Rehab Money Saving Idea
I’m always looking to learn new ideas and sometimes get reminded of money saving projects that can save homeowners and investors money while doing deals. Hopefully this will help you out and give you some good ideas like it did me.
Enjoy!
By Geoff Williams | U.S.News & World Report
Cracks under windows and doors and holes near the foundation. Unfortunately, there probably aren’t just cracks and gaps in your attic – your basement may have them, too, and there may be spaces around your windows and doors where air is getting in. (If you want to, you could spend a good month or two, and quite a bit of cash, sealing up all the cracks in your house.)
Dean Bennett, who owns Dean Bennett Design and Construction, Inc., a design and building firm in Castle Rock, Colo., suggests looking for gaps in the walls of your basement. “It’s very common to have these gaps in houses that are more than 15 years old,” Bennett says. “Construction techniques did not involve sealing between the sill and foundation very well. Now, they use a layer of foam between the two.”
If you live in an older home, Bennett says you can do yourself a favor by doing a “close visual check” for any holes around your basement or foundation. He says filling in the holes could help prevent hot summer air or cold winter air from filtering into your home – not to mention mice and other critters.
Advertisements will tell you to replace your current windows and doors with energy-efficient ones, and maybe you need to. But many home improvement experts will tell you that if there’s a draft, it may be adequate to simply weather-strip your doors and windows.
In fact, “the biggest home-energy and money wasters are windows and doors because of the heat they let out and cool air they let in, depending on the season,” says Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of sustainability.
Typical cost: The can of spray foam insulation to use in your basement runs about $6. As for weather stripping, the price varies, but a 10-foot strip of rubber window weather stripping can be found at many stores for less than $10.
Typical savings: If you weather-strip, Thomas says the average homeowner can save $160 every year in heating and cooling costs.
Happy Investing!
