How to Replace or Revamp Your Garage Doors

Hello Friends,

A garage that faces the street (especially a large two- or three-car garage) can take up a lot of visual real estate. If your garage doors are in poor shape, clash with the style of your home or are just uninspired, replacing them can greatly increase your home’s curb appeal. Here are the need-to-know facts about updating your garage doors, covering style, cost and more.

Updating your garage doors can enhance your home’s curb appeal, and in the case of attached garages, make your home more secure.

Best time to do this project: Since it is outdoor work, it is ideal to replace garage doors during warm, dry weather. That said, unless you are painting or installing a more elaborate custom feature (like a pergola), the weather does not matter too much — as long as it’s not freezing and you’re not in the middle of a thunderstorm, your pro should be able to tackle the job in a few hours.

Who to hire: Because of the precision required, installing a new garage door is best left to the pros. A garage door professional will have the most experience and expertise at fitting and installing your garage door.

Permit required? Maybe. Because it is essentially an exterior wall, some cities do require a permit for replacing a garage door and opener. Any reputable pro that you hire should be able to tell you whether or not you will need a permit for the work; if you are still not sure, contact your city or county government agency and ask.

Materials:

• Wood offers the widest range of design options and works well in all climates; it is the most expensive.
• Steel is typically less expensive than wood, but because it can rust, it should be avoided in coastal areas.
• Aluminum costs more than steel but does not rust, making it a good choice for coastal homes.
• Tempered glass in an aluminum or wood frame is well suited to modern and contemporary homes.
• Fiberglass and vinyl are budget-friendly options and will not rust, but design choices may be limited and these materials can crack in cold weather.

Door types: 

•      Sectional: The most common type of garage door; rolls up and down on tracks.
•      Sliding: Barn-style garage doors (as shown here) slide open to the side, requiring a wider garage wall to accommodate the door when open.
•      Swing-out. Double doors that swing outward when open are not a good choice for cold climates, as snow drifts can block the doors from opening.

All of these door types can be made in a manual or automatic, remote-operated version.

Typical project length: If you are purchasing a standard-size garage door and it is in stock, it could be ready as soon as the next day. Custom doors may take a month or two to arrive. Once you have your new door, a pro can have it installed it in a single morning.

Costs: Steel garage doors typically range in price from $300 to $3,000; glass with an aluminum frame costs $1,500 to $3,000; vinyl costs $600 and up; fiberglass costs $1,500 and up. Wood doors are typically the most expensive, $1,000 to $10,000. Installation costs vary by region, but you can expect to pay roughly $100 to $200 to remove and dispose of your old garage door, and another $100 to $500 for a pro to install your new one. A pergola over garage doors can run $5,000 to $8,000 installed.

For a smaller update, new sconces cost $100 and up each, plus installation; new hardware costs from $5 up to $100 or more per piece, depending on the materials used. Painting or staining can be done as a DIY project for only the cost of materials.

Styles and details: It’s best to match your garage door to the style of your home, so seek one out that echoes the architectural features, materials and colors of the rest of your home. For example:

• Pair a traditional home with an arched garage door with paned windows.
• Update your Spanish colonial with a wooden garage door with iron hinges.
• Add a rustic barn-style garage door to your farmhouse.
• Accent a Craftsman home with a wooden garage door with rectilinear windows and trim.
• Match up a modern home with a sleek glass-paned garage door.
• Once you have chosen your new garage doors, consider which accents would best complete the look. Decorative corbels beneath the eaves add character to this garage, pulling in some of the style of the house.
• If your garage roof does not have eaves deep enough to fit corbels, a pergola with arched brackets can create a similar look.
• Sconces and hardware are other finishing touches that can make a big impact. Or, if you do not want to replace your garage doors, simply adding attractive sconces, new hardware and a fresh coat of paint or stain can revive your garage on a budget.

Important safety note: Automatic garage doors include safety features meant to protect kids and pets from becoming trapped under a closing door. Be sure that your garage door’s safety features are working properly by doing these two easy tests regularly:

o    Wave a broom handle under your garage door as it is closing. The door should “see” the broom with the built-in motion sensor and roll back up immediately.

o    Test pressure sensitivity by placing a roll of paper towels under the door before closing. As soon as the door reaches the paper towel roll, the pressure sensors should “feel” it and roll the door back up.

If your door fails either of these tests, call your garage door installer as soon as possible to fix the issue.

First steps: 

•      Browse photos of garage doors to get an idea of the style you want.
•      Ask for recommendations from friends and neighbors, and find garage door pros on Houzz. 
•      Have a pro do the measuring, especially if your garage door is an unusual size that requires custom doors. https://goo.gl/hXFj0D

Thanks so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500

5 Siding Materials That Go Great With Brick

Hello Friends,

We love brick. Who doesn’t? The building material of choice for ages, it is revered for its rich, organic texture, color and visual interest. And it only gets better with time, the color having more depth after baking in the sun for years.

If you’re building or remodeling and brick will be part of your home’s exterior, it’s worth considering how different siding materials can be paired with brick to create different design and textural effects. Here we look at five distinct siding options — horizontal, shingle, board and batten, stucco and metal — that work hand-in-glove with classic brick.

Horizontal Siding 

Horizontal siding comes in many forms, including vinyl sheets, wood planks and fiber cement boards. It offers many design possibilities that can break up the look of dense brick and add visual interest.

1. Go wide and modern. The aesthetic of horizontal dark-stained wood siding skews modern when installed above brick on this remodeled, split-level home. This rich style of siding gives the pictured home a sleek appeal; similar siding can be used to transform a tired exterior into an updated jewel.

2. Choose a precise color match. If you’re going for a completely new look for the exterior, consider color-matching your siding and brick. Here, a Hardie board siding was selected, and the brick was painted to match. The result is a cohesive main color field that gives the white trim and black shutters a chance to stand out.

3. Create a subtle accent. The brick home pictured here uses siding as an accent over the garage, with strips and shakes in the same color. The siding adds a modest decorative element on a home that might look less interesting in solid brick.

4. Coordinate siding with brick. In this photo, the gray color of the siding is pulled from the dark bricks on the chimney and the skirting of the house. If you’re stuck deciding what color of siding to use, this is a good technique to tie them together. Both materials are distinct here and give this home a sophisticated look.

Cedar Shingles

Cedar shingles, or shakes, as they are also known, are versatile in terms of their look and how they can be installed. Whether you use real wood or a composite material, keep them natural, stain them or paint them, they can be used with brick to evoke various architectural styles.

1. Dress up a Craftsman. The shingles here are the cherry on top of this quintessentially Craftsman-style home, with its deep overhang, decorative brackets and columns. The shingles are stained to coordinate nicely with the brick at the skirting and base of the columns.

2. Be dramatic and modern. Dark colors are striking when used as the predominant color on an exterior. Here, the deep color of this shingle siding is a bold contrast to the brick and works with the black doors on this home’s modern style.

3. Accent in English cottage style. The cedar shingles on this house are kept natural, working as a perfect accent to the red brick. Along with the steep pitch of the roofline, dark trim and window box, these elements all cooperate to recall English cottage style.

4. Go beachy. Nothing completes a Cape Cod-style house — especially a brick one, as in this photo — like cedar shingles. This type of siding, originally used on this style of home on the East Coast, was intended to withstand a harsh Atlantic weather beating, requiring little care. If you have a brick-clad Cape Cod, the cedar shingles are a design detail you may not want to leave out.

Board and Batten

This classic siding installation is characterized by wide, vertical wooden boards joined together with a strip of wood or “batten” covering the seam. When paired with brick, each element has enough of its own distinct visual appeal that they both shine.

1. Paint it out. In this photo, the board and batten and the brick are painted to match each other, as well as the trim and doors. This works to allow for one popping accent color on the shutters. Color matching the elements also allows the natural lines of the vertical boards to create a subtle textural contrast with the lines of the brick.

2. Keep the eye rising. The vertical installation of board and batten siding draws the eye upward and gives this single-story brick home the illusion of some extra height. The gray color is a popular pairing with red brick. Here’s another color-choosing trick for siding: Look to your brick’s mortar for the shade that works best with your house.

Stucco

Another versatile material that can work well with many different architectural styles, stucco cooperates naturally with brick. Why? Their respective textures play off each other so well. The relative flatness of the stucco can work beautifully as a canvas for brick’s coarse nature and make it really stand out.

1. Layer the texture. This photo is a great example of how stucco can work as expected with brick on a very classic and traditional Tudor-style house. It also reveals the dense texture of the stucco. This material is available in finishes ranging from smooth to coarse, and layering a rougher stucco with brick’s natural surface can be an appealing look.

2. Use brick as the accent. Here, stucco is the dominant field of the home’s exterior, and the brick is the anchor, providing visual interest and weight. Using the brick as an accent to the stucco is a great option in some parts of the country where brick is not as plentiful or if budget is a concern, as brick is the more expensive material of the two.

Metal Siding

Perhaps not as ubiquitous as the other siding options, metal is a great choice for your brick house if you’re looking for something provocative and unexpected. It’s also versatile and available in many forms, and it can be installed vertically, horizontally or diagonally, depending on the look you’re after. 

1. Use it as part of a design recipe. As the French mirepoix mix of celery, carrot and onion is the foundation of many culinary dishes, so the combination of metal, brick and wood often is the basis of modern architectural design. In this photo, the metal works in conjunction with the other materials to create a delightful harmony of elements, each with its own visual interest.

2. Create tension. On this house the dark of the metal is the perfect material to play off the warmth of the red brick, providing a smart design tension between the modern and the traditional. The metal siding on this brick house is used to clad only the bump-out addition, pulling its black color from the darker bricks.

3. Downplay brick’s red tone. The original brick on this home is painted dark and recedes to the background when paired with corrugated metal siding after this home’s modern renovation. https://goo.gl/vIMf1F

Thank you so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500

8 Things to Learn From a Open House

Hello Friends,

When we were in the process of selling our home, I was surprised to learn from my real estate agent that open houses are not typically thought to be effective in selling a house. “They’re just for the neighbors” is the going logic. But there are plenty of reasons to attend open houses, whether or not you are looking to buy. Here are eight reasons to check out those weekend open houses near you.

1. Get to know your local housing market before you sell. This is something I wish we had done. Simply attending a few open houses in your neighborhood can give you an education about the housing market in your area beyond what your real estate agent can tell you. The prices of comparable homes, features that are popular and attendance levels at open houses can be valuable data to gather before you put your home on the market.

2. Get ideas for staging. Whether you are looking for a professional to help you stage your home or want to do it yourself, attending open houses is a great way to pick up ideas. Notice wall colors, furniture arrangements, styles and accessories, and use this information as a jumping-off point for your own staging process.

3. Gather design inspiration. On the other hand, if you’ve recently purchased a home and are looking for decorating and remodeling ideas, local open houses can show you what other homeowners have done. It’s especially helpful to look at homes that have floor plans similar to yours.

4. Get comfortable in a home you are considering buying. If you’ve been seriously looking to buy for a while, and you have narrowed your prospects down to a few favorite homes, attending the open house can be a nice way to explore the home further and hear what other open house attendees are saying.

5. Get referrals for pros. If you live in the neighborhood and are looking for a good contractor, designer or other professional, scoping out open houses can be a good way to view that pro’s work firsthand. Most agents have established relationships with pros they know and trust, and are happy to share recommendations. But if you are there without any intention of buying, don’t take up the agent’s time during a busy open house. Wait for a slow stretch and be honest and upfront about what you are looking for.

6. Be a fly on the wall. If you’re thinking of selling your home soon, having some idea of what buyers are looking for in your neighborhood can be incredibly helpful. There’s no need to pretend that you’re a potential buyer while attending open houses. Most agents realize that neighbors like to attend open houses, and it’s best to be honest (or at least quiet) and not waste an agent’s time with pretense.

7. Meet your future agent. Seeing an agent in action is a great way to get a feel for his or her style and consider whether you would work well together. We met our buyer’s agent at an open house she was working. We didn’t really mesh with the house (and weren’t quite ready to buy), but we were impressed with the agent, so when it was time to get serious about house shopping, we looked her up.

8. Think of it as a practice run. We’ve all heard stories of the “love at first sight” home purchase. But if you’re buying a house for the first time, it can be a good idea to get in a few practice runs before you begin your search in earnest. Once you’ve viewed 10 or more houses, you won’t be as thrown off by the process. https://goo.gl/msxOrq

Thanks so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500

Things to Do Right After A Remodel

Hello Friends,

The workers are gone, the final clean is done, you’ve had friends and family over to celebrate the finished project. Now what? Is it all downhill from here? Not necessarily. Here’s how to make the most of your remodel by ensuring the quality is maintained over time.

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Register Any Warranty Items

If your builder or re-modeler has already registered the warranties for you, congrats. You get to skip this step. But if not, take a few minutes to go through any warranty cards your contractor left you (they usually come with the bigger items like appliances or air conditioners) and follow the steps to make sure you get the most out of the manufacturer’s warranty. 

I know it may seem like a hassle to go through warranty paperwork when all you want to do is cook on your new range, but the real hassle comes when the range has a technical issue and you realize that you never registered the manufacturer’s warranty. It’s better to be safe than sorry, especially with high-dollar items.

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Ask Your Contractor About Maintenance

While general cleaning is great for maintenance of your whole house, there are other items that need a little extra TLC to keep them functioning the way they should. I can suggest a few maintenance items that I’ve encountered, but ultimately the remodelers are the experts on your project. And, if they don’t know exactly how to take care of something, they’re surrounded by experts who can provide some knowledge.ave

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But, so I won’t leave you hanging, here are a few of the most common maintenance items I see:

Natural materials (for example, a teak shower bench or marble countertops) need to be occasionally sealed to maintain that brand-new sparkle and shine (and to make sure they don’t fall prey to stains or patinas).

Filters (such as those in water purification systems or air-conditioning units) should be changed regularly to make sure they are working at their highest level. Purification systems have even been known to kick the bucket (or at least act a little funny) if they go long enough without a fresh filter.

Certain plumbing fixtures (specifically, I’m thinking of rain heads) should be deep-cleaned every once in a while to prevent buildup, which could turn your relaxing stream of rain into a weird sprinkle. As I said, though, your contractor will know what is best for maintaining the quality of your project, so do a follow-up with him or her.

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Protect Your Wood Floors

My No. 1 suggestion? Put felt pads on the legs of chairs that are on hardwood floors. Not only does it make sliding them a lot easier, it prevents the dreaded screeeeech they make as they scrape across your new flooring. 

Side note: Felt pads don’t have a lifetime guarantee, so you might want to check on them occasionally to ensure that they’re still secure. 

This next one is a little trickier, but if you have big dogs (I’m looking’ at you, black Labs), try to keep their nails in check. That way, when they go skittering across the floor every time they hear the doorbell go off, they don’t take a piece of the wood floors with them. 

Another easy fix? Put a coco mat at any entrances to your house to help ensure that guests don’t track in mud or rocks that could embed themselves into the floor.
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Of course, these are just some of the most commonly overlooked ways that people can keep their home in tip-top shape. There are plenty of others, but these are a good place to start as soon as your remodel is complete. It’s worth it in the long haul. https://goo.gl/IGKw3q

Thanks so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500

Saying Goodbye to One Home and Hello to Another

Hello Friends,

Leaving a home, especially one you’ve lived in for many years, can be hard — and so can getting settled into a new house that doesn’t really feel like home yet. Whether you are downsizing or moving into your dream home, these ideas should help ease the transition.

Saying Goodbye to Your Old Home

Take photos of your old home before you pack your stuff. Part of what’s hard about leaving a place is knowing you’re also leaving the time you inhabited it. Little ones will be growing bigger in the next home, and everyone will be on to new things. Documenting your old house is just as much about treasuring where you are at this moment in life as it is about those hardwood floors and great light. If you have kids, be sure to include a few photos of them in your old home, doing what they do best: playing, building, drawing on the table, dropping cereal on the floor; you’ll appreciate it later.

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Take pictures of your rooms when they’re not clean and tidy, but just as they are on a normal day. The snapshot of life as you live it is far more meaningful than tidiness. If you want, collect the photos into a small album with a photo of your home and the address on the front. This album has a dual purpose — it’s good for working through emotions you may be feeling about leaving a beloved home, and it acts as a realistic record to look back on when you find yourself waxing nostalgic.

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Leave your mark. If you’ve ever found an artifact from another time hidden in an attic or under a floorboard, you know how thrilling it can be. Why not leave your own little treasure for some future owner to find? Go classic with a time capsule, write a letter or let your child leave a small treasure box. Or leave your mark in a more literal way by carving your initials into a secret spot, like in an attic or on the ceiling of a closet.

Have a “goodbye, house” party. Invite your closest friends and family to celebrate at your old place one last time. There’s no need to clean up — partying amid the moving boxes is totally acceptable. If you can, have music playing for ambiance, and ask friends to bring paper plates and takeout snacks. And if you’ve made friends of some of the neighbors, don’t forget to invite them, too.

Toast your old home. Raise a glass of champagne or cider, and toast your old house before you go. If one toast doesn’t seem like enough, invite friends and family to share stories about things that happened at this house, and end each story with a hearty “To the house!”

Saying Hello to Your New Home

Freshen up. Moving into a new house can be an unsettling experience. Nothing looks, feels or even smells the same. Start things out on the right foot by giving the new place a quick refreshing with good-smelling organic cleaning spray in cupboards and on counters and floors. Open the windows on your first day in the new home and light a few candles in the evening.

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Treat your new home to a few special goodies. They don’t need to be much, because after a big move, even the littlest pleasures will be most welcome. Think a bouquet of flowers from the grocery store, a bar of your favorite soap or a stack of fluffy new hand towels.

Host a housewarming party, no gifts required. It should be about bringing some life and love into your new space, not getting stuff, so feel free to include a friendly “no gifts, please” on the invites (or in the email). Who you invite is totally up to you — some folks enjoy inviting all of the new neighbors, open-house style; some enjoy a more tightly knit celebration with family and a few friends.ave

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Put your stamp on the new place. Paint a wall, hang some art, order curtains — it doesn’t really matter what, just do something that makes your new place feel like you. Investing time and bringing treasures into your new house will help propel you toward feeling at home. https://goo.gl/0eVotV

Thanks so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500

5 Essential Steps to Keep Pipes From Freezing This Winter

Hello Friends,

Once the weather turns crisp, before homeowners cozy up to their fireplaces or under their goose-down duvets, there’s something critical they need to tend to first outside: their home’s pipes. Learning how to keep pipes from freezing is one of those essential homeowner skills you definitely don’t want to overlook.

Why? Because when water freezes, it expands, which can cause pipes to burst—flooding your basement, ruining your drywall, and costing thousands of dollars in repairs. In fact, the Hartford Insurance Co. reports that the average claim for damage from a frozen pipe is a whopping $18,000, according to its analysis of five years of winter claims data.

Yep, you read that right, $18,000. On average.

Bottom line? If you’re smart (and we know you are), you’ll take care of this task long before the temperature drops, just in case. Here are the steps to take to keep pipes from freezing.

Step 1: How to drain your pipes

First things first: Get the water in your pipes out! To do that, you’ll want to tackle all the water lines leading to your garden hose, sprinkler, and pool. After you shut off the water valves, open the spigots to let any remaining water drip out, says Bud Summers at the property-damage repair company Puroclean.com.

Step 2: Insulate exposed piping

“Ideally, your water pipes should be kept in heated spaces only,” says Summers. Although this is the best-case scenario, everyone’s home layout is different. Generally, you’ll want to watch out for any pipes in unheated or uninsulated areas, like your attic, basement, or crawl space. That said, in warmer climates, a basement may stay well above freezing year round, so gauge the temperature—and act accordingly. Any piping located in areas that could go below freezing should be “insulated with insulation sleeves or wrapping,” says Summers, who adds that you can buy these wrappers at any local hardware store.

Step 3: Open cabinet doors

Once you reach that time of year when freezing temperatures are the norm, even your indoor pipes may need some extra protection. And one easy way to do that is to open any bathroom or kitchen cabinet doors that house plumbing. No, it’s not pretty leaving the space beneath your sink exposed, but the improved airflow keeps your pipes toastier than if they were shut.

Step 4: Let it drip, drip, drip

Another pipe-saving tip: When temperatures drop to below freezing, let your faucets drip. Yes, this advice opposes almost everything else you know about water conservation, but it can save you big bucks on fixing that busted pipe. The Red Cross concurs that running water through the pipe—even at a trickle—helps prevent pipes from freezing. “So many homeowners fail to take this simple precaution,” Summers says. “Letting cold water drip from the faucet helps relieve any pressure building from ice inside a pipe.”

Step 5: Shut off the water completely

During holiday travels or winter vacations, you’ll want to take the extra measure to turn off your home’s water completely. Unused water sitting in pipes is likely to freeze, meaning that you could come home to a busted pipe and total mess. Why take the risk? In most homes, the water shut-off valve is located near where the water pipes make their way into your home—often the kitchen, basement or downstairs bathroom (consult your property records if you’re not sure).  https://goo.gl/7ta5FA

Thanks so much,

ERA Skyline Real Estate

3376 Harrison Blvd.

Ogden, UT 84403

(801)627-6500