You just bought your dream home, and you can’t wait to move in and settle down. However, you know that there are quite a few improvements that must be made in your home before it’s ready for you. Unfortunately, this frustrating situation is often common for many people buying a home for the first time.
So, what home improvements before moving in do you need to do to make your home more livable? That question is often a very challenging one that requires you to get help from high-quality professionals. Thankfully, we have a few suggestions that we know will help your home stand out.
Improve Your Flooring
One of the most common suggestions for home improvements before moving in is effortlessly enhancing and upgrading your flooring. There are a few reasons why this is such a great option. First, flooring is often left in pretty rough shape when the former homeowner leaves a house.
For instance, there may be carpet damage throughout the home that leaves it in a pretty rough shape. Or there may be problems with the overall structure and stability of the flooring that makes it rough and potentially dangerous. So make sure you pay attention to these upgrades and choose the flooring that makes sense.
Look for signs of damage throughout your flooring, such as scrapes, scratches, cracks, or any other problems. Typically, these issues are most common if you have foundation problems that need to be repaired. Thankfully, you can usually quickly fix these to minimize your damage problems.
Typically, it is honestly best to remove your carpeting and to put in hard floors. Hardwood flooring is often an excellent option for many homeowners and should keep your house looking great. However, the option ultimately falls to you, so make sure you are prepared for this unique challenge.
New Paint Job
Another of the most crucial home improvements before moving in is upgrading your paint job. There’s a good chance that you likely have very old paint throughout your home that will be unappealing to you and others. Thankfully, upgrades are available.
Typically, you can enhance your interior painting in various unique ways to make it more appealing to you. This step also helps to protect the exterior and interior of your home by adding a protective layer of paint that manages wear and tear problems. Here’s how to choose a new paint:
- Pick a neutral color or a more extreme option that appeals to you
- Carefully strip your old paint away using a paint thinner or remover
- Paint over the stripped wall using careful and controlled strokes
- Wait a day or two for your paint to dry, and add another coat
- Repeatedly add coats until you are satisfied with your new look
This process can be sped up outside by using a paint gun or by contacting a professional. Often, the best moving companies know the names of various renovation artists, so you can ask these experts who they would suggest or who their customers usually call for their paint jobs.
Change and Upgrade Door Looks
When talking to your real estate agent about home improvements before moving in, changing your locks is a good idea. You don’t want anybody who lived there in the past to come checking your home out again, even if you know the people who previously owned the house just before you.
It may also be a good idea to upgrade the locks in any way that makes sense for your needs. Doing so will help to make your home even safer. For instance, enhanced sliding-bolt locks, various electronic security options, and much more can also help make your home a safer place.
While doing these repairs, it is also a good idea to contact repair experts to fix garage door broken springs and any other issues with your storage sheds. Add new locks to these areas, as well, to keep them safe and secure and to minimize any potential dangers you might otherwise experience.
Enhance Your Ceiling
Does your new home have those unappealing “popcorn” ceiling that was so common in the 1960s and 1970s? There’s a good chance that at least one or two of your rooms do possess this unappealing look. While it was much more attractive years ago, it has become dated and may even contain asbestos.
As a result, it is vital to contact an expert who fully understands how to remove this ceiling and safely put it in a new one. Next, call an asbestos assessment team to help with the first step. Finally, even if your popcorn ceiling does not contain asbestos, you should treat it as if it does to be safe.
After this team takes out the offending tiles, you can contact an expert to replace your ceiling with a new option. There are a few different options here. For example, you can add more modern and contemporary ceiling tiles or a drop ceiling that is relatively inexpensive to install.
And while you’re working on your ceiling, you might as well get a roofer to come and upgrade your home’s roof as well. These two professionals can work together to spot damage that may lead to leaks and provide high-quality repairs that keep your home as safe as possible from this issue.
Pay Attention to Your Paving
Does your new home have a large amount of paving throughout its grounds? For instance, does it have a driveway, garden pathways, various concrete structures, a sidewalk, and other paving areas that need to be enhanced? This step is another on the long list of home improvements before moving in that you must do.
If you don’t upgrade your paving areas and let them degrade, there’s a good chance that they’ll end up severely damaged and unable to support much weight. This problem is particularly true in your foundation, which doesn’t require concrete contractors but another team of professionals to handle correctly. Just a few things that you’ll need to be done include:
- Fixing any cracks on your driveway and potentially adding new slabs of concrete
- Paying attention to your sidewalk to upgrade its overall appearance and style
- Removing broken structures, like statutes, and replacing them with new ones
- Adding new pavers throughout your garden and yard to make it more appealing
- Working with landscapers to create a better and more appealing lawn appearance
In this way, your concrete or asphalt professionals can provide you with the high-quality look you want and deserve. Just as critically, they can take steps to minimize any potential damage that may occur throughout these elements of your home and create a style that makes sense for you.
So make sure you contact these professionals and work with them to get the high-quality upgrades you want and deserve for your home. Don’t forget, though, that you have many more enhancements that must be done to make your home the kind of place that you deserve to own.
Enhance Important Electrical and Plumbing Elements
Other home improvements before moving in include upgrading your electrical and plumbing aspects to ensure that your home is comfortable and safe. These steps are often quite diverse and require you to work directly with the plumber to get the best overall experience for your needs as a homeowner.
Start by paying attention to your electrical system to ensure that your home is safe. Please pay attention to the quality of the wires to ensure that they are not frayed or damaged. Replace any wiring in your home that is potentially damaging and work directly with electricians to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Next, it is important to add elements like additional outlets and to upgrade your new outlets. You may also want to change out your switches, install a new fuse box, and make sure that your home has the electrical capacity that you want and deserve long before you ever move into it.
After you’re done with the electrical aspects, move on to your plumbing. These steps will include checking your pipes for corrosion and replacing them if they are damaged. Again, look for green on your pipes as a vital sign that they are getting worn out and potentially damaged.
As importantly, you need to make sure you upgrade any fixtures in your home to ensure that they work as efficiently as possible. These steps include adding new sinks, better toilets, more effective showers, and enhancements to your water system that make it more appealing and valuable.
When you finish these upgrades, you’ve made your home a better place to live and one that will likely rarely need upgrades for many years. Yes, you may end up spending a lot of money, but enhancing your efficiency and making your home a better place to live is more than worth it for your needs.
Don’t Ignore Your HVAC System
The last significant home improvements before moving in are usually centered around your HVAC system. This element of your home helps to make it more comfortable and enjoyable. However, without high-quality HVAC upgrades, you may run into some real troubles. Thankfully, there are a few steps that you can take to ensure that your home is better for you and your family, including:
- Adding a new water heater or upgrading your current model to make it more efficient
- Water-source filters that eliminate chemicals or metals that could make your water hard
- Putting in a new heater that uses a more efficient form of temperature control management
- Installing a central cooling system that helps to make your home more comfortable in the summer heat
- Upgrading your thermostats or adding new ones to create a zone-style heating system
- Enhancing your floors by putting in heating that makes these rooms more comfortable
These AC repairs will give your home the long-term heating and cooling help that it needs to avoid problems. In addition, these systems are thankfully relatively easy to upgrade. They will often last for a decade or longer after upgrades, as long as you get maintenance by professionals who understand what they’re doing.
Other Steps to Take
Last on your list of home improvements before moving in includes various steps that should be taken before you move in but which don’t fall anywhere in the categories we already mentioned. Just a few steps that you need to take here include how you should:
- Install new fencing around your home to keep your yard safe and protected from others
- Call a pest control professionals to get rid of vermin that may invade your home
- Use deep cleaning tools to make your home protected from various types of debris and dirt
- Enhance your organization and shelving to make it easier to store many items for a long time
- Install new batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors
- Put in new heating and cooling filters in your HVAC system
- Add childproofing elements if you have very young children, such as door-handle locks
- Change your windows and doors to make them more efficient and effective for long-term protection
- Consider adding an extra room or two if your house feels too small for your needs
By the time you are done with these steps, you’ll have upgraded many elements of your home and made it a more attractive and appealing place to live. You’ll have spent a bit of money, yes, but you’ll feel much more comfortable moving into your home with your loving family.
Try to perform all of these home improvements before moving in and talk to your renovation teams about any other steps that you need to do to keep your home in great shape. You may end up finding that other things must be done before you feel comfortable in your home.
