Home Repair Ideas

Sustainable practices in the garden is not only smart it is healthier for you and your family. Utilizing the byproducts of your gardens production means not only are you helping your community by helping to keep the landfills from growing but you are using natural methods to grow your own food free of chemicals and inorganic products. Composting your garden waste will help to build a healthy soil which will help to build healthy plants that will be strong and disease resistant and provide a larger and more nutritious crop.

Here are things that you can implement now to make your garden more sustainable and that will start to show a return this year.

Sustainable Gardening Tips

• Composting your kitchen scraps and lawn clippings along with other garden waste will help you to build a good source of mulch and soil amendment. Compost will build your soils structure ,increase the drainage, and support microorganisms that are beneficial to your garden.

• Stop using pesticides grow flowers and other plants that will attract pollinator and predator insects to your garden to help control pests and increase production. Using a pesticide is more harmful than helpful because it will kill all the good and the bad insects so that when more bad ones come along less good ones are there to discourage them.

• Use only organic fertilizers in your garden such as composted manure, fish emulsion, or green cover crops. These will breakdown in the soil and provide the plants with what they need while not harming the environment.

• Use rain barrels to collect water for your garden. Not only is rain water better it will help eliminate runoff that will eventually wash silt and pollutants into the local water shed. Utilizing rain water also cuts down on energy that would be needed to pump water to your home to be used in the garden.

• Reuse, re-purpose, recycle what ever you can the more you keep out of the landfills the better. Try to find a use for everything turn old pales into pots. A great idea is to grow potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket as the plants grow add a little more soil till you reach the top. When it is time to harvest simple turn the pail over and shake out the plant and soil easy no dig potatoes.

• When planting your garden use 4 or 5 layers of moist newspaers as a mulch then cover with wood chips. Not only will this keep down the weeds it will help retain moisture and provide food for the earthworms in your garden.

These are but a few tips you can implement this year to make garden sustainable and a little greener.

When a wooden window is damaged, this will require one to get new ones. However, if purchasing new windows might not suit one’s taste, one can opt to create custom wood windows instead. In this case, a simple non-opening window would do the trick. This type of window is often long, elegant windows that could be placed in places such as the foyer or the bathroom. With a little skill, one could make their own windows out of wooden frames.

The basic materials that will be needed are 2×2 wooden boards, caulk, glass, router drill, dowel pins, wood glue and most importantly, a saw. First, measure the window area with the measuring tape. Next, cut the 2×2 wooden boards with the saw according to the windows’ measurements. Both of the boards should be sawed to a 45° angle to fit the window frame tightly.

The next step would be to rout the ends of both boards with the router drill. After doing so, measure and mark the boards in the center. Then, rout the center line half-inch deep for all four boards. This is where the glass will be placed in. Next, drill two pilot holes at the corner of the boards on the slated side. Bear in mind that the pilot holes must be able to match up with the board that will create the frame.

Then, apply one drop of wood glue into the hole of one corner and insert the dowel pins halfway. Once again, squeeze one drop of glue into the other pilot holes and fit the sides together. Insert the end with dowel pins into the board that has no dowel pins. After finishing one of the boards, repeat the same procedure on the other board.

Don’t place the bottom of the piece of frame on yet. Instead, insert the glass into the frame, according to the routed line that was cut in the center of the frame. Use glue and dowel pins to match it up to both of the frame’s side. Next, apply the caulk evenly around the glass. As a finishing touch, paint the window frames.

Bathroom remodeling takes a lot of effort and creativity. You need put a lot of considerations into account. You need to be able to create a budget and be able to stick to it without compromising the quality of the designs. Learning about the latest trend in bathroom remodeling and effective planning is the key to your success. You can change bathroom appearance in more than two weeks.

Here’s how to plan bathroom remodeling:

First thing to do is to set a timeline. You need to allot two days for the demolishing procedure and then another two days for the plumbing, drywall, flooring and carpentry. You can allot three to four days for tiling and then a day for fixtures, insulation and electrical work. Planning these carefully will help you set a goal. Stick to your timeline. Although you don’t really have to hit the deadline, setting a timeline motivates you to work faster and to finish the job one day at a time. Give yourself a couple of days contingency.

Next is to consider how many people are to use the bathroom on a daily basis. If you are renovating the bathroom in your master bedroom you and your spouse will only be using the sink, you might want to add another sink, so you can simultaneously use your bathroom and get to work a lot faster than before.

Add more storage space. This will help you reduce the clutter inside your bathroom. With plenty of storage system you would be able to separate your grooming products from your cleaning products or your toiletries. Your wallpaper styles and color scheme is also very important. For sleek and clean looking shades consider whites and grays while red and lavender gives richer color shades. You should draw a sketch. It is important that you draw your plan to scale. If you are going to be performing your bathroom remodeling, consider communicating with professional contractors for tips and guidelines.

When expanding outward seems impractical – because your lot is too small or too hilly, or because a favorite garden or tree is in the way – you can take advantage of what real estate dealers call air rights, the expanse of space stretching above your property. And by building new walls and a roof on top of a house or a garage, you make an addition that may be more economical to build than an equivalent ground structure would be.

Building above the existing foundation eliminates the heavy work and cost of making a new one. Many first-floor ceiling joists are strong enough to support a second floor, and sheathing from the old roof can be used as subflooring for the new floor. Extending utilities upward into a home addition is generally less trouble than extending them horizontally – especially in homes built on slabs, where plumbing, heating and electrical lines may be encased in concrete.

In some cases you can double your floor space by adding an entire socond story, but most upward home additions  are more limited. Generally, the expansion or room additions involve either a shed dormer to make headroom in an attic, or a second story over the top of a garage. Both are equally suited to the most common purpose of all additions – to provide new bedrooms flanked by baths – and both could accomodate kitchens, air studios, or upstairs living rooms.

Either type of addition raises two tricky problems for planners and builders. The first involves a stairway. Unless you have a full stairway to the attic – the retractable “disappearing stair” commonly found in one-story houses is satisfactory if the attic is to be used for any purpose but storage – you will have to install stairs to reach a shed dormer. You may be able to put them into halls or high stair wells above existing stairs, between first and second floors or between first floor and basement. Otherwise, you must rearrange existing rooms to accommodate stairs.

For a garage-top addition, the problem is simple because stairs inside the house are generally unnecessary; you can build them inside or outside the garage.

The second problem involves work high above the ground. Nailing down the bottom of the new stairs is about the only work on an upward addition that can be done at ground level; the rest of the job takes place at least 10 feet higher. With this, falls are a hazard not to be shrugged off. To do the work safely, rent roof jacks and ladder hooks that make for sure footing on roofs, and erect scaffolding alongside walls. When you build a second story atop a garage, the new subfloor becomes a work platform on which to build and erect the new walls and new roof.

Moreover, the subfloor offers a convenient stacking space for materials so that a building supplier or general contractors can use a crane on his truck to deliver lumber directly to the second story.

The average American household will spend about $2,160 on energy expenses during 2011, according to the data provided by Alliance to Save Energy. Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce energy waste, and many of them are inexpensive weekend projects.

Easy energy fixes

Install a programmable thermostat and set it to so use of heating or cooling is low during the workday and sleeping hours and higher in the morning before work and during afternoon and evening hours. A programmable thermostat can save the average homeowner up to $150 per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Check heating and cooling system when the seasons change and replace air filters regularly; this can also cut down on unnecessary energy costs.

Moderate Effort

The windows and doors that let your home “breathe” may inhale and exhale too much hot and cold air in extreme temperatures. Adding insulation around windows and window trim and, depending on climate, hanging storm windows in the wintertime are all smart moves. Consider adding insulation behind door casings and, in winter, installing weather-stripping. Windows can be sealed with self-stick foam or plastic window sealant kits.

Aim For a Star

Aside from insulating your doors, consider outright replacement if you know they are older, single pane, or made of metal. Consider installing alternative energy systems (solar, for instance). Swap out old appliances for newer Energy-Star rated appliances, which are designed to draw less power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions under specifications developed by EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The key to a smooth wall or ceiling is a flat, sound substructure for the surface material. While some walls are sound enough to be resurfaced directly, others need extensive preparation to compensate for surface damage or crooked framing members. You may have to make a grid of thin wood furring strips to serve as a flat base. You may even have to build a false wall in front of the old one.

To assess the condition of an uneven wall or ceiling, you will need a carpenter’s level and a long straight-edged board. First hold the level against the wall at several places to check it for plumb, or against the ceiling to check that it is level. Then slide the board across the wall or ceiling as you look for gaps between board and surface. If neither check discloses major flaws, you can probably install the new surface over the old with only minor preparation. If you plan to use adhesive, make sure the old surface is clean; if the new surface will be fastened to the old framing, mark the positions of the wall studs or ceiling joints.

On wall surfaces where only small areas are damaged or out of true, you can use plywood or wallboard patches to repair the damage, shimming the patches to bring them flush with the surrounding surface. When the surface is badly damaged, however, or very uneven, you will have to build out the entire wall or ceiling with a grid of furring strips, shimming them as necessary to produce a level base. For the shims, use cedar shingles together with their thin ends in opposite directions.

Sometimes, if the existing surface is basically true, you can check by eye alone to see if the shimmed furing strips are true. But you may need to rule off the wall or ceiling with reference lines and strings and take careful measurements, to level the grid. On the sound sections of wall or ceiling around your working area, use erasable pencil or chalk.

In laying out the furing grid, you will have to deal with interruptions in the surface. Remove moldings and trim, and adjust the depth of door and window jambs to suit the new wall thickness. You may have to reposition electrical outlet boxes, or adjust their depth.

The pattern for the grid may require some preliminary thought. Although furing strips usually run horizontally, some materials, such as plywood paneling, require vertical supports as well, and you must plan the layout of the panels in advance, so that the vertical supports match the panel edges.

Clean the fireplace and hearth at least once a week during the months that you use it. Vacuum or brush up ashes, then wipe down the hearth with a damp cloth or sponge.

The walls of the firebox (where the fire is laid) should be cleaned with a dry bristle brush or the dusting attachment of the vacuum cleaner. Be sure to wash and dry the attachment before using it on any other surface. Don’t scrub the fireplace or cement block with water; it may reduce heat retention.

Clean the fireplace chimney flue once a year (more often if you use it frequently). If you are adept at scaling rods, you can do it yourself with chimney rods and brushes (available at hardware or fireplace equipment stores). Otherwise, call in a professional chimney sweep to do the job.

Dust brass and iron fireplace tools and fire screens regularly. Wash brass tools occasionally with warm sudsy water, rinse and dry. If iron tools feel sticky, rub them with cloth moistened with kerosene. Be sure to dry them thoroughly before placing them near the fire.

Before removing ashes, sprinkle damp tea leaves over them to keep down the dust.

Make your slate hearth gleam. Every 6 weeks or so, wash and dry it and then coat it with lemon oil.

Well-balanced lighting is more than a matter of how much you have. The way you distribute it is just as important. Avoid glaring mistakes and create practical, beautiful pools that light your way around the room. Keep in mind, too, that different rooms need different kinds of illumination. Personalizing your lighting plan is imperative, but be sure that, overall, you cover the basics.

The Right Lights

To create successful room-to-room lighting plans, match each fixture to the role it will play and provide enough light sources for pleasant, safe, comfortable spaces.

Mix sources for living and family rooms

For TV viewing or simply relaxing, general lighting from indirect sources is best – wall washers, uplights, and recessed fixtures. For homework, hobbies and reading, you will need task, or local, lighting – downlights, spotlights, and table or floor lamps.

For accent, emphasize art over the fireplace, or large plants with fixed spotlights. If you already have track lighting, consider adding one or more low voltage spotlights; they produce especially dramatic accent beams, which vary from narrow to wide depending on the bulb you use.

Give dining rooms flexibility

Tame that lovely but too bright chandelier over the dining table with a dimmer control to soften the mood. Supplement general lighting with built-in recessed fixtures and portable accent lighting, including picture lights and plug-in shelf lights.

White shaded lamps invite you to settle in for a little fireside reading. With light shades and three way sockets and light bulbs, you can turn up these lamps for reading or needlepoint and dim them for moodier party light. The beams from recessed ceiling cans accent artwork, and a lighted hutch offers a welcoming glow.

Light kitchens for efficiency

Augment general illuminators – track lights or ceiling fixtures – with task lights beamed on countertops and cooktops.

Add task lights to bedrooms and baths

Put bedroom lighting on a dimmer switch for mood control. For young children, avoid halogen lamps, which produce scorching heat. Ceiling or wall fixtures are safer than table lamps for young kids. 

Once you buy a damaged property, put together a plan of action before anyone lifts a hammer. it is all-important that you think through the big picture before beginning work on any individual projects.

Home Repair Plan

Create a home repair plan for your new house, regardless of whether it needs extensive rehabilitation or just some cosmetic home renovation work. The most important factors in the plan are establishing what work needs to be done and realistically determining what you can (and will) do yourself – and what you should hire a contractor to do.

Creative Visualization

Walk around the building and figure out how the space can be used more efficiently. What rooms can be opened up? Where can extra storage be created? Maybe some of the rooms can be better utilized?

Beware of Over-Renovation

Over-renovation is any improvement to a structure that costs more than the value it adds. if you are going to live in the house, an expensive project could be worth it if it brings enough pleasure into your life to justify the cost. But don’t price your property beyond its value and the value of other properties in the neighborhood. Once you have reached the level of adjoining properties, stop.

Whether you hire plumbers or do the work yourself, try to be savvy about the rules – which, despite the fact that plumbing is an ancient art, are still changing. When engineering studies reveal that more can be done with less, code officials respond by allowing narrower pipe diameters. In addition, manufacturers develop new materials that are often more effective and easier to work with than older ones.

You should have some understanding of plumbing principles. Water is delivered to fixtures and appliances in supply pipes. Supply water is under pressure, between 30 and 50 lb/sq-in. The cold water comes from lines branching off the main supply line to the house. Cold water is forced under pressure into the water heater, which not only heats the water, but also retains its pressure so that the heated water is forced through a separate set of pipes when a fixture’s or appliance’s hot water valve is turned on.

Today, most supply pipes in plumbing systems are 1/2-in.-diameter copper or plastic , except for the main supply line, which is usually 3/4-in. copper and might extend as far as water heater. Until the 1940s and 1950s, most supply pipes were galvanized iron.

Waste pipes carry water away from fixtures and appliances. Water and waste move by force of gravity only, so waste pipes are always vertical or sloping slightly downward. Waste pipes contain a trap, a U-shaped bend in the pipe in which water always rests. Traps are always close to the fixture or appliance. The water in the trap prevents sewer gas from rising through the pipe to the drain in the sink, tub or whatever; the trap in a toilet is built into the toilet itself.

Your plumbing and waste system will not work properly if, when water and waste are trying to flow down, there is no vent behind them. The pull of gravity on the waste water would drain in fits and starts, like a full soda bottle opened at the top and held upside down. Consequently, plenty of air must be available behind the water and the waste so that no vacuum is formed.

This is the job of the vent system. In plumbing, vent pipes connected to the waste pipes protrude through the roof of wall of the house and provide air, allowing atmospheric pressure to be present in the waste system at all times. The vent pipes also allow sewer gas to escape from the entire waste system to the outdoors.

Vent and waste pipes run to one (or more, in large houses) main vertical pipe called a stack. The stack runs downward to connect with the public sewer system or septic tank and upward to a hole in the roof or wall to vent gas out and allow outside air in.

Waste pipes can double as vent pipes, in two ways. First, a stack is a vent pipe down to the lowest “wet” connection to it. (“Wet” vents are pipes that carry both waste water and sewer gas for some portion of their length.) Second, even some smaller, horizontal “wet” pipes can double as vents, if certain requirements are met and local plumbing code permits. use of these wet pipes as vents has been increasingly permitted by plumbing codes and saves not only extra piping but also the labor of a plumber and his cutting holes through the roof. However, this doubling requires much more attention to design.