Every time homeowners decide to invest into an upgrade, one of the primary considerations is whether they’ll get their money back when they sell the home. The ideal upgrade is one you can enjoy for the years you’re living in the home, and then more or less recoup when you sell.
Remodeling Magazine recently released their Cost vs. Value 2017 Report; the 30th annual release. 29 projects were evaluated for the 2017 report, in 99 markets nationwide, and they paid back 64.3 cents on the dollar in resale value, on average. Consistent with previous years, curb appeal projects continued to deliver higher returns on investment, overall, than upgrades made inside the home.
Here are the top 5 rated home remodeling projects, by return on investment.
#1) Adding loose-fill fiberglass insulation to the attic - 107.7% return
#2) Replacing the entry door with an attractive steel unit - 90.7% return
#3) Updating to manufactured stone veneer - 89.4% return
#4) A minor kitchen remodel - 80.2% return
#5) Replacing the garage door - 76.9% return
The exciting thing about Remodelling Magazine’s top 5 is that not only do they represent the highest return on investment, but they are some of the more affordable upgrade options, and can make excellent do-it-yourself projects. As you may already have guessed, it’s #3 in the Cost vs. Value 2017 Report that caught our eye. Panelized manufactured stone veneer is designed to be a simple, and very affordable, do-it-yourself home improvement project.
Panelized manufactured stone veneer, like Boral's Versetta Stone®, has excellent documentation and a series of tutorial videos available. There’s also one for measuring your job, so you know what to order.
It's possible to give your home a significant facelift over one or two weekends. Traditional stone masonry installation involved fastening each stone individually to the wall with mortar. The stone mason carefully trimmed each stone by hand, buttered it with mortar, and set it. Later, grout lines needed to be hand tooled to finish the installation. With stone veneer panels, all of that is a thing of the past. Groups of stones are pre-assembled into panels. All you need is a hammer, drill or screw gun to fasten the panels to the wall. There's no mortar, and the big mess that went with it. Because there's no mortar, stone veneer panels can be installed any time of the year. And you don't need a mason's eye for pleasing stone placement; it's all been done for you at the factory.
Traditional stone required a wall and footing strong enough to support the enormous weight of the stone and mortar. That limited where you could install it. Manufactured stone veneers are made of lightweight aggregate materials. Boral’s Versetta Stone® is approximately one-fourth the weight of full-thickness stone. Versetta panels are embedded with a G-90 galvanized nail strip, to make installation a breeze. There are two main panels in the Versetta system: Flat Panels and Universal Corner. Trim accessories like light boxes, receptacle boxes, trim stones and wainscot caps make transitions and terminations simple.