Spring is here!  That means baseball games, flowers blooming and… spring cleaning?  Yes, with longer daylight hours and open windows, we all start seeing (and feeling) the dust that has accumulated over the past winter months.  Spring is the time for replenishing, repairing, and revamping, so why not some remodeling?  Whether it’s just painting a room or finishing an entire basement, Foster Remodeling Solutions wants to refresh your home.

The Little Things

Having a hard time getting the grout clean in your bathroom or kitchen?  Let our handyman come and re-grout and re-caulk your space for a fresh new look.  Replacing the light fixtures and light bulbs (fluorescent of course) can restore the ambiance to any room in your home.  With just a little paint, all your walls, trim, and moldings will look like new.  Adding crown molding or a chair rail will rekindle the love you once had for your home.

Get Outside

Bring the outdoors in by cleaning or replacing your windows, doors and screens.  This will also help keep the cool air inside during the hot summer months while replenishing your bank account.  Decks and patios are great for outdoor entertaining.  This spring, make sure yours is up to code and repair any damages.  No deck?  Foster Remodeling Solutions can build one for you to relax and recharge at after a long day at work.

Organize

Spring cleaning is not only about dusting and disinfecting, it’s also about getting organized.    Make your life simpler with custom cabinets.  Everything in your kitchen, bath, or closet will have a place making things easier to find and keeping clutter off the floor.

Go Green

Clean your newly remodeled home with natural and non-toxic products keeping your family and home healthy.

Enjoy

Want other ideas to help you rejuvenate your home and lifestyle?  Contact us for a free initial consultation.  Let Foster Remodeling Solutions do the repairing and the renovating while you enjoy your life!

written by: Carin Demmon, Design Consultant

Ask our design team at Foster Remodeling about energy efficient appliances. We can help you discover what they are and choose a model and style that’s right for you. For example, if you’re doing a Northern Virginia bathroom remodeling project, you can use a low-flush toilet and a shower head that uses less water. A new tankless hot water heater will save money on the utility bill every month. It not only uses less water, but it takes less energy to heat up the water that is used.

In the kitchen, the modern electric ranges preheat much faster rates than in the past, using less energy. They cool down much faster, too, preventing a warm kitchen in the summer from becoming oppressive. Something as simple as adding a programmable thermostat to the central heating or a/c unit will save a lot of money on power bills.

Green materials are another way to be environmentally responsible and upgrade your home at the same time. Many products are made from recycled or biodegradable materials. We can help you choose those that are more environmentally-friendly if you prefer. If you are using new vinyl replacement windows, you will find cheaper energy bills to go along with the beautiful new look. Skylights are another way to bring natural light into the home while conserving on energy. If you are looking for outdoor walkway lighting, consider solar lights instead of electric ones.

If you are interested in making some eco-friendly changes when you do your Northern Virginia home remodeling project, be sure to let us know. We can give you some ideas of what’s available or help you find the best or most affordable eco-friendly products when you already know what you want.

Green 101

With all that’s been in the news lately about “green” and “environmental and energy efficient” building how can you keep it all straight? We know here at Foster Remodeling Solutions how important these issues can be for our clients so we wanted to provide you some definitions of terminology so you can know exactly what you are getting and what all this new information means.

Below are some of the terms frequently used and what they mean to you:

• Green: This term is thrown around a lot these days, and many people have different definitions of what this means, all in all at Foster Remodeling Solutions our opinion is a green product should be one that should be more environmentally or energy conscious. Many products use this word as a marketing tool without actively fulfilling that consciousness so make sure to ask what makes the product green and how is it more efficient or environmentally safe.

• VOCs: This is an abbreviation for Volatile Organic Compounds. Basically VOCs are vaporous chemicals that can offgas (see definition below) and provide harmful fumes. These are typically found in paints, stains, glues, or sealants. Many manufacturers now offer paint lines with low-VOC content though check and see because sometimes colors may be limited.

• Off-Gassing: The slow release of gas from a product or material, affects the quality of air in the space where product is located, which can be particularly harmful in kitchens.

• FSC: Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit, non-government rating agency. You will often see “FSC Rated” on wood products, this means that there has been a “Chain of Custody” from when the wood what planted, farmed, cut, and transported to your site. They actively promote responsible forest management; rapidly renewable (see definitely below) woods and try to avoid rare or endangered species, as well as replanting techniques for farms. At Foster Remodeling Solutions we have access to both cabinetry and molding companies that can provide FSC certification for products in your remodeling project.

• Rapidly Renewable Materials: Materials harvested from fast growing sources, those that go from seed to full grown in less than 10 years, bamboo is a great example which can be used as flooring or for cabinets.

• Greywater: is non-industrial wastewater generated from domestic processes such as dish washing, laundry and bathing, this water can be reused for grass watering and other non-consumable uses in your remodel.

• EnergyStar Ratings: A government backed program that rates household products under strict guidelines set by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to protect the environment and promote energy efficient products and practices while saving consumers on lower energy bills.

• Compact Fluorescent: An energy efficient light bulb which uses 20-40% less energy than a standard incandescent light bulb, with many green products these were very costly a few years ago, but with more and more demand and manufacturers prices have come down significantly.

• Low Flow: Plumbing fixtures including faucets, toilets and shower heads that use less water than standard plumbing fixtures, generally without compromising on performance, obviously some manufacturers have been more successful than others on the performance, but these are generally a great way to become more efficient and save money. Also, considering water heaters typically use about 25% of a home’s energy, this is a great way to easily save money in the long term by investing in higher quality products during your kitchen or bathroom remodel. Certain areas of the country have low-flow requirements already in place.

• LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, this is a third party certification designed by the USGBC (see below) which has rating systems for Homes, Commercial Interiors, Core & Shell, New Construction, Schools, Healthcare, Retail and a pilot program for Neighborhood Development. Projects can become LEED Certified (at different levels) by gaining a certain amount of points (dependent on which system used) filing with the USGBC and having a LEED Accredited Professional work on their project.

• USGBC: United States Green Building Council, a non-profit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for the nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. www.usgbc.com