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Make your home Energy Efficient by scraping off the old Putty and applying a fresh layer of Putty around your windows and lower your utility bills.
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There are many perils to your safety at home that are less obvious—like carbon monoxide gas and radon. The big question now becomes how can you acquaint yourself with some commonsense safety tips at home to protect yourself and your home.
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Weather stripping prevents loss of heat in winter and loss of cold air during summer months. It reduces the dust coming into your home, as well as the number of insects and spiders.
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If a basement smells musty, the moisture in the basement may have caused mold and mildew. Sometimes standing water can also smell before mildew and mold occurs.
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To clean fragile wallpaper, rub the marked area gently with one of those soft gum erasers. Sanding the area with a slice of rye toast also works; just don’t use butter and jelly! To get rid of greasy marks from the wallpaper, get some cornstarch and cleaning fluid.
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If a wall tile cracks, you can fix it the same way you replace floor tiles. First, check to see whether you have any spares left over from when the tile was installed.
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Butcher blocks are gorgeous, but after a while, they may be marred with cuts from knives, scorch marks left by hot pans, and water marks. To get rid of these marks, you need fine grit sandpaper, a steel scraper, and mineral spirits.
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In an all too common scenario, a home owner gets excited about an ambitious project and tears into walls or floors. Remodeling always takes longer and is more difficult than new construction, because you run into so many obstacles. This is especially true if your home is an older one with plaster walls.
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Sometimes, settlement cracks in the foundation contribute to moist basements. It’s not usually a problem, but if you see a layer of mold on the edges of the crack, water is seeping in. So fill the hole with a quick-hardening sealant such as hydraulic cement or epoxy putty.
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When drywall sags from the ceiling, it may not have been adequately fastened or it may have been softened by water leaks. If you have a leak from the out-doors or an upstairs bathroom that’s damaging drywall. If the drywall hasn’t been severely damaged by water, you can refasten it.
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Compounding the energy loss is that an overhead door, tightly sealed in the summer, may not be as tight during the winter months: Ground frost causes concrete driveways to heave. You may notice a gap under the door or that the locking mechanism won’t lock.
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Building Code Inspectors issue a permit or probably write up a Violation Notice if certain building codes may not be followed. Some Building Code Inspectors are more friendly than others, but they are all there for your protection. Treat the inspector with respect, and you will likely have a mutually beneficial relationship.
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Careful planning and a few simple steps can minimize your family’s emotional and physical discomfort during a home improvement project.
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A flooded basement requires a high volume pump to get the water out, so you need to call a plumber who has the equipment, or rent it yourself from a hardware store. For smaller flooded areas, like crawl spaces, you can buy your own portable pump.
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Having part of your home look like a construction site is usually bearable. If the mess migrates to the rest of the home, things get pretty depressing. Clearly mark off where the work zone ends and living quarters begin. That way, the mess becomes a place you visit, rather than the place where you live.
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An educated homeowner is prepared for emergencies and is able to handle repairs and upgrades with confidence. Every Homeowner should know and understand your home’s structural, electrical, plumbing, and heating/cooling systems.
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You wish towel bars and toilet paper holders would stay fastened, but they don’t. If they come loose because the screw stripped the hole
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Drywall can be repaired with a variety of different patching compounds — hard drying, fast drying, or chemically set. These aren’t interchangeable with a ceiling-patching compound, which must be stiff enough not to fall out before it dries.
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Keeping you Home safe is a big issue on the minds of Americans. How do you guard your home from intruders? In this article, I attempt to provide a few home safety tips to keep in mind.
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About 10 percent of the population is sensitive to formaldehyde exposure. For this group, formaldehyde can produce symptoms such as runny nose, difficulty breathing, coughing, headache, skin rash, and dizziness.
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Intercoms vary in complexity, but the hard-wired types operate on low voltages, stepped down via a transformer, from your home’s electrical system. This makes them relatively easy and safe to install. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
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Carbon monoxide commonly enters a home because a furnace or water heater is improperly vented. Have your gas company come to your home to give a free inspection. Vent pipes might be clogged, inadequately joined, or installed in the wrong configuration. In any of these cases, repairs are simple. An inspection by a heating professional can also reveal any CO problems.
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If the entire length of the railing is pulling free of its fastenings, it is time to reinforce the handrail. If you decide to do it yourself, what you can do to reinforce the rail is add small pieces of wood to the underside of the banister, between each individual baluster and newel post.
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When you are getting ready to pick up that Home Improvement Project keep in mind these Safety Tips to keep yourself and your home safe!
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A few older homes have lead pipes. A lead pipe is gray, and you can easily gouge it with a sharp object. In some older cities, the main supply pipe, which runs from the street to the house, is lead. Copper pipe installed before the 1970s may have joints held together with soldering that contains lead.
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