Good-Looking, Time-Saving Products for your Home
CerainTeed offers the gamut of low-maintenance vinyl siding choices, from value priced options to simulated shakes.
What’s behind the trend toward low-maintenance products for the home? Her Home went one-on-one with home buyers and builders to discover the perceptions and values behind the surge. The insights just might surprise you!
With warm weather settling in, Cindy’s thoughts turned to her spacious backyard deck where she and her family love to spend time. Every couple of years, she and her husband face the hassle of power washing and re-sealing their wood deck. Cindy says a low-maintenance alternative would be mentally freeing. “Installing a low-maintenance deck would bring the freedom of knowing you are completed with the project. I would never have to do anything with it again. I could sit and enjoy my deck without constantly thinking about the work it needs. It would bring closure to an otherwise ongoing project.”
Like Cindy, most of the women we talked with described maintenance as emotionally burdensome. Some felt guilty about not getting everything done. Others worried that bigger problems might arise if they didn’t get little upkeep projects done in time. The tasks intimidated some who feared they couldn’t do the job properly or that they would hire the wrong contractor and get “taken.” And, of course, most were concerned that their homes appeared well kept. Recently widowed, Delores provided a unique, new perspective on low maintenance that will likely only grow in importance. “When Steve (her husband) was around, we shared the maintenance issues. Now all of the home maintenance has fallen on me. There’s so much to be done; I don’t have time to do the things I would really like to do.”
Other women concurred, dismissing the notion that exterior maintenance and upkeep is primarily the man’s responsibility.
For many, the appeal is “easy to clean” or “lifetime warranty.” Is it any wonder so many homes are being touted as low maintenance?
What items or products would you like to see included in a new home? What are your “hot button” exterior cleaning or maintenance items?
Read the article at http://www.designbasics.com/Articles/DesignTrends/Carefree-Exteriors.asp.
