Kitchen Remodel

The kitchen is the heart of home.  Adding new flooring, cabinets, counter tops, and a updated back splash are ways to improve your home valve while enjoying your dream kitchen.

Before you get started here are a couple of things to consider:

• Find a good contractor who is licensed and insured.  For Tips look under my blog dated 12/2010.
• Plan Smart  With your contractor's assistance plan smart by making appliance and fixture relocation's as practical as possible to fit your needs (more to follow in coming post)
• Plan lighting ahead of time.  Upgrade your lighting the same time you do your electrical.  This will save you the cost of having a electrician visit your house twice. (more to follow in coming post)  
• Work with your contractor to draw the kitchen design.
• Work with your contractor to know how long your project will take.  This means you will be giving up your kitchen for a time.  Whoo hoo!!  You get to eat out!
• Shop around for your appliances and have conformation of arrival time or on site.  Keep in mind when making your decision to select appliances that would be attractive to potential buyers should you decide to sell your home.
• Depending on your budget you will need to make a decision to either have your cabinets resurfaced or purchase new ones.
• Selecting counter tops; remember granite and Corian are the most popular.  They look expensive and indeed they are.  But there are many counter tops now that are not as expensive and are very attractive so again considering your budget decide what option works best for you!
• Floor covering can be vinyl, hardwood, tile and other which your contractor can advise you on.

I will be posting a series of short topics here for the entire process of a kitchen remodel. I will also be making a link for you to like us on Facebook and receive a free Kitchen check list

Visit us on line at Conrad & Conrad Inc and give us a like on Facebook and see us at Google+.

Winter maintenance and water pipe protection

It is finally turning winter and it sure has been a nice and mild Fall.

By the looks of the weather forecast, the next several nights and days are going to be cold! This prompted me to post a few things you can do to help prevent your water pipes from freezing and causing you some possible severe damage to your home.

• Make sure your water hose is disconnected form the hose bibs (outside spigots) and water hose accessories.
• If you don't have freeze proof hose bibs, wrap a cloth around your hose bib and place a can or something over the cloth for wind protection
• Do you have automatic foundation vents (used mainly in crawl spaces) and are they working properly? If you don't have the automatic vents, close their doors, if the door is broken cut a piece of cardboard or something to cover the opening. This is very important especially if there are water pipes close to the vent.
• If you have water pipes close to foundation openings or vents, purchase pipe insulation form the local plumbing supply house or hardware store and place around the pipes.
• If you had any plumbing work completed in your attic, surely your plumber insulated the pipes properly, this one is definitely worth checking on.

Just a few simple things you can check, and take care of yourself during these colder days and nights.

You can visit us at our Conrad & Conrad Inc.to see some of our completed additions, custom homes and home improvement  work.