We’re wrapping up 2011 having just completed a new home in Shakes Run Subdivision, six bath/kitchen remodels, three basement finishes, three sun room additions, three commercial office build out/renovations, several entry door and window replacement installations, and several other major types of renovations.

Currently we are carrying over into 2012 an addition for A Winning Smile Dental Center located in the Highview/Okolona area, just broke ground on a custom home in Shepherdsville, a contract to build a custom home in Finchville, and working on two more custom contract houses, along with some remodel projects to start.

We look forward to a great 2012 as we continue to design/build new custom homes, design/build basement finishes, decks, sun rooms, and almost any type of renovation—residential or commercial—in Louisville Metro and surrounding counties.

If your 2012 plans involve a new home, residential remodel, commercial build out or remodel, basement finish, or other property improvements; contact us for an estimate.

Wishing you a healthy and prosperous 2012.

So you’re getting ready to anchor down for winter. NFL football is in midstream, college bowl season is coming up, and basketball—well it’s just starting. You have old man winter moving in for the next 3-4 months and you’re thinking, “Man I’d like to have a cozy basement to take it all in.” If you’re the lady of the house, you might be thinking craft room, homeschool room, or kids play area. If you’re the man of the house, you’re thinking man cave. Did we mention that we provide marriage counseling along with custom building and remodeling Either way, finishing a basement is a great and affordable way to add space and functionality to your existing home.

It’s not too late to get the jump-start on a basement remodel. Can you have it done by Christmas? Well, no, but you might be able to have it done for that Super Bowl party you’ve always wanted to have. Or how about March Madness?

We just finished up several basement finishes this fall. We have some testimonials, some videos, and some after pictures to share in the coming weeks.

We completed one basement remodel in Jtown, a basement finish in Oldham County, and a basement remodel in Eastwood. Although building custom homes has always been our strong suit, we often go back and finish basements for our custom building clients. Oddly enough, none of these recent projects were from custom home clients.

Whether we’ve built for you in the past and it’s time to finish that basement, or you’re just looking for a Louisville basement remodeler, we can help.

We price a basement finish just like we price a new custom home—with precision. This way you know what you’re getting and know your budget from day one.

Call us to get the conversation started today at 244-0114. Or, as always, use our online form to schedule an initial conversation.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I tweet out a lot of industry information like housing starts, mortgage rate information, real estate statistics, and much more. Sometimes you may get a bleak outlook from those tweets. Although things aren’t exactly rosy, we do have several proverbial “irons in the fire.” We’re always looking for more though. If you’d like to build a new house, a Homearama contract, or look into a remodeling project, we’re here to help.

In the meantime, we thought we’d update you on a few of the current and future projects we have going. If nothing more, this should give you hope for a brighter day. Recently, Dave Ramsey, financial author and speaker, tweeted out that hope is the one thing no one can take away from us.

We’re currently:

• Finishing a custom basement remodel in Oldham County, which includes a bathroom, fireplace, media room, family room, laundry room
• Finishing a basement in English Station which includes a media room, hobby room, family room, and bathroom
• Working on a custom room addition in Plainview—this is an all-weather type sunroom
• Preparing to start a custom contract home we’ve signed in Shelby County on a 14 acre farm
• Finishing a custom basement with a media room, family room, and bathroom in Jtown
• Finishing a custom master bathroom remodel in Jtown
• Covered deck with enclosed custom screening in Jtown
• Beginning a commercial dental office addition and renovation—with this job we had a 13 month rezoning process
• Finishing master bathroom and bedroom remodel in Douglas Hills
• Finished a custom home in Shakes Run
• We’re bidding three custom contract homes
• We’re bidding another commercial build-out

We haven’t even officially reached summer and already we’re seeing temperatures in the 90s. Louisville is known for its hot, humid, and dry summers, which in turn can lead to high-cost energy bills. As a custom home builder and remodelor for more than 30 years, I’ve experienced a lot of hot Louisville summers, but have also helped many home owners save money on their energy bills. Here are some steps you can take to make sure your home is running as efficiently as possible.

• If you live in an older home, you could have leaky windows and doors which literally allow hot air in and makes it hard to keep rooms cool. Sealing or caulking around windows or doors could be an easy fix to ensure no air gets in or out. If you’re ready for a more expensive investment, consider replacing your windows altogether. If you’re thinking about remodeling your house or are in the middle of a remodel, don’t forget about upgrading your windows.
• For newer homes, a less extreme fix is to simply keep your blinds and curtains closed during the day when your home is in direct sunlight. Also, keep ceiling fans running when you’re at home so cooler air is circulating.
• Grill out and avoid using the oven when weather is extreme. This will keep your kitchen cool and prevent the furnace from running on overdrive.

Remember, with the furnace running as much as it does, don’t forget to replace your air filter every month! If you would like to speak to me about a remodel or other creative ways to save money on energy bills, contact me today.

If you need some remodeling work done inside your house or out, we can help. Just contact us to get the process stared.

We’ve all heard that kitchens and baths are what sell homes. It’s true. These rooms are usually the hardest and most expensive rooms to renovate, so a lot of the time, buyers are looking for homes with updated kitchens and bathrooms.

As a custom home builder and remodeler, I wanted to talk exclusively about bathrooms today, because we get this question a lot: “How much it costs to update a bathroom.”
The short answer is, “It depends.”

The cost for a bathroom remodel can vary significantly depending on the bath and the house itself. You can spend as little as $1,500 on a repair/remodel on a full bath, or as much as $45,000. When you’re trying to sell your home, sometimes it is better just to give the bath a face lift, rather than spend a lot of time and money on a complete remodel.

Listed below are nine helpful tips to give your bathroom an updated look on a budget:

1. Thoroughly clean and remove any discolored caulk and grout around the tub, shower, and the floor around the base of the commode.
2. Replace grout with a tub and tile caulk that is available at your local hardware and or home improvement store.
3. Remove any discoloration in the commode bowl. There are many products you can use to help with this process, again they are available at your local hardware or home improvement store.
4. A fresh coat of paint always makes the bath look newer.
5. Make sure all the towel bars are secure and in good shape. Replace these if they are worn and outdated.
6. If you have a window in the bath, change the window treatments, giving the bath an updated look.
7. Install new light bulbs in the light fixtures and clean the fixtures to lighten and brighten the room.
8. Clean the faucets and shower parts and restore to a shiny, newer look.
9. And finally, CLEAN the bath thoroughly so it will show well.

If there are other problems that need professional attention, call a local remodeler or builder. They can make necessary repairs without always doing a complete remodel. Share with them your budget so they can best advise you as to how much they can do to help spruce up your bath to help sell your house.

February is over and March is ushering in waves of spring. This time of year usually raises some questions about issues that have popped up around your new or recently remodeled house. I usually comment that these issues not only happen around new or newly remodeled houses, but can occur in most any house, regardless of age. Here are a few I have already addressed this season:

1. “I turned my water hose on today and it sprayed water into my crawl space. It didn’t do that before you remodeled my bathroom. What do you think is wrong?”

What usually happens in most cases is a water hose was left hooked up to an outside spigot when freezing occurred. It only has to be hooked up a very short time before the water freezes and a pipe to bursts. Why? The water in the hose has a tendency to siphon back into the spigot itself and hold there. When freezing occurs, the pipe can burst. Although the temperature the day before and after might be warm, but the damage has been done. This can happen early in the winter season, as most people don’t use the outside spigots until the weather begins to warm up. We suggest you NEVER leave a hose hooked up to a spigot in the spring, fall, or winter.

2. “It looks like water is leaking behind our gutters through our outside soffits. There is a water stain that has not been there before.”

This year was an unusually cold and snowy year. What can commonly happen when snow builds up in gutters and starts melting, it will also freeze after temperatures begin to drop. This allows for the gutter to start filling with ice, back-up behind the gutter, and drip off edge of the roof, which allows for the next melting to drip between the gutter and the gutter board. The water will then run back to the edge of the soffit and create a water stain. It usually causes no real damage.

We recommend that all soffits and gutters be cleaned every year. This helps prevent permanent staining and discoloration of the soffit and gutter systems.
(That is why we do not use the term “MAINTENANCE FREE EXTERIORS.” Everything requires some form of maintenance.)

3. “We have been in our house three years and this is the first time we have had any drywall nail pops. This occurred in our master bath tray ceiling. Did we do something to cause this?”

We try to explain drywall imperfections to our customers before we start any project. There are several reasons for nail pops and other imperfections. This probably occurred because we had a cold winter and there may have been moisture in this area that had never been removed as much this year. When there is no humidifier in a house, the heat tends to dry the moisture content more quickly. This will allow wood to move inside the house and in framing members. It is best to wait until spring before trying to touch these spots up, as they may become less or not noticeable at all.

Below are our notes added to our specifications:

NOTE: Drywall imperfections and finish variations are noticeable in the ceilings and walls and may become more noticeable after the paint is applied. This occurs for several reasons, some of which are:

The drywall material consists of two or more materials when applied and finished. The seams and nail spots are a different material than the board, and when the “mud” is applied to the wall board, the finished texture of the materials are different. Thus allowing the paint to amplify or make noticeable these different textures.

When butt seams are taped and mudded, the seam will be built up beyond the wallboard surface, thus amplifying the’ bump’ or hump in the wall.

The drywall is applied to wood, which has a natural tendency to move when temperature and weather conditions change. This can result in movement behind the drywall board, seams, nailed areas, taped areas, and other areas such as headers, corners, point load areas, and corner bead areas.

P. L. Lyons, Inc. strives for high quality finishes, however it is hereby understood that the finished look of the walls and ceilings may vary somewhat due to the above , and will be deemed acceptable with the painting as specified. Again these imperfections can occur because the drywall material consists of two or more materials when applied and finished. The seams and nail spots are a different material than the board, and when the “mud” is applied to the wall board, the finished texture of the materials are different. Thus allowing any paint to amplify or make noticeable these different textures, however it is much more noticeable with gloss, semi gloss, and or darker color paints. If more paint is required than what is specified, there will be an additional charge. If gloss and or semi gloss paints are used, the painting of the areas affected will cost considerably more.

4. “I have been in my house for six years and my driveway and sidewalk got a crack in it this year. Why did that happen?”

Having been in the building business for over 37 years, we guarantee that concrete will crack. It may be in the first seven days, or it may take seven years. The cracking can occur for several reasons, but the most common reason for sidewalk and driveway cracking is movement in the sub surface.

Last fall was unusually wet and that occurred after a serious summer drought. The ground had dried severely, allowing cracks and voids to occur in the soil. Then the rains occurred, allowing the shrunken soil to absorb moisture quickly and expand. Then we had sever freezing this winter, allowing the subsurface to expand even more. This allowed the concrete to heave, causing cracks where they had not occurred before.

There really isn’t much you can do to avoid this. Installing footers and drainage systems under drives and walks would be cost prohibitive. However, it does help the situation when we are in a dry season to water around these areas so the vegetation does not suck the soil completely dry and cause the cracks we see. This will help minimize the contraction and expansion of the soils.

5. A friend called this week about a foundation leak that occurred in his 40-year-old house. He said it had never leaked in the 37 years he has lived there. He asked what might have caused it to start leaking.

This is very much like the item above, where we went through a very dry summer. When the soil dries out around a foundation, especially one that has a large amount of plants and trees in the lawn, the vegetation can quickly deplete the soil of any moisture it usually retains. Then the plant roots go toward any moisture they can find, even if it is moisture against the foundation. The soil then dries up around the foundation, allowing the shrinkage and the cracking of the soil. This allows much more water than usual flowing around the foundation. If there was an unnoticeable crack in the concrete, it will become noticeable now. The drying and shifting of the soil outside the foundation may allow for new cracks to occur. Even plant and tree roots can cause the foundation to crack when growing toward that water and nutrient supply.

We recommend you always water around your foundation frequently when in a dry season. Also water trees and plants, which will help to avoid root systems from growing right up against a foundation and causing heaving of the concrete.

Comments

Some of the unique features of this affordable remodel are the custom molding and trim work, the rounded arches, and recessed lighting.

With Owl Creek being an established neighborhood, a lot of homeowners are looking to either finish their basements or make some other remodeling improvements. This video is a good example of how a custom basement finish can be accomplished easily and affordably when building new homes in Louisville is not an option.

For once this video has no audio, just some static (sorry) but you still get to see a gem of a basement finish.

People typically have less commitments and more free time during the winter months, making it the prime time for a home remodeling project…so let’s talk kitchens.

A “dream kitchen” is one item on most people’s wish list. Something cozy not cramped, family-friendly yet functional. When you think about your kitchen, what are some things you’d love to change? It might be the layout, more cabinet space, or just the overall flow of the room. If everything from your floors to your light fixtures are outdated, we can help. Think about the following tips and how they might play a role in your remodel:

• Your kitchen doesn’t necessarily have to be larger in order to function better. With kitchens being the heart of the home for a lot of families, they also play double duty for things like doing homework or entertaining. Your kitchen—despite its size—can be a multi-tasker if you plan carefully. Space-saving solutions that bump-up the functionality include built-in workspaces, banquette seating, and more.

• If you’re remodeling on a budget, but are still looking for that wow factor, splurge on one special luxury. You don’t have to go overboard on every purchase to make a statement. Spending a little more on a wine cooler, backsplash, or appliance will make the space that much more special, custom, and truly built for you.

If you’d like to discuss a kitchen re-do—or any interior project—schedule a free initial consultation. It’s not too late to get your remodeling job priced and finished.

In this video Perry explains a few differences in this project versus others and gets a glowing testimonial from the owner.