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What Home Buyers Want for Garages in 2019
Thinking about possible home improvements in 2019? Want to make sure those home and garage improvements are going to make your home appeal to future buyers? According to the National Association of Home Builders, these are some of the top features currently desired by home buyers:
- 92% want a convenient, roomy laundry room.
- 92% want exterior lighting.
- 90% want energy efficiency to control HVAC and electricity costs.
- 86% want good garage storage space.
If you are planning to do some work on your garage in the coming year, you should consider the following:
Garage storage. A well-designed storage system in the garage can boost your home value for several reasons. First, today's home buyers are mostly Millennials, who prefer a streamlined look in their homes without a lot of clutter. Second, the garage is usually much more conveniently accessible than an attic or basement. Third, particularly in suburban homes, homeowners are more likely to enter their home through the garage than through the front door on a daily basis, so they want this space to feel welcoming.
3 Solutions for Mud, Slush, and Snow on Your Garage Floor
Ah, the joys of winter in northern Illinois! The garage floor is filthy, but it is too freezing cold to hose it down. Even worse, slippery spots can form on the floor, posing a risk of a slip-and-fall. The last thing you need during a Chicago winter is to be hobbling around on crutches. So what can you do? Here are three recommended hacks for keeping that garage floor a little cleaner and safer:
Solution 1: Coal Shovel and Squeegee
Like most household maintenance chores, having the right tools can make all the difference. If you have been trying to use a push broom or snow shovel for winter floor cleaning, you have learned that those are not the best-suited tools for the job. Debris runs off the sides of a snow shovel, and a push broom is not ideal for muddy, slushy conditions. The solution is a coal shovel, which has sides to keep the debris in the shovel until you're ready to dump it outside. Other people swear by a heavy-duty push squeegee for pushing water out the door.
Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal With a New Garage Door
When some part of your home, like a garage door, needs to be replaced, you should not just automatically buy the cheapest option or an exact replacement for the one that broke. Your home may well be the most valuable asset you have. When the time eventually comes to sell it, you will want to get the best possible price for it. This means that you cannot wait until you are ready to put the house on the market to think about maximizing its value to potential buyers. Rather, protecting the value of your home has to be an ongoing practice, like changing the oil in your car and buying new tires when the old ones wear out.
At a minimum, any major part of the home that breaks, like a garage door or furnace, needs to be repaired or replaced. However, that alone is not enough to maintain the value of your home. You also need to update your home's look and functionality, both interior and exterior, to keep up with changing lifestyles and tastes, at least to the extent that your budget allows.
Garage Maintenance for Above-Freezing December Days
The Chicago area often gets a few days with 35- to 40-degree temperatures in December, giving homeowners a last chance to complete some lingering outdoor maintenance chores. Here are a few suggestions for garage maintenance on one of those days:
Clean the Garage Gutters
The Chicago suburbs had an unusual fall in 2018. We went from leaves on the trees to leaves on the ground to snow on the ground in a matter of days. If you did not have the chance to get your gutters cleaned out earlier, now is the time to do it. Leaves which are just lightly frozen together should clean out fairly easily.
If the gutters get clogged up with masses of frozen leaves, water will not be able to drain off the roof the way it should. Remember that winter in northern Illinois usually involves a series of freezes and thaws, so your gutters need to be capable of draining off water all year long. Clogged gutters can lead to water damage affecting your roof, walls, and foundation, both inside and out. If water gets into areas of your home and garage that are not intended to be waterproof, such as wooden door frames and drywall, you can end up with rot and mold.
Holiday Decorating Themes for Your Home and Garage
If your home's front door and garage both face the street, your holiday decorating plan will be greatly enhanced if you decorate around your garage and driveway, as well as around your front door and walkway. You certainly have no shortage of options to fill up your outdoor space. As you have surely seen in home improvement stores, today's outdoor holiday decorating options go way beyond the traditional strings of lights and plastic Santas.
Some innovative outdoor decorating items you might want to consider this year include:
- Oversized ornaments or snowflakes you can hang or place around the yard.
- Pre-lit faux birch trees in a range of sizes, creating temporary landscaping in a yard that lacks mature trees.
- Light projectors that project an image of falling snow across the entire front of your home and garage, or even a picture of your family Christmas card photo. Image projections are an easy way to dress up a plain, light-colored garage door.
Holiday Home and Garage Decorating With New LED Lights
As soon as the first holiday lights and wreaths appear on houses, businesses, and lampposts around town, you know it is Christmastime. To help create that holly, jolly spirit around your house and garage this season, here are some tips for using the latest in LED lighting:
String New and Improved LED Lights on Your Garage
When LED light strings first became available, they had an awful blue-white color and sometimes appeared as if they were vibrating. They were painful to look at. Thankfully, you can now buy LED lights labeled "warm white" that look much like a traditional incandescent white bulb. Even LED lights labeled "pure white" are a great improvement over the old, cold, blue-white bulbs. If you prefer colored lights, LED reds, greens, and blues look deep and rich the way you want them to.
Whatever color you buy, LED lights will still be nearly twice as efficient as incandescent lights, so they cost less to operate than the lights you used a decade or two ago. LED lights are also safer, because they provide light with no heat. In contrast, 90% of the energy output of incandescent bulbs is in the form of heat.
Tips to Make Your Garage More Functional Year-Round
With the holidays upon us, you may have a lot of company entering your house through the garage and would like to make the space look a little nicer. You may also find yourself wishing you had a better storage system in your garage as you struggle past the lawn care equipment and patio furniture that had to come indoors for the winter, just when you need to get out the holiday decorations and those folding tables and chairs you need to seat everyone for a big family dinner.
Why not start planning for a new custom garage or some well-deserved garage improvements in 2019?
Finished Walls
If your garage is currently uninsulated with an unfinished interior, finishing the interior walls is a great place to start. This is one of the best ways to make the space more attractive and more functional at the same time.
In place of bare studs and siding, a layer of insulation and drywall will help maintain a steadier temperature in the garage year-round, making it more comfortable to work in and creating better conditions for long-term storage. The drywall can also make the space feel brighter, even if you do not paint it.
New Garage Door Openers Make Life Easier and More Secure
If you think the only way to open your garage door is to manually press buttons mounted on a garage wall or on a remote clipped to your car visor, think again. Even the exterior keypad with a 4-digit security code, which was once the height of convenience, has become outmoded. Check out the latest features in "smart" electric garage door openers:
No More Losing the Garage Door Remote
The latest openers from manufacturers like Liftmaster (Blue Sky Builders, Inc.' preferred brand) have built-in Wi-Fi. You can easily and securely connect your garage door opener to your home Wi-Fi network, allowing you to control the door from your smartphone with a simple app.
For those who still want an old-school remote, never fear: you can still get those for your smart door opener. Some brands offer a keyfob-style opener, which is a nice alternative to the visor-clip style.
In many urban areas, a growing number of people have garages but do not own cars, preferring car-sharing services like Uber. Being able to enter their home through the garage using their smartphone or a keyfob just makes sense.
Sizing Up: How Big Should Your Garage Footprint Be?
"I want our next garage to be smaller," said nobody ever. But when you think about pouring concrete for a new garage, how big should you make the footprint? Here are several things to consider:
Sizing an Illinois Garage for Vehicle Parking
New homes built in the North Central U.S. are much more likely to have three-car garages than in other parts of the U.S. Of all new single-family homes completed in 2017 nationwide, 65% had a two-car garage, and 20% had a three-car garage or larger. In the East North Central region that includes Illinois, 33% of new homes had a three-car or larger garage.
Aside from regional trends and resale value, here are a few other factors to consider when sizing up your parking needs:
Is off-street parking available in your neighborhood, particularly for overnight guests? You may want to make the concrete apron outside your garage wide enough to make room for kids' and guests' cars.
What size vehicles do you drive? Full-size trucks or SUVs will need more room than compact cars.
Are you concerned about aging in place or providing access for a relative? Consider setting aside space for a wheelchair or walker-friendly ramp.
Upgrading Your Garage to an Accessory Dwelling Unit
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a top trend in today's real estate market. What, you may ask, is an accessory dwelling unit? An ADU is a second small residence located on the same lot as a typical single-family home. The ADU category includes over-the-garage apartments, basement apartments, in-law apartments, carriage houses, and tiny houses. ADUs may just seem like a new name for an old concept, but there is definitely something new going on, and an ADU may be a great custom garage solution for your home.
What Are the New Reasons for Building ADUs, Including Above-Garage Apartments?
In today's housing market, generational differences, an aging population, and financial issues are some of the factors behind the growing interest in ADUs. Any or all of these could be reasons for you to consider adding a second residence to your existing property.
Boomers Liked Big Houses, While Millennials Are More Minimalist
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