As we grow older, our needs and capabilities change, and not all homes are designed to support this change along with us. It’s common to upsize your home when your household is growing – whether to accommodate children, pets, or simply because you need an extra room for a home office. But what once was the perfect home, may now be too hard to manage and maintain in your golden years.
There are countless benefits of downsizing your home, and it’s a wonderful way to open the door to the next stage of your life. But, making the decision to downsize can be hard, and leaving a home filled with cherished memories can bring heartache. So, when is the right time to downsize? If owning your home in Seattle, WA or renting a house in Portland, OR has brought more stress and worry than it has joy and comfort in recent years, the time may be now to downsize into something smaller – or maybe even renting a space like an apartment in Beaverton, OR. Here are 14 signs it’s time to put your house on the market and downsize.
1. Should I replace my windows or restore them?
Depending on what’s wrong with your windows, they might just need a few repairs to work like new. “Many people don’t realize that windows can often be easily repaired by a specialist instead of replacing an entire window unit,” says the team at Chicago Window Repair. “Our company has received thousands of calls over the years from customers asking about new windows, explaining that a component doesn’t work properly.”
They continue, “Various parts such as insulated glass units, balances, operating mechanisms, handles, covers, and tilt latches can be replaced instead saving you thousands of dollars compared to a full window replacement. These replacement hardware parts are usually third-party and not directly tied to an original window manufacturer. Even if your window company is no longer in business, a professional can usually swap out defective parts.
Is your window not sliding up or staying open? Is it not cranking out fully? These problems can often be fixed for a fraction of the cost of a brand-new window.”
Steve Marshall of Wood Window Restoration, a service in Connecticut for restoring traditional wood windows, expands on this idea of restoration instead of replacement. “The window usually just needs maintenance,” says Steve. “There are cases where lack of maintenance or mother nature has rendered the sash derelict. Perhaps replacement is warranted. I will say I haven’t met a window that wasn’t repairable. It usually is a case of economics or time that prohibits such. It’s been proven that a single pane window with proper weatherstripping and a storm window or energy panel is just as efficient as a thermal pane. The key is proper fit and sound glazing.”
2. Do I need new construction windows or replacement windows?
Where the draft is coming from can help decide what type of window is needed. “The biggest decision to make is whether you need new construction windows or if replacement windows will do the trick,” says Colin Shaw of Handyman Services of CT.
“A simple test is to check where the draft is coming from. If it is coming in around the trim, you need a new construction window. If it is coming through the frame of the window, a replacement window should be fine and will make a big difference.”