What You Need To Know BEFORE Hiring A Handyman

So you are ready to hire a Handyman or Contractor, but do you really know what to look for to ensure you are covered? Not verifying who you hire holds certain credentials and the proper insurance could cost you.

Home Improvement

Save Money on Home Improvements with Virginia Home Repair

First, you should always verify the license of the contractor before hiring them.   There are three types of licenses issued: class A, class B and class C. The class A license is considered to be the most valued and highest level of license issued. Class A firms must meet a higher technical and financial standard as required by the State.  Given this, you want to only hire a Class A contractor.

After license verification, ask the contractor if their company is an EPA Certified Lead Renovation Firm.  If not and your home was built prior to 1978, most likely your home contains lead.  The fines for violating this rule are $25,000 per day.  Even if you live in a newer home, look for this certification.  EPA Certified Lead Renovation Firms have to meet very strict standards and are very familiar about building and remodeling regulations.  You want to know that the work you are requesting to be done meets all governmental regulations.

Next, you want to know the company does the work themselves and does not outsource or subcontract. This ensures you are dealing with just one organization should something go wrong.  Make sure the contractor provides you a professional written estimate and guarantees or warrantees their work. When the contractor visits your home to provide an estimate, look at the condition of vehicle they are driving and the variety of tools they have in their possessions.  Look online to see reviews other customers have left about the company, look at their company website and look at customer testimonials.  Also, verify what payment options they offer.  Never prepay any contractor the full contract amount.

Lastly, verify the company you plan to hire holds both Commercial General Liability and Worker’s Compensation Insurance. This is a must. You want a copy and verify the insurance is current.  Commercial General Liability insurance covers the homeowner for bodily injury, property damage or personal injury in the event of damage to or loss of, a home or structure due to a contractor’s negligence.  Worker’s Compensation Insurance protects homeowners or business owners from liability for injuries incurred while workers are at their home or business.   Should the contractor you hire not hold these importance insurance policies, you can be held liable for the mishap and the incurred losses to the worker in terms of wages.  A very inexpensive repair could cost you a lot!

When you follow these steps, you are able to best identify the right company to help you repair your home and know you are covered.

Virginia Home Repair is a Class A General Contractor and an EPA Certified Lead Renovation Firm.  Virginia Home Repair provides written estimates, guaranties their work and accepts VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Check and Cash.  The company holds both Commercial General Liability and Worker’s Compensation Insurance.  Customer testimonials can be found on virginiahomerepair.com/testimonials

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Exciting Outdoor Rooms For Outdoor Living

Outdoor RoomsYour backyard can benefit from the use of various textures and architectural details that will up the excitement level of entertaining. A dramatic wall can give a feeling of enclosure and privacy. This is a great solution when neighbors might be close.  While an arched stone doorway and a fabulous wooden pergola can take your outdoor space to the next level. A pergola not only adds a nice design element but can also help define a certain area, such as over a fireplace, grill or seating area. Outdoor Rooms

 

Virginia Home Repair specializes in home and exterior improvements.

 

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Dream Decks and Patios

Summer is here. Do you want to make your deck an oasis where you can relax? A well designed deck or patio expands your living area and allows you to enjoy the outdoors and entertain in style.  Check out these spectacular decks to give you a few ideas. See Dream Decks here.

Virginia Home Repair specializes in deck design, deck repair and deck replacement.  

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Why Expensive Paint Lasts Longer And Covers Better

One of the most frequent mistakes homeowners make when looking to improve their home is purchasing cheap paint.  This is a BIG mistake and here’s why. Expensive paint lasts longer and covers better.  Expensive paint has more pigment and resin, and though it may look the same as the cheap stuff, there are big differences in the ingredients and in long-term performance. <continue reading>

Not interested in tackling the painting project yourself? Consider hiring a professional home repair and improvement company such as Virginia Home Repair.

Virginia Home Repair specializes in interior and exterior painting.

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Drywall or Plaster Repair Techniques To Make Your Wall Look Like Nothing Ever Happened

Virginia Home Repair specializes in drywall repair.

Doorknobs are notorious for punching holes in drywall and we’ve all experienced moving furniture and damaging a wall. Unfortunately, even a small hole in your wall surfaces can make a room look unsightly.

While drywall and plaster repair require special techniques, here are some ways you can patch a small hole in your wall without requiring power tools. As a bonus, we’ll even show you how to make a textured finish using a stiff brush instead of a spray hopper.

The California Patch: A Simple Fix for Small Drywall Holes

The California Patch is a drywall repair technique that is perfect when you’re fixing areas 6 inches square or smaller. It doesn’t require any backing (also called cladding), which makes it both simpler and cheaper than some other techniques.

Start by cutting out a square of drywall that is a couple inches bigger than the hole you want to patch. On the front face of the drywall patch, leave an extra inch of paper extending past each edge of the drywall square. Hold your patch against the wall over the hole you’re fixing and trace around it with a pencil.

Next, use a drywall saw to cut a matching square out of the wall where the original hole was, using the pencil marks as a guide. To make this easier, you can start the cut inside the existing hole. When you’re done, the drywall square should fit exactly into the hole, with the extra paper spreading out to overlap the wall.

Apply a thin layer of joint compound to the inner face of the paper to help it stick to the wall, then insert your drywall patch into the hole in the wall and plaster over it with a thin, smooth layer of joint compound. Once the compound is dry, sand it smooth until the surface blends seamlessly with the rest of the wall.

Creating a Textured Surface With Simple Household Objects

The California Patch technique is fine if your wall is smooth, but what if you’re repairing a textured surface? Professional contractors generally use a tool called a spray hopper to create textures like a spatter, orange peel or knockdown finish. If you don’t happen to have a spray hopper around the house, you can create a similar effect using a stiff brush. A large, stiff-bristled rectangular brush, like a shoe brush, works best.

Dilute four parts joint compound with one part water. Dip the brush bristles into the mixture and allow any excess to drip off. Hold the brush horizontally, bristles up, about 10 inches from the patch of wall you want to texture. Drag your fingers along the bristles to spatter the mixture against the wall.

To create a spatter finish, use quick, short sprays to pepper the wall with lots of smaller droplets of compound. For an orange peel finish, use the same technique but keep going until the whole area is covered in a few layers of small droplets. To make a dropdown texture, use spray more slowly to create bigger droplets. After you have sprayed the whole area with compound, run a putty knife lightly over the area to smooth out the texture. Once the area is dry, sand the edges and proceed to paint it so it matches the rest of the wall.

Repairing drywall or plaster requires some technique and experience to match the repair to the existing finish. If you are not ready to tackle this type of repair, consider hiring a professional repair company, like Virginia Home Repair.  You will be glad you did.

Virginia Home Repair specializes in dry wall and plaster repair.  We can make your wall look like nothing ever happened.

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Roof Leak? You need to fix it NOW!

Do you have a roof leak? If yes, you need to have your roof leak fixed as soon as it happens roof leak and repaired right the first time. Roof leak repairs are very affordable if caught early on and not ignored.  Otherwise, you could be faced with major damage to your home resulting in expensive repairs including wallboard, paint, structural wood rot and mold.  For these reasons, you need to hire a professional repair company, like Virginia Home Repair, who specializes in both roof leak repair and home repair.

Many roof leaks are due to plumbing vent pipe collars. These collars are around the plumbing pipes that protrude through your roofs surface. Typical plumbing vent pipe collars consist of a metal base usually made out of aluminum and a rubber boot that is integrated into the top of the collar. This rubber boot on the collar varies in size according to the size of the pipe being flashed.

When collars go bad, often this is due to failure of this rubber boot on the collar. Failure of Roof Leakcollar boots usually results from either a split in the rubber or deterioration of that same rubber over time. If you have water entering your home from a broken or worn out collar, call Virginia Home Repair at 757-409-7372.  We use new state-of-the-art permanent pipe collar replacements that never need to be replaced again and cost the same as traditional collar replacements.

Not all collar leaks are due to bad rubber boots. Often leaks can be caused by the plumbing pipe itself not being properly cleaned before the new collar is installed. This is frequently found on older cast iron pipes that have pits or years of old roofing cement attached to them. The plumbing pipe itself could be the cause of your leak. When the plumbing was installed in your home, your plumber may have routed the plumbing vent pipes through the walls and ceilings up through the top of your roof. Over the years, we have seen some of these pipes leak at the elbow joints.

Your plumbing vent pipes extend through your roof and are open to the sky. This pipe is for venting air.  During a rain storm, your pipe can have water enter and flow through it. Pipe Collar DamageAny water that enters your plumbing vent pipe should find its way to your homes sewer line. Leaks occur when one of the elbows or joints in the pipe experiences some type of failure. Usually you can diagnosis this type of leak by having Virginia Home Repair go up into your attic during a rain storm.  Virginia Home Repair will determine if your leak originated from one of the joints in your pipe or if your leak is due to a bad boot on the collar.

A few other indications of a leaking or broken collar are water stains on your first or second floor. If you see a water stain on your ceiling or wall of your home, you should first eliminate the most obvious cause which would be leaky plumbing in a bathroom or from a toilet. If that is not the source and you are still experiencing a water leak, call Virginia Home Repair and request we go up on your roof and check your plumbing vent collars and the hard flange that is attached to the boot. We will do a thorough inspection to ensure this part of the collar is seated and sealed properly.

Virginia Home Repair are roof leak repair specialists in Virginia Beach.  We offer a variety of roofing repair services and all work is guaranteed.      Call Today! 757-409-7372  

 

Posted in Affordable Home Improvements, Green Handyman Services, Green Home Improvements, Green Home Repair, Handyman, Handyman Services, Roof Repair | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dramatic Lighting For Your Bath

Thinking about remodeling your bathroom?  The type of lighting fixtures you select and how the fixture projects light are a very important part of the redesign process.  Lighting sets the stage both from a design perspective and from a functional perspective.  How layers of lighting are used in your bath, the placement of the fixtures, the design elements such as crystal or beading and the effective use of dimmer switches can transform your bath into a luxurious oasis.  For some great recommendations on various lighting techniques, check out HGTV’s “Dreamy Lighting For Your Bath” right here.

Virginia Home Repair and Handyman Services are experts in bathroom design and remodeling.

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Designer Bathroom Ideas


One of our most popular customer requests is to remodel a bathroom.  A great bathroom remodel begins with an excellent design, understanding the needs of the customer and a talented contractor.  If you find it helpful to look at other amazing bathrooms to get some ideas, check out the Bathroom Designer Portfolio by HGTV.com here.  If you are thinking about remodeling your bathroom, give us a call.

For more than 30 years, Virginia Home Repair has specialized in bathroom remodeling and home improvement. 

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Simple Door Repair Tips


Door Repair and Door Replacement

Dealing with doors that are hard to open or close correctly is a common household problem. Fortunately, you can fix most doors with some basic tools and a little patience. So here are some simple door repair tips:

1. If you have a hinged door that’s hard to open or close, then the door was not hung properly in the first place or the door has begun to sag over the years. Begin the repair by closing the door very slowly and noting where the door is rubbing against the frame. Most of the time the top portion will be where the problem lies, though sometimes the trouble spot can be closer to the floor.  In either event, first try tightening the screws in the hinge closest to the sticking point. Continue reading

Posted in Affordable Home Improvements, Doors, Energy Efficient Doors, Green Handyman Services, Green Home Improvements, Green Home Repair, Handyman, Handyman Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What To Verify When Hiring A Handyman or Contractor


Handyman

Every Home Needs A Handyman!

So you are ready to hire a Handyman or Contractor, but do you really know what to look for to ensure you are covered? Not verifying who you hire holds certain credentials and the proper insurance could cost you.

First, you should always verify the license of the contractor before hiring them.   There are three types of licenses issued: class A, class B and class C. The class A license is considered to be the most valued and highest level of license issued. Class A firms must meet a higher technical and financial standard as required by the State.  Given this, you want to only hire a Class A contractor. Continue reading

Posted in EPA Lead Certified, General Contractor, Handyman, Handyman Services | Tagged | Leave a comment