‘Tis the year to find the home of your wildest dreams. Whether you’re new to The Peach State or you’re a local, it’s your destiny to find the right home at the best price. However, before you make an offer, find out what to look for when buying a home in Georgia.

This list is far from comprehensive, but it gives you a quick overview of the most important things to look for in a home. As always, please work with an experienced home inspector to ensure the safety of your new house! If you need any help, we are standing by to offer painting services, siding installation, and more.

Keep an Eye Out For Structural Issues

Uneven Floors May Indicate Foundation Issues

Uneven floors in a house can be a telltale sign of underlying structural issues. Such irregularities might result from foundational settlement, where certain parts of a house sink more than others over time. This can be due to soil erosion, water damage, or poor initial construction techniques. Additionally, wooden support beams that have suffered from rot, termite damage, or prolonged moisture exposure can weaken, leading to sagging or sloping floors. Recognizing and addressing uneven floors is crucial, as they can be indicative of more significant, hidden problems that compromise the safety and integrity of the entire structure.

That said, a structural engineer or qualified inspector may note that settling around an older home is natural, and just because your foundation has settled a bit, it doesn’t mean that your house is structurally unsound.

Bowing Ceilings and Cracked Walls

If you see dips in your ceiling, or if there are cracks in your stucco walls (or if your drywall is becoming detached), you might have framing issues or foundation work that needs to be addressed.

Is There Water Damage in the Basement?

Water is the homeowner’s enemy – always. Do you have broken window well guards? Are there streaks below the windows in your basement? Is there mold, rust, or sediment on the concrete floor? All of these and more can indicate past water damage in your basement.

Firstly, you will need to have a professional contractor remove the mold in your basement. But after that, you will need to:

• Grade the exterior of your home, and perhaps add swales, to move water away from the home
• Clean or install new gutters and downspouts
• Repair any cracks in the foundation wall that may have been the result of water damage
• Build a French drain around the exterior of your house
• Install a sump pump in the basement

Water can make it impossible for you to finish the basement, and the hydrostatic pressure can destroy your foundation. This is one of the most important things to look for in a house.

How is the Electric in the House?

Hire a professional inspector to take a look at the wiring and electrical technology in your home. If circuits are double-tapped, if your have live wires, if your outlets are outdated, or if there are other issues, you could be endangering your family. Many times, electrical fixes are not very expensive or time consuming, so call an electrician asap.

Dead Trees Surrounding the House

North Georgia is beautiful and wooded, but large trees can lead to large problems. For instance, if you have a large dead treat with branches over your house, you may need to allocated $3K or so just to safely cut down that tree. A storm could cause the tree to fall on your home, or falling branches may break windows and crush shingles.

Inspect Your Windows and Doors

As the leading window replacement contracts in Alpharetta, we see homes every week that have faulty or outdated windows. Fogginess between the pains, frames that are warped or rotted, or other problems can let bugs in and ruin your HVAC efficiency.

Door installation is another important and costly item to check off the list. Doors can rot, need to be shaved because of foundational shifting, or require other maintenance to prevent air passing in and out of your home.

How is the Roof?

Many roofs need to be replaced every 10-15 years, so find out when the last iteration of shingles was placed on the home. you’ll need to check for leaks, missing shingles, damage from trees, rotted wood along the roof, and sagging (the latter being the most expensive thing to fix). If the roof is old, start setting money aside to have it replaced before it becomes a problem.

Termites and Rodents

Get a qualified inspector to look for wood damage that comes from termites and other wood-consuming insects. If you are in a competitive market, you may not be able to use that as a negotiating chip, but you will at least know to budget for an exterminator.

Rodents are also important — looks for signs of droppings, nests, and holes around the exterior of your home and attic. A field mouse only needs the tiniest gap to find its way into your home.

How is the Driveway, Patio, and Deck?

Our concrete coating contractors in Alpharetta help homeowners treat concrete floors with durable polyurea coatings, and we’ve often helped sellers improve the value of their home before putting it on the market. Your driveway may also have cracks and require a re-sealing of the pavement — for a large driveway, you may need to budget $2K-$4K. Decks that are structurally unsound, patios with bad slopes or loose paver stones, and more — this will cost you money down the road.

Check the Appliances

Checking the appliances is crucial. This ensures the home doesn’t have issues. While you’re looking through the kitchen, basement, and garage, make sure any new additions—such as new lights and the garage door—work efficiently.

Additionally, check that these items also work:

• The Microwave
• The Dishwasher
• The Washer and Dryer

Call Bear Mountain For Many of the Most Common Home Repairs

As the leading house painters in Alpharetta and the entire surrounding area, we’ve helped many people who are buying or selling a home make necessary improvements. From house painting services in Roswell to garage floors in Cumming, we would be happy to offer a complimentary quote to you.

When we leave wood unattended after exposure to water or moisture, we don’t realize it’s depleting our health. So, to help ensure your home doesn’t develop potential problems from wet or dry rot, here are different ways to eliminate dry rot in your Georgia home. In this blog, our professional custom carpenters in Cumming, GA will explain dry rot, how to avoid it, and what to do if you find this problem in your home.

If you need house painting services in Cumming, professional exterior painters in Alpharetta, or a complimentary quote from our expert door installation team, please get in touch.

What Is Dry Rot?

Dry rot is another name for brown rot decay. Dry rot typically occurs after exposure to excessive humidity, or in flood-damaged wood. If the wood doesn’t cure fully, it can grow a fungus that hardens over a period of seven to ten days.

How To Identify Dry Rot

It’s easy to identify dry rot, as it forms in four stages. When it first enters the spore stage, the fungi begin to develop. The spores create fine orange marks.

If not taken care of, the spores enter stage two, where white strands start to grow from the bacteria—the white strands are called the hyphae stage.

Upon the inception of the white strands, a large mass of strands moves along a home or building’s sides, eventually leading to a fruiting state, which is the final stage.

However, it’s vital to remove the rot in its second stage before it sprouts and spreads throughout your home.

How Dry Rot Creates Damage

Dry rot’s not something you want in your home, mainly if you have dealt with the problem in the past. Many may not know what dry rot does to cause damage to a house. Such damage includes the following:

• The beams and posts deteriorate
• Floors rot
• Roof caves in
• Ceiling joists break
• Decks collapse

Don’t find dry rot too late, or else you risk paying more to replace your entire home or deck.

Preventing Dry Rot

Never fear; there are two ways to eliminate dry rot in your Georgia home, as well as some quick tips to help find dry rot in the future.

Limit Water Exposure

Depending on the climate you live in, it’s pretty hard to limit water exposure to any wooden piece, like the deck or roof.

So, the first thing you want to do to prevent rotting wood is to hire local Interior trim carpenters in Cumming, GA to help paint, seal, and prime your wooden surfaces. Also, a carpenter will check the windows and doors and adequately seal them to prevent water from entering your home.

Here are ways to prevent dry rot in the future:

• Install gutters
• Check the roof annually
• Always maintain the HVAC system

Treating Dry Rot

There are three ways to get rid of dry rot in your home. These ways are highly effective in fighting off unwanted fungi.

Here are three methods to treat dry rot:

• Antifreeze
• Epoxy treatment
• Copper compounds

When maintaining the durability of your home, it’s essential to keep out unwanted mold issues and risks with rotted wood. Bear Mountain Custom Painting offers exemplary carpentry services that help restore homes by removing exposed timber. We can also help with door and window installation in Cumming, GA. For more information on our carpentry services and to learn more about dry and wet rot, contact us. If you need other services like siding installation in Alpharetta, GA or anything else, please contact us for a complimentary quote.

To keep a home secure, you need to have siding. The siding protects the interior from weather damage and can improve the overall look of your home. Here are the common home siding installation mistakes you want to avoid. Read on for more information on what to look for before replacing your siding.

Not Choosing Good Products

If you purchase siding from a sketchy retailer or someone who doesn’t stand behind their product, you’re in trouble.

Not only will the quality of the product be unsatisfactory, but the type of warranty you get may not cover accidents.

So, before purchasing a siding material or specific product, always do your research.

The best products come with easy-to-understand warranties and better insight into what you’re buying and what customers say about the brand.

Not Hiring a Professional

Unlike other projects you can finish on your own or in a longer timeframe, many professionals don’t mind coming out to help, especially if it’s only for an inspection or an estimate.

Many beginners forget to contact a company like Bear Mountain Custom Painting for the best siding installation in Cumming, GA.

We understand you may want to do this on your own, but without having a professional inspect the work or help with the significant tasks, you can run into later issues.

Not Having Secure Layers

You want enough cushioning to help support the walls and avoid any moisture buildups in places like your interior walls. These layers that you need for your exterior siding installation are underlayments.

The underlayment is a barrier-like material that acts as a defense mechanism when water seeps through cracks in your siding.

Not only should siding contain underlayment, but so should windows and doors. The underlayment between doors and windows protects the exterior siding from springing a leak.

Not Using the Right Procedures

With any exterior project, you want to ensure you or the contractor you hire uses exemplary practices when nailing your panels onto your home.

It’s easy to become carried away and think we can hack our way through exterior panel installation. However, when we DIY our siding without experience or a guide, we create issues, such as leaks, cracks, and even damage to the foundation.

All in all, leave all the heavy work to a professional. Tasks like hammering nails to the home’s base without a professional can cause problems. So give Bear Mountain Custom Painting a call. We’re here to help guide you with your home renovation.

As you read through our common home siding installation mistakes, keep in mind that the best approach to a successful build is to use a professional service.

Even as we fix up the exterior of our home, it’s important to note an exceptional service that can help guide you through the process and inform you on how to avoid one of these siding installation mistakes.

Contact Bear Mountain Custom Painting for additional insight on our siding installation services in Alpharetta and much more.

Before we can place furniture into a room, we need to paint the walls. However, we may not know where to start or whom to contact for recommendations. We can always rely on suggestions from friends, but the natural choice comes from our personality and what mood we want to establish. Here’s more insight into how color psychology impacts each room in your home.

What Is Color Psychology?

If you’ve ever wondered why you felt at peace after entering a room with lavender or gray walls, you can either thank or blame color psychology.

Color psychology describes the shift in mood someone experiences when walking into a room with a specific wall color. For example, a red room can make one feel hungry and increase their heart rate.

So we associate the color red with hunger. Or, to identify another, we associate yellow with happiness.

When you enter a restaurant, you may notice that you often see the color red splattered across walls. Many restaurants and other food establishments use red as a marketing tool for customers to remember their names when they feel hungry. As for other restaurants, such as fast-food joints, we can associate orange with these places.

Even with the different colors, we can utilize each shade in our homes. For instance, a gorgeous shade of terra cotta or burnt sienna would work perfectly. These two aren’t terribly dark, and they aren’t too bright.

Here are other colors and their meanings, so you know how they will set the mood for each room.

Pink

We may associate this color with the 1950s; a colorful array of milkshakes makes us want to go to a sock-hop right now. However, we may find pink in the bathroom or a child’s room, depending on the shade.

Although pink is considered calmer, it also comes with powerful features, which may explain why so many confident individuals use this color.

The color represents a lifestyle that may be the happy medium between a sensitive nature and someone serious about their wants and needs.

Blue

Blue is a fun color that we can immediately identify as natural, clean, and relaxing. However, despite the calming nature of this color, it can also decrease things like depression and help one feel more confident.

Tips for Selecting an Interior Color

Blue and pink are two of many colors that help set the tone or mood of a room in your home. Here are some tips when deciding what colors to pick for each room.

The Kitchen

We associate three colors with the kitchen and may find the most commonly used: yellow, green, and gray. Here’s a look at picking the right shade based on color psychology.

Gray

Gray might seem simple, but the wrong color tone can negatively alter the mood if you aren’t careful. For instance, a storm cloud gray can turn a room from calm to sad or angry fast.

So, you want a strong tone that can complement any other colors you use in the kitchen when selecting gray.

When picking gray, use other neutral and warm tones to balance the mood.

Green

Green’s the best color out of all three; it makes a kitchen feel inviting and natural. Like gray, though, it can alter a mood and not capture the essence you were aiming for.

The color green can make the home feel grounded and relaxed. So after picking the color, pair it with fun, sustainable kitchen appliances.

Yellow

Yellow’s a fun color, but you don’t want to go over the top. Despite this being an exciting yet energetic color, you want to ensure it holds other colors to help control the excitement.

Furthermore, balance the yellow with neutral tones, such as shades of brown. The brown might make it look like a beehive, but that beehive’s your always-welcoming home.

The Living Room

The living room’s the second room you spend most of your time in, so help it feel relaxing with one of these two colors.

Blue

Keep cool and calm as a cucumber with the many shades of blue. A blue living room allows the area to feel natural and relaxing to sit in with family and friends.

However, like other shades, blue comes in either light or dark, so select a hue that’s not too light or dark, like a pastel blue or light navy.

Lavender

Lavender does something that no other shades of purple can; it brings inspiration to others and creates a calming atmosphere.

The Bedroom

Color psychology impacts each room in your house, but especially your bedroom. Exploring different moods in the bedroom often depends on the color. Here are two colors to use and how they affect your attitude.

Lavender

You may find lavender to be a gorgeous color in your bedroom, but for Bear Mountain Custom Painting, it’s much more than that. We like to keep ourselves updated on the benefits of choosing paint colors based on psychology.

Our choice of lavender stems from how relaxing the color is and how it helps us drift off to dreamland.

Green

As stated earlier, green is an earthy tone that makes a room feel a little bigger and brighter. You can also choose green because it goes with many nursery room themes.

No matter the color you use, Bear Mountain Custom Painting’s house painting services in Cumming, GA will guide you in selecting the right color for your room.

Whether you’re looking for a paint color that drives excitement and adventure or one that helps calm children down, each color you pick can help establish the tone you want.

Don’t neglect the walls as you move through your home remodeling process. Whether you’re looking to sell or make your own peaceful hideaway, Bear Mountain Custom Painting provides the best painting services this side of Atlanta, GA.

Every home deserves a space with a balanced mood throughout the home, so get started setting the right mood with Bear Mountain Custom Painting’s fine painting contractors. You can contact us for additional information and more colors to explore if you’re looking for a specific mood.

Even if we can’t invite TV professionals over for a surprise home renovation for a friend or family member, we can still do our best to give them the remodel of their dreams through these creative ways to give the gift of home renovation.

Of course, if you know someone who could use our services, we always appreciate a referral. We offer the following, among many others:

• house painting in Roswell
• house painting in Buford
• house painting in Westfield
• window replacement in Roswell
• Window replacement in Johns Creek
• and so much more

Gift a Gift Card

In this instance, gift cards may be more thoughts than other types of gifts. If they are doing the renovations themselves, a gift card to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Sherwin Williams, or perhaps a lighting fixture store in the area could help them out. A more casual gift card might be something from Pottery Barn, a local art dealer, or something else.

You obviously can’t buy someone a couch, painting (usually – unless you know their taste), or set of windows, since those purchases are extremely personal.

Gift a Design Service

Your loved one might not have the money to finish their kitchen the rest of the year due to cuts in the budget. If you want to see them make their way to the kitchen Christmas morning with a big smile on their face while sipping their morning coffee, hire a design service that can finish the job.

Our interior painting contractors in Cumming can put the finishing touches on a kitchen or living room remodel. Bear Mountain Custom Painting can help get other bigger projects done, especially if you are building an addition.

Gift Your Time

Before beginning a project, some other repairs may need to be finished, such as plumbing and replacing floor tiles. These tasks eat up time and sometime lead to discovering other problems that the budget will need to cover.

Dedicate some time this holiday season to fixing those pesky problems that deter a friend or family member from finishing their home improvement project. Making a minor plumbing fix can help save time and money.

Is It Appropriate To Gift Tools to Home Renovators?

If you know the person well, or if they have specifically mentioned a tool they would like to have, feel free to give them a tool (or buy a gift card to a store that has it). They probably have a hammer and level, but perhaps they have been holding out on a high-powered drill, new circular saw, or something else.

Gift Pre-Paid Material or Magazines

Has your friend been eyeing specific flooring from a high-end store or maybe new windows to save on energy? If so, then buy the materials and gift them; that way, they can finish their home remodel project.

For those still deciding on designs and styles, the gift of a magazine subscription can help them get inspired for their new home transformation.

Every home project comes with challenges and so does holiday shopping. However, these ways to give the gift of home renovation are the solution to both challenges! Have fun completing your holiday shopping with the gift of home improvement.

Bear Mountain Custom Painting offers many services that make excellent gifts for the holidays, from interior home painting to window installation in Cumming, GA, and more. In addition to those service, we are the go-to concrete coating company in Cumming, GA. Contact us to learn more.

We often neglect to look for potential problems in our homes. Many older homes go without repairs for so long they often get abandoned and remain that way until someone decides to gut it and transform it. As a homeowner, it’s essential to look out for any signs it’s time to renovate your home.

Your Floors Are Deteriorating

You’ve likely seen enough of it on TV to be able to tell when floors are caving in and need to get replaced. Once your floorboards start to detach and carve a hole into the ground, it’s time to pick up the phone and call a contractor.

Floor wear can happen for many reasons, and without proper inspection, they’ll continue to fall apart. So, when fixing up your flooring, consider swapping it out for wood paneling—it lasts longer than tiles, is easier to clean, and it’s a great return on investment.

If you have carpeting, make sure to change it out every ten years, or else you’re going to be walking through a landfill of harmful germs and grime.

Your Roof Is Leaking

If your roof is leaking and making everything miserable, hire someone to take a look so you can live in peace without worrying about leaks. When the inspector looks at your roof, ask them to give you an estimate of how much it would cost to get it fixed or replaced.

You’re looking to spend around $4,500 to $10,000 on a new roof. However, the price depends on the shingle type and the roof’s square footage. Keep in mind that the bigger the roof’s foot area is, the higher the replacement cost.

Your House Feels Too Small or Big

You have likely lots of things cluttered around your house—and if you have a family, the amount of clutter has likely grown. If your home feels overcrowded with things—whether it’s too large or too small—then it’s time to either downgrade or upgrade.

For those living in homes that feel too tight, consider upgrading your space. For instance, you can use home improvement services to help you develop a new floor plan for your home.

For people living in big homes, downgrade by moving into one that’s smaller. This can help reduce clutter.

You Have an Outdated Kitchen and Bathroom

Your home’s main areas are the bathroom and kitchen, so if they aren’t updated, they won’t function properly. So, as you move through the renovation plan, consider replacing countertops with something modern and repaint your cabinets to give them a new look.

Additionally, do the same with your bathroom by installing new appliances. You can’t go wrong with fitting in a bigger bathtub or getting a new vanity. These projects aren’t cheap, so while you’re planning, formulate a budget for things you need right away and put some money away to prepare for things you want later.

The Entire House is Outdated

You don’t need to bulldoze your entire house to start from scratch. If your entire house is old and outdated, view it as an unfinished canvas that simply needs improvements. As you work through your rooms, consider adding new windows and doors to help save on energy and improve insulation.

Additionally, hire extra help to remove health hazards such as asbestos. Your home may have it, so call an inspector to come in and test for asbestos so it can get removed.

Since old homes are drafty, consider installing a new HVAC system to control its air, heat, and ventilation.

If you’re considering redoing the basement or attic, go to city hall and ask about specific building codes and regulations to know what you can and can’t do during your remodel. When considering other projects—such as altering the basement—hold off until you have enough money to fix any issues.

There Are Unwanted Visitors

If you’ve seen pests around your home, they’re likely burrowing in your gutters or attic space. Infestations are one of the major signs it’s time to renovate your home. It would help if you remodeled after an infestation to prevent pests from returning. Many rodents and insects are attracted to the dirty areas in old houses.

If there’s a sign of rodents or any other infestation in your home, get it removed as soon as you can. By doing this, you deter other rodents and insects from coming into your house.

The Paint is Chipping

It’s a bad sign if your home’s paint is chipping away and the exterior’s wood is warping and declining. When paint chips, it’s a sign that the house isn’t doing well. The best course of action is to paint over the unsightly areas and apply a finish to help it set.

Don’t forget to check your siding; if it’s bad, then your home is starting to deteriorate, which can negatively affect its foundation. So, to prevent it from worsening, get the right tools or contact a professional who can help inspect and resolve the problem before it gets out of hand.

After you’ve painted everything and your home looks newer and better, and it’ll become easier to spot future signs that it’s time to repaint your home’s siding.

When you rely on a home contractor, you’re looking for the best ways to improve your home’s quality and extend its life more. For example, when redoing your house, look out for areas that need improvement to see which room should get tackled first.

Bear Mountain Custom Painting can help you achieve your goals in many different ways. You can improve your home and even increase its value. We can provide the exemplary service you’re looking for, from home renovation services to fixing the gutters on your house.

Your home is an unfinished canvas. You can improve its layout by contacting Bear Mountain Custom Painting for an estimate on your next home remodel. With our services, you can turn your home from old and outdated to something new and fantastic.