Since L came home in March, we let a lot of little jobs around the house fall through the cracks. Most notably, the yard. Lordy, the yard and the landscaping looked bad this year.
This weekend is the first weekend we have had free for the past six weeks. We used it to do some essential work that couldn’t be delayed any longer. Mr. A and I spent most of the day laying insulation, putting in the storm windows, clearing a path in the garage so we can access the snowblower and raking/mowing.
Where were the children, you may ask yourself (as I asked myself many times today). Mr. A’s dad came over to get something and we put him on child-supervising duty. As long as we were relatively nearby, both M and L were thrilled to have him putter around behind them hang out with him.
After the loathesome task of washing and installing the storm windows AGAIN, I am thinking pretty seriously about getting some of those new-fangled, modern windows that have two panes of glass.
The question is, which will be more important to our resale value?
The first floor windows are about 50 years old. They are in very good shape considering the age, but they are surely very poor for our energy efficiency. There are 14 of them and I have no idea how much replacement may cost.
In our bathrooms, the two bathtubs and surrounding tile are also 50 years old (though the rest of the bathrooms have been updated with new floor tiles, toilets & sinks). One set of tile is powder blue, the other is that lovely 50s pepto bismal pink. My plan was to rip out the tile, replace it with white subway tiles and have the tubs resurfaced. We can’t afford a full overhaul of two bathrooms. Taking out the tubs would mean we have to retile the floor too.
We aren’t planning to move for at least 4 years due to the tanked real estate market. We also don’t think we will get much back from any investment we make in the house because property values have dropped so much here. We think we would loose about 8-10% of our original purchase price, not to mention about $6-7,000 in repairs and upgrades we have made so far.
Advice please?
As much as I hate the damn storm windows, I am thinking shiny new bathtubs might be better in the long run.
At our old house our realtor told us that windows are a must-have because they add curb value. If you want to get people into the house, windows are vital. Also they’ll start saving you money in heating/ac the minute you put them in. So I’d do those first and bathroom later.
I agree, windows are the way to go…..
Your first commenter is correct. If you put in new windows, not only do they improve your chances of attracting lookie-loos, you also can show the cost savings when you replaced them. Our house in New England has both the old aluminum storms, and brand new (3 years old) vinyl clad triple panes with some super dooper energy saving glass in the middle and some gas something or other (who remembers?) in between the panes. They NEVER get cold. We didn’t pull off the storms because we use them for double screens in the summer, but leave them up year round. We don’t need them.
As for bathrooms and saving $, you can do those Re-Bath or Bathfitter bathrooms. They look fine and help with resale. They’re not gorgeous, they’re not marble, but they’re clean and new and they WILL help with resale, but not as much as a redo.
We replaced the windows in our old house before we moved. That was 3 years ago…and I still miss those lovely windows! You will be shocked how clean everything looks through new windows.
Well, windows seem to be the winner! I think that those folks are right, but I’d also see whether you can entice a realtor to come out and do a walkthrough to let you know what will help things in your specific market the most – knowing how cold the winters can be out where you are, it’ll probably be windows over bathrooms, but if you’re unlikely to recoup the financial investment of either one, that’s good to know now rather than later.
(Also, I have a love/hate relationship with the storm/screen combos that you leave in all year – they’re so practical, especially because of the screens, but I’ve had to deal with sticky ones for so long that I always look at them with a bit of loathing no matter what.)
No advice here, just wanted to say I’m impressed on what DIY types you guys are.
I’ll ask my realtor tomorrow. She knows the market, so I’d trust her opinion.
Delurking to comment… from seeing the *incredibly* slow process of my SIL in retiling her bathroom, it is not a project I would undertake without shudders of horror.
My guess is in line with all the other commenter’s — windows. They are expensive though. My brother paid over $20,000 to redo all of his.
So, you know that I am ALL ABOUT A GOOD BATH, and I say, Do the windows first! Your tubs are cute. The tile, too, is cute (even though you hate it). Nobody wants to be cold. Nobody likes drafty windows, or paying more for heat. Also, somebody who really cares more about the bath than the windows is going to want the type of bath tub that you are not going to want to pay to install (the nice big round oval with the step up).
I actually wouldn’t do either, if you are planning to sell in 4 years. Windows don’t really save you that much money when you look at the overall inefficiency of an older home (my NGO has done the analysis because we do low income ee upgrades) and you definitely don’t get a benefit in line with the expense. I would look for a company that retrofits older windows (about $100 each) which will give you the same fresh appearance and tighten the windows, make them move easily.
For the bathroom, I would refinish the tubs, which is an easy “paint” application-I did it on all my clawfoots (I only have one currently ; ) Again, you get the fresh look. I have also seen amazing results from painting tile. I have not done it myself, but my sister did it in her kitchen and a neighbor did her bathroom-I’m sure you can google for ideas.
I spent a lot of money upgrading my victorian duplex and got none of it back in resale. I did nothing with my victorian house except paint and refinishing floors, and made $30k after owning it for 15 mos. Focus on a fresh suggestive look, where people can transform it to their taste, and you will come out ahead. If you absolutely must do the windows, stick with double pane-there is no point in spending $$ for triple pane argon on a house that isn’t an airtight modern construction. ~lmc
Windows. Not only do they add curb appeal and improve energy consumption, but you can get a small tax credit (10% of cost of windows up to $200) if you buy them in 2007.
More info: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits#chart
Your house sounds a lot like the house we had in DC. We chose to do the windows first, because the house was really cold in the winter and we knew it would be important to any buyer who was well-informed, much more so than the bathroom. Now, we had the exact same tile. We redid the worst bathroom (the pink one) later right before we moved. Of course, that was at the height of the real estate boom and we knew we would get our money back. We did it as cheaply as possible by acting as our own contractor, which we basically had to do as in the market at the time, no one would even touch a bathroom remodel for less than $20,000.
We have a new house now, and although I hate the yard (or rather, lack of yard) we are staying put. Isn’t real estate scary these days?
Windows can be very expensive. You can buy them from Lowes or Home Depot but I’d find someone else to install them. They charge way too much for installation.
Bathrooms are really important though. You might be able to do a face-lift by swapping out the vanities and toilet, add crown molding, resurface the tub and paint the tile. Personally, I’d tile right on top of the old floor. If you get ceramic tile I’d say parts and labor would be about $1000. If redoing the wall is too much paint them white.
Painting tile isn’t a great idea but if you get a painter (not you!) to prepare the tile correctly and paint them really well it can last long enough until you sell the house.
Hi Amber,
We have an 80+ year old house and have those old windows. We replaced 5 windows 3 years ago (they were the worst, although all are not great) with Renewal by Anderson replacements. They are wonderful. However for those 5 windows (and they were all custom because of the their sizes) were almost $1000 each installed. So if you have 14, that will be approx $14K.
I hate the old windows because they are so friggin’ hard to clean, but I have 12 windows left I’d need to replace and I don’t have a spare $12K.
I could have cheaped out and bought vinyl windows (ours are vinyl clad wood) and could have done them all for about $6K (we are in NJ) but I have my whole sunporch in Anderson and I feel we are the stewards of this beautiful older home (DH agrees)
BTW, I had our bathroom redone by bathfitter (we have one bathroom and couldn’t take days for a retile!) and I love the results! The bathtub, surround, and they also replaced my sink and vanity was about $3500. I love my teeny tiny bathroom and the big plus is that bathfitter recaulks for free for the lifetime of the unit!