Uncategorized Archives - Page 20 of 49

Holiday Decorating Themes for Your Home and Garage

December 5, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

If your home’s front door and garage both face the street, your holiday decorating plan will be greatly enhanced if you decorate around your garage and driveway, as well as around your front door and walkway. You certainly have no shortage of options to fill up your outdoor space. As you have surely seen in home improvement stores, today’s outdoor holiday decorating options go way beyond the traditional strings of lights and plastic Santas.

Some innovative outdoor decorating items you might want to consider this year include:

Oversized ornaments or snowflakes you can hang or place around the yard.
Pre-lit faux birch trees in a range of sizes, creating temporary landscaping in a yard that lacks mature trees.
Light projectors that project an image of falling snow across the entire front of your home and garage, or even a picture of your family Christmas card photo. Image projections are an easy way to dress up a plain, light-colored garage door.
Solar-powered outdoor light strings that automatically turn on at sunset and stay on for about 8 hours.

One of the most common mistakes you will want to avoid, however, is buying random items that do not add up to a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing design. For example, you have probably seen a “geographically incongruous” yard which contains both a Santa (North Pole) and a nativity scene (Middle East). Throw in some penguins (South Pole) and an inflatable Grinch, and you are more likely to win the Chevy Chase/Christmas Vacation booby prize than the Best Decorated House in Town award.

Based on the holiday decorating products and design motifs featured in stores and online this season, here are some themes you might want to use as the foundation for planning your holiday yard decorations:

Color focus: Keep most of your decorations in one color, such as white or a warm golden tone, and accent with one other color, such as red or blue.
Santa’s workshop: Include figures of Santa, his sleigh, wrapped packages, elves, snowmen, and Rudolph and friends.
Animals: Place lighted animals in strategic spots around your yard. Deer remain the most popular, followed by polar bears, but dogs and even a tinsel Christmas llama are also available.
Luminaries: Line the driveway and front walk with luminaries or lanterns. These can be a great way to call attention to a beautiful custom garage with stone facing and a wooden door. “Modern farmhouse” is a popular style this year, using rustic materials such as mason jars, wood rounds, logs, or tin buckets as the base and accenting with natural materials such as evergreens, red berries, and pine cones.

Call Blue Sky Builders, Inc. to Start Planning Your Garage Project

Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove constructs, repairs, and updates custom garages and garage doors throughout the Chicago metro area. Contact us at 630-852-8485 to discuss how we can create your ideal garage solution.

Holiday Home and Garage Decorating With New LED Lights

November 28, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

As soon as the first holiday lights and wreaths appear on houses, businesses, and lampposts around town, you know it is Christmastime. To help create that holly, jolly spirit around your house and garage this season, here are some tips for using the latest in LED lighting:

String New and Improved LED Lights on Your Garage

When LED light strings first became available, they had an awful blue-white color and sometimes appeared as if they were vibrating. They were painful to look at. Thankfully, you can now buy LED lights labeled “warm white” that look much like a traditional incandescent white bulb. Even LED lights labeled “pure white” are a great improvement over the old, cold, blue-white bulbs. If you prefer colored lights, LED reds, greens, and blues look deep and rich the way you want them to.

Whatever color you buy, LED lights will still be nearly twice as efficient as incandescent lights, so they cost less to operate than the lights you used a decade or two ago. LED lights are also safer, because they provide light with no heat. In contrast, 90% of the energy output of incandescent bulbs is in the form of heat.

Another benefit of LED lights is that you can connect many more strands of lights in a series than you could with incandescent lights. This means you will not need as many outlets and extension cords to cover your entire home and garage with lights.

What to Look for When Buying LED Lights for Your Garage

If you are buying new lights this year, be sure to select the kind labeled “single mold” with the bulbs permanently molded and wired in. This way, there are no individual bulbs that can fall out, get lost, and have to be replaced. If an LED light does burn out on a single-mold string, only that one bulb will go out; the rest of the string will still work.

For exterior decorating, remember to check that the lights are labeled for outdoor use. Also, pay attention to how many bulbs-per-foot are on a string. Cheaper strings may have bulbs spaced 12 inches apart, but 4-inch or 6-inch spacing will give you better density of light.

Blue Sky Builders, Inc.: The Right Choice for Your Garage

Are you thinking about renovating your garage next year, or maybe building a brand-new custom garage? Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has constructed and repaired hundreds of custom garages throughout Chicago and its suburbs for almost 40 years. See our website for examples of our work as well as client reviews and ratings of our work. Contact us at 630-852-8485 to learn what we can do for you. Get on our schedule now for Spring 2019.

Tips to Make Your Garage More Functional Year-Round

November 21, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

With the holidays upon us, you may have a lot of company entering your house through the garage and would like to make the space look a little nicer. You may also find yourself wishing you had a better storage system in your garage as you struggle past the lawn care equipment and patio furniture that had to come indoors for the winter, just when you need to get out the holiday decorations and those folding tables and chairs you need to seat everyone for a big family dinner.

Why not start planning for a new custom garage or some well-deserved garage improvements in 2019?

Finished Walls

If your garage is currently uninsulated with an unfinished interior, finishing the interior walls is a great place to start. This is one of the best ways to make the space more attractive and more functional at the same time.

In place of bare studs and siding, a layer of insulation and drywall will help maintain a steadier temperature in the garage year-round, making it more comfortable to work in and creating better conditions for long-term storage. The drywall can also make the space feel brighter, even if you do not paint it.

Before putting up the drywall, be sure to add some electrical outlets along the walls and update the overhead lighting to create a more functional work space. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, be sure to read up on the importance of vapor barriers and venting or engage an experienced garage builder. The last thing you want is to create conditions where moisture and mold will build up in your garage.

Garage Door Insulation

If your garage door is not insulated, you will want to address that as well, especially if it faces to the west. A west-facing garage door takes the brunt of the prevailing winds in the Chicago suburbs as well as the hottest sun of the day. You can add an insulation kit to an existing garage door or buy a whole new door if you really want to improve the curb appeal of your home. In our custom garage photo gallery, you can see how much difference it makes when you install an upgraded garage door versus a plain garage door.

Let Blue Sky Builders, Inc. Update or Rebuild Your Garage

Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has been building and repairing custom garages in the Chicago area for almost 40 years. We have built garages from Aurora to Woodridge, which you can view on our website, along with client reviews and ratings of our work.

If you want to update your current garage, we handle roofing, siding, windows, and doors. If you want to build a custom garage from scratch, we will take care of the permitting, carefully demo and remove any old building(s) and concrete slabs, pour a new concrete slab, and construct the new building. Contact us at 630-852-8485 to learn more about how we can help create the perfect garage for you.

New Garage Door Openers Make Life Easier and More Secure

November 14, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

If you think the only way to open your garage door is to manually press buttons mounted on a garage wall or on a remote clipped to your car visor, think again. Even the exterior keypad with a 4-digit security code, which was once the height of convenience, has become outmoded. Check out the latest features in “smart” electric garage door openers:

No More Losing the Garage Door Remote

The latest openers from manufacturers like Liftmaster (Blue Sky Builders, Inc.’ preferred brand) have built-in Wi-Fi. You can easily and securely connect your garage door opener to your home Wi-Fi network, allowing you to control the door from your smartphone with a simple app.

For those who still want an old-school remote, never fear: you can still get those for your smart door opener. Some brands offer a keyfob-style opener, which is a nice alternative to the visor-clip style.

In many urban areas, a growing number of people have garages but do not own cars, preferring car-sharing services like Uber. Being able to enter their home through the garage using their smartphone or a keyfob just makes sense.

No More Worrying Whether the Pet Sitter Showed Up

With a smart garage door and corresponding smartphone app, you can receive an alert when the door is opened or closed. This can be helpful for tracking the comings and goings of family members. If you routinely give your garage code to a pet sitter or housekeeper, you can also use this function to check up on their arrival and departure times.

No More Getting Up to Make Sure the Door is Shut at Night

Do you have a family member who often forgets to shut the garage door when they are done working outside in the evening? With a smart garage door, you can set a recurring schedule to close the door and turn the opener’s lights on and off.

If you have a voice assistant such as Google Home, you can even use it to speak a command that will shut the door for you.

Stay Safe and Secure

If you live in an area where power outages are a problem, you do not have to worry about being locked out. Many modern garage door openers come with a battery backup that will keep the door functioning until the power comes back on.

The latest garage door openers also have other safety features that can improve your home security, such as deadbolt locks and extra bright lights that illuminate the garage from corner to corner.

Let Blue Sky Builders, Inc. Update Your Garage Door

Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has been installing garage doors and electric openers in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs for almost 40 years. We also build custom garages. If your garage door or garage door opener needs repair or replacement, contact us at 630-852-8485.

Sizing Up: How Big Should Your Garage Footprint Be?

November 7, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

“I want our next garage to be smaller,” said nobody ever. But when you think about pouring concrete for a new garage, how big should you make the footprint? Here are several things to consider:

Sizing an Illinois Garage for Vehicle Parking

New homes built in the North Central U.S. are much more likely to have three-car garages than in other parts of the U.S. Of all new single-family homes completed in 2017 nationwide, 65% had a two-car garage, and 20% had a three-car garage or larger. In the East North Central region that includes Illinois, 33% of new homes had a three-car or larger garage.

Aside from regional trends and resale value, here are a few other factors to consider when sizing up your parking needs:
Is off-street parking available in your neighborhood, particularly for overnight guests? You may want to make the concrete apron outside your garage wide enough to make room for kids’ and guests’ cars.
What size vehicles do you drive? Full-size trucks or SUVs will need more room than compact cars.
Are you concerned about aging in place or providing access for a relative? Consider setting aside space for a wheelchair or walker-friendly ramp.

Expanding a Custom Garage for Storage in Illinois

A two-car garage with one large garage door is still the most common format, but that does not mean you cannot think a little bigger. If your lot size and local zoning allow for it, consider making a new garage a little wider or longer than your old one. This extra indoor storage space can be put to many good uses, perhaps as a hobby space for woodworking or gardening.

Adding a Paved Patio Adjacent to a Garage

You may not think a patio and a garage have anything to do with one another, but they do. Both require you to scrape off topsoil, create a hard, level base, and install pavement. As long as you are preparing the ground for a garage, it may be cost-efficient to make space for a patio at the same time.

Ground-level patios have risen in popularity in the U.S. The National Association of Home Builders reported that of all new single-family homes started in 2017, 59% included patios, up from 48% in 2011. Paved patios have grown in popularity in part because they are perceived as less costly to maintain than a wooden deck. A patio also fits with the growing popularity of firepits as a backyard focal point for entertaining.

In urban areas when lots are quite small, such as in Chicago and its suburbs, many people are building a deck or patio on top of their garage. This is allowed in many places and is definitely something to consider.

Expand Your Garage with Blue Sky Builders, Inc.

Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has been building custom garages in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs for over 39 years. If you are thinking about expanding your garage or building a new one, contact us at 630-852-8485.

Upgrading Your Garage to an Accessory Dwelling Unit

October 24, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a top trend in today’s real estate market. What, you may ask, is an accessory dwelling unit? An ADU is a second small residence located on the same lot as a typical single-family home. The ADU category includes over-the-garage apartments, basement apartments, in-law apartments, carriage houses, and tiny houses. ADUs may just seem like a new name for an old concept, but there is definitely something new going on, and an ADU may be a great custom garage solution for your home.

What Are the New Reasons for Building ADUs, Including Above-Garage Apartments?

In today’s housing market, generational differences, an aging population, and financial issues are some of the factors behind the growing interest in ADUs. Any or all of these could be reasons for you to consider adding a second residence to your existing property.

Boomers Liked Big Houses, While Millennials Are More Minimalist

Many of today’s largest homes were built for the Baby Boomer generation, who are now aged 54-72. As Boomers start downsizing for retirement, who is going to buy those big suburban homes with three car garages and large bonus rooms above the garage? Converting some of these properties into a smaller home with an ADU may be one solution.

That solution could suit the Millennial generation, currently aged 22-37 and projected to outnumber the Boomer population within the next year or two. Millennials often prefer to live in more densely populated areas where they can get around without a car. They are often saddled with large student loan debts, leaving them less money to spend on a home. Millennials also tend to be more interested in spending their money on travel and new experiences than on maintaining a large home.

An Aging Population Needs More Flexible Housing Options

As the U.S. population ages, in part due to the Boomer generation reaching retirement age, and in part due to lengthening lifespans, there is a growing need for new, more affordable ways to care for elderly people who cannot live alone. There has been a corresponding rise in the number of one and two person households, contributing to the need for more flexible housing options. ADUs can make it easier for families to care for older members without resorting to an enormously expensive assisted living facility. Alternatively, an elderly couple could make an ADU available at a reduced price to a younger person or couple in exchange for day-to-day assistance.

Both Millennials and Boomers Are Often Cash-Strapped

While many Millennials are debt-burdened, many Boomers are entering retirement with insufficient savings to maintain their preferred lifestyle. Adding a garage apartment to a single-family property enables a Boomer parent to rent an apartment to a Millennial child, or a grandparent to rent to a grandchild, keeping family close by while providing financial benefits to everyone.

While some cities and zoning boards do not like the idea of ADUs, this is likely to change in the next few years as more residents demand it. For example, in January 2017, California enacted a new law making it easier for property owners to get ADUs approved. As of March 2018, the city of Los Angeles had already issued building permits for over 3,000 ADUs and was receiving roughly 300 new ADU permit applications per month.

Add an Accessory Dwelling Unit to Your Garage

Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has been building custom garages for over 39 years throughout the greater Chicago area. If you are thinking about adding an apartment space to your property as part of a new or expanded garage, contact us at 630-852-8485.

Why Your Dream Garage Should Have Two Stories

October 17, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

Do you have any childhood memories of playing in an attic? Many of us spent our childhoods playing in and around the second story of a custom-built garage, and we may wish to recreate this type of environment for ourselves or our own children. If you have your own memories of playing in a big attic or the second story of a garage, that nostalgia may be all you need to make the decision in favor of building a two-story garage. However, if you need more practical reasons, consider the following:

Room for Hobbies

Do you have closets overflowing with hobby supplies? Are you tired of having nowhere to practice your hobby or wondering how long it will take to unbury your dining room table before you can even think about hosting a dinner party? Adding a second story to your garage could be the perfect solution.

Rental Income

Would you like to offset those Illinois property taxes with some rental income, even if it is just the occasional Airbnb or VRBO guest? One advantage of building a bed-and-bath or an entire apartment above your garage is that it can be completely separated from your house, protecting your privacy. You could even design it as a tiny house to serve as a launching pad for your 20-something kids, allowing you to keep the rent money in the family.

Business Office Space

If you run a business out of your home, you need a space designated solely for business use in order to deduct home-business expenses on your income tax return. If your house is short on space, a second-story garage space could solve that problem.

Work-Out Room

The second story of a garage can be a great place to set up a weight-lifting station, TRX straps, or even your yoga mat. Anyone with pets knows how hard it can be to do crunches in the living room with a dog in your face, so the garage could be the perfect exercise escape. That over-the-garage space could also give you enough room to invite friends over for private classes.

Outdoor Living

If your home sits on a small plot of land, your house and garage may take up most of the lot, leaving you with little outdoor space for relaxing and entertaining. More and more people in the Chicago area are building patios, pergolas, and screen porches on top of their garages. Add a few plants, and it can be even nicer than a ground level space, as it will not turn soggy and muddy when it rains.

Thinking About a Two-story Garage?

Over the past 39 years, Blue Sky Builders, Inc. of Downers Grove has built custom garages in over 50 communities around the Chicago. Are you ready to discuss plans for your new garage? Contact us at 630-852-8485.

Look Up! Use the Ceiling to Maximize Your Garage Storage

October 10, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

Most of us would love to have a bigger garage, but our property simply has no room to expand the garage footprint. This means that even when we have the opportunity to build a new garage, we still have to use our space as efficiently as we can.

However, few of us are trained garage designers. Once we get our cars parked, we often struggle to find enough remaining space to store our collection of tools, sports gear, and household overflow. With the risk of theft, most people who live in the city or suburbs want to keep large items like ladders, bicycles, and kayaks safely locked in the garage.

One solution is to look up; you probably have several feet of open space in the rafters. Here are three easy ways to make better use of that space. To shop online for these items, just use the bold-faced titles below as your Google or Amazon search terms.

1. Ceiling-Mounted Extension Cord Reels

If you use a lot of power tools in your garage, out on the driveway, or in the yard, you may find yourself tangled in extension cords. Mounting a heavy-duty extension cord reel on your ceiling can be a great solution. If you have ever enjoyed the convenience of a self-serve car wash with the hose mounted on the ceiling, you can easily see the beauty of a ceiling-mounted extension cord. For example, think how much easier it will be to vacuum out your car with a ceiling-mounted power cord.

2. Ceiling-Mounted Garage or Shop Lights

Many garages barely have enough light for you to walk safely from the car to the door. Improving the lighting in your garage can make it much more enjoyable to work on projects out there. There are many ceiling-hung fixtures designed for the tough environment of an unheated Chicago area garage. While you are thinking about lighting, consider updating your garage windows, overhead garage doors, and garage entry doors to provide more natural light.

3. Ceiling-Mounted or Overhead Garage Storage Racks

Sturdy overhead racks allow you to safely stash plastic storage bins loaded with anything from out-of-season tools to holiday decorations. Even better are cable-lifted racks that you can raise and lower for easy access to those storage bins, eliminating the need to get up on a ladder.

You can also opt for a pulley-driven hoist or lift designed to hold a specific item. You can find hoists with racks and straps customized to hold ladders, bikes, kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes.

Ready to Create Your Dream Garage?

If you want to renovate your current garage or build a brand-new one, call the experienced Chicago custom garage designers at Blue Sky Builders, Inc. Contact us at 630-852-8485.

Using the KonMari Method to Declutter Your Garage

October 3, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

Millions of people have embraced the KonMari method of decluttering their homes. However, KonMari was developed in Japan, where people live in much smaller spaces than we Americans do, and it has been most praised for helping people reduce their wardrobes. So we decided to explore the question: Can you use the KonMari method in your garage?

Declutter by Category, Not Location

One of the first principles of KonMari is that you should not declutter room by room. Rather, you need to work by category. For example, you could gather all of your shoes from all parts of the house: your bedroom closet, coat closet, basement, and anywhere else they might be. Then, work through the items one by one, deciding what you can discard.

How can this work for your garage? To make KonMari work, you need to focus on one category of items at a time, such as gardening supplies. (Other categories might be painting supplies, fasteners, general-use hand tools, and power tools and their accessories.) These items may be scattered around your garage, workbench, garden shed, basement, hall closet, a kitchen drawer, and even your vehicle. Just getting all of your gardening items together in one place is a useful exercise.

The Discarding Process

When you picture “getting organized,” do you first think of purchasing a bunch of new shelves and storage containers? Retailers encourage this type of thinking by selling Christmas ornament bins in December and document filing systems around tax time. However, the KonMari method encourages you to focus on discarding items first. Only after you have reduced your pile to the must-keep items can you decide the best way to store them.

Imagine your ideal life. Before you start discarding items, the KonMari method asks you to imagine your ideal life. Does it even include gardening, and if so, what tools do you really need for that?

Does the item spark joy? After the “easy” discard decisions, such as broken or outdated items and unnecessary duplicates, you probably still have more items that you really need. Now you must ask yourself “Does this item spark joy?” The “joy” does not have to be highly emotional; it may be mostly functional, as in, “This tool does a great job at a specific task I do on a regular basis.”

Be grateful, then let it go. Maybe an item was a gift that you never really liked or a hand-me-down that you do not need, but you have an emotional attachment to the giver. In this case, consider that the giver would not want you to feel burdened by their gift. Take a moment to be grateful for the item’s past service, and then let it go.

Many of us have been trained not to get rid of things because they might be useful in the future. If that is holding you back from discarding an item that is not sparking joy, then try asking yourself, “If the need does actually arise in the future, could I easily borrow one or buy one used at a reasonable price?” If the answer is “yes,” then let it go.

Can this work for your garage? Yes, you can apply all of these tips for the discarding process to garage items. As a wise workman once said, “Take care of your tools, and they will take care of you.” By decluttering specific categories of garage supplies, you will be left with only what you need, and you will have more time to treat your remaining tools with the respect that they deserve.

Consider a Custom Garage that Really Meets Your Needs

If you live in the Chicago metro area and are thinking about renovating your current garage or building a new one, talk to the custom garage designers at Blue Sky Builders, Inc. in Downers Grove. Check out our list of services and some of the custom garage features we offer, then give us a call at 630-852-8485.

Tips on Choosing the Right Custom Garage Roof

September 26, 2018/in Uncategorized/by Blue Sky Builders

When you begin dreaming of your custom garage, you will likely start with the inside features and make decisions about the intended use of the space. You may have agreed on cabinetry, whether you will need windows, and even the style of garage door. However, it is also important to consider the exterior of your garage. Often, the garage roof is overlooked in the initial planning process. The roof style of your garage should match or complement your existing home, otherwise what you think is a wise investment may become a regret. Here are some comparisons for choosing the right roof for your needs:

Hip vs. Gable: Design Differences

The gable style roof is easily identifiable and used by many homeowners. Gable roofs have a distinct triangle shape on two of the four sides of a garage, with the garage door typically being on the gable, or triangle, side. These sloping roofs allow for water, snow, and other precipitation to quickly run off of the roof, preventing excessive buildup.

The hip roof is equally popular. This type of roof has a slope on all four sides of the garage which join at a singular point at the top of the structure. This is often the go-to design for homes that do not feature many architectural embellishments, and it incorporates easily into custom garages.

Hip vs. Gable: Cost

When comparing two similar sized garages, a hip roof will typically cost more to construct than a gable roof. Hip roofs require more materials to build and have a sophisticated design. However, the cost can be affected by a variety of other factors, including how the garage’s interior space is used.

Hip vs. Gable: Durability

Since a hip roof requires more materials to construct, it is safe to say that these roofs are typically sturdier overall. Both options offer protection from rain, snow, and other precipitation, because the sloping features allow everything to slide off easily. However, gable roofs can be a little taller than hip roofs, and with fewer materials, they are less wind-resistant. Therefore, in a home that is prone to strong winds, a gable roof may need replacement sooner. However, here in the Chicago area, we are not likely to see hurricane force winds, giving our residents the option of choosing based on other factors.

A Custom Garage Designer Can Help

Although the hip and gable roofs are by far the most popular, if you have another design idea or would like something unique for your home, Blue Sky Builders, Inc. can help. We have been working with families in the Chicago area for 39 years and will gladly help you bring your ideas to life. Contact us today at 630-852-8485. Feel free to take a peek at our gallery to see some of our previous projects to help get your creativity flowing.