home hunter, april 7, 2013

7/28/2019 Home Hunter, April 7, 2013

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Sunday, April 7, 2013

321 Willow Lake Road

Home of the Week...

This executive home oers 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, large kitchen with built-inwindow seat and many custom cabinets, a ormal dining room with exquisite

trim work, granite countertops, a sunroom, large laundry room, master bedroomis on the main foor, beautiul wood foors, a grand living room with a wall ogorgeous windows. A beautiul spiral staircase leads to the guest bedrooms and 2additional baths. Tere is a brick walled courtyard with iron gate entrances. Severaldecks and a gazebo to enjoy the gol and abulous lake views.

MLS #81327 $600,000

Call Sandra Willis, 803-646-0981Woodside-Aiken Realty


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CYAN-AOOO MAGENTA-OAOO YELLOW-OOAO BLACK 012908

2 | Sunday, April 7, 2013 Home Hunter

AikenStandard

DearReaders,

Welcometothebiggerandbetter Aiken

StandardHome Hunter.Youwillnotice t

henew

largerormat,we didthisinordertoshow

case our localrealtorsoferingsinaeasie

r toread

design.Localrealtorsare seeingan incre

aseinhomesales,bothin newand existin

g homes

andwewanted togiveareshlookinord

ertoassistinmarketingsomeoAikens

most

desirableproperties.

You willnoticetheocusothecoverwil

lbeournewHomeotheWeekeatur

e a

diferenthomewillbe highlightedeachw

eek.Weencourageyoutousearealtorto

market

yourpropertyas they oferprotectionan

dadvicethatisveryvaluabletoahome

buyeror

home seller.

Iyouarearealtorandwould

liketoadvertise pleasecallSalesManag

erKathyBoyette, or

ourreal estate account executivesLaurenMolonyandDrewRischbieter.

Again, welcometo thenew HomeHunter

. Asalways,I welcomeyouremailsorcall

s about

anyoouradvertisingsections.Tankyo

u or reading!

Deeaylor

Aiken Standard

AdvertisingDirector

[email protected]

803.644.2371

DeeTaylor

Kathy

Boyette803.644.2349

[email protected]

Drew

Rischbieter803.644.2373

[email protected]

Lauren

[email protected]


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Home Hunter Sunday, April 7, 2013 | 3

Hassle-Free Ways to ReinventYour Homes Wood Surfaces

While many people love thelook of natural wood throughouttheir homes, they dont enjoy thehassles that come with maintain-ing wood surfaces. To combatthe rotting, decaying and highmaintenance challenges of realwood, many manufacturers haveintroduced new types of fauxwood products.

There are authentic-lookingalternative wood products youdswear are real wood, but theyrenot, and they actually havefeatures that beat many woodproducts, says Mark Clement,co-host of the MyFixitUpLifenational home improvementradio show. Those alternativeproducts mimic the look of wood

but theyre made with advancedman-made materials that are eas-ier to maintain and provide yearsof hassle-free enjoyment.

For home exteriors, where

products take a beating fromeveryday weather conditions plusextreme storms, Clement recom-mends considering woodgrainurethane and PVC products fromFypon when replacing shutters,louvers, non-structural beamsand trim on a house. He ndsthat these woodgrain products re-sist moisture, insect infestations,cracking and splitting. Plus, eachpiece comes pre-primed, makingit easy to stain or paint.

One of the most vulnerableareas of a home is the roof, whichis subjected to everything fromhail storms to intense daily sunexposure. Many homeown-ers love the look of real woodshakes, so Clement advises these

people to consider polymer roof-ing tile options.

Bellafort Shake roongtiles from DaVinci Roofscapesare incredibly realistic-looking

cedar wood shakes, that entirelyoutperform real wood shakes,says Clement. They resist re,insects, hail and severe weatherconditions and are backed by a50-year limited warranty. Mostimportantly, these advancedpolymer roong tiles look exact-ly like hand-split cedar shakes.Theyre available in 49 colorsand ve color blends, whichwont fade or discolor.

Clement also suggests con-sidering berglass door optionsinstead of solid wood front entrydoors. The technologies avail-able today are amazing, hesays. One door manufacturer,Therma-Tru, has an AccuGraintechnology that gives their Clas-

sic-Craft line of berglass entrydoors a completely authenticwoodgrain look.

The company starts by build-ing a wood door using specic

pieces of wood that have thecharacteristics they wish toreplicate. They use their owntechnology to enhance thenatural graining depth on thewood before casting. The nalberglass doors are virtuallyindistinguishable from real wooddoors, but wont split, crack or rotlike real wood.

Inside the home, laminatewoodgrain options on windowframes can be selected to matchinterior woodgrain furnishingsto unite the entire home dcor.

The window that impressesme the most is the Decorum bySimonton series of energy ef-cient vinyl windows, says Clem-ent. You can really personalize

these windows for your homebecause you can select exteriorwindow frame colors, like Pine,Chocolate or Bronze, and thenchoose a unique woodgrain inte-

rior on the frames to complementyour decor. Theyve got AntiqueCherry, Contemporary Oak andMaple woodgrains to choose

from, plus upgraded hardwareoptions in brushed nickel, oil-rubbed bronze, polished brass,dark bronze and antique brass.


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Aiken Board of REALTORS

April 20-21

Realtor NaonwideOpen House

Participate in the:

The Aiken Board of Realtorshas teamed up with Realtors across the country to hostthe nations largest open house weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 20-21,

2013.

Realtors will hold open houses in neighborhoods from coast to coast, bring-

ing value to both buyers and sellers. Realtor Nationwide Open House Weekend not only brings buyers and sellers

together, it is also an opportunity for Realtors to connect with consumers in theircommunities about the housing issues that matter most to them. Realtor Nationwide Open House aims to engage consumers regarding the

benefits of homeownership to families, communities and the economy.Realtors will be present at the open houses to offer expert insight into the local

housing market and answer questions from consumers concerning the home buy-

ing and selling process.

Sod, sometimes called turf, canquickly turn a barren landscapeinto a rich, thick carpet of green.Homeowners hoping to revivetheir lawns commonly turn tosod as the quickest means to dojust that. However, once the sod

has been laid down, few home-owners may know how to keep itlooking its best.

Sod is real grass that is grownon special farms. It is gener-ally grown locally to avoid longtransport times that could dryout the product. Sod is typicallysold in squares or rolls of grassthat come with the roots and soilalready attached. There may besome sort of thin backing mate-rial on the sod to keep the grassblades together.

Many homeowners turn to sodwhen growing lawn from seedbecomes problematic or too time-consuming. Seeds can be blownaround in the wind or be eaten bybirds and other animals beforethey have a chance to germinate.

Sodding a lawn is a majorinvestment, costing as much as$1 per two-foot square. Depend-ing on the size of your lawn, thiscan be a costly job even beforeadding the cost of additional sup-plies, such as soil, fertilizer andtilling equipment. Many home-owners who install sod want toensure their investment lasts.Here are the main ways to carefor and protect sod until it is fullyestablished.

Once the sod has been laiddown, the lawn should be thor-oughly soaked with water. Mostexperts recommend soaking it toa depth of 6 inches.

It is important to establish awatering schedule to keep the sodmoist. Water the sod to a depthof one inch every other day forthe rst three weeks to enable theroots to securely establish them-selves in the soil.

Water the sod every otherday unless the weather has beenvery warm. After four weeks youcan generally go up to ve dayswithout watering as long as youtransition slowly. The sod willchange colors if it is not gettingenough water. Never let the lawnturn yellow, otherwise you mayhave to cut out dead spots andre-sod.

Wait two to four weeks beforemowing the sod. Keep the lawnheight to around two inches toensure that it wont scald in thesun.

After two months of estab-lished sod growth, aerate the sodto keep the soil from being toocompact and to enable oxygenand nutrients to get into the soil.

Keep children and pets off ofthe sod while it is establishingitself.

Fertilize the lawn every 50 to60 days, beginning in March andending in October.

Inspect the sod for pests,which may include insects orproblems like fungi or weeds.Treat accordingly with productsdesigned to remove pests.

Using sod to establish a lushlawn is a fast, albeit more ex-pensive option to sowing seeds.After a few weeks the lawn willbe thick and secure.

Caring for a freshly

sodded lawn

Sod can create an instant lawn, but it still

requires certain maintenance measuresto get it frmly established.


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Eco-friendlyinterior

options aboundTodays homeown-ers are increas-ingly eco-conscious.As a result, manyhomeowners take aneco-friendly approachtoward home improve-ment projects. Whereashomeowners once wor-ried most about theirbottom lines withoutregard for the envi-

ronment, nowadays aprojects carbon foot-print is high on manya homeowners prioritylist. Whats more, eco-friendly additions oradjustments to a homemight make home-owners eligible for taxbreaks, and such proj-ects often make a homemore appealing to pro-

spective buyers. Someof the more commonways to make a homemore eco-friendly in-clude:

Replace vinyl floor-ing with natural lino-leum or recycled rub-ber floors.

Replace old carpetwith carpet tiles madeof recycled content or

use organic cotton arearugs throughout thehome.

Replace stone coun-tertops with bamboo,terrazzo or paper-stonealternatives.

Replace traditionalwood flooring with re-claimed wood flooringor aesthetically appeal-ing bamboo f looring.

Did you know?Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas

that comes from the decay of uranium found inmost soils. Radon can enter the home by mov-ing up through the ground and into the airabove before moving into a home in a variety ofways, including through cracks in solid floors,through construction joints and through cracksin walls. Gaps in suspended floors and aroundservice pipes are additional entry points for ra-don. Once radon enters a home, it then becomestrapped inside, where buildup can occur. Radonbuildup can potentially be very harmful or evenfatal. A radioactive gas, radon is among the lead-ing causes of lung cancer in the United States.In fact, only smoking causes more lung cancerdeaths than radon, which can enter a homewhether that home is new, old, well-sealed, ordrafty. Homeowners concerned about radon,which is invisible and odorless, should havetheir homes tested.


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Cut energy costs

at homeHomeowners spendthousands o dollars

per year on energy. Whethera home is big or small, en-ergy costs are a concern orhomeowners.

Tough some o the costso home ownership arebeyond a persons control,there are some steps home-owners can take to reduceenergy costs and save sub-stantial amounts o moneyas a result.

Address any leaks. Oneo the most eective ways tocut energy costs is to weath-er strip doors and w indows

throughout the house. Do-ing so will keep warm airin the house when its coldand prevent dras that oc-cur when cold air enters

the home through cracksand leaks. I a home has anattic, be sure to seal pipes,chimneys or ductwork.Addressing leaks can savehomeowners as much as10 percent on their annualhome energy costs.

Use compact uorescentlightbulbs instead o incan-descent lightbulbs. CFLs useone-quarter to one-thirdless energy than t raditionalincandescent lightbulbs.In addition, the Allianceto Save Energy notes thatCFLs can last up to 10 timeslonger tha n traditional

lightbulbs. Be mindful of the ther-mostat. Most homeownersand their amilies spend agood portion o their day

out o the house. Homeheating costs can be reducedby as much as 20 percent ihomeowners simply lowerthe thermostat during theday by 10 F. For homeown-ers who eel they wont re-member to do so on a regu-lar basis, a programmablethermostat will do the jobon its own.

Lower water tempera-ture. Lowering water tem-perature can also lead tosubstantial savings. Home-owners can save as much asve percent on their waterbill by lowering the temper-

ature on their water heaterby as little as 10 F. When do-ing so, touch the outside othe water heater. I the out-side is cold, the water heater

has sufcient insulation Ithe water heater is hot to thetouch, wrap a water heaterjacket around it to increaseefciency.

Replace older appliances.Older appliances, be it anolder central air condition-ing unit or an older waterheater, oen need to expendmore energy than they didwhen they were new. Whatsmore, especially older ap-pliances might not meet En-ergy Star standards, whichcan cost homeowners sub-stantial amounts o moneyover the course o a year.

Homeowners who replacesuch appliances might beeligible or tax credits whenbuying more energy efcientproducts.

Addressing leaky doors andwindows is an efective way thathomeowners can cut energy costsaround the house.



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home hunter, april 7, 2013

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