What "upgrade" to your home in TV do you now feel wasn't worth it?

[MrChip72]

Just bought this year and the incredible amount of things that I've seen people add afterwards interesting to say the least.

[Oldragbagger]

///

[Mleeja]

We replaced vinyl windows in the lanai with acrylic sliders. If I was to do this again, I would bite the bullet and glass in the room.

[RICH1]

We live in a patio villa so outdoor projects are limited.
So far we done slide-out drawers in the kitchen cabinets, glass shower doors in the master bath, gutters, pull down attic stairs, and light kits on the ceiling fans. Would absolutely do them all again.
On the list to do still; extend the patio concrete, a Sunsetter awning over the patio, and closet organizers. Eventually we will replace the rolled vinyl flooring with either vinyl or wood plank. But we’re content to wait until it starts showing signs of wear.
Didn’t the OP ask of upgrades that you WOULD NOT do again? Wasn’t Worth it were OPs words!

[Stu from NYC]

We purchased a resale but some of the things important to the original owner were not something we would have purchased. For example lots of lighting behind the house.

I am sure that things you think are important at one time of your life turn out to be not worth doing.

[Carla B]

No doubt, the worst was the extensive landscaping, the inspiration of our contractor.

[MartinSE]

We installed Plantation shutters throughout. We would do it again, but differently. What we didn't realize at the time is the one we got and the way they are installed, prevent us opening the "tilt" windows. The frame of the shutters extends about 1/2 inch inside the window opening, which prevents the windows from being tilted for cleaning.

If you want plantation shutters, and we love ours, be sure to ask about this.

[Oldragbagger]

///

[Rwirish]

Putting in a pool

[Brondrisek]

Two things I’m sorry I did:

I got rid of the vertical blinds on my sliders. I replaced with washable curtain, that I love but they have grommets. Every time I want to wash them, the entire rod has to come off and it’s difficult. I’m replacing with curtains with Velcro loops.

I also added wood blinds to all the windows but it’s a lot of dusting. I would now put up something that could be vacuumed like honeycomb.

[Babubhat]

Pools are essential on higher end homes for resale.

[SkylightRoofing]

Roof replacement in Florida is one of the best investments you can make. The value now on Arch Laminate Shingle is almost (not quite, but soon enough) 3X value on reappraisal.

[dewilson58]

Pools are essential on higher end homes for resale.

:what:

Why??

[bowlingal]

Martin, I had the same issue, and had that part partially cut out, so i can tilt the windows in to clean them

[coconutmama]

No doubt, the worst was the extensive landscaping, the inspiration of our contractor.

I would definitely have done ours differently. Less. But was too excited to be able to plant trees & bushes new to us.

[hrenner]

4 season glass in lanai. Usable all year round and now our favorite room. If lanai is not too big, air conditioning can handle it just fine.

[dewilson58]

Didn't do and glad..........

Garage screen.

Garage attic ladder.

Solar tubes.

Pool.

[Veracity]

Didn't do and glad..........

Garage screen.

Garage attic ladder.

Solar tubes.

Pool.

Why are you glad that you didn't buy a garage attic ladder and solar tubes? We will be building a new house soon and are considering both of these (a solar tube in the laundry room because there is no window and Magic Stairs in the garage for easier access to the attic) so I'm curious as to why you are glad that you didn't install them in your home.

[dewilson58]

Why .

Old people carrying things up & down a steep ladder.
A neighbor fell & was injured.
Maybe time to weed out junk.

Putting a hole in a nice tight roof.
Not the same ladder neighbor...........tubes leak, not all, but they do.

:ho:

[dewilson58]

Old people carrying things up & down a steep ladder.
A neighbor fell & was injured.
Maybe time to weed out junk.

Putting a hole in a nice tight roof.
Not the same ladder neighbor...........tubes leak, not all, but they do.

:ho:

Upcoming responses:
I'm careful, won't happen to me.
I've had tubes for 5 years, no leaks.
:censored:

[Heytubes]

When installed by pros, tubes don’t leak. Usually it’s a vent pipe boot. I had 25 plus years in the business and no issues.

[dewilson58]

When installed by pros, tubes don’t leak. Usually it’s a vent pipe boot. I had 25 plus years in the business and no issues.

Occupation
Skylight contractor


:1rotfl::1rotfl:

[nhtexasrn]

Just bought this year and the incredible amount of things that I've seen people add afterwards interesting to say the least.
Travertine tiles on the lanai and pool area. Wish we just had the regular ole cool deck.

[Stu from NYC]

Why are you glad that you didn't buy a garage attic ladder and solar tubes? We will be building a new house soon and are considering both of these (a solar tube in the laundry room because there is no window and Magic Stairs in the garage for easier access to the attic) so I'm curious as to why you are glad that you didn't install them in your home.

Have solar tube in kitchen and glad house came with it. Thought about another in kitchen but have to cut hole in roof and do not want to do it now. Perhaps when roof needs replacement.

We do not use out attic and just so you know gets rather hot up there in summer and have to be careful what you put up there as heat will ruin lots of things.

[Ski Bum]

Water softener and RO system

[CosmicTrucker]

Plantation shutters. I ended up with the large one-piece units that swing open from one side or the other. I wish I had paid closer attention to the salesperson because I would have rather had the two-piece shutters that open from the center. The one-piece units can't be opened if you have any furniture next to or near the window.

Also landscaping. I paid for professional landscaping in the backyard, but none of this work was beyond my ability. The cost far exceeded the benefit received.

[rjm1cc]

Excellent point. We have the same shutters but we put a frame around the window and the shutters are mounted to the frame. Net result is the original width of the inside window frame space was not reduced and we can open the windows for cleaning. But I do have one window where a piece of furniture stops us from opening the shutter all the way so it presents a cleaning problem so pay attention to furniture placement.

[Ktygrett]

What a great question! I like everything I’ve done. I do agree with everyone here re landscaping. Initially, the landscaper put in way too much. I live in a courtyard villa and have changed landscaping 4x. I had no idea that things grow so fast in Florida. I’ve adopted the concept that “less is more” in landscaping and am very happy with minimal, neat landscaping.

[Garywt]

Didn't do and glad..........

Garage screen.

Garage attic ladder.

Solar tubes.

Pool.
I agree with these. Looked into a garage screen but would be a waste, don’t really use the attic, feel anything up there would melt, no need for solar tubes and there are plenty of pools around.

[Garywt]

To date we love everything we did, enclosed lanai, painted garage floor and patio, water filter, screened in front entry way. No plans to do anything else now.

[kkingston57]

Just bought this year and the incredible amount of things that I've seen people add afterwards interesting to say the least.

Did not personally add this to my house but was installed by previous owner. They added a lanai to the house. When they did this it was installed over an existing concrete porch and did not pay to have it leveled. Lanai has exterior vinyl siding walls and two of the old existing windows give us a view of the lanai. AC not done properly and we need to add a $5K AC to cool/heat it properly.

If you add a lanai, do not scrimp on the costs. Previous owner scrimped and it will cost 10K+ to make it more usable and normal looking. They should have erected a covered screened in patio instead.

[Remembergoldenrule]

I’m glad we did Solar tubes in laundry, kitchen, living area on Begonia because too dark otherwise.

[Remembergoldenrule]

We have steel attic ladder. Love it

[HospitalCoder]

We replaced vinyl windows in the lanai with acrylic sliders. If I was to do this again, I would bite the bullet and glass in the room.

Agree with this. I’m planning on getting an estimate for switching to glass and making it a 4 season room. Cringing in anticipation.

[JSR22]

We did a lot of upgrades and I do not regret any of them. The three I am happiest with is the pool, solar tubes and enclosed lanai with air and heat.

[Remembergoldenrule]

Definitely Nova water system. Water here is awful without filters and it destroys appliances and shower heads.

[JSR22]

Definitely Nova water system. Water here is awful without filters and it destroys appliances and shower heads.

Theiresystem is wonderful. No more chlorine smell.

[Remembergoldenrule]

I would skip upgraded stack stone landscaping. Would just do curbs. Stack stone big mistake and less is more on plants. They really grow big.would NEVER plant palm tree again. Too much maintenance and cost.

[vickersbond]

///
Swimming pool

[ThirdOfFive]

Why are you glad that you didn't buy a garage attic ladder and solar tubes? We will be building a new house soon and are considering both of these (a solar tube in the laundry room because there is no window and Magic Stairs in the garage for easier access to the attic) so I'm curious as to why you are glad that you didn't install them in your home.
I love the solar tubes! Didn't even know they existed until we moved here. Not enough sun in Minnesota to warrant it, I guess. (I suppose there are some). We rarely use the kitchen overhead lights during sunny days and never turn on bathroom lights unless it is dark outside.

[ThirdOfFive]

I sorta miss that outdoor biffy. But--anything to make the missus happy...

[Kenswing]

All of the upgrades we did I’m happy with. I would have never done crown moulding though if it wasn’t for the wife.

[Ironnan]

The promised SOLAR PANELS savings have been shamefully meager. My Provider’s dog and pony show of cost savings are not even close to actual results.

Tread lightly. Don’t do solar!

[asianthree]

New would never plant a palm, just not a fan

[Rainger99]

Travertine tiles on the lanai and pool area. Wish we just had the regular ole cool deck.

Why do you regret Travertine tiles on the lanai? We are considering putting it in.

[Michael 61]

New would never plant a palm, just not a fan

Thinking of putting in a palm when I buy this month, why do you feel that is not a good idea

[JSR22]

Thinking of putting in a palm when I buy this month, why do you feel that is not a good idea

We have 9 palms and I like them. We pay to get them trimmed several times a year. Low maintenance and attractive.

[Freehiker]

Baseball stadium
Helicopter pad

I'm just not using them as much as I thought I would.

[asianthree]

Thinking of putting in a palm when I buy this month, why do you feel that is not a good idea

Palm rats… although not all palms have a rat issue, we have 3 neighbors that have palm rats. Not sure if they traveled to different houses, or each has their own issues. One finally cut their palms down, to fix their issues. We didn’t plant the two palms at our preowned. But had both removed right after we moved in, just not a fan of palms, they were more work than we wanted to deal with.

[affald]

Roof replacement in Florida is one of the best investments you can make. The value now on Arch Laminate Shingle is almost (not quite, but soon enough) 3X value on reappraisal.

.......

[npwalters]

Palms....."We pay to get them trimmed several times a year. Low maintenance and attractive."

Not sure I understand this statement.

[hamsterfay]

Just bought this year and the incredible amount of things that I've seen people add afterwards interesting to say the least.

Tankless water heater

[JSR22]

Palms....."We pay to get them trimmed several times a year. Low maintenance and attractive."

Not sure I understand this statement.

I have them trimmed by a great tree service. I don't have to do anything other than making a call. I like the look of them. We have different varieties.

[golfing eagles]

Old people carrying things up & down a steep ladder.
A neighbor fell & was injured.
Maybe time to weed out junk.

Putting a hole in a nice tight roof.
Not the same ladder neighbor...........tubes leak, not all, but they do.

:ho:

I agree. I'm 5 years younger than the average Villager, but there is nothing in my attic except Christmas decorations. I feel I can still risk it once a year.

As far as a pool---I had one in NY for 30 years. The real estate agent when I sold stated it actually detracts from the value of the home. Not sure if this would be true in FL. But I doubt the lack of a pool would hurt resale value on higher end homes---If I were to put my home on the market for 1.4M it would probably sell in 2 hours.

[drbales]

Would have much less landscaping than we did 12 years ago. Less is much better. The landscapers try to way oversell the amount you need.

[Laker14]

We bought a pre-owned...some of what the previous owner did we like.
For example, unlike a previous poster, we love the garage screen. We get an amazing breeze through the house thanks to the ability to open the solid door, close the screen door, and open the indoor doors to the garage. To each his own, but I love my garage screen door.
We wanted plantation shutters, and got them with the house, and generally like them, but as others mentioned, we can't tilt the windows in to clean them, and getting the screens in and out is very hard to do, nearly impossible without kinking the screen frame. I'm interested in the fix mentioned in another post.
The house came with lovely palms. PITA....they are gone.
I thought I'd like more solar tubes, we have a couple....meh....not include to do more.

[Happinow]

Way too much landscaping. When we first moved in, we took out the traditional landscaping the villages puts in and went to town with new landscaping. We’ve learned over the past 10 years that LESS is more! First, it grows too fast and too big! It’s expensive to have someone maintain it. We would never put in so much had we known. But….the landscape people do not tell you this! Their job is to sell and they are good at it! We are pleased with the outcome, but we put in way too much. We also put a tub in the guest bathroom, but have since replaced it with a shower with glass door.

We love everything else we did….our air conditioned garage, large pool and we stretched our house!

[Jerseygirl08]

Old people carrying things up & down a steep ladder.
A neighbor fell & was injured.
Maybe time to weed out junk.

Putting a hole in a nice tight roof.
Not the same ladder neighbor...........tubes leak, not all, but they do.

:ho:
I've had 3 solar tubes since 2008. LOVE, love, love them. Not a bit of leaks for me. Mr. Wilson, by appearance of your avatar, you are certainly young enough to traverse steep stairs. Maybe you should consider enjoying your life a little bit, get out of your beach chair and start living. Take some chances, live a little bit.

[dewilson58]

Maybe you should consider enjoying your life a little bit, get out of your beach chair and start living. Take some chances, live a little bit.

Darling, if you read my post...........you will notice I'm just sharing events in my neighborhood. Nothing to do with my fitness or about my enjoyment of life.
I don't own a beach chair.
:oops: