Some of the most costly home repairs can be avoided by developing a list of items to check and putting them on a calendar to remind you to inspect them before damage occurs. Some items need to be checked on a more frequent basis such as gutters and down spouts where as your roof might only need to be checked once a year. Most home maintenance can be done with a ladder, some basic tools and a caulk gun, but there are items better left to a professional. Identifying them and taking care of them before they become a costly repair is the goal of Home Maintenance.

A roof inspection to check the condition of the structure or shingles might be better left to a professional but checking step flashing around a chimney or pipe collars for your plumbing vents are items that can be on your list to inspect once a year. A visual inspection for cracks in the caulk can be an easy repair to avoid water damage to your ceiling and walls from a heavy rain. Gutters and down spouts should be checked on a more regular basis especially in the spring and fall. A clogged gutter can over flow causing erosion or flooding your basement. A gutter that has been installed incorrectly or has sagged over time can cause it to drain poorly and overflow quickly. Installation of a gutter guard might be a better solution to minimize the need to clean out your gutters.

Painting trim around your soffits, windows and doors will keep them from rotting and needing to be replaced. Inspecting the caulking around the doors and windows and repairing problem areas will avoid water getting into your home and causing expensive repairs to drywall. Water can cause some of the most costly repairs to your home. Maintaining caulk in bathrooms is also an important item. If the caulk around your vanity, toilet, shower or tub is cracked or discolored remove it and replace it before water damages the wall and floor underneath. Wall tile and floor tile will not keep water where it is supposed to be without caulk and can result in the most expensive items in a bathroom repair or remodel.

These are just a few examples of common areas of your home that need to be maintained. The purpose of home maintenance is to avoid the higher cost to repair neglected items. Foster Remodeling can help you identify potential problem areas, perform simple maintenance, make the necessary repairs and put a plan together to help protect the comfort and value of your home.

Written by: Rich Caswell – Home Maintenance Consultant

Do you dream of cooking in a modern kitchen or watching the Redskins in your new sunroom?  Does your bathroom do little to make you feel refreshed?  If so, you may be thinking about remodeling your home, but where do you start?  Finding the right designer or contractor can be daunting, and it is a big investment to make, so how do you know if you are making the right decision?  Here are a few pointers in helping you select the right remodeler for you and your family.

The number one thing we always tell our clients is to check references.  This is the best way to find out about the company you may be working with.

There are two main questions to ask:

1)     Did your remodeling project end up costing what the contractor told you it would cost?

• Foster Remodeling Solutions gives you a fixed price contract so you know what you are paying before entering into contract.  The only changes that affect the end price during construction should be client driven.  For example, a contractor should never come to you during construction to ask for more money unless you have made a change added something after the contract has been signed or a hidden condition is found.

2)     Did the contractor finish your remodeling project when they said they would?

• No one wants to be without their kitchen or master bathroom for longer than they have to.  No one should have to wait longer than promised.  At Foster Remodeling Solutions we give you a start and end date on your contract that we always stick to.  When we assign a lead carpenter to your project they are not assigned to any other project during that time.  This way they are not trying to juggle more than one project and can stick to a schedule.  Plus, Foster Remodeling Solutions makes sure all materials have arrived to our warehouse undamaged before we start a job.  Making sure there are no surprises during construction is a sure way to stay on schedule.

These are the two biggest complaints we hear about other companies.  So do your homework and call references!

Always ask for a copy of the contractor’s license and make sure the date is current.  If someone is not pulling the permits for you, that probably means they do not have or have lost their contractor’s license.  Doing work without a current license is illegal and should make you wonder why they do not have one.  Without permits, the work being done on your home will not be inspected by a third party.  This means the work being done may not be up to code and you will be probably be very disappointed.  Stay away from contractors without an up to date license!

Liability Insurance and Workers Compensation are two things any upstanding company should have, especially when you are talking about remodeling.  A good remodeler will want to protect themselves, their employees, and their clients.  Make sure to ask and see a copy of their up-to-date insurance papers.  This could save you an arm and a leg!

Be aware of quotes that are too low.  It would be wonderful if you could get all you wanted for a price you were happy to pay, however if a company is quoting you something that is too good to be true, it probably is.  They could be leaving a lot of the work out of the quote in order to get you to sign with them, or they may be skipping out on getting the correct permits and inspections.  Whatever their reason is for quoting something half of another’s, beware!  Something is just not adding up.

How do you know you can trust someone in your home, with your family, and all of your possessions?  Well, I am not trying to scare you, but these are real concerns to have.  Foster Remodeling Solutions does a thorough background check of all their employees.  We also do random drug tests on our employees.  This protects the company and will make sure your remodeling job is being done safe and efficiently.

There are some websites, like Angie’s List, that will also help you in your search.  Make sure to do your due diligence and you will be sure to have a nice remodeling experience.

author: Carin Demmon, Design Consultant

1.)   Electrical outlets and switches in poor locations: The code requires a minimum spacing of outlets in rooms but, many times, the minimum is not enough. This is especially true in rooms that need power to lamps, appliances or other items in specific locations. Instead of forcing a client to drag a cord across a floor to reach an end table lamp, a floor plug could be installed at the location where the lamp will be. Another pet peeve of mine is banks of switches that are not ordered properly based on the use of the room. For example, when you walk into your Kitchen the first switch in a bank of switches should provide general lighting to get into the room. The next switch down should operate secondary lighting like under-cabinet or spot lighting. You do not want the first switch you reach for in a bedroom to turn on the ceiling fan. Likewise, the first switch in the bank of switches in a bathroom should not operate the exhaust fan. These types of flaws can be eliminated by the designer simply “walking through” the plan on paper and understanding the day-to-day use of a room along with the desires communicated by the client about how they plan to furnish or use a specific room.

2.)   Locations and sizes of windows: While it may let in a lot of light and create a feeling of drama in a bathroom, designing an 8’ wide by 5’ tall window in front of a garden tub may create a little too “intimate” relationship with the neighbors. Most clients will tell you they love “lots of windows” but there can be a bit too much “view” in some cases. Also, designing windows that are difficult to operate is a common flaw that is seen in many homes. A bay window at a Kitchen sink can create a nice, panoramic view of the back yard but, if the window crank is several feet away from the front of the sink, it can be very cumbersome to open the window when the client wants a little fresh air or to ventilate the Kitchen. The bottom line is that a balance has to be struck in the design between natural light/ventilation and the need for drama.

3.)   Powder Rooms (i.e. half baths): Many clients complain about the ridiculously small size of their Powder Room but one more common complaint is the fact that, often times, the toilet is visible from an entertaining or food preparation space. Another problem with centrally located Powder Rooms is privacy and noise once inside the bath. When guests come to visit, it can be a poor first impression when they ask to use the restroom and are directed to a tight, poorly functioning half bath with little or no privacy from the adjacent rooms. In modern designs, the rule of thumb should be that a toilet is never visible from a hallway or common space in the home. Sometimes, simply considering the swing of the door into the Powder Room is enough to hide the toilet and help with maneuverability once inside. In many cases, the door swing alone is not enough. Another solution is to incorporate a half wall to tuck the toilet behind. The issue of privacy is another matter. In many older homes, doors have been cut down or flooring has been changed so many times that there is a large gap at the bottom of the bathroom door. In addition to the installation of a properly sized door, the use of sound-deadening insulation can help create a much more private half bath.

4.)   Centering design elements on walls: It’s seems very easy to consider that everyone has a symmetrical brain and wants to see things centered in rooms. It also can be a bit self-serving for a designer to think that the only element a client will ever want as a focal point in a room is an element the designer placed there (i.e. a fireplace, a window, a niche). The client has to be able to understand how they will use a room and be able to convey that to the designer so that, for example, the beautiful fireplace they wanted isn’t right where the TV will eventually need to be. I’ve walked into hundreds of bedrooms where the designer placed the window on the outside wall right where the bed should go. Simple communication is the key- if the client is one of the very few people who will use the fireplace more than their TV, it might be worth considering centering it rather an alternative like a corner fireplace design.

While it’s easy to pick designs apart after the fact it is difficult to know all the parameters and decisions that went into a particular design element that we may look at with our head slightly askew today. In many older homes, things like laundry facilities in the Kitchen; “popcorn” ceilings; narrow doorways and 7’ high ceilings were accepted norms that were phased out as modern homebuyers demanded more. But, design flaws are typically the result of poor communication between the designer and the client. At Foster Remodeling Solutions, we strive to understand how a client desires to use a space and the things the client will be putting in those spaces. Through our multi-step design phase, options are discussed and presented to help eliminate a client ever asking “what were they thinking?”.

Home renovation looks so easy on TV.   A complete kitchen or bath remodel move quickly and smoothly from start to finish, and the results are always beautiful. But somewhere between “before” and “after” there are always at least a few speed humps and lots of “I wish I had known that’s.  Budgets skyrocket, tempers flare, deadlines are pushed back, everything in a sense ‘comes crashing down’.  This is what happens when you do not have a sound and proven process in place.

Who doesn’t love to watch home repair shows and do-it-yourself projects?  They give you endless ideas on how to ‘jazz’ up any room or take a sub-par room and make it grand.  And to make it even better, they do it in 2 days!  Can you imagine who wouldn’t want to redesign a room or their whole home if it only took a weekend or a week?  Sound familiar?  Let’s debug some of these reality shows and understand exactly what is going on….

Cost:

Take a simple room re-design show, we have 2 days and a $2500 budget.  BY the end of the weekend we don’t recognize the room, it is painted beautifully, furniture built or purchased (usually from a 2^nd hand store and then refinished), artwork and window treatments purchased and hung.  Now I hate to be a picker but let’s pick this apart.  Unless you have 10 men ready to invest their time in your project for free this just isn’t a reality.  Hiring a painter costs money and time.  One coat is doable in a day, but what about 3?  How many days and men will it take to paint your room to perfection?  You need shoppers, refinishers, painters, builders and someone to put it all together.  Does anyone sleep on this show?  Is everything donated to get their brand name out there?

What about the shows that not only build a new home but also have time to tear it down in a week?  Endless dumpsters, machines and trucks are needed for this.  What about building permits or Electrical or Plumbing Permits?  Those are never mentioned.  How about home inspections and approvals along the way?  Has anyone ever gone to the town zoning board and spoken to a planner?  What about asbestos and lead paint?  But who wants those on a show, booooring.  Have you ever notice most of the homes ‘constructed in a week’ are modular and we never get zoom ins or details views of the final project (roofing, cabinet, painting or tile)?

I am not saying that a handy person could not lay their own tile or wood floor, design their own backsplash and set it, or pick their own paint colors and paint.  In fact, to save on money those are great ideas.  Time wise, you will take longer than the pros – I mean they do this for a living you know.

The reality of reality TV shows it that they are great for DIY simple projects.  They help awaken the creative juices.  Heck, if you want to do a remodeling job, they provide great starting ideas for materials, color schemes, themes and fixture types.  But what they don’t show you is what is underneath the walls you want to change.

Under every painting/poster/wall covering is paint, under every painted wall is drywall, under every drywall is framing and what is inside the framing is your best guess and mine… until that is we take a peek inside.  Water damage, termite damage, missing insulation, missing water/vapor barriers, missing structure and lead paint are just a few of the things on and in your walls that could cause potential renovation problems and cost you more money – but that is the reality and the reality is not pretty for TV.

If you are desperately seeking a design show you can tune in to and see the reality of the remodel, renovation and addition industry tune in to Holmes on Homes.  No he is not paying us to write this.  Plain and simple the disasters and realities he faces on each show are very realistic.  I had to take this excerpt from his show description because I just loved it:

“It’s “buyer beware” when a homeowner contracts a home repair or renovation. The world is full of shady contractors who take shortcuts, use shoddy building practices or employ a band-aid approach to repair work, often leaving homeowners in dangerous situations or out a ton of money. Renovation expert Mike Holmes believes in doing a job right the first time and is making it his mission to expose poor, substandard workmanship in the building industry with his internationally successful show Holmes on Homes. In each episode, Mike rescues homeowners from repair and renovation disasters. Uncovering problems from plumbing and electrical to carpentry and roofing, he shows how the botched job should have been completed, fixing each project properly and helping homeowners make more informed decisions in the future.”

Foster Remodeling can show you before and after pictures and give you endless ideas and options, but if you walk in with the mindset that reality is what you see on TV, your project will never be completed.  With our process we can ensure you the ease you see on TV can be your reality, it just won’t take 2 days and $2500 to get there.  There is a showroom at our office as well, which means you can come ‘shop’ for your favorite materials, cabinets and stone – all just by signing a design agreement.  There is a licensed interior design at your fingertips too.  You can get the remodel of your dreams just by ‘signing on the dotted line’.

We have 27 years of proven experience and over 100 references for you to call.  Those 100 are individual customers and 28 of those customers have come back for more than one project.  Is there anywhere else that gives you that many people to call?  Looks like everyone can do their homework before we begin a project – we do preliminary budgets and designs while you make calls to ensure your comfort and that we are exactly who we claim to be.  All employees are background checked and drug tested, which means the lead assigned to your job that will be in your home managing the project from 2weeks-4 months is a trustworthy individual and you can be comfortable.  We give you a set start date and end date- yes there is a light at the end of the ‘construction’ tunnel.  And to top it off, we give you a 5 year written warranty on all of our workmanship!

Most people say “It was easier than I thought it would be” – now isn’t that music to your ears?  Have you ever heard that phrase on reality TV?

article by Jessica Henderson – Design Consultant

If it embarrasses or annoys you, now is the time to consider remodeling. Consult with Foster Remodeling, a leading design build contractor to help you find the products you want and need for this plan. Think about what you wish you had, what really needs to be changed and what features you already have that you cannot live without. Some things to consider are color, material, features and budget.

Color

Color schemes in custom remodeling projects do not only cover fixtures, but coordination with walls, floors and ceilings. Paint is easy to match to fixture colors. Wallpaper is another option. Try coordinating or contrasting basic colors with neutral or softer tones. Consider the color of towels and accessories that will be used in the bathroom. See what color towel sets are available in your favorite department store. Finding the right shade of aqua or burgundy can be frustrating. By using neutrals in your color scheme, white, beige or pastels it will be easier to match your new décor.

Material

Gone are the days when all floors are made of tile and all bathtubs are made of porcelain. Modern materials are more durable, easier to clean and do not have moisture problems. Options include stone, ceramic or vinyl flooring. Special grout is now available to prevent cracking and popping with everyday use. Bathtubs and showers come in a variety of materials as well. The popularity of acrylic is increasing, since it is not cold to the touch when you step in and it keeps bathwater hot longer. The material is light and works well in an upstairs bathroom area. Heavier materials, such as cast iron or stone, are more appropriate for downstairs bathrooms.

Features

Choosing between a shower or bathtub can be a difficult decision, often depending on your personal preference and on how much room you have. Remodeling your bathroom should create a place a comfort and privacy. Add whirlpools, heat lamps, fans, dressing tables and accessories to create a place of luxury and comfort. Proper lighting in a bathroom is essential in a remodeling project. Use more than one light source to enhance the room. Utility is important, as well. When using the area to apply cosmetics or shave, you need to be able to see what you are doing.

Budget

While some features may cost more than others, making changes all at once while doing interior remodeling can be more cost effective than making additional changes later. Prices vary greatly on fixtures and faucets. Select those that match the style and mood of the pieces in the bathroom. High quality materials require elegant faucets. They do not have to be expensive to look nice, but better quality plumbing products last longer. Foster Remodeling Solutions uses only the finest quality fixtures from the top brands so that our work will last a long time.

Foster Remodeling Solutions has been doing Northern Virginia bathroom remodeling for more than 25 years and knows the ins and outs of getting the job done right the first time. We can help you choose the right features and materials to suit your budget, your style and your needs.