Your Familys Luxury Home Improvement Checklist
Keeping a luxury home in its best condition is an ongoing task. Nothing lasts forever, and unless you stay on top of the repairs and maintenance tasks, even the most expensive home will look cheap and neglected within a year or so.
Maintaining your home is not only good for the bank balance but also for the soul. Living in a clean, well-kept environment is good for your mental health, and the property’s value continues to increase as the years go by. If you neglect and delay repairs, you run the risk of that little crack in the wall becoming a gaping canyon that weakens your house structure in what seems to be no time at all.
As busy families, we have so many things to remember. It’s easy to forget some household chores, especially if they are not what you do every day, like cleaning out the gutters, checking HVAC filters, and checking on your septic tank. It’s easy to forget those things because they work in the background and only become a priority when they stop working.
You could create a simple checklist to help you remember what needs maintenance and how often it should be done. To create your checklist, start by listing all the maintenance tasks needed at your home. Then, decide what needs to be done every month, every quarter, or once a year.
Let’s explore tasks that will most impact your home should something go wrong. Including them in your home improvement checklist will ensure worry-free living and add value to your home.
Determine if Your Septic Tank Requires Expert Support
About 20% or one in five American homes are not connected to the public sewer system but rely on a septic tank to collect and treat their wastewater. The number of homes relying on septic tanks varies from state to state, and most properties with septic tanks and sewage systems are located in the New England area of the United States. It stands to reason since many luxury homes are built away from city centers, in more rural areas, it is too costly to connect them to public sewers. If your property has a septic tank, it makes you responsible for the maintenance of the system.
Looking after a septic tank can be a complex job. It needs to be done correctly because your health depends on it. An improperly functioning septic tank can let bacteria-laden wastewater pass into the soil around your property, contaminating it and causing diseases to spread. The best way to deal with the septic tank is to hire a septic tank services company, which will ensure that your septic tank is pumped and cleaned regularly, preventing any contamination of the environment.
Benefits of hiring septic tank services to look after yours
- They will keep the area around the septic tank clean and free of debris and waste
- Minimize the odor from the tank
- Extending the life of your system by using best practices to upkeep your septic tank
- Timeous pumping of the tank
- Keeping meticulous records
A good septic tank gives you peace of mind and can be considered a luxury home improvement.
Rent Extra Toilets for Your Family During Plumbing Updates
Having a luxury home, unfortunately, does not make you immune to occasional plumbing emergencies. If your pipes start leaking, or you want to make a needed luxury home improvement, call in a plumber. Depending on the design and complexity of your plumbing, it may be a simple repair, but more often than not, it will be a complex, drawn-out process. Pipes are often hidden inside walls to take water from a central point and make it available at different points in the home. The more bathrooms and other amenities that require water outlets you have spread throughout the home, the longer it may take to fix the problem or install plumbing updates.
During repairs, the plumbers will have to turn off your water supply at the main valve. It means that there will be no water available in the home for the duration of the repair job. Without an available water supply, you won’t be able to use toilets, sinks, baths, etc.
The best solution is to move into a temporary home or a hotel during that time, but if that is not possible, your other solution may be renting a portable toilet while the plumbers are working.
Call an Electrician to Check on Your System’s Safety
When you live in a luxury home, you will have a pretty sophisticated lighting system installed. Lighting usually makes up an important part of interior design, so even though some of the lighting may look so natural that you hardly notice the light fixtures, it does involve installation with expert techniques to make it work. Your system may include wall-washing lighting, downlighting, uplighting, spotlights, and perimeter lighting to enhance your interior decor and create a desirable mood.
Looking after such a complex electric system is not a job for a do-it-yourself enthusiast. For your safety, you should call in a local electrician to regularly check and maintain the electricity system in your home. Incorrect maintenance or installation can blow the whole system or, even worse, cause an electric fire in your home. Safety first, especially if you want to install any additional lighting as part of your luxury home improvement.
Consider Installing Solar Panels
Keeping your luxury property well-lit means that your electricity bill can get huge come the month’s end. You cannot skimp on the number of lights you install because the aesthetic effect won’t be the same. However, you can install residential solar power to generate your electricity and help reduce the electricity bill. Installing residential solar power units will be a great luxury home improvement.
Solar power provides an excellent alternative power to make your energy-hungry home more sustainable. Most luxury homes use only a fraction of their extensive roofing area to install solar panels to generate sufficient energy to power the home. You can even sell the extra energy you generate back to the national grid.
Replace Your Old Windows
Windows are one way where heat can leave or enter the inside of your house. If your home is over twenty years old, perhaps it’s time to make replacing windows your priority luxury home improvement. New windows are better insulated and reduce drafts. If your home is more airtight, your HVAC does not have to work as hard to keep ambient interior temperatures, and you use less energy to power the system.
Another benefit of splurging out for a window replacement is easier maintenance. New windows come in easy-to-care-for window frames that do not need to be refinished every few years. The design also simplifies the cleaning of the windowpanes. The new tilt-in design frame allows for cleaning outside the window without leaving your house. It makes the job easier and faster to complete.
Install New Screens for Your Patio
Everyone enjoys spending time outdoors, especially in summer. You can enjoy relaxing on your patio if you have patio screens installed. Buying screens made from luxury materials will count as making luxury home improvements because having them installed increases the value of your home.
There are many benefits to having patio screens installed on your property, like enjoying protection from the elements, making your home look good, and providing privacy.
Remove Your Carpets
Wall-to-wall carpeting was all the rage in the 1980s. Older homes built in the 1980s may still have those old carpets installed. To ease your maintenance burden and make a major luxury home improvement, get rid of those carpets as soon as possible.
Replace them with flooring that complements your stylish, luxury home, and install naturally beautiful wood flooring. A sustainable and beautiful solution that can bring a lifetime of delight. It is an ideal choice that will add warmth, refinement, and an extra touch of luxury to your home.
A hardwood floor, especially when installed by an expert wood flooring service, will withstand a lifetime of foot traffic, spills, and heavy furniture. It is perfect for raising children and pet owners.
Update Your Kitchen
One of the most popular luxury home improvements is updating the kitchen. Creating a space fit for a gourmet chef will increase the value of your property and bring out the full potential of that special place in the home.
To upscale your kitchen while reducing the required maintenance, you can remodel your kitchen by installing custom cabinetry. You can choose a luxury finish like quartz, granite, or marble for countertops. They will give you that luxurious aesthetic while being easy to care for and include minimum maintenance. You probably shouldn’t try installing them yourself but rather hire an experienced countertop contractor. Once they are in, however, you will hardly have to lift a finger to keep them in spotless condition.
To finish updating your new kitchen look, replace your faucets and splurge for high-end appliances with smart technology. They will make using your kitchen easier and more convenient.
Test Your Paint for Lead
If you bought an older home, especially one built before 1978, there is a chance that the paint used inside your home is lead-based. It is a common environmental hazard that can have serious health effects on humans, especially children. Lead paint was banned in the United States but still exists in older properties.
To make sure that your paint is lead-free, you need to test it to protect your family. The most accurate method is hiring a trained lead inspector using the X-ray fluorescence(XRF) method to test the paint. It is the most reliable way to tell whether the paint on your walls includes lead. The other way is to take paint flakes from different areas in your home and send them to a lab for testing. The flakes of paint must be at least four square inches in size and contain all layers of paint for accurate results.
Once you determine whether your paint contains lead or not, you will need to repaint your home. Painting is one of the home maintenance tasks that should be carried out regularly. Not very often (depending on the durability of the paint used), but still, it should be seen as both a maintenance task and a luxury home improvement. You can paint your home yourself or hire a local home painter to do the job.
Ask About Removing Dangerous Trees
Having trees growing on your property is a great way to elevate the aesthetic and value of your home. They provide oxygen, give shade, and some trees even grow fruit we can eat. Most of the time, we get so used to looking at them that we don’t even notice them standing stately in our gardens, yet no other plant has more power to transform a landscape from drab to a relaxing and calming space. Planting trees would be a great luxury home improvement.
They do require regular maintenance, though. Many trees lose leaves through the seasons that need to be raked. When young, they require regular watering and feeding until they become established. Mature trees can add up to 10% to your home’s value. A mature deciduous tree planted in the west corner of your property will provide shade from the hot afternoon sun, giving you the additional benefit of keeping your home cool and lowering your energy bills.
So, planting trees on your property has many benefits, but as with everything else, even trees don’t last forever.
There are times when your beautiful tree can become a hazard that can damage your property or even take a life. A dangerous tree is one that a storm has damaged, is unhealthy, or shows signs of decay. If that happens, you may need to call an expert certified arborist to help cut the tree down before any damage is done.
Carrying out important maintenance tasks is an ongoing process. If you stick to a schedule and are consistent with your home improvements, your home will last you a lifetime. If you are lucky enough to live in a luxury home, keeping it in good condition will increase your enjoyment of your home and provide investment for the future as the value of your home will increase with age.