Outside The House

With a few warmer days of Fall left, you still have time to finish preparing the outside of your home for winter. Here are some tips and suggestions before cozying up inside your home during the snow and cold.

• Clean and store outside items: patio furniture, umbrellas, children's summer toys and other items.


• Wash exterior windows.


• Check caulk around windows and doors and re-caulk if needed.


• Inspect outside doors and garage doors to make sure they close tightly. Install weather-stripping or door thresholds if needed.


• Touch up paint on house trim, hand railings and decks. Remove flaking paint, prime bare wood and paint.


• Drain and store garden hoses. Install insulating covers on exterior spigots. Have sprinkler systems blown free of water.


• Check gutters and downspouts. Clear leaves and other debris if necessary. Here in Minnesota consider installing heating cable to prevent ice dams.


• Have chimneys and flues inspected and cleaned if necessary.

Updating Your Entertainment Space

As time passes, the way you use your home changes, especially regarding entertainment. Your children grow up and have friends over, technology brings new innovations and maybe the way the way you wan to entertain. Where does leave you? Often with need to make modifications to your home to fit the way you want to use it.

You may want to convert your family or recreation room into a 3D home theater. Or perhaps you would like to add a wet bar in the basement for easy entertaining. In the last year, we have seen a huge increase in wine cellar additions. Updates to entertainment spaces have become one of the most popular types of remodeling projects over the past two years.

We have some great ideas to help you get the most out of your home entertainment space. All our work is custom designed so we can create exactly the space you need with the newest technology and the comforts you want. We can bring you the greatest place in the world to relax and enjoy life without leaving your home.

Remodeling Professionalism

When we started Integrity Home Projects (IHP), our vision was to build a remodeling business that would stand out in the industry with notable ethics and professionalism. Sharing the same family values, the same work ethic, and the same commitment to quality, excellence and customer satisfaction, only reinforced our dedication to being a top-notch professional company. This includes our family of Subcontractors that hold themselves to the same standards we do.

Our extensive backgrounds in engineering, quality control and process management bring our customers a detailed process-based plan for each and every remodeling project. We continually communicate with our customers so they know what is happening every day on their home. This level of commitment and professionalism is our goal because it is the level of service we want to provide our customers.

We are members of NARI, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, for professional, ethical and honest remodelers committed to the highest standards. We follow the code of ethics every day.

Holiday Remodeling

If doesn’t seem possible but the Holiday season is just around the corner. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s – the perfect time for festive gatherings of friends, family and neighbors in your home. But wait, did you think this was the year for a new wet bar in the basement, new kitchen cabinets or maybe a new floor in the bathroom?

You still have time but it’s going quickly, so call us today so we can determine the best solution for your remodeling needs. With our processes, we give you a project guideline, step-by-step communication and help you with the design and selection of all the items to make your remodeling project fit your budget and timeline.

Plus, you’ll have a new gift to yourself for the Holidays.

Act Now to Reduce Ice Dams

We’ve spent a lot of time recently discussing water and the damaging effect it can have on homes. With the damage that water can cause, we feel it’s critical for us to share solutions for common problems. Fall is here which means winter is around the corner along with the potential for ice dams. If you have had ice dam issues in the past, call us to perform a free assessment of your attic ventilation and insulation. Don’t wait until the ice dams are on the roof and water is coming in the ceiling. In most cases there are immediate improvements that can be made to drastically reduce your ice dam problems.

Don’t ignore the signs of water damage!

It’s easy to look past signs of water damage to your home; the ripple in the paint by the window or the rotten siding under your deck because it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. But not taking action can only cause more damage to your home. In a matter of days mold growth can begin. Over a month or two of leakage into your wall, you can have thousands of dollars of repairs to your home.

The photos below show some examples of water intrusion we have found during window, door and siding replacement projects. In every case, there is evidence all around the damage that it has been there for a long time, but did not get the attention it deserved.

Make sure your house is watertight. At IHP, we can test moisture levels for an assessment of potential repairs. The sooner you catch it, the smaller the repair will be. Give us a call.


Complete rot-through framing from improper deck flashing

Rotten Rim Joist from improper door flashing.

Wall structure water damage from improper window flashing

The Attic’s Weather Role

Has the recent heat this summer in Minnesota soaked through your attic into your house? The amount of insulation in your attic can drastically affect the temperature in your house and the amount of energy you use in air conditioning. Proper ventilation in your attic also plays a huge role in keeping your attic cool. Winter will be coming again before you know it. Keep in mind that these two things, poor insulation and ventilation are the leading cause of ice damns in the winter. We live in an area of serious weather extremes and your attic plays a key role in how well your house performs in those extremes.

We can give you the information you need to properly maintain an attic helps monitor the ventilation in your home.