Perhaps we’re not slaves to fashion, but homes tend to have some “fads”, like the 1980s and 1990s with wallpaper. I’ve had my fair share of installing and later removing wallpaper like many of you. If you’re preparing your house for sale, updating your walls can mean more money in your pocket at the closing table.
I understand you haven’t been having wild parties at your house, as it happens to all of us from time to time: the dreaded hole in the wall. A rambunctious child and a broken door stop can quickly make a hole in the drywall the size of your doorknob. The house settling can also crack it as well. But how do you repair these issues? Check out this video, which tells us how – from the smallest crack to a doorknob sized hole, it can be done!
Since I was one of the few that stayed up until 1:30 am last night waiting to see the Space Shuttle take off but did not because of the rain, I thought I would do a blog post on roof shingles. When it rains heavily, I know we’re happy to know there’s a good roof over our heads to keep us dry. But what goes into a roof? How do they know how long it will last? Check out this video which explains a lot about roofing:
Yesterday we had a little bit of excitement here around my house. A city water main pipe had burst in our front yard. Within minutes, we had a few thousand gallons of water everywhere. I had ankle-deep water in one section of driveway and could not believe the deluge!
So, with that being said, today’s topic will be an homage to French Drains. While they are not designed to handle such loads as what mine were asked to do yesterday, they still provide help to those homeowners with too much water surrounding the structure. Luckily, I had the system in place, as it took enough water away from the low-lying areas to keep water from entering the house. It could very easily have happened, and would have in a blink of an eye. Read the rest…
Somehow watering the yard and saving money never end up in the same sentence. However, with a little help from the folks at the Home Depot, it can. If you water smart and avoid killing your lawn or ornamental plants, you can have a lush lawn that will make you the envy of the neighborhood. Read the rest…
After listening to the fan in my hall bathroom this morning, I realized that this video might be important for me to watch as well! I’ve always wondered just what replacing an exhaust fan entailed, and it is a bit intricate but not overwhelming. I think I could tackle the job. Let me grab my tools and get to work!
Often I show properties with squeaky hardwoods, especially older homes. Through time, use and humidity, floorboards seem to have a way of moving themselves into a creaky state. Here’s an easy how-to video on making the noise disappear. I found the talcum powder trick very interesting. That explains why some of the properties over 100 years old have a white residue around the edges of the boards!
Weeds. Just the word makes me shiver. I hate them, as all of us who love gardening. However, they are something that must be dealt with in our yards. Paul James, the Gardener Guy, shows us some cool tools to remove those nasty weeds.
If you’ve been listening to the national news in the past year or more, you have heard that the economy is either: in a recession, hit bottom, in a depression, on the upswing (or all the above). So, if you’ve decided now is the time to sell your house, what should you do? How do you stand out and get yours sold while the others stay on the market? Read the rest…
With the summer fast approaching, many homeowner thoughts turn to that of air conditioning. For most of us, the concept of replacing the current HVAC unit is daunting. If a portion of the house is not cooling or the entire building is not “cool enough”, it may not mean your unit is on its last legs at all. You might just need to modify it with a zoning system. Read the rest…
