If you live in a sunny place, then you know the joys of walking out and feeling the warm glow of the sun on your skin. But you also know that there are challenges to leaving in warmer climates. You know as well as anyone that your home in Florida, Texas, Hawaii, or Arizona is very different from the sort of house you’d have in Montreal or Alaska.
With that in mind, we’re here to talk about home maintenance and improvement projects that are ideal for homes in hot and sunny places. Here’s what to make and do while the sun is shining.
Keeping Your Cool
The sun is all well and good when you’re enjoying a refreshing dip in your swimming pool, but when it’s the middle of summer and you’re trying to relax in your house, the heat can be unbearable. That’s why it’s particularly important for homeowners in warm and sunny climates to invest in superior HVAC systems.
HVAC systems include ventilation, heat, and — most importantly — air conditioning. They’re serious and complicated things, but you can forget all about them when they’re working properly. Just turn up the air conditioning and relax!
To be able to do this, though, you’ll need to install the right air conditioner. You’ll also need to make sure that your AC unit gets plenty of care. Installing a replacement air conditioner is quite a bit pricier than fixing up your existing AC unit, so be sure to invest in reliable care from expert HVAC technicians. Regular visits from qualified technicians can help keep your system working well all year long. Wait too long between technician visits, and you’ll need AC repair instead of HVAC maintenance. Wait even longer, and you’ll have to shell out for a brand new service. With each step, your average cost will go up. So be smart and back up your initial investment in a quality HVAC system with proactive maintenance. AC repair in Jacksonville, FL, is more vital than AC repair in Alaska, and those living in hot climates need to recognize that.
Making Use of Your Outdoor Space
All over the United States, people love swimming. But you can’t just improve your home value by installing a pool everywhere. Even with a great job from an expert swimming pool contractor, a pool in a place like Alaska is unlikely to make a home much more appealing on the market.
In St. Augustine or Ponte Vedra, though, the reality is very different. In warm places, a new pool can make a home more valuable than ever (provided, of course, that the pool installer did a great job). So, why not enjoy your outdoor space more? Don’t stop with a pool, either: Invest in an outdoor kitchen or another great hardscaping project. Highlight important points and structure your plants. You could add garden fountains, stones, wind spinners, benches, and perhaps statues. Get the right contractor, great service, and a great job done on your property and enjoy a beautiful outdoor space that makes your home more valuable. It’s one of the many perks of living where it’s sunny and beautiful.
Harnessing the Power of the Sun
The sun is unimaginably powerful. Even from far across the vastness of space, it radiates remarkable heat that can beat down on you in the hot summer in your hometown.
That radiating heat is a great source of energy. So, it’s no wonder that places like Arizona are becoming hotspots (no pun intended) for solar energy. There are a lot of good reasons that solar panels in Arizona are such a familiar site these days.
When homeowners invest in solar panels, they can draw renewable energy from the sun and save on their power bills. Depending on how much electricity you use, a solar panel system could even allow you to sell excess energy back to your electrical company. Solar power systems can save homeowners a bundle, especially when they take advantage of tax credits (including federal tax credit and, in some places, state tax credits like Arizona’s state tax credit). On top of all of these savings, solar panels can help homeowners increase their home value.
Solar panels work best in sunny places, of course, which is why places like Arizona (the so-called “Persian Gulf of solar energy”) are ideal. But it wouldn’t increase your home value much to have a system that only worked on sunny days. As you might expect, solar panel systems take the energy drawn by the solar panels on sunny days and put it in battery storage for use on cloudy days. Rare as those days might be in places like the State of Arizona, you’ll still be covered!
Perhaps the near future will allow other areas to flourish in this way. For now, though, contractors in places like the Grand Canyon State are the ones who are installing solar panels most often. Solar installers are busy in these places because the great work that they do provides homeowners with a wonderful benefit that is uniquely available to those living in sunny spots.
