It’s difficult to make your home stand out in a sea of new construction. And while people love the luxury of newer kitchens, bathrooms, and just generally the low maintenance of a new-build house, people also love a house with character. It seems like those two things conflict, but there’s a way to have both. It’s definitely an investment, but the return you’ll see on your home’s value will totally be worth it.
Reface Your Home with New Materials and a New Garage Door:
REMODELING magazine does a Cost vs Value Report each year on home renovations, nationally and regionally. In 2020, renovations involving curb appeal took the #1 and #2 spots in best ROI.
- #1: Manufactured Stone Veneer
- Average Cost: $9357, Average Return: $8943 -> 95.6% cost recoup
Everyone loves the historic vibe and solid, sturdy look of stone on a home. But you can’t just cover your home in stone – it’s way too heavy for a modern home to hold up, and it would be exorbitantly expensive. Not to mention no sane contractor would do this for you. Manufactured stone veneer comes in a lot of styles, qualities, patterns, etc., and can give you the same effect. For instance, some manufacturers use this really cool technique of making shallow molds with shapes that mimic hewn limestone blocks, then fill the molds with a concrete mix that includes dyes that mimic the look the minerals in limestone cause. You end up with concrete “bricks” only about 1” thick that, when installed on your home, look almost exactly like limestone, but without the weight, cost, and weaknesses of limestone (depending on the quarry and the depth, the irregularities of minerals and fossils in limestone can make it difficult to withstand decades of weathering).
- #2: Garage Door Replacement
- Average Cost: $3695, Average Return: $3491 -> 94.5% cost recoup
When refacing your home, you need consistency. If you’re going for a look of historic charm, a stone veneer refacing will just look weird and poorly thought out next to a typical modern garage door. But, thankfully, there are trends in garage doors right now that have made options for styles pretty much unlimited. You can choose a carriage house style, or 2-sectioned doors that bend inward to raise. There’s always the barnhouse style, too – people are loving that look right now.
Bringing it All Together:
So, there you have it. You can have a new, modern home that is also unique and has some (faux) historic character. You’re going to get an almost even return on your investment, and your house is going to stand out in a new-construction neighborhood, where it can sometimes seem like you’re in a sea of cookie-cutter houses.
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