When you’re buying a home, you can sometimes let your imagination get the best of you. In our minds, we’re all brilliant at “fixing” things. There is something romantic about buying that dream home that needs a lot of love and handiwork, to make it live up to the final image inside your head.
We don’t want to burst your bubble or take away your dreams, but when it comes to fixing up an old house you need to be realistic about what projects you can do yourself and which projects need a contractor.
Safety should come first when it comes to exterior home repairs
Before you go buying a hammer and a pair of over-alls and start in on fixing up the exterior of your new dream home, take a step back and ask yourself “do I really know how to fix the roof or the foundation?” And again, be realistic! You don’t want to mess around with the exterior of your home. It’s not like picking the wrong color for your living room, poorly constructed sidings, roofs, walls, foundation (just to name a few) can be potentially dangerous for yourself and the other occupants of the home, plus extremely expensive to fix.
Inspect your Colorado home before closing
Before buying your fixer-upper, make sure you give it a good inspection. We recommend you get an independent or third party professional to inspect the home for you, but you can do a quick walk around yourself before calling in the experts. Some major damage can be spotted easily, and that’s what we are focusing on here.
Damaged sidings or roofs – if you spot serious damage to your siding or roof, we highly recommend that you hire a contractor and fix the problem the right way, the first time. You don’t want to risk structural failure or moisture issues due to a poor DIY job.
Damaged porches and decks – if it’s a matter of replacing a few loose boards or adding a new coat of paint or stain you can probably fix that yourself. For more serious problems, you should be considering the cost to hire a professional contractor:
- structural problems – the deck may detach from your home due to the foundation settling or the wood rotting.
- tongue and groove boards – this may not be a dangerous job, but it does require precision and skill to do correctly
- concrete porches – letting a professional contractor fix large cracks or crumbling concrete will save you time and money in the long run, even if it may seem more expensive up front.
Damaged windows and doors – Painting and caulking you can do yourself, but if it looks like there are signs of rotting or decay, it’s time to call in the professionals. Poorly installed doors and windows can lead to moisture intrusion, and that is not something to mess around with. Look for signs of crooked doors and windows, if it requires more than a simple tightening of a screw, it’s time to call in a specialist.
General contracting and reconstruction specialist in Colorado
Before you close on a home and you know that it will require exterior reconstruction that is beyond basic DIY repairs, talk to a specialist about the cost of repairs. It is important to be realistic and safety must always come first. Hopefully, the home you buy will be yours forever, don’t cut corners when it comes to exterior repairs.
We’ve been repairing and reconstructing homes for over 30 years. We service all of Colorado, including Mountain communities. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, as well as superior workmanship using top of the line equipment and years of expertise in our field to make sure the problem is fixed the right way the first time around.
Call (303) 543-9549 to get a free estimate on your repairs.
