Adding Value to Your Home…

For the thousands of home-owners with “for sale” signs in their yards, what thay make on the sale can come down to proper improvement projects. Homeowners should focus their time and money on the these five simple projects to add max value to their home before selling.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a big impact on the value of their home (prior to sale) with some simple, inexpensive upgrades and touch-ups. The key is to make your dollars work the hardest in the right areas. The are the 5 top Read the rest of this entry  

Hey if saving water in our homes was easy we’d all be doing it, but apathy sets in and we do nothing.

Well now saving water in your home is something you can mark off your list. If you know what to do it is easy, and it does not take much time.

Starting with the kitchen:

Learn More… Read the rest of this entry  

There is nothing you possess that expresses your individual style more than your home. Whether it’s classy and sophisticated, modern and contemporary, traditional and warm, or rustic and casual, your home is an extension of your personality, and the items you select to fill your home are a reflection of you. Even though you want to select unique products for your home, you also want to select elements that offer real value, and will adapt easily to different decorating styles.

Real wood flooring could be just the ticket!

Real wood floors are a decorating element that coordinates with any decor, and a recent study conducted by the National Wood Flooring Association with interior designers across the nation confirms this. Of the designers surveyed, 96% agreed that wood floors work with many decorating styles, 94% agreed they add value to a home, 92% agreed they are warmer that other flooring options, and 88% agreed they are hypo-allergenic. In addition, more than three-fourths agreed that wood floors are environmentally friendly, easy to maintain, and easy to make look like new. When you add to this the fact that wood floors will last a lifetime, they become a real value as well.

There is no doubt that real wood floors have a lot to offer — beauty, style, durability — which is likely why more than half of the interior designers surveyed recommend hardwood floors, or a combination of hardwood and other flooring materials, such as stone, to their clients. With its versatility and eco-friendly attributes, wood floors offer real long-term value, no matter what your decorating style.

To find out more about the benefits of wood floors, visit the NWFA’s consumer web site at All About Wood Floors.

Just 50 days until hurricane season, the Institute for Business & Home Safety has outlined five ways to better protect homes from damaging wind and rain.

1. Shutter all openings
2. Secure loose roof shingles
3. Seal openings, cracks and holes
4. Strengthen soffits
5. Survey surroundings

1-Shutter all openings

The most important thing you can do to improve the chance your home will survive a hurricane is to protect all windows and doors. The range of products on the market today means it’s easier to find protection that fits your budget. Whatever you choose, make sure the product has the proper approvals for wind pressure and large-missile impact. If it’s not a permanent product, install permanent fasteners ahead of time so installation is easier when storms threaten. Gable end vents can be shuttered as if they were a window. Garage door companies have bracing systems available for about $400 that should work for most door styles.

2-Secure loose roof shingles

Keeping shingles attached is critical to protecting your house. If the edge shingles are not well fastened or extend beyond the drip edge more than a 1/4″, high wind can lift them off and create a peeling process or domino effect. If they come up without much effort (older shingles become brittle and may crack when bent too much), secure them with three one-inch dabs of roofing cement under each tab.

3-Seal openings, cracks and holes

Water can invade homes in a number of ways, especially when it’s being blown horizontally. The problem is compounded if there’s a loss of power and air conditioners or dehumidifiers are unable to dry things out. Fill holes where wires, cables and pipes enter and exit the house and seal around electrical boxes and circuit breaker panels. Seal cracks around wall outlets, dryer vents, bathroom and kitchen vents, and wall lights.

4-Strengthen soffits (the material covering the underside of your roof overhang)

Keeping soffits in place can help keep water out of your house. Some have wood supports but the soffit material is not adequately fastened to the wood or there is no wood backing and the vinyl or aluminum channels are stapled or nailed to the wall. If there are wood supports, secure soffit material with sharp-pointed stainless steel screws. If the channels are just nailed to the wall, you can use polyurethane caulk to seal the channel to the wall and tie the parts together.

5-Survey surroundings and limit potential flying debris

Limiting possible sources of wind-borne debris before a storm will help protect your home and those around you. Replace gravel/rock landscaping materials with shredded bark. Limit yard objects. Keep trees and shrubbery trimmed. Cut weak branches.

For more information you may want to see the Disaster Safety Site.

Check the aisles of local home improvement stores and you may be surprised to see more women than men shopping for kitchen sinks, flooring and even chainsaws. According to industry experts, women’s buying power is increasing in the home improvement sector, particularly in the outdoor power equipment market.

According to an independent consumer survey by Troy-Bilt(R), a leading manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, women are influencing 44 percent of all outdoor power equipment purchases - 21 percent of all outdoor power equipment is purchased by women and another 23 percent is purchased by men and women together. Outdoor power equipment ranges from trimmers to chain saws and blowers.

For some reason, women tend to view the backyard as an extension of the living room and feel it should be an ideal haven. We saw one case where the back yard improvements cost almost 1/2 what the home did. Women will take on projects to turn the space into their ideal outdoor haven.

Women’s purchasing power and decision-making authority have significantly increased over the last decade and manufacturers nationwide are responding with revamped products to fit their needs. This includes the home area of improvement and remodeling.

For power products there are a few product features on the market today with women in mind:

• Easy to start - Avoid the aggravation by purchasing products that offer an advanced starting system and take less muscle to get the engines roaring. For example, there are lawn mowers that start with a push of a button and trimmers that have spring-starting assistance that reduces pulling resistance by up to 55 percent.
• Lightweight - Whether you’re planting new flowers or treating the lawn for weeds, gardening can be an exhausting task. To ease the pain, manufacturers are introducing smaller or portable versions of their most popular products that are often less than half the weight of their counterparts. For example, this year, Troy-Bilt introduced an edger weighing less than 25 lbs., making it simple to maneuver and easy to store.
• Versatile - Research shows women today are multi-taskers and are seeking innovation plus convenience to meet their busy schedules. To meet this demand, many products have interchangeable parts that allow gardeners to tackle more than one task. For example, a full-line of Troy-Bilt’s string trimmers, including the TB575SS, has the ability to accept eight interchangeable attachments, making it a snap to edge, cut, trim and blow.
• Environmentally friendly - Most outdoor power equipment features a two-cycle engine that requires the hassle of mixing oil and gas. Many products are now offering a four-cycle engine. It eliminates the need to mix gas and oil, cuts emissions by 50 percent and offers 30 percent greater fuel efficiency.

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As people get older there is more time to really enjoy the homes they have built for themselves. Kids have grown and moved away, and being physically comfortable has, perhaps, become more important than it has ever been before. Knowing that aging eyes need a better kind of light and more of it to be comfortable, remodeling the lighting in your home improves comfort threefold, according to the American Lighting Association.

From function to design, lighting affects everything. A room’s appearance and feel, highlights and accents, and utility and cost are all important in considering how our home’s lighting affects how we live. When contemplating a renovation, consider how lighting renewal can transform your eyesight, living space and energy consumption.

People are seeking decorative ways to direct light exactly where it is needed and still conserve energy. Read the rest of this entry  

Storm Depot announced that it has alrady opened its first Retail Hurricane Protection Outlet in Jensen Beach, Florida. The store is the first of a planned 12-store chain to be in place before the start of the 2007 Hurricane season. The company stated that its planned stores will be located through out the Treasure Coast, encompassing Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties, and will also be located in Palm Beach County. The 12 stores will sell a wide selection of hurricane shutters, hardware and related materials, which are all approved under the Florida Building Code. Look for this to spread throughout the gulf coast.

Each store is expected to contribute $550,000-$900,000 in revenue. The company stated that each store will offer installation services through licensed professionals.

Hurricane season starts June 1 and ends November 30 with the peak of the season being the August - September period. CSU Department of Atmospheric Science issued his first forecast for 2007 on December 8, 2006. The forecast calls for an above average hurricane season with 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes with 3-4 being intense hurricanes. They have also called for a 25% higher chance of landfall occurring in Florida than the historical average. According to the University of Colorado’s Forecast team, 2007 will be an above average year for hurricane activity. Their report states, “We foresee an above-average Atlantic basin tropical cyclone season in 2007. We anticipate an above-average probability of United States major hurricane landfall.”

A recent home buyer survey finds a high rate of customer satisfaction among those who have purchased green homes or remodeled their home green — and that 63 percent of buyers are motivated by the lower operating and maintenance costs that come with energy and resource efficient green homes.

NAHB and McGraw-Hill Construction, which conducted the research, released preliminary results of the findings at the 9th Annual National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Conference in St. Louis. It represents the first time the true green home market has been sized, screening out green homeowners from a representative panel of U.S. homeowners.

Homeowners are syaing they are extremely happy with their investments, with 85 percent saying they are more satisfied with their new green homes than with their previous, more traditionally built homes.

Officials are happy that this new research quantifies this customer satisfaction, but are not overly surprised. The NAHB and its members have been leaders in the voluntary movement to increase the efficiency and quality of homes in America. This suggests that “green home” market share wil continue to grow.”

The new survey also backs up recent finding by the NAHB Economics staff that interest in green remodeling continues to grow: About 40 percent of those who have recently completed home remodeling or renovation work in their homes reported that they used green products or materials, the McGraw-Hill Construction research found.

Last year it was estimated that 2 percent — or $7.4 billion — of the residential construction market contained green building elements, such as energy efficient windows. According to this new research, 0.3 percent of all existing United States homes are truly green, constructed using several different green building design features and products, a market sized at approximately $2 billion.

Officials said it’s interesting that people are really starting to commit to building green homes, moving away from just adding energy efficient appliances. It’s still a small number, but home builders and remodelers are already getting it when it comes to the value of green homes, and it appears homeowners are too.

The research also found that:

— The new green homeowner is affluent and well educated, in his/her mid
forties and married, and also more likely to be from the Southern or
Western states. Women are also more likely to be green homeowners.

— 63 percent report lower operating and maintenance costs as the key
motivation behind buying a green home. Additionally, nearly 50
percent said they are motivated by environmental concerns and their
family’s health.

— More than 60 percent of those surveyed say that consumer awareness,
additional costs and the limited availability of homes are obstacles
to green homes gaining a bigger market share. However, when looking
at the “biggest” obstacles, green homeowners view education as the
biggest hurdle to overcome.

Spring is here, and so is the potential for accidents as customers begin their spring cleaning, outdoor landscaping and home improvement projects. Be safe, especially while working outdoors near utility power equipment.

For residents considering roof repairs, exterior painting, landscaping or building a patio, following a few simple precautions can help avoid an accident:

Working Safely Outdoors
* Be sure to use extension cords marked for outdoor use. An indoor
extension cord used outdoors can result in electric shock or cause a
fire hazard.
* Call a licensed professional if your home repairs require work near
power lines.
* Look up, stay away, stay alive — even momentary contact with electric
lines can injure or kill. This applies to lines attached to utility
poles as well as those entering buildings. Always keep yourself, your
equipment, and anything you carry at least 10 feet away from power
lines. Contractors and other professionals needing to work within 10
feet of a power line should call 215-841-4000 in advance to make
arrangements to have PECO protect the work area. Be aware of power
lines that run through tree limbs and branches. Climbing or trimming
trees near power lines is dangerous. Trees located near aerial power
lines should always be trimmed by a qualified contractor.

When working underground, customers should call before they dig, especially when planting trees, building a fence or laying a foundation. Call three business days before beginning a project that involves digging. Professionals will then come out to locate and mark all underground facilities. The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) recently approved the use of 8-1-1 as a national abbreviated telephone number for commercial and residential customers to use to provide advanced notice of excavating activities.

Inspect Your Home for Electrical Safety
* Check outlets and extension cords to make sure they aren’t overloaded.
* Examine electrical cords to make sure they are not frayed, damaged or
placed under rugs or carpets.
* Make sure the proper watt light bulbs are being used in light fixtures
and lamps.
* Install ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) in areas that can get
wet such as the kitchen, bathrooms or outdoors.
* An older home may be inadequately wired for today’s electrical usage,
so to avoid the risk of fire or electric shock, hire a licensed
professional to replace worn and outdated circuitry and add additional
outlets to accommodate appliances and electronics.
* Test smoke detector batteries annually.

Use Electrical Tools Wisely
* Inspect electrical tools on a regular basis, including large tools such
as table saws, drill presses and bench grinders. Look for frayed power
cords, broken plugs or cracked housings. Never use a damaged product.
* Never use electrical tools in the rain or in wet areas. Specifically,
do not use electrically powered lawn mowers on wet grass.
* Use three-pronged outlets and plugs.
* Always wear appropriate personal protective equipment like face
shields, glasses, gloves and boots. Refer to the owner’s manual for
recommended protective equipment.

LED Lighting Fixtures, Inc recently announced that it [the company] has been chosen exclusively to provide all LED recessed downlight fixtures for Loyd Builders in North Carolina. This marks a new beginning for LED home lighting as a well respected custom home builder strives to use the best possible products available on the market.

LLF has recently accepted the company’s first order for LED downlight products from this builder and is excited to participate in the high-end custom home market. High-end in this case is in a price range of $500,000 to $2,000,000, but look for this trend to filter down into more moderately priced homes as well.