Home Improvement Loan UK

Top 5 Home Renovation Ideas

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You’ve probably heard the phrase – “don’t move, improve.” In historical terms, the number of homes being sold every year is at a many decades low primarily because the cost of housing (and associated taxes like stamp duty) is so high. There are also emotional factors to consider like moving away from friends and family and settling the kids in a new school. 786 Loans offers a range of competitive homeowner loans allowing our clients to improve the home they currently live in.

In this article, the 786 Loans team gives you their top 5 home renovation and improvement tips and they can help you find the funding you need with a homeowner loan.

Top 5 home renovation ideas for 2019

Get a new boiler

Does your boiler make a funny noise? Occasionally, can I smell something unpleasant coming from your radiators? Have your energy bills gone up in the last one or two years but you’ve not cranked up the central heating more than before?

If the answer is “yes” to any of those questions, then you probably need a new boiler. To get a new boiler installed, the cost is around £1,500 to £2,500 however, given that you’ll probably save £300 a year on your utility bills, the system will normally pay for itself within 5 to 9 years.

A brand new boiler will give you all the heating and hot water you need when you need it. Given that Spring and Summer are around the corner, you might not need it now but you may get a good discount on a brand new boiler installation as fitters want to keep busy during these traditionally quieter times of year.

Double glazing

Another way to save money on your energy bill is to install new double glazing onto your home. Double glazing not only keeps your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter – it adds value to your home and reduces the noise coming in from outside (important if you live near a busy road).

If your home has recently suffered from increasing condensation, new double glazing will drastically reduce the amount getting into your home. This is important, particularly if younger members of the family live with you, because condensation can often turn into mould on and around the corners of your window. Mould inside your property is a proven health hazard and you should get it seen to straight away.

Much more so than in the past, double glazing can be personalised to suit your personal tastes and the aesthetics of your home. The most popular framing choice is uPVC although, if you can stretch your budget, wooden and aluminium framing looks fantastic.

What about budget? For smaller homes and apartments, you’ll need to budget around £2,500 and for the largest detached homes around £11,500.

Insulation

As well as getting a new boiler and new double glazed windows, installing wall cavity insulation and loft insulation can add even greater savings to your annual gas and electricity bills – according to the Energy Saving Trust, up to £400 a year depending on the size of your home through loft insulation and up to £250 a year through wall insulation.

Installing insulation doesn’t take long and, if you’re on universal credit, pension credit guarantee payments, tax credits, disability benefits, or MOD benefits, you may qualify for free installation or heavily subsidised installation.

Depending on your home, your installer might recommend either blanket installation (cheap and very quick to install) or loose fill insulation to fill any gaps in any existing insulation you have. Particularly during the colder month, you’ll see significant savings on your energy bills straight away.

Burglar alarm

Crime is slowly beginning to rise again but it’s one of those things that we think will never happen to us. Ask any installer and they get the most enquiries from people who have been burgled recently – they rarely get enquiries from people who have not suffered the trauma of a break-in recently.

Burglar alarms have come a long way since the 1980s when they were simply a bell box linked to the alarm panel inside your hallway or porch. Burglar alarms have gone “smart” and many systems are now compatible with and can be controlled by mobile phone and tablet apps.

If you have pets who roam your house at night, you should ask any potential installer about fitting “pet-friendly” sensors which don’t detect movement higher than 1 metre from the ground. If you have an outbuilding, a shed, or a detached garage, you can link it to your alarm using remote sensors quite easily for total security.

Many burglar alarm panels will now either send you (or someone you nominate) a message when they’re activated or they can be programmed to contact a monitoring centre whose operatives will then contact the local police to inform them that your home may be being burgled.

Burglar alarms generally cost between £150 and £1,000 to install depending on their complexity. If you want to use one of the monitoring services we described above, then there will be a monthly cost of between £15 and £45 to pay for.

Conservatory

Conservatories not only provide you and your family with extra living space – they can add up to 5% to the value of your home meaning that you could make a profit from having one installed when the time comes to sell up.

Costing from £5,000 to £20,000 depending on the size, style, roof, and framing, conservatories give your property the “wow” factor. You can use the extra space for any reason you want – a quiet area to read the papers in on a Sunday morning or extra room for the kids to play in. When getting quotes, speak to your installer about what you want the extra space for and they can help you plan your new conservatory to keep within your budget.

Homeowner loans online

786 Loans is a broker and not a lender. What we do for our clients is represent you to our panel of reputable homeowner loan providers, making sure we find the very best and cheapest deal so that you can do the work around your home that you want.

The process is quick and simple – you’ll get a “yes” or a “no” back very quickly thanks to our state-of-the-art computer system. Once we’ve found you what we believe is the genuinely best deal on the market, we’ll present you with all the details you need to make an informed decision.

Our service is free of charge and you’re under no obligation to accept any loan we find for you. To start your application, please click here.