Decisions?

      Decisions?

           Decisions?

 

According to the National Association of Realtors and other trade organizations, the following rates of return on investment (ROI), on average, can be expected for the following projects:

New Vinyl Siding: 65% —72%

New furniture: 0%

Outdoor projects—50% to 100% (EP Henry Hardscaping projects return the highest return on your investment, AND certainly the highest rate of enjoyment!)

 

 

 

To maximize return on investment for renovations and upgrades your priorities should be:

• Curb Appeal - make sure the first impression is great
• Don't go overboard on landscaping
• Upgrade kitchen and bathrooms if they are dated or tired
• Improve lighting fixtures
• Fix what is obviously broken
• Before doing any major work, design carefully and plan the execution in detail; use good materials
• Don't expect to get your money back on highly customized work
• Don't eliminate options for the next owners when you upgrade
• Remember, if an upgrade will improve your standard of living and enjoyment it might be worth doing even if you don't get it back

Ask the Expert…
Some helpful pointers from Kate’s contractor

As a follow up to Kate’s story in Land eScapes, we thought that it might be helpful to our readers to provide some ‘pointers’ from her EP Henry Authorized Hardscaping Contractor^®, Pete, of Peter Benz Landscaping, Inc.

EP Henry: Pete, thanks for sharing with our readers some of your insights and helpful tips on how they might mitigate some of their drainage issues. To start, would you briefly describe some of the challenges that Kate and her family faced in their new home, along with some of your recommendations and solutions?

Pete: During my first meeting with Kate and Marty, I noticed that a large number of downspouts were draining in the area of the right rear corner of the house resulting in pooling of water. Also, one downspout at the rear of the house had been improperly connected to an underground drain pipe and was dumping water along the rear foundation of the house. Another issue was a large amount of run off from an adjacent property, which at times ran like a small river through the family's yard, greatly adding water to the same area of pooling at the downspouts. At times of heavy rain events, the customer had water pooling to the point that it began pouring over the basement step and down into the recessed landing area which then seeped under the exterior back door and into the basement.

From the problem area at the largest part of the roof, we re-routed the downspout so that the water now runs along the side of the house and then out to the lawn area that slopes down to the street. Next we used some of the soil from the excavated patio project to create a slight swale/berm, diverting the water coming from the uphill neighbor out towards the right side of the property, rather than down toward the house. These two adjustments greatly reduced the amount of water pooling near the house foundation at the rear corner. We also replaced the one step retaining wall with a newly constructed higher two-step retaining wall using EP Henry Diamond Pro^® wall block and caps in Dakota Blend. This enabled us to then re-grade the lawn area away from the house at the basement steps where we constructed a 6' x 6' x 6' dry well area with an overflow, the final solution for keeping the water out of the basement.

EP Henry: What was the biggest challenge or sets of challenges on this project, and how did you use various EP Henry products to alleviate the situation?

Pete: The customer had an existing 4’- to 5'- high retaining wall of concrete block that extended from the side of the house. This wall was beginning to crumble from water and ice pressure due to the lack of proper drainage. We demolished the wall and replaced it with an EP Henry Diamond Pro^® retaining wall. Due to its close proximity to a large tree with an established root system, space was limited behind the wall. To solve this issue, we used stabilized aggregate (a formulated cementous mixture) to create a combined drainage zone and substantial wall stabilization area.

In addition to the challenges listed above, I had to meet the family’s following requirements:

• Create enough patio area to accommodate large family gatherings
• Provide enough lawn area for their three children to enjoy
• Provide and maintain an overall established budget for project

To meet these requirements, I designed a patio and matching walkway in EP Henry’s Coventry^® Cobble and Estate Cobble, installed randomly, using a mixture of Harvest and Dakota Blends. For added comfort and additional seating during large family gatherings, I installed a Double Sided Coventry^® Wall encircling their EP Henry fire pit. The wall added a more intimate feel to the space, while the fire pit added a new gathering spot for family activities. The project came in close to budget and EP Henry’s Project Funding™ assistance helped the family tackle a few more backyard projects simultaneously.

EP Henry: Pete, for homeowners challenged by similar slope/drainage issues, any parting advice?

Pete: Always consider existing grading and drainage issues when planning any Hardscaping project. Great care must be given to help solve existing drainage issues; …as well as to not create any new ones!