Home Improvement Ideas

Tips For Selecting Paint and Wallcovering

Written By: admin - Jun• 23•11

When you begin shopping and selecting paint and wall covering, bring fabric swatches and other samples of your home furnishings with you to the decorating center.
Photographs of a room can give you and others a helpful perspective of the room’s layout and architectural features.

Many decorating centers have professional design consultants who help customers at no charge. The paint selection display in a home decorating center can hold more than a thousand different colors, and wall covering departments may have several hundred sample books. By comparing the samples from your home with the store’s paint swatches and wall covering samples, you can narrow down your selections quickly.

Always bring several paint or wall covering samples back to your home for a day or two before making a final selection. Look at the samples in the room you are decorating to see how the colors and patterns interact with the existing furnishings. Remember that colors change under different lighting conditions, so follow the 24 hour test we describe below to avoid costly mistakes.

* In the store, check paint chips and wall covering samples in daylight as well as under artificial lighting. Remember that store lighting can differ from home lighting.

* Take home no more than 3 different paint color samples and wall covering samples. Fewer alternatives make the final decision easier.

* Look at the dark end of a paint color chip to determine the tint base of an off-white paint. Almost all off-white hues contain a hint of another color.

* Choose wallcovering books by quickly flipping through them. A quick glance saves time and can tell you which books you will want to study more carefully.

* Tape 4 paint chips together. Larger samples are easier to judge. Cut off the white borders, they can be distracting.

* Judge samples of paint and wall covering in the room where they will be used. Stand color samples upright to duplicate the way light strikes a wall surface. Tape wallcovering samples against the walls where they will be hung.

* Before making a final decision, cut a large sample of wallcovering to see in the 24 hour test. Decorating centers will usually provide large samples or let you borrow sample books.

* Buy a quart of your chosen paint color. Paint a large sample card to hang on the wall. Follow the 24 hour test before buying the full amounts of paint and wallcovering needed.

The 24 Hour Test for Selecting Paint Color

Lighting affects color. To judge how paint or wall covering will look in a specific area, hang a large sample on the wall and check it from time to time over the course of the full day. Notice how the color changes under varying lighting situations. If a room is most often used at a particular time of the day, look at the color carefully at this time. Paint and wall covering colors will look different in your home than they do in the decorating center. Furniture, woodwork and floors reflect their own colors onto the walls, changing their appearance.

These helpful tips are sure to help you in selecting paint and wall covering whether you are thinking of remodeling your bedroom, decorating livingroom, or have decided to give a new look to your kitchen.

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Choosing Caulking Materials

Written By: admin - May• 23•11

Caulks, or caulking materials, available in stores can change rapidly. Siliconized acrylic used to be popular, butyl rope caulks were introduced and distributed rapidly. Prior to that, silicone, latex, and butyl caulks had begun to replace interior oil-based caulks.

Just as there is a dazzling array of caulking materials on the market, there’s a wide range of prices, quality and appropriate uses. Knowing these variations and how to take advantage of them is the best way to keep costs down in caulking services and caulking jobs.

With one exception, we can offer little advice on controlling labor costs if you contract out caulking work to local caulking contractors. Out best advice is to make sure the contractor’s crew takes its time and does a careful job. Labor costs almost always exceed material costs and vary only slightly if one-part caulking compounds are used.

The exception is this:
Have caulking contractors work from the inside of the house, not the outside. The old way to caulk and to weatherproof focused on filling the holes and cracks from the outside. New studies have shown that better energy savings can be achieved by blocking holes from the inside. This should lead to labor savings, because there are no ladders to set up and no cold or rain to slow down the work. The only reason for caulking outside is to prevent water penetration behind the siding or the trim. Inside, clean and fill cracks at the baseboard and around the door and window trim; using a wet sponge to smooth latex caulk makes the work go faster.

After you have applied these labor saving techniques, you must look to the compounds themselves for savings, both in a low purchase price and in that price divided by the number of years of useful life. An analysis of purchase prices and the life spans of a wide range of materials showed that the caulk with the lowest purchase price was not the least expensive over the long run. Yet, even among similar long-lasting materials, an astounding range of purchase prices was found, showing that a wise shopper can come up with some real bargains.

Overall, the 4 caulking materials listed below are the most cost effective for specific, but common, uses:

1) Siliconized acrylic – use for interior and exterior caulking, for cracks that do not change width because of humidity or the seasons.

2) Silicone – use for exterior and interior caulking, for cracks that move with humidity or the seasons. Generally, these are cracks between unlike materials, such as brick and wood trim shrinks and swells.

3) Silicone with fungicide – use in bathroom remodeling, and kitchen applications.

4) Copolymer – use for exteriors when application is possible only in temperatures below 40F.

Related links:

Caulking company Norfolk

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Finding The Right Home Inspector

Written By: admin - Apr• 30•11

The home inspection industry has blossomed nationwide in the past few years, primarily in response to consumer demand. People have become more sophisticated and knowledgeable in home buying decisions. They have come to realize that a home inspection at the time of purchase is actually cheap insurance against a major error in relying on their own judgment. And for the rehab buyer, this service is indispensable.

The primary benefit for the damaged property investor is the ability to bring in a skilled professional, acting ina neutral third-party role, to systematically evaluate and diagnose building defects. Unlike you or the seller, this person has no emotional involvement in the outcome of the inspection. The facts are simply observed and reported.

The scope of an inspection varies from company to company and can be tailored, to some extent, by the consumer. According to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), the typical inspection using their Standards of Practice would include structural inspection, exterior, roofing, plumbing, electrical, healting, central air-conditioning, interior, insulation and ventilation.

Although not required by the ASHI Standards, most inspectors will also provide a ballpark guesstimate on repair costs. Other services could include a random survey, lead paint testing, termite inspection, and appliance warranties. Of course, all will provide a written report of the findings, usually within 2 to 4 day. Usually it will take the inspector anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on scope and thoroughness of the inspector.

The cost of the inspection service varies around the country and also varies by the scope of the services requested. Some companies adjust cost based on such factors as listing price, square footage, and age of the house.
The challenge you have is to select the right inspector for your work. It’s somewhat like finding a good auto mechanic or handyman – some are better than others and none of them, including the home inspector, needs to be licensed! The proliferation of national franchise operations has increased your options, but you need to be really careful – anybody can buy a franchise. You will need to check out the background and qualifications of the inspector and ask for references. I use a company that is staffed by registered professional engineers. They are thorough and extremely knowledgeable, particularly when it comes to structural issues such as the foundation. Like anything else, you get what you pay for. Don’t just go for the lowest price!

I highly recommend that you accompany the inspector to each and every house. It is the best 2- or 3-hour education you can get for the money. Tag along and ask questions – lots of questions. You will be amazed from what you can learn from an experienced home inspection professional. This not only will help you in your future inspections that you will do on your own, it also will give you specific details to use in finalizing the rehab plan on the house in question. As I mentioned before, if something unexpected turns up, you will have the option to either negotiate the deal or just walk away from it.

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Replacing Asphalt Shingles

Written By: admin - Mar• 30•11

Replace asphalt shingles on a sunny warm day, when asphalt is flexible. Gently lift the shingle above and pry out the nails that hold the bad one in place. Remove it and slip in a replacement; then secure it with roofing nails.

When replacing an asphalt eave shingle look at the inverted shingle beneath it; it may also be damaged. Before replacing a ridge or hip shingle, examine adjacent shingles for the nailing pattern; then use the bad shingle as a pattern for cutting and securing the replacement. Cut the shingle on the back, or smooth side, then bend and break it.

If a wood shingle is badly worn or split, use a hammer or small ax to demolish it in place. Pull out the pieces, then slip a hacksaw blade under the shingle above, and sever the nails as close to the surface as you can. Cut a new shingle to fit in the gap; then tap it in place until its edge is aligned with adjacent shingles. Drive a nail in the center of it and deb the nail head with roofing cement.

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Key Organizing Tips

Written By: admin - Mar• 20•11

The Role of Lifetime

Think for a moment about the role that you want each room to assume and the types of tasks you hope to accomplish there. For instance, you may be an aspiring woodworker and want to set up a workbench in the garage. Or maybe you’d like to have a craft canter in the basement to help organize all your sewing projects. Jot these ideas down and the equipment that should accompany them. Sketch up a floor plan showing where you would like everything to go.

In The Zone

Whether it is the garage, attic, or basement, each room has many functions – workshop, laundry area, gardening shed and let’s not forget, storage room. Assign each category a separate area or zone – trash and recycling, tools, long- and short-term storage – and set up a separate system for each – shelving for a secondary pantry, labeled containers with lids and name tags for seasonal decorations, wall hooks for summer lawn furniture, storage space for outdoor patio furniture.

Rule of Use

The universal rule of use – keeping your tools, supplies, and equipment in the area closest to where you will use them – applies to the basement, garage, and attic, too.

A Clean Spot

Before you put things back in their new homes, clean the spaces with detergent and a bucket of water. Painting the walls (if you can) will cut down on the amount of dust and dirt (and even mildew in the basement).

Love of Labels

Because it’s probably been years since you have seen their contents, go through all of the boxes to see what they contain. Toss or donate ruthlessly, paring down your possessions, as much as possible. Then sort the remaining belongings into new boxes (clear plastic bins with lids work best), making sure like items remain together. Finally, carefully label the boxes using nametags, listing their contents on name badges so you will be able to find exactly what you are looking for in future.

Hazy, Hot and Humid

Make sure both the attic and basement are properly ventilated and insulated to prevent dramatic swings in temperature. In the basement, have some sort of dehumidifier and perhaps even a sump pump to remove excess groundwater. (By the way – the basement, attic and garage are not the idea places to store photographs, home movies or videos. Heat and humidity can destroy them in no time.)

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