On a Tight Budget?
A Collaboration between Green Building Canada & Fragile Shelters Publishers
On a Tight Budget?
Here's What You Should Prioritize for Your Renovation
Recently, I got a unique question from Paul, a home inspector in Vancouver, and while it may be a bit off-the-beaten path for this column, it’s one that I have been asked repeatedly over the years. He wrote: “Very few decisions about renovations will put the home structure cost before the decorating cost in tight budgets. How do you explain to people about the budgeting priorities? Do you recommend doing all that can be done first to improve the home’s energy efficiency?”
The First Step
With the cost of buying and owning a home becoming more and more difficult for Canadians, arriving at a balance where you can help your bank account in the long run with operational energy savings and getting some upgrades to give your home a personal touch is a real balancing act.
Before you do anything, get your roof inspected and, if necessary, replaced as part of the initial budget. While this can be costly, the damage to the interior of a home from water leakage is often not found until it has created some major restorative work and ensuing expense.
Budget Kitchen and Bathroom Renovation Ideas
A tight budget is a reality today, but that does not eliminate making some improvements to your home. Kitchens and bathrooms often lead the list of upgrades, adding the most value to your home. Unfortunately, they are usually the most costly to do. If the kitchen cabinets are in good condition, replacing the doors or refinishing them may be worth the effort. There are some respectable refinish kits on the market now. Changing the countertop and adding a new sink can significantly change the look of a kitchen.
For a bathroom, shower liner kits that are professionally done are a good tight budget step. Some paint, a new vinyl floor and replacing the toilet and vanity with new lighting will keep the bathroom reno cost down.
6 Home Renovation Upgrades that Balance the Budget
If you are handy and can afford the time twice a year to put up and take down your storms this is worth considering. When you look at an average bungalow, you could probably have all its windows fitted with storms for the price of two or three replacement windows – it may be a good budget move. If you are looking for privacy and UV protection, there are a number of energy-efficient films that can be added to your storm windows.
While renovating heritage homes in the past, we have had interior storms fitted with metal edges and foam seals with magnetic strips fitted on the interior trim. This allowed the exterior of the heritage home to retain its historical appearance while providing greater energy efficiency.
Some years ago I was told that sound reduction was significant with storm windows. The air pocket created between the original window and the storm window is also known to reduce sound transmission by upwards of 50 percent compared to conventional replacement windows.
My last point here is cost. Storm windows can usually recover their cost in energy savings within five years or so. Replacement windows usually take nearly double that timeframe.
In the past I have been asked for estimates on cost vs energy savings and while there are numerous figures tossed around the one I used was storm windows will give you about 70 percent of the savings in energy vs replacement windows at about one-third the cost.
Every upgrade you do with respect to energy efficiency is reflected directly into your bank account and this list is about as cost effective as you can expect, still leaving some money in the budget for that dream set of kitchen taps!
