After spending a little time watching a couple of design shows, and a couple of home makeover shows, and a couple of those real estate and home buying shows, I have become convinced of one thing:
Most modern Americans would buy a house with cardboard boxes as cabinets as long as the cardboard boxes had a granite countertop on top of them!

Granite countertops

It seems a bit unfortunate that the material used on the top of cabinetry has become the tipping point for homeowners who are deciding between a great home with a tile countertop, and an obviously poorer quality home with granite countertops, as though this was the single most important criteria!

I am going to step out on a limb here and say that granite is not the best material for kitchen countertops, and has become a status symbol like wearing a Mercedes Benz hood ornament on a chain once was for hip hop and rap artists. It is just symbol of affluence.

Tile countertops

The numbers and types of tile available today, offer an amazing array colors and textures, impervious to bacteria, attractive, and far more durable than granite. Heck, they are even available in granite if you so choose!

Quartz countertops

The new kid on the block for countertops is quartz. The material is made from ground quartz and resin, and the completed product is hard, resilient, impervious to bacteria, and comes in a wide variety of colors.

Other materials

Even the plastic laminates, and other synthetic materials common a couple of decades ago still have a place and a purpose. There is nothing wrong with them, and the types, styles and colors available, and the fact that they are impervious to bacteria, and relatively low in cost, still make them a good choice.

There is nothing wrong with granite countertops, but they are probably not the best material on the market, and definitely not the best criteria for choosing a home!

Comments: Feel free to disagree and let us know why in the comment section.

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The number of wooden or composite surfaced homes built in the United states is much smaller than fifty years ago, but there are still some being built. Outbuildings, like garden sheds, utility buildings, cabanas, and storage buildings are often built with wood or wood composite materials, which require a little extra attention to keep them looking good and functioning properly. A planned maintenance schedule for preventative maintenance can increase the life and functionality of any structure, and this is nowhere more of a truth than with wood or composite structures.

Even if your building is covered mostly with brick, there are still wooden areas that need your attention. The most likely spots are the upper portions of the gable ends, the soffit, and facia boards.

Preventing moisture is the key

Moisture is the enemy of wood. To preserve your wooden structure, you need to prevent moisture from getting into the wood. This is accomplished with paint, stain, or some other type of wood preservative, to seal the moisture out. The edges and ends are most susceptible. The will need extra protection where they are exposed, or joined. This is the job of caulking and trim.

Build a planned maintenance schedule

The best way to go about this is to have a schedule for cleaning, painting and sealing your wooden building. This is best done once a year, or at least every 18 months. This may seem like a lot, but you are dealing with the life of your structure, so it is important.

Wood structure preventative maintenance checklist and tips

Please follow the order listed below. If you caulk the building, and then realize you need to level it, your caulking may separate when the building is being leveled.

• Check the building for levelness. Do this first.
• Check for wood to ground contact and correct this.
• Check for termite trails on the sides of any concrete blocks.
• Scrape off any loose paint. Completely clean the entire building exterior. This is important for finding potential problems, and for assuring a clean surface that your coating will adhere to.
• Check for missing or damaged shingles.
• Remove any brush, limbs, or other debris.
• Check the edges of the eves and overhangs to make sure that there is nothing rotting there. If there is any potential damage from moisture in this area, you should consider adding, or extending metal flashing.
• Check directly under the roof, where it contacts the outside of the building, caulk any places where there are gaps.
• Check the corners of the building, look for gaps, and caulk accordingly.
• Check around doors, and windows.
• Check the door and window weather stripping.
• Check the siding, and caulk any exposed nail or screw holes.
• Apply your paint, stain, or wood preservative only when these other steps have been taken, and the building is clean and dry.

If you have a planned maintenance schedule, and practice preventative maintenance, it will increase the longevity of your building, and the building will stay in good condition as long as you continue your planned maintenance schedule.

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Home Improvement Rules Of Thumb

There are several competing ideas about how the term "rule of thumb" came into being.

One has it that there was a time that a man was allowed to beat his wife, as long as he used a stick no larger than his thumb. Another, that it was the distance on a map that a ship would be safe from the shore, others having to do with a variety human measurements. However the term originated, it has come to mean a general rule that is specific enough to serve as guidance in most situations. That is what we are presenting here.

Angle cuts

When you cut the top of a post for a fence that will not be capped, always cut it at an angle. This will allow water to run off, avoiding potential problems with rot.

Crowns

When fastening lumber, there will almost always be a crown, or an upward bend, this should always be on top, or pointed upward. Gravity will always try to force everything downward, and placing the crown up will counter this tendency.

Radial curl

When looking at a board for a deck or other outdoor structure that will be exposed to the weather, look at the end of the board. There will be a section of the radius of the log that it was cut from. There will be a slight curl toward what was once the outside of the log. This will become more pronounced with exposure to weather, causing a cupping effect which, if placed on top, will allow the board to hold water, and cause premature degradation.

This is a growing list

We will be adding more as we have opportunity. We also want to invite you to comment, and let us know of any rules of thumb you might want to suggest.

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Despite the economic difficulties of the time, it can still be a good time for home improvement. Many people are deciding to ride out the remainder of the financial storm where they already live, and any improvements made to their property at this opportune time, will almost certainly pay high dividends when the economy begins to recover. Home improvement financing loans can be obtained at some pretty low interest rates at this time. With the economy still in disarray, contractor costs will likely be less than in times of higher demands for their services.

Home improvement financing

Home improvement isn't cheap, and most people don't have several thousand dollars sitting around for home improvement financing. There are several ways to finance a home improvement project. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you have decided to perform the work yourself, which will save you money, but only if you practice careful planning. Whether you do the job yourself, or hire a contractor, you will still have to pay for the job.

Home improvement financing: Pay as you go

You can plan your home improvement project so that it can be done a little at a time, as the money is available. If this is the method you choose, you should plan the project carefully in segments matching the amount of funding as it comes available, and set a start and finish date. Do your homework and know exactly what material you will need, the cost of the material, and set up a plan, and a time frame for each part of the project.

Home improvement financing: Pay with credit cards

You can pay for the materials using a credit card. If you take this route, pay off the credit card bill in such a way that you will avoid late fees and other such onerous problems imposed by credit card companies.

Home improvement financing: Home improvement loans

If your credit is in good condition, your home mortgage payments up to date, and your equity in the home sufficient, you can probably get a home improvement loan without too much trouble. Shop around a little on this option. Credit unions are a good source. Large lumber and hardware chains sometimes offer home improvement credit cards with low to no interest. Doing your homework on this part of the project can pay huge dividends in the form of savings.

Home improvement loans: Government funding

FHA Title 1, HUD, and VA

If you meet certain criteria, you may be eligible for home improvement loans from one of these agencies:

FHA Title 1

FHA Title 1 home improvement loans make it possible for homeowners to get loans without equity backing up to $25,000.00. This includes the construction of buildings which are not residential in purpose. These loans extend to manufactured housing, and fire safety equipment, and may in some cases be available for long term renters.

HUD

HUD has a number of programs ranging from basic home improvement loans to "fixer upper" loans like their 203(k) program. It would take a separate article to just give a thumbnail description of the possibilities, so the best way to learn more is just follow the link above.

VA

The VA will assist Vets in home buying, and there is an abundance of information available on their website. I am not sure how far into home improvement this extends, but I thought it should be included, especially with the numbers of young men and women involved in various conflicts throughout the world who will return, and are deserving of every benefit possible.

State and local governments

Some states and cities also offer incentives for home improvement, essentially paving the way for home improvement loans with financial institutions as well as special home improvement loans for local citizens. Your best bet for information is to search for state and local information for your area online, or call the state or local entity for details. These vary widely from one location to another.

The main lesson in home improvement financing is that like most other endeavors, good planning and doing your homework will produce the best results and the best bang for your buck.

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Hidden Costs Of Home Ownership

Home ownership is a wonderful thing. Home ownership has always been the main component of the American dream. Home ownership allows you to build equity in something solid and corporeal, but like owning anything else, it comes with responsibilities. Home ownership, in most cases, comes with a payment, or mortgage. We all know this, and want to get the best possible deal at the best possible rates. This is a matter of doing your homework with due diligence, and getting a variety of opinions and offers before committing.

There are other things you should consider, like location, quality of the product, and a lot more.

Counting the hidden cost of home ownership

One thing that is not often given the consideration that it needs is the cost of upkeep. Home maintenance and improvement is as much a part of home ownership as the mortgage. Buying a home without considering home maintenance and repair costs is like buying a home without considering the cost of the mortgage. Remember that these costs will also increase over time.

Taxes

They say that there are two certainties in life, death and taxes, and there will be property taxes on your home. Talk to your county tax office to get the low down .

Insurance

Home owner insurance is an expense that you will need to consider, luckily, it is simple to determine. Just find a few companies, and check prices.

Home owners associations

Depending on where you live, there may be a home owners association, and these usually come with a fee. Talk with your real estate agent for details.

Home maintenance costs

The cost for home maintenance varies from situation to situation, but it is a widely accepted theory that it costs between 1 and 3 percent of the cost of the home mortgage per year. So, if your mortgage payment is $3,000.00 per month, you should be putting back at least $300.00 per month for maintenance and repair. These costs include such things as:

Lawn and landscape maintenance

This is one of the easiest costs to determine. If you plan to do this job yourself, consider the cost of equipment and equipment upkeep, and materials like pesticides and fertilizers into the equation. If you hire a lawn maintenance company, figure the annual cost, and add that into the budget along with your finance costs.

Pest control costs

Prevention is the key to a solid pest control program at home. Pest prevention is the outcome of good outdoor maintenance practices, good indoor hygiene, and a properly sealed home. Unfortunately, such things are often ignored by homeowners, and prevention is not always possible. The net result is that the average homeowner will need to pay someone to do the work of preventing and controlling pests. This is usually done with an annual contract, so the cost can be determined by calling a few pest control contractors, and getting prices, then adding them to the overall cost of home ownership.

Roofing

Roof replacement costs due to storm damage are normally covered by homeowners insurance, but that does not mean that you will not need to replace the roof from time to time during the life of your home. Such costs should be considered and added.

Painting

Even if your home is brick or stone, there are usually a few places on the homes exterior, and most all of the interior that will need to be patched and painted from time to time.

Heating and air conditioning

Improvements in the safety and longevity of home heating and air conditioning have made our lives more pleasant and safe. These units will last for many years, but they do need to be maintained, filters replaced, and lubricated. They will also need full replacement, or replacement parts installed at some time in the life of your home. This is an area which should be taken into account ahead of time.

Plumbing

All systems eventually fail, and plumbing is no exception. If you live in a house for long enough, you will have plumbing problems. They can range from simple clogs and leaks, to massive catastrophic failure. Even the small problems will cost money to repair, and the longer they go without repair, the larger the problem and expense when the repair is made. For such repairs, money needs to be available immediately to perform them.

Home improvements

Live in a place long enough, and you will want and need some additions and improvements. Setting aside money to make such improvements is a wise idea. Home improvement financing and related costs should be considered when buying a home, particularly if you already have improvements in mind when you make the purchase.

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Safety first! Gas and electricity can kill! Follow all laws, local codes, and manufacturers recommendations throughout the process!

About hot water heaters

Hot water heaters are marvels of the marriage of past technologies, and modern technological controls. A hot water heater is basically a container that heats and holds hot water until it is needed. It is a boiler with incoming supply lines and exiting lines that supply faucets. Controls have improved over time, which make them much safer, and more efficient.

Some hot water heaters use gas as the heat source, and some use electricity. A new trend is evolving which uses solar power. Let me stress that unless you are properly licensed, any energy source repairs should be handled by the appropriate gas or electric contractors. The same may be true of plumbing matters in many cases, depending on your skill level, and local ordinances.

Pressure relief valve or TP (top pop) valve

One item that can be done by most home owners is the pressure relief, or top pop valve.Gather the tools and materials you will need:

Tools and materials

• A replacement valve of the type and size needed for your unit.
• The manufacturer recommended sealant.
• Pipe wrenches or slip joint pliers or other appropriate adjustable wrenches.
• A length of garden hose with a female connector.
• A bucket.

This is the sequence you should follow:

• Turn off the power supply, or gas supply. be sure to do this, and double check.
• Turn off the water supply, and double check this as well.
• If you need to turn of the water supply to the entire home, I suggest that you have a temporary supply of fresh water for drinking and cleaning during the time it takes to do the replacement work. This may seem insignificant, but will become important in the event that other problems crop up while doing the repair.
• If the entire home is turned off, opening a nearby hot water faucet to facilitate drainage is also recommended.
• If you have a valve on or near the hot water heater for turning off the water supply to the boiler, you should shut this.
• Connect a length of hose to the drain spout at the bottom of the boiler.
• Open the pressure relief valve at the top, or on the side of the boiler by lifting the handle to the upright position to relieve the pressure.
• Drain part of the water into a container. Be careful, the water will be hot!
• Allow time for the valve to cool. Remove the TP valves drain line connection.
• Remove the valve itself.
• Clean.
• Replace with a new valve, using whatever sealant is recommended by the manufacturer.
• Replace the drain line. if not already done, open a hot water faucet to release air that may have entered during the process. slowly open the boiler supply valve until it is completely open.
• Look for leaks and deal with them.
• Remove the drain hose and container.
• Restart the power supply, or gas supply, and if gas is used, follow the manufacturers instructions to relight the pilot light, if it is so supplied. Most newer gas water heaters have an automatic igniter run by thermostat. In such cases follow the manufactures recommendations as well.

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Planning home improvement financing

Planning both your home improvement, and your home improvement financing should be the first steps in any remodeling or renovation job for your home. When planning a home improvement you will have many decisions. How to finance home improvements is only one of many. Before embarking on a large home improvement project you should ask yourself this important question: Will your project improve the value of your home when you consider all the costs, including any interest you must pay on the loan?

Home improvement decisions

Decide precisely what your home improvement will be. Measure everything, and determine material costs, and labor costs. The size and expense of the improvement will help to determine how much money you will need.

Small improvements

If you plan to do the job yourself, or it requires only a few hundred dollars to complete, you might want to simply save until you have the money to complete the job, or if push comes to shove, and the job needs to be completed soon, credit cards can be a reasonable option. Just be sure to pay it off within the boundaries of your card agreement to keep from contracting unreasonable debt.

Being your own contractor

If you decide to do the contracting yourself, you will want to spend the majority of your efforts in planning. This is true of any project, home improvement or otherwise. Once again, measure everything including materials needed, and the estimated time for the work, remembering that it will almost always require more time than you expect, and there will be some wasted materials.

Home improvement planning and preparing

Planning home improvements, and planning home improvement financing may be different issues, but they are entwined together. If you carefully plan your home improvement project, and detail all expenses and time frames, you will have a better idea of what you need in the form of financial resources, and be better able to determine the best source for the financing. This will also give you a better presentation for the sake of the loan source.

Home improvement financing planning

Having a battle plan, and a backup plan for finances, is important. Ranking the options from best to worst, and working through the possibilities is a process that works well for most tasks, and in this case, it can make a big difference in your home and financial future. Of course, you want to start with the ones that will cost the least amount of money when all the variables are figured into the equation. A financial option that ends up costing more in the form of interest than the value of the improvement is not a good choice. Consider all the variables before proceeding.

Before you go to your bank or other lender, add at least 10% to the final figure. 20% would probably be a more reasonable figure. It is hard to know what will be found once the sink or tub is removed, and having a little extra cash to meet such unknown costs can save you the trouble of having to make another appeal to the lender.

From: Planning Home Improvement Financing

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What is the number one home improvement project? That depends on who you ask! Some might say kitchen remodeling, others, bath remodeling, others still, such things as adding a patio, or landscape projects for curb appeal.

There is some variation of opinion about the best home improvement project, even among real estate agents and remodeling contractors. While we may not be able to nail down (Get the pun?) the number one home improvement project, we can tell the easiest, and in many ways most economically beneficial project is.

One of the best, and I might add, easiest home improvements is to add a storage building to your back yard. Whether you buy it, or build it yourself, adding storage and workspace can add value well beyond the cost of the project, whether you are selling, or living in your home.

A new storage building

• Adds economic value beyond it’s cost.
• Adds convenience.
• Makes a home more appealing to potential buyers if you are planning to sell.
• Will work for you on your other home improvement projects.
• Will save you the price of renting storage elsewhere.

Having a storage building will provide a place for storing your landscape materials and tools if you are going to upgrade your homes landscape to improve curb appeal. A storage building will provide a place to store materials and tools if you are planning a bathroom or kitchen makeover. So, not only is a storage shed a home improvement in and of itself, it will help you to maintain control of your other home improvement projects! For that reason, it may not be the only home improvement that you make, but it should be number one on the list.

Building your own storage building

If you plan to build your own storage shed, there are plans galore on the internet, and if you posses basic carpentry skills, it should be a project well within your reach. See: Storage Shed Plans for some of the better plans we have seen.

Buying a storage building

If you plan to buy a storage building, there are also many resources online, and we suggest that you read the articles found in our outdoor structures section for specific information on the best types of storage building materials, storage building accessories, storage building financing, placement, and other related topics.

Buying storage buildings online

If you are planning to buy online, you should check the background of any company you are dealing with, and make sure you get copies of all the paperwork and warranties. Two of the most reliable online building providers are Sears, which is an icon in it’s own right, and Betty Mills, a well respected, (they supply many products to the federal and many state governments) but publicly less known company.

Whether buying, or building your utility building, the benefits of having it will quickly outweigh the cost of the project.

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Best Home Improvement Ideas Outdoors

Outdoor Home Improvement

Let’s say that you want to try to sell your home, and that the housing market is not looking good from a sellers standpoint. What are a few things that you can do to really boost your chances of getting a better price for your home that won’t cost you an arm and a leg?

First impressions and curb appeal

It's old hat now, but the old adage is true: "You never get a second chance to make a first impression!" That first look that any potential buyer takes, will taint the rest of his, or her impressions about the home. It makes sense that the first and best home improvement idea that needs to be done to make that first impression a good one, is to get the outside of the home in good order. This is the stuff you need to do before you even consider doing any indoor renovations, especially if you are seeking to sell your home. Keep in mind, that these are things you should do, whether you are selling your home or not.

1. Clean up your property. Get rid of rubble and brush. This will greatly improve your curb appeal, and make your neighbors a lot happier. It will also lower your pest quotient.
2. Trim your trees. Prune your trees to the right shape and size to keep them from interfering with power and communication lines, and from dropping limbs, scrapping, and otherwise damaging your homes roof, and allowing animals to get on top of your home.
3. Clean your gutters. This will improve the homes visual appeal, help prevent rot, and aid in keeping insects at bay.
4. Get rid of the stuff growing through your driveway and walks. If it looks like a scene from the History Channels "Life after man", you can guess that it is really life after maintenance. Avoid further damage and get it done.
5. Mow your lawn, and perform the other tasks needed to bring it up to reasonable standards. This will go a long way toward improving the overall look of the property.
6. When you have done these things, you will notice the need for some place to store all the extra things that have been laying around. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a nice storage building adequate for handling all the stuff that needs to go in it. Get it large enough to handle a few other things as well, trust me, you will need it! have this storage building placed in your yard according to the guidelines found on Storage Building Placement , and your local ordinances.
7. Trim your landscape plants and repair any bed damage. Re mulch the beds, and this time, trim the plants so that they don't touch the house, and keep the mulch a foot or so away as well. Replace any dead or dying plants with appropriate replacement plants, and please don't leave the debris setting around the outside of your property somewhere where a new pile will start.
8. Caulk, seal and weatherstrip anything that needs to be caulked, sealed, or weatherstripped. Touch up where needed.
9. Clean and paint whatever needs to be cleaned and painted. Fresh clean paint leaves a fresh clean look, and is one of the best home improvement ideas for the exterior of your home.

The best home improvement ideas are the ones that give you the best bang for your buck, outdoor home improvements offer inexpensive improvements and a good first impression.

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