Tips for Replacing Baseboards in Your Home

If you’ve done any home renovations in the past, you’re well aware of how much small details can completely change a space. And that is especially the case when it comes to baseboards. While baseboards are a smaller detail in a home in comparison to larger remodeling tasks like installing new flooring, painting an entire room, or redoing a kitchen backsplash, they really do change the overall feel of a home.

Baseboards almost act like a “glue” that pull the consistency of a home’s design together. Having consistent (and well-done) baseboards is a great way to transform your space. If you’re planning to replace your baseboards in the near future, here are a few tips:

Get the Right Tools

I know replacing baseboards seems like an incredibly simple project, but the truth is, it requires a lot of precision. Without the right tools, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.

Getting correct measurements, making your corner cut angles correct, and installing the baseboards against the wall all require a special set of tools. Nail guns are your best friend, and it’s probably a good idea to have really accurate measuring tools around. A good angle gauge wouldn’t hurt either!

One of the most important things to use is a compound miter saw. They’re quite accurate, easy to move around, and have fast spinning blades. As long as you have a good saw blade on, compound miter saws should give you accurate, clean cuts that make jointing a breeze.

Another tip is to search for a portable air compressor and buy air compressor tools. In the long-run, you’ll probably save money on your tools and you don’t have to deal with the frustration of batteries.

Have a Clear Plan and Vision

Of course you probably have a general idea in your head of what you want. “I want simplistic, white baseboards.” That’s great! But you want to make sure you come up with a specific plan. Exactly what size of wood do you want? Do you want any type of styling done with a router table on the wood? If you have anything beyond flat white baseboards, do you have a plan for how to best deal with angles to ensure it works seamlessly throughout the house?

It’s also really smart to calculate exactly how much wood you need, and then buy a little bit extra. Chances are high you’ll have a few “whoopsie” moments when making your first cuts. No matter how accurate you think you are, always plan for a few mistakes.

Paint Your Trim Before Installing

You’ve seen all the telltale signs of a bad paint job in your life – paint dripping from the wall onto a countertop, baseboard paint making its way onto the wall. It’s hard to get accurate paint lines, even with proper taping techniques. Sometimes paint just gets where it’s not supposed to.

If you’re able to, the best thing you can do to ensure the paint is clean, not on the wall, and looks professional is to paint your baseboards before you install them. This gives you a chance to really be precise and make sure everything looks great before it goes up!

Recognized as one of the leading custom home builders in Dallas TX, Tony McClung is an architectural designer working to beautify custom luxury homes in Highland Park, and North Dallas area. He helps families design, build or renovate the custom home of their dreams. Visit their website to learn more.

What to Pay Attention to in a Home Inspection Report

Buying a home is an intense process. You’re throwing (potentially) hundreds of thousands of dollars at a home, and in this market buyers have minimal leverage in the buying process. Home buyers will often bend over backwards when making offers, offering tens of thousands of dollars over asking price and waving the inspection contingency.

However, for those who choose to get an inspection on a home (which is highly recommended), it can be daunting to get back a 30 page report riddled with jargon you don’t understand. So, what is it that you should be looking for in a home inspection? Here are a few high-level items you’ll want to pay attention to in that report:

Structural Elements

One of the main things a home inspector is paying attention to is the structural integrity of the home. This involves detailed analysis of the foundation of the home, load bearing walls and layout, attics and crawl spaces, etc. Basically, they’re looking for any major issues that need to be serviced.

If they report back about foundation issues, you need to figure out how much it will cost to repair as soon as possible. Foundation issues when left unfixed can lead to major problems with the rest of your home. As the home settles, support beams will weaken, the basement can flood, and in rare instances you may find a cracked foundation to cause radon leakage.

Age of Appliances

You don’t need to be an expert on appliances to understand this section of the report, but what you do want to pay attention to is both the age of the appliances as well as their average expected lifetime.

You can technically continue to service your water heater, furnace, and AC unit, but at some point you’ll just be continuing to sink money into something that ultimately needs to be replaced. Generally speaking, if it’s older than 20 years, you should start considering the price to just replace the whole unit.

Electrical

This is one of the easiest things to overlook when you do a walk through on a home. Who’s going to go through the whole house and flip every light switch? Well... your inspector will, and it’s good to know whether or not electrical has been properly routed and wired.

Make sure you give a thorough look at this section of the report to figure out whether anything needs to be repaired or fixed. Electrical issues can be a pain if they’re not taken care of!

If you are planning on buying or selling a home and have plans for renovations, don’t forget to reach out to Tony. McClung! His architectural designer expertise will be essential to you!

Things to be Aware of As You Search for a Home

This market is anything but friendly to buyers. If you’re currently in the process of looking for a new home, or know someone who’s embarked on a home buying search, you can sympathize all too well with the state of the market. Currently, it seems as though sellers have all the leverage and buyers are bending over backwards to get their offers accepted.

It’s in times like these when competition and congestion is high in the buying market that home buyers forget what to look for as they search for a home. While we understand fully that you may be eager to put in an offer on any home that you love at first sight, these are a few things to keep in mind as you search for a home:

Water Damage

Water damage is often underplayed in home descriptions. It may be referred to as “minor leakage” or “water staining” in a basement, but it’s super important to get details regarding what actually happened.

Sometimes “water damage” is very miniscule, and may have only occurred in a small portion of a basement. It can be as simple as replacing a section of drywall or fixing a pipe, however, it can be as complicated and costly as replacing an entire water heater or doing major plumbing work on the house.

Make sure you get very clear details from your realtor on what the extent of the water damage is and if it should be of any concern to you!

Age of Appliances

We all know that the market is overpriced right now and competition is high. What does that mean for home buyer budgets? You’re often upping the cost of moving in by a ton simply by offering way over asking price. Not only is this expensive due to the end price of the home - you may be covering appraisal gaps, a down payment, and additional move-in costs along the way. In other words, your “savings” pile can get small really quick in this market.

One thing to be aware of in addition to all the cost craziness is the age of appliances in the home. Water heaters, AC units, plumbing, washer/dryer, refrigerator, etc. - none of them are cheap. Check the year the appliances were replaced and be aware of roughly when you can expect it to go out. This will help you as you budget for what you’re able to take on in a new home purchase.

Awareness of What Creates Competition

Since sellers have much more leverage than buyers in general, it’s important to keep in mind what actually drives competition to a home. Often, if a home has been fully remodeled, repainted, has updated lighting fixtures, and looks “modern” on appearance, you can bet that everyone and their mother is going to be checking it out and likely putting in an offer.

We get the draw! It’s so much easier to envision your “perfect home” when it’s already presented as such. Brand new paint, renovations, fixtures, and other details add the extra “lift” to a home that makes it so appealing to buyers. But be aware of the fact that many of the remodeling tasks necessary to carry a home from outdated to modern and elegant aren’t actually that expensive or time intensive.

Don’t look for homes that are perfect at face value - look for homes with the functionality and layout that you need and worry about the design details later. While a fully remodeled house might attract upwards of 20 offers over a weekend, a similar sized home with outdated paint and old lighting fixtures can detract many buyers. Shooting for those homes with an expectation to do a little painting/fixtures/refinishing TLC can help you find a slightly outdated home at an amazing price with less competition and a low cost to remodel! Always remember, Tony McClung is only a phone call away to help make that outdated home look like your dream home!

How to Get Your Offer Accepted on a Home

The current market has been everything but friendly to buyers. If you’re looking for a home right now, you know that the competition is incredibly high and the availability of homes is drastically lower than what it’s been in the past.

Several home buyers have attested in many markets to offering $20,000 or more over the asking price and still being beat to the punch by other home buyers. So, in a market with this much competition and this low demand, how do you stay in front of the crowd and make your offer stand out?

Here are a few ways to get your offer on a home accepted:

Understand Appraisal Gaps

If you don’t know what appraisal gaps are, let us take a second to describe it because it is SO important when making an offer on a home.

After you make an offer on a house that gets accepted, an “appraiser” decides how much the home is actually “worth.” If you happen to offer over what they think the home is worth, that amount of money in your offer that exceeds the value of the home has to be paid up front. But here’s the problem – it is the seller’s responsibility to pay it if they accept the offer.

Extreme example: A home is listed at $450,000. You offer them $1 million. The appraiser says the value of the home is only $490,000. Even if the seller accepts your offer of $1 million, they only made $40,000 over asking price, because they need to pay $510,000 (the amount that exceeds the value of the home as deemed by the appraiser) out of pocket. So, your $1 million offer isn’t any better than a $490,000 offer.

With that in mind, here’s how to get your offer accepted – make sure you are considering the amount an appraiser may deem the home is worth, and offer an appraisal gap guarantee. This is a way of telling the seller, “I will pay up to $___ of an appraisal gap if necessary.” It basically makes an offer over asking price relatively risk free for them since they know they won’t be stuck covering a huge appraisal gap on their own. Just make sure you have that money available in the bank before guaranteeing it since it needs to be paid up front.

Offer Over Asking Price

Everyone knows this is kind of the norm right now, but it’s true – if you want a home, you may need to offer over the asking price. But the trick in getting an offer accepted is all in the balance between the offer over asking price and the appraisal gap.

Make sure you do a lot of research on homes in the area. The more homes and prices you look at, the more you may be able to somewhat forecast what an appraiser will deem a home is worth, and that information can factor heavily into your decision on how much to offer over vs. cover in an appraisal gap guarantee.

Make it Convenient for the Seller

Here’s the deal – you really don’t have much leverage in a market where 20 buyers are bidding over asking price on a home that a seller put on the market over the weekend. The best thing you can do? Embrace it and do whatever you can to make the transaction as convenient as possible for the seller.

Some sellers want to move fast. If that’s the case, do what you can to line up an inspection immediately so it doesn’t impede on closing timelines. In some instances, if the home is relatively new and you feel confident an inspection isn’t going to change your ultimate decision, you may consider it worth it to wave the inspection entirely (this is entirely up to you, but it’s often the one little extra thing a homeowner wants to see to accept your offer.)

If the seller wants to move slow, meet them where they’re at. If it means you’ll have to pay an extra month of rent before you move in, so be it. It’s not an ideal market for buyers, and so the gist of it is this – make it as convenient as possible for the seller and meet them where they’re at in the process.

However, if you decide to forgo selling your home and would rather renovate your home, give Tony McClung a call! He will use his expertise to make your home feel brand new, without even changing locations!

Tips for Preventing Water Damage to Your Home

Chances are high that you know several people who have told you they’ve encountered water damage in the recent winter storm. Even in Dallas Texas, it’s a very common phenomenon and unfortunately, it’s often an expensive one to fix. The truth is, most people don’t start thinking about preventative measures against home water damage until it already happens! So, if you’re hoping to prevent extensive water damage from hitting your luxury home this season, here are some things to keep in mind!

Inspect Key Appliances Regularly

Water flows out from a burst water pipe in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 18.

Photographer: Thomas Ryan Allison/Bloomberg

We know it’s not a fun item to add to your “to-do” list, but it’s important that you check key appliances 1-2x per year. These would be things such as the refrigerator, water heater, and AC unit. Once to twice a year, pull the refrigerator away from the wall and check the water line hose. Is it securely connected? Is there any sign of leakage, or is it wearing down? Check your water heater for rusting, leaking, or pooling of water beneath the unit.

Issues due to broken pipes from refrigerators or water heaters rarely happen overnight, and they can almost always be prevented by carefully watching your units for any signs of breakage or wear and tear.

Shut Off Water When Away

Most peoples’ stories of water damage always seem to start with, “when we left for our vacation to...”

Leaving the house for several days (or weeks) is the best time for catastrophic water damage to hit. If a sink is left on, a water pipe bursts, a valve comes loose – there’s nothing you can do to stop it and it will continue to leak until you catch it.

One of the simplest and most effective ways of preventing water damage is to simply shut your water off if you are leaving for extended periods of time. If you have a vacation coming up, take a few seconds to shut off your water and save yourself the headache and extra costs of repair!

Install Leak Detectors

Yes – leak detectors are a thing! They’ve gotten quite advanced and simultaneously easy to use as they integrate with Wi-Fi and cellular devices for quick reports.

There are different types of leak detectors depending on what you are attempting to monitor, so you’ll want to do your own research to find what’s right for your home, but they can be an incredible help to preventing water damage as they allow you to catch signs of a leak in early stages.

When you’re shopping for a leak detector, make sure to consider factors such as temperature monitoring, power supply/source, integrations with mobile apps or other Wi-Fi devices, built-in sirens, and onboard sensors!

3 Things to Do When Selling Your Home

Selling a home is a major project! If you’ve ever done it before you’re well aware of how much work goes into preparing the house for listing. It’s exciting, but it’s also stressful. And the matter of the fact is – if you’re planning on selling your home, you want to get as much for it as possible.

Luckily, at the current moment it is a seller’s market which makes moving significantly easier if you are selling your home! But that doesn’t change the fact that everything you can do to appraise the value of your house is worthwhile. So, if that’s where you’re at, here are 3 things you can be doing when selling your home to ensure for the best outcome!

Fix Everything That’s Broken

Anything that’s broken or needs replacing is a major turn-off to buyers. Even if you can sell your house easily, you will almost always be making less on the sale if your home needs significant repairs.

It’s amazing how things as simple as broken water heaters, plumbing issues, and electrical wiring problems can drop the price of a home. Something that may cost you $2,500 to repair may drop the value of your home to a buyer by $5,000-$10,000.

If something is broken, get it fixed before you list your home!

Upgrades & Renovations

This is similar to the last point but not entirely. There are definitely plenty of remodels you would essentially be “throwing money away” with. Dumping a bunch of money into a very specific style of remodel, quirky addition, or renovation that isn’t universally functional for everyone who may be checking out your home is almost always not worth it. However, making necessary updates to bring a facelift to your home usually will appraise the value of your home beyond what you’ll put into the renovation!

Declutter, Declutter, Declutter

Did we say it enough times? It’s true – if you want to sell your home, make it presentable. Obviously while considering what you need to be living there, try to make it as “move-in ready” as possible. What’s on your nightstand? Do you have old mail sitting out? Any additional stuff laying out that isn’t necessary for presenting your home’s potential to buyers isn’t worth it and only detracts from the view.

Buyer’s don’t want to see a home that looks lived in – they want to see a space that they can mentally model their living situation around, and clutter in every corner leads them further away from that ideal. Declutter your home to make it more presentable for potential buyers!

How to Prepare for Moving into a New House

Everyone has mixed feelings about moving to a new home. It’s incredibly exciting to move into your family’s new dream home, but it can also be incredibly stressful. There’s a ton of moving parts and even when you think you have everything mapped out ahead of time, every day you come up with new things to add to your “to-do” list.

If you are planning a move in the near future, it’s important to properly prepare for the day. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for moving into a new house!

Make a Week-Of Schedule

A while in advance, it’s important to make a schedule for the week of your move. This will help you to avoid last-minute cramming the day before or day of.

Spend time thinking of all the big items that have to wait for last. Whether it’s cleaning sections of the house, moving or selling bigger furniture items, or cancelling services like WiFi and cable – you want all of the “last details” written into a specific timeslot for the last week. And even at that, give yourself several hours of leeway because we all know how these things go...

Start Saving Boxes

Moving boxes are expensive if you have to buy them all new. But it’s pretty incredible how many boxes we accumulate throughout the year via online purchases. Even smaller and medium sized boxes are helpful for moving – silverware, plates, miscellaneous kitchen items, trinkets, etc. Think of all the things you shove in random boxes last-minute. If you have a specific place for them – even smaller boxes – packing and unpacking will be significantly easier.

Cancel/Change Address-Specific Services

Think about everything that relates to your current living situation – your WiFi, TV, phone service, postal office and shipping address, banking address, etc. It all needs to change, and if you leave it till the last couple days to start thinking of all of it, you won’t remember it all. Start making the list now and changing over all services that pertain to your current address!

Be Clear with Moving Box Labels

We all know to label our boxes as we pack items, but I’d highly encourage that you take it a step further in your clarity on the labels. Don’t just label everything “Kitchen” – be specific about silverware vs. plates vs. pots. It will make it easier on moving day to get everything in the appropriate place, but more importantly it will allow everyone who is helping you pack to be super careful with fragile items and how they are loading their cars/trailers.

Benefits of Vinyl Wood Floors Over Hardwood Floors

This past week, Texas received some of the craziest winter storms ever recorded. Many of our homes just are not prepared to handle the cold we received and many homes were flooded due to frozen and busted pipes. If your home is one of these, you may be looking for new floors for your home.

Flooring makes such a difference in a home, and there are so many options that it can get overwhelming to decide what’s right for your luxury home! For some, carpet is just fine and the perfect “cozy” touch that their home needs, but in recent years, carpet has become a bit outdated.

Homeowners are turning to hardwood floors as a replacement due to their elegant and practical design. However, as hardwood floors become popular again, vinyl “fake wood” flooring is gaining a ton of attention (and for good reason).

So, if you’re home was recently flooded and you are now in the market to replace your home’s flooring, here are a few benefits of vinyl wood floors over traditional hardwood floors:

Budget

Obviously, you want nice floors, and as a homeowner you’re probably willing to pay what’s needed to get the end result you’re looking for! But who doesn’t love a gorgeous budget option when it comes to home remodels?

Vinyl plank flooring is quite a bit cheaper than traditional hardwood floors, making it an excellent option for homeowners who are looking to save a bit of money on their new flooring installation!

Cleaning

People don’t usually think about this before they begin their remodeling process, but cleaning hardwood floors is difficult. Hardwood flooring needs to be cleaned with specific cleaners that won’t damage or weaken the wood over time. This means absolutely no wet mopping (which is unfortunately one of the quickest ways to clean your flooring.)

Vinyl wood flooring on the other hand can be cleaned through a variety of means. Whether it’s wood-specific products or simple wet mopping, vinyl flooring is durable and easy to deal with, making cleaning a breeze!

DIY Installation

One more thing that’s absolutely incredible about vinyl wood floors is that DIY installation is rather easy! If you’re looking to replace your current carpeting or tile with vinyl wood plank flooring, chances are with a little bit of research and planning, you’ll be able to do it yourself.

Vinyl planks are incredibly easy to layout and attach, as they have interlocking edges that make alignment super simple. They’re also easy to cut and rather durable so you don’t have to worry about handling them as much as hardwood floors.

Generally speaking, real hardwood flooring is significantly more difficult to deal with and it’s almost always recommended that you seek the help of a professional for installation (which further runs up your remodeling bill!)

Give Luxury Homes Designed and Built by Tony McClung a call if you need help with new floors in your home after this crazy winter storm!

Luxury Home Renovations: Kitchen Backsplash Ideas

If you’ve spent a considerable amount of time thinking about remodeling your house, chances are pretty high you already have several ideas in mind of DIY projects you can accomplish yourself or with minimal help. Often, one of the projects we see come up all the time are kitchen backsplashes!

The kitchen is a staple room in defining the atmosphere of your home, and how you decorate or renovate it has a major impact on how the rest of the house “shines.” So if you’re looking for a simple way to give a facelift to your home, here are several ideas on what you can do for a new kitchen backsplash in your luxury home!

Subway Tiles

The title “Subway Tiles” may sound underwhelming, but they are a very modern, sleek, and sophisticated look to add to your kitchen. Subway tiles are simple white rectangle tiles that stack in a brick wall-like configuration. They are quite popular in recent years for both modern and farmhouse style homes, and are an excellent way to brighten up a kitchen!

Reclaimed Wood

People will add reclaimed wood walls in their bedrooms or game rooms, but you don’t often see them in kitchens! However, they are a great way to add some character to your kitchen this year! Reclaimed wood walls can be subtle and elegant if you get similarly colored wood planks, or rustic and whimsical if you find a mix of dark brown, light brown, gray, and white planks! Just watch out for slivers when installing them!

Painted Glass

Painted glass backsplashes aren’t a classic “go-to” for kitchen backsplashes, but they add so much to a kitchen. Painted glass backsplashes not only brighten a room up - they actually make a room look and feel bigger due to their reflectivity.

If your kitchen feels a bit claustrophobic and you’re looking for something to make it feel more expansive, a painted glass kitchen backsplash may be the way to go!

Conclusion

Kitchen backsplashes are such a fantastic way to give your home a facelift and change the atmosphere of your luxury home’s main floor. Subway tiles, reclaimed wood, and painted glass are a few of many ideas out there, and each will bring something unique to your space - modern, rustic, or elegant.

Take a couple weeks out of your spring or summer this year and install the perfect backsplash to compliment your luxury home’s kitchen!

Hiring a Remodeling Company: Things to Keep in Mind

Embarking on a remodeling project is super exciting. Most of us have several “dream” home remodels we would love to see come to fruition, but it’s rare that you ever get the chance to see it through! Remodels are a lot to prepare for – financially and mentally – and it’s exciting when you see it all coming together.

But unless you or a relative are planning on hitting an intense multi-week DIY project, you are probably hiring a remodeling company. That search process can be daunting.

If you are planning on hiring a remodeling company for your home remodel, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Don’t Evaluate on Price Alone

Here’s something most homeowners don’t realize – most remodelers charge a similar amount for projects. They are calculating the cost of materials and labor, and that’s similar regardless of who you go to. Small variations come when those factors fluctuate, but the gist of it is this – price is not a good factor for evaluating a remodeling company.

At the end of the day, the pricing structure between the worst and the best company is going to be extremely similar, and you are better off focusing your decision making on factors such as their experience, process, and approach. A $2,000 saving isn’t worth it for a life-long poorly executed remodel.

Know Their Specialties

Each remodeling company will have an area of expertise; a particular type of home remodeling project that they do a lot of. As you’re searching for a remodeling company, find out what types of projects they do a lot of. Do they do a ton of smaller-scale projects like replacing backsplashes in kitchens and cabinetry? Or is their focus more on large-scale projects like home additions or new home construction?

Finding a remodeler whose focus lines up with your project needs will lead to more realistic pricing and a better final product turnout.

Find Someone You Mesh Well With

We can’t overstate this. It is so important to find a remodeler that you love! You may love the result of the remodel, but did you love the process it took to get there? Intense remodeling projects take up a lot of time, and it’s not worth putting up with a remodeling company that has bad communication practices and fails to make you feel heard and cared for throughout the process.

During your search, find a remodeling company that you have some chemistry with. The process and communication should feel natural. You should feel assured that they understand what you’re looking for and always leave you at ease after your conversations.

Of course, here at Luxury Homes Designed and Built by Tony McClung, we would love to help you with any of your custom home renovation needs. Please give us a call at 214-668-7802.