Real Estate Selling

Are you designing your new dream home with an architect or a builder? If so, don’t forget to lay out the garage floor plans too. We tend to overlook garages, but they can be so much more than just a place for your vehicles.

Start by looking at sample floor plans from your architect or at online sites that have house plans. These will give you some ideas of current trends in garage planning.

One good tip is to make your garage a few extra feet wider if it’s going to hold two vehicles. This gives you extra room to add cabinetry and shelves, but it will still give you enough space to comfortably get in and out of your car without having to bump into things or perform acrobatics.

Some garage floor plans make the garage longer than usual, which is useful because that gives you more space to store things like bicycles, a workbench, or maybe a lawnmower and other gardening equipment.

Another option for making a really useful garage is to create a nook for extra storage, as a kids’ play area, or as a workbench area. These are often located at the back of the garage in one corner.

You will get a lot of extra room just by extending the garage space out or even connecting it to the house.

If you want to use the garage for storage, you can raise the ceiling. A tall garage with a ten or eleven foot ceiling will give you extra wall space that you can load up with shelves for storing Christmas decorations and other seasonal items.

Another thing to consider is access to the yard and the house. It’s traditional for most garages to have a door to the house, and of course the main door for car access.

It could also be convenient to add an extra door that opens out to the yard. That makes it easy for you to take out your yard and lawn tools, and gives easy access to large toys.

If you have a laundry room near the garage, you can make an instant mud room just by adding a door to your garage floor plans that provides access to this room.

With a little thought and modifications, you can have a fantastic garage to go with that dream home you’re building.

Having a do it yourself termite control plan can save you expenses on renovations and even from unscrupulous termite control companies. However, if you are to do it effectively, you have to learn some basics of termite control.

Approach with Caution

It’s common to find homeowners implementing termite control on their own. You should however approach a do it yourself termite control method with some caution. Although some people may have been able to perform these methods successfully, other experts still maintain that doing things yourself may have some disadvantages.

First, evaluate and assess the extent of termite infestation damage on your property before you design your termite control plan. It may take a real expert to know the extent of termite presence and what methods will work best. In some regions, there may also be special methods that need to be employed. Not all individuals also have the necessary skill to use specific equipment and chemicals and may end up endangering the house occupants’ health. Consider a do it yourself termite control only if you are sure that you know what you are doing.

Termite Baiting

Professional termite control companies usually do the termite baiting. Now, there are already few options for homeowners to do it themselves. The reason why baiting may be considered ideal by some people is that there are less harmful chemicals involved. The procedure however may take some time and may not always guarantee complete termite extermination when used alone.

If you want to do the procedure yourself, then you may first have to make a personal inspection and illustration of your property and surrounding areas. You have to take note of wooden areas and moisture rich areas that may be conducive for termites. Some places that may need to be carefully marked on your illustration are places where wood comes into contact with soil, ground or areas with too much moisture and places with trees.

You can begin the process of baiting by strategically placing wooden monitors six feet under the ground around your property. These baits may attract termites after a few months. Once you are sure that the wooden monitors already have termites, you can replace them with treated baits. These baits contain substances that may be ingested by worker ants and brought back to the colony for other members to ingest.

Chemical Treatment

Chemical treatment is a little more difficult to do yourself. Before you consider this do it yourself termite control method, be sure that you comply with state laws for chemical applications, drilling and trenching. Make it a point too to follow product instructions to the letter.

Chemical treatment involves injecting treatments into the soil surrounding the property on strategic trenches. Although some chemicals may be able to eradicate termites quickly and effectively, they may also be harmful to the environment and may especially be dangerous for people who accidentally ingest or come into contact them.