The Press-Dispatch

April 6, 2022

The Press-Dispatch

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E-4 Spring Home & Garden Wednesday, April 6, 2022 The Press-Dispatch Let me take care of all your lawn needs! • Yard Mowing/Trimming • Landscape Maintenance • Pressure Washing • General Cleanup • Brush Clearing Call or text Ty Burns at 812-582-5236 Burns LAWN CARE & PRESSURE WASHING SATISFACTION GUARANTEED INSURED Free Estimates Where will you go Where will you go when the storm sirens sound? when the storm sirens sound? Integrity Storm Shelters 812-677-0010 www.integritystormshelters.com Open Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. CDT STORM SHELTERS We have been selling and installing LIFESAVER™ brand berglass underground storm shelters to Tri-State families for over ve years. SAFE ROOMS This year we have added ALL WEATHER SAFE ROOMS™ brand above ground safe rooms to our line-up. g s. a STORM SHELTERS We have been selling and installing LIFESAVER™ brand fiberglass underground storm shelters to Tri-State families for over six years. 14644 Old Petersburg Rd., Oakland City Roger Beckley, Owner Take a virtual tour of our beautiful manufactured homes on BairdHomesVincennes.com then stop in our office to complete your home ownership dream! 814 Niblack Blvd, Vincennes, IN 47591 814 Niblack Blvd, Vincennes, IN 47591 Toll free 800-743-7004 or 812-882-8757 Toll free 800-743-7004 or 812-882-8757 Monday-Friday 8 Monday-Friday 8am am-6 -6pm pm; Saturday 9 ; Saturday 9am am-5 -5pm pm Home Ownership Has Never Been Easier www.BairdHomesVincennes.com www.BairdHomesVincennes.com *purchase required Mention this ad to receive up to $ 500 * IN OPTIONS! HOMES Quality & Comfort for the Whole Family! Remodeling New Construction Additions Roofing Siding Decks Free Estimates 7246 E. 600 N, Montgomery Darrell R. Knepp 812- 4 86- 7799 Pros and cons to open-concept homes Open-concept homes have be- come increasingly popular in recent years. An open-concept home is one in which the rooms flow into one an- other with limited obstruction from walls or other barriers. According to the National Association of Home Builders, 84 percent of new sin- gle-family homes have fully or par- tially open layouts. While they may seem like a new trend, open floor plans are anything but. Early American homes featured open, often one- or two-room units built around the central kitchen/ hearth. This maximized warmth and functionality. Homes evolved as incomes grew, and soon homes had several smaller rooms with special- ized functions. What's old has become new again. However, before diving head first in- to a new home purchase or a big ren- ovation to realize an open-concept dream, consider the pros and cons of this type of setup to determine if it's really right for you. ADVANTAGES OF OPEN FLOOR PLANS Open floor plans facilitate the flow of natural light throughout a space and can promote air flow, helping to reduce warm or cool pockets of air in otherwise closed-off rooms. Open homes make socializing easier, even when people are doing different things. While someone is cooking dinner in the kitchen, he or she can still interact with someone else playing video games in the fam- ily room or paying bills in the home office. Entertaining also is easier, as mingling with guests is much more convenient when walls are not get- ting in the way. A smaller home can feel much larger if it employs an open concept. The square footage is not divided into smaller quarters, which some- times are rooms (such as formal din- ing rooms) that are only used a few times per year. This eliminates un- derused spaces and opens up sight lines in the layout. The value of real estate has risen dramatically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and prospec- tive buyers may prefer an open-con- cept plan because it can help them minimize building costs. DISADVANTAGES OF OPEN FLOOR PLANS Open layouts are not for every- one. The same sense of space that occurs when walls are taken down may make rooms feel cavernous and less cozy, particularly in homes with ample square footage. In addi- tion, privacy can be hard to come by when all rooms feed into one another. When the kitchen is not sepa- rate from the family room space, that makes it easy for noise to com- promise the area's comfort levels. There is no hiding from noise in an open floor plan, as sounds from voic- es, television shows and appliances tend to echo and blend together. And if the home is a single-story layout, those noises from the main living ar- eas also may carry to adjacent bed- rooms. Smoke and smells are another thing to consider. When something on the stove spills over, a small range hood will not be practical for clearing smoke from a large space. Though the aroma of freshly cooked food is enticing, it can make it hard for cooks to keep guests out of the kitchen. Open-concept homes are popu- lar, but homeowners should weigh the pluses and minuses to see if this trend is truly right for them. Popular kitchen flooring materials Kitch- ens have long been considered the most pop- ular gathering spaces in a home. That popularity compels millions of homeowners to renovate their kitchens each year, and the return on those investments is often significant. A number of variables, in- cluding the value of neighboring homes and how quickly home- owners sell their homes after a ren- ovation, affect the return on investment with a given project. According to Remodel- ing magazine's "2021 Cost vs. Value Report," homeowners re- couped roughly 72 percent of their investment in a minor kitchen re- model at resale. That's a sizable re- turn that outperformed other pop- ular upgrades, including vinyl sid- ing replacement and wood deck ad- ditions. When renovating kitchens, home- owners will have to consider various components within the room, includ- ing the floors. Average flooring costs can be hard to calculate because they depend so heavily on homeown- ers' choice of materials. The follow- ing are some popular flooring materi- als that homeowners can consider as they plan to renovate their kitchens. • Vinyl: Vinyl flooring is popular thanks in large part to its cost. Ac- cording to the home remodeling ex- perts at HomeAdvisor, vinyl floor- ing installation is much less cost- ly than other types of flooring. But its budget-friendliness is not the on- ly benefit of vinyl flooring, which HGT V notes is easy to clean, mak- ing it an ideal choice for families that routinely confront spills and stains. HomeAdvisor notes that vinyl is the best waterproof material among all kitchen floors. • Porcelain/ceramic tile: Ho- meAdvisor reports that the aver- age cost to install porcelain or ce- ramic tile flooring is between $ 885 and $2,994. That's less than the av- erage cost to install stone or wood flooring. Porcelain or ceramic tiles can be slippery when they get wet, though HGT V notes that some por- celain flooring tiles have been certi- fied as slip-resistant by the Ameri- cans with Disabilities Act. • Hardwood: It's hard to beat hardwood when it comes to aesthetic appeal. Hardwood can be especially suitable in homes with open-concept floor plans that already have hard- wood floors in surrounding rooms. HomeAdvisor notes that hardwood flooring installation can be costly, which might make it a less realistic option for budget-conscious home- owners. According to HGT V, engi- neered wood planks may be some- thing to consider in the kitchen, as these are designed to be less suscep- tible to humidity and temperature. That's an important component to consider in the kitchen, where tem- peratures can fluctuate while meals are being prepared. • Stone: Natural stone tile is an- other popular kitchen flooring mate- rial. HomeAdvisor traces that popu- larity to its wide variety of styles and price points, which make it a realistic option for homeowners working with budgets big and small. Stone tiles al- so provide a unique look because no two look the same, which might ap- peal to homeowners who want their kitchen floors to create a one-of-a- kind impression.

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