One of the best upgrades you can do for your home is adding a fountain.
Upgrading your home can be a long, confusing and difficult process, especially when you consider all of the different things that you can put into your house to make it look better. But which additions are best and which additions are going to make the property value of your home increase over time? Also, which investments are going to be the best bang for the buck? These are many of the questions you should ask yourself before starting doing upgrades.
One of the biggest questions is “where do I start, the inside or the outside?”. While most people prefer to start on the inside simply because this is where they spend most of their time, it may not be the best place to begin with your upgrades. After all, when you go to sell your house if the outside of the home doesn’t look nice then nobody will come indoors to see all the wonderful upgrades you’ve done. That’s why the outside of your home is a fantastic way to begin with. If you’ve decided to go with upgrades on the outside of your house then you’re faced with the decision of paints, flowerbeds, sidewalks and other upgrades. But a fantastic addition to your home that you may not have thought of are concrete fountains. A concrete fountain is a specific type of fountain that, as the name suggests is made specficially with concrete and not synthetic materials that can wear over time. The other plus side to having a concrete fountain is the simple fact that they look much nicer as they give a more natural appearance to your fountain.
When you look at the prices of a concrete fountain you may start to feel a little uneasy as they can be quite expensive. But something to remember is that the amount of money you put into getting a concrete fountain installed will be returned to you and then some at the time of sale as long as you choose your fountain correctly. This makes a concrete fountain for your home a great investment for the long run. Also, remember that you don’t have to spend ten thousand dollars on a super expensive fountain. Unless you live in an upscale neighborhood spending this amount of cash on concrete fountains for your home will simply belittle the apperance of your house. You don’t want your fountain to look nicer than the actual place that you’re living in!
But aside from the fact that concrete fountains will increase your property value, it’s also going to increase your current enjoyment of the house you live in. If you enjoy sitting outside and reading a book, then what a relaxing way to spend your time by your new bubbling fountain. So don’t forget that the installment of concrete fountains isn’t just for the next owner of the home, but for you while you live in your house.
So if you’re looking for a good upgrade that you can get a great return on at the time you sale your house as well as enjoy it while you live there then concrete fountains are right for you.
So maybe you’ve purchased concrete fountains for your home or maybe you’re thinking of purchsing some but want to make sure of what you’re getting yourself into before you do spend the money. Taking care of a concrete fountain requires a samll amount of maintenance and in most cases can be compared to taking care of a small hot tub. With a concrete fountain you won’t have to worry too much about dirty things getting in the water simply because it’s acceptable. When you have a pool or a hottub you don’t want to have leaves and dead insects (or animals!) inside the water which can happen often because of the size of a pool and the chlorine that is in the water. But with concrete fountains you don’t have to add any chemicals to the water in order to keep it clean unless you’re planning on taking a bath in your patio! It is suggested however that you get cleaning chemicals for your concrete fountains that will help the tubes on the fountain from getting dirty and clogged up.
Clogged fountain tubes can be the death of your investment and for this reason it needs to be taken seriously and monitored at least once a week. Most concrete fountains will come with some type of a filter or “catcher” that can prevent pieces of large debris from being cycled back up to the top of the fountain and possibly clogging the passageways. However, if this filter gets damaged, removed, or too dirty then it will stop doing it’s job. In some cases the filter can become so dirty that water can no longer pass through it and your fountain will begin to overflow. That sounds like a good thing on paper but when you pull up and see a flooded yard and your neighbors giving you funny looks it’s not a great feeling! The cost of replacement filters can be anywhere between fifteen and thirty dollars (depending on the size of the concrete fountain). These are easy to replace and take little time to do so and should be replaced around every six months but refer to your fountains manual.
Some concrete fountains do not use filters however. These can last for quite some time but in the long run aren’t the best idea simply because you never know what’s going to crawl into your fountain. There are chemicals you can add to your water that help get rid of sludge and slime that can build up in the tubes over time, but this will not remove the large pieces of debris that can often make their way into your fountain. The most important part of maintaining a fountain is to keep an eye on it and make sure that water is flowing freely and smoothly. Take a good look at how the water flows from your fountain when you first get it. If months down the line you see it spraying out differently or the overall flow of the concrete fountain is different then you may have a problem. Problems with fountain flow will usually snowball until it cannot go unignored any longer, for this reason it’s best to take care of any problems as soon as they arrive.
When you begin looking at all of the different styles of concrete fountains you’ll realize how creative people can get with making fountains. This is good and bad. The good is that you have so many different types of fountains to choose from that you’re bound to get one that is just right for your home. On the same token having so many options can be a bit overwhelming and when you’re looking to invest this much money into something want to make sure you get it right the first time. If you do select a fountain that you regret, uninstalling and removing a concrete fountain can cost more than the installation itself so it’s best to do your research first.
One of the best things to remember when selecting concrete fountains is that while you want a design that you enjoy, you also don’t want to get too specific with your own personal preferences. What this means is that if you’re a big fan of the yankees, you may not want to get the yankees logo printed along the outside of the fountain (yes this has been done!). Sure, you’ll enjoy this while you live in the home but you’re limiting the number of buyers who are looking at the house when it comes time to sell. While this may be an extreme example the principal holds true, stick to designs and pattersn that are universal and anyone can enjoy. Nobody dislikes water, so it would be ok to get designs of the ocean on the side of your fountain. Or even just patterns that aren’t an object at all but just look nice. You also don’t want to get too outlandish with the colors that you select. Many spanish style fountains use brighter colors like greens and pinks. This can look beautiful in the right setting and in the right neighborhood, but you have to remember that because you love the way something looks doesn’t mean that everyone else will!
So before you go selecting something that you think is just right for you home, get the opinions of others. Ask yourself some important questions: are the characteristics of my fountain universal? Are the colors on my fountain fairly generic so that anyone could enjoy this? Choosing the right aesthetics for your fountain can be the most important part of it, because if you select wrong it can prevent people form purchasing your house, but if done correctly then it can be the deal maker!
