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LOS ANGELES, Calif. (May 5, 2010) – In response to the heavy rains and devastating floods in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi over the weekend, ConstructionDeal.com is opening a special toll free hotline to help homeowners in affected areas find home restoration help. As the flood waters recede, and the evacuated return home, people are going to need to rebuild and ConstructionDeal.com wants to make it easy for them to find flood damage professionals at no cost. "ConstructionDeal.com matches homeowners to home improvement and repair contractors online, but our concern was that people...
Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care. Founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872, it's celebrated on the last Friday in April. So, today would be a good day to plant a tree and help the planet. Do you have any great stories about growing up where a tree was a big part of your life? When I was kid, there were 4 big trees in my backyard. But one of them was perfect for climbing. It was a big maple with a lot of great horizontal branches. I would actually climb it all the way close to the top. High enough where the top branch would lean and sway when I...
Need to sell your house? Sometimes just having a real estate agent is not enough. Even with the best agent, you're not their only priority so it can help to help out the agent. It will require doing some homework but it can pay off big time when you sell closer to your asking price. Provide the agent with a powerful portfolio of information, if you can. The agent can show these things to potential buyers: Before and After pictures of any renovation or home repair work Receipts showing new products and materials that were installed in your house (especially the things not readily visible like...
Holly with Taylor'd Home Improvements, a remodeling contractor in the Champaign Illinois, had some great advice for people using online resources like those here at ConstructionDeal.com. "Maybe you have seen advertisements for websites that help you find contractors? They are all over the web when you start your search for home improvement contractors and they are even advertising on TV. Well, I am a member and I want to tell you a little about your possible experience should you choose to look online for contractors. First of all, it is free to use. You sign up, enter a little information ab...
Homeowners in the US are willing to pay more for a variety of products that are environmentally friendly, or “green,” and 90% say they have incorporated some level of “greenness” into their daily lives,according to a survey by Burst Media conducted in late 2009. Though a relatively small percentage (8.8%) consider themselves to be 100% green, most are aspirationally green, having incorporated at least a few environmentally friendly behaviors into their daily life, the study found. Green Homeowners Willing to Pay Premium Prices The survey also revealed that homeowners a...
I was just reading about a recent survey that surprised me. In it, they asked homeowners what type of siding they preferred on their house. They could choose from vinyl, brick, stucco, fiber cement/composite, and other. By a strong majority (2 out of every 3) they preferred brick as the siding material of choice. Vinyl and stucco were the next popular choices. Brick siding is a great material for you home, depending on where you live. It's a great insulation product, it's durable, and if installed right doesn't require a lot of maintenance. If you had to replace your siding? What would be your...
Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories... But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempte...
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. - Erma Bombeck
Have a happy and safe Halloween. Remember that Trick or Treaters are starting on Thursday night so be careful when you're driving around!
I had to turn my heat on yesterday. It dipped down to 47 degrees at night. This can only mean one thing - Old Man Winter is right around the corner. So, it's time to start prepping my house for cold weather. And, trust me, it's easier to do it now than when it's really cold outside and you're trying to fix things. Here's a list of things you can do to save money on your utility bills and be more comfortable this winter. Seal It Up Check your windows or doors for gaps, holes, cracks in the weatherstripping. When your warm air can find a way out, it will. Close the gaps with new weaterstripping...
Have you got something attached to wood with a screw in your house and it won't stay tight? It could be a hinge in a door jamb or a handle on a cabinet drawer. You pull out your screwdriver and try to tighten it up but it keeps spinning, or worse... it falls right back out. What's happened is that you've stripped the soft wood over time and the screw is now actually too small for the expanded hole. There's a solution to this problem and it doesn't involve replacing the fixture, using a larger screw, or buying an expensive tool. What you're going to do is, basically, add more wood to the hole. ...
Everyone has at least one room in their house that was stuffed into their home and is really very small. Or, the whole house may be small and you would love to open it up and make it larger. But... a room addition or expansion just isn't in the budget. There are ways to make those small rooms look larger, without knocking out a wall. You remember optical illusions? They're pictures that fool your eyes. They make you see something not there, or make two objects that are the same length look like one is longer than the other. The reason why optical illusions work is because the human eye can be ...
As we all know, everyone wants to improve the value of their home. For most, it's their biggest investment ever. I've already discussed Idea One and Idea Two. Check those out, when you get a chance. Idea Number Three: Curb Appeal. We've all heard the term but what is curb appeal? Basically, it means the exterior of your home. What people see when they're driving by your house. The old phrase, you never get a second chance to make a first impression seems to have been created for your home's curb appeal. It's the first thing a prospective buyer sees when they roll up to your house. And even if ...
According to Kitchen & Bath Design magazine, the hot new trends for designers is to maximize storage in their clients' kitchens. It makes sense that every homeowners would want to have more space, but many are caught up in the idea of new appliances, a granite countertop, and new cabinets. Here are their thoughts on the hot new storage trends for today's kitchens: "With more and more consumers looking to beautify their kitchens without expanding the square footage, space saving accessories and luxury amenities become more important than ever. Whether it's interior fittings that maximize ev...
Idea Number Two: One trend that has continued to grow and thrive, despite the down economy and falling home values, is the "green renovation" movement. People are doing things to make their homes more energy efficient and safer to live in. If you're planning on selling, or just want to pump up the value of your house, doing large or even small green remodeling projects can make a difference when setting your home apart from your neighbors. Energy prices are really not going to fall dramatically ever again. If you've renovated your home using green techniques, materials, and products, you're go...
Idea Number One: The two most important rooms in your house are the kitchen and the bathrooms. Whether you want to sell your home, or you simply want to improve your home's overall value, these are the two places that a renovation project can do the most good. They also can be two of the most expensive projects you'll undertake, if you plan on a complete remodel. But let's start with the bathroom. Like electrical outlets, you can never have enough bathrooms. Adding another bathroom to a home that only has one will always have an immediate and positive effect. Keep in mind that a bathroom addit...
If you're installing hardwood floors in your home, it's very important you let your floor acclimate, or adjust, to the temperature and humidity levels in your home. Why? Because wood tends to contract and expand, depending on changes in temperature and moisture levels in the air. It's okay that the wood flooring does this. But you have to make sure it's installed the right way or you'll end up with big problems. If you install a wood floor straight out of the box that has been sitting in a warehouse for weeks or months, you may end up wasting a lot of time and money. For example, if the wood ...
When installing crown molding, baseboards, wainscotting and door or window trim, your angles are very important. Without the right angles, your pieces won't connect and you'll have a very unprofessional result. There will be gaps, overlaps and other problems. The mistake most people make is to assume, and cut, a forty-five degree angle in every situation. And that's where you run into trouble. The problem that most house interiors have is that there generally are no straight lines. Even on a brand new house, you'll find bowed walls with some sort of curve or irregularity. Starting out with a f...