Five Ways to Upgrade Your Home
Five home renovations that can save you money now and make you money later.
Dec. 31, 2008 — -- With tight credit and unemployment putting new homes out of reach, more homeowners will be staying put and investing in upgrades, small and large, to their existing houses, experts say.
Future-proofing, as the experts call it, can help cut energy costs now and boost the value of homes down the road.
Below are five ways to start upgrading your home, courtesy of Wall Street Journal editor Wendy Bounds.
Replacing Kitchen Cabinets
This is one of the most dramatic face-lifts a home can get, but it's usually quite pricey. Cabinets can range in price from $300 to $1,000 per linear foot, depending on the material.
Before investing, ask your cabinetmakers or dealers whether their products contain urea-formaldehyde. This chemical, which the World Health Organization classifies as a carcinogen and has been linked to respiratory problems such as asthma, is often used in the resin of wood products such as medium-density fiberboard, particle board and some plywoods.
To avoid getting caught with cabinets that a future buyer of your home and the government might reject as unhealthy, look for brands that use low levels or no added formaldehyde in the adhesives.
Check out Breathe Easy Cabinetry and Neil Kelly. Or ask your cabinetmaker to follow environmental standards found at www.greencabinetsource.org.
New Coat of Paint
Most paints contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which have been linked to kidney and liver damage, respiratory and memory problems and other illnesses, particularly in children. Many manufacturers and retailers are switching to affordable paints that contain fewer or even no VOCs.
Using paint without VOCs can be a selling point down the road, not to mention that it's healthier for your family. These paints can cost the same as regular paints or a few dollars more per gallon.
Find out more about environmentally safe paints at www.greenseal.org, www.greenguard.org and Scientific Certification Systems.
Greening Your Home
Apart from the ecological and health benefits, this is about dollars and cents -- recent surveys show that many home buyers will pay more for a green home.
Heating and cooling account for 50 percent to 70 percent of the energy used in a typical home, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Beefing up your home's insulation can save about 10 percent of the total energy bill.
There are new kinds of insulation such as cellulose, made primarily from recycled newspaper and treated with safe chemicals such as boric acid to make it fire and rodent retardant. Icynene spray foam, made from cellular plastic, expands and fills nooks and crannies that other insulation can't. That can vastly improve your home's "thermal envelope" over older kinds of insulation.
If you don't have plans to renovate anytime soon, you can still bolster your home's insulation by sealing up air leaks around windows, doors and air ducts. You can also invest in solar shades and thermal curtains, which cost between $20 and $30. Or you can plant deciduous trees near windows to block sunlight in summer and retain warmth in the winter.
Lawn Care
Think about cutting back on the pesticides and going au natural. Today, 12 million households say they use only all-natural products on their lawns and gardens, about double the number in 2004, according to the National Gardening Association. Get ahead of the trend and look for products that substitute toxic or synthetic chemicals with natural ingredients from plant, animal and mineral sources such as corn gluten meal, seaweed extract and chicken manure.
New Appliances
It's tempting to rush for rock-bottom prices on new appliances but sometimes the lowest price tag might not actually save you the most money.
When your refrigerator, dishwasher or washing machine is on its last legs, look for the federal government's Energy Star label before you buy. These appliances use up to 50 percent less energy and water than standard models, which can save you $75 a year or more on energy costs.
Many retailers will take away an old appliance, but you might try to sell it first. If you can't afford to buy Energy Star products right now, small steps such as tuning up your furnace or replacing a worn rubber gasket seal in the fridge can make a difference in energy costs.