It is a tight schedule, but it should work. Family and friends are arriving for a big summer party at your house the last weekend in June. Before that time, however, you have some major home exterior project planned. In fact, the crews are supposed to start their tasks the beginning of next week. You have finally gotten enough money together to replace the spongey siding on the front of the house. You are also having a window installation company replace three windows that have lost their seal. Additionally, the window installation company is going to replace the front door and the downstairs patio doors that provide access to the backyard from the walkout basement. Once all of the repairs and replacements take place, the entire house will be repainted.
The window replacement company is coordinating the schedules with both the siding contractors and the painters. They need to work together so that the new windows are properly installed and that the siding installation provides a seamless look. Much of the work is being completed on the front of the house, the part that is seen the most by the neighbors. With good weather and a little bit of luck, this summer party will be at a house that looks as good as new.
Exterior Home Maintenance Lets Your Neighbors Know the Quality of Your Home
In addition to protecting your interior home from the elements, the maintenance of the exterior of the home often determines the final value of your home. Houses with missing or broken shingles, clouded windows, peeling paint, and moldy siding not only detract from the image of your home, they also have a significant negative effect on the value of your home.
The ideal home was built with the materials of the highest qualities and would not need any exterior repairs. In reality, however, even some of products that were thought to be the very best at the time do not always hold up under some weather conditions. For example, home owners in the midwest are finding themselves installing either vinyl siding or cement board siding after the product that was installed on nearly every house 20 years ago has begun to mold and rot. Unless these midwestern homes had brick foundations that were taller than the four foot frost line, the siding that was pretty expensive at the time has become both soft and spongey. Siding that was placed around improperly flashed windows has also suffered. A reputable window installation company will make sure that new windows are installed and properly flashed so that siding issues do not develop later.
Popular Energy Efficient Window Trends Dominate the Choices Home Owners Make
Although installing new windows can be an expensive process, many new windows begin to pay for themselves immediately. In addition to increasing the value of your home, a window installation company can create major reductions in your energy costs. For example, the energy efficiency of new windows provides benefits during both cold and hot weather. Costs always depend on the number and type of windows being replaced, of course, but many home owners can expect a return on investment (ROI) of at least 70%.
Selecting low-emissivity (low-E) glass with a thin metallic coating that reflects heat back to its source, will keep heat inside the house in the winter and out of it in the summer. In addition to reducing energy costs, low-E windows also block UV rays while still allowing 95% of natural light to pass through. While cutting the amount of energy loss, some windows can also cut the amount of noise that enters a home. Insulated or double-panes windows which feature 1/4 inch to one inch of air between the panes, creates a wider air space and, ultimately, this thicker glass reduces noise.
And while windows can save energy, they are not the only features of a home that are wasting energy. For instance, leaky and inefficient skylights and glazed doors account for as much as 25% of a household’s energy bills. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, home owners can cut energy costs by as much as 15% if they buy windows with double-pane insulated glass, heat-resistant coatings, airtight frames, and Energy Star ratings.