Home Improvement Blog Improving Your Home And Your Life

I'm sure most of you in earthquake country have all heard of these before but it's all good to stress. These tips come via FEMA.

Earthquakes strike suddenly, violently and without warning. Identifying potential hazards ahead of time and advance planning can reduce the dangers of serious injury or loss of life from an earthquake. Repairing deep plaster cracks in ceilings and foundations, anchoring overhead lighting fixtures to the ceiling, and following local seismic building standards, will help reduce the impact of earthquakes.
Six Ways to Plan Ahead

1. Check for Hazards in the Home
* Fasten shelves securely to walls.
* Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
* Store breakable items such as bottled foods, glass, and china in low, closed cabinets with latches.
* Hang heavy items such as pictures and mirrors away from beds, couches, and anywhere people sit.
* Brace overhead light fixtures.
* Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections. These are potential fire risks.
* Secure a water heater by strapping it to the wall studs and bolting it to the floor.
* Repair any deep cracks in ceilings or foundations. Get expert advice if there are signs of structural defects.
* Store weed killers, pesticides, and flammable products securely in closed cabinets with latches and on bottom shelves.

2. Identify Safe Places Indoors and Outdoors
* Under sturdy furniture such as a heavy desk or table.
* Against an inside wall.
* Away from where glass could shatter around windows, mirrors, pictures, or where heavy bookcases or other heavy furniture could fall over.
* In the open, away from buildings, trees, telephone and electrical lines, overpasses, or elevated expressways.

3. Educate Yourself and Family Members

Video Courtesy Of VideoJug

What: Castle Green - Holiday Tour
When: Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Where: 99 South Raymond Ave. Pasadena 91105
Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm (rain or shine)
Cost: $20.00* adults, children under 12 are free.
More Info: 626-577-6765 (Public may call)

Those interested in history, creative interior design and cultural heritage will see the original interior of this unique Pasadena City Treasure, which is normally closed to the public. Walk at your own pace, through the corridors and inside more than 15 individual apartments, all differently interpreted, and many decorated for the holidays. See the Moorish and Turkish Rooms, the Bridge and Penthouse, and painters’ studios of Dan Douke, among others.

A 12’ Christmas tree in the Main Salon, decorated with 2,500 bulbs, will provide entree for visitors entering the old hotel lobby. Enjoy Holiday Sweets, Cider, Chocolate, Tea and Coffee, and wine offerings, served throughout the day. Madrigals will kick off the season.

The Tour is sponsored by the Friends of the Castle Green, a nonprofit support group that provides and implements restoration to the building. All funds raised are dedicated to the landmark building.

100% of proceeds go to the Friends of the Castle Green for restoration.
All contributions are tax deductible.

Here is yet another great video tutorial from our friends over at VideoJug.

Via VideoJug

Via Engadget

Catalina Spas is offering a theater Spa, which not only seats four very comfortably, but it also includes a 61-inch LCD HDTV that "automatically stores along the side wall of the spa and raises and lowers for viewing." Of course, considering that it's "priced upon request," you should probably bring the bank if eying this one with any level of seriousness.

1. Use to loosen rusty nuts and screws, clean garden tools
2. Cleans piano keys
3. Keeps wicker chairs from squeaking
4. Lubricates small rolling toys
5. Keeps garden tools rust-free
6. Cleans patio door glide strip
7. Removes crayon from clothes dryer (make sure to unplug dryer first)
8. Removes scuff marks from ceramic tile floor
9. Keeps metal wind chimes rust-free
10. Removes crayon from walls
11. Helps join plastic shelving to make disassembly easier
12. Removes water spots from mirrors
13. Lubricates hinge on pruning shears
14. Lubricates screws on lawn furniture
15. Lubricates hydraulic rams on slideout of 5th wheel
16. Cleans fiberglass bathtubs
17. Cleans and prevents rust on oil tank exterior
18. Cleans and protects bed of wheelbarrows
19. Prevents rust on swamp cooler nuts
20. Removes tea stains from countertops
21. Removes crayon from wallpaper
22. Lubricates gate locks
23. Removes crayon from carpet
24. Removes tape marks from the wall where posters hung
25. Shines leaves of artificial houseplants
26. Keeps snow from sticking to shovel
27. Removes coffee stains on floor tiles
28. Keeps hose ends from corroding
29. Lubricates moving parts on playground equipment
30. Removes crayon from plastic
31. Removes decals from bathtubs
32. Removes old cellophane tape
33. Removes crayon from shoes
34. Cleans ashtrays
35. Removes crayon from toys
36. Cleans and protects underside of cast iron skillets
37. Removes ink from carpet
38. Keeps garden plant cages bright and rust free
39. Cleans lawnmower blades
40. Cleans and protects antique kitchen tools
41. Prevents mildew growth on fountain
42. Removes marks from floors left by chair feet
43. Removes crayon from chalk boards
44. Eliminates static on volume and tuning control knobs
45. Cleans candle soot
46. Removes ink from blue jeans

Via KK.org’s cool tools section.

A fellow by the name of Jeff Lindberg has thought of an ingenious way to get rid of those tough stains in your toilet bowl. His suggestion is to grab a cup or two of white vinegar and leave it sitting overnight. Come back the next day obviously and a minute or two of scrubbing later, the stains are completely gone. I personally haven’t tried this but I remember growing up, my mom would use vinegar in her cleaning arsenal and it seemed to be relatively effective. So maybe it’s worth a try.

Home Improvement has become popular these days. Whether doing it to make a living, to save money, or for pure enjoyment, many people are drawn to the do-it-yourself trend. While this can be a very lucrative way to do construction, just like with professionals who build for a living, safety is a key to any project. Without using proper safety devices and procedures, disaster can happen on the simplest of home improvement jobs. Accidents are possible when working at heights, with heavy, noxious, or awkward materials, with power tools including those with sharp blades, or with electricity or gas. While accidents are possible at anytime doing anything, the preceding situations are when you need to be especially careful about doing construction. The most common safety procedures include those to do with your comfort with the job, your work area and equipment, and some just plain common sense.

One way to stay safe on the job has to do with your comfort with the job. Many do-it-yourselfers are old hands at doing jobs around the house. Some are just starting out. Whatever category you fall under, safety is of the utmost importance. Only tackle jobs you feel comfortable with doing. If you feel that it is too advanced for your skill level or that you don’t exactly know how to handle a power tool, be smart. Do your own electrical work only if you know for sure that you have the expertise to do so. Don’t let being prideful get in the way of being safe. There is no shame to admitting you do not know how to do something. It’s not just the newbies that get hurt, either. Many experienced do-it-yourselfers become cavalier about their abilities and cut corners when it comes to safety. No matter how good you are and how much you know, always keep safety in mind as accidents DO happen to the experienced as well.

Family Circle magazine has finally selected their annual Country’s “Top 10 Towns for Families”. The magazine announced the results of a first of its kind investigation to identify the best communities across the country that combine big-city opportunities with suburban charm. Family Circle singled out these small cities, where living costs, commute times and crime rates are low, and the educational system is way above average.

To determine the towns and cities, Family Circle partnered with On Board, a New York City research firm providing real estate and demographic data to assemble a list of 1,850 places with populations between 15,000 and 150,000 and a high concentration of households with an average income of $65,000. From that, 800 localities were selected based on family-friendly criteria, including cost of living, jobs, schools, health care, air quality, green space and crime rate. Family Circle assessed which towns best met those standards and ranked them according to state. The winners were selected from the highest-rated towns in the top 10 states nationwide.

The results appear in the August 2007 issue of Family Circle or online here.

I recently came across a fine piece of reading which really made me step back into the way things were and how things are. I know this really has nothing to do with home improvement but feel free to use your imagination and reflect on whatever drives your nails.

My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by. Today I read his obituary. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance, for Common Sense had served us all so well for so many generations.

OBITUARY: Common Sense

Keeping your home cool in the summer heat without raising your air conditioning bill is difficult. Here are a few helpful ways to cut down on the cost that may not have occurred to you.

78 Degrees
If you have air conditioning, there is no sense in setting your air below 78 degrees, as that is as cold as they can run. Turning it below will eventually make it that temperature, but only because it will run longer, not colder. This is where your bill really racks up.

Room Specific Cooling
If you have just one central cooling system, pick the rooms you want colder, such as your bedroom or entertainment room. In all the other rooms, locate and shut the AC vents in the ceiling and floor. Now you can turn your AC temp up to around 82 allowing for maximum efficiency as it will take longer to cool the room to an inexpensive temperature while the areas you do have open will cool quickly and effectively, much below 82 degrees.

Attic Ventilation
If you have an attic, you know it gets hot in there during the summer. In fact, it can reach up to 150 degrees. To help your AC bill out, install an attic ventilation system. This is as simple as investing fifty bucks into a louvered gable vent to let the attic breathe, lowering the cost of keeping the rest of the house cool.

Shade AC
Wherever your AC unit is, make sure it is shaded. If need be, transplant a tree to provide a cooler atmosphere for it to work most efficiently. Your unit ought to be on the northern or eastern side of your home allowing the side of the house to shade in the peak afternoon hours. Also, be sure your AC unit is able to “breathe” without any leaves or tarps hindering its ventilation path.

Hot Water Activities

May 31, 2007 -- You’re considering new windows, and you have lots of choices. From single, double, or triple pane to low-E reflective coatings; from wood, aluminum, vinyl, or vinyl clad construction to casement or bay windows, how do you know what's best for you? Are vinyl replacement windows really what your home needs?

The best way to avoid buyer's remorse is to consider long-term cost, ease of maintenance and aesthetics.

Count total cost
According to the government Energy Star website, which promotes energy efficiency among U.S. consumers and businesses, "Twenty years ago, double-paned meant energy efficient; today, advanced technologies have enabled the development of windows that are much more efficient than traditional clear-glass double-paned windows."

One energy-efficient window technology cuts the total cost of your windows using a triple-paned design with high-tech thermal spacers between each pane of glass. By keeping unwanted heat or cold from radiating in and costly cooling or heating from radiating out, the triple-paned design can reduce your homeowner utility bills by 40% or more. Offered by the Pennsylvania-based manufacturer Winchester Industries, its multiple Low-E layers on two of the three panes reflects more heat than the single Low-E layer on “so-called” energy-efficient, double-paned windows.

According to John Simon, who uses the energy-efficient windows in his 2,700-sq.-foot home against winters as cold as -15° F, the triple-paned windows have cut his family's heating and cooling bills in half. "We save approximately $2,500 a year in heating and cooling costs and are protected from spikes in energy cost.”

Choose ease of maintenance

June 5, 2007 -- Home decor site SimplyHomeDecor.com, today announced it has initiated ecommerce capability and partnered with Power2Save to offer the Cent-A-Meter, an eco-friendly consumer product designed to help monitor and reduce energy and electricity costs throughout the home.

“In being that this is the week of world awareness regarding energy issues, conservation and specifically, World Environment Day, June 5, this year focused on climate change and other like environmental issues, we could not think of a more appropriate partnership, or frankly, a more appropriate product,” states G Geralde, of SimplyHomeDecor.com.

The Cent-A-Meter™, an innovative, award-winning consumer product, is an electronic device which measures domestic electricity use and displays the cost per hour on a portable display located inside the home or small business. The Cent-A-Meter™ provides an easy to read and inexpensive monitor to educate and train consumers regarding the amount of electricity used by electrical appliances in the home. The cost is measured in monetary value and in environmental terms. Additional unit features include display of power consumption and equivalent greenhouse gas generated, together with in-door ambient temperature and humidity.

“The Cent-A-Meter™ is not only represents a measure of energy, it also represents a literal cost savings, generally estimated at approximately 20% per energy bill,” states Geralde. “That savings is facilitated not only by an increased awareness and monitoring of energy consumption in the home but also by the ability to preset desired consumption levels and sound an alarm when those levels are exceeded. This is a case where knowledge truly is power. About power. We are pleased to be in partnership with Power2Save and to be one of very few companies retailing the Cent-A-Meter.”

About Power2Save

June 13, 2007 -- Crete Ventures LLC, innovators of exciting ideas in decorative concrete applications and originator of decorativeconcretekits.com has formed concretesuperstore.com .

The Concrete Superstore is a 1 stop shop for the necessary information, products and tools for staining interior and exterior concrete floors.

The Concrete Superstore has brought together a dozen or more leading manufacturers of specialty products and tools in an online store enabling contractors, artisans and Do It Yourself consumers to get the correct components and extensive “how to” information and ideas.

There is a lot more to a stained floor than just the concrete stain according to the founder of The Concrete Superstore. One of the biggest challenges has been finding the necessary components for completing a stained concrete floor. Frequently a contractor will spend an entire week of searching for products to get ready for a project.

Some of the components for sale at The Concrete Superstore are:
1. Floor buffers and pads
2. Environmentally safe floor strippers for removing glue and paint
3. Etching product for profiling concrete floors
4. Crack repair kits
5. Concrete overlays and self leveling concrete
6. Acid and Acrylic stains
7. Custom stencils
8. Pump Sprayers
9. Sealers
10. Cleaning and maintenance products

The Concrete Superstore will be introducing design and architectural ideas, application plans, lighting solutions, forums and a regular newsletter featuring new products and sale items.

According to Ed Winslow founder of The Concrete Superstore, there is a lot of general and fragmented information available which is time consuming to find and understand. “Our goal is to organize specialized educational information relating to staining concrete in one place. We were successful with our “Concrete Kit” program and found a need for extremely specialized “how to” information. “

June 13, 2007 -- In today’s cookie-cutter world of laminate flooring and polyurethane molding, achieving an authentic old-world style, such as Tuscan or Mediterranean, can be difficult. Tuscan style, with its full arches, tiles, textured walls, and rough-hewn wood floors and surfaces makes a bold and artistic, yet extremely comforting and welcoming statement. Although the look can be approximated with modern building techniques and mass-produced flooring, cabinetry, and woodworking, the key word is approximated.

Crucial to creating a whole-house feel with a look such as Tuscan, says leading San Francisco Bay Area kitchen designer Kimberly Larzelere, is working with a company that delivers complementing one-of-a-kind home design details which can only be achieved by woodworking artisans skilled in custom woodworking and design. “All the different surfaces—the countertop materials, the flooring materials, the textures on the walls, the hood element, the tiles, the hand hewn beams—it’s all of those elements that complete the old-world character of the space. These need to integrate with the architectural features like the arched openings and high ceilings, ironwork and lighting fixtures.”

When possible, Larzelere also appreciates dealing with a single resource for the individual elements in a home, because they can provide a cohesive look throughout. “I deal with one specific company whose finishes and home design techniques, which many other companies cannot achieve, flow throughout all the different elements and tie them together,” she says.

“There are a lot of companies out there that mass-produce carved, detailed moulding and woodwork on a laser machine,” Larzelere continues. Working with Renaissance Old World, Inc, a designer and manufacturer that utilizes European age-old hand custom carving, planing and distressing techniques long lost from the modern world allows her to give her clients a distinctive look.

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, June 08, 2007 - Hudson Valley home improvement company, Vinyl Tech, Inc., says that adding a sunroom addition to any home is a great way to save on energy. In addition to allowing for experiencing the outdoors in a comfortable indoor garden setting, sunrooms reap another huge benefit: energy savings. The natural light produced by a sunroom helps to cut down on the need for additional lighting while passively capturing the sun's dollar-saving rays and distributing that energy throughout the rest of your home. Visit their sun room blog at blog.sunrooms360.com

According to Vinyl Tech, President- Ms. Damary Kiefer, "Sun rooms cost less than other types of additions while giving homeowners excellent functionality and return-on-investment, in energy savings and home equity, while adding to the beauty and ambience of their home."

A Vinyl Tech, Inc. sunroom makes use of something known as Passive Solar Energy Technology. This type of solar energy technology takes advantage of the sun's energy through design features, such as large south-facing thermal windows and materials in the floors that absorb energy during the day to passively release and distribute it. A southern facing position for a Vinyl Tech sunroom is preferred; however, east or west facing will also be able to take advantage of the sun's rays too.

A Vinyl Tech, Inc. sunroom creates an environmentally friendly helper to costly electric and fuel bills. The addition of a Vinyl Tech sunroom, solarium or conservatory helps to accomplish this without the use of any additional mechanical means, helping to maximize passive solar energy opportunities.

Custom kitchen cabinets are manufactured to the exact specifications of a specific order. Before any orders are placed, manufacturers make stock kitchen cabinets in standard sizes. The kitchen cabinets are kept in inventory by the manufacturer or shipped to regional distributors who then resell the cabinets to homeowners.

Most homeowners would like more closet space in their homes. You can add a closet in a bedroom, den, or guest room if you have the carpentry expertise and enough floor space. If you follow the instructions correctly, your new closet can look like it was there originally.

Assessing the quality of the air inside your home becomes very important when you are dealing with the remodeling of your home, having storage in your home or even simply living in your home. Be sure that you take all of the following steps into consideration when you are thinking of assessing the indoor air quality.

Air-sealing and the Thermal Boundary

You can mount a medicine cabinet on a wall surface or in a recess in the wall. If you install a surface-mounted medicine cabinet, it is almost as simple as hanging a decorative item on a wall. If your present cabinet is installed in a wall recess, you can upgrade to a larger surface-mounted cabinet and place it over the recess in the wall.

Medicine cabinets feature sliding, pivoting, or hinged doors. You can buy them in one, two, or three sections, and they come in a wide variety of materials, colors, and styles to match almost any bathroom decor.

Many homeowners are not new to wireless networking within the home. Usually they would have setup two or more computers connected to the Internet or printer in a home networking system. Wireless networking can be carried out in many different devices, such as with the use of a radio frequency controller, but the best thing about it, is its ability to allow the homeowner to connect to the Internet and control the system not only from any room in the house, but from any place where there is a computer.

If you want to give your kitchen an entirely new look, you can make some basic repairs or a few minor improvements to your kitchen cabinets. The look of the cabinets can be completely changed by changing the pulls or knobs, or re-facing or painting the cabinets.

A structured wiring system sounds much more complicated than it is. If you have a DVD player, computer or VCR then it is likely that you have a structured wiring system in your home. It is possible to do your own structured wiring system. You just have to take your time and be sure you get the correct quality of cable.

The summer months are notorious for ushering in high humidity and often unbearable heat that can lead to a number of health issues in people who are not properly taken care of. It’s important to make sure that your home is fitted with a system that will keep the temperatures cool enough to at least be bearable, if not comfortable. While you may decide to purchase cooling unites, such as a central air system or air conditioning window units, the cost of these is not always feasible for every family or every home.

Electrolux has been known to crank out some wicked appliances, but now its getting a taste of just how snazzy its lineup will be once these students hire in upon graduating. Engineering minds from all over the world submitted entries into the firm's 2006 Design Lab contest, and while props were given to a plethora of participants, only three could claim top honors. Above all was the Nevale Food Carrier, which rocks four separated layers for toting "different hot / cold meals" at once, and the digital screen atop its lid provides a real-time readout of the storage conditions while the built-in vacuum system keeps food "fresh and free from bacteria." The first runner up, dubbed The Organic Cook, puts a nasty right hook on Mr.