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Recent Blog Posts
What Are the Advantages of Installing Windows in My Garage?
A garage often acts as a multi-purpose structure for many homeowners. Not only is it a safe place to house your vehicles, but you can use it to store gardening tools, bicycles, motorcycles, holiday decorations, or your children's outdoor toys. Your garage also impacts your curb appeal when someone comes knocking, as it may be the first section of your home that visitors or passersby see from the street. An easy way to enhance the look of your garage overall is to add windows. Although many garages may already have a window or two on the side or back of the building, additional windows can be added in these areas or above the garage door. Windows are visually appealing, and they can provide more natural light if you use your garage for other purposes, such as a workshop or for game night with friends or neighbors. Any kind of window also makes the space feel bigger and brighter.
Choosing a Window Type
One of the main reasons that you might consider adding garage windows is their aesthetic appeal. If you are renovating your home, windows can give the garage a fresh new look. A recent and popular trend is decorative windows that match the windows on your home. For example, grids may divide the windows into smaller panes.
What Is the Best Type of Roofing Material for My Garage?
Similar to your house, a garage is a structure that should be built to last and provide adequate protection for your vehicles, tools, bicycles, motorcycle, or anything else you wish to keep in it. Garages may be constructed of a combination of wood, siding, and brick, and they usually have a concrete floor. Although you may not have put much thought into your garage's roof, it is essential to make sure it is made with durable materials to endure the elements that Mother Nature may throw its way. At Blue Sky Builders, Inc., we can help you explore your options for choosing roofing material when remodeling or constructing a new garage.
Considering Wear and Tear
The Chicagoland area is known for its extreme weather throughout the seasons. A roof on any building must be able to withstand rain, snow, sleet, hail, heat, humidity, and sub-zero temperatures. Many people store their prized possessions in their garages, such as antique cars, expensive tools, and high-end lawn mowers or tractors. That is why it is so important to carefully consider the garage's construction, including what the roof is made of. Nobody wants the roof collapsing or caving in after accumulation of heavy snow after a blizzard. Roofing material needs to be strong enough to take a beating.
Common (and Not-so-Common) Garage Invaders in Illinois
With the seasons changing and the weather proving to be persistent in its unpredictable shifting over the last several months, the likelihood of unwelcome visitors in your garage increases. It is important to know the types of creatures to be on the lookout for. This will not just prevent them from invading your garage now, but it will also help you determine whether a custom garage or garage remodeling project can help ensure that those uninvited guests do not make themselves at home in your garage.
Squirrels, and Termites, and Mice, Oh My!
A wide variety of pests, rodents, and other unsavory creatures can take up residence in your garage without you even realizing it, especially when the weather changes drastically. It is bad enough that many of them could do damage to your garage and what is in your garage, including your car. For example, rats and mice have been known to congregate under the hood of a parked car near the motor to help them stay warm in the winter. Some animals may even get more adventurous and brazen, attempting to break the barriers between your garage and home. Before long, you will have flies buzzing around your head in your kitchen or mice hiding under floorboards in your living room.
What Are the Benefits of Adding a Second Floor to My Garage?
A garage is an important part of your home. Although you may not put much thought into it when you purchase your dream house, it really is a vital component that is typically used on a daily basis. Whether you plan to use it as a safe place to put your vehicles or for storing other important items, you might want to consider the size of your garage. In many cases, a three-car garage is used to store two automobiles, and the third section is for storage. However, as families grow and accumulate things, you can quickly run out of room even with a large garage. If you are short on land space, the best option might be to build up on your garage rather than out. Putting on an addition such as a second floor to your garage can seem daunting, but the garage specialists at Blue Sky Builders, Inc. can help you with this wise investment.
Multi-Purpose Space
Regardless of whether you have an attached or detached garage, it may be possible to add on to it by building a second story. With so many people working from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, another level in your garage can make the perfect home office if you do not already have one. Since it is connected to the garage, it is separated from the house, which ensures privacy. Adding windows allows for natural light in while you work, keeping it bright and airy compared to working in a dark and dingy basement.
How Worried Should I Be About Someone Breaking into My Garage?
This summer, home burglaries and car robberies are on the rise in the Western suburbs. While many of these thefts are the result of homeowners and car owners simply being negligent or careless, leaving doors unlocked or keys in doors, there are some instances when the instigators are actually quite clever. Here are some ways these thieves might try to use your electric garage door opener and its related equipment to gain entry to your garage.
4 Common Types of Garage Break-ins to Safeguard Against
Even if you are cautious about locking up, there are still ways criminals can break into your garage these days. Some of the more increasingly common ways that burglars are breaking into garages include:
- Gaining Access to the Emergency Release Rope-With enough dexterity and ingenuity, a burglar can use a hanger or some other tool to reach over your garage and get access to the emergency release rope. From there, a simple yank will make that door easy to open. To prevent this, consider repositioning or removing the release rope so that it is out of reach.
Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Make Your Garage a Playroom
When it comes to being a parent, the last thing you want to do is spoil your children. You want them to learn important life skills and build their character by allowing them to face forms of adversity. However, during these times, your parenting values may have shifted. While remodeling your garage or building a custom garage solely to accommodate your children's playroom might seem like an unnecessary or frivolous pursuit, the truth is that you might be surprised at how useful such an upgrade can be during these unprecedented times.
3 Reasons to Convert Your Garage into a Playroom
Here are some productive ways a garage playroom can actually help your children's development, and your family's overall functioning, during this time and into the future:
- Avoiding Distractions: With the public health crisis far from over and the possibility of virtual schooling again in the fall, figuring out ways to keep your children occupied is critical. In fact, many employers are still encouraging work-from-home policies to ensure the health and safety of their employees as their businesses re-open. As many parents have learned over the last several months, working at home while fending off your children's boredom - and potentially disruptive behavior - is no easy task. Giving them a place of their own to play will keep them secluded and busy when you have that important video conference or telephone call for work.
Garage Door Problems? It Might Be Time to Spring into Action
One of the most important parts of a garage door opener are the garage springs. These critical components of a garage door opener not only keep your garage door opening and functioning smoothly, but they also maintain overall safety in your garage. That is why you should pay close attention to the condition of your garage springs and call in a professional if you need garage spring replacements or other garage hardware replacements. Here are some facts about garage springs and the risks posed by not having a professional evaluate and, if necessary, replace them.
What Are Garage Springs?
Garage springs are central to the overall functioning of your garage door opener. These springs provide the necessary force and resistance to withstand the pull of gravity when your door opens and closes. If garage springs are not working properly, the electric opener might struggle to lift and lower the garage door. Essentially, functioning garage springs can make the weight of a 100- to 200-pound garage door feel more like 10 to 20 pounds, which is how both you and your garage door opener are able to open and close such a heavy object.
What to Do If You Suspect Your Garage Roof Needs Some Work
Many homeowners look at their garages and think primarily of their internal features: the garage door, the entry doors, the inside space, and the overall design. But roofing and siding are just as important to garages as they are to the rest of the house. If you are considering remodeling, replacing, or taking a look at the current condition of your garage, consider taking the following steps to assess the condition of your garage's roof first.
4 Steps to Determine the Condition of Your Garage Roof
Whether you are replacing your current garage with a custom garage or just upgrading what you have, an evaluation of your current garage's roof is important. Here are steps in the evaluation process that can paint a better picture of your garage's overall condition:
1. Review documentation-Find all receipts and other paperwork regarding the roofing on your home and your garage. From this data, you will be able to sketch out a full history of your roofing. This will enable you to determine with more certainty how old your garage roof is. You may be able to go up to 25 years with the same roof, but after that, the wear and tear of the weather outside will take its toll.
2. Take a snapshot-Look at your garage roof from the outside as a whole, as part of your house. This at-a-glance, big-picture view will give you perspective on major structural issues. Is it drooping, sagging, discolored, or misshapen in any way? This might indicate detrimental damage that could lead to leaks or, worse yet, major safety issues with its structure.
3. Inspect, inspect, inspect-Start investigating the inside of your garage. See if there are any leaks from the ceiling. Also pay attention to natural light coming in from above or the corners of the garage. This will help you know whether leaks are a major issue, or will be a major issue, for your garage roof. After that, evaluate the exterior of the roof itself up close. Are there any cracks or other damages? Do you see any rot? Are there any green spots? If you see any green that signifies moss, mold, fungi, or other plant-life, your roof is likely retaining moisture which will adversely affect its condition.
Why Steel Garage Entry Doors Are a Good Choice For Your Home
While you may put a lot of thought into the aesthetics and security features of the front door of your home, you could be neglecting the safety of the internal and external entry doors into your garage. These may not seem as important to you, but the types of doors you choose for your garage can have a significant impact on all sorts of things, from safety to energy usage. The door that we recommend for all homebuilders or fixer-uppers is a steel entry door.
4 Benefits of Steel Garage Entry Doors
There are many benefits to installing steel entry doors in your garage, including the following:
- Security-It is much more difficult to break through metal than it is to break through wood or fiberglass. This is especially true for those who have a high-quality, powerful set of keyed dual locks installed with the doors. With or without the additional safety precautions, the strength of the material of these doors typically keeps intruders at bay.
5 Basic Steps for Building Your Dream Garage
If you have been thinking recently about all the ways you could improve your garage, be it to make the entire garage more livable due to additional time being spent at home, to convert the garage into a more unconventional living space, to increase the size of the garage for more storage space, or to simply make the garage more aesthetically appealing, then you are going to want to know what it takes to make your dream garage into a reality and build that custom garage. Below are important details about each step in the process.
Customizing Your Garage to Fit Your Needs
A lot of work goes into custom garage building, but in general, the following five steps are particularly crucial to make the most of it:
- Dreaming and Planning-You will be the one dreaming about the perfect new custom garage. You will consider its size, its functions, its appearance, and so much more. Then, once you have your "dream garage" in mind, you can work with a custom garage builder to begin planning how to make that dream into a reality. This might include determining functions (what the garage will be used for, what the garage needs to have in order to achieve its primary functions), design features (size, aesthetics, paint, number of windows and doors), and construction materials (flooring, walls, roofing, garage door)
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