February 2024

So you’re thinking about building your own custom home? I can’t blame you! As someone who has helped design and build many custom houses over my 15 years working in construction, I’m always excited when clients come to me wanting to create a custom oasis that fits their lifestyle perfectly.

A custom-designed home built just for you offers so many possibilities – from the home’s style and layout right down to picking signature paint colors and beyond. Building new lets you control every decision, which is why more buyers looking for places to call their forever home want to explore constructing one made just for them.

Collaborating to Make Your Ultimate Vision a Reality

The prospect of visualizing then building a home from the ground up is thrilling but can also feel overwhelming to newcomers. That’s where choosing the right custom home builder is key. You want someone who listens closely to your wish list then helps transform those desires into concrete plans. I liken it to a partnership where open communication and trust are essential.

My ideal first meeting with new clients planning a custom residence lasts at least an hour, if not more. We’ll discus everything from preferred architectural styles and must-have amenities to setting a realistic budget. Expect your builder to offer insider expertise about things like:

• Optimal home orientations on the lot you choose
• Customizing floorplans to maximize flow or cater to hobbies
• Green building techniques that help the planet and slash utility bills
• How long construction could take from breaking ground to getting keys

I provide clients with checklists before we meet to spur ideas. Be ready to share favorite home feature splurges as well as talk about long-term lifestyle and space needs. For instance, are you looking to:

• Age in place with accessibility features or a main floor master suite?
• Work from home needing a private home office?
• Entertain often requiring generous living areas and outdoor kitchens?
• Have multiple generations or grown children return needing a guest house?

The more details you can offer from the get-go, the better home plans can meet expectations from the blueprint phase forward.

Personalize the Details to Embrace Your One-of-a-Kind Style

Once core house plans evolve, it’s time for the fun parts – picking everything from finishes and fixtures to paint colors! Here clients’ creativity can run wild mixing and matching elements that appeal most. Every decision comes down to personal taste, like choosing:

• Custom cabinetry finishes like lacquers paired with earthy granite counters
• Hand-scraped hardwood flooring full of character for an antique look
• Statement light fixtures acting as artistic focal points
• Landscaping plans harmonizing with the neighborhood while still unique

I help guide clients by showing various product samples or bringing them to showrooms full of options for hands-on exploring. Excellent builders have relationships with talented contractors and vendors to execute the vision while adhering to budget parameters. For instance, we can value engineer without sacrificing quality, like opting for grouted tiles vs pricier natural stone backsplashes.

Watching Concepts Materialize from Foundation to Fixtures

Finally, we get to break ground turning renderings into realities! Visiting the home site weekly means you can literally see progress taking shape. As each stage finishes, you’ll check in on things like:

• Foundation taking shape before framing goes vertical
• Forms for poured concrete elements like driveway and porches
• Roof completed with shingles and vents installed
• Exterior finishings like siding, stonework, trims attached
• Interior drywall, mudding, taping finished pre-painting
• Cabinets going in along with countertops as finishing touches

It takes strong attention to detail and scheduling coordination to ensure various trades work efficiently together for timely completions free of defects. Reputable custom builders oversee quality checks and the punch list remain top priorities handling any last fixes.

Before you know it, temporary front door keys get swapped for shiny permanent ones cut just for you. Stepping into your custom sanctuary for the first time makes all the planning, paperwork, and decisions 100% worthwhile. That moment when you gaze around realizing dreams actualized according to your unique vision is priceless!

Now a decade later in my own custom cottage I still feel that rush of pride and thank my builder often for the expertise making it happen. Hopefully you’ll join the custom home club soon too designing an oasis ideal for you from the ground up!

Continue Generation….

Adding Personalized Touches is Endlessly Rewarding

Even after move-in day, the personalization possibilities keep going when you build custom. I meet clients 5-10 years later who’ve tackled transformation tasks like basement finishing or master suite additions.

Because they controlled initial home plans, modifying feels easier than in existing houses requiring workarounds. Keeping the same builder onboard ensures continuity too. Since we know how everything originally came together inside and out, changing components goes smoother.

Some of my favorite refresh projects breathing new life into custom owners’ houses include:

Backyard Oases: Whether aiming for total turf makeovers or adding built-in barbecue stations, fire pits, and water features, reimagined yards make homeowners eager to entertain again.

Bathing Retreats: From stand-alone soaker tubs to glossy tile upgrades, turning lackluster baths into spa-worthy owners’ suites never goes out of style.

Chef’s Kitchens: Appliance upgrades, island expansions, turning pantries into butler’s quarters, and clever storage solutions help worn kitchens function like new.

Member’s Gyms: Dedicated fitness zones perfect for at-home workouts complete with steam showers, custom mirrors/flooring, and the latest gear feel great.

I estimate over two-thirds of my clients upgrade, refresh, or add something unique to their fully-custom houses down the road. It might be small like open shelving displaying collectibles in a new light. Or it may be big like a four-season sunroom addition expanding views and living space.

Either way, custom home owners enjoy much more leeway getting creative enhancing their piece of paradise. And smart builders make that journey easier each step ensuring changes suit initial house plans. Checking in with your original builder before tackling tweaks can make all the difference!

Choosing the Lot Sets the Stage

We’ve covered what custom building looks like, but finding the right homesite unlocks potential. Lot limitations like shape or slope often determine floorplan layouts and overall design possibilities. Carefully evaluating land allows homeowners to maximize future property enjoyment.

For instance, pie-shaped plots best suit straightforward house shapes or smaller builds with pocket views. Meandering lots that slope work well when planning walkout basement opportunities to separate public vs private zones. Wide lots invite sprawling ranches perfect for multigenerational clans.

Whatever acreage allures you most, scrutinize elements impacting build plans like:

Topography: Consider grade changes and if retaining walls become necessary. Steeper lots also mean pricier excavating needs.

Soil Quality: Shockingly poor dirt hampers stable foundations. Requiring excessive drainage interventions grows costs too.

Sun Patterns: Watch where sunlight streams across the lot at different times of day. Optimize window plans leveraging natural light’s beauty and efficiency.

Requirements: Research any CC&Rs plus permits influencing allowable house size, height restrictions, setbacks dictating placement and more.

Utilities: Look into connections for water, electric, gas and sewer lines. Upcharges sometimes apply for long conduit runs or edema bed needs.

Views: Panoramic vistas boost property value! Fully exposing them through thoughtful orientation and window walls does too.

Evaluating all these technical elements plus overarching lifestyle wishes makes finding your perfect place to build truly possible. And ideally your builder will guide you assessing options to construct a fitting forever home there.

Introduction

Of the millions of homes in the US, around 9% of them have pools. Likewise, the typical American works around 8 hours every day. When the typical American works such extended periods, how might have opportunity and energy to clean their pool? Almost certainly, they simply don’t. This is appalling since customary pool cleaning is exceptionally significant. It doesn’t simply make a pool look perfect, yet it likewise gets it free from various perils. Look here for more details on swimming pool contractors temecula. Clearing normal pool risks is only one advantage that a pool organization can give your pool. On the off chance that you haven’t been convinced to employ one yet, read on. There are ways that you can clean your pool yourself, obviously. Nonetheless, a pool proficient will probably have significantly more information than you because of their long stretches of involvement. Hence, you’re going to get a more careful and more secure pool cleaning than the one you’d do all alone.

Green Growth in the Pools 

You should get an exhaustive cleaning since a portion of the risks that exist in your pool can be extremely perilous. You can look further into a portion of these underneath. Fortunately, the green growth that frequently sprout in pools aren’t generally so perilous as wild assortments like cyanobacteria. In any case, this plant actually presents numerous perils both to your pool and yourself. In the first place, microscopic organisms love to be in a pool contaminated with green growth. These microscopic organisms have been known to cause skin rashes. In the event that the microscopic organisms are ingested, it can cause side effects like fever and loose bowels. Green growth can likewise obstruct your pool’s channels and lines. It might wind up taking profoundly exhaustive work to clear them up subsequently.

Sicknesses 

The Middle for Infectious prevention has distinguished a few unique microscopic organisms that can undoubtedly spread in pools. Norovirus and E Coli are two of the microbes on this rundown. Fortunately, this is to a greater extent a worry in public spots for swimming. Be that as it may, assuming that you frequently have visitors over, this might be a worry for your pool too. It’s likewise only smart to remain safe. Pool maintenance experts will actually want to keep your pool really sterile. This is the most effective way to keep these sicknesses from spreading. To protect your pool clean and, you really want to ensure that the pH levels are adjusted. That is, you don’t what the water to be excessively acidic or essential. A pool proficient can deal with this undertaking for you, however you likewise can consistently test this and change the synthetics in your pool as needs be.

Conclusion 

Nonetheless, this takes time and you might have the opportunity in excess. Tragically, assuming you neglect to do this significant undertaking routinely, the following perils can happen. You have chlorine in your pool on purpose. It works really hard of killing off microorganisms for illnesses like salmonella. It additionally separates human waste genuinely well.  Notwithstanding, assuming the water is too fundamental, that implies there isn’t sufficient chlorine in your pool. This can prompt microorganisms and different dangers building up in your pool.

The ideal time to implement comprehensive water protection is during the design and building phase of any new home or major remodel. Orlando builders pay special attention to moisture barriers and other features that reduce intrusion risks. Homeowners planning renovations also stand to benefit by having similar safeguards incorporated alongside other project work. Some key construction and renovation strategies include:

• Appropriate exterior materials – Using water-resistant exterior finishes prevents saturation during driving rain. Fiber cement siding, brick veneer, and stucco facades all provide enhanced protection over basic vinyl options. These materials hold up better against wind-driven moisture as well.
• Window flashing and sealing – Properly integrating flashing and sealants at all windows, doors, pipe penetrations, and joints keep moisture from seeping inward. Detail work sealing off the building envelope is tedious but pays dividends in preventing leaks.
• Slope ground away from foundation – By sloping soil, landscaping, and hardscapes away from the structure’s foundation, surface runoff readily drains away from the home during storms. Even a few inches of fall prevents puddles and saturation issues.
• Gutter guards and maintenance – Keeping gutters clean and installing gutter guards prevents overflow incidents that send water cascading down the building’s exterior. Routine gutter cleaning should be part of standard homeowner maintenance as well.
• Sump pump backup system – For homes with basements or below-grade spaces, installing both primary and backup sump pumps provides critical redundancy against flooding. The secondary pump activates if the main model fails, preventing costly water accumulation.
• Water-resistant materials – Flooring, drywall, insulation, and other construction materials designed for damp areas better resist moisture saturation. While pricier than standard options, their water-resistant properties pay off significantly reducing structural risks.

Homeowner maintenance strategies

Alongside proactive construction efforts, homeowners have additional maintenance duties they must perform regularly to mitigate water risks. Staying on top of inspections, cleaning tasks, and seasonal preparation safeguards the property against intrusion and saturation. Key items every Orlando homeowner should address include:

• Inspecting exterior materials, seals, and caulk for any cracks or openings vulnerable to moisture intrusion
• Checking attic spaces after rain storms for signs of leakage around roof penetrations
• Clearing debris from gutters and ensuring downspouts direct water well away from the building’s foundation
• Grading soil or adding fill dirt to areas surrounding the home to promote drainage sloping away from the structure
• Trimming back tree limbs, plants, or shrubs touching the exterior walls that can provide moisture-wicking paths
• Installing protective storm shutters over windows and exterior doors before hurricane season begins on June 1st
• Confirming sump pumps are operating properly and secondary backup pump batteries hold a full charge

Having an Orlando water Damage Control-911 specialist periodically inspect the property also provides an experienced second set of eyes checking for vulnerabilities. They may catch issues hidden from plain sight that could enable moisture intrusion down the road. Whether preparing to build or remodel or just aiming to better safeguard an existing home, implementing at least some of the water intrusion prevention best practices we covered helps shore up vulnerabilities. Blending moisture barriers, system redundancies, and routine maintenance establishes a formidable defense keeping the property dry inside.

Whenever you have experienced a storm in your locality it is preferable to cause potential damage to the roof. During a storm, when the wind speed is very high it can probably tear the shingles apart. All the sub-headings stated below will give you learning about the wind damages so, that you can claim insurance.

Understand the Impact of Wind Speeds on Roofing Materials

Generally, all households have different roofing materials. It depends on the quality of the material and its durability to withstand a storm. Some popular materials are used for rooftops; Asphalt shingles have a stress point that can withstand and sustain damages within 50-60 mph wind speed, Metal roofs are usually designed for very rough weather conditions and can sustain any damage up to 110 mph and finally there are tile roofs which can sustain damages and even avoid hurricane up to the average wind speed of 150 mph. Also read: what to do about a leaking roof

Familiarize Yourself with the Signs of Roofing Wind Damage

It is very crucial to investigate your roofs after experiencing a storm. It can be dangerous to avoid investigation, as any minor issue can result in huge consequences.

Inspect your Roof Damage After a Windstorm

It is essential to inspect your roof damage after the repercussions of any storm. Safety should be your priority and have a detailed examination of the damages that occurred by the storm. If possible, appoint an executive to have a professional opinion. It is prohibited to climb over the damaged roof areas.

Identify Wind Damage to Shingles

High winds have the potential to cause severe damage to shingles. Damaged shingles can cause cracks on the roofs which results in leaks of water underneath the household. Some of the shingles can be partially damaged and cannot be identified by external signs. These partially damaged shingles can cause potential leaks when it rains the next time. The flapping shingle is the Indication of the broken seal of the shingle in the wind.

Hire a Professional Roofing Contractor to See How Much Roofing Wind Damage Happened

After the storm has passed, it is important to get professional assistance for repairs of the roofing. It is essential to hire qualified contractors and it is defined as the best course of action. The professionals can determine and analyze the unseen damage caused by the high wind. These contractors are familiar with and can predict the damage and impact caused by the different wind speeds with ease.

Let Them Assess the Extent of Roof Shingles Damaged by Wind

The dynamic approach towards the damages can reduce expensive repairs. This results in the fixation of repairs at lower prices and can reduce the risk to safety. This contractor is experienced and can easily predict the precise damages that occur by the acuteness of the wind.