Homeowners nowadays are getting more cautious about remodeling projects. Kitchens and Baths are two of the
most popular remodeling projects. Americans have spent more than $10 billion in remodeling kitchens and over $7
billion remodeling bathrooms, according to the 2004 United States Census Bureau. However did you know that
both kitchens and bathrooms can be the most costly and trickiest remodeling projects in your home. If you aren’t
careful you can easily get carried away, and the cost can soar easily and vastly, and before you know it your
bathroom and kitchen will be the value of your home itself.
Remodeling Do’s and Don’t’s
If you aren’t careful you can easily get abroad of $100,000 for a kitchen remodel. That’s more than likely close to
the actual value of your home. To avoid the over spending blunders and to save money, the key step is to plan
ahead. People who don’t do their homework before beginning any type of home remodeling projects have reported
more problems overall.
Create yourself a Workbook- Record the styles and colors and ideas in your workbook. Using clipping from
magazines, and color swatches, and material type are good for keeping in your workbook.
Set yourself a spending limit- If you set yourself a “budget” in the beginning, after doing your homework, you will
less likely overspend. By setting your budget accordingly you can avoid the overspending of such kitchen cabinets,
which can easily cost more than 50 percent of your budgeted remodeling cost.
When remodeling most people don’t even consider the “safety” of the area they are remodeling. For instance water
and slick surfaces make a bathroom a risky place. Floors, showers, and tubs should all have a slip resistant
finish such as a rubber mat or stick strips with gripping. Consider ventilation as well in both bathrooms and
kitchens. In a kitchen ventilation is more likely not to be over looked. However, in the bathroom, did you know that
bath fans should supply at least 1 cubic foot per minute of air for every square inch of space. It’s also a good idea
to install a separate fan in the shower area. Did you think about lighting? Bathrooms need overall lighting as well
as task lighting around grooming areas. Flanking lights around medicine cabinets reduce shadows, while frosted
shades reduce glare significantly. If you’re replacing counter tops in your bathroom, keep in mind to choose
rounded edges for your counter tops vs. sharp ones, due to the nature and hazards of slip and falls in bathrooms.