Christina Hall Reveals the One Thing Every Homeowner Should Have—in Case Disaster Strikes
HGTV
On her new show, “Christina in the Country,” Tennessee transplant Christina Hall doesn’t limit her design talents to cosmetic overhauls like revamping kitchens. In some cases, she tackles rebuilding from the ground up.
In the episode “Undoing the Damage,” Hall meets clients Kasey and JT, who lost their house in a fire.
“Their house actually caught fire and they’ve been displaced for a year,” Christina tells her husband, Josh Hall.
Kasey and JT have been living with their two daughters in a 40-foot travel trailer ever since. They’re hoping Christina can rebuild their house so it’s better than ever.
Although it’s a lot of work, Christina rises to the challenge (with the help of her trusty team, of course) and learns a lot along the way, which might be news to many homeowners. Here’s how these tips can make your own home life safer (and more eco-friendly) than ever.
Never own a home without insurance
Christina Hall surveys her clients’ fire-damaged home.HGTV
When Christina asks the couple about their renovation budget, JT first believes they can afford about $100,000.
But when Christina and her contractor Josh Berry take inventory of everything that needs to be fixed, including the entire HVAC system, plumbing, and roof, they estimate the project will come in closer to $400,000.
JT thinks it might be a better idea to scale back on some of the frills, like expanding the size of the house, knowing that they can do the remodel in steps and perhaps add more a year or two down the road.
But Kasey and JT decide they might as well do it right and do it all at once, and pony up the full $400,000.
Where’d they get so much cash? Most likely their home insurance policy. Most lenders require a homeowner to have insurance in place, but even if it isn’t required, you really shouldn’t own a home without it—or you might come to regret it big-time if disaster strikes.
Geothermal is genius
Where the fire beganHGTV
When touring the house for the first time, Christina is surprised that more damage wasn’t done by the fire.
“We have geothermal,” explains JT. “That’s honestly what the fire chief said—the geothermal is what kept it from going up in flames even faster.”
A geothermal pump is a water-sourced heating/cooling system that uses the earth’s fairly constant temperature to regulate the more extreme temperatures found above ground. Since they don’t require the combustion of fossil fuels, they not only make a home less prone to fire, but are also highly energy-efficient and good for the environment. Currently, such systems are eliminating more than 3 million tons of carbon dioxide from the environment—the equivalent of taking 650,000 cars off the road.
Save the bones
Partly demolished homeHGTV
When Christina sees how much of the house has been demolished, she asks Berry, “Why didn’t we just take the whole house down?”
“To save some of the bones,” says Berry. “We were able to do that. And also, we’re going to keep the areas that have been bricked, and right there, that’s a big cost savings. I would say close to $50,000.”
There are also some tax advantages to saving a few parts of the house: In some areas, property taxes are lower on a remodel than on a new home completely built from scratch.
Be careful what your floor ‘pulls’
Red oak plank in the shadeHGTV
“Does the red oak pull pink or pull red?” asks Kasey, as they discuss types of oak flooring for the house.
“Pull” refers to the reaction of the flooring to surrounding colors, which is highly affected by ambient light.
As Christina holds a flooring sample in a shady area of the house, she explains, “It doesn’t look like it would pull anything. But, if we put it in the sun, it gets redder,” she says, moving to a sunlit spot.
It’s a good lesson when choosing floors to examine samples within a range of light levels, similar to when choosing paint.
Black is dramatic
Very black kitchenHGTV
TJ’s family has been in the music industry for generations and TJ is a musician, so the couple want an edgy, rock ‘n’ roll vibe to their kitchen. They think mostly black surfaces will be just the ticket.
Christina delivers with black cabinets, backsplash, feature wall, countertops, and even dish towels!
“We’ve never done a kitchen this dark before,” says Christina. “And this definitely couldn’t work in every house. But the fact that you’re surrounded by nature, it just brings it in, and it makes it feel warm and inviting, even though it’s so moody.”
It looks kind of Addams Family to us, but we’re not the clients, who seem thrilled with the look.
“I feel like we’re walking into this rock ‘n’ roll kitchen that is unique and you don’t see every day,” says Kasey.
In the end, this burnt-out shell of a house has come a long way.
“When we first started talking to Christina, we had been at a place where we felt really frustrated, and healing and trying to figure it all out,” says JT. “I feel like she took our vision and just wrapped her arms around it, and we got exactly what we wanted out of it.”
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