Wooden Decks aren’t ‘Sit and Forget’
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 [...]
Home Improvement vs. Home Repair
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. [...]
Getting too Personal with Home Improvement
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 [...]
Three Things You Can Do with Your Attic
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 [...]
Boiling for Heat
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 [...]
When a Home Improvement Isn?t an Improvement
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 [...]
Improving Your Lawn?s Appearance in the Dead Zones
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 [...]
When Cash Isn?t King
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 [...]
Old Homes and New Paneling: A Nasty Combination
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 [...]
Contractors and Paperwork
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? [...]