Comox Valley Real Estate Blog

If your Comox Valley real estate has a lot of leaves on the ground at this time of the year, you might want to get out the leaf blower and clear the leaves out of your driveway or pile them up in the yard.  You can use a leaf blower instead of a rake to round up the leaves in your yard or get them off of the driveway. 

You can find a leaf blower at any home improvement store.  They are handy to have around and beat using a rake as you can gather leaves in a record amount of time.  You can use the leaf blower any time you want to clear debris from your garage or even clear the leaves from the yard, sidewalk or driveway. 

One way to get the garage cleaned out is to use a leaf blower.  If you get debris in the garage as well as leaves and dirt, you can get this cleaned out using a leaf blower.  It is easy to use a leaf blower, you can just plug it in and turn it on to get started.  This is the perfect time to clean out your garage and the best way to do this is to use a leaf blower.  Many of them have a variety of different speeds that can be used to move even the most stubborn debris.  This beats sweeping out the garage with a broom.  When you think about it, you can use a leaf blower to replace both a rake and a broom for your outside household chores.

  Your Comox Valley real estate should be winterized before the real cold weather sets in.  By making sure that your house is winterized, you can then make sure that you not only keep the cold weather out, but the warm weather in.  It does not make sense for you to heat the outdoors. 

There is several ways that you can use to winterize your home for the weather.  One way that you can do this is to make sure that your windows are sealed.  You can do this by caulking around your windows to keep the cold weather out.  Once this is finished, you might want to work on weather stripping of your doors as it will also keep the cold weather out. Make sure that you have a storm door on your front and back door so that it adds a further barrier between you and the cold.

If you have not yet insulated your garage and it is attached to the house, you can insulate the walls of the garage as well as the ceiling.  This is not difficult to do. You simply attach studs to the walls and then put the insulation strips into the studs.  You can leave it in this manner for a while or eventually cover it with drywall.  The garage will be warmer when you do this, however.  If you have not blown in insulation into your attic or crawlspace above the garage or in the eaves, you should do so.  This will further protect your house from the cold. 

Insulated draperies make the most decorative winterizing accessory.  They will keep your windows covered, giving you privacy, but at the same time keep the draft out.  Winterizing your home is the smartest thing that you can do to save money for the upcoming winter months.

Our Comox Valley real estate property had a leak in the roof.  I wasn’t sure where it was coming from so I hired a roofer to come out and give us an estimate.  I was afraid that we were going to need a whole new roof. 

Fortunately, it seemed that the leak was coming from the eaves in the house.  This was unrelated to the roof but still managed to leak.   He suggested that we get the eaves repaired or use aluminum siding for the eaves.  I weighed the differences in price and aluminum siding seemed to be the best alternate.  In addition to siding the eaves under the roof, we also had the gutters and downspouts replaced as well.  The color that we chose was white so that it matched the house. 

Now, not only did we manage to stop the leak, but the eaves are maintenance free.  I wanted to get the entire house done, but am waiting until next year so that we can save the money.  To get the entire house done costs a bit more than just getting the eaves and gutters replaced. 

My neighbor just came over and took a look at how the siding looked and is going to do his entire home in aluminum siding.  Aluminum siding today is not like it was years ago.  It looks much better than it did in the 1970s when it first came on the market.  We used to joke that aluminum siding houses looked like tin cans, but it still beat painting all of the time.  The leak was taken care of and we did not have to replace the roof, which would have cost a fortune.  I figure it will be quite a few years before we have to replace the roof.

When you own Comox Valley real estate, you are naturally going to have to make repairs.  Some of those repairs will be plumbing repairs.  You will quickly realize that it does not pay to call out a repairman all of the time.  You are going to have to learn to fix things in your home as I did. 

When I first moved into my home, I didn’t know how to do many home repairs.  I moved from an apartment where the repairs were done by someone else.  When I moved into my home, I called out electricians and plumbers for some jobs, but soon found that it paid to do some of the repairs myself.  One of the first repairs I made was to the kitchen sink. 

The kitchen sink often gets stopped up in the house. If you want to fix your kitchen sink because it is clogged up, you have to first take the pipe under the sink apart at the elbow.  This can be done with a plumber’s wrench.  You are going to want to get to the trap which is located just above the elbow joint in the pipe.  You must clean out the trap, which has mesh over it, and then put everything back together.  You are going to need something to catch the excess water that is in the pipes.  This can be captured with a can or some other container. 

You can use a liquid plumbing agent to pour into your sink to keep it from getting clogged as long as you are using PVC pipes.  As this is an acid, you do not want to use it too often but it can cut through clogs.  When you have tough clogs, you can then repair the sink by taking the pipe apart at the elbow joint and removing the sediment that clogs up the pipe.  If you have a long wire hanger, you can use it to clean out the pipe.  Once you have everything put back together, test it slowly to make sure the pipe is fastened properly and then you can use the sink as you will.  The first time I fixed the sink in my real estate I was a little nervous, but now I do it whenever the sink needs repair as it is an easy repair to make.

When our Comox Valley real estate had a leak, part of the drywall was stained.  This looked terrible and was especially bad since we had just painted the room where the leak took place.  In order to fix the problem, I had to sand down the drywall to remove the stain.  I did not want to have to replace the entire wall as it would have been very costly.  By sanding down the drywall, I was able to remove the stain from the drywall.  I then used a compound over the plaster that covered up the area and then re-sanded the wall.  Then I had to re-paint the wall. 

Fortunately, when we painted we still had some of the old paint left over.  I was not sure if we would have enough to cover the entire wall, but lucky for us, we did.  The wall was covered and now you cannot even tell where the leak once ruined the wall.  This should hold up for many years and we can still enjoy our painted room. 

If you paint any of the rooms in your house, you should be sure to keep track of the color that you used as well as the brand of paint.  Often, you can re-match the paint to the exact color at the hardware or local home improvement store.  It is not that difficult to do.  Paint is not very expensive, but you should get the better quality as it lasts longer and requires fewer coats.  In our case, we used a good paint and only needed to put on one new coat after we fixed the wall.  In other cases that I know, people have forgotten the name of the paint and attempted to match it, making it look all the more obvious.  This is not  the case wit this room. 

Fixing a leak as soon as it begins is crucial if you want to save your ceilings and your walls.  Had we waited any longer, we might have had to replace the entire wall.

If you have a cement driveway for your Comox Valley real estate, you probably want to know how to keep it clean.  My neighbor has a cement driveway and often is out there cleaning it.  There are several different solutions on the market that will help you eliminate such things as oil spills and even sidewalk chalk that the kids play with. 

You can seal the cement with a sealer after you have put the cement driveway in.  There are also sealants that can be use to repair cracks in the driveway.  Solutions can be purchased that will work to clean up oil stains as well as other stains on the cement driveway. 

Sidewalk chalk is something that children often play with and is a lot of fun.  Oftentimes, however, it will not come up after the rain and the pigments will get into the porous concrete.  For this reason, many people do not like the idea of using sidewalk chalk.  It tends to remain on the drive way for a long period of time if you rely on just water to get rid of it.  You are better off to use a cement cleaning solution that can get rid of the chalk marks. 

Many people prefer a cement driveway over an asphalt driveway because it has a certain bit of elegance to it.  Many of my neighbors have concrete drives.  Cleaning them, however, can be more difficult than cleaning an asphalt driveway.

When it comes to driveways for your real estate, you have several choices.  You can have a dirt road leading to your house, which is nice in the rural areas.  You can also have stones in your drive which is also good for a rural area.  Asphalt is next to stone.  It is made of tar and stones mixed together and lays flat.  It is black and gets very hot in the hot weather.  After asphalt comes concrete.  A concrete driveway is made from cement and looks a bit more upscale than asphalt. 

Pave driveways made of cobblestone or brick are the next step up.  These can be do it yourself projects but they take quite a bit of time.  They add value to your real estate, however, if you have the patience to complete the job.

Selling your Comox Valley real estate is not difficult if you understand how to show off the house in its best light. First of all, get rid of all the clutter in the house. When people come to look at the house, they are going to want to see space. If you are to get a good price for your house, you want to show it to be as spacious as possible.

It is a good idea to paint the walls of the house before anyone comes to look at it and before you put it on the market. By painting them a white or off white color, you neutralize the property and make it look fresher. You can also install new carpeting if you can. New carpeting will really make your house look a lot nicer and easier to sell.

Another tip in selling your house is to make sure that you get rid of any furniture that is not necessary. You can rent a storage shed if you want but keep everything to bare minimum. An empty house does not sell easier than a furnished house, contrary to popular belief, but you do not want to have a bunch of unnecessary furniture making the rooms look smaller.

Make sure the windows are cleaned and that the house is well lit. People like a lot of space and light and this will be attractive to them. The lighter and brighter you can make the house, the better it will be when you are trying to sell it. Before anyone comes to see the house, you should turn on every light in every room and open the windows.

Also do not be cooking anything strange when people come to see the house. This may end up turning them off. What smells good to you might not to someone else.

Remember to make as much space as possible, paint the walls, get new carpet and de-clutter the house before you go to sell your property.