You Tube Video Tutorials

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You Tube is a great place to start when looking for video tutorials. There are literally thousands of videos giving you tips on how to do almost anything. By simply visiting the website and searching for the job you are looking to do you should be able to find plenty of information. However, the downside of this website is that there is no quality control so you’ll never know how trust worthy the information you’re getting is. I’d recommend exercising some common sense as it should be fairly obvious which videos offer the best information. Usually, the best ones are shot in high quality and go into a good amount of detail.

DIY Forums

There are plenty of forums online full of useful conversations from people looking for the same information as yourself. Forums are great because not only can you search for the information you need, you can also get involved and ask specific questions. Many of the longstanding forums have active experts who are more than willing to pass on their knowledge. Try getting involved in a few different forums and see what you can come up with. If you’ve never done this before, you’ll probably be surprised at how helpful some people are willing to be.

DIY Blogs

As with forums, the internet is home to many DIY blogs. To find the best ones start by searching Google for ‘DIY Blog’

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or ‘Plumbing Blog’ or anything else depending on your requirements. Many blogs are written by enthusiasts who want to share their knowledge, and most bloggers are usually more than happy to answer specific questions. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try leaving a question in the comment section and see if you get a response.

DIY Websites

If you can’t find what you need from any of the above suggestions, you might want to try finding specific DIY websites. There are some really good websites out there that publish a vast amount of articles and tutorials on every aspect of home improvement. Quite often, these websites will also have a blog and a forum so could serve you well as a ‘hub’ of information.

It goes without saying that all the advice you receive online should be treated with a certain degree of caution. If there’s anything that could compromise your safety (such as electrical work) then it’s probably far more sensible to call an expert.

This guest post was written by Who Is Hosting This, an online resource for hosting reviews including DreamHost, HostGator and Go Daddy reviews.

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Fleas can cause mental and physical anguish to you and your loved ones. Practicing proper flea control methods is important to eliminating these pests and preventing them from returning.

Fleas are very tough insects and are unyielding when choosing a host to overrun. Heavily populated states have been the latest casualty of many flea infestations. These small pests can go overlooked for an extended period of time. Prominent on pets, they prowl deep within fur and munch on them until it’s unbearable. As your pet moves from couch, to bed, to floor—and even onto you—fleas jump to the same places as well. Follow the easy Flea Control guide to shield your family and pets.

Start With a Bath

A great place to start is bathing your pet. Drowning fleas is a simple method and it can be one of the most effective to promptly eliminate them off from your pet. Choose an appropriate flea control shampoo, and use a small-toothed comb to go through each section of his or her hair to remove any fleas you can find. It’s vital to note, however, that eggs must be detached as well. Get to the pet’s skin and comb up to remove all eggs and fleas. Your local pet groomer can help as well.

Keep Fleas Out of Your Home

As your pet moves about your home, he or she drops eggs and adult fleas. They can be lurking in crevices and carpeting. It is important that you completely dust and vacuum your home. Use a flea control product like a powder or spray on any spots where your pet has been present. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to use the product properly. For effective flea control, keep your bathed pet away from the tainted areas to prevent recontamination. Fleas are master jumpers and get to almost any destination they so desire, so lookout!

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Effective Flea Control in your Yard

Pets can pick up fleas from being outdoors, or they can drop eggs and adults into the yard. Therefore, it is best to use flea control outdoors, as well. There is a broad assortment of products that work well. In particular, look for bug or insecticides that specifically indicate they target fleas. Follow the manufacturer’s directions for using the product. Don’t forget to spray flowerbeds to kill fleas totally.

Follow these fundamental guidelines and your battle against fleas will be a breeze. If you use these control methods and still have trouble with fleas, a professional exterminator may be the best answer. They can provide a systematic cleaning of your home making your life easier. Make sure to check the customer feedback of your local exterminators to ensure the best pest termination possible. The fight for a flea-free world begins with you.

For more information on this topic or other pest management topics, please visit our Pest Control Site.

Top 5 Carpet Care Tips

Carpeting your home is an expensive investment. So, you want to get the most for your money, right? The number one thing you can do to make your carpets last year after year is to keep them clean!

Cleaning your carpets is a simple and affordable way to eliminate hidden dust and allergens. Regular carpet cleaning by a professional carpet cleaning service also keeps your carpets looking their best and extends their useful life, so you won’t have to spend a ton of money to replace your carpets any sooner than necessary.

Our top 5 carpet care tips are:

1. Vacuum your carpets weekly – More frequently is great, but if you let your carpets go un-vacuumed longer than a week, all the dust, grime, food crumbs and other dirt get grinded into your carpet. This also allows bacteria, mold and other yucky stuff to start growing in your carpet!
2. Maintain your home’s air circulation system – Believe or not but the air that circulates through your home is critical to keeping ALL surfaces in your home clean, including carpets. And since carpets keep and hold dust, they are more susceptible to the dust filtering through your home than other, hard surfaces.
3. Take your shoes off – Whenever you are inside, take off your shoes. Dirt, germs and other bad stuff you pick up outside your home are directly transferred to your carpets if you wear your street shoes inside the house!
4. Use care when cleaning spilled liquids – Spills are inevitable …. Kids, pets, clumsy husbands (and his sloppy friends), etc. …. You will have liquids spilled on your carpets. The thing to remember is DON’T OVERUSE DETERGERENTS. The best way to clean up spots caused by spills is to clean them immediately with warm water and a gentle dishwashing soap. First, just blot the affected area. Don’t use too much soap; just wet a clean rag in a solution of warm water and blot the affected area.
5. Have your carpets cleaned by a professional at least once a year – “The main reason to have your carpets cleaned annually is for your health and well being,” says Gady Bootz of Carpet Cleaning Portland. “Dust mites, spores, bacteria, mold; almost all visual spots on your carpets, and many you can’t even see, contain unhealthy residue that can represent health problems.”

Tips for hiring a professional carpet cleaning service:

• Before you hire a carpet cleaning service, check the status of the company online. Get a written contract with the total price and guarantee the cleaning company offers.
• Reputable carpet cleaners will agree to come back to your home if stains reappear again after they leave!
• Take a few steps to prepare your home for the carpet cleaners to help reduce cleaning time and return your carpets to normal use sooner. Move furniture out of the way, remove small items and breakables from tables and floors and empty carpeted areas as much as possible.
• Vacuum all carpeted areas thoroughly before your carpet cleaner arrives.
• Note areas that require special attention. Point out any problem areas, spills, spots or pet stains.
• Be open about issues with your carpets; don’t try to hide stains or problems you know about in order to try and save money. Says Bootz of Clean Carpets USA of Portland, Oregon; “in the long run, being open and honest with your carpet cleaner will help ensure you get the best value.”

I haven’t had much time lately but it’s just as well because I am still awaiting the arrival of my bathtub. I’ve tried to think of what I can do during this time and one thing I thought of is the bathroom fan. Because I am adding a bathroom in the basement, and the bathroom has no windows, a fan is required. This fan must vent to the outside, which means going through an exterior wall. I will run the duct between the joists and the wall seven feet away from the fan.

I first figured out exactly where to put the fan and installed the fan housing.

With the fan housing installed, I followed the vent to where it meets the outer wall.

Next I drilled a pilot hole through the exterior wall to mark the location outside. The first image shows where I drilled between the joists (the red thing is the back of the drill). The second picture shows the drill bit sticking out on the outside of the house. To avoid ripping the vinyl siding, I did the remaining work from the outside.

With the pilot hole marked, I traced the hole using a pencil attached to a string.

I cut away the siding using a pair of tin snips and then drilled a series of holes around the circle.

To connect the holes to each other, I used a 3/4 inch wood chisel.

This next image shows the hole. I had to be careful with wires on theninside of the house. Here you can see one of these wires through the hole (In the pilot hole picture above, you can see that I tied the wires back using a cable tie to help me avoid drilling into them).

I screwed in the vent cover and sprayed the foam insulation to protect the hole from the elements.

And now the vent is finished – only took me an hour and a half (it would have taken less time but I had to break up a couple of arguments the boys were having). Doesn’t it look nice.

Day 16

I guess it’s high time to let somebody else do some work for once. That’s right, I went ahead and hired a plumber to do the rough plumbing. I was going to do it myself but the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to do it. So we got a few bids and went with the guy that was second cheapest.

He was able to rough in all three pieces in half a day – I figured he should be able to. It probably would have taken me a week to do it and I think this ended up being well worth it. If I were made of money, I’d hire out the entire project

Enough chatter. Here’s a picture of the tub as installed (it’s actually two pictures put together so it looks somewhat funny). The “rough plumbing” of the tub includes installing the drain and water lines but not the shower head.

This next image shows the roughed-in toilet supply line.

And finally, here is the rough-in for the sink. Note that the drain pipe has been stubbed out and a plastic bag is inserted into the end. This is to keep sewer gases from coming into the basement (there’s no p-trap yet!).

Ah, it’s so nice to tell someone else what to do and then have them do it. Oh well, I guess it’s back to work tomorrow.

Day 17

Now that the rough plumbing has been completed, I can finish the rest of the basement (not today of course). Tonight I was able to frame up the final two bathroom walls. I was so excited to get this done that I almost forgot to put the doorway into the wall. Fortunately I realized this after marking the top/bottom plates but before nailing anything!

Here are a couple of pictures to show this all framed up. Once again, these are composite images so they look a little funny but it gives a better idea of how this looks (the camera can only zoom out so far).

I also put in the duct for the bathroom fan. This is a picture showing the duct attached to both the fan and the vent that I installed last Saturday.

I guess the last thing to mention is the door header. Because this is not a bearing wall, the header can be made from 2×4 studs. I cut two of them and they stand on the narrow edge, sandwiching a 1/4 inch piece of particle board. This makes the header the same size as the wide end of the 2×4 on which it rests. In this image, I have tried to highlight the different header components so you can see them more easily.

That’s all for tonight. I probably won’t get to do anything tomorrow – it’s temple night. I hope to get some time on Saturday (no BYU game this week), then I won’t be able to do anything for a week (until October 5). But things are progressing.

Day 17

Now that the rough plumbing has been completed, I can finish the rest of the basement (not today of course). Tonight I was able to frame up the final two bathroom walls. I was so excited to get this done that I almost forgot to put the doorway into the wall. Fortunately I realized this after marking the top/bottom plates but before nailing anything!

Here are a couple of pictures to show this all framed up. Once again, these are composite images so they look a little funny but it gives a better idea of how this looks (the camera can only zoom out so far).

I also put in the duct for the bathroom fan. This is a picture showing the duct attached to both the fan and the vent that I installed last Saturday.

I guess the last thing to mention is the door header. Because this is not a bearing wall, the header can be made from 2×4 studs. I cut two of them and they stand on the narrow edge, sandwiching a 1/4 inch piece of particle board. This makes the header the same size as the wide end of the 2×4 on which it rests. In this image, I have tried to highlight the different header components so you can see them more easily.

That’s all for tonight. I probably won’t get to do anything tomorrow – it’s temple night. I hope to get some time on Saturday (no BYU game this week), then I won’t be able to do anything for a week (until October 5). But things are progressing.

Day 18

Today, I finished the wall dividing the office from the hallway. This wall also has a closet on it. The basement is really starting to take shape now. I have once again put together a bunch of pictures to show how this looks. Hopefully it’s not terribly difficult to make out.

As I said in the previous day, I will not be able to do any work on the basement this next week so my next day will be Saturday, one week from today. I will get on some of the electrical stuff at that time.

Day 19

As promised, I’m here to do electrical work. Actually, I already did little bits and pieces in that week that I was waiting for the bathtub to be delivered so I guess I cheated a little bit on my log. After spending most of the day today on the electrical work, I have about 70% of it done.

I wanted to use can lights, or recessed lighting, because they don’t stick out from the finished ceiling. I put 8 lights in the family room and 4 lights in the office.

The first thing to do for installing these lights is figure out exactly where to place them. The cans that hold the lights are relatively large and will stick up between the joists about 8 inches. Because ductwork, water and gas lines, and electric lines for the rest of the house run between and under the joists, I am somewhat limited in where I can place these lights. Fortunately, I was able to figure out a spacing that should work pretty well. I first hung the lights without fixing them into the studs to be sure my placement looks ok. (Actually, I first started by nailing one in, but then had to move it several times and so I got smart and just hung them until I was sure of the exact placement.)

These cans slide back and forth on an expanding track. The way I “hung” these lights was to lengthen the track so that it would just sit on top of the lower 2×3 flange (the bottom of the I joist). With the placement figured out, I set them in place. These come with a piece of sheet metal cut so that it can be quickly nailed in. The next figure highlights this so you can see what I’m talking about.

I added a screw to assure that the track would not fall out.

With the track in place, I slid the can along the track to the exact location where I wanted it. It must be at least an inch away from the joist. When the can’s location is correct, I tightened the “set screw” so that it would not be able to move.

I’m now ready for wiring. Adjacent to the can is a wiring box. This is where the leads for the light will be connected to the leads from the junction box. Because I have multiple lights together on a single switch, I will have an incoming wire (from the light switch) and an outgoing wire (to the next light). It’s a simple matter of connecting black-to-black, white-to-white, and ground-to-ground. This image shows the wires all connected using wire nuts. There are three wires per connection: incoming, outgoing, and the lead to the light.

The wires are all tucked into the box and the cover is replaced. You should only see the incoming and outgoing wires if all is done properly.

The wiring inside the boxes where your light switches will be can become a little complicated, especially when there will be multiple light switches in a single box. If you’re wanting to do this type of project, I suggest that you get a book on wiring before you start. The book “Wiring 1-2-3″ from Home Depot is an excellent resource in my opinion.

Here is my most complicated wire box. It is a 3-gang box, meaning there are three switches in it. Two switches are single-switch units, meaning that only the one switch will connect to the lights. This is different from the third, which is called a three-way switch. With a three-way switch, there are two different switches that can control the lights. This is typical of a hallway or staircase, where one switch at each end of the hallway/staircase controls the light in the middle. (Incidentally, did you know that if you put one switch in the middle so it is not up or down, then the other switch will not be able to turn the light on? Give it a try!) Ok, here’s a picture of this 3-gang box.

A single incoming power source is split using a “pigtail” so that each light switch will have its own power source. These incoming leads are shown across the bottom of the picture.

The single-switch units have only one outgoing hot wire, shown at the top right in the picture. The three-way switch has two outgoing wires called “travelers”. These will only connect to the other light switch, and they are shown at the top left in the picture. The neutral wires are already connected and pushed into the back of the box but you can probably see the ground wires sticking out of the box.

The last thing I want to mention is nail plates. Whenever electrical

lines are within 1.5 inches of the edge of a stud, you need a nail plate in front of it. This protects the wires from drywall screws. If you someday are trying to screw into a stud and the screw seems to hit a hard metal surface, you have probably hit a nail plate. DO NOT drill a hole into the stud through the nail plate to allow the screw to penetrate the surface – you may get zapped or start a fire! (These are also placed in front of water lines – think of what would happen if you drilled a hole into one of them.) Anyway, here’s a picture of some nail plates.

If you drill right through the center of the studs, the inspector will often require you to nail plate both sides of the studs. When I drilled my holes, I just offset them to one side of the studs so I only had to nail plate one side. (Of course, if you anticipate long screws being used such as to hold shelving, it might be a good idea to go ahead and nail plate both sides anyway.)

Day 20

Tonight, I framed up my last couple of wall sections. One was the last main ceiling section covering the duct work, and the other was a small section to define the rest of the utility room.
Before I could add these walls, I had to move the main circuit breaker box. I only had to move it three inches to the right, so I didn’t take any pictures of it. I guess I could have. Oh well.

Here is a picture of the “ceiling box” that I built to put around the ductwork.

I got a neighbor to come over and help me lift it in place while I screwed it into the joists. Here’s a picture of it installed.

Here’s a picture of the small wall section along the utility closet. This will have a double-door in the open space to gain access to the closet. At the right of the picture, you can see the circuit breaker panel. The reason I had to move it to the right (as described above) is because the door would have barely covered it. Moving it over 3 inches fixed this potential problem.

The last thing I did tonight was continue to build the box to drop the ceiling around my water & gas lines. I did this through the hallway tonight. Here are a couple of pictures showing these 2x2s.

Day 21

Because I finished framing yesterday, I could now continue with the the electrical work. I spent a good part of the evening working in the dark with a flashlight.

The basement has a set of five (temporary) lights that will eventually go away. You can see one of these in the first picture on the day 19 page. The switch for these lights was located at the bottom of the stairs. I needed to use that location for a couple of my can lights (as shown in the plan), so I had to move the switch. I turned off the circuit breaker for the basement lights so I had to work in the dark.

Since I was working with these lights, I thought I’d go ahead and do something else. I moved one of the existing lights from just outside the utility room to just inside it. Since the utility room is not a “livible area”, my final plan uses the light in there. I moved the light switch to where it needed to be in the utility room. Right now, all the basement lights are attached to this switch. When I get ready to put drywall in the ceiling, I will just need to detach the chain of lights from this one light, leaving only the utility room light on the switch inside the utility room. Does that make sense?

Here is a picture of the electric work on the utility room walls. On the picture, Outlet 1 is facing inside the utility room – to be used mainly by the water softener. Outlets 2 and 3 are facing into the family room. The light switch is on the other side of the stud (you can see wires coming out of it). This is now the light switch for all the basement lights.

Your old, outdated piece of furniture is off to the trash or the local thrift store, and you never give it another thought. As our world turns into a ‘greener’ place, it is becoming more common to try to restore your older furniture and give it new life with new fabric. Start your recycling with your favorite stuffed chair or ottoman.

Assess your piece of furniture. Does it have a cushion that is separate or is it all once piece? Begin by turning the chair over so you can see underneath, and remove the fabric cover that hides the staples or stitching.

Begin by pulling out the bottom stitching until you have started to remove the existing fabric. Pull each piece of fabric off intact, and draw a detailed outline of how each piece went onto the chair. Keep any foam intact, as you will need it when you start to recover your piece.

Reupholstering your own furniture is not as hard as you might think. Photo by ofpaperandthread

Once you have each piece of fabric removed, you can measure and determine how much new fabric you will need for your ottoman. With detailed measurements, you can go into your local fabric store and purchase the right amount of material.

Be sure to purchase extra, in case you make a mistake while recovering. There are many different wonderful fabrics that are useful for upholstery. Try to stay away from thin materials, as they will not hold up as well during daily furniture use.

For the purpose of reupholstering a piece of furniture, you must have a staple gun, access to a sewing machine, and some fabric glue. Using the old fabric as your pattern, cut each new piece from your material.

Begin to staple each new piece in its proper place, stretching it as you do. Once you are satisfied with how your new material is placed, continue stapling and ensure it is placed securely on the piece of furniture.

Try your new skills out on an ottoman to start, working your way up to a chair when you feel more confident. As you learn to take apart a piece of furniture, you will find that most pieces are put together the same way.

The benefits of reusing your own furniture are vast. Not only can you create an entire new room simply by redoing your chair or sofa, you will save yourself the money that you would have spent on a new piece.

Coordinate your new stool and chair with a large area rug, some nice new throw pillows, and a couch blanket. For example, if you have redone your chair in a jacquard blue pattern, choose a nice contemporary beige area rug and accent your room in beiges and blues.

When choosing your own fabric for your furniture, the sky is the limit as to what you can do with your decor.

Many of the most unique and lovely fabrics can be quite costly, some as much as 25 to 50 dollars per yard, which makes it difficult to keep your costs low and still decorate with that fabric!

It is however possible to use the fabric that you’re in love with to decorate if you use it wisely and use each scrap that you purchase to make something contrasting or small which will be a focal point in the room.

The fabric that you purchase is usually only enhanced by the mixture with another fabric, particularly one which not only has a different color, but also a different texture, which gives visual and tactile interest to the piece you make with them.

Make the most of your expensive fabric by following these helpful tips. Photo by passitonplates.

Pillows – Use the expensive fabric to make an oval or square throw pillow, and back it with another less costly fabric.

Table Runners – Using a piece of contrasting fabric, place the right sides together and stitch it, making a runner that is not only reversible, but also double thickness. Flat projects are easily accomplished and work up quickly.

Fabric Quilts – Another way to stretch a more costly fabric is to make it into squares and use the squares in contrast with others to build pillows, quilts or table runners that feature the fabric you love so much in smaller quantities, which are enhanced by the use of a contrasting fabric or two. If the fabric that you like is something you really want to showcase, an idea that you might try is to use the more costly fabric for either an edging on your draperies, or as a header piece, which is to say that the rods will run through strips of this fabric, while the lower aspect of the drapes for curtains wil be of a contrasting, less expensive fabric.

The same method might be used to utilize the fabric in a bathroom, or for a bedroom, try edging on a comforter, or as strips on the edges of pillow covering, with matching smaller toss pillows for the beds.

Do you know other ways to make the most of expensive fabric? Let others know how to stretch their budget creatively by leaving us your comments.

Evidence suggests the Chinese used some of the first formulated herbal blends, especially for spiritual and emotional effects like peace. There’s no question that by the time Egypt came into power that various aromatics were already valued by religious people and traders alike, and each had a specific quality attributed to them.

Consider the story of Cleopatra who decorated her floor with fresh rose petals and had bowls of rose water in hopes the aroma would further inspire love in Marc Anthony. And even Hippocrates later wrote about aromatic fumigations as having various benefits.

Aroma therapy is a natural way to relax mind and body. Photo by ernestf2002.

Jump from there to the 19th century when the art of perfumery blossomed to great global status. Perhaps that’s why we find the French chemist Rene Gattefosse in 1928 talking about various fragrant oils and their uses in essential form. His book, written in 1937, is considered a classic in this field. For the home crafter there are two ways to approach aromatherapy.

The first is from the books and recipes pre-contrived on the subject that provide foundational insight into the psychology of aromas. However, it should be noted that scent is also a highly subjective and personal thing.

The second approach (and one that’s more fun if you like to tinker) is creating your own blends to which you personally respond most strongly. In either case, the basic safe proportion of essential oil to any base media is two drops of oil to one tsp. of base. If you‚re using this for massage, sweet almond oil is a great choice.

For relaxation, the traditional method recommends lavender, sage, bergamot, jasmine, and rose. On the other hand, for improved outlook and energy try geranium, rosewood, neroli, and bergamot. As an aside, both these two blends seem nearly universally recommended for stress.

If you know of other aroma therapy ideas please leave your comments for others to see!

Making your own winter fleece blanket will be a fun crafts project.

This reversible fleece blanket and matching pillow is perfect for winter projects, perfect for a Christmas gift and perfect for your own use. It makes a super addition to your living room and being reversible when completed, made as it is of two layers of fleece, is quick to make, and very warm, as well as a great project for those who want to make something hand made for gift giving, but aren’t handy with a sewing machine.

To make your fleece throw blanket, you will need:

• Two pieces of fleece in contrasting or coordinating colors, of the size you’d like for your throw another half yard to cover the pillow
• An old throw pillow to recover, or a pillow form.
• Scissors (quite sharp ones are needed to get a clean cut. I use Fiskars always) or: A mat and rotary cutter.

Use whatever fleece pattern you want your warm and cozy fleece blanket to have.

Instructions to make your fleece blanket:

1. Lay the two pieces of fleece face out, measure in about 6 inches and pin it all the way around. This will hold the fabric together as you work on it.
2. Now, cut a square into the corner, about 4 inches square. This will make the corners match up.
3. All the way around the blanket, cut a fringe, every one inch, and make them four inches long. When you are finished with your fringes, beginning at one corner, tie the fringes together, top to bottom layer.
4. I generally tie a few on each side together first and then complete it. The fringes will lay more neatly if you tie the top cross one way and the bottom crossed over the other direction.
5. Work your way all around the blanket til you get to the ends. In the same fashion you will make the pillow, tying the top layer to the bottom, inserting the pillow before you start to tie the fourth side.

When these tasks are completed the blankets are perfect and they will be the warmest things you have ever covered with.

You can have a lot of fun growing indoor plants such as this Aloe Vera plant.

The question becomes, however, how to bring the right plants into the living space to achieve the best balance of beauty, functionality and personal pleasure?

One of the biggest keys to success is using the right and style and sized pot. You need a drainage whole, but you also need a water tray so that surfaces don’t get damaged by excess liquid. Read over the instructional material that comes with any plant you’ve purchased and follow the transplanting guidelines to make sure your pant doesn’t become root bound.

Additionally, use a nice potting mix for soil since you won’t be getting natural nutrients from outside.

Now consider where to put the plant to keep it healthy. Check the light requirements for the plant. Many indoor plants don’t need direct sunlight, or only partially direct sunlight. Note that you can achieve this in part by moving a plant for several hours during the week to another location where better lighting exists if you’re really invested in a spot where the right amount of light is lacking.

The reason most houseplants die is because they receive too much water. To know for certain if your plant needs water, check the soil with your finger. If the soil’s dry down over about 1.5 inches, then it needs water unless it’s something like a cactus. Another reason they die is from intrusion by pets.

This latter situation could be as dangerous for the animal too. Certain plants can make dogs and cats very ill. For example, cactus, English Ivy, laurel, marigolds, and poinsettia are all very hard on cats.

Meanwhile, Hydrangea, Mistletoe, Sago Palm, etc. are very harmful to dogs. Now, obviously one solution here is to keep plants out of range of the animals (like in hanging fixtures), but if that’s not an option please do your research. Your indoor garden needs to be healthy for all the members of your family, including four-footed ones.

Despite the numerous variations of houseplants available, most can be cared for in the same way. By following the tips below you will be able to succeed in keeping a plant alive!

Tip 1 – Start Off Simple And Work Your Way Up!

If this is the first houseplant you will be growing it’s a good idea to choose a simple plant such as the Aloe Vera plant as they do not need as much caring for. If you are often away from home for periods of time then the pony tail palm plant, or a plant with similar characteristics, is ideal for you. Finally, if this is your first time for owning a houseplant then it is best to buy a cheaper plant (so if it dies you’re not too much out of pocket.)

Tip 2 – Treat Your Plant As If It Were A Human: We All Need Room To Grow!

Just like humans, plants need room to grow. Their roots need enough space to expand to great lengths as these are the key features of a plant because they collect the nutrients it needs to develop. Ensure that the container or pot you are using is large enough for the roots to grow as much as they need to. By doing so it gives the roots enough room to expand and therefore, allowing them to absorb all of the nutrients and water they need from the soil/compost.

If you are unsure about what size container you need then there are many Web sites that can help, or you can ask at your local garden centre and they will point you in the right direction.

Tip 3 – Substitute with a Fertilizer!

The ideal substitution for all of the nutrients a plant would gain from outdoor soil is fertilizer. Also known as plant food, there are several different types of fertilizer that are designed for certain plants; for example, liquid fertilizers, slow-release fertilizer and special purpose fertilizers.

It is vital that you use the appropriate fertilizer for your houseplant, if you are unsure of which fertilizer to use then various websites can help or your local garden centre can assist you in making the correct choice. However, don’t overdo the use of the fertilizer as this can poison your plant or possibly poison it.

Most houseplants need food once every month or two. Again, if you are unsure of how often to feed your plant you can use the web or garden centers to help.

Tip 4 – A Little Light Goes A Long Way!

Most common houseplants need sunlight. This is especially necessary for flowering plants. The chloroplasts (located in the leaves) absorb the sunlight and this promote healthy growth. Giving your plant sunlight is simply a case of seating it on a windowsill where it can gain the light it needs.

Plants such as the Pony Tail Palm and the Anthodium (Oilcloth Flower) need a lot of sunlight whereas, plants such as the Sweetheart plant, a foliage plant, needs very little. If unsure of what type of sunlight your plant needs then be sure to look it up.

Tip 5 – If you’re Cold, So Is Your Plant!

Unlike humans, plants cannot tell you when they are cold nor can they get up and put on a jacket, so it is vital that you keep the room at a steady temperature. If you feel too hot or too cold, then so does your plant.

Some plants need really warm temperatures, such as the Aloe Vera plant that should stay at approximately 16 degrees Celsius. The advantage of keeping your plant at the correct temperature is that it enhances faster growth.

Tip 6 – Don’t Drown It!

The main cause for a houseplants death is over watering. There is such a thing as over-watering! Although you don’t want to under-water your plant, you don’t want to over-water it as this may drown and, potentially, even kill it. More often than not, plants do not need watering everyday! The best way to discover if your plant needs watering is by pushing your finger approximately an inch into the soil. If it feels slightly dry then a little watering is needed.

To make sure you don’t drown your plants slowly pour in the water until the water begins to seep through the holes in the bottom of the container you are using.

Don’t think that leaving excess water in the base of the plant will mean it won’t need watering for a while because plants are greedy and will use all of this water up at once, therefore, drowning itself. There should not be too much water sitting at the base of the plant because it will drown the roots!

By following these guidelines you should be able to succeed in growing a healthy houseplant. If after following these guidelines you’re plant still dies then throw in the towel and buy a plastic one!!!

Need a place to sit in your garden? Find the perfect bench like this modern finished-metal bench.

A bench for your garden need not be new to be deserving of a place in your garden.

One which is well weathered and has aged gracefully over many years will add as much charm to your outdoor space as a new one, many times far more.

Give your garden some style and flair by positioning a bench under an archway, or a trellis overgrown with flowers, of place it beneath its own private arbor, scented with flowers growing overhead.

Outdoor Bench Styles

You can build a bench yourself from concrete blocks or larger rocks, or use expensive materials such as cedar or oak. While this will be more costly it will also be extremely durable and long lasting.

You can anchor your bench and create a nice focal point by placing it against a wall or under a trellis.

You might choose to build it with an enclosed storage area beneath the seat that will double as storage space for garden tools and smaller pots, potting soil or seeds.

The rustic variety is also making a huge comeback. This can be accomplished easily by using half a fallen log, or some second hand stone slabs from building demolishing.

Place a bench under a favorite tree, a super area to spend the afternoon on a lazy Sunday reading a book or sewing, and a quiet niche if you just feel like thinking.

If you choose to purchase a bench, go for quality. In this type furniture the old adage that you get what you pay for is very true. If you can find it, opt in for solid joinery, solid wood or metal and brass or silicon fasteners.

Add a splash of color to your garden with a painted finish for your bench.

Garden Bench Colors

If you want to use a wooden bench, and choose to color it, use a high quality stain and sealant as opposed to paint, which will usually blister and peel when exposed to the elements for long periods of time.

A penetrating stain will not show these kinds of wear in the same short time span that paint will.

Even Footing for Your Bench

When you place the bench, make certain it has a secure footing. Place the legs directly on top of four flat stones or bricks which are firmly sitting on the ground.

a natural wood bench adds peace and tranquility; a place to spend some quiet time relaxing in your garden.

This will help to keep the bench level and also prevent rotting of the legs if they are made of wood. The area directly in front of the bench will likely be heavily traveled if the bench receives a lot of sitters in the summer time.

With this in mind, place stone or concrete directly in front of it as well, to prevent what might become a soupy watery spot in the yard during rainy times.

Don’t forget, no matter what you bench is made of, to purchase or make a simple cover for wintertime, out of canvas or simply a tarp and some bungee cords to hold it tight. This will help to greatly increase the longevity of your bench.

You can dress up any room with this simple decorating idea; use stencils to create a unique wall border.

Used primarily to define a wall pattern, or simply as a decorative element, a border was important to early walls because it was usually all the decoration that existed unless the home had been stenciled or was of a wealthy family who could afford the new wall papering that became popular in England and the US in the 1700′s.

Stenciling was largely accomplished using metal or paper stencils and then embellished freehand later. You can accomplish the same look with a few basic materials and some time.

Follow our simple step-by-step instructions to create your own creative, unique painted wall borders using stencils.

Wall Border Stenciling Materials List

• Flat Latex or alkyd paint to prime the wall or area to be stenciled
• Border stencils of your choice
• Japan Paints or Ceramcoat Stencil Paints
• Natural bristle Stencil brushes
• Masking tape, paper towels and a palette knife

Wall Border Stenciling Steps

1. Prepare the walls by using a match for you own paint in a flat paint.
2. Using semi-gloss beneath the stencils will not permit them to adhere well, place your paints in the saucers and using the palette knife make them the colors that you want, or else have them premixed to your specifications. Prepare enough paint for the entire border that you will be painting at one sitting.
3. Determine the placement of your border and make light pencil marks on the wall where the top and right edge will be placed and the bottom and left edge.
4. For a continuous border, start at the dominant corner of the room; the one that your eyes note immediately when you enter.
5. Tape your stencil to the wall, and dab the stencil brush in the paint. Blot it until nearly dry loaded onto a paper towel and using a light dabbing motion apply the paint to the stencil and wall.
6. Move the stencil along using the registration marks you made with the pencil. After you have done about two thirds of the wall take your stencil and measure the remainder of the wall.
7. If there is not room enough for the stencil to run to its end, you will need to either stretch it, or squeeze it unobtrusively together which can be done one of the following ways.
8. Either take the stencil and when you have run to the end of it, move it about a two inches, until the pattern repeats one or two more turns and then stencil those prior to beginning at the beginning of the stencil, or if it needs to be shortened when you are stenciling, skip one pattern repeat, and end just beyond the middle of the stencil then begin a repeat.
9. When one wall has been completed, go back to the point where you started and begin the second wall from that same corner, using the registration marks that you made for the first wall to align to the second wall and move across.
10. Then move to the opposite corner of the room, and begin with the second set of two walls.
11. When you have completed your design, clean all brushes with mineral spirits.

Today, I spent part of the day with more of the same – framing the outside walls. I didn’t work on the basement on Thursday because of the BYU football game, and yesterday I just took a break from doing anything. As today is Saturday, my wife teaches in the morning at UVSC so I didn’t end up starting until after 2:00 p.m. I was able to finish framing the outside walls for the office. The next room that I need to frame up is the storage area – I have to do those walls before I can start on the rest of the inside walls.

As you may remember, the first day, I had moved all our stuff into the storage area to protect it from concrete dust. This means that in order to put up the framing, I had to move everything out again. It took me a while but I finally got things moved. I then had to figure out exactly where to put the walls. There are pipes and ductwork that stick down from the ceiling in this area so I needed be careful where I put the walls. After figuring all that out and getting the area prepared, I only had time to install two wall sections: one across the back and a 12-foot section along the side. I won’t even take time to show a picture of them – I hope to have the rest of this area finished on Monday (it will be Labor Day so I can work on this all day). I’ll show a picture of the finished product at that time.

Day 9

I spent the morning and afternoon framing the rest of the storage area. I am definitely getting faster at this framing stuff – just in time to be finishing up. Like the old saying "knowledge is something you don’t get until after you need it." There were a few tricky things that I had to consider in this storage area.

The main complication is because the joists run perpendicular to this long, narrow area. This forces entities like water/drainage lines and ductwork to hang underneath the joists. Obviously those could not be run through the joists without compromising stability. However, it presents a challenge because I must frame around them. Not only do I have to carefully measure these special areas but it takes much longer to frame them.

Here’s are pictures of the framing around the ductwork, one from each end.

Another obstacle was the drainage pipe that comes from the washing machine and powder room up on the main level. This is a rather large pipe and it comes down into the middle of the storage area before going back, closer to the exterior wall. I decided to just frame around this bend. When I go to put the drywall up, I’ll just let this small section of pipe protrude below the ceiling (heck, it’s just a storage area). I’ll already lose enough ceiling due to the ductwork and I don’t want to lose more. This picture shows how the drainage pipe drops below, then snakes behind my newly built wall.

Because this drainage pipe runs perpendicular to (and underneath) the joists, I had to pull the wall away from the exterior concrete wall – otherwise I would not be able to anchor this wall section to the joists. I didn’t want to build the whole interior wall that far away from the exterior concrete wall. Perhaps this was a mistake, but this area is already narrow and a few inches does make a difference. So I just offset this wall section from the adjacent wall sections. These pictures show how this wall section is offset from the other sections.

As the old saying goes, "when it rains, it pours". This wall section in front of the drainage pipe ended up being the most troublesome of all the sections I’ve done so far. After I had built this wall section and put it up in front of the drainage pipe, I found one more problem. One of the studs ran right in front of the drainage pipe at the location where it turned down into the basement floor. Of course, this pipe has a "cleanout" that must not be blocked. Therefore, I had to cut the stud and then fasten the two pieces together using another scrap piece (I have plenty of scrap! I’ve been through 136 studs but most scrap pieces are 4 inches long or less). Fortunately, I had bought a "King Saw", which is extremely flexible but strong. I had that section removed in a matter of seconds.

I have now finished framing the storage area of the basement. I’ll probably have to put stuff back in here so that I can continue working on other parts of it. Let me tell you how fun it is to keep moving my storage around the basement! To make things complete, here are pictures of the finished storage area, at least as far as framing is concerned.

Day 10

I didn’t work on the basement yesterday and today is also not really a construction day. I left work a little late and I had to pick up a load of wood because I only had three studs left. Here’s a picture of what our van looks like when all the seats are out and it’s all loaded up.

I was a little annoyed by something at Home Depot – probably mostly because I was tired. So I wrote them a letter. The rest of this shows the letter I wrote (I took the dollar amounts out of this posted copy).

The Home Depot Store 4407
Attention: Str. Mgr. John Davison
535 S. Lindon Park Dr.
Lindon, UT 84042

 

To Mr. John Davison: I am what I would call a relatively high spending Home Depot customer. In the past 1.5 years since I purchased my first home, I have taken on a variety of projects, spending a lot of money at your store in Lindon, UT. Soon after my home purchase, I bought blinds, curtains, and utility shelving from Home Depot, costing around $XX. I have put in my own sprinkler system, for which I spent close to $XX on parts. I spent over $XX on materials to build a swingset for my children.

My current project is to finish my basement. I have already spent over $XX at Home Depot for materials to do this, including tonight's purchase of just over $XX. This brings me to the purpose of this letter. Tonight, I was extra tired and requested from the cashier that somebody help me load my materials into my van. The cashier responded politely and then seemed to talk with somebody. I was told to pull up outside the store and somebody would be with me shortly.

After waiting outside for a few minutes with nobody showing up, I decided to start loading the materials myself. I didn't want to return into the store, leaving my purchase out in the parking lot. I pulled up my van and started loading it. After about 15 minutes, I finally finished loading. It took me a long time because, as I already stated, I was very tired tonight and I had a lot to load (which is why I requested the assistance).

Now, you may be asking yourself why I am telling you this. Or you may already have guessed that I was somewhat perturbed with the lack of consideration; for to me as a customer, it seemed like I had been ignored as soon as I left the store. This is not what I would expect from a location that tries to pride itself on customer satisfaction and market itself to the home owner.

If I add the above numbers correctly, I have spent over $XX in the past year and a half. I don't think that there are many home owners who have spent this much money on home improvement projects in this time frame. I still need to purchase quite a few items before everything on my basement will be finished.

I figure I will still spend at least $XX more on materials for my basement. After that, I have other projects that will require the purchase of many materials. I plan to build a shed and a deck in my backyard, just to name two projects. However, I may just take my business elsewhere. After all, Lowe's is closer to my house than Home Depot and their prices are sure to be very comparable to yours.

Enclosed you will find a copy of my receipt from tonight so that you can see the veracity of my story. I have written this letter so that you could be aware of my experience this evening. Perhaps steps can be taken at the store to avoid this type of incident in the future. I do not wish to get anyone fired or anything but perhaps some discussion with employees would be warranted. You never know what may happen if too many customers get turned off, as I have been, by such experiences. I hope that this letter will improve the quality of the shopping experience for other Home Depot Customers. Best of luck in the future.

CC: The Home Depot, Attention: Consumer Affairs, 2455 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30339

Well, that’s it. I don’t wish to make enemies but I will not hesitate to express my opinion in the form of a letter. I hope to get back to the actual basement work soon.

Day 11

Tonight, I got a late start, but I wanted to finish the exterior wall framing. I know I won’t be able to do anything tomorrow night because BYU has a football game.

This shows the last section that I framed. Now I can start framing the interior walls, which means I get to start roughing in doors. The doors have all been ordered but won’t be here for a couple of weeks because one was not in stock, and of course they want to deliver them all together. The bathtub/shower unit will also be delivered with the doors. This picture shows the final wall sections that I did tonight.

When framing a wall, one of the most important things is to get the entire length in line so that you don’t have bumps in the finished wall. Here’s a picture that shows the edge view of the long wall in what will be the TV room. Notice that there are no visible discontinuities along the entire length. This is how you want it to be done.

Day 12

Saturday again. Usually a day with lots of time to work. However, today is a little different. I have a lot going on from my wife’s teaching in the morning to a church meeting at night. However, I did have some time to do a couple of things. I framed the doorway leading from the hallway into the storage area. I won’t really go into details on framing a doorway – perhaps I’ll do that some other time. But this doorway had a couple of complications due to things sticking down from the joists. First, I had to notch one end because of some ductwork that was there. Second, I had to make a notch in the middle due to the water & gas lines that run under the joists (more on these later).

Here are two pictures of the doorway, one showing the entire wall section and the other showing the notch around the water/gas lines.

Now, back to the discussion on the water & gas lines. Together, these lines run almost the entire length of the house underneath the joists, from the office through the end of the storage area (the gas line stops one joist from the end of the storage area). I will need to drop the ceiling around these lines. I don’t want to drop the entire ceiling for two reasons. First, I want the ceiling as high as possible in as much of the basement as possible. Second, it will be easier for me to remember exactly where these lines are because the drop in the ceiling ends 2-3 inches from the end of the drop. This knowledge might be needed in the future – you never know.

In order to drop the ceiling, I am running two 2x2s parallel with these lines, one on either side of them. They are only 16 inches apart so they should hold the drywall sufficiently well. Here are a couple of pictures of these so that you can see how this works.

Day 13

I am running out of things to do before I get my delivery. The only walls that I have left are for the utility room, bathroom, and the one between the office and hallway. I also need the closet in the office. I need to do the office wall before I can do the closet, but I need the bathroom walls before I do the office wall. Of course, I don’t want to do the bathroom walls until the tub is here (which is being delivered). I may just have to take a break for a week or so until everything gets here (or I just might be able to start on the wiring in the TV room).

I did have something to do today. It took me quite some time, most of it measuring, thinking and measuring again. I put up one section of the framing around the main ductwork. This was a much larger "notch" in the ceiling and required

precise planning. The wall needed to fit between the existing wall studs and the existing joists. Some people don’t worry about framing this type of area (they just screw the drywall right into the ductwork). However, I want to have insulation between the ceiling and ductwork to cut out as much noise as possible so I need to frame it.

The framed wall section will hang from cross braces between the joists and rest on other cross braces between the wall studs of the main bearing wall. The following images show these cross braces in place.

Once the cross braces were hung, I built the main frame section on the floor and then lifted it into place. This is where very careful measurements were required because the studs in this frame could not hit either a joist or a bearing wall stud. After it was all put together, I had my wife help me lift it into place and…it fit perfectly. How nice.

Here are a couple of pictures of the finished section. The first is somewhat washed out because of the lightbulb. For the second picture, I turned off the light (unscrewed the bulb).

Well, there are a few more things that I can do before I get my doors and bathtub. However, don’t be surprised if I run out of things to do before too long. This will give me time to get a bid or two on the plumbing (I still haven’t decided whether or not I’ll tackle that myself). Maybe I’ll be able to update the log for day 3 finally.

Day 14

Clayton asked for more videos. I thought about what might be interesting to show. I decided to make a video showing how the stud driver works to drive nails into the concrete. Here is a picture of the Remington .22 calibur primers (called "power loads") and the nails that are used with the stud driver. Click on the image to show the video.

The builder framed two doorways into the main bearing wall, but I only need one of these. I didn’t want to just put drywall over the opening because there wouldn’t be anything to anchor the drywall. Therefore, I closed off the opening using a miniature wall. Here’s a picture showing both openings as framed by the builder.

I made a wall about four inches short of the header on the original door frame. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t this wall to hold any load. Second, in case a future owner decides to tear into this wall, it will be more clear that this is in fact just a false wall inside a framed doorway and can be removed without any problems. Here’s a picture of the finished framing inside the doorway.

Something else I needed to do was to add a block under the top plate of some of my walls so that the drywall will be able to attach to it. This is required where the top plate is even with the joists, such as when the wall is parallel with a joist or where I had to drop the ceiling around the water/gas lines (see the page the other day). The following pictures show before and after at one of these locations.

These small blocks do not really have to hold any weight – the majority of the drywall weight will be held by the vertical studs. These blocks just keep the drywall from moving horizontally into the open space if someone presses against the finished wall.

Continue to Week 3 – Adding a Bathroom in the Basement

This morning, the computer network at work was down so I decided to start working on the basement. The first thing I wanted to do was find the drain pipe that was plumbed in for the shower/tub. I knew that this is located somewhere under the concrete, and *should* be 40 inches away from the toilet plumbing, toward the middle bearing wall. (The toilet plumbing was sticking out of the concrete and capped off.) When I was building the swing set a few months ago, I had purchased a masonry blade for my Skil Saw in the hopes of using it to cut the concrete.

The process of cutting a hole into the concrete would probably produce a lot of dust. I wanted to go to Home Depot to buy some fir studs and the ductwork so I thought I’d do the cutting into the concrete first, then while the dust had a chance to clear, I could go do my shopping. However, I had another problem. We had already stored a lot of stuff in the basement and I thought we should protect it in some way. I moved everything into what will be the storage area and covered it with 3 mil plastic so that dust and debris could not enter. By now, it was about Noon and I was ready to start the demolition.

I switched the blade in my Skil Saw to the masonry blade (BIG mistake) and started the cut. I could tell right away that this probably would not work, as sparks went flying from the contact between the blade and concrete. Furthermore, it took me about thirty seconds to get the blade only about 1/16 of an inch into the concrete, and the look and smell told me it was burning the concrete instead of cutting it. I decided that I’d have to use another method to punch through and I stopped cutting. I rechecked the list of materials that this blade is supposed to be able to cut and I realized that concrete is not on the list (I previously thought that it was). Just then, the burning concrete smell set off the fire alarm. Because all of the fire alarms in our home are networked together, every fire alarm in the house went off and my wife and kids were startled. I went to the circuit breaker to turn the alarms off when they suddenly stopped. I guess that the air had cleared sufficiently (thank goodness). But now I had to figure out a new way to open up the hole in the concrete.

My best bet (and cheapest: free) would be to borrow the hammer drill from work and drill a series of holes around where the drain pipe should be, then use the sledge hammer to punch through. So, I went to the school, checked out the drill then went on to Home Depot, got a few studs (20 for now) and the materials that I needed to do the ductwork (I need to add four vents to the heating/cooling system).

It was early evening when I returned home and I hadn’t really done much. What a bummer. But now I was ready to return to (or should I say get started with) the shower drain project. I started drilling into the concrete, using a sledge hammer to break it out all the way. It is hard to use the hammer drill for that long – it wears on your forearms and back. But I finally opened up a hole about 7 inches by 11 inches. I had intended the hole to be 11 inches square, but I’m working very close to the bearing wall and I ran into the footing on one side. At any rate, I started digging out the dirt. I filled two buckets, dumping them outside, but could not find the drain pipe.

I shoved the trowel as far into the exposed soil as I could, both vertically and laterally. I kept getting nothing. Then finally, a muffled thud as if I came into contact with some sort of hollow conduit. I cleared away the dirt from underneath the slab, got the light down there, and sure enough – I found it! It was four inches away from where they said it should be and was 13 inches below the 4-inch-thick concrete slab. Normally, four inches is not a very long distance, but when you’re working one foot and a half below a concrete floor, and you don’t know for sure that it’s there, four inches might as well be across the country. I cut away more of the concrete slab so that I could easily access the drain when the time came and was glad that this part of it was over. I covered the hole with a piece of plywood so that I wouldn”t accidentally step into it. I then had another decision to make: continue or retire to bed at 9:00.

I had already purchased the ductwork and some studs. I know that I should probably install the ducts first but I wanted to do some framing because that’s something with which I am familiar. There were in fact two small walls that I could build, each just over 4 feet long, one perpendicular to the joists and the other parallel with them. I decided that I wanted to do this, before going to bed. One of the walls was tricky because it is located in the bathroom and so I had to make it inline with the drain pipe that comes down from the ceiling.

Framing the wall is not terribly difficult. I nail it together on the floor and then lift the entire unit in place. Because the joists already exist above me and the concrete is not perfectly flat, I build the walls about 1/4 inch shorter than the floor-to-joist height. This is ok because the drywall will eventually cover up this small gap.

Tying the wall into the concrete is kind of fun. I bought a manual stud driver for $20. You put a special concrete nail into the end of the muzzle and then put in a special .22 caliber charge. Press the nail against the bottom plate and hit the top of the nail driver with a hammer. The charge forces the nail right down into the concrete. This is a must-wear-ear-plugs tool. Here’s a picture of these fastened into the concrete.

Nailing the walls into the overhead joists is a different story. To anchor the wall that runs parallel with the joists, I attached it to blocking. The other wall could just be attached to the joists as it crossed each. Even so, I was having a very difficult time trying to do the nailing because of the angle. Furthermore, the pounding was tearing the top plate away from the studs (as I previously said, I have a space between the top plate and the joists). I decided to use screws instead and things went much more nicely. I could drill the screws into the top plate with very little effort and no destruction of my framing. The following pictures show connection parallel and perpendicular to the joists. In the first, you can also see the drain pipe fastened to, and in-line with, the wall.

So that was it for my first day. It seemed like a long first day without much progress. Oh well, I guess some days are bound to be like this.

Day 2

Today, I started doing the ductwork that I will need. I only need to have four outlets in the basement: two in the family room, one in the office and one in the hallway near the bathroom. Originally, I was going to put the duct in the bathroom but there were two considerations to make. First, the hallway extends along the outside wall so it should be heated and I didn’t want to heat both of them (all of our current bathrooms have the vents closed anyway). Second, I could not physically locate the duct into the bathroom without a lot of effort because there were no joist bays left.

Let me explain what I mean by a joist bay. The joists hold up the first floor and are spaced at 16-inch intervals. These joists sit on top of the outside walls, as well as the existing wall that runs across the middle of the basement (the only bearing wall in the basement). The joists are 9.5 inches tall, running perpendicular to the bearing wall. This creates a space where things like wires, pipes and ductwork can be carried over the bearing wall from one side of the room to the other.

I call the open space between two joists a "joist bay". Now, all vents must come off the mainb rectangular duct, which is located on the utility room side of the bearing wall. In order to pipe a duct off that main line and onto the bathroom side of the basement, the duct must go over the bearing wall inside a joist bay. The problem that I have is that there are only three full joist bays across the short bathroom wall and each of these bays already has something going through them. Therefore, it would be impossible to get a duct into the bathroom unless I ran it below the joists. But I can’t run a 6-inch duct below the joists because the ceiling is going to be across the bottom of the joists. If you can’t follow this, perhaps you should read detailed explanation on installing ductwork.

Now that I have that explanation, let me get to what I actually did today. In a nutshell, I spent four hours installing two ducts and vents. And these were the easy two. The first in the family room just came out the side of the main duct. The second came off the top and over into the bedroom. These were both relatively easy to install, but since this was my first time doing this (and I was pretty much teaching myself how to do this), it took me a while. I hope that tomorrow I can finish the ductwork so I can start the framing. The framing is what I will probably enjoy most and I’m really excited to get to that point. For completeness, here are pictures of the two ducts. Notice that there is tape over each. This is so that we don’t lose air through them right now when we run the air conditioner.

The last thing to report is that I received my first injury. Ducts are made from sheet metal and whenever you work with sheet metal, you should wear gloves. I know this and I had intended to do this. However, before starting my work, I had to carry the duct materials down to the basement (when I brought them home the other day, I had just set them inside the garage). My gloves were already down in the basement so I decided to just pick up the metal pieces and take them down.

That was a decision I will regret until my thumb heals. Yep, I sliced the thumb on my right hand. I didn’t need stitches, but My wife heard my "Arrgh" and came running in. I told her to bring a kleenex, as the blood was already starting to run. I went through about three or four kleenexes when I decided to just stop the bleeding using the direct pressure of two bandaids. That did the trick (after a few minutes). My thumb is not in danger of falling off or anything, but it is sore, especially when I have to use my right hand (which is all the time). The moral of the story is, I tried to save myself a few seconds and one return trip from the basement by not getting my gloves. Those few seconds could have saved me a few minutes in thumb care as well as a lot of pain and agony (ok, not *that* much agony, but still).

Day 3

I got a late start with the basement work today, but it was for a good cause. After work, I went to Lowe’s (I was on my way to Home Depot when I decided I didn’t want to go that far). I bought a lot of the studs that I will need to continue my framing. I figured that I should get done with the ductwork today and then I can start framing tomorrow. So, I once again took all the seats out of the minivan and drove it to work. I was able to pick up four 12-footers, for top and bottom of the walls across the windows (because of the windows, I wanted to frame those walls in a single piece to try making it as sturdy as possible). I got 12 of the 96-inch studs, for the top and bottom pieces of longer walls. Finally, I got 70 of the standard 92-inch studs for doing most of the framing. After this and then going home and eating dinner, I had quite a late start.

It took me three hours today instead of the four yesterday to do two ducts. However, today’s ducts were somewhat more difficult than yesterday’s. Yesterday, I had easy access to the main duct from both sides of the wall. Today, I could only access the ducts through the little 9×12 inch joist bay (remember, I defined this term yesterday). This is because on the duct side of the bearing wall, next to the outflow duct was the cold air return duct. It stops halfway along the wall, which is why it wasn’t in my way yesterday. At any rate, the rest of today’s log gives a detailed account on how to do this ductwork (or at least how I did it) for my future benefit as well as for anyone else that may be interested. I wanted to do this today instead of yesterday because I didn’t really have a "procedure" yesterday for doing this.

Day 4

Ah, Saturday. What a great day to do an all-day project. That is, if you have all day to do it. Because my wife teaches at UVSC on Saturday mornings, I did not actually start on the basement until after 1:00. Well, leave it to me to still figure out how to spend close to 12 hours on something. That’s right, I finished just after midnight. Although I’d like to, I don’t think my body can handle many more late nights like this.

Having finished the ductwork yesterday, and having bought more studs (70 now), I decided it was time for framing. I already spent part of the first day building a couple of small walls but now was time for the meat of this part of the project. As I describe these locations, you may want to refer back to the plan that is included on the first day of this log. I figured that I’d start with the two long outside walls. First, I’d work on the one extending along the bottom of the house from the end of the office through the end of the storage area. Second, I would do the wall on the opposite side of the house, along the family room.

I started with the section of wall where the hallway meets the doorway leading to the storage area and working back toward the office (the storage area is still full of stuff that I put there when I was tearing apart the concrete). This wall section only had one hitch: I had to notch the wall at the top left for a drainage pipe that comes down from an upstairs bathroom. That was no big deal and the result is shown in the figure to the right.

The figure below shows the complete wall section in place./

My original plan was to continue working along this wall, taking it through the office until I reached the corner of the house. There was, however, a slight snag. Drainage pipes from the kitchen (above this wall) run perpendicular to (and underneath) the joists. Because of these pipes, it would be impossible for me to tie the wall into the joists unless the wall was pulled further away from the exterior concrete wall than other parts of this wall that I was working on.

I was not sure what to do and I needed a break so I phoned Karl and asked to come down to get his opinion. I explained my situation and he suggested that I just pull the entire wall away from the concrete. In doing so, I would lose about 3.5 inches of space, but if I was concerned about the space, I could make some built-in shelves in some of the open locations where there was no drainage pipe.

I decided to go ahead and move the wall from the corner of the house to the start of the closet. The rest of the wall, from the interior of the closet to the wall that I had already installed, would be moved back to my original planned location. As I pondered my new design, I decided that it would be better to start at the corner of the house (inside the office) and work my way back to meet the wall that I had just installed. This is just the first of what are sure to be many design changes in the months to come.

So I built a single 8-foot wall section, the first full section with no special notches or considerations. It went so fast, I decided to build another section. The only other full section that I could do at this time is for the opposite side, along the family room. I went ahead and built one of these sections and was finished fairly quickly with a few minor problems. It seems that the nails did not want to penetrate some of the studs that I have. Either I was getting tired of hammering or I had a hard piece of wood or perhaps a little of both. I think that it was just certain sections of the wood because I would do great for a few nails, then come across a location that bent three nails in a row before I resorted to using a screw. At any rate, I finished the two wall sections and leaned them against the exterior wall, as shown in these figures.

I was about to install the first wall section from the corner of the house when I realized that would potentially cause a problem. The wall section perpendicular to this wall (the one with the existing window) would need to be wedged between the bearing wall and this new wall section. Because this section spans a window, and it was less than 12 feet long, my plan was to do it in just one single wall section. However, it would be difficult to install the wall section in front of the window if the walls on both sides were already in place. The bearing wall is already there but I should probably wait to install the side section after installing the wall in front of the window. So now I already had a change in implementation. I would have to set aside my two wall sections and build the window sections first.

For some reason, I decided to work on the wall in front of the Family Room window first. I don’t know why, and it was probably a mistake because it turned out to be very tricky (once again, leave it to me to start with the hardest section). In addition to having the window in the middle of the wall, I had another obstacle around which to frame. You may remember from when I did the ductwork that this side of the bearing wall has the main ducts running perpendicular to, and underneath the joists. I will need a notch in the ceiling about 12 inches in height so that I can cover up the main ducts. That notch needs to extend all the way to the wall in front of the window. Therefore, in addition to considering the window, I had to design the notch around the ducts, which meant that I had to design the entire ceiling drop covering all the ductwork.

Well, it took a lot of measuring and thinking, then more measuring and finally some cutting. This means that it took a lot of time. I didn’t check the clock when I started working on this wall section, but I must have been at it for at least three hours. This was a relatively large section of wall with details that had to be done right. Not only did the ceiling notch for the ductwork need to be in the right place, but the top, bottom and sides for the window opening had to match up with the existing window. I didn’t want to be doing this wall section twice so I took my time making careful measurements. I built the entire wall on the floor and when I was done, my wife helped me lift it into place. I crossed my fingers, held my breath while pounding it in place, and when I was done, voilƒ …almost. I did make a slight error.

The bottom left of the window opening was 1/4 inch too far to the left. Not a big deal since the error made the opening slightly too wide rather than too narrow. I was too tired to care, as it was just after midnight but I later figured out that although the window opening was square to itself, it was not square to the floor. This probably caused me to have an error somewhere or perhaps it was just too late to be doing this type of thing. It doesn’t matter because I’m not redoing it. Here are a couple of pictures of the ceiling notch around the ductwork as well as a close up at the window.

I did encounter a problem attaching the top plate to the joists. This wall was very close to the edge of one joist so I was just going to attach it directly to the joist. However, I had not anticipated this so my wall was slightly too short. To remedy this, I added a second top plate to which the joist could be attached. The figure here shows this double top plate. The wall also leans forward slightly (about an inch for the 8-foot height, a slope of 0.01) because I did not mark the bottom plate location directly underneath the edge of the joist. However, the leaning is not really noticible so it should be ok. I’m really not ready to tear out the wall for this.

With all said and done, here’s a picture of the installed window wall section.

Day 5

I have been very tired the last couple of days because I’ve stayed up way too late working on the basement. I decided to make a rule for myself that no matter how late of a start I get, I will only work until 10:30 p.m. I know that unless I enforce something like this, I will continue telling myself "I’ll do just a little more" until I’m in the wee hours of the night and I’m once again dead tired the next day. Hopefully I will be able to stick to this type of schedule while still being able to keep the work from dragging on for too long.

After Family Home Evening tonight, it was time for some more framing. I started framing my first long wall, requiring multiple wall sections. Each wall section will be 8 feet long. There are various ways that I can do the transition between sections. I’m not sure what will be the best way, and I probably won’t really know until the drywall (or as they say in Utah, "Sheet Rock") is ready to put up. Drywall is 4 feet wide. Studs at 16 inches on center allows one piece of drywall to cover the length of a wall across four studs. Of course, the drywall will not come for quite some time so it will be a while before I know if I took the correct course of action or if I am giving myself more work.

The method that I used along this wall was to space two wall sections 16 inches apart from each other, leaving a space between the top and bottom plates of each section. The figure to the right shows this space across the bottom plates. The concern that I have with this method is that there is no anchor for nailing in the baseboard. I will need to be careful not to put a seam in the baseboard at this location or it will pull away from the wall. Once again, of course, that’s something that is yet to come.

Here is a picture of the finished wall from tonight. I finished at around 10:40, so I was pretty close to my 10:30 goal.

Day 6

I was back at it again tonight after Isaac’s soccer practice. Tonight I wanted to get the second window opening done. The first one took me a lot of time, both because it was my first one and because of the duct work that I had to avoid. I didn’t think that tonight’s window would take as long, and I was correct. I learned some things from the first one that helped me when doing this one. Both windows are along the same exterior wall and are therefore built and anchored in the same manner.

These walls are so close to one of the joists that I decided to just anchor them directly into the side of the joist. When I built the first wall the other day, I made two installation mistakes. First, I didn’t make the original wall tall enough. Usually the wall should be shorter than the joists because you’re either crossing joists or crossing blocking that has been connected between joists. But because this wall was being directly connected to the joist, the wall should have been a little taller. I ended up adding a second top plate to the first wall to get it high enough so it could be directly connected to the side of the joist. My second error was that I did not line up my floor chalk line with the edge of the joist, so the wall actually leans slightly forward. It’s not really noticible, but it’s not level and when I figured this out, I had already nailed into the concrete – not something that could be taken out without destroying the wall.

I used that information to first figure out where the wall should connect on the floor and second to be sure my columns were cut at the correct height. Here is the finished wall, and I didn’t have to stay up until midnight to do it.

Day 7

If you have a broadband connection, you may want to watch the video. To do so, just click on the following image.

Well, I did it. I made my first major mistake. It could have been worse if it hadn’t been caught in time. Actually, I have my wife’s brother to thank. He asked if I had used pressure treated wood for the bottom plates and I told him I hadn’t. He said he thought the code required it. My boss at work didn’t think it did. I knew that people use it but didn’t think it was required. After talking to the city, I learned that, yes, it is indeed required. I therefore had to replace the bottom plate on each of my walls. This required taking each wall down, removing the bottom plate and then replacing it with pressure treated wood.

This actually wasn’t too bad of a problem because it is very early in the construction process. It would have been much worse if I had already started to run electrical wiring. As it was, I was able to do all of my existing walls this evening except for one of them. I probably could have done that one as well but I’m trying to stick to my self-imposed 10:30 p.m. end time. I’ll do the last one on Friday or Saturday. I’m not going to work on this tomorrow because BYU’s first football game will be on. Of course, if they start getting creamed…

Continue to week 2 – Framing the Outside Walls

Buying a new mattress set can be confusing since prices for a queen set can run from as little as $400 to as much as $4,000 and the jargon and sales hype! Read on to learn some simple tips on how to buy your next mattress set.

The subject of whether to buy a firm or soft mattress will be largely a matter of personal choice and which helps you sleep more restfully, but visiting a showroom and trying out various brands and models will help you determine what feels right for your back and sleeping comfort.

Nothing will help you sleep in comfort and wake up rested than having a comfortable mattress set!

When you go out to shop for your new bed mattress, be sure to wear shoes you can easily take off in order to lie down comfortably on the demo beds. You want to lie on each mattress you are considering for a long enough period to really evaluate how well it fits your needs. Lay on your back, sides and stomach long enough to feel how well the mattress supports your body in each sleeping position.

If you and your partner prefer different types of mattresses, one option is to get an airbed with independent adjustable settings on each side; this will also let you make the mattress more or less firm depending on how you feel.

Invest in a name brand mattress and buy the most expensive mattress you can afford; this is one item you don’t really want to skimp on! A good mattress should support your body at all points along your spine and legs in the same position as when you are standing with good posture.

Another important consideration is the size of your mattress; bigger is better since you and your partner will both have plenty of room to move and turn over while you sleep; two adults trying to sleep together on a full-size mattress will be very confining since it is.

A queen or king mattress is considerably more comfortable for 2 people, being 6 inches wider and 5 inches wider than a full-size mattress; a queen mattress is about 60 inches wide and 80 inches long while a king is 76 inches wide and 80 inches long for even more comfort. Be sure the mattress you buy will fit in your bedroom but sacrificing a bit of bedroom floor space for a larger bed may be worthwhile considering!

Typically the foundation and mattress are made to work together as a set; buying a new mattress and putting it on an old foundation or platform bed can reduce the life of your mattress and may void your warranty.

Tips on Buying a Mattress Set

• More important than price is how a mattress set is constructed; a less expensive set uses a single length of wire to create the springs, while a more expensive set will have individual springs each resting in their own fabric pocket which allows the springs to adjust independently to the weight of various parts of your body.
• When testing mattresses in the showroom, you and your partner should lie on mattresses together to test how easily you can roll over and how much motion you each feel as one person gets into or out of bed.
• Coil count and wire gauge are important factors in determining how firm a mattress should be; the more coils the firmer in most cases but thicker gauge coils are also a factor.
• Consider air or water beds as an option; some people with back problems find that the adjustability of a waterbed or airbed is helpful.
• Another option is a latex rubber or viscoelastic mattress, which run about $900 to $3,000 from brands including TrueSleep or Tempurpedic. The dense foam absorbs energy, is heat sensitive and self-adjusts to your body temperature and mass.
• Consider a polyurethane foam mattress, which will run from $150 to $400. These self-adjust to your body mass, are available in different thicknesses and firmnesses and can be placed on a platform bed or box spring.

Organizing your pantry is easy enough. Follow these steps and tips to make your pantry neater and more efficient.

The benefits of maintaining a well stocked and neatly organized pantry are numerous. You won’t have to make as many trips to the grocery store, Target, Costco, etc. if you follow the steps we outline in this article. Keeping items inventoried and making a complete list of what you need to purchase when shopping will allow you to use coupons and buy items in bulk, saving you money.

You will also maximize the available storage and shelf space in your home by keeping the pantry neat and orderly. When you need some food or other household item, you won’t have to spend time searching for it or making a special trip to the store. You’ll also save on gas money this way!

Function First in the Pantry

No matter how large or small your pantry is, function should be your first consideration. Here are a few functional tips for organizing your pantry:

• Like organizing the kitchen, a pantry should be planned to save time, energy and efficiency of motion.
• A pantry should be well-lit, with good overall ambient lighting and, if possible, task lighting that can be controlled separately to light specific areas or shelves in your pantry.
• Buy or build standardized shelving to make best use of your available pantry space.
• The most efficient pantry will be located centrally, in the kitchen or a hall closet that is readily accessible. If needed, create multiple pantry areas, organizing each space so that the items needed in the kitchen are in the kitchen, cleaning supplies, bedding and bath linens are near your home’s bedrooms and bathrooms and so on.
• Be sure to consider the humidity and temperature of your pantry; you don’t want to store dry food items in a damp place and a pantry that has a relatively cool, constant temperature is ideal.
• If space is limited, buy plastic storage containers that you can stack under a bed, in a coat closet or on top shelves. Keep items that you access less often in these storage areas. Buy in bulk to save money and keep the excess inventory in these less easily accessed areas, restocking a smaller supply in your most convenient pantry storage area.
• If you keep a good inventory of the items you use regularly, you will be better able to avoid tempting sale prices on items you don’t use and which may use valuable pantry storage space and only need to be thrown out eventually!

Getting Started By Cleaning Out My Pantry

Once you have planned your pantry for function, its time to get started on reorganizing! If you already have a pantry area, you’ll want to start by removing everything in order to get started:

1. Empty your pantry completely, moving everything into boxes or onto countertops. Discard or recycle anything you find which is spoiled, expired or otherwise stale or unusable.
2. Before you set about to put things in order, the first step is disassembling whatever food cupboards you currently have in use. Look at everything as you take it out and consider: how long has it been since you used that item? Herbs, for example, loose a great deal of flavor after 6 months even in a dark, cool space.
3. While you’re at it check expiration date and throw away accordingly. Remember the rule with food is when in doubt, throw it out!
4. Clean any dust or dirt off of each item as you go.
5. If something isn’t labeled and you know for certain what it is, make a hand made label for easy recognition and attach it.
6. The best part about this process is that it won’t take much more than an hour to complete this task. In fact, it’s good to do this twice a year with spring and fall cleaning.
7. Clean the shelving and walls thoroughly with a solution of warm water and mild soap, drying them with a towel and letting the shelf surfaces dry thoroughly.

Preparing My Pantry Space

Once you have removed everything, cleaned and prepared your pantry space, you are ready to start re-organization. Here are the steps to getting your pantry prepared for increased efficiency and order:

1. If you don’t have adequate shelving or need to replace and standardize the existing shelves, now is the time! You can easily build your own or buy inexpensive plastic or melamine shelves at your local home improvement center and install them yourself.
2. Try to add shelving that maximizes use of vertical space. The chrome metal shelves made by companies such as ClosetMaid and Rubbermaid are a great way to add shelf space inexpensively without need to build or install anything!
3. Look for any available space you can use to store items; the back of the pantry door can be used to store spices or other small items if you hang a rack over the door! You can buy these door racks at Home Depot, Lowes, Target or a similar retail store.
4. If needed, repaint your pantry walls and shelves; white or off-white is generally the best color for a pantry.
5. If you want, put down some easily wiped-off contact paper at this juncture before re-assembling your pantry. This protects the shelf surface from stains.
6. Install your new pantry shelving and add hooks or wall-mounted wire organizers to keep canned goods and spices more neatly organized.
7. Get some of those sturdy plastic containers with tight fitting lids; Tupperware’s Modular Mates containers are great for keeping dry goods such as flour, sugar, pasta, teabags, coffee beans, and cereal. Rectangular or square containers will take up less space and stack more neatly than round or oval shaped containers.

Re-Organizing My Pantry

Once you’ve cleaned the pantry out, you can begin to get things organized by following these steps:

1. Start sorting pantry items into categories. Example categories include: fruits, vegetables, soup, condiments, boxed lunches/dinners, canned meats, sauces, baking goods, and rice/pasta/dry beans. While you‚re doing this, put the items in order by their expiration dates, the soonest expiring being the last item to go back into the pantry (i.e. it will be in front, thereby reducing wastefulness).
2. The heaviest items should go on lower shelves, especially in lazy Susan set ups for added convenience. So if you have a large can of olive oil, put that on the lower shelf with the canisters for your baking goods. Meanwhile leave upper shelves for those items you access frequently (like instant foods), and lighter weight items like beans and rice.
3. Use canisters to keep dry goods and baking items such as flour and sugar, labeling them. You can keep smaller items, such as tea and coffee, dried fruits and bouillon in small baskets or plastic bins, which also helps keep them fresh.
4. Group like items together: breakfast items, snacks, baking goods, cleaning supplies, linens, etc. If you take a bit of time to consider how things are arranged in the grocery store where you typically shop, you can group your pantry items similarly, using subgroups to keep things more neatly stored and easily accessible. So, for instance, all canned foods go on one shelf, organized into subgroups such as canned fruits and vegetables, soups, crackers and cookies, etc.
5. Labeling shelves will help you keep your groups in order.

Creating My Pantry Inventory List and Restocking

Once you have cleaned out your pantry, discarded outdated items, added shelving and other storage systems, you will want to take inventory in order to determine what is missing and needs to be regularly re-supplied.

Here is a starter list of common items you may want to put on your own pantry inventory list:

• Canned Items – Canned Soup and Soup Broth, Canned Beans, Canned Tomatoes
• Foods in Jars – Tomato Paste and Tomato Sauce, Olives, Pickles, Peanut Butter, Jams and Jellies
• Baking Items – Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Flour, Sugar, Vanilla Extract
• Spices – Pepper, Paprika, Oregano, Salt, Olive Oil, Vegetable Oil
• Starches – Pasta, Couscous, Potatoes, Rice
• Condiments – Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise
• Sweeteners – Syrup, Honey, Artificial Sweetener
• Dry Goods – Cereals, Oatmeal, Pancake Mix, Raisins &Dried Fruit, Nuts & Seeds

Keeping My Pantry Well Organized

Once you have your pantry clean and organized, follow these tips to keep it that way easily:

• Don’t buy things that won’t get used; every home and family will have items that are unique to their habits and personal preferences, so buy only according your tastes, budget and needs.
• Look for coupons and sale on items you keep in your pantry and use regularly, checking your inventory to be sure you don’t overstock items just because they are on sale.
• Some items, such as paper towels, napkins, etc. that will not expire or become stale you can buy in larger quantities.

Additional Pantry Organization Tips

• Try to buy reserve quantities of the staple items you use the most to avoid “stock outs”. Having an extra jar of mayo or some reserve cans of tuna fish on hand can come in handy. Be sure to add these items to your shopping list when you break into your reserves.
• If you have kids in the house, you might consider making a special area to keep quick snacks and treats handy so they don’t rifle through your pantry and leave everything in a mess!
• Try to reorganize your pantry when you are alone and have a block of time available to concentrate and complete the project quickly. If you take time to reorganize a couple times a year it won’t be such a big chore!
• Remember to store cleaning products and chemicals away from your food items.
• Try to keep items you use most often in front and readily visible. Stack cans, jars and other items so that the labels can be easily read.
• Be on the lookout for new organization aids such as baskets, adjustable racks, stacking containers, etc. that may improve your pantry organization.
• Set up a guest or refreshments shelf to keep crackers, dips, chips, drink mixes and other items handy so you are ready whenever you have an impromptu party or visitors.
• Keep paper and pencil or a small whiteboard in your pantry and encourage family members to record items they would like to add to the inventory or have noticed are out of stock.
• Don’t put heavy items on hard to reach higher shelves as this can pose a safety issue; keep heavy items on the floor or lower shelves. Keep a step stool or small ladder handy to reach higher shelves and be sure it has a handle and is sturdy to prevent falling!
• If you can’t get everything into the pantry neatly, you might store non-essential items in a more “remote” storage location such as the garage or basement.

If you have a window in your home that won't open, read this how to guide.

Your windows are one of the most unique focal points of your home, but they can also be one of the biggest trouble areas as well. We’ve all run into one at some point or another that was painted shut and was a bear to open in the springtime. And if your windows don’t open, what’s the point?

One type of issue that you will face at some point as a home owner will be the window that simply won’t open. Double hung windows, particularly those which are used in older homes will very often stick shut, or in some cases have been painted shut so that they will not open unless that seal is broken.

Usually the solution to the stuck window is something simple such as breaking the paint seal and clearing the tracks so that the window can move freely.

The Tools you will Need to Unstick a Window:

• Putty Knife or Paint Scraper
• Chisel Sandpaper
• Lubricant
• Small Pry Bar

Steps to Unstick a Window that Won’t Open:

1. It will sometimes take time and a bit of elbow grease to unstick the window but heres how it will work for you. Be certain the window is unlocked.
2. Look for signs of a sealed window, such as paint in the window frame or between the window and lower casing.
3. Put the blade of a stiff metal putty knife or paint scraper into the joint where the window meets the window sill, and test to be sure that the paint seal is broken if it did exist.
4. You may have to lightly tap the handle of the putty knife to force it down into the crack if the paint seal is a larger one.
5. Also, be certain that once the inside paint seal is broken, that you check the outside as well to make certain that when the outer aspect of the home was painted that the paint didn’t seal it closed from the outside.
6. If the outside looks to be stuck or painted shut, repeat the procedure on the outside.
7. A window that is well and truly stuck may require the use of a small pry bar, carefullly applied at the botton, to open the window prior to being able to scrape the excess paint from it.
8. Once you have unsealed the window, check the tracks in the window sash, and clean out the excess paint, dust or any other foreign materials that might be stuck in the tracks. carefully remove it with a scraper or screw driver, being extremely careful to not gouge the wood of the track.

Growing your own vegetables in containers is easy and fun!

The only problem is that many of no longer have yards large enough for a full size vegetable garden. And even if you do have space, you may have poor soil conditions or not enough time to care for a large vegetable garden.

But there is a way to grow a nice vegetable garden even if you are limited to a small yard, patio, balcony or even just a doorstep; try growing vegetables in containers!

What do I Need to Grow Vegetables in Containers?

Growing vegetables in containers is quite simple. You can use nearly any type of containers, from terra cotta pots to plain old plastic plant containers. The larger the plants you decide to grow, the bigger and deeper your containers should be. Five gallon plastic containers are a favorite choice of many successful container gardeners!

Drainage is crucial so be sure your containers or pots have several small drainage holes in the bottom and place them in drip trays to help hold in moisture.

A small space on your deck or patio is all you need to grow a container vegetable garden.

Best of all, since your vegetable containers can easily be moved, you can experiment with various varieties and types of vegetables, rearranging them as you want to provide optimum exposure to sunlight, shade, etc. you should choose a location that gets maximum exposure to direct sunlight throughout the day for best results growing most vegetable plants.

What Kind of Vegetables Can I Grow in Containers?

Most vegetables you would ordinarily grow in a backyard vegetable garden will grow fine in containers. Eggplant, green onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and parsley are all good bets.

Vegetables that grow on vines, such as tomatoes, pole beans, and cucumbers are great candidates for container growing, as long as you have room for the vines to grow. Tomato and cucumber plants should be supported with wire cages or by tying off to a nearby lattice or post for best results. Plant determinate type tomatoes, which only grow to 3 to 5 feet tall are best and grow all through the summer months.

The best vegetable types and varieties to consider growing in your container veggie garden include:

• Cucumbers – Burpless, Liberty, Early Pik, Crispy, Salty
• Tomatoes – Patio, Pixie, Tiny Tim, Saladette, Toy Boy, Spring Giant, Tumbling Tom, Small Fry
• Peppers – Yolo Wonder, Keystone Resistant Giant, Canape, (Hot) Red Cherry, Jalapeno
• Eggplant – Florida Market, Black Beauty, Long Tom
• Squash – Dixie, Gold Neck, Early Prolific Straightneck, (Green) Zucco, Diplomat, Senator
• Green Beans – Topcrop, Greencrop, Contender, (Pole) Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder
• Radishes – Cherry Belle, Scarlet Globe, (White) Icicle
• Green Onions – Beltsville Bunching, Crysal Wax, Evergreen Bunching
• Leaf Lettuce -    Buttercrunch, Salad Bowl, Romaine, Dark Green Boston, Ruby, Bibb
• Parsley – Evergreen, Moss Curled

What Type of Soil Should I Use?

Commercial or “synthetic” potting soils are best for growing vegetables in containers. You can purchase these types of soil at your local nursery or garden center and they will generally consist of sawdust, wood chips, peat moss, perlite and/or vermiculite.

This will ensure that your soil is free of weed seeds or disease and will contain the right nutrients and drain properly. Be sure to wet the soil before you plant your container vegetable garden.

You can either purchase vegetable seedlings or germinate your own seeds and transplant to your larger containers.

Transplanting seedlings is easiest and will get your garden growing more quickly than starting from seeds, which must be germinated in smaller trays or containers before transplanting to your containers. However, either way works fine.

If you do start your vegetable plants from seeds, cover them with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of soil and place them in a warm, sunny place to germinate until they have at least 2 or 3 leaves before transplanting them to the containers. Use care when transplanting your seedlings to avoid injuring the roots.

How Should I Fertilize My Container Vegetable Garden?

An easy way to fertilize your container vegetable garden is to mix a nutrient solution using a commercial fertilizer mix. Follow the directions that come with your fertilizer mix, using either 10-20-10, 12-24-12 or 8-16-8 fertilizer and mixing approximately 2 cups of the fertilizer mix with a gallon of warm water from the tap.

This base solution should be further diluted by mixing about 2 tablespoons of it into a gallon of water to make a growing nutrient mix that you can simply pour gently around your container vegetable plants.

Once a week you should leach unused fertilizer from the soil by watering the plants with water only, until you can see it drain freely into the drip trays. This keeps your soil mix from building up too much unused fertilizer, which could hurt your vegetable plants.

You will also want to occasionally add some mineral elements to your nutrient mix by adding water-soluble fertilizer containing zinc, iron, manganese and boron. Follow the directions provided to dilute and mix it properly.

Check your vegetable plants regularly for any signs of insects or disease. If you see discoloration in the leaves, you may need to apply insecticide and/or fungicide to clear up such problems.

How Often and How Much Do I Water My Container Garden?

Watering your container vegetable garden daily is recommended, as long as your containers provide adequate drainage; you don’t want to water-log the soil, which starves the plants of oxygen.

Try to water the soil around your vegetable plants and avoid wetting the plants too much since wet leaves may cause fungus or disease. Use your nutrient solution to water daily, except for one day a week when you should use water from a tap to leach the soil as mentioned previously.

How Much Light Do My Container Vegetable Plants Need?

Most vegetable plants grow best in direct sunlight and will grow faster the more hours of sunlight received each day. Some leafy crops, such as lettuce, greens, cabbage, spinach and parsley grow well with less sunlight, so keep these to the rear of your container garden, placing fruit bearing vegetable plants such as cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant where they will receive the most direct sunlight possible.

Since containers are easily moved, you have the advantage of being able to rotate and position different plants for optimum sun exposure; move smaller plants out of the shade of larger plants and rotate plants frequently to encourage more rapid growth!

How Do I Harvest Vegetables From My Container Garden?

One of the joys of having your own container vegetable garden is harvesting crops as they ripen. It is best to allow your vegetables to ripen on the vine, picking them at peak maturity for the best flavor. If you have a bunch of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce or other vegetables that ripen at the same time, pick them and keep them in a cool place rather than letting them sit on the vine too long and chance having them spoil or rot.

If you stagger planting like vegetable plants a few weeks apart in the spring, you’ll have a better chance of harvesting veggies throughout the summer rather than having, say, all of your tomatoes or cucumbers ripen all at once.

Good luck and happy gardening; by following these tips and learning as you grow, you’ll enjoy planting, caring for and harvesting vegetables from your container garden all summer long!

Having a home fire safety plan may save the lives of your family should a fire occur in your home.

It is particularly important that everyone knows what happens if the fire occurs at night, while everyone is asleep, when most home fire-related deaths occur tragically. By having and regularly practicing your home fire safety plan you can greatly increase the odds that everyone in your home will escape safely in the event of a fire.

The Basics of Your Home Fire Safety Plan Should Include:

• Two exits from every area in your home, particularly the sleeping areas.
• The two best exits from the home, and how to get out
• Knowing how to gain access to the exits (using a fire ladder, break a window and how to do it and etc).

Make sure that there is a place arranged where your family will meet, and that it is far enough away from the home to be safe. Explain well to the children that even if everyone is not there immediately, they do NOT reenter the home.

Your plan should also include some basic education for the home occupants. Install a fire extinguisher on each level of your home. Make sure that everyone in the home knows where the fire extinguishers are located and exactly how they are supposed to be used. Take the children especially outdoors and let them actually use the extinguisher so that they are comfortable with it.

The acronym that we use in our home to explain proper use of the extinguisher is PASS. The letters stand for:

• PULL – pull the pin in the extinguisher
• AIM – Aim the nozzle, or hose of the extinguish at the Base, or just below the flames
• SQUEEZE – The trigger
• SWEEP – Don’t aim at just one place but sweep the extinguisher across the fire base

Also, make sure that your children know the difference between a small fire, that could be put out, such as a fire on the cooking stove, and one in which they should abandon the home and call 911 immediately.

A little education will go a long way toward keeping your families safe at home; make sure that everyone knows your fire safety plan and practice fire drills regularly.

If your home or apartment has upstairs bedrooms, knowing the fire escape route and how to get down safely and quickly is critical.

Top Ten Home Fire Safety Plan Tips:

1. Install and regularly test smoke alarms on every level of your home. You should install a smoke alarm in or near every bedroom.
2. Install both ionization and photoelectric-type smoke alarms for best protection; some smoke detectors provide dual coverage.
3. Test your smoke alarms once a month by pushing the test button until the alarm sounds loudly.
4. Take time to formalize your home fire escape plan, sketching out the floor plan of your home, including bedrooms, windows, interior and exterior doorways, stairs, fire escape routes and smoke alarms. Every family member should know and understand the fire escape plan.
5. Check windows and doors to be sure they are easily opened and keep stairways and doorways clear of obstructions; you don’t want anything that could potentially slow your family’s exit from the house in case of a fire!
6. If you install security bars on your home’s doors and windows, be sure they have quick release latches in order to make it easy and fast to get out in an emergency.
7. Plan two escape routes from each room in your home (i.e. door and window if possible) and mark each on your fire escape plan. Planning for bedroom escape routes on upper floors of the home may required the use of a ladder, rope or other means to get down quickly and safely.
8. Young children, infants and older people need help exiting the home in case of a fire, so be sure to include in your plans who is to help whom and what special considerations are required; a person who is hearing disabled for example will not hear a normal alarm, so you should purchase special models with a vibrating alarm or strobe lights in this case.
9. Your fire escape plan should include a designated meeting place outside the home where all family members gather once they have exited the home; this is crucial to knowing everybody gets out safely or whether someone may still be inside. Once everyone is safely out of the house, use a cell phone or neighbor’s phone to call 911 and do not reenter your home for any reason; it simply is not worth risking your life to try and save pets or personal belongings!
10. Remember that practicing your fire safety plan regularly is the only way to be sure everyone knows exactly what to do in case a real fire occurs; woken in the middle of the night in the panic of a home fire, family members will be confused and may not remember what to do unless they have practiced it enough that it becomes almost second nature.

Currently home decorating centers are offering more variety of styles and colors than ever before, the current trend begin toward horizontal blinds.

Here is just a small sampling of options and what they offer:

Selecting the right window coverings for your home is easy to do if you know a few simple tips.

Covering French Doors - French doors have a timeless looks but are a little more time consuming to clean. Also French doors may still need another treatment in order to keep unwanted light out (so you’re buying twice). For those who love wood, however, they’re a pretty choice. Cover French doors with cellular shades or blinds which can be anchored at the top and bottom to prevent them from rattling around when you open and close your French doors.

Window Shades - pull shades are a nice choice for windows that you like to look through regularly. Choose a durable shade that’s not prone to sun bleaching and one that can be washed.

Window Blinds - cleaning blinds is a frustrating task (here we remove them and spray them down with a hose in the yard, let dry and put back up). However, blinds allow for “adjusting” the light levels with greater accuracy than other types of window coverings. Beyond this, blinds have a variety of slat sizes (most common being ½”, 1” and 2”) each of which has a different look and feel.

Sliding Doors - sliding doors can go into a window frame in either direction as desired. These may improve overall weather proofing. Vertical blinds are a great way to cover glass sliders.

Vinyl Window Treatments – recommended for wet and humid environments for longevity. This is a low cost option with longevity, but they’re not overly fancy. Use vinyl shades or blinds in the kitchen and bathrooms, where humidity and moisture are concerns; they’ll be easier to keep clean than curtains or cellular shades.

Aluminum Mini Blinds – 6 or 8 gauge mini blinds can be a good, and affordable, choice for exterior treatments or any area with high activity (to protect the glass).

Wood Blinds & Shutters – real wood blinds and shutters have become very costly, but remain popular for both longevity and ambiance.

Composite Wood Blinds & Shutters -  Fauxwood or composite blinds and shutters offer a less costly option over real wood that provides the temperature/moisture durability of PCV with the feel of wood.

No matter your choice, think about each room of your house and what makes sense to that space. In the kitchen, for example, window treatments need to be very washable. In the bedroom, you’ll likely want something that blocks light effectively and offers privacy.

For the bathroom choose moisture resistant coverings, and for a child’s room look to the safety features of your coverings. Most of all, remember these words when shopping: Functionality, Durability, Value, Privacy, Light Control, and Style. These six key guidelines inevitably help make your choice much easier once you add up all the desired elements and choose according to those.

Affordable and versatile, vertical window blinds are easy to install yourself. Read our installation guide to learn how.

Since vertical blinds are large and unwieldy and awkward to handle, you’ll want an assistant to manage this project efficiently. It’s also more fun if you have a partner to help!

But hang on to your cordless drill and step ladder; this easy to use, step by step vertical window blinds installation guide will show you the way!

If you can climb a ladder and use a cordless drill  you can do this project.

Why Choose Vertical Blinds?

Vertical window blinds these days can have vanes made of wood, metal, polyvinyl or can even be covered with fabric, making it easier than ever to find blinds to match any home décor or color scheme! They are also quite affordable in most cases, when compared to cellular shades or wood blinds.

Vertical blinds are a great choice if you have kids or pets and work best for sliding glass doors and windows that open and close horizontally, since you can pull them open or shut as far as desired and angle the slats to control the amount of light that enters the room.

Be sure to measure correctly for inside versus outside mount installation when ordering your vertical blinds.

Installing Your Vertical Blinds

As a precaution, always wear protective eyewear when using power tools! A pair of work gloves will also help protect your fingers and hands while installing your vertical window blinds.

• You will need a few simple tools to install vertical window blinds:
• A tape Measure, pencil and hole punch
• Screw drivers (flat and Phillips head)
• A hammer and finishing nails
• Cordless drill, several sized drill bits, ranging from 1/16 inch to1/4 inch and a 1/4 inch hex head bit
• A level
• Scissors

Check the parts list included with your vertical blinds, which varies but generally should include:

• Wall brackets and mounting clips
• Nuts, bolts and mounting screws
• Vertical blinds head rail
• Vertical blind louvers or vanes
• Chain and clip
• A cord weight or clip

You will also need fasteners, which generally are not included with vertical blinds; the type of wall anchors to use depends on the wall and materials to which you are mounting the blinds:

• Heavy duty, hollow wall anchors (good for heavy blinds)
• Hollow wall toggle bolts (good for heavy blinds)
• Plastic or lead anchor inserts
• Plastic anchor inserts (lightweight blinds only)

Getting Started on Your Installation

1. Before you order your vertical blinds, be sure to measure your window according to whether you are ordering inside mount or outside mount vertical blinds; this is a crucial decision that affects your measurements and correct fitting! Inside mount blinds are mounted inside the door or window casing and look best in most cases.
2. If you don’t have sufficient casing width or prefer the look of outside mounts, these will be installed on the outside of the casing or frame, which means the width will usually be greater than for inside mounts.
3. Unpack your vertical blinds and carefully set aside all the mounting hardware, including clips, screws and other pieces. Be sure to read your manufacturer’s instructions thoroughly as the details can vary from one to another!
4. Measure outward from the window approximately one inch and mark with your pencil, where the brackets will be installed; repeat on the other side of the window. Use the bracket to mark both holes for each bracket to be sure the holes line up properly.
5. Use your hole punch to start the holes and then drill at these marks; if you are drilling into solid wood behind the sheetrock or you are drilling directly into the window casing, then you’ll simply use the mounting screws. If the wall space behind the holes is hollow, then you’ll need to use toggle bolts or wall anchors.
6. Attach the blind to the brackets by sliding the holders into the grooves and install the rod for operating your vertical blinds. If your blind is over 62 inches wide and has additional clips in the middle, center and clip over the third groove and about four inches or less from each end.
7. If your blind has a valance or dust cover, hold the valance up and line up the back of the valance up with the depth marks. Then drill holes through valance at the mounting hole marks. For mounting on a dry wall surface, use wall anchors and push them into drilled holes. Hold valance and clips up to the holes and drive screws through the clip and valance into the window sill or ceiling.   
8. Snap the head rail into place by inserting the front edge in the mounting clips and rotating back, with the pull cord on the right side for right draw or left side for left draw.

Vertical Window Blinds Installation Tips

• CAUTION: To avoid danger of strangulation, a cord weight or tension pulley should be attached to the cord or chain and anchored securely to the wall, with two pull safety tassels attached!
• To install the louvers, rotate the stems so that you can see through the slots and push each louver up into stem. Pull down gently on each louver to insure it catches on the stem hook.
• For fabric covered louvers the hems should all face the same direction.
• If the louvers do not rotate, check to be sure all louvers are overlapped the same; remove louvers and carefully reinstall them if needed.
• For inside mount vertical blinds, the pulley should be positioned toward back of sill so it doesn’t interfere with louver rotation.
• If the cord is too long, you can adjust it; adjust the louver holders to their fully stacked position and grasp the knot located along the inside of the track; pull out excess cord, retie the knot and cut away the excess cord.
• If the cords are twisted after installation, open the blind completely, pull the knot that is farthest away from the end with the cords and chain. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to get at the knot and hold the cord near the knot and the cord near the drive end and twist both of them in the same direction. Twist one way and then the other until you find the right way to untwist the cord. Then pull the cords on the end of the blind to get the knot back inside the blind.

Today, laminate countertops can give you the look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost. And, you can easily install your own laminate kitchen countertop.

The process of installing a post-form laminate countertop (one that doesn’t have seams or edging) is very easy for any homeowner with even minimal do-it-yourself home improvement skills.

You can pick one up at a home improvement store or, if you’re looking for a unique color or finish, you might need to check with a countertop manufacturer.

Follow these simple steps to select and install your countertop:

1. Measure the existing countertop, or if you don’t have one in place already, measure the cabinets. Then disconnect the plumbing and remove the sink. Remove the drawers. If there are any electrical appliances under the counter, shut off the power.
2. Remove the existing countertop by taking out the screws that attach it to the cabinets and cutting the caulk that attaches it to the wall with a utility knife.
3. Pick up your cabinets in the correct size. If you will have to join two separate countertop pieces at a corner, have the end cuts made for you and ask them to clamp the pieces together. This will insure that those ends fit together without gaps. If you have to make the cuts yourself, clamp a straight edge to insure that you’re going to cut straight and then make the cut with a jigsaw.
4. You may need to attach what’s called an “endcap” to the end of the counter if it isn’t capped. An endcap kit is the easiest way to do this. Follow the kit instructions; generally you’ll need wood glue, brads, and an iron to attach it.
5. Put the countertop into place and make sure that it’s both straight and level. Make sure that the cabinets and drawers open and close; it would be very unfortunate to find out after the installation is complete that your new countertop keeps the drawers from opening.
6. If your countertop has a built-in backsplash, check to make sure that it’s flush with the wall. Sand down the back as necessary to make it lie flat against the wall. If your new backsplash is smaller than the old one, sand down and repaint the newly exposed area.
7. If you need to cut out an area for a self-rimming sink, set the sink upside down on the counter and trace it. Drill a pilot hole inside the line and cut out the area with a jigsaw.
8. If you weren’t able to get the store to the pieces together to make a corner, use silicone caulk and hold or clamp them together until it dries. Then install miter take-up bolts under the counter. (Ask for them when you have the pieces cut at the store.)
9. Fasten the counter to the cabinets with wallboard screws. Make sure that the screws aren’t too long to crack the laminate.
10. Seal the backsplash to the wall with silicone caulk and run a wet finger over it to smooth it.
11. Install your sink and hook up the plumbing.

Decorating your boys room is a fun project to do with your son. Make his room a place he will love to spend hours pretend playing and enjoying with siblings and friends alike.

And most boys have at least a few interests that can make great starting points for choosing a bedroom theme.

For some boys, its action figures; others may be into sports, animated movies, video games, trucks, cars, cowboys, pirates or dinosaurs!

Read on to discover how you can create a fantastic theme for your boy’s room without spending a fortune.

Action Figures

Action figures are always a good theme for a boys bedroom.

Regardless which animation characters he loves, you can find plenty of art prints, action hero toys, stuffed animals, bed linens and more from his favorite animated films or TV shows. Stick with the simple things and you can avoid repainting walls or other major redecorating when he moves on to the next movie or show!

Sports Themes

Most boys are in to at least one sport or another; whether it’s the tried and true sports like football, hockey or baseball or more extreme sports like surfing, wakeboarding or skateboarding. Since sports uniforms and team colors are sure to be bright, you can do all kinds of fun things with a boys’ sports bedroom theme.

Put up some pennants, paint one of the bedroom walls with a sports scene mural or maybe paint his dresser and headboard to match the color scheme and sport. And you can use lampshades, area rugs, your son’s own sports trophies, autographed jerseys; the list of possible bedroom accessories is nearly endless with a sports theme!

Video Games

As with animated films and action figures, if your son loves Halo 3, Wii or other video games, you can do a video game bedroom theme very affordably. Posters are the easiest way to get started. If you aren’t opposed to letting him have a TV, then creating a small entertainment system, with a flat screen television and inexpensive home theater speaker system, bean bag chairs or a video game interactive chair will make him the envy of the neighborhood!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and trucks, boats and motorcycles)

Fire engines, cars, anything with wheels makes for a good boys room decorating theme.

You can even find bed sets to do a car or airplane theme in your boy’s room. Bedding, pillows, comforters, wallpaper borders and much more is easily available to complete the theme.

Cowboy Bedroom

The Wild West intrigues some boys. He may like to wear a ten gallon hat, cowboy boots and a gun belt with six shooters. Paint a western mural scene on one wall, find some beat up country style bedroom furniture and you’ll have his bedroom looking like a scene from the set of his favorite Western movie in no time.

Pirates and Knights

Ships and knight themes are another great potential theme for your son’s bedroom. Get him a large treasure chest or hang up some cargo nets and other props he can use to pretend he’s a pirate. For a castle or knight’s theme, you might do a mural on the wall or build a miniature guard tower and gate out of plywood. This is a theme that will really give him room to use his imagination while playing in his room alone or with friends and siblings!

Dinosaur Room Theme

If he’s into T. Rex (the dinosaur, not the band) then this might make the perfect bedroom theme! Dinosaur models, skeletal displays and fossils are a great way to get started. Wall art or a mural can make a great visual impact with this theme. There are wallpaper borders, fabric for curtains and pillows, pre-printed sheets, pillow cases and comforters and many other dinosaur themed accessories available.

Wildlife, Dogs, Big Cats and Other Animals Most boys also like some kind of animals, whether its big cats like tigers and lions, or perhaps dogs. And it’s easy to give his bedroom an animal theme with posters, toys and figurines.

Colors, Texture and Patterns

Once you pick a good theme like the beach, you can use color and texture to make your boys bedroom decor come to life!

Make his room a place to pretend play and let his imagination run wild; he’ll enjoy spending more time in his bedroom if the theme matches his interests. And as those thing change, you can continue to update the theme in order to keep things fun until its time to change themes completely and start all over again. But, the more closely you can match his room to his tastes; hopefully the longer it will be before you have to!

Bathtubs, showers and countertops are important considerations if your home must accomodate persons with special needs such as a wheelchair.

With America’s baby boomer generation aging, the need for homes equipped to accommodate special needs is increasing greatly, so making a few simple modifications can increase the value of your home, as well as providing the convenience and comfort needed to care for family and loved ones with special needs.

As a nurse, who cared primarily for the elderly, who then went to pre hospital care working on a rescue squad, I have seen the difficulty that our elderly or handicapped can have with simple fixtures that most of us don’t think about. I’ve seen the results of a fall because of improper equipment of the inability to use what was currently in the home.

Many people who begin to have access problems require assistance trying to find ways to accomplish simple tasks and do what needs to be done on a daily basis. Simplifying those details would help them immensely toward being able to live in their own home and familiar surroundings longer.

Very often the home older people live in has been the same home they’ve lived in for most of their lives and it will not be an easy task to fit the outside with ramps or means to make it wheelchair accessible, however concrete can add the height to raise them up to the porch or door, but that’s only half the problem.

Imagine being accustomed to doing certain tasks each day, such as washing dishes, and bathing, and finding it suddenly difficult to do even those simple chores. Getting inside your home is a task indeed but once inside, the real problems are just beginning with sometimes even toilet tissue up high enough that it can’t be reached and the toilet too low to make it easy to be seated on and then get back up for an older person.

A few items that you need to consider when planning for the very elderly or the handicapped include:

Wheelchair Accessible Doorways

The typical doorway width, unless it is an archway or other special door, is between 30 and 32 inches. That’s far too narrow by between 3 and 6 inches to pass a wheelchair through and the entryway into a laundry room or pantry is usually far slimmer, averaging about 26 inches.

To permit them entry into the rooms they need to be the doors will need to be widened. Door Knobs vs. Door handles. Both your older and handicapped friends as well as little children will have problems with the old style doorknobs.

What will work far better for both of them will be the levers, or L-shaped handles; these are now extremely popular and are very often seen in more upscale housing, but are available at nearly any hardware store such as Ace Hardware, or Menards Home Builders center. They will make a world of difference to an older person and may make the difference between using the door and not being able to open it.

Countertop Height and Ease of Use

A shower designed for wheelchair access makes life much easier at home.

One solution is to create an island in the center of the kitchen that is lowered and will house a small sink as well as a place for the wheelchair to fit under. Another solution will be to make a step down on the existing counter for the same purpose, if in fact your kitchen is smaller and won’t handle the island. This can work equally as well, lowering a portion of it which will make it look as though it is the normal design of the kitchen.

Your standard-size refrigerator will pose another problem, because in most cases the door can’t open wide enough to permit entry to a wheelchair and occupant unless it is not bound to a corner or wall. Another thing that is often overlooked is the hardware on your cabinetry, which is often difficult to grasp for those who are very old or very young. Replace it with easy to grasp handles, which you can find at Lowes, Menards or Home Depot.

Floor Plan and Flooring Considerations

Your flooring might benefit from a change, perhaps to a very low pile indoor carpet, or a non skid tile. The bathroom of course and the means to hold on are going to also require some extra effort, installing grab bars, lower towel bars and some additional changes to the showers and sinks.

Pedestal sinks are nearly perfect since they permit the wheelchair bound person to place the chair beneath it. If you are willing to really work at the solutions and to find ways to help the elderly in your home, much of it can be accomplished without astronomical expenses.

The challenge is to create an environment where the handicapped or elderly can be self sufficient up to and including small things such as closets and shelves. You can find some answers here, at North Carolina State University in the center for Universal Design, as well as from Wright State University, who have a Rehabilitation Engineering Department which offers ideas and comments on building and renovating for those with special needs.

Stair Accessibility

Stairways can be a daunting task for those with disabilities, bad knees or joints. Stair lifts are a revolutionary invention that enables persons to glide up and down the stairs with ease.

Stairs pose a mobility challenge to people who rely on a wheel chair, but installing a stair lift may be just the solution.

Purchasing a stair lift may just be one of best purchase you can make in regaining your mobility freedom.

For those who rely on a wheel chair for mobility, wheel chair lifts are also available and very similar to standard stair lifts; rather then a chair, a folding platform enables a wheel chair to drive on with ease.

The units are battery operated and self charges when docked at either the top or bottom of the stairs, this prevents the possibility of being stuck during a power outage.

Stair lifts give your self and your loved ones peace of mind with the safety of a powered lift and regain your freedom.

Tips for Remodeling Your Home to Accommodate People with Special Needs or Disabilities

• Add temporary ramps to make your home easier to enter and exit; that way you can easily remove them if you decide to sell the home and need to enhance its curb appeal.
• When buying a home, consider how easily it might be made more accessible to wheelchair access or other special needs considerations; a home with only one floor will be much better than one with a lot of stairs and rooms up and downstairs.
• If you have a small bathroom, consider increasing the size as this will make it much more accessible for wheelchair access and other special needs.
• 
  Replacing doorknobs with levers is a simple home upgrade to help disabled or elderly residents.
  Start by doing the simplest things like changing door knobs to levers, adding a kitchen island on rollers that is lower than standard countertops and installing handles in places where additional support may be needed.
• Doorways are a particular problem when it comes to wheelchair access; consider your home’s floor plan and traffic patterns to determine which doors may need to be replaced with wider doorways.
• Set up at least one room in your home that is well stocked with games, books, a television and any other forms of entertainment that you or another person in your home who has special needs will enjoy and which will help them feel more active and engaged at home.

Adding a breakfast bar in your kitchen will make it a great place to serve quick meals and snacks for the entire family and is a great place for people to gather when you entertain.

A breakfast bar is something of a convenience in any kitchen and while they can be costly if you purchase one, you can build your own relatively inexpensively simply by using preowned or used kitchen cabinets that have been removed from a home and remnant countertop, available from any home supply store.

The best type will be the cabinets which have shelving and drawers still in place in order to gain not only some additional seating for impromptu coffee guests or breakfast, but also to garner some additional storage from the breakfast bar addition. If you want your breakfast bar to be an island, you will also need to purchase a backing material such as paneling or wallboard to camouflage the back of the cabinetry, or, if it is to be set against a wall, then those won’t be necessary. Here is how I built my own.

A local thrift store sells used cabinets, and in some cases new ones which were purchased and could not be returned. The cabinets that I purchased were a set of two, which were single and separate, each one being about 28 inches wide and 30 something inches tall. One had drawers from bottom to top while the other had a door with three shelves inside.

I also purchased twelve L shaped brackets a furring strip remnant countertop in a deep blue, about five feet long. At each end, I attacked the two cabinets to the floor using four of the L shaped brackets to hold each cabinet in place. Attached the countertop, again using smaller L shaped brackets .

Diagram of the easy to make breakfast bar we made in our kitchen for less than 200 dollars.

The shorter stools are nearly perfect for the average height counter and the cabinets at either end permit me to have a place to shove the stools in under when they are not in use.

Total cost for building this simple breakfast bar:

• 23 dollars for the stools
• 25 dollars for the cabinets
• 40 dollars for the remnant counter top (splurge for a piece of granite or marble if you want yours to look like the one pictured above!)
• 12 dollars for hardware
• 105 dollars for a perfectly beautiful breakfast bar and stools

We should just be glad that ants aren’t any bigger than they are, since they can lift up to fifty times their own weight; in another reality we might be the ones subject to “human control” by the ants!

But, since ants are small and we humans have opposable thumbs and brains too big for our bodies, fortunately we can keep them out of the house.

Here are some tips on eliminating ants without using highly toxic chemicals.

Find and Eliminate the Ant Nest

Ultimately, you want to find the source of your ant problem and eliminate it altogether; which is the queen ant nest and her queen. Eliminating the nest is the only sure way to keep ants out of your home!

Search your yard and areas around your home to find entrances to the ant nest(s). If you can locate the nest, you’ll be able to eliminate the pests using one of several recipes, any of which you can pour down the entrance hole(s):

• Pour apple cider vinegar down the next entrance(s).
• Pour a “hot tea”, consisting of the hottest peppers you can find, chopped up and mixed with boiling hot water into the nest entrance(s).
• Flood the ant nest with a garden hose repeatedly. While not likely to kill the queen ant, it may encourage her to relocate the nest. Be persistent, dousing the nest thoroughly every day for a week.
• Natural ant repellents also include spices and plants such as tansy, catmint, peppermint and sage.
• A mixture of baking powder and sugar in equal parts placed around the nest or ant-infested areas will help to discourage their activity.

An ant can lift up to 50 times its body weight, but find the queen ant and her nest ifyou want to rid your home of these hurculean insects!

• If you can’t locate the ant nest, try creating barriers to help keep ants out of your home:
• You can also harvest or purchase any of these plants and place the leaves or flowers in ant-infested areas to repel them or create a barrier to contain them.
• Use vinegar or lemon juice concentrate mixed with water to soak soil or concrete areas where ants may enter your house to create a barrier.
• Talcum powder, chalk dust and diatomaceous earth can be used to form ant barriers.
• Keep ants and other insects out of your home by caulking all cracks, seals, etc. with a quality silicone caulk that will not crack or shrink.

Keeping Ants Away

• Once you eliminate the ant nest(s), keep them from returning. Here are a few methods to keep ants away from your yard and home:
• Mix four ounces each of peanut butter, sugar and boric acid; boric acid is inorganic, but far less toxic than most commercial ant control products. It is also very effective against cockroaches. Put the solution in a container you do not plan to use in the future and place it in any area where ants are a problem, but taking care that pets and kids will not be able to eat it.
• Orange Guard is an effective and safe commercial product that repels and kills ants on contact. Since it is not toxic to humans or pets, you can use it even in the kitchen or outdoor kitchen area where food is prepared.
• Plants such as catnip, pennyroyal, peppermint, sage, and spearmint in your garden will help keep ants away.
• Tansy is a natural ant repellant, mainly against sugar-type ants, which are the most likely to attack your kitchen. Tansy is toxic to many animals, so don’t plant or let it go to seed in livestock fields.
• Spread some ground cinnamon where you think the ants are coming in to the house.(this also works with cinnamon natural essential oils and has the added benefit of making your house smell just delicious.
• Basil repels flies and mosquitoes. To deter ants, use catnip. Sprinkle it in their paths.
• Make a mixture of 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup white vinegar, and 2-3 Tablespoons dish soap. Spray where the ants are marching.