longer in production 15 years from now.
An Easy way to deal with this is to go down to your local Home Depot and a few other stores and check how common the filter sizes are for your proposed HVAC system. The most common sizes are usually 12×12, 25×30, and 16×20.
#3. Smart Home Features
We are living in a digital age, and it makes sense to ensure our homes reflect it. Many of the benefits that they offer are often directly integrated into the entire home. This makes installing them during a remodel a logistically sound idea.
Options like Smart home alarm systems, cameras, temperature control, lighting, and outlets, all help give your home a modern and futuristic feel.
#4. Modern Safety Sockets
GFCI or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, for example, is a useful safety feature that helps protect against electrocution in case of a ground fault. These days, GFCIs have become a requirement by building codes and regulations, so if your house doesn’t have one already, getting one is a must.
Conclusion
Remodeling offers you the feeling of living in a new home without having to worry about the costs of buying a new one. Remodeling can range in scale from small design changes to a complete rebuild of your home. Remodeling thus involves much more drastic changes than renovation and requires skilled contractors.
Upgrading your home when remodeling is something that all homeowners should consider since it improves the value of the home and can even offset the cost of remodeling by a bit if you choose to sell your home one day.
