As a homeowner, you want to show pride of ownership and continue to invest in your home’s value. While most people focus on the interior of their homes for home improvements and updates, the exterior is just as important. Here are seven ways professional exterior renovations can take your home improvements to the next level.
1. Â Â Â Â Energy Efficiency
Your windows play an important role not only in the look of your home but its comfort as well. Old windows can show your house’s age, but also interfere with energy efficiency. Little signs such as condensation or Jack frost on your windowpanes, cold air coming in through your windows, or functional issues such as windows becoming difficult to open and close mean it’s time to invest in some new windows.
Professionally installed window upgrades provide next-level improvements because ENERGY STAR certified models can save an average of 45% on your energy bill. This helps cover your investment in new windows over time.
2. Â Â Â Â Natural Light
Not to harp too much on new windows, but they also provide more natural light. So while you help add a more finished, well-taken-care-of look to your home on the exterior, your interior benefits as well by allowing you to replace electric light with daylight. While you don’t need window replacements to do this, you can consider speaking to a professional window installer to find possible places to install additional windows.
For example, a new window style available for the kitchen can cast more light on your counters to assist with task work. Or your home layout might offer opportunities such as an exterior wall in your stairwell that could use a customized window to create a focal point while allowing natural light to stream in.
Your bathrooms are always an excellent place for a new window install, as natural light is ideal for applying makeup. Frosted windows provide privacy, so you can take full advantage of the light streaming in. New entry door systems can also provide more natural light with the addition of a larger door lite, or executive side panels. You can control the privacy, without blocking the light in your entryway.
3. Â Â Â Â Warm Welcome
A new entry door offers a warm welcome in more ways than one. Not only does it provide an updated look to your home exterior, but it also assists in energy efficiency for your interior. In fact, just like your windows, you will enjoy not only more natural light but also more energy savings. A new ENERGY STAR certified door offers 25% more energy efficiency than an older, standard door.
4. Â Â Â Â New Look With Siding
One of the best next-level professional exterior renovations worth investing in is siding. Even though your current siding is probably helping the insulation installed between the wall studs, chances are the older your home, the more energy loss you are experiencing through the studs themselves. Unfortunately, older cladding can cause as much as a 25% heat loss through your exterior walls.
However, new siding provides an extra layer of protection, increasing the R-value of your walls while also improving the look of your home’s exterior. That means you are getting a professional exterior renovations home improvement boost that fights thermal loss and keeps your home toasty warm. It also helps reduce any cooled, conditioned air inside the home from escaping during the heat of Ontario’s humid summers.
5. Â Â Â Â Backyard Exterior Finishes
An excellent professional exterior renovations choice to upgrade your backyard is new sliding glass or garden doors. These large glass doors offer an easy entry to your backyard, while also bringing in more natural light to the back of your home. If your home is south facing, the back of the home tends to be quite dark. With new sliding glass doors or garden doors, you can improve natural light while also adding a design feature that improves the appearance of your home from your backyard.
There is a wide range of low-E glass options to offer yet another way to help you save on your energy bills. Many homes avoid such large glass panels with fear the cold of Ontario winters can inch its way into the home. However, with garden doors composed of polyurethane filling you have plenty of insulation against the cold thanks to Energy Star certified products.
6. Â Â Â Â Easy Maintenance With Professional Exterior Renovations
Professional exterior renovations also address a long list of maintenance woes. If you have wood entry doors, windows, or siding, the maintenance involved in keeping the paint or stain looking its best takes hours and hours of work. You have to address peeling paint, warping, cracking and other signs of damage every year if you want to keep your house looking loved. Pride of ownership comes at a cost in man-hours that most homeowners don’t have.
The hard work involved in wood care for home exteriors is not only time-consuming but also dangerous. Do you really want to climb up a ladder and try to sand old paint from window frames or protective elements such as soffits and fascia for your roof? New aluminum or vinyl window styles, doors, soffits, and fascia require zero maintenance and look their best for a lifetime.
7. Â Â Â Â Water Control To Protect From Leaks
Finally, you might not realize it, but all those eavestroughs, soffits and fascia attached to your roof’s edges play a major role in keeping your home looking neat and trim, while also keeping leaks out. Faulty gutters, soffits and fascia can lead to all kinds of water damage woes, allowing water to penetrate your roof, trickle into your home, down the walls and even into your basement through the foundation.
Most people don’t give much thought to their entire roof system, yet these components of your roof are just as important to protect the integrity of your home. With new colour choices available for these elements of your home exterior, you can not only ensure your home is protected against water damage but also create a beautifully cohesive look with these finishing touches.
We can help assess your home and recommend professional exterior renovations that take your home to the next level. Speak to our team for a quote today.