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Watch Out For Energy Goblins!

October 22, 2013 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, residential entry doors, windows and doors, winter home preparation

goblins-150x150With the first hard freeze and first snowflakes of the season here in Chicagoland, it’s time to prepare to do battle against the energy goblins, those little things that can cause your winter energy bills to go through the roof! Here are some simple tips to make sure your home is ready for the cold months ahead:

  1. Make sure all of your windows are closed and firmly locked. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many people forget to actually lock their windows, which allows heat to escape around the edges of the sash. Locking them causes the weatherstripping to seal tightly, so lock them up tight!
  2. You also might want to lock storm doors and entry doors (including deadbolts) even when you are home. Again, this snugs the weatherstripping tight within the door frames, keeping out the wind and weather.
  3. Change your furnace filter. A dirty filter causes your furnace to work harder to keep your home warm, raising your energy costs in the process.
  4. Additionally, have your furnace professionally serviced to catch any small issues that could turn into something major. A $100 investment in a service call could save you hundreds on a failed furnace that results in a late night or weekend call to the heating company.
  5. If you don’t already have one, invest in a programmable thermostat. That way, you can preprogram your furnace settings for various times of the day. For instance, set your heat at 62 degrees or so at night while you are sleeping (you’re under the covers, so you’ll be plenty warm even at this temperature), then schedule the temperature to kick up to around 70 degrees or so shortly before your alarm goes off. That way, your home will be toasty warm when you get up, making it a little easier to get out of that warm bed! If your house is not occupied during the day, you might want to kick it down to the mid 60’s while you’re gone, again, scheduling it to get a little warmer shortly before you return home. Many of these thermostats even have separate weekend settings so that you can set up a comfortable temperature for those days that you are home.

If you follow these simple suggestions, you should see a decrease in your winter heating costs. And, if you still notice drafts around windows or doors even after locking them tight, it’s probably time for an upgrade. Call us at Evergreen Door & Window at (708) 423-1720 to visit our website at https://www.evergreenwindow.com to schedule a professional consultation. Our energy efficient windows and doors will help you save energy, paying you back for your investment in very little time!

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, residential entry doors, windows and doors, winter home preparation

4 Easy Steps to Make Your Home Winter Worthy

October 9, 2013 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

wind-150x150Fall has definitely arrived in our area, and along with it cooler temperatures and changing leaves. That means winter is not far away, and now is the time to get your home ready for the cold temperatures and blustery winds soon to come. We’d like to offer you some simple steps to get your home ready for the impending bitter weather so you and your family can be warm and cozy in the coming months.

  1. Clean all of your windows, inside and out. This may seem like an unusual suggestion, but think about it; as the days get shorter, clean windows will allow more sunshine to enter, adding light and warmth to your home. Besides, with today’s easy to clean tilt-in windows, you can perform this task from inside your home, rather than having to stand out in the cold on a shaky ladder to clean the outside. You don’t have tilt-in windows? Don’t worry; we can still replace your old windows with new, energy efficient vinyl tilt-in windows in just 2 weeks!
  2. Remove screens from storm doors and replace them with their glass inserts to create a weather barrier for your entry doors. This is also the time to check your storm doors to make sure that they operate properly and are not allowing substantial air to seep around them. If they do not seem to be doing their job, we can help you find the right storm door to protect your home and enhance its beauty at the same time. By the way, do not remove the screens from your home’s windows; today’s screen materials are designed to endure virtually all kinds of weather and remain in your windows year round.
  3. While you are checking out your storm doors, don’t forget to inspect your entry doors for wind and water infiltration. The old dollar bill trick still works quite well; if a dollar bill will easily slip in and out of the closed door, top, bottom, or sides, that means heat, cold, and moisture can also transfer through that gap, costing you energy dollars. (By the way, this is also true for windows.) Once again, we are here to help you find the perfect new entry door for your home.
  4. Once the autumn leaves have fallen from the trees, clean and inspect your gutters. Otherwise, clogged gutters could lead to ice backup, which will not only damage your gutters, but could lead to ice dams that could back up into your roof line, damaging your shingles and underlayment. Leaky gutters can also result in the formation of dangerous icicles that could break off and injure someone, or the weight of the ice could cause the gutters to pull loose from your home, making them pretty much useless. And, yes, if you find that you need to replace your gutters, we can help you with that, too!

So, in summary, to get your home ready for the approaching winter weather, clean your windows, prepare your storm doors, check your entry doors for air leakage, and cold-150x150clean and inspect your gutters. After that, your home’s exterior should be ready to keep you warm and cozy for another chilly season.

Call us at (708) 423-1720 or visit our website at https://www.evergreenwindow.com to help get your home ready for the chill.

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

Take Advantage of Fall Savings on Vinyl Windows

October 2, 2013 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, vinyl window rebates, windows and doors, winter home preparation

As I mentioned in my last post, vinyl windows are a great way to improve the beauty and energy efficiency of your home in just two weeks. Now, we have even more reasons for you to call right now to order your new vinyl windows from Evergreen Door & Window.

First, one of our favorite vinyl window partners, Simonton Windows (recently named “Highest in Customer Satisfaction” by JD Power & Associates for an impressive 4th year in a row) has authorized us to offer our customers the following:          

ART_JDPowerAwards2013-300x100

  1. 50% off woodgrain interior option on all vinyl windows purchased by October 31, 2013.
  2.  Free upgrade to 366 glass, one of the most energy efficient glass options we offer.

BeatTheFreezeLogo-300x146Second, another of our most popular vinyl window partners, Sunrise Windows, is offering up to $500 manufacturer’s rebate on the purchase of windows ordered from Evergreen Door & Window between October 7 and November 1, 2013. Rebates vary depending upon the number of windows and options purchased. 

Call us at (708) 423-1720 or visit our website https://www.evergreenwindow.com to speak to our professional associates about these impressive savings offers, and to order your new vinyl windows today!

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, vinyl window rebates, windows and doors, winter home preparation

Save Time and Energy – Choose New Vinyl Windows for Your Home

September 16, 2013 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

vinyl-double-hungIf you read my last post, you may be thinking that you do want to replace your windows before winter, but you don’t want to have to wait until the holidays to get them installed. Well, we do have good news for you. We can order and install your windows in only 2 weeks. All you have to do is select vinyl windows instead of wood. That’s right; we can order and install your new vinyl windows in just 2 weeks, as opposed to 8 weeks for wood windows. And, before you start thinking that vinyl windows don’t fit your needs, let’s take a look at what today’s vinyl windows have to offer.

21st century vinyl windows are not only energy efficient and easy to care for; they offer an amazing variety of interior and exterior color options, including some very realistic looking woodgrain interiors. Add to that a wide selection of glass and grid options, and we can help you create the exact appearance that you desire to bring out the best in your home.

So, if you want to replace your windows before the cold winter winds reach us yet again, visit our website at https://www.evergreenwindow.com or call us at (708) 423-1720 to schedule your professional in home consultation. We are here to help you choose the exact vinyl windows to suit your unique needs, with over 50 years of experience providing custom fit expert installation in your home.

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, home repair, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

Plan Home Renovations Now to Avoid Holiday Horrors

September 12, 2013 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

It drives me crazy to walk into a store in September and see Christmas decorations right next to the Halloween, or to turn on the radio before Thanksgiving only to hear Christmas carols. So, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I turned on the news this morning to see one of the key stories is that a major retailer is already running commercials for holiday shopping, and apparently people are seriously divided on whether this is a good or a bad thing.

I can’t speak to Christmas commercials in September, but I can say with absolute certainty that now is the time to start if you want to complete any home renovations before the holidays are upon you. Your first instinct on reading this is that you still have plenty of time, but let’s do a little math, and you will quickly come to see that, if anything, you are now on an extremely tight schedule if you wish to complete your project before your holiday guests arrive.

First, have you even decided what renovation you want to complete – windows, doors, roofing, or siding? Let’s assume you want to replace all the windows in your home. Next question: wood, vinyl, or fiberglass? For the sake of our discussion, we’ll look at wood windows. Once you have met with your contractor, selected all the options for your windows, and finally signed the contract, which could take a week or more just to complete this process, the clock truly begins. When it comes to wood windows, production can take anywhere from 4 weeks (an extremely optimistic estimate) to 6 weeks or more. The timeline can become particularly long as the holidays approach, as many manufacturers either decrease or completely shut down production for a period of time in the winter, whether because of decreased product demand, facility maintenance needs, or to allow their staff to share holiday time off with their own families. Once the windows are built and delivered to your contractor, you still have to schedule the installation, which will be dependent on the availability of installation crews, not to mention weather conditions, which could further delay your project, say another 1-2 weeks.

Okay, time for the math: 1 week to make all the necessary choices and sign the contract, another 6 weeks for your windows to be built and delivered, and yet another 2 weeks to complete the installation process. That’s a total of 9 weeks from start to finish. Checking my calendar, I see that by calling your contractor no later than Monday (that’s September 16, if you’re following along), you should probably be able to complete your project in time for Thanksgiving, assuming no further delays other than those we already addressed. If you delay much longer, well, you can do the math on that…

We’ve so far only discussed production and installation schedules as they impact your preholiday renovation project. We should also take a quick look at one other thing that certainly has to be taken into consideration in our area – winter weather. Not only is there always the possibility of snow anytime after Halloween in the Chicago area (on rare occasions, even before Halloween), even if there is no frozen precipitation to battle, temperatures can without a doubt throw a monkey wrench into your home renovation plans. Roofing and siding in particular must be installed only between specific temperatures to avoid material damage that could further delay your project and/or void your material warranty. With unpredictable temperature swings during the fall around here, you could have everything scheduled for the installation of your new siding, only to watch the thermometer drop 20 degrees, placing everything on hold until warm weather returns for a few days. Obviously, then, you should certainly get a jump on any exterior renovations, not only to cut down on the holiday chaos, but to beat the ever changing Chicago weather conditions.

To assure a warmer and less stressful holiday season for you and your family, call us today at (708) 423-1720 or visit our website at http://www.www.evergreenwindow.com to schedule your professional consultation, and get ahead of the holiday rush!

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

Prepare Finances Before Renovations

November 13, 2012 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: financing, home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

avt_pds1364_medium1With the last breath of fall in the air, you may finally be looking into a home improvement project, particularly an upgrade to windows and doors or other exterior items to improve the energy efficiency of your home before winter truly hits. Great! You’re ready, at last, but are your finances?

Take a look at these numbers: 1) Whole house window replacement will start at around $5,000 and could go upwards to $20,000 or more depending on the number of windows and whether you select vinyl or wood, what upgrades, etc. 2) Exterior door replacement, including storm doors, again, whole house, will probably be at least $3,000. 3) A new roof will be at least $10,000, and the list goes on. Needless to say, renovations are expensive, and most families don’t have that kind of cash on hand, unless they’ve been planning and saving for a project for a long time. So, how are you going to pay for these renovations?

Your first option would be to try to get a home equity loan or home improvement loan from your personal bank. In today’s economy, that could be tricky, in part because equity levels have dropped substantially with the drop in housing prices, so qualifying may be a challenge. In addition, banks are becoming tougher and tougher about issuing credit for anyone, having been burned in the past by being too easy. If you can qualify, however, by all means, this is a wonderful option. Interest rates will be lower than other alternatives, because you have an existing relationship with your bank. But you still need to make sure you have preapproval before you begin the ordering process for your project – the last thing you need is a glitch in finances in the middle of such a substantial project.

If you don’t have enough equity in your home, or don’t qualify for a traditional bank loan for other reasons, another alternative is “contractor” financing. Let’s be clear – in most cases, the contractor is not offering to finance the project themselves. Very few companies are in a financial position themselves to carry this kind of debt. Instead, many remodeling companies have relationships with finance companies that will pay the contractor for the project and then collect from the homeowner over time. This arrangement is generally somewhat easier to qualify for than traditional financing, but you will still need to make sure everything is in place before kicking off your project.

Finally, and unless you know that you have a windfall coming soon, I strongly discourage this option, you might have a strong enough line of credit with your credit card company to pay for your project. Again, remember that interest rates charged by credit card companies make this a last resort in financing your project, unless you are sure that you will have the ability to pay off the charge very quickly (one to two months). Otherwise, your final project cost could double, with interest charges over the time it takes to pay off a $5,000 to $20,000 debt.

So, here’s the bottom line – make sure you have your financial arrangements intact before you place the order for your home improvement project. The last thing you need is a nasty surprise when you are looking forward to something good!

 

Happy Remodeling!

Rae the Renovator

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: financing, home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

Start Now to Get Your Home Ready for Winter

October 23, 2012 Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

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Fall has arrived in the Midwest, and we all know that winter isn’t far away. It’s time to get your home ready for the cold weather. So, what should you do to make sure your home is ready for winter?

First, if you haven’t done so already, replace your old, inefficient windows and doors. You will notice a considerable reduction in your heating costs, and you may qualify for rebates from your energy company (see my previous post for more information on this subject). In addition, many manufacturers are offering incentives, such as free high efficiency glass upgrades or internal blinds in their windows.

If you have already replaced windows and doors, here’s a hint – do not remove your screens for the season. While it used to be recommended to take down screens for the winter, and, of course, to install storm windows, the new, efficient windows don’t require storm windows. And, new screens are designed to withstand harsh weather, making removal completely unnecessary. Leave the screens in place, and then you won’t have to worry about trying to get them back in place properly in the spring.

Next, make sure you clean out your gutters. Nothing causes ice backup more than leaves and debris in your gutters. Also, if you have flexible diverters attached to your gutters, make sure you remove them. Otherwise, water may build up in them, turning to ice when it freezes, making it impossible for your gutters to drain properly. And, if you are concerned about ice forming in your gutters, you can always look into having electrical wiring installed to thaw them. Remember, this is mixing electricity with water, so make sure you have a professional do this installation – this is not a job for an amateur. Check online or in the yellow pages for a certified electrician with experience in this type of installation, and make sure they know what they’re doing.

Obviously, now is the time to have your furnace checked out by a professional. Make sure all the seasonal services are performed before cold weather sets in, replace filters, and, if you have a combination heating/air conditioner unit, make sure you set it to “winter” so that the humidifier will work. If your furnace is getting on in years, now is also the time to look into replacing it. HVAC contractors are offering preseason specials right now, plus, you may qualify for energy rebates, just like for new windows.

Don’t forget to check trees on your property for dead or overhanging branches. The last thing you want in the dead of winter is for a branch to break and cause damage to your roof or take out a power line!  And, if you have a wood burning fireplace, have the chimney cleaned before you start using it for the season to eliminate fire hazards. If you have a gas fireplace, it’s also a good idea to periodically have all the connections checked out by a professional for safety.

Enjoy the autumn weather with occasional warm days while you can, but don’t forget to prepare for the winter that’s just around the corner!

Filed Under: Home Improvement Tagged With: home improvement, home renovation, remodeling, windows and doors, winter home preparation

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