The GutterBrush Blog

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.

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.

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 second project of five to potentially boost your home’s resale value is a midrange bathroom remodel. This includes updating an average 5-by-7 foot bathroom that’s at least 25 years old with moderately priced fixtures, a double-sink vanity, a ceramic-tile floor and vinyl wallpaper.

Average payback: 102.2 percent of cost
Estimated job cost: $10,499
National average resale value: $10,727

Improving an existing, but outdated, bathroom is almost always a good investment because an up-to-date bathroom makes your home look like it’s been kept in good repair, and that’s what all prospective homeowners are looking for.

However, do not try to personalize the bathrooms too much or spend megabucks trying to turn them into ultimate home spas. Your home is a valuable asset, and you want to treat it respectfully whenever you remodel. In other words, think twice about adding a pricey imported soaking tub or three separate shower stalls for your growing family’s convenience. Those renovations might not fit the taste of a buyer 10 years down the road. If that happens, the money you spent on your bathroom renovation is down the toilet, so to speak.

Have you already decided to move rather than remodel but you still find yourself thinking abut remodeling anyway 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? Well while you’re expanding, 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.

Our first suggestion in the list of the top five projects to boost your home’s value for resale is to do an upscale siding (new fiber cement) replacement. Here is what you can expect this project to cost and yield:

Estimated job cost: $10,393 for 1,250 square feet
Average payback: 103.6 percent of cost
National average resale value: $10,771

Siding makes a huge difference in a house’s resale value, because it’s one of the first things you see. It really defines the condition of the home.  If other houses around you have old aluminum or vinyl siding and your siding is nicer and newer, buyers will notice you. With this project, you make your house more attractive — you’re not just improving your insulation value.

Next up on out list is a mid-range bathroom remodel but that will have to wait until the next time we meet here.

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

We do not know anybody who likes cleaning rain gutters on their property. It’s time consuming and often, frankly, completely nasty, especially if you do not keep up with it on a somewhat regular basis. If you are like many homeowners and think “I’ll take care of that next weekend”, you could end up with massive clogs in your gutters and downspouts…clogs which will cost hundreds of dollars to repair because you have to call a gutter professional to come out, take down your downspouts, clean them out and put them all back together. Instead of spending all of that time and money, why not just install a gutterbrush gutter guard system?

The original gutterbrush simple gutter guard will save you time and you won’t have to worry about costly clogs in your downspouts. The product looks like a giant pipe cleaning brush and it sits in your rain gutter channel and acts as a barrier for leaves, twigs, seedpods and other debris while still letting water pass through freely and out the downspout.

Installation is simple and fast. The most difficult part is climbing the ladder up to your roof to set the original gutterbrush down inside of it. But that’s it…you’re done! More importantly they are easy to clean if you ever need to do so. All you have to do is climb back up that pesky ladder; pull the brushes out, remove the debris and put them right back into place.

Why spend a bunch of money if you don’t have to? Why spend a bunch of time cleaning something if you don’t have to? The original GutterBrush is very affordable and you can install it yourself in about an hour and a half and it lasts all year (studies have proven they can also keep your gutters from freezing in the winter). Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Don’t be fooled by imitations that are manufactured outside of the USA using sub standard materials. Insist on the original GutterBrush Simple Gutter Guard!

We’ve had a few days of warm weather here on the East Coast lately and we have been running the ceiling fans in our offices to keep the rooms cool without having to turn on our central air conditioner quite yet. Even though its been relatively mild outside we have a few rooms that get a lot of sun and warm up rather quickly.

While sitting in the office yesterday I commented that even though the fan above me was on medium speed that it didn’t feel as though it was cooling the room very well. It was at that moment that I realized I had forgotten to switch the fan direction from “warming” to “cooling.”

You see, most ceiling fans will go in two directions: clockwise and counter-clockwise. Most ceiling fans sold these days have a small switch right “above” the blades (between the fan blades and the ceiling, on the “stem” of the fan) that control the fan blade blowing direction: right or left. Some fan manuals call these directions “forward” and “reverse” but I can never remember which direction is which. This fan direction switch is a pretty important feature because the ceiling fans will move air differently for each direction. You usually just need to flip the switch on the fan to change direction, but remember to use the same safety methods you used when you were cleaning your ceiling fan.

You can tell which way you fan is blowing by turning it on low and watching which way the blades spin. If the fan blades start moving to the right, then your ceiling fan is blowing clockwise. If the ceiling fan blades start moving to the left then your ceiling fan is blowing counter-clockwise. Simple so far… but which direction do you want for most fans?

Ceiling Fan Spinning Counter-Clockwise: Makes a room cooler by blowing the air downward. When the fan is spinning in a counter-clockwise direction you should feel a cool breeze coming down and around the room.

Ceiling Fan Spinning Clockwise: Makes a room warmer by creating subtle updraft which pushes the warm air near the ceiling down along the walls and into the room. When the fan in spinning in a clockwise direction you should not feel as much of a breeze.

Need to remember on the fly? Here’s a phrase that helps the memory: Counter-Clockwise Cooler (You just need to remember there are three C’s when it comes to ceiling fans!)

Stay cool this summer!

As the weather keeps getting warmer, home improvement projects keep getting added to many people’s to-do lists. From cleaning out gutters to painting to cleaning the house from top to bottom, the project list seems never ending. Here are some new tools and tips to make the most common summer home improvement projects a breeze so you can enjoy the warm weather with family and friends.

1. Painting Projects

Once you’ve determined whether you are doing simple indoor touch-ups or completely changing the paint scheme outside of your home, you need the right tools to help make the job easier and mess-free.  For bigger projects use a ladder pail that makes larger painting projects a snap. Fill the pail with up to a gallon of paint and attach it to your ladder with a fixed bracket. This tool prevents you from making multiple trips up and down the ladder.

2. Gutter Cleaning

Cleaning out gutters can be an annoying task, especially when using all sorts of homemade contraptions that dangle from ladders or sit unsteadily on rooftops. Be sure to use a large spoon or specific gutter cleaning scoop to get the debris out. Use water to loosen up caked on dirt and use a gutter scoop to remove. Make sure to flush your gutters with water once you’ve removed the debris — it’ll help them flow during those inevitable summer showers! You might also want to consider using a gutter protection system at the time you clean out your gutters.

Finally, while you’re working on your summer home improvement projects, make it fun! Open the windows, put on some music, and let the warming sun motivate you to get through the tasks so you can enjoy doing something else.