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Selling something? Maybe trying to sell your house? Here is the fifth of our top 5 projects to boost your home’s value for resale.

August 9th, 2010

Have you already decided to move rather than remodel only to realize, like so many others in the same boat, you are still thinking about remodeling anyway? Why? To make your house more appealing to would-be buyers, cut the time it takes to sell it and maybe even get more cash in hand when you sell is why. While you’re remodeling that other part of the house why not tuck in a new master bedroom suite above the addition? You’ll get all of your money back when you eventually sell your house, right?

Not so fast. While many home-remodeling projects are a great way to add value to your home, not all of them are ironclad cash-back guarantees. Before you invest a significant amount of your precious home equity into remodeling projects, it’s wise to do a little homework on what kind of payback you can expect for various home projects in your area.

A good place to start is the Cost vs. Value report published annually by the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, and Remodeling magazine. The report provides a synopsis of the top projects, the average costs of the projects and their average rate of investment return at resale. It also gives you a city-by-city guide on what various home projects will pay back at resale. Real estate experts caution that these numbers can differ significantly depending on your state, city or even neighborhood. So use these numbers as a starting point, but consider getting the advice of a Realtor and/or remodeling contractor before you commit to a big home project. These experts can familiarize you with remodeling payback figures tailored to your state, city., or town.

The fifth project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is an attic bedroom remodel. This entails converting unfinished attic space in a two- or three-bedroom house into a finished bedroom and bathroom with shower. It includes a new shed dormer, new windows and closet space in the eaves.

Average payback: 93.5 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $39,188
National average resale value: $36,649

Because this is a relatively expensive undertaking, real estate experts suggest you do an attic renovation only if you’re going to live in the house for a while (preferably five to 10 years) and enjoy the reclaimed space yourself. Over the long haul, this project adds significant value to your home because it creates brand-new living space and isn’t just a cosmetic improvement. Keep in mind, though, that attic remodels don’t make sense in every neighborhood and part of the country. For example, in Florida, most of the attics aren’t big enough to stand up in, so remodeling them wouldn’t make sense at all. Plus there’s the heat issue — these rooms would be sweltering hot and very expensive to cool.

This is a good example of a remodeling project that would be wise to discuss in advance with a Realtor who’s familiar not just with housing in your area, but in your specific neighborhood. Good Realtors are always happy to spend time talking with you about the wisest renovation projects for your home — even if you’re not planning to sell your home anytime soon.

Other top resale projects from the Cost vs. Value report ranked by percentage of cost recouped at resale, include:

  • an upscale bathroom remodel: 93.2 percent.
  • a major kitchen remodel: mid-range, 91 percent; upscale: 84.8 percent.
  • a deck addition: 90.3 percent.
  • basement remodeling: 90.1 percent.
  • window replacement: 89.6 percent.
  • a bathroom addition: mid-range: 86.4 per cent, upscale 85.8 percent.
  • roofing replacement: 84.7 percent.
  • a family room addition: 83 percent.
  • a master suite addition: mid-range 82.4 per cent; upscale 80.1 percent.
  • a home-office remodel: 72.8 percent.

While a good return on your investment is important in every remodeling project, experts say that the most important factor in your decision should still be whether the project improves the way you live in your home now. The fact of remodeling is that you never get your money back instantly. If you’re undertaking a project because you’re going to stay in your home awhile, and it will enhance your lifestyle, then great — do it. It’s tough to put a price on the happiness many young families get from fixing up their house and truly enjoying it for the next 20 years.

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Selling something? Maybe trying to sell your house? Here is the fourth of our top 5 projects to boost your home’s value for resale.

July 28th, 2010

Have you already decided to move rather than remodel only to realize, like so many others in the same boat, you are still thinking about remodeling anyway? Why? To make your house more appealing to would-be buyers, cut the time it takes to sell it and maybe even get more cash in hand when you sell is why. While you’re remodeling that other part of the house why not tuck in a new master bedroom suite above the addition? You’ll get all of your money back when you eventually sell your house, right?

Not so fast. While many home-remodeling projects are a great way to add value to your home, not all of them are ironclad cash-back guarantees. Before you invest a significant amount of your precious home equity into remodeling projects, it’s wise to do a little homework on what kind of payback you can expect for various home projects in your area.

A good place to start is the Cost vs. Value report published annually by the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, and Remodeling magazine. The report provides a synopsis of the top projects, the average costs of the projects and their average rate of investment return at resale. It also gives you a city-by-city guide on what various home projects will pay back at resale. Real estate experts caution that these numbers can differ significantly depending on your state, city or even neighborhood. So use these numbers as a starting point, but consider getting the advice of a Realtor and/or remodeling contractor before you commit to a big home project. These experts can familiarize you with remodeling payback figures tailored to your state, city., or town.

The fourth project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is a mid-range siding replacement. This more modest variation our first ranked project (upscale siding) includes replacing 1,250 square feet of siding with new vinyl siding and trim.

Average payback: 95.5 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $7,239
National average resale value: $6,914

The value of this project is in its immediate curb appeal: New siding cleans up a house quickly. However, vinyl may not be appropriate and could actually detract from a home’s value in historic neighborhoods or upscale areas where traditional wood siding is still the preferred material.


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Selling something? Maybe trying to sell your house? Here is the third of our top 5 projects to boost your home’s value for resale.

July 26th, 2010

Have you already decided to move rather than remodel only to realize, like so many others in the same boat, you are still thinking about remodeling anyway? Why? To make your house more appealing to would-be buyers, cut the time it takes to sell it and maybe even get more cash in hand when you sell is why. While you’re remodeling that other part of the house why not tuck in a new master bedroom suite above the addition? You’ll get all of your money back when you eventually sell your house, right?

Not so fast. While many home-remodeling projects are a great way to add value to your home, not all of them are ironclad cash-back guarantees. Before you invest a significant amount of your precious home equity into remodeling projects, it’s wise to do a little homework on what kind of payback you can expect for various home projects in your area.

A good place to start is the Cost vs. Value report published annually by the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, and Remodeling magazine. The report provides a synopsis of the top projects, the average costs of the projects and their average rate of investment return at resale. It also gives you a city-by-city guide on what various home projects will pay back at resale. Real estate experts caution that these numbers can differ significantly depending on your state, city or even neighborhood. So use these numbers as a starting point, but consider getting the advice of a Realtor and/or remodeling contractor before you commit to a big home project. These experts can familiarize you with remodeling payback figures tailored to your state, city., or town.

The third project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is a minor kitchen remodel. This consists of giving a functional, but dated, kitchen a makeover. It includes new cabinet doors and drawers (with cabinet boxes left in place), a moderately priced wall oven, cooktop, countertop, sink and faucet and resilient flooring.

Average payback: 98.5 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $14, 913
National average resale value: $14,691

Along with bathrooms, kitchen updates are almost always among the smartest remodeling projects for resale value. Home buyers seem to gravitate to the kitchen first when they’re looking at a house and even appraisers give extra credit to houses with updated kitchens. However, homeowners can go too far. For example, they might put granite countertops and top-of-the-line stainless-steel appliances in a very modestly priced house. Those improvements aren’t going to help the home’s value in the long run, and the owner definitely isn’t going to get their money back when they sell.

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If only everything were as simple as our complete gutter protection.

July 15th, 2010

GutterBrush Guys, Ltd. began offering their simple, affordable, and effective gutter protection system back in 2004 and continues to grow at a very strong yet responsible pace. GutterBrush Guys Ltd. continues to increase our customer base, retail network, and e-commerce presence. Gutterbrush Guys, Ltd. are now focusing on giving, roofers, contractors, painters, and any home service professional the most complete and comprehensive opportunity available for a very competitively priced and profitable professional grade gutter  protection system.

Visit www.gutterbrush.com for complete gutter protection information, installation instructions, and an informative installation video for the gutter, roofing, and general contractor or home services professional.  GutterBrush Giys, ltd. also encourages you to visit the web presence of the other gutter protection and leaf guard products available on the market today because they are certain that not a single one provides the same level of detail and information that they do. The GutterBrush Guys, Ltd. present the quality, simplicity, and affordable nature of their product in a transparent way so you can see the value of the opprotunity they are presenting to you. They also spell out their warranty, have detailed installation instructions, as well as an abundance of information covering important safety issues surrounding working with gutter protection.

The GutterBrush Guys, Ltd. also are very happy to offer qualified partners a unique and very effective demo unit that clearly shows the consumer the simplicity, effectiveness, and professional grade quality of GutterBrush simple gutter guard.  The GutterBrush Guys, Ltd. have a solid track record of offering a superior gutter protection product and completely believe that current economic challenges makes their product a welcome and profitable addition to any home service professional’s product/service offerings.

Gutter Brush Guys, Ltd. would like to extend an invitation to any home services professional currently offering roofing and/or gutter protection systems to visit the GutterBrush web site at www.gutterbrush.com and consider becoming an authorized GutterBrush partner and/or installer.

Learn more about GutterBrush simple gutter guard and all things gutter related at www.gutterbrush.com

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The global economy is struggling but our small international gutter protection company is trying to do our part.

July 12th, 2010

The global economy is struggling but our small international gutter protection company is trying to do our part to help minimize the impact on property and business owners by not increasing our pricing or shipping charges within the continental United States for 2010. The bottom line is that gutters are extremely important for the protection of your home. Every year the malfunctioning and overflowing of gutters does cause substantial property damage to residential and commercial property across the world.

GutterBrush is an effective, low-cost gutter protection and rainwater control system made in the USA from 100% sustainable materials. GutterBrush is constructed of exceptionally durable professional grade materials. This sustainable product helps reduce the amount of non-degradable plastics from landfills through its very long lifespan. The product will not deteriorate and therefore will not need to be disposed of in a landfill and then replaced.

GutterBrush simple gutter guard does an incredible job of protecting property from water damage caused by clogged gutters. GutterBrush’s simple gutter guard system helps keep gutters flowing freely and virtually eliminates the structural water damage caused by overflows, standing water, freezing water, and snow buildup while also helping to reduce the risk of combustion of dry, brittle, and very flammable gutter debris and is in compliance with fire prevention building codes. Getting rid of these potential causes of damage increases the longevity of the property and significantly diminishes the environmental shock of repairs and replacements.

GutterBrush also greatly minimizes the maintenance needed to keep gutters clean and free flowing while also promoting a cleaner and more efficient rain water harvesting system. A way to minimize the impact of excess nutrients that drain through local watersheds is to install GutterBrush simple gutter guards to prevent leaves from collecting. When nutrient-rich leaves fall onto rooftops and get caught in rain gutters, the phosphorus and nitrogen leaches out and is channeled through gutters and pipes into storm drains and sewers. GutterBrush can help stop this problem and help improve the environment at the same time.

GutterBrush simple gutter guard is holding the line on prices and shipping charges within the continental United States for 2010 in an attempt to assist you in protecting your property from costly damage and repairs that result from clogged gutters.

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We need more door to door cheese salesmen like James L. Kraft to help the struggling economy.

June 28th, 2010

Throughout history somebody comes up with a novel idea and, for whatever reason, it fails perfectly. Then, almost without fail, somebody else takes arguably the same concept, turns it inside out or repackages it, and boom, a huge breakthrough that achieves notoriety, success, and usually some significant financial reward. But most of us go through life thinking of success as a sort of supernatural event, a preordained occurrence that only happens to certain people. However, this is simply not the case.  We look at the careers of Albert Einstein, Warren Buffet, Michael Jordan, and Bill Gates as if that sort of thing can never happen to us. We are incorrect.

Surely those are tough acts to follow but even these individuals are mere mortals who likely use their mouth to drink the way most of us do. The fact is that the vast majority of successful ideas, people, and companies don’t occur as magically or spontaneously as one might imagine. Here are five common ways in which relatively small changes can produce major breakthroughs:

  1. Timing. Reintroducing an idea when conditions are more favorable.
  2. Opportunity. Capitalizing on another’s idea because they couldn’t, for whatever reason.
  3. Perspective. Looking at the same thing differently, i.e. turning an idea on its side.
  4. Standing on the shoulders of giants. Adding a relatively small component to the great works of others.
  5. Luck. Just plain luck.

Einstein was indeed a genius but he did not just bang out a few equations to come up with E=MC2. He developed this maxim of the notion of matter and energy being related in some way by using conclusions and data that had been around for some time. The difference, was that Einstein had a passion for light. It was actually his notion of the invariance of the speed of light that led to the special theory of relativity and then to E=MC2. More than anything, Einstein had a unique perspective. He saw the same things others saw, but he saw them differently and the rest, as they say, is history.

Johannes Kepler, whose laws of planetary motion are famous, actually came very close to deriving the theory of gravity more than 50 years before Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Unfortunately, Kepler was a crazy, a religious zealot, often ill, and lived in a politically and religiously charged era. He had a lot working against him. Not to diminish Newton’s role in discovering universal gravity, but he definitely stood on the shoulders of giants, as others later stood on his.

Moving on to the business world, if you explore the origins of famous companies, you’ll find that most of them had anything but grandiose beginnings, and they often began as one thing and ended up as another:

  • The first McDonald’s was a hot dog stand
  • Nokia was initially a paper mill
  • Sony began as a radio repair shop
  • James L. Kraft, founder of Kraft Foods, sold cheese door-to-door
  • Toyota originally made looms

The point is that great inventors, leaders, and companies aren’t like step functions in real life. They don’t go from zero-to-great in a heartbeat. More often than not, they stand on the shoulders of giants, see things a little bit differently, or benefit from timing, opportunity, or luck.

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Mow your lawn? How about you mow my lawn!

May 18th, 2010

Do you have trouble starting your lawnmower up in the spring? Before deciding to take your lawnmower in for repair, try these few simple suggestions. After completing them most of the time your lawnmower will fire up and run like a champ.

Pull and clean the Spark Plug

Most of the time simply cleaning the spark plug will solve your lawnmower woes. To do this, disconnect the wire attached to the end of the spark plug. Then using a wrench or a Ratchet/Socket, remove the spark plug. If the spark plug is black or wet looking, you have probably found your problem on why the lawnmower is not starting.

Using fine grit sandpaper, sand the top of the spark plug down to bare metal. Make sure you sand all around the edges of the piece of metal (tab) that sits just above the electrode. Make sure that there is a gap between the metal tab and the electrode. If you still have the lawnmower manual and a feeler gauge you can adjust the gap to the specifications. However, if there is a small gap it is probably sufficient for the spark plug to operate correctly.

Make sure the spark plug is free of dust and dry. Then screw it back into the cylinder and connect back the wire to the end of the spark plug. Then try starting the lawn mower.

Check for Oil

Make sure there is oil in the lawnmower and that it is at the proper level.

Check for Fuel

Make sure there is gas in the lawn mower. If you have old gas in the lawnmower and did not put in a fuel stabilizer at the end of the season, replace the gas. If you had drained the gas tank at the end of the previous season, then fill the tank at least half full with new gas.

Check the Fuel Line

Like many of us, at the end of the previous lawn mowing season we turn off the fuel line switch. Make sure it is in the on position. If you have done all of the above and the engine will not fire, then check to see if the fuel is getting to the carburetor. Temporarily disconnect the fuel hose from the carburetor and see if gas pours out. If so reconnect the hose. If not, then check the fuel line. It may be gummed up or the fuel filter is clogged.

Check the Air Filter

Make sure the Air Filter is clean. If it is dirty and oily then replace it. If it just dirty shake it and knock out some of the dust. This may solve your problem; however I would still recommend replacing it.

Clean the Carburetor

First turn off the fuel line. Disassembling and cleaning the carburetor is not as bad as you may think. Usually there is a nut on the underside of the carburetor. Remove this and pull the bottom portion of the carburetor off. Clean the inside of this lower portion of the carburetor and then make sure the float valve moves up and down freely. The float valve is a plastic object about 1.5″ in diameter that hangs down when you remove the lower portion of the carburetor.

Reconnect the lower portion of the carburetor and turn on the fuel line again.

Try restarting the lawnmower. If it still does not work after performing all of these procedures, then take it to a repair shop. However, from personal experience these procedures usually solve the problem.

Sharpen the Blade

Finally, make sure you sharpen the blade. This will ensure you minimize the torque on the engine while cutting the grass. Not to mention, your lawn will get a more even cut.

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GutterBrush: Worth its weight in gold?

May 13th, 2010

Probably not. But there is no mistake about what’s in this gold plated vending machine.  Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace Hotel became the first place outside Germany to install “gold to go, the world’s first gold vending machine”. Those in the Gulf region who can clearly afford it can now grab “gold to go”, much like a latte or donuts, from a hotel lobby in the United Arab Emirates. Now when the gold fix strikes all you need to do is find one of these machines and presto, gold! Only one day after its inauguration, the shiny machine attracted many spectators of many different nationalities who had gathered to watch whenever an enthusiast was struck with the urge to splurge on a bar of the precious metal. The gold rates are constantly updated inside the shiny machine — itself gold-plated — in the hotel’s lobby, courtesy of a built-in computer connected to a dealer which sells gold online.

How far we have come from the days of the California gold rush!

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Why would anyone ever do this?

May 3rd, 2010

Do you need a new roof? Are you trying to decide how to save some money on the job? One way people try to do this is to place the new roof installed over an existing layer of roofing. This technique is quite common in many areas and many roofing contractors don’t see any problem with this method and have no problem trying to sell homeowners on a lay-over or go-over as this technique is called.

Don’t do this. EVER.

Here are the top five reasons laying a new roof over an old one is a terrible idea.

First, there are sure to be areas that have or had leaks and they can’t always be addressed properly

There is a good chance that your old roof had some problem areas including possible leak spots, whether you noticed them or not. Without tearing off the old roof and properly identifying these types of trouble spots and determining where the leak was coming from and traveling to it is impossible to tell what areas of your roof may need some special attention.

Second, any rotted wood under the existing roofing will only get worse leading to an even more expensive fix down the road.

There could be areas that have rotted wood hiding under the old roofing. These rotted areas need to be identified and replaced before a new roof is installed. Obviously if your roofing contractor is only doing a lay-over roofing installation then these rotted areas will remain covered up and only get worse as the years go on. Also the nails holding down the shingles in areas with rotted wood cannot properly do their job and you have a much higher risk of shingles blowing off in those areas.

Third, the eaves, rakes and valleys always need special treatment and not doing so will cause more costly repairs later.

This is a big one. The eaves, rakes and valleys of your house need special attention when your home’s roof is being installed. This is especially important in colder climates like Massachusetts, where we are located. In the winter time the eaves of your house are under attack by Mother Nature, whether it is through ice dams, snow build up, or just the constant freezing and thawing that occurs throughout the winter season. When a new roof is properly installed the roofing contractor needs to put new aluminum drip-edge around the entire perimeter of your roof.

Next they need to apply a 3 foot wide section of ice & water barrier around the perimeter as well as in any valleys on your roof. Then they can begin to install the new roofing. Without tearing off the original roofing there is no way to properly install the new drip-edge or ice & water barrier. On a lay-over type of roofing install, the roofing contractor is counting on the existing products on the home’s roof to still be up to par and be able to handle the winter conditions. All too often the old products fall short whether it was because they have outlived their lifetime, were sub-par to begin with, or maybe they were never there to begin with (all to often the latter is the case with ice & water barrier).

Fourth,  the extra roofing weight is no good for old rafters and can cause structural failure and safety hazards in the structure.

One of the more obvious problems with a lay-over re-roof is the added weight of the extra layer of shingles. On most newer homes this is not an issue, however many older homes have rafters that are considered undersized by today’s framing standards. It is not uncommon to see 2×6 rafter systems on many of these houses. Now in most situations a 2×6 rafter is undersized to begin with and you certainly don’t want to be adding the weight of a new roofing layer on top of an old roofing layer to these already undersized rafter systems.

Fifth, adding a roof on top of another roof will lead to a shorter roof life expectancy.

Most responsible roofing contractors agree that a lay-over roof will decrease the new roof’s lifetime by about 25%. This fact alone means that any money you might have saved by doing a lay-over, as opposed to a tear-off and new roof install, was only a short term savings. In addition, you now have 2 layers of roofing that will need to be removed the next time your roof is done and that will also add more cost to the job

Tearing off the old roof and then installing a new one is always superior to laying a new on on top of an old one. And as always, do not forget your gutter protection system needs!

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This has nothing to do with questionable investments by banks.

April 27th, 2010

GutterBrush can prevent this from happening.

GutterBrush can prevent this from happening.

Excessive amounts of water overflowing from your gutter system could cause a number of serious problems around your home, some of which could cause you hundreds if not thousands of dollars to repair. But there are just some things that no gutter protection system, even GutterBrush, can solve. One of those situations is a heavy deluge of rain that courses down a roof’s slope and into the gutter with such force that it can not be properly channeled into the gutter and out the downspout. However, leaking or overflowing gutters should never be ignored and a properly installed and clean gutter system should function to move water safely down the gutter and out the downspout in every other type of rain. If they leak or overflow during normal conditions perhaps we can help you to maximize the effectiveness of your gutters and gutter protection system during normal rainfall conditions.

First, if your house is fairly long where the gutters are continuous along the entire length and the only downspouts are on both ends this could cause some over flowing and leaking to occur. Most homeowners prefer this gutter/downspout configuration for aesthetic reasons because a downspout does not have to be installed right in the middle of the house which is usually right near the entrance to the house. However, often times only having a downspout at the end of the gutter system leads to the inability for the gutter system to handle the volume of rain that is falling. An effective solution to this problem is to have the one end raised just as high as you can so that the flow will be sufficient for the water to exit the preferred main exit end before ever running over. You can also investigate the installation of a large gutter on your home’s exterior to accommodate larger volumes of water flow.

Second, make sure your gutters are not leaking as this can lead to the misidentification of the problem you face. To quickly and effectively repair a leaky gutter, first remove debris and wash out the gutters with water. Second, apply a silicone gutter seam sealant to gutter seams, exposed nail/screw heads, and minor holes as needed. Third, you should absolutely replace any section of gutter that is pitted or rusted through. Fourth, make sure that all gutter sections are secured properly to the fascia boards and replace any rotted fascia boards as needed. Fifth, install drip flashing around all roof edges. Finally, fill the gutters with water using a garden hose to check for leaks and proper drainage. Next time it rains watch the gutters for leaks and overflows. If water still overflows the gutters, then you may need to adjust the slope towards the downspouts and or add additional downspouts as previously mentioned. In addition, you might consider installing larger downspouts that will help prevent gutter overflow but these should be coupled with the installation of downspout extensions to divert water away from the house structure in order to avoid costly water damage to your property.

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