 | Art Bryan
is president and owner of Southwestern Remodeling Contractors, Inc. Art started Southwestern Remodeling Contractors in 1970. Southwestern is a fully-licensed residential and commercial licensed general contractor in Wichita and the surrounding counties. Art has been a member of the Wichita Area Home Builders Association and the National Remodel Council since 1974. In mid-2000 Southwestern received the distinction of being named one of the "Top 25 Most Diversified Remodeling Companies in the United States.” Southwestern is listed as the 84th Top Remodeler in the country by Qualified Remodeling Magazine. Art can be contacted at his office at (316) 263-1239, fax at (316) 263-6230, or you can e-mail him at ARTSWR@aol. Com |
Home Improvement
2003-09-01 15:42:00
Remodeling instead of relocating
ANSWER: Many people begin here. Real estate agents will tell you, other than LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION as the main element of increasing the value of your home, CURB APPEAL stands alone in second place. Last year over 44 million remodeling projects were completed in the U.S. according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, http://www.nari.org/. Almost 30 percent of these were exterior improvements. Below are some of the top choices to consider when updating the exterior of your home. All of them are solid choices and offer you excellent durability and beauty. Maybe the best part is that they can fit into just about any budget. Always remember that quality is the key to improving your home. As important as the material selection is, the products are only as good as the people installing them. Take the time to select the best possible contractors to do the work.VINYL SIDING While there will always be a debate about what kind of siding to install, more than 40 million squares of vinyl siding were installed in the U.S. last year. So of the two, it's the champ. Vinyl siding has come a long way. The color goes all the way through the material so fading is a thing of the past. And cleaning your home is a snap - literally you can clean the siding with a garden hose and spray nozzle. Vinyl siding is installed and sold by the square (a 10' x 10' area equals a square). The average cost to re-side your home with vinyl nationally is about $325 a square. Of course, the prices can vary depending on the number of windows and doors, as well as the size of your home. One other tip - I am not a fan of re-siding over your existing siding. It's not the right way to complete the job. In many cases when this is done, the windows and trim become recessed on the plane of the walls and the home will look incomplete. Invest a little more money to have the old siding removed. This will not only ensure a better job but will allow you the opportunity to install additional insulation and a building wrap that can help reduce your energy costs. WOOD SIDING The look of real wood is something that is always attempted but rarely duplicated. Real wood siding offers natural beauty and a tactile feel to a home. Cedar siding is one of the most popular choices. You can finish your wood siding many different ways to achieve a custom look. One way is with a natural finish with a clear preservative over the top. But semi-transparent or even solid-colored stains can also look great. Also keep in mind that wood is a natural renewable resource. So while it grows, it helps the environment as well. The average cost to install cedar siding nationally is about $475 a square. With wood siding, many different grades can be purchased - clear, which has no knots and offers a smooth finish; #2, and #1 grades. The lower the number, the more character the wood will have. Also, wood siding offers you endless design possibilities from siding options to trim on windows and decorative elements as well. FIBER CEMENT SIDING Fiber-cement siding offers some of the maintenance-free qualities of vinyl, and the look of painted wood siding. Who would have thought that one day we would use concrete for exterior siding? The material has actually been around for over 20 years. Fiber-cement siding offers some of the maintenance-free qualities of vinyl, and the look of painted wood siding. The product expands and contracts minimally, it will not rot or warp, and insects do not like how it tastes. It is also very well regarded by firefighters around the country since it won't engulf in flames. The siding can be pre-painted from the factory and when ordered this way the finish carries a 15-year warranty. The average cost to re-side a home in the U.S. is about $475 per square. SYNTHETIC STUCCO Probably one of the most versatile inventions to hit the exterior home market, this product was known as Environmental Insulated Finishing Systems or EIFS, but basically it's a souped-up version of cement stucco. One advantage it has is that it can flex with your home and stay intact as your home moves. The material can be shaped, colored and textured to just about any finish. EIFS also offers the highest wall insulation R-value of any exterior wall cladding. When properly installed by a qualified contractor this material is almost impervious to the elements. There is even a hybrid combination of synthetic and cement stucco. The average cost to install is about $450-$550 a square. Of course, the size of your home can effect the pricing, as with all of the choices. BRICK That third little pig had the right idea. Brick offers a strong exterior finish. Unlike the other choices, brick is rarely an option when building a new home. But it's a good one to consider. Brick offers a classic solid look to a home. The color choices and sizes of bricks available are almost endless. There are two types of brick construction - solid masonry construction, where the brick actually holds up the structure of the home; and face brick, which is basically a brick wall built in front of a framed wall. Face brick really gives you the best of both worlds, the durability and beauty of brick, with all of the insulation qualities of a framed wall. Brick is quoted on a per square foot calculation. So the average cost is between $6-$12 per square foot.
