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FIND YOUR DREAM HOME OR APARTMENT
I would completely disagree with the 20-year option for roofing. Who wrote this recommendation. You can hardly even find 20-year shingles.
The main choice is whether to choose 3-tab (flat looking) shingles (which usually have 25 year warranty) or Architectural Shingles (which have 30/40/50 year or Lifetime Warranty). There are also metal roofs and natural roofs such as slate (which usually have 50 year to Lifetime Warranty). The labor by a licensed general contractor or roofing contractor is generally one or two years. The shingles are usually only 1/3 of the price of the roofing project. 1/3 is labor. And 1/3 is the additional materials, such as felt, flashing, starter shingles, ridge vents and ridge caps.
The better choice is actually determined by what the neighborhood tends to use on their roofs. But if it is a choice of the 3-tab or Architectural, the actual price difference on most roofs is only a few hundred dollars for the basic 3-tab / 25 year or the basic Architectural / 30 year. So go for the 30 year Architectural.
The price jumps up for the longer warranty products. Realizing that 2/3 of the price is actually in the labor and additional materials, it's usually best to use the Architectural / 30 year because it gives a nice upgraded look without a very big additonal cost.
Well, I did several things to my mom's old single wide trailer, including repairs to a floor I stepped through twice in different places, used three coats of 'high hide' white paint over a peacock color in an all ready small bedroom, and cool sealed the roof as it was leaking into the ceiling fan in the living room - all this in Louisiana during hurricanes Ike and Gustav. If I could do $100 in each area of the house as in this article, I would probably think twice about selling. If I had the $1000 per area upgrades, I would be in a house in better shape than any since I was 10 yrs old (that was a new two story with chandelier entry, three bedroom two bath upper, full ground level basement with patio doors in Santa Clara, CA we called 'the Pink Castle").
On demand water heaters are nice but you really need to research them because they can be very expensive and depending on the size of your home and the number of people in your house one of these units may not be sufficient. Two years ago we looked into replacing our hot water heater with an on demand unit and we had two companies come out and look at our home to determine our need. With three kids in the house an on the demand water heater would not keep up. The minimum price we found was $1200/unit and this did not include the installation. Our neighbor last year told us that this industry had made considerable improvements and they installed an on demand unit. Within three months they had it removed because it did not keep up with their demands, so again you really need to research these units carefully and in some cases you may need two units, which is what was recommended for our house. Also check the warranty on these units, some will only offer 12 month warranty and others life time, but like everything else out there you get what you pay for. I'm all for "green" products but don't be fooled, there are many companies with so called "green" products that are poor quality so shop around and do your research.
