Recent Home Improvement Projects in Illinois Over the past few years, my neighborhood has been undergoing major improvements. My family and I finally decided to hop on board when our next door neighbor did a major overall on the outside of their home. We couldn’t be happier with the process, although it is still a work in progress.
When we first noticed contractors at our neighbors, my husband was curious and poked his nose around. They ended up redoing their windows, trim, roof and even the front stoop! Their house instantly looked twenty years younger after the update was complete. You would never know it was built in the 1950s at all anymore.
By comparison, our home started to look drab and dirty. The siding was graying, and despite monthly cleaning, the windows were never clear. These are the major improvements we’ve started on, but we have many more projects to do in the future.
First, we started with our windows. Our utilities were getting high, and when we purchased our home in 2009, the previous owner couldn’t tell us when the windows were put in. Due to possibility to lower our utilities every month, we agreed we ought to do the windows.
From start to finish, it took about two months between finding the best contractor and waiting for the windows to be made and delivered. Our contractor was amazing and very reasonable in comparison to other companies. He even offered us a discount for being referred by a former client.
After the windows were put in, my husband and I noticed an immediate effect. It was late spring when they were completed, and the drafts in our home were gone. Not to mention, the new screens refuse to allow any bugs in! I believe they ended up costing us about seven thousand dollars including all of the labor and the windows themselves.
The next on our list is the siding of our home. The same contractor offered to give us a discount due to repeat business in addition to our first discount, and we were so happy with his work, we agreed to go through with it. It only ended up taking a week and a half due to the size of our home, but the effect showed again. I had no idea that siding has insulation, and that was a double win for us! Our bills have gone down over two hundred dollars.
And just like our neighbors’ home, our 1950 two story home looks years younger. Now we’re going to focus on the garden and fence. The brickwork path from our home to our detached garage is terrible, so we want to put down pebble infused concrete steps, and eventually put out a patio table and chairs to enjoy the summer weather!
A lot of people have told us that home improvements can be stressful, but the updates on our homes have brought us nothing but happiness. With a few fresh coats of paint, I believe we’ll be able to update the interior as well. I can’t wait to do more!
