Home remodeling is a big business in the United States. For some, they buy a house in an area they like and then transform the house into what they really wanted. For others, they remodel the house as their family dynamic changes. Still others choose to remodel simply to get something fresh and new.
Regardless of the reason, remodeling is a big business as more and more home owners are taking the opportunity to turn their home into something better ad more suited to their needs and preferences. According to a recent study, the bathroom is the most remodeled room, followed closely by the kitchen.
The bathroom and kitchen also provide the greatest return on investment when selling a house. Remodeling the kitchen or bathroom prior to selling can increase the sale price by thousands of dollars.
Remodeling can be as big as gutting and rebuilding a room or as simple as adding new cabinet components or custom drawers. Anything to make the room look fresh, new, and updated. Laminate doors are popular in many areas as is crown moulding.
Open floor plans are currently very popular as they make the house look bigger. However, it is important to do your research before knocking out walls. Many home owners have decided to take their traditional floor plan and create an open floor plan by simply removing walls and laying new flooring down.
The problem many do-it-yourself- remodeling home owners will run into is not knowing which walls are load bearing walls and which ones are not. Removing a load bearing wall or post will compromise the integrity of the home. It may not simply collapse overnight, but the house will start to droop in the areas where it is not longer supported, which will create a massive amount of problems.
Aside from creating an incredibly unsafe environment, it will decrease the home value, and result to massive and expensive repairs done the road. Even if you want to do the remodeling work yourself, it is worth it to have a professional come in and advise you on which walls are load bearing walls, if you are not sure.
Taking the extra time to learn this will save time, money, and frustration in the future, which makes it worth the ounce of extra effort. This doesn’t mean you have to let go of your dreams of an open floor plan. You can strategically move walls to maintain partial walls or posts that are load bearing, or you can have a support beam put in to support the weight of the house.
If you decide to have a beam put in to replace the load bearing walls and posts, you should absolutely bring in a professional. That is not the kind of project you want to take a chance on. This can also allow you to have a completely open floor plan. You can take out several walls to create floor-wide open spaces and completely transform the living space.