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Wooden Decks aren’t ‘Sit and Forget’

Posted on August 17, 2010
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If you’re considering adding a wooden deck or patio to your property, you should be aware of the fact that you’ll be spending a lot of time with the structure every five years. That’s about how long the waterproofing on your lumber is going to last. After than, rain and moisture will degrade the deck’s wood.

So, what do you need to do every five years? You?ll have to sand the whole patio down for starters. You need to strip the old sealant and stain from the wood.

After you sand the deck, you re-treat the wood with a quality sealant designed specifically for outdoor furniture. Once the sealant ha been absorbed and is dry, you?ll apply a new coat of stain to the deck.

The stain helps to secure the sealant, protecting the wood from the elements, and provides you with a chance to improve the actual look of your platform.

Wooden decks aren?’t a ‘build it and leave it’ proposition. They do require regular maintenance in order to protect their longevity, appearance and utility.

Home Improvement vs. Home Repair

Posted on August 10, 2010
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What?s the difference between home improvement and home repair? Both refer to things you can do that will make your home more comfortable and that will escalate its value. The two terms aren?t synonymous, though.

Home repair refers to actions that will restore a property to its ?normal? state. A pipe breaks. You fix the pipe. When you?re done, you?re no better off than you where before the incident. Sure, you?re in better shape than you were during the ?broken? period, but you aren?t having an impact on the home that exceeds the ?baseline?.

Home improvement, on the other hand, refers to actions that will elevate the property?s value and/or comfort over that baseline. You have an empty attic. You transform it into a guest room. You?re now better off than you were before you took action. That?s home improvement. The word ?improvement? makes all the difference in the world, doesn?t it?

So, think about your goals and what you?re planning to do. Home repairs are the ?musts?–you don?t want your home to slide into disrepair or to lose value. Home improvements are the ?investments?–they?re the way to get the most out of your property.

Getting too Personal with Home Improvement

Posted on August 3, 2010
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You love flamingos. You have a collection of flamingo figurines. You have framed prints of the pink birds. You read about them. Everyone who knows you thinks of you as ?the flamingo guy?.

That?s a strange eccentricity, but you aren?t really doing any damage. Full speed ahead!

Until it comes to improving your home, anyway. When you?re contemplating renovations, changes or additions to your property it?s time to be someone other than ?the flamingo guy?.

You might think a series of hot pink stepping stones to the back door is a great idea. You might think that flamingo-shaped pool in the backyard would be nothing short of awesome. At some point, however, you might decide to move. You might be forced to sell the home. Future buyers won?t care about the flamingo photos on the walls, but they won?t care for the pink carpet or that swimming pool. And you can bet they?ll calculate the cost of removing those stones when they make an offer.

Personal expression is wonderful, but when it comes to home improvement you should balance that objective with creating a space that will have a more generalized appeal. Most people don?t stay in the same home for their entire lives and it is important to protect, if not to maximize, the value of your property.

That?s not going to happen when you put up pink aluminum siding.

Three Things You Can Do with Your Attic

Posted on July 27, 2010
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It?s up there. Right above you. Directly under your roof. It?s your attic. And if you?re like most people, you don?t think about it until someone else mentions it. It?s just there. If you have an inkling toward home improvement, you might want to consider thinking about it a little more. It?s a prime chunk of space and you can do some good things with it.

Is it getting a little crowded in your living room? Are you tired of your front room being more of a gathering place for television viewing than an actual comfortable environment? Consider moving the television set upstairs. You can transform your attic into a great family rec room.

Is your family growing? Are the kids sick and tired of sharing a bedroom? Are you tired of guests being forced to sleep on your sofa? Why not transform that dead space upstairs into an extra bedroom. You could create a more comfortable home and a little more breathing room for everyone.

Even if those ideas don?t appeal to you, it?s still worth crawling up there ASAP. Attics are notorious energy wasters. You need to make sure that yours is properly insulated and that it doesn?t ?feature? too many energy wasting leaks.

Boiling for Heat

Posted on July 20, 2010
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Most homes these day seem to rely on heat pumps or furnaces to keep the chill out of the air. There are other heating solutions, however. For some, boiler-based systems make perfect sense.

Boilers have been around forever and a day. Basically, there is a central unit that burns some kind of fuel in order to heat water. That hot water is forced through pipes and circulates through radiant heating devices. The traditional radiator is probably the best known vestige of the boiler system. The hot water circulates through the fins of the radiator, heating the room.

There are other ways to use the boiler system, though. Many people experience tremendous luck with below floor tubes. They warm the home, literally, from the ground up.

Advances in heat pump technology and the ease of use associated with other alternatives have made the boiler something of a relic.

Boilers aren?t the most common heating system, but they do work. They work extremely well when maintained properly. There?s a significant fuel expenditure for heating the water in the boiler, but after that you?re looking at a pretty effective way to beat the cold.

When a Home Improvement Isn?t an Improvement

Posted on July 13, 2010
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There are times when a home improvement project isn?t really much of an improvement at all. When that?s the case, you?re better off not taking the plunge.

We?re not talking about the obvious winners here. If you need a new heating system and can improve your home by adding a new one that uses a fraction of the energy the old one used and that will increase your comfort level, get the job done.

We?re talking about the more aesthetically- and design-oriented changes. There are times when a remodel or renovation may increase the value of your home while not improving the quality of your life.

Those crazy stairs to the attic with the low ceiling may not be a feature that others would want in a home. You might be able to make the house worth more by ripping them out and replacing them with something a little more ?normal?. But if you love those stairs and revel in their uniqueness, don?t feel compelled to call a contractor.

Sometimes, the very idiosyncrasies that people might eliminate in the name of home improvement are what makes the space special to us. They may be imbued with memories or serve as a stamp of individuality. In those cases, though, undertaking a home improvement project may not result in a meaningful improvement.

After all, it?s your home. The best improvements are those that improve the quality of your life.

Improving Your Lawn?s Appearance in the Dead Zones

Posted on July 6, 2010
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Every lawn seems to have dead zones. We?re talking about those areas in which grass just doesn?t seem willing to grow. While everything else is lush and green, your brown dead zones stand out as eyesores.

Here?s the interesting part about it. Even though they?re hated and extremely common, they?re not that hard to fix. You can get rid of your dead spots easily with a three-step plan.

First, loosen up the soil in the area. The grass isn?t going to root itself properly in hard earth. Just take a rake and bust it up a bit. Get it loose,

Second, seed the area. Use the right seed, too. You don?t want to just dump any old grass seed in the mix. You want to match the rest of your yard as carefully as you can, but you should try to use a special formulation of the seed designed for extra water absorbency. Once your seeds are in place, cover them with some high-quality potting soil.

Third, water them regularly. You want to keep those seeds moist to encourage germination and root growth.

After that, there?s very little to do. The grass will grow and eventually, it will cover that dead zone with the same gorgeous green featured throughout the rest of your lawn.

When Cash Isn?t King

Posted on June 29, 2010
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We all know the expression, ?Cash is king?. Here?s an exception to the rule. If you?re hiring a contractor to help you with a home improvement project and they?re only interested in accepting a cash payment, you need to look for someone else to handle the job.

Many of the contractors who operate on the fringes or outside of the law have a tendency to deal in cash. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission argues that an insistence on cash payment is a warning sign that you may be dealing with a scammer.

Besides, you?re better off paying with a check or via credit card. That way, you have a paper trail evidencing the money you spent on the job just in case any problems–or lawsuits–happen to arise.

Cash isn?t always king.

Old Homes and New Paneling: A Nasty Combination

Posted on June 22, 2010
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If you?re home improvement project involves correcting existing walls, finishing walls or building new walls, you might consider using paneling. It?s a fast way to produce effective and attractive results. If you?re in an older home, however, you need to pull out your tools and check your situation carefully before you drive off to a paneling supplier.

That?s because old homes have a nasty tendency to be ?a little off?. You?ll often find that right angles aren?t right and you?ll rarely find a place to sit your level that results in the bubble hitting dead center. Houses aren?t perfect. The people that build them aren?t perfect. And time has a way of making those slight imperfections a little more pronounced.

Thus, when you?re dealing with something like paneling, you want to be certain that pieces will fit correctly and that you will have some way of adjusting for existing imperfections along the way. That includes checking stud placement and establishing whether your floor and ceiling truly run parallel to one another.

There?s usually a way to get the job done, but it can often more labor-intensive than you might have originally thought. If you do your homework, you?ll know for sure.

Contractors and Paperwork

Posted on June 15, 2010
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The world runs on paperwork, it seems. You can?t buy a house without destroying a few hundred trees for riders, contracts, insurance documents and mortgage notes. You can?t sign your kid up for a summer sport without signing riders, providing paperwork evidencing proof of insurance and reading participation guidelines.

Guess what? You?re in for more of the same when you hire a contractor. And that?s a good thing.

The centerpiece of this paperwork assemblage is your contract. This is what lays out terms and expectations. It?s the document that gives you legally enforceable rights if the contractor doesn?t perform, too. Even if your state doesn?t require a contract, get one.

Then start collecting. Collect any correspondence. Save copies of all receipts. If it has something to do with your home and it?s written on a sheet of paper, keep the paper. While you?re at it, start creating your own paperwork. Jot down notes about your communications with the contractor, especially any phone calls you may have.

The idea is to protect yourself in case something goes wrong. Your paper trail is more than just a bulging file box. It?s potential evidence. And it could save you a fortune if something should happen to go wrong with the job.

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