Boca Home Improvement Ideas | 15 Boca Homeowner Tips
If you ask homeowners in Boca Raton, you’d find out why we are one of the most desirable places to live in America. With year-round warm weather, a lush environment, and the beach only minutes away, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more ideal place to live. However, all the warm weather and stormy summers mean that nature comes for its toll: rain. Nature’s bounty comes at a price that can sometimes make South Florida homeownership look like a daunting endeavor. Not to worry! Here are 15 easy home improvement ideas that will prepare the Boca Raton homeowner for even the toughest season!
1. Install Gutters
Between 40 to 60 inches of rain falls on our fair city every year! How else do we have such verdant roads and parks? However, that will punish your roof and the runoff from the water can stain your newly painted stucco or flood your manicured landscaping. Ask your friends and neighbors for a referral to a good contractor who can provide you with a quote for a gutter system around your home. You definitely don’t want water infiltrating your home!
2. Invest in Storm Windows or Shutters
South Florida has been lucky these past few years, but when hurricanes decide to pay us another visit they come in force! One only has to look back to the storm season of 2005, when Florida was hit by 7 hurricanes. We have had our fair share since, but we are overdue for an active season such as that one. While an expensive investment, purchasing storm windows and shutters is a home improvement step that will spare the Boca Raton homeowner from hours of aggravation of searching for and installing plywood boards (which can be in short supply) over their windows, mere hours from a storm’s landfall. Additionally, they increase a home’s value and make your home more attractive to buyers should you ever place your home up for sale.
3. Purchase a Programmable Thermostat
Florida is notorious for its nights being nearly as hot as its days and your central HVAC system is an absolute necessity for South Florida homeownership. When it comes time for spring cleaning, speak to your local home improvement expert about purchasing a programmable thermostat. You’ll be able to save on energy costs by instructing the thermostat to increase your home’s ambient temperature while you are out and begin cooling it again before your anticipated return time.
4. Weatherproof Your Garage Door
We keep circling back to these hurricanes, but there is a swinging sword of Damocles above every Boca Raton homeowner. We’re just waiting for the next active storm season. You can make this a DIY affair, but whenever you’re dealing with fitting insulation and making exact measurements for weather stripping, we recommend that you speak to one of the many qualified garage door companies that call Florida home.
5. Replace Old Fixtures
While we don’t have as long a history as St. Augustine, our mid-century homes are becoming a bit dated. New and younger homeowners in Boca have begun the process of updating their new houses, especially the lighting fixtures. That mid-70s brass and glass candelabra hanging from the ceiling and five feet off the floor will have to go (unless you have a soft spot for those from your day’s visiting grandma…we certainly do). Your local home improvement store will have all the necessary tools and materials to make this a great weekend DIY project.
6. Pressure Wash Your Roof
In Boca Raton, we have an ongoing love affair with our tile roofs. Who doesn’t enjoy the earthy tones of terra cotta, or appreciate the white ceramic tiles that keep your Boca home cool on oppressive summer days? But somehow, by rain, wind, although, certainly not snow, dirt makes its improbable journey to the tops of our homes just out of reach. That white ceramic tile that makes indoors inhabitable can start looking like the scuffed walls of a public restroom. We don’t recommend that you go up on the roof and start pressure washing yourself, but there are plenty of experts in the field that are a simple phone call away. We do recommend a yearly wash to maintain your cozy abode’s curb appeal and check for any cracked tiles that can lead to a costly leak.
7. Change Your Faucets
Nothing ages a room like an old faucet and, conversely, nothing adds a reminder to you and your guests that you are living in the present (or the future) with a new faucet! If you’re keeping it simple, all you need to do is shut off the water to your original faucet, unscrew it from its base and then (while following the directions) install your new faucet. It’s a home improvement job that one can easily finish sometime between lunch and dinner!
8. Clear Out the Garage and Reorganize
When those pesky hurricanes come knocking, you’ll be glad you’ve cleaned out the garage to have space for your cars. Instead of using it to house useless wares, or meaningful-but-neglected knick-knacks, grit your teeth and throw out what’s taking up space.
9. Ventilate Your Air-Ducts
Another spring cleaning task is to make sure that your HVAC filters are running properly and that your air ducts are free of debris. A clogged system with enough dust and hair can leave your central air unit working overtime and costing you hundreds, if not thousands per year! While you’re at it, make sure to clean out the ducts from your dryer, as well.
10. Fix the Leaks Around Your Doors & Windows
This is one of the easiest home improvement ideas, as our ample rain will alert you on a nearly daily basis come summer. Some fresh weather stripping and caulking will be your best friend.
11. Create a Massive Chalkboard
Have kids? Or are you a Millennial-kid-at-heart? Maybe there’s a pesky wall that has got you stumped with what to place there. With chalkboard paint, you can create a creative place for every member of your family to express themselves.
12. Replace That Old Flooring
If you’re feeling flush, go with a contractor and pick out some samples. If you’ve got a budget, but good taste, look into vinyl tiles that make faithful recreations of hardwood.
13. Change Your Locks to a Smart Lock
What used to be a piece of technology that was only available to the wealthy is now mass-produced and available to the rest of us thanks to the miracle of fiber optics! Got porch pirates after your precious Amazon bounty? Don’t let them get away with it scot-free thanks to the in-lock camera. Brands like Next, Ring, and Yale have camera and camera-less options. Most of all, if you lose your keys, the keypad will let you right back in.
14. Upgrade Your Shower Head
It’s another easy home improvement idea that many of us overlook. Some of us tend to accept our lot with the showerhead we’re given, but a quick trip to Home Depot, $25 to $150, and some elbow grease later and you have yourself a brand new, ultra-modern showerhead. And we do love modern in Boca.
15. Complete an Electrical Audit and Make Your Cords Disappear
Electrical fires are a plague and strike the Boca Raton homeowner no differently than any other household in America. Every few months, not simply for spring cleaning, conduct an audit of all your outlets and power strips. Chances are, you’ll find at least one power strip that is overloaded and at risk of starting a fire. Take this time to streamline your cords with specialties and cable management tools that can be found at your local home improvement store and online.
For more tips on getting the most out of your Boca Home, see below...
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