Tag Archives: house

Top Renovation Ideas for a Stronger, Safer Home

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Have you ever wondered if your home is truly built to handle life’s challenges? From harsh weather to everyday wear and tear, a strong and safe home is essential for peace of mind. Renovations aren’t just about improving how a house looks—they’re also about making it more secure and durable for the future.

Whether you’re considering small upgrades or major changes, investing in your home’s strength and safety is always worth it. With the right renovations, you can create a space that protects your family and stands the test of time.

In this blog, we will share renovation ideas that enhance your home’s safety and durability while boosting its value.

Strengthening Your Roof

The roof is one of the most important parts of any home. A strong roof protects against rain, wind, and snow while keeping the interior comfortable. If your roof is old or showing signs of damage, it’s time to consider an upgrade.

Working with a trusted roof replacement company can help you address issues like leaks, missing shingles, or structural problems. Professional roofers can recommend materials that are durable and suited to your local climate. A roof replacement not only strengthens your home but also adds to its overall value and appearance.

Upgrading Windows and Doors

Windows and doors play a big role in your home’s safety and energy efficiency. Old, drafty windows and weak doors can let in the elements and even compromise security. Upgrading to modern, energy-efficient models helps keep your home secure and reduces heating and cooling costs.

Consider windows with impact-resistant glass if you live in an area prone to storms. For doors, choose sturdy materials like steel or fiberglass with secure locks. These upgrades create a safer environment and make your home more comfortable year-round.

Improving Foundation Stability

A strong foundation is critical for the safety and longevity of your home. Cracks in the foundation can lead to serious structural issues over time. If you notice cracks, uneven floors, or doors that don’t close properly, it’s worth consulting a professional to assess the problem.

Foundation repairs might involve sealing cracks, reinforcing walls, or installing drainage systems to prevent water damage. Strengthening your home’s foundation protects against future problems and adds long-term value.

Installing Modern HVAC Systems

An efficient HVAC system keeps your home comfortable while improving air quality. Outdated systems can struggle to maintain the right temperature and may use more energy than necessary. Upgrading to a modern system ensures better performance and can lower utility bills.

Consider adding air purifiers or humidity controls to improve indoor air quality further. A well-functioning HVAC system not only makes your home more comfortable but also contributes to a healthier living environment.

Adding Home Security Features

Home security is a key part of creating a safe living space. Modern security systems include features like smart locks, cameras, and motion sensors that you can control from your smartphone. These tools provide real-time updates and peace of mind.

If you prefer simpler options, installing outdoor lighting, deadbolts, or window bars can also enhance your home’s security. Combining these features makes it easier to protect your family and belongings.

Reinforcing Walls and Ceilings

Walls and ceilings can weaken over time due to water damage, pests, or aging materials. Reinforcing them with modern building materials makes your home more durable. This may include adding drywall, insulation, or waterproofing treatments.

For areas prone to earthquakes or extreme weather, retrofitting walls with braces or anchors can provide extra protection. These upgrades keep your home safe while improving its energy efficiency and comfort.

Installing Storm-Resistant Features

For homeowners in areas prone to hurricanes or tornadoes, storm-resistant upgrades are essential. Reinforced doors, storm shutters, and impact-resistant windows can help protect your home from high winds and flying debris.

You might also consider adding a storm shelter or safe room for added safety. These features provide peace of mind during severe weather and can be a valuable selling point if you decide to move.

Modernizing Plumbing and Electrical Systems

Outdated plumbing and electrical systems can pose safety risks and reduce your home’s efficiency. Old pipes may leak or burst, while outdated wiring can lead to electrical fires.

Updating these systems ensures that your home meets modern safety standards. Replace old pipes with durable materials like copper or PEX, and upgrade your electrical panel to handle today’s energy demands. These changes improve your home’s safety and functionality.

Including Fire Safety Features

Fire safety is an essential aspect of a stronger, safer home. Many homes lack modern fire prevention systems, which can increase risks in case of emergencies. Installing hardwired smoke detectors with battery backups is a critical upgrade that adds an extra layer of safety. These detectors are more reliable than battery-only models and can alert you to danger faster.

Adding fire extinguishers in key areas like the kitchen, garage, and hallways is another simple yet effective measure. For added protection, consider installing a fire sprinkler system, especially in older homes where risks may be higher due to outdated wiring or materials.

Updating Exterior Landscaping

Landscaping isn’t just about aesthetics—it can also enhance your home’s safety. Overgrown trees and shrubs can damage your home during storms or provide cover for potential intruders. Trimming branches, removing dead trees, and maintaining a clear yard improve safety and curb appeal.

You might also consider adding drainage systems or grading the land around your home to prevent water from pooling near the foundation. These updates protect your property from water damage while keeping it visually appealing.

Boosting Energy Efficiency

Energy-efficient upgrades make your home more sustainable while saving money on utilities. Options like solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, and smart thermostats reduce energy usage and enhance your home’s value.

Adding insulation to walls, attics, and floors is another effective way to boost efficiency. These upgrades make your home more comfortable and environmentally friendly.

All in all, strengthening and securing your home through thoughtful renovations is one of the best investments you can make. Each upgrade adds value, protects your property, and creates a safer space for your family.

Take the time to evaluate your home’s current condition and prioritize changes that will have the biggest impact. Whether it’s a new roof, updated windows, or modern security features, every step brings you closer to a stronger, safer home. How will you make your house a better place to live?

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Cutting The Cost of Your Home

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Christmas is coming and that means many things but mostly it means our bank accounts are going to take a kicking. It is that expensive time of the year. What better way of ‘making’ money than saving money? A penny saved is a penny earned, as the old saying goes. Every saving helps so here are some ideas on how to save around the house.

Turn your thermostat down. Even turning the thermostat down by one notch saves you lots of money AND it is good for the environment. Win-win.

Change to LED lighting. LED lighting lasts longer than normal lighting. The bulbs last longer and it works out cheaper in the long run. We have some LED panels in our garage and I heartily recommend them. LED lighting is a greener and cheaper alternative to traditional lighting.

Get a draught excluder, or use an old towel. Draught excluders keep the heat in and stop any draughts. Well, obviously, but I always do this. I actually just use an old towel in winter.

Always make sure you are getting the best deal for your bills. There are plenty of sites that will help you switch to a cheaper deal for your bills.

Sell any old stuff you no longer use. It is just taking up space in your home and you do not need it anyway. Declutter while making money with eBay, Depop, or Facebook marketplace. Alternatively, regift items that you received but never used. Much greener and cheaper.

Lastly, remember to keep the Christmas paper and iron it out for next year.

How are you keeping costs down?

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Fox News Boss Lachlan Murdoch Is New Owner Of Cheryl Tiegs’ Home

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Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation, co-chair of the Wall Street Journal and son of Rupert Murdoch, has purchased his supermodel-neighbor Cheryl Tiegs’ Balinese-style home for $14.1 million. The home was listed at $18.5 million.

Lachlan Murdoch, Cheryl Tieg, home, house, real estate, photos

Although Murdoch has not explained why he bought his neighbor’s home, it was likely for more privacy as Tiegs’ 1.5 acres adjoins his 10-acre estate, Chartwell Mansion, that he bought last year for $150 million. When it was the most expensive home on the market in the United States. Chartwell, seen as the TV home of the oil-rich Clampett family in the 1960’s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, was originally priced at an eye-watering $350 million. Murdoch now owns a massive statement property and added Cheryl’s home with its tropical touches.

The Tiegs home, both inside and out, has the look and feel of an island in the tropics with its own koi pond and lily pads at the entrance behind gates that open to a long drive adding more privacy. Palms, huge Monstera vines and tropical flowers abound in the landscape and along paths. The house itself is a study in bold natural elements, textures and colors from fabrics, floors, glass walls opening to vegetation and stunning hilltop views.

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more real estate news, spectacular homes and Celebrity Home Video Tours.

Lachlan Murdoch, Cheryl Tieg, home, house, real estate, photos

4 Best Ways to Modernize Your Old House

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home, houseWhen purchasing an older home, there are various ways by which you can work to renovate it to your liking. Whether you plan on living there, or perhaps are trying to flip the house for more money, making a house look more modern and accessible doesn’t have to be that hard. In this article, we’ll cover some of the ways you can go about making your house modern for a great and comfortable living experience. 

Furniture

When purchasing new furniture, the new style is all about open space. Whenever you visit an old house, you may see a lot of clutter as well as big and bulky furniture. When designing your new interior for your house, you’ll want to find furniture that keeps your house spacious. Oftentimes, clutter can make a nice house otherwise look unattractive to others.

Painting

Having a nice color coat on your wall and ceiling can make a big difference. When purchasing a new paint color, try to take into consideration what you want to include in your room. Many times drape colors can clash with the color of the walls. Other times, dark colors can make a room feel like a basement. 

You’ll want to find light colors that can light up the room while sunny outside. Another idea would be to find a room theme of your liking and match it with an appropriate color. For example, a light green or blue may go well with a room filled with plants as well as certain types of furniture.

Interior Decor

Decorating your new home doesn’t have to be a hassle. Have fun with it. When adding decorations like pictures to the wall, plants, paintings, or even vases and other antiques, keep in mind your ideal room design. 

Sometimes over cluttering a room with too many decorations or trinkets can prove to be bad in the end. If you’re in the process of decorating your house, keep things spaced out and in safe locations where things are not easily broken. For example, rather than putting an antique in the middle of the coffee table, putting it on the side near a lampstand away from possible danger may be the best idea.

Remodeling

Sometimes old houses can be stuffy and cluttered as is. You may want to combine two rooms for more space. Another aspect most modern houses offer is large windows. Allowing natural light into your house is usually favored by most people. 

Summing it Up

If you’re like most people, you’ll want to learn more about the best way to remodel your house. You can learn more online at various websites. For those looking for some info on finding great houses for sale and rent and home insurance, click here now.

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Cancer-causing gas is present in EVERY household

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More than half of UK homes haven’t been tested for a cancer-causing gas – which is found in EVERY household.

Radon is a natural radioactive gas which comes from rocks and soils and is the top cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

Reassuringly, levels of radon tend to be low indoors – but higher levels pose a serious health risk and there’s no way of knowing how severe levels are without testing.

Despite the possible health impact, two thirds of adults don’t know what radon is and that it can cause cancer.

Commissioned by Airthings, makers of smart radon and indoor air quality monitors, the research of 2,000 adults found six in 10 haven’t given any thought to the health impact of the air in their homes.

A spokesman for Airthings said: “Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.

“In fact, radon-induced lung cancer kills more people than house fires and carbon monoxide combined.

“It’s an invisible radioactive gas with no smell or taste and comes from rocks and soil.

“Low levels can be found in the air outside however levels of radon can be higher inside buildings – homes included.”

UK homes also contain gasses called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which, although not lethal like radon, can cause headaches, sore throats and fatigue.

But the study found eight in 10 have no idea what VOCs are and 80 per cent are unaware they can cause eye, nose and throat irritation.

The compounds can be released when doing a number of apparently harmless everyday activities such as burning scented candles, using non-organic cleaning products and even when cooking.

Further to this, nine in 10 regularly do things in their home which could increase levels of radon and VOCs.

Almost half don’t often open the windows when cooking, 42 per cent frequently burn candles and a third use diffusers in their homes.

Perhaps as a result, the Airthings study, carried out through OnePoll, found six in 10 ‘regularly’ suffer from symptoms associated with poor air quality.

These include headaches (25 per cent), constant dryness and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin (22 per cent) and ongoing fatigue (21 per cent).

A fifth also have a tendency, or noticed a tendency among their cohabitees, to cough and sneeze.

A spokesman for Airthings added: “In addition to testing your home for radon and VOCs there are simple steps you can take to reduce levels of these gasses.

“But the first step is to have your home tested to get an indication of the severity of the problem.

“There are also things you can do to minimise VOCs in particular – such as ditching toxic chemicals and using natural cleaning products, opening windows, vacuuming regularly and having lots of house plants in the house.”

SYMPTOMS/EFFECTS OF VOCS BRITS HAVE NOTICED IN THEIR HOMES:

1. Their home has mould

2. Their children developed a cough

3. They developed a persistent cough

4. It affected their energy levels

5. Their children don’t play outside as much/very often

6. The plants in their garden have struggled/died

7. Their lung condition or their child’s lung condition (e.g asthma) has worsened

8. They have to keep their windows closed all year round

9. They don’t cycle to work anymore as a result

10. They have developed breathing difficulties

TIPS FOR REDUCING VOCS IN YOUR HOME:

• Open the windows

• Do not smoke indoors

• Keep air humidity levels between 30 per cent to 50 per cent

• Avoid synthetic fragrances such as plug ins and candles

• Use house plants

• Ditch the toxic chemicals – use natural cleaning products

• Improve ventilation

• Vacuum regularly

• Remove your shoes when you come in

• Test your home with an air quality monitor and use an air purifier if required

Homeowners Can Only Afford 66% of Their Annual Home Repairs

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Homeowners are expected to save on average £2,158.47 per year for home repairs
58% of first time buyers would prefer to buy a new build over an older building

Over a quarter of Brits said that fixing a roof was their most concerning home repair
Infographic map included showing the average maintenance shortfall (per year) across the UK
Unexpected disasters are the worst – they catch us by surprise, and mean we have to search frantically for a solution. If an unexpected disaster happens in our home, that usually means the solution will involve money – and probably lots of it – to fix what’s gone wrong. In an ideal world, we’d have a little pot of cash stored away for exactly these kinds of problems. Housing experts agree that sensible homeowners should budget 1% of the value of their property every year to maintenance and property repair. And with the average house price in the UK being £215,847, that means we should have a home improvement and repair account to the tune of £2,158.47 per year. But how many of us do that? Not enough, apparently. Rubber roofing specialists Rubber4Roofs surveyed 3,000 UK homeowners to find out what their home-fixing slush fund was worth. Taken on average, they found that Brits only budget £1,438.98; that’s a national shortfall of £719 (or 33% less than what they should be budgeting). Not ideal if your boiler suddenly breaks down over the winter, or your washing machine suddenly springs a leak.
But while that’s the UK average, some regions are doing even worse, as the infographic below illustrates:

As you would expect with such high property prices, Greater London comes out on top (well, bottom) with an average budget shortfall of £3,288. That’s a big gap, particularly if something major goes wrong with your house. That could also be because the cost of living is substantially higher here, so that people don’t manage to save that much (plus all those metropolitan cappuccinos and avocados on toast don’t come cheap…). Close on their heels is the South East of England, with a gap of £1,947.

The money-savviest region, in contrast, is the North East – they’re only short by £800, not that much more than the national average. They know the value of a penny or two up there! But regardless of how much you do or don’t have saved, many of us are likely to put the cost of any repairs straight onto a credit card, thus delaying the pain of parting with actual cash – nearly a fifth of us do this.

Rubber4Roofs also asked first time buyers whether they preferred new builds, or older buildings; over half of them (58%) said new builds, presumably because fewer things were likely to go wrong – well, not in the first few years at any rate! But when asked which type of repair worried homeowners the most, due to the cost, the majority of them said roof repairs. Over a quarter of us (27.5%) know that this is usually a substantial cost, due to the nature of the work needing to be done, from the risk of sending workers onto the roof, to the heavy graft needed to fix any holes or leaks. Though you might want to avoid any future issues by installing rubber roofing instead: it’s a single-ply synthetic membrane you can use on low-sloping or flat roofs because it’s durable, pliable and waterproof; the benefit is that, although the cost difference to traditional flat roofing materials is negligible, rubber roofing has a life expectancy of 50 years which is up to 5 times as long.

This was closely followed by plumbing issues (26.5%); again, when something goes wrong and you’re left with indoor flooding, caused by anything from a blocked loo to overflowing drains, it’s not going to come cheap. Fixing foundations (18.5%) and removing mould (17.5%) were also concerns, due to the amount of work and associated costs involved. Few of us worry about electrical issues (7%) as that usually seems pretty straightforward, usually involving a change of wiring or a fuse, and the least problematic repair is repairing the drain pipe (3%).
‘It looks like Brits might have to start putting a little bit more away each month to ensure they’re covered for unforeseen repairs,’ says Tom Cullingford, owner at Rubber4Roofs. ‘There’s nothing worse than the headache of a major housing issue, coupled with the headache of trying to find the money to pay for it. But putting precautions in place, such as installing rubber roofing, can save time and money in the long run.’

Inside The X Factor Finalists’ Plush 7-Bed House

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We love X Factor at Frost and have been enjoying the performances. We have also been getting major property envy at the beautiful house the contestants are living in. We can reveal that it is located in one of Barnet’s most sought-after streets, According to Zoopla the property was previously put on the market for £7million when it was last up for sale in 2013.

The remaining XFactor hopefuls can kick back in the lap of luxury in a seven-bedroom mansion in leafy North London ahead of the finals.

Zoopla.co.uk can offer a sneak peek inside the detached new-build residence – which features an indoor swimming pool, a cinema room, and even a state-of-the-art car lift – where the finalists will be living until the winner is chosen in December. Can we move in now please?

INSIDE THE X FACTOR FINALISTS’ PLUSH 7-BED PAD xfactorhouse2015 xfactorhouse2015d xfactorhouse2015home xfactorhouse2015kjh xfactorhouse2015bn xfactorhouse2015homefinal

Adnams Copper House Distilled Gin Review

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Named “Best Gin in the World” at last year’s IWSC awards, add ice, some lime and a good amount of tonic for something quite close to heaven.

adnams Copper House Distilled Gin

From the famed Southwold brewer Adnams. This is a barley spirit with a base of juniper. Incredible, just incredible. More aromatic and fragrant than most gins. You make think that all gin is created equal, drink this to be proven wrong.

Handcrafted and copper stilled using East Anglian malted barley, it has a selection of six botanicals. Distinct with lots of character. It is amazing.

Adnams Copper House Distilled Gin is available here.

Copper House Distilled Gin – 40% abv 750ml. RRP £26.99