Handy Tips For Improving The Look Of Your Home

by Laura Posted on

So, now is the time. Are you ready to venture into home improvement? There’s no better time than now to do this. You may have some questions and concerns, which is where the following article comes in. Read on for some helpful hints to help get you on your way towards tackling your next project with confidence.

Weather stripping is important to include around your windows for energy efficiency. The savings on your energy bill will more than cover the costs of this inexpensive repair. You may also notice that you don’t feel as many drafts in your home.

To help free up counter space, install an over-the-range microwave. These microwaves stand in place of the range hood and have additional features and a variety of prices. These units contain a recirculating ventilation system.

If you use drywall mud to texture your walls, it can improve their appearance and disguise blemishes. Texturing is easy. You only need to apply the drywall mud to the wall and then press to add an interesting texture with a sponge, brush or crumpled up paper bag.

When deciding on which home improvements you are going to do, consider only those that make sense. For instance, having an uncovered deck in Arizona or a sun room that has no ventilation in Michigan would be nonsensical renovations that will have potential buyers questioning your house upkeep decisions. Go with what is normally desired for the area you live in.

When tackling any home-improvement project, it is important that safety is considered before anything else. There is always risk present, so you need to know the proper use of your power tools, and you always should ask for help if needed. Search for an online tutorial to learn how to use these tools.

If your home renovation project involves work in the bathroom or kitchen, make sure to shut off the water. Whenever you are dealing with pipes, fittings, or fixtures, finding and turning the shutoff valve should be step number one. This will make sure you don’t flood your house.

Get a contract with a handyman whenever you need to fix something in the house. The contract protects you both and ensures that you won’t face higher costs than you had agreed to. If you do not have a contract, you may end up paying a lot more than you should.

Install new knobs on your cabinets for a fresh look. Changing the hardware on your kitchen cabinets is an inexpensive way to spruce up the room. As you remove the old hardware, clean the inside and outside of your cabinets for an easier experience. You can install your new cabinet accessories quickly, and enjoy the decor upgrade you get from them for years to come!

After reading this article, you will be better prepared to spruce up your home. If you believed you were ready then, you are certainly ready now! Apply the advice from this article and you will be on your way to …

Organic Gardening Advice That Everyone Should Know

by Laura Posted on

Organic gardening is a hobby that anybody can do in order to relax. However, for a beginner, the whole gardening experience can be a very intimidating thing to enter into. So, what exactly should a novice learn and do when they want to start growing plants? Well, a great place to start is with the following helpful article!

When you are organic gardening, ask your children to lend a hand. Helping a garden grow is an excellent learning experience for kids, and it allows your family to spend time together while creating healthy, nutritious foods.

Don’t underestimate pine as a great mulch. Some plants are more acidic, and prefer soil that contains higher acidic levels. For these types of plants, pine needles are wonderful for mulching. Spread a few inches of pine needles on your organic beds so that it will put the acid into your soil.

Try using coffee grounds on the soil. Coffee grounds are filled with nutritional elements plants need, such as nitrogen. Many times, nitrogen is a limiting nutrient in soils. Adding coffee grounds or compost can add nitrogen to your soils will help your plants grow tall and healthy.

Paying attention to spacing is important. Many people don’t realize exactly how much space a plant needs when it grows. The plants will inevitably need to unfurl and spread, but they also need the circulation of air from open spaces. Plan accordingly and put an appropriate amount of distance between seeds.

Within your composting heap, ensure that there is an equal split of dried and green plant materials. Garden wastes, such as grass clippings, are classified as green materials. Dried material includes straw, shredded paper, and cardboard. Do not include charcoal, ashes, meat, carnivorous animal manure or diseased plants.

If you are planting seeds in containers, a good rule of thumb is that the seed’s depth should be around three times its overall size. Certain seeds are an exception to that rule, since they require sunlight to germinate, so they should be barely covered or not at all. Petunia and ageratum seeds need direct sunlight, for example. If you are not sure whether your seeds need to be exposed to sunlight, resources are usually provided with the seeds or can be found online.

If slugs are disrupting the balance of your garden, you can diminish their population by using a beer trap. Place a jar into the soil so that the top of it’s mouth rests parallel with the soil. Now, fill the jar with beer to approximately an inch below the lip. Slugs are attracted to the beer and become trapped in the container.

Your authenticity as an organic grower is solidified when you obtain the organic gardening certification. With this, you and your crops are credible and 100% legitimately organic. This is important for your business and to your customers. This can boost sales and tell loyal customers that you’re providing the best to them.

It should now be clear to you why so …

Get Rid Of Pests For Good With These Tips!

by Laura Posted on

Are you weary of seeing pests having free reign in your home? Perhaps even the pest control experts aren’t eradicating your problem? Maybe you don’t wish to pay people for that? Keep reading for great tips for doing it yourself.

Use steel wool to fill mouse holes. Even though mice can chew through quite a few things, these aren’t able to be chewed with their teeth. Fill in any space more than half an inch. Remember, these pests can fit through very tiny openings.

Vacuum every rug you own to remove pests. Any bugs you have in your home will be picked up. Change the bag of your vacuum cleaner on a regular basis.

If you are wondering if you have termites, get a dog that can smell them. Human inspectors can only really verify approximately one-third of your whole home. However, a dog that is properly trained is actually capable of ensuring a home’s safety one-hundred percent! These dogs sniff out methane gas, which directly comes from termites eating your wood.

Those who are contending with flying bugs must make repairs to all window screens. Such screens are great for preventing the entry of flying insects, but they also keep crawlers out too. Fix any holes you find and replace the screens if they are damaged.

Do you have ants in your home? A simple combination of borax and sugar will eradicate them. The ants will be attracted to the sweet scent from the sugar, and they will be killed by the borax. Use a quart jar with equal parts of each. Make holes in the lid and sprinkle it on your home’s baseboards and foundation.

When you plant bushes around your house, be sure to leave 12 inches of clearance. A lot of insects might live there, no matter what. Placing bushes too close to the house is an open invitation for pests to invade.

Fleas are a tough pest, but there are things you can work on to improve the situation. Vacuum at least once per day and use a flea spray. Always toss out your vacuum bag once you are finished cleaning your living space.

Outdoor lights can be great, but they can also attract lots of pests. If you really need outdoor lighting, choose the color of the light carefully. Pink, orange and yellow lights attract the fewest pests.

You may need to inspect your plumbing if you have a chronic pest problem. Be sure that no drains or sinks are clogged, in and outside your house. Anything that might be found in your plumbing can be food to a wide range of pests and can even give them a great place to reproduce. Even if you’re drains are all clear, still look at them every month.

Now you ought to feel empowered. Take action, and plan your insect attack. You can do it, and it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Use this very helpful advice to rid yourself of pests. You don’t …

How To Find A Good Plumber

by Laura Posted on

Finding a good plumber to help with your renovations or new construction isn’t just about finding the best price available within your area. In fact, there are many different things that one should consider before taking any contractor on, but by sticking to a few tips and using common sense, you can protect both your property investment and your wallet in the end.
As with any type of contractor that you take on, it’s important to make sure that you do plenty of research on the contractor or company that you’re considering hiring. However, it’s also a good idea to also check out a little information on the task itself that you’re looking to have work done on, so that you know what you can expect in regards to time, effort, and pricing.
If you’re not sure as to what company you’d like to take on, or even to look at, it’s generally a good idea to get referrals. Referrals can be obtained by several methods, but the most successful approach is to get them from the people you know and trust, and who have had positive experiences in the past with certain outfits.
Should you happen to not have any reliable personal resources when it comes down to gaining good plumbing referrals, then you can try to contact your local plumbing hardware, local hardware, or home improvement stores in order to get them. Often times these places will have a rough idea of what companies or contractors are best to go with and who you should avoid. You can also find listings within the phone book or online, but it’s key to make sure that you research them properly.
When it comes to researching a company, it’s generally wise to make sure that you check with your local licensing board for construction contractors, providing one is within your area. In most places, it’s required by law for a contractor to hold and maintain an up-to-date plumbing license as well as insurance. If you find that this is required by law in your area, it’s best to avoid those who aren’t qualified to do the job, as they may not be knowledgeable enough to handle the task.
While it may be tempting to go with your local handyman or woman, it’s important to make sure that you cover yourself and your investment should anything go wrong. A qualified plumbing contractor or service will be aware of any codes for homes or remodels, and you can often avoid any future problems from a job being done incorrectly.
Although the cost of services is something that many do and should take into consideration, it’s not always in your best interest to compensate quality work in order to save as much money as you can; otherwise, you may find yourself forking out more money in order to fix a bad job done on your property. Therefore, try to compare prices or biddings for the job by various companies in order to get a …

How Can You Improve Your Home?

by Laura Posted on

The house’s owner knows the fact that it’s just not the asset but also provides happiness and financial security to them. Are now got bored with the same look of your house? Wanted to renovate it for having good and fresh look?

It must sound interesting to renovate the house but it is much more difficult and complicated when it comes under implementation. Before renovating your house you must thing what are the things which you wants to get rid of your house? What new thing you want to incorporate in your house so that it can add value to your house at the time of reselling it.

Some home improvements tips which you can easily do it yourself and saving money on expensive home improvements contractors.

Always start your home improvement from developing the exterior as it form the major part of your house. By seeing the exterior one can makes the impression of the house. So all try to make your exterior impressive.

Apply new paint or replace the sliding if it has been too older to keep. New paint will give extremely new look to your house and increase the value of your house.

While doing painting take care of few things like the living area of the house the paint should be of light color to give the feeling of big. You can expand the height of the house by using light colors. Apply two coats of paints for better look.

Landscaping also comes in the area of exterior. Try to keep the law as magical by keeping some king of rock fountain which will grab the people’s attention to a top by, and have a look at the fountain.

You can always refurnish our home with news and replacing the older ones.

In kitchen renovation could be the fun. You need to choose the right kitchen counter top of marble or granite all depending on the budget allotted for the renovation. You should make sure that all the color and other thing are complimenting each other and get a high quality sink.…

VOC Free Flooring

by Laura Posted on

VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. These are carbon based chemical compounds that vaporize under pressure. You may have seen or heard the words,” low VOC’s, or no “VOC’s describing different floor coverings, underlayments, and or adhesives. VOCs cannot be seen by the naked eye. They also aren’t detectable by odor as they don’t smell. But they are extremely hazardous to your health! Side effects are headaches, coughing, pneumonia, fatigue, asthma attacks, and have been linked to several others.
You may ask, “Where do VOCs come from?” Some options, like vinyl flooring, are made up of them. In wood flooring products like bamboo and laminate, VOC’s usually come from the adhesives or other additives. In such cases, it is possible to find VOC free products, so long as the manufacturer has not used VOC-emitting glues or finishes. With regard to plywood subfloors, there are alternative materials you can use, or you can investigate sealants to keep the gases from escaping into your living area… Wow, what a big risk it would be to have this in your home!
VOC’s are commonly found in most flooring materials, dry cleaning solvents, paint thinners and gasoline. Whether you know it, or not, VOCs pollute the air inside your home, causing poor air quality. If it seeps outdoors, it’s likely to damage groundwater and soil. These are very important factors to remember when you are shopping for flooring for your home. Make it a safe place for you and your family always read the labels for VOC free, or low VOC contents.
Carpet is a good example of high VOC exposure. Within the first few days of carpet installation it holds bacteria, and dust. A suggestion would be to keep your house well ventilated, open windows and doors during installation to lower the VOC’s.Other examples are Cork, Bamboo, and Vinyl flooring. All of them use some type of adhesive to install, it is a must to read your labels to check the VOC level, or use water based polyurethane. An alternative would be to use recycled hardwood flooring. This is actually a good “Green” way to go; otherwise they would be left to rot. Why waste wood that adds character to your home and is also VOC free?
Reclaimed wood flooring offers a truly distinctive choice when it comes to wood floors. Reclaimed and recycled wood reduces the demand for new wood and helps to conserve our forests and moderate the potential impacts of incremental logging upon the environment. Using recycled or salvaged wood is a socially and ecologically responsible decision. Hardwood flooring does not collect dust unlike carpet; this alone will cut down the VOC level. It is a quick fix with a dust mop, and you are dust free. This makes it a very healthy and logical choice for your flooring needs. The quality and life span of using solid wood out weighs carpet, or any laminated flooring option by a long shot. By sticking to low VOC, or VOC free flooring …

Creating the Perfect Breakfast Nook

by Laura Posted on

It is easy to build and live in a house; all it takes is construction and voila! You’re in a house. Creating a home, though, takes more work and truly is a labor of love to fill a house with comfort and familiarity. Part of this involves creating the perfect kitchen, a room that can fill the house with warm, savory smells and feelings, and part of a perfect kitchen is the perfect breakfast nook.
The perfect breakfast nook is a cozy and comfortable place where the family can enjoy starting the day off together over a warm, home-cooked meal. As such, there are a few considerations you can take into account when making the idea breakfast setting for your family:
Space: A breakfast nook shouldn’t be too large, because then you lose that intimacy for which nooks were created. A good size for a breakfast nook for your average family of four is around six to eight feet wide and at least five to seven feet deep. This way each person has enough room, but you really get that great feeling of family togetherness.
Fixtures: Any breakfast nook needs a bay window with a bench fitted with comfortable bench cushions that can be used for lounging and sitting during the breakfast meal. Comfort should be the word of the day when choosing the seating. The table should also be just large enough to hold everyone’s food, but not so large that it separates the family. Remember, togetherness is the idea.
Lighting: A perfect nook ideally has a window on one side, to let in that glorious morning light from a sunrise. There is no better way to eat breakfast than with your loved ones, bathed in the warm rays of the sun to shake off that early morning chill.
The most important thing to consider above all, though, is what your family wants. A breakfast nook should reflect your family’s personality so you can use it to truly grow closer together over a nice, warm meal. So keep in mind of your family’s wants before deciding what kind to build!…

Refinishing Hardwood Floors the Right Way to Give You the Best Results

by Laura Posted on

When you want to refinish your hardwood floors, you know that there’s a lot of work waiting for you. You need time, you need a lot of patience, you need the right materials and tools for the job. However you also know that the result is worth every effort you put into it.
But how do you know when your hardwood floors need refinishing in the first place? It is at the moment you realize that your flooring is rather dull, worn out, no longer shiny and beautiful. When you feel in your heart that something needs to be done about it. You will know exactly when that is.
The first thing you need to do is sanding the floor and for that you have to carefully remove every piece of furniture that is standing in the way. Also see if there are any nails on the floor. If you find any, pound them down the surface so they are not sticking out. Also if you have any carpet staples, pull them out along with any tracks might be around. To actually perform the sanding job you need to have a sander. You can either buy it or rent it.
One thing I forgot to mention, throughout all this work you should have either the windows open or a good ventilation going on. There will be lots of dust and debris created through the refinishing process and you don’t want to inhale all that.
Once the sanding is done, you will have to stain your floor. First remove any sawdust that you might find on the surface. Now use a rag to add some stain to the corner of the floor before applying it everywhere. You want the colors to match. When you are sure you got the right color on, go for the entire surface. For heavier coating use a brush, but if you go for the lighter coating, continue with using the rag. Just simply go with long and steady strokes along the wood grain. Don’t go against it as it will show.
The last thing you need to do is actually apply the final refinish. It is of polyurethane which you need to mix well right until you see air bubbles forming. With a roller or a brush apply the mixture on the wood grain and avoid leaving marks. Then leave it to dry. This could take a couple of hours or more, so be patient. Once it’s dry, you need to apply a second layer of coating. Then wait again to dry, and you’re actually done. Now you can clean everything nicely and put back the furniture. However avoid leaving marks by dragging the furniture on the surface, you don’t want to scratch your newly refinished hardwood flooring.…

10 Questions to Ask Your Hardwood Flooring Supplier

by Laura Posted on

10 Questions to Ask Your Hardwood Flooring Supplier Before Purchasing
1. If there are any problems, who do I call?
Most flooring stores will be buying the flooring they are selling to you from a distributor who purchases the flooring from the manufacturer. Sometime, especially with products coming from overseas there is more than one distributor involved. In many cases if you have an issue with your flooring and complain to the retailer they will call the distributor and let them know there is a complaint, the distributor will tell the manufacturer there has been a complaint. In most cases the manufacturer will deny the complaint and if you are lucky they will even send a representative to deny your claim in person. Most retailers would correct a manufacturing problem to make their customers happy because they are the ones dealing with the customers face to face but in reality they do not have the final say unless they want to replace the flooring out of their own pocket. The manufacturer is so far removed from the actual client that they know it is better for their bottom line to deny the claims and assume they will never have to deal with the issue because they are so protected by their warranties. Picture a person at a desk with a pile of hardwood flooring claims on their desk with a big stamp that says “denied”.
2. How durable is the finish?
Durability is probably the most important things to consider when purchasing a prefinished hardwood floor. The finish is what you are actually walking on and must be very durable to have a beautiful lasting floor for years to come. Many imported prefinished floors have very little durability and the finish can be taken off with a few swipes of 150 grit sandpaper. When buying hardwood there are a few ways to test the finish: one would be to take 150 grit sandpaper and rub the finish to see if the finish will come off and two would be to firmly press the edge of a coin against the finish, a quality finish will dent but not come off. Quality manufacturers will have aluminum oxide or better yet titanium oxide hardeners in the finish. Many offshore manufactured products will say they have aluminum oxide in them but actually do not. To test if a hardwood floor has aluminum oxide in the finish simply put the sample in your microwave and if it sparks, it does indeed have aluminum oxide in the finish. I know that may seem a little strange but it’s something worth checking because hardwood flooring is a big investment and you want to know the durability of the finish.
3. What is the structural and surface warranty?
This is a very important part of choosing a hardwood floor. Anyone can put a 25, 30, or 40 year warranty on the finish of their product but the real question is; will they stand behind their warranty. Many large …

Planning Is Important With Any Home Improvement Project

by Laura Posted on

Home improvement projects will help you make your home look different and increase the value. You will learn that it is very simple to do some improvements that will ensure a great look and value.

When planning a major home renovation project, hire a professional architect or designer to create your plans. Except in cases where you or someone you know personally who is advising you has professional experience in design and construction, you may not be satisfied with the DIY results. Someone who professionally designs will do it the right way and you will avoid any disaster.

If you’re revamping the room, use light or white tile or other material. This lighter color deflects the sun’s rays rather than absorbing them, and this reduces heat in your attic. This alone can make a big difference in your bills.

If you use motion sensor lights instead of regular porch lights, you will lower your electric costs. Depending on the brand you choose, you may be able to decide on the sensitivity and lighting time frames.

If you use mud for drywall you can put texture on your walls and hide problems. It is easy to texture walls. You only need to apply the drywall mud to the wall and then press to add an interesting texture with a sponge, brush or crumpled up paper bag.

A decent drill is a critical tool that you’ll need for almost any sort of home improvement work. It lets you make the holes you need for driving screws and other fasteners. You should have a cordless, 9-volt power drill that come with a variety of drill bits and bits for Phillips and flat-head screws.

If you want to keep the toilet bowl clean, just add bleach from time to time. The bleach may stink for a bit, but germs will be killed and you will know that everything is as clean as can be. Reduce the unpleasant odor by selecting a scented bleach.

Even beginning home improvers can find benefit in fixing a leaky faucet. If you are able to find and repair these items quickly, it will minimize the amount of water that is wasted in your home each day. As such, the savings will end up in your pocket, not the water comapnies’ pockets.

Use hot glue in order to stick small items such as screws, bolts, and nuts to their containers. When you are trying to find just that one piece of hardware even the best of organized shop can present a problem. Written labels do not provide the instant visual cue that this method does.

Stop bugs from entering your home by sealing cracks. Caulk the baseboards, areas around windows and any other areas that require it. After your caulk is dry, the bugs will not be able to get in as easy, and your air will stay in better.

Hopefully, in reading this article, you have seen that you can in fact do this. If you take the advice …

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