When my family moved to the San Fernando Valley in the late 1950s, most homes came outfitted with evaporative swamp coolers. I remember that they worked fairly well until August and September when temperatures soared over 90 degrees. Then, it seemed, all that the cooler did was burn energy pumping water around the pads while [...]
It’s not too early to put together a priority list for home improvements or landscaping chores you need to get done before fall and winter. The stressed housing market means many contractors are offering low bids just to get work. Assemble a menu of tasks according to what you can do yourself and by jobs [...]
Get the mold out of your house now before winter comes barreling into your neck of the woods. Mold clean-up and eradication is best conducted while you can still open doors and windows to ventilate and dry your home. My house in the Pacific Northwest sits under unbroken clouds and persistent rainfall for months after [...]
OK, gunslingers, it’s time to draw your caulking gun before the bad boys of winter settle in to ravage the homestead. Kidding aside, caulking and sealing is a home improvement project that fits the schedule between barbecues and beach trips. You’ll gain a lot of protection for your home with just a little time and [...]
Energy efficiency in household lighting continues to advance in the green commercial marketplace. Royal Philips Electronics has launched sales of the world’s first light-emitting diode (LED) product designed to replace the conventional 75-watt incandescent bulb. The manufacturer claims that, in using only 17 watts of electricity, the Philips AmbientLED 17 produces 1,100 lumens of light.
The [...]
Everyone you bump into these days needs bath remodeling but simultaneously tells you they haven’t a cent to spend. Think small and think cheap. You don’t have to knock out a bathroom wall to make more room for your family. One of the best ways to open up space or eliminate clutter is to build [...]
Homeowner spending on remodeling and home improvement projects is expected to take a major dive going into 2012, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The plunge is daunting, given the small bubble of increase during the spring of this year. At the same time, a consumer slowdown on ordering projects [...]
The right lawn care tools simply bring your landscaping ideas to fruition. But do you need to own them all? Buying an aerator makes sense if you have a large lawn area on soil that bakes hard or is already compacted by nature. Most people, however, rent aerators from $40 – $150 a day from [...]
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