Cypress Edition | July 2023

GUIDE

Local businesses oer home improvement tips

2023 HOME EDITION

HOME IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE

ASK A HOME REMODELER

ASK AN ARBORIST

Tom Alabki owns Eagle Remodeling & More in Cypress, a business that specializes in bathroom and kitchen renovations as well as outdoor home projects, such as pergolas, gazebos and balconies. WHAT SHOULD A HOMEOWNER CONSIDER BEFORE EMBARKING ON A RENOVATION PROJECT?

David Mauk is a certied arborist who owns Jones Road Tree Service in Cy-Fair. Tree pruning and removal, deep-root fertilization, plant health care, and stump grinding are some of the most common services the business provides.

TOP REASONS TO MAINTAIN HEALTHY TREES:

Any kind of remodeling in the house is going to increase [the value]. I would recommend [prioritizing] whatever is the most needed. For example, if you want to sell a house and it doesn’t have a good shower for the new owner to use, remodeling the shower or the whole bathroom [will increase the value]. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON TRENDS IN KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS RIGHT NOW? For kitchens, shaker-style cabinets, … most people like quartz countertops right now. Backsplashes and other tiles are mostly porcelain, which is more durable than ceramic. Same thing for the bathrooms—what’s trendy right now is large-format tile. It does have less grout lines [and] dierent shades that can meet customers’ tastes.

a walk-in shower, that will involve more. Remodeling means you’re changing some features to newer features; you’re not just resurfacing some stu. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR HOME UPDATED? It’s like a car requires regular maintenance. After a while, it’s going to have a lot of mileage and have some problems, so you might have to get a new engine, for example. It’s the same for remodeling—after they use it for a while, there’s wear and tear that can aect the functionality of the bathroom. There’s no such thing as a lifetime warranty; everything has an expiration date, even your shower and your kitchen.

SAFETY #2

FOR THE AESTHETICS #3

FOR A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT #1

COMPILED BY DANICA LLOYD

FOR RESIDENTS’

an increase in rainfall, they can cut back on irrigation. People are having their landscapers do the trees and they’re butchering it. … They are making a big mistake by not calling companies with an [International Society of Arboriculture]-certied arborist on sta. Another big thing is the homeowners don’t really have a management program for the trees. Don’t call us after the fact. [If] a tree fails, call us today. Get on a good tree maintenance program so you can have everything planned out. WHAT ARE THE BEST TREES TO PLANT IN THE NORTHWEST HOUSTON AREA? I would stay away from planting blueberries, bottlebrush trees. Look for palm trees that thrive in the Houston area. The oak trees are real good for our area, generally speaking—red oaks, live oaks. There’s all types of trees, but you just have to match the type of tree for the spot. Too large of a tree in a little bitty space [doesn’t work]. You have to match the tree for the space it has to grow in.

HOW MIGHT A HOMEOWNER IDENTIFY PROBLEMS WITH THEIR TREES? We say a tree inspection should be done on a yearly basis. It probably should be done around the same month every year. … [During an inspection], I’m looking at foliage, the canopy of the tree. Do we have any loose bark? Are there any insect issues? What is the general health of the tree? What do they look like? How’s the landscaping? Do we have volcano mulching? Do we have over-irrigation? How is the yard? How’s the grass? Is there compaction in the ground? WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE THAT CAUSE DAMAGE TO THEIR TREES? Probably over-mulching, or volcano mulching, where you cover the roots and you put a lot of mulch like a volcano around the tree so the tree looks like a telephone pole. We have real big trees too close to homes. Over-irrigation and irrigating the ground every day is a huge issue—when we see

They need to consider the budget. They’re not going to be able to do a kitchen or a bathroom within $5,000. People might think, ‘Oh, I’ll just get an estimate [and choose the lowest],’ but you want good quality materials, and you want good quality labor. You want contractors that actually have a warranty, and they’re experienced and they’re doing everything up to code. … If you need an actual good remodeling project, you have to trust the people that are working with you. [Work done by] people with good experience, quality and warranty … will last longer. [Costs] will depend on the size of the kitchen or bathroom and what features they want, so a small kitchen might start at $10,000-$12,000 and go up from there, and a basic bathroom remodel is going to start at around $8,000. Remodeling does have a lot of steps in it. They need to know what’s involved— plumbing, electrical, tiling, demolition. If you just want to change the tile in the bathroom, that’s not considered a remodel. If you want to convert a tub to

PHOTOS COURTESY EAGLE REMODELING & MORE

SOURCE: JONES ROAD TREE SERVICE COMMUNITY IMPACT

PHOTOS COURTESY JONES ROAD TREE SERVICE

David Mauk Jones Road Tree Service 11620 Jones Road, Houston 281-469-0458 www.jonesroadtreeservice.com

Tom Alabki Eagle Remodeling & More 27118 Hwy. 290, Ste. E, Cypress 281-213-2442 www.eagleremodelingtx.com

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CYPRESS ROSEHILL 14315 Cypress Rosehill (281) 373-2999

SPRING CYPRESS 22508 Hwy 249 (281) 379-7383 BARKER CYPRESS 17996 FM 529 (281) 656-4200

HUFFMEISTER 8945 Hwy 6 N (281) 859-5879