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Box Store Replacement Windows – Are You Getting the Best Replacement Window Available?

Sunday, November 14th, 2010


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Lowe’s or Home Depot make replacement windows very easy. They provide a turn key service to provide you the windows, offer you the support in getting them ordered and even provide an installation option to install them. By creating a “one stop shop” the large stores can cover it all. However, how do you know if you are getting the best window replacement project that you can from the large box stores? The information below details three areas you should consider when choosing a box store to supply your replacement windows.

Window Quality

Both Lowe’s and Home Depot have several options to choose from when selecting replacement windows. To begin, each store carries their unique brand of window that is only found in their store. Lowe’s carries the Reliabilt vinyl line and Home Depot carries American Craftsman vinyl windows. Both window lines are unique to each company meaning you will not be able to find the window brands outside of their respective stores. If you are worried about the quality of the “house” brand of windows, you should know that in a 2007 Consumer Reports test, the Reliabilt scored highest of the vinyl windows tested and the American Craftsman scored third.

In addition to their store brand windows, Lowe’s replacement windows offering also includes the Pella brand. Pella has been in the window and door business for over 75 years and has a reputation for delivering quality products. Pella’s service support after the sale insures that if you have problems with your window, it will be resolved. Home Depot carries the Andersen and Jeld Wen brands. These are large window manufacturers that have years of research behind their product. Like Pella, purchasing Andersen or Jeld Wen windows insures you are getting the support from the manufacturer after the purchase from the box store.

Window quality should not be considered a major concern when purchasing from the box stores. With house brands ranking at the top of Consumer Reports, and other brand name window companies available, you will be able to find a product that meets your level of quality.

Experienced Personnel

Purchasing and ordering windows is by no means brain surgery. However, there are many different factors involved with ordering replacement windows and it requires someone familiar with the process to insure the order is correct. The challenge homeowners face with stores such as Lowe’s or Home Depot is getting consistency in the experience of employees. While each store has personnel that are dedicated and trained to specific departments of the store, it is not always easy to determine how much experience that person has with the product they are selling. An employee in millwork (windows) today could have been in electrical three weeks ago.

This is not to say that whomever you purchase replacement windows from at either store does not know what they are talking about. Both stores hire strong personnel, train well, and are very willing to help customers. Even so, you should always make sure the person helping you with your replacement windows is the most qualified person at the store. This will insure the details are covered and your order is correct.

Quality of Installation

One of the attractive aspects of the large home improvement stores is that they provide installation services along with the replacement windows. The “one stop shop” aspect makes it easy for homeowners to not have to search for a contractor to install their windows. In addition, the large stores offer installation pricing that is relatively inexpensive to fit most project budgets.

Before you commit to having the store’s installers perform the work you should always research other installers to perform the work. Find out what the average installation costs are for your area. Chances are when you compare the installation prices to the Lowe’s or Home Depot prices, you will find that the box store price is significantly cheaper than a professional installation company or an installer.

Before you think you are getting the steal of the century keep this in mind: The process to remove and replace a window is basically the same whether you do pay $100 or $200 an opening to get it done. If the work is getting done for $100, in order for the installer to make the same amount of profit as the $200 installer, they either have to cut material costs or reduce labor costs. If material costs are cut, you might not get the best caulk or the highest quality trim around the windows. This can lead to rotting wood and leaking windows.

Likewise, for contractors charging $100 to install a window, they have to install twice the number of windows to make the money the $200 per window installer does. This means they would have to spend half the time installing one window. If the basic process is the same, how good is the installation if they are taking half the time to complete it? The large stores use volume to offset their low installation price and in order to achieve volume they must install as many windows as they can in as short a time as possible. Keep this in mind when considering the quality of the installation that you will receive for the price point that the large box stores offer.

(The above statements are not meant to disparage the box store installers. They are good hardworking people like you or me and put effort into the work they do. Just be aware of how the system operates before beginning a project with a box store so you are not surprised at the results if they are less than desirable.)

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Why Use A Crawl Space Dehumidifier?

Friday, November 12th, 2010


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Many homes that don’t have a basement do have a crawl space. This is especially true in the southeastern United States. Although you may not realize it, excessive moisture and humidity are wafting up from your crawl space into your home. This is where a high quality crawl space dehumidifier comes into play.

The moisture laden air entering your home from the crawl space can affect your health and damage your home. Mold, mildew, wood rot and termites are just a few of the problems you will encounter if the high humidity in your crawl space is left unchecked. Mold can cause health problems and allergic reactions. Wood rot and termites can cause serious and expensive structural damage. The one thing mold, wood rot and termites have in common is that they need a source of moisture to survive. By controlling the moisture, you can protect both your health and your investment.

Many homeowners make the mistake of trying to use appliance grade dehumidifiers in their crawl space. Home and basement dehumidifiers ARE NOT designed and built for harsh crawl space environments. Either they can’t to the job required or they are over sized units for a tight crawl space. Appliance grade dehumidifiers can freeze up in outdoor climates or will run continuously because they are being overworked. This will add significantly to your electric bill.

It’s important to choose a dehumidifier that was designed and built for a crawl space environment. These units are designed to fit in a crawl space and are very energy efficient. When used with a vapor barrier, a crawl space dehumidifier can dramatically reduce the relative humidity levels in your home. Don’t trust some kid at Lowe’s or Home Depot to sell you the correct dehumidifier for your crawl space. Seek out professionals who feature equipment that was meant to solve your crawl space humidity problems.

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Using a Granite Countertop Sealer

Thursday, November 11th, 2010


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Your prized possession of a granite countertop needs to be well taken care of. Using a sealer for your granite countertop is one step in you doing so. Usage of a granite sealer must be compared to the use of urethane on hardwood. Using a granite countertop sealer can thus never be compromised for a granite countertop.

Why is a granite countertop sealer important? Before understanding the importance, let us analyze the make-up of granite. Hope this mini-lesson would guide you to the importance of sealers for your countertops.

Granite countertops used for domestic purposes are shiny and are of different color ranges. The stones could be different but the process of finishing granite remains the same. As granite is derived from the mountains, it is inherently known to have fissures or cracks. As is, the cracks do not seem to harm the countertop. With use in cooking purposes though, a lot of undesirable material creeps in to the fixtures. Imagine cooking your favorite dish on the countertop and have some oil seeping into the cracks further causing irreversible damage to your countertops.

Did this lead you to the importance of sealers? Sealers obviously provide a protective covering against the stains entering the cracks of the granite used. Does it mean sealers should be installed the day the granite countertop is installed? Not really, you may not require being so urgent. Be sure though to install the granite countertop sealer before its first use. See your granite countertop exceeding all levels of performance consistently if you have been able to seal your granite countertop before its first use!

Some tips before you apply sealers to granite countertops

1) Do not apply sealers when there is a lot of dust. Sealing polished surfaces in the presence of dust could defeat the purpose of sealing the countertop. So, if you are using countertops in a reconstruction job, wait on till the job ends and then apply the sealer.

2) Understand where you would be using your countertop. If you are planning to use it at places where there is a lot of water, seal some portions of the countertop on the day it is installed. The sealers must be employed on rough and polished surfaces where additional fixtures could be installed.

3) Do not leave anything to chance. For all you know, a spill of orange juice on your countertop could well spoil it permanently. This is a possibility when you move in to an already-made home. Assuming that your granite countertop is sealed with a quality sealer in this case could prove to be a mistake. Be sure to have a high quality sealer for your countertop to ensure they are protected and efficient in their performance at all times.

Using a sealer for your granite countertop is of paramount importance. Thinking that there are no scars behind the well polished granite surface! It ideally should not be there but expect some fissure behind the polished surfaces. Once you know about them, using sealers would be the best way to keep your granite countertop performing to their optimum at all times.

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The Disadvantages Of Over Relying On Home Depot Promotional Code

Saturday, November 6th, 2010


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Many people always desire to get a Home Depot promotional code because of the many advantages of the same. There is the usual fact that you will save money, the fact that you will actually learn to be decisive and the fact that you will be able to plan and budget for your finances.

The first advantage is already well-known: you get to make use of the discounts that are available to you and hence enable you to spend less money. If a product is selling for $300 and there is a 15% discount, you will be able to save $45. The other advantage of being able to make decisions fast comes because the coupons are usually temporary. This means that if you are not really keen enough, you can find yourself in a tricky situation where the coupon expires even before you finish your job. The other advantage of this comes when you are dealing with making a budget for the same. Since you cannot benefit much if you do not learn to prepare a budget, you will find yourself learning how to do so without much effort once you have made a habit of making use of the promotional codes.

Disadvantages

In this article I would like to bring out the disadvantages of putting so much trust in these coupons; they include:

Impulse Buying

The problem of always basing your purchases depending on what is available for sale at a discount is likely to cause one to engage in impulsive buying. This is because one will be waiting for the opportunity to make a budget based on the discounts that are available, and not based on the needs that particular individual will be having.

Delays In Implementation

One of the advantages of using a Home Depot discount coupon is that it helps someone to be quite decisive when making the purchase. This comes about when one seeks to make use of a code before it expires. In such an explanation, it is assumed that the person has the money and what he just needs is to make a decision as to whether or not he would want to buy the coupon. However, there can be some cases where the person has the money but is waiting until the time when the specific offer will be available before making the purchase. This can lead to delays in implementation of projects. As you can see therefore, the project has got its own advantages and disadvantages.

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How To Build A Tiki Bar In 24 Hours

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010


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So you want to know how to build a tiki bar? Well building a tiki bar actually is not that hard if you follow some simple guidelines. In this Article I give you the basics to building your tiki bar within 24 hours. Here are the basics:

You want to build a tiki bar within 24 hours?

This really is not a hard task to achieve, you can go to your local home depot to get everything you need pretty much. You need to realize it’s very possible to build a professional Tiki Bar in only 24 hours. Want more advice on how to build a tiki bar? Well here are some basic supplies you need to build your tiki bar:

-You need a sturdy table for the bar; you can use any table or even make your own. Use your imagination here and remember you can cover the surface with a laminate, plywood or straw.

-Lots of straw, if you do not live near the coast this could be a little harder to find locally. You can check out local plant nurseries or even stores like Wal-Mart depending on the season. Another place to look is pool stores.

-The roof of the tiki hut can be made from large leaves or palm fronds if you can find them, and you can attach them to plywood. I advise you put together your tiki bar roof on the ground then attach it to the rest of the bar.

-Bamboo of course is something you need, whats a tiki bar without bamboo? You can find bamboo at most local plant nurseries.

-Be creative with your tiki bar design, be sure to use sand and sea shells if you’re going for the tropical look (almost all tiki bars have a tropical look.)

These are just some basic guidelines on how to build a tiki bar in 24 hours. I have a lot more information on my blog on building a tiki bar; you can check my bio box for the link. I hope this guide has helped you some, good luck!

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The 9 Best House Repair Books for Fixer-Upper Houses Investors

Sunday, October 24th, 2010


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In operating a house fix-up and rental business in my spare time, I have found the following books to be very useful. If I encounter a repair that I have never done before, the books on the link below are my guides.

In 400 B.C. Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum upon which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Your tools and books are your lever and fulcrum. Once you have them there will be no stopping you.

1. New Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything In and Around Your Home by Reader’s Digest.

This one tops the list because it is so useful. It covers many topics not covered by other similar books.

2. New Complete Guide to Home Repair & Improvement by Better Homes and Gardens

Very useful because it covers a large array of topics. A great reference.

3. Complete Fix-It-Yourself Manual by Time Life Books.

A very useful book for repairing appliances. I have had my copy for over 13 years, and its still the first book I turn to to fix the refrigerator, clothes dryer, or any other house appliances.

4. All Thumbs Guide to Home Wiring by Robert W. Wood.

A great book for the beginner to learn about making electrical repairs around the house.

5. Flooring 1-2-3: Expert Advice on Design, Installation, and Repair by The Home Depot.

This Home Depot guide is a great resource if you want to tile a floor, put down carpet, or lay laminate.

6. Wiring 1-2-3 (Home Depot by Home Depot Books.

A good guide to wiring projects around the house. A little more advanced than the “All Thumbs Guide to Home Wiring.

7. Plumbing 1-2-3 by The Home Depot.

You can tell I like these Home Depot Guides. This plumbing guide, like most of their publications, has lots of good pictures to guide you through many common repair projects.

8. Profits in Buying and Renovating Homes by Lawrence Dworin.

Some of the information is a little dated in this 1990 book, but it still contains useful information for those who do larger repairs on fixer-upper houses.

9. How We Made A Million Dollars Recycling Great Old Houses by Sam & Mary Weir.

Another book, like the previous one, focused more on the business of fixing up houses, but it has a good section on repair and renovation

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Lowes Garage Door Installation Cost Will Save You Money

Monday, October 18th, 2010


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Lowes Home Improvement stores are well known for their low prices and quality products. If you own a home you probably have used Lowes to find the products you need to improve, maintain or repair it.

Searching for and finding the right garage doors for your home can be a nightmare even if you use the Internet to conduct your research. The best garage doors available are frequently the most expensive however you should not use garage doors pricing alone to make your selection.

Your selection process should carefully consider installation costs, construction materials, removal of any existing door, type of garage door opener and warranty. Lowes garage doors installation costs are considered one of the best buys on the market today. Lowes installers are considered and called partners and they must meet Lowes strict standards. Every installation is rated by the purchaser to assure that customers are receiving the quality services they are paying for.

Lowes garage doors installation costs range from as low as $199 to $599 depending on the size of the door and where the door is being installed. Obviously installing an oversize garage door will require more skill and time. If you need to install a garage door opener as part of your installation you can expect additional cost. Over all the, Lowes garage door installation cost is slightly lower than the average installation costs.

As an alternative to purchasing your garage door from Lowes you should consider comparing prices and services with Home Depot. Both Home Depot and Lowes sell quality garage doors. Just as with Lowes Home Depot provides garage door installation services that are comparable. In addition you have the option of installing a garage door yourself. Both home improvement stores will assist you in your efforts. The downside of self installation is the time it takes to complete the installation and the cost of disposing the old door which normally part of any professional installation cost. Self installation will also require you to have the assistance of at least one helper.

We feel that the Lowes garage door installation cost is very reasonable and provides the home owner the peace of mind knowing that the installation was done correctly. Occasionally installation cost can be included in the purchase price of your garage door. Be sure to check with you Lowes sales representative on the latest sales offers.

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Inexpensive Kitchen Remodel Ideas

Sunday, October 17th, 2010


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Remodeling your kitchen to transform it to an elegant and modern kitchen does not have to cost you an arm and a leg. Most people feel that unless they spend thousands upon thousands, they are not going to end up with a beautiful modern kitchen. This document is meant to give you few kitchen remodel ideas to transform your kitchen to that modern looking kitchen you always dreamed of without making you go bankrupt.

The most important thing that people notice when they enter the kitchen is the kitchen counter top. Contrary to the popular belief, you can buy a very nice laminate counter top for about $60-$70 at your local stores or bigger shops such as Home Depot or Lowe’s. Some stores free of charge will cut the counter-top so that your sink can fit through; some others may charge you very little for this task. However, cutting the counter top is not a difficult task as the sink edge will hide small imperfections that may result from the cutting process. However, if you feel that you are not able to accomplish this task on your own, just look for a store that would do this task for you.

Another inexpensive kitchen remodel idea is to re-face or replace your cabinet doors. Even though cabinet doors are some what pricey, it is far less expensive than replacing your entire cabinets. You can find cabinet doors about $30-$40. Here is what you need to do. Replace or re-face your cabinet doors with modern cabinet doors of your choice. Pay attention so that the color you choose matches well with your counter top. Most cabinet doors are of standard size; however, if your cabinets are not standard size, you may have to order the correct size cabinet doors. You will then need to stain the top and bottom of your cabinets to match the color of your new cabinet doors. Fear not, this task is not as difficult as it sounds. You approach this in the same way as you would paint your drywall. The first think is to sand the edges to create a smooth surface before applying the stain. If you are doing this for the first time, it is recommended that you try staining a scrap piece of plywood just to get a feel for it.

Another inexpensive kitchen remodel idea is replacing old cabinet door knobs with trendy new knobs. The cabinet door handles or knobs are fairly inexpensive you can buy a bag of 10 door handles for around $10-$15. Even though this seems like a very small investment, it greatly contributes to the overall image and appeal of your kitchen. Again, we can see that kitchen remodeling does not have to be an expensive project.

Lighting in your kitchen is another important feature that impacts the look and image of your kitchen. Pot lights are in fashion and apart from the fact that they make your kitchen look modern, they are also very inexpensive. I don’t recommend you doing any electrical work if you are not a certified electrician or have never done any electrical work in the past. You need to hire a qualified electrician to run the wiring for you but you can tell the electrician where you would like the pot lights to be installed. You can rent the equipment that puts the hole in your ceiling for pot lights from home depot for about $50 a day.

Once all your work is done, make sure you give your new kitchen a new paint job as they say a paint job can do wonders. finally, sit back and enjoy your new beautiful kitchen.

Sofa

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In Search Of Coupons For Home Depot – Tips For You And Me

Thursday, October 14th, 2010


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Generally, when you read articles online about coupons for Home Depot, you tend to get this feeling that the whole process is simply apiece of cake. In fact, you can easily start wondering whether the whole issue is just a scam; what other way can you explain how hundreds of websites are offering you discounts? Well, if you have ever started out on a real path to look the coupons that will be able to assist you, then you will get to know that it is not as easy as it usually sounds when you do not have the money or when you do not need to make any improvements on your home. For this reason, I have taken the liberty to give you one or two tips that should be able to help you with this process.

Budgeting

The first mistake that people do is to fail to budget for the whole process. What happens is that they find themselves in a corner because when they go to the online store, they get so many products and brands which they can use their coupons for Home Depot with that they end up getting pretty confused on what to do next. It is important that when you want to make use of these resources (for indeed they are,) you need to prepare a budget that will be able to carter for the things that you intend to buy. This way, you will be looking for discounts on what you have already budgeted for, and not budgeting for what you have available with discounts.

Strategy

Once you have made your budget, you now need to know when you will be doing the renovations or improvements in your house. You can then start searching the company’s main website and other websites for coupons for Home Depot. The advantage of searching other websites is because you can easily come across discounts that might be of better value to you than what you would have found at the company’s site.

Generally, the process of getting coupons for Home Depot is not a very hard one. At the same time, it would be totally inappropriate for any particular individual to claim that it is extremely simply. The truth of the matter is that although it does not amount to back-breaking labor, it needs more than just a laid-back approach to be able to get the best deals in the market.

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Barbecue Smokers

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010


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As the author of a BBQ book, I get asked all the time… what’s the best BBQ smoker to buy? My answer usually leads them in the right direction and gives them a few places to start looking.

I usually tell people about one of the following bbq smokers…

Big Green Egg – this is an insulated vertical smoker. They start around $600 to $700 for the large model.

Traeger Pellet Smokers – This is a nice bbq smoker that burns wood pellets. The Lil’ tex starts around $695. The digital controls and oversize hopper are a little extra though.

Char-Broil Silver Smoker – This is a more affordable, smaller offset type smoker but it is well constructed and produces some great Q. They are $159 down at Home Depot.

Stumps Smoker – this is also an insulated vertical smoker with a gravity fed charcoal system. They start around $1600.

Lang Smoker – This is a traditional offset type smoker. It is made of good thick metal but it is not insulated. This offset BBQ smoker is unique in that it has a metal plate that runs the full length of the smoker just below the meat grate. The smoke travels all the way to the other end of the smoker, over the meat, and out the smoke stack on the same side as the firebox. The Lang Model 60 starts at $2195.

Fast Eddy’s by Cookshack – This is a very nice pellet BBQ smoker with a vertical style. Used by many of the top BBQ competition teams. It is around $3295.

Southern Yankee – these are rotisserie bbq smokers and they have many models to choose from. They range from small pull behind rotisseries to large concession trailers. They start at $3750 and go up from there.

And… their final decision usually has to do with the following factors…

Price – the amount of money you have to spend on a BBQ smoker has a lot to do with your decision. I think the most bang for your buck is the Traeger Lil’ Tex BBQ smoker – especially for the back yard BBQer. Although, many BBQ teams use these too. Whatever you do, don’t go down to WalMart or Home Depot and buy one of those small offset smokers for $300 or less. They are made out of very thin metal and the fireboxes do not ventilate well. You’ll have trouble producing good BBQ on those things.

Work needed – A traditional offset BBQ smoker requires a lot of work tending the fire. Some people prefer a traditional offset smoker over something that burns charcoal, pellets, or propane. But let me warn you… you’ll be chopping a lot of wood to feed that hungry beast. You’ll need to check your fire in most offset smokers every 15-30 minutes. The Southern Yankee are wood or charcoal burning too. That can get very tiresome on a long overnight smoke. The Big Green Egg and Stumps Smokers will run a very long time on just one bag of charcoal. Of course, the Traeger and Fast Eddy’s burn pellets that are fed automatically.

Insulated – The insulated BBQ smoker allows for long burns so you can get a little shut eye on those long overnight brisket smokes. The Big Green Egg and Stumps are insulated and burn charcoal.

Size – Look at how many square inches of cooking space you get for your money. Traeger Lil’ Tex’s are nice BBQ smokers, but you’ll need two or three of them if you intend to compete with them. Of course Traeger has many larger models to choose from including some commercial BBQ smokers.

Wood, pellets, or charcoal – What kind of smoke flavor do you like? Do you like charcoal or real wood? Or maybe a combination of both… usually, if you use charcoal for heat and throw some wood chunks on top for flavor, you’ll get a good result. Lump charcoal and Duraflame’s hardwood briquettes are other options that produce a cleaner and hotter burn. Of course, wood pellets are real wood and the results are similar to using real wood logs.

Type – You got your vertical smokers, vertical insulated smokers, traditional offset smokers (with the smoke stack opposite from the firebox), Lang offset smokers, pellet smokers, rotisserie smokers, gas smokers, and all kinds of combinations of all of these. What BBQ smoker is best suited to your needs or wants?

Once you decide on what BBQ smoker to get, you’ll need to learn how to use it right. A good place to start is to get a copy of “Competition BBQ Secrets” and learn how the pro’s do it on the competition BBQ circuit.

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