Adding a sliding door can expand a room’s natural view

Installing a patio sliding door where an old patio door blocked the view upgrades your home, improves your quality of life and expands your view of the outdoors. According to the National Glass Association, homeowners want to bring the outside in and the easiest way to do that is with glass sliding patio doors.  If you’re concerned about price, according to Homewyse, the cost to install a sliding door in various zip codes ranges between $420-750. The door itself ranges between $270-$390.[1]

The style of your sliding door says a lot about you. Considering whether you want to install a new sliding door or have it installed is important, but before you put the cart before the horse, consider what’s right for you. Many home specialists advise that it’s a tricky business and a professional will really help. First and foremost, adding this unique feature to your home involves a few decisions. First, do you want to make a traditional choice or a contemporary design choice? Second, what are your glazing options? Third, what type of materials do you choose?

Traditional or contemporary

The biggest influence as to what design you should install is the design of your room. You want to make sure that your final choice is appropriate for the style of your home and compliments the backyard. Most sliding patio doors are sold as a single unit. Some sliding patio doors include more than the standard two panels. There are also sliding patio doors that slide into a wall pocket the size of an entire wall so that it vanishes from view when open.

Glazing Option

Manufacturers that are focused on good craftsmanship and providing quality choices are creating doors on an individual level. There are decorative glass options, including leaded and beveled glass. The sky is the limit since any industry available glass or polycarbonate can be used. Typically, glass is the traditional choice. Glass can be sand blasted, etched or clear without any design. Often, households choose to get low-e glass since it blocks UV sun rays. The low-E glass helps you keep a more consistent room temperature. It can also help you protect your furniture from fading and the damaging effects of the sun.

Materials

Sliding patio doors come in many materials including fiberglass, vinyl, aluminum, steel, wood-clad and wood. Consider the benefits of each before making your final decision.[2]  It’s great that manufacturers often work with homeowners to coordinate their interior features and doors. You can pick oak, maple, cherry and pine from interior hardwood choices. Additionally, households can choose the type of hardware finishes, including stainless nickel, chrome or bronze.

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[1] http://www.homewyse.com/services/cost_to_install_sliding_door.html

[2] http://door-doors.com/sliding-swinging-french-which-patio-door-is-right-for-you/

Door-to-Door salesmen? Before you break ground with a home improvement contractor

Let’s start with a joke I found online, just so that you get the idea!

Derek, the painter, often would thin his paint so it would go further. So when a local church decided to do some deferred maintenance, Derek was able to put in the low bid, and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with turpentine.

One day, while he was up on the scaffolding, the job almost finished, he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened.

The ensuing downpour washed the thinned paint off the church and knocked Derek off his scaffold onto the lawn among the gravestones and puddles of thinned and worthless paint.

Derek knew this was a warning from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?”

And from the thunder, a mighty voice thundered, “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”

Okay, you get it. Maybe you don’t need an act of god to help you, if you do a little shopping around.

There’s no reason to have Derek look at your house as an opportunity to pull out diluted paint and duct tape!

Here are a few tips to seriously consider when your excitement about that great home improvement project consumes you.

1. Be cautious. Be wary of contractors who go door-to-door offering you a discount if you hire them. Be skeptical of offers that sound too good to be true.
2. Become familiar. Become familiar with trusted reliable independent sources that are trusted in the type of home improvement you plan. Don’t just believe salespeople who have a vested interest in selling you something. You can also turn to Consumer Reports, but also remember to look for independent consumer driven organizations that focus on the type of improvement you are planning.
3. Get estimates. Get at least 3 written estimates, especially for a big job. Don’t go for the lowest bidder, because quality work and materials don’t always come at the lowest price.
4. Check license and insurance.  Carefully check the license and proof of insurance. Your own home insurance may have to cover damages caused by a contractor’s mistakes, but often won’t cover costs of poor workmanship. You can also check if the contractor is in good standing by checking with your state’s Home Improvement Commission.
5.  Get it in writing.  Making sure that you have a written contract for your project will save you a lot of time since you can avoid squabbling back and forth on what was and was not agreed to. Don’t waive your rights. Review the contract!

Lighting – wait until the light bulb burns out?

Ever wonder why you bother to upgrade computer hardware and software? Usually you make the investment, because technological advances cause your current system to become obsolete, even before it breaks down. Have you ever considered your lighting system in the same way? Well, often excellent electrical contractors do and you may stand to gain if you do the same.

How can advances in lighting technology have any personal impact on you? For one thing, consider one room in your house and what you use it for. There is no guarantee that the installed lighting system is meeting your needs, especially if you moved into your home and never really considered whether the light is best for the tasks you perform. Maybe you picked your lights because you were trying to create modern or contemporary look, but you weren’t considering everything an electrical contractor may consider important about lights.

Here are a few statements to test your ideas about lighting. Do you agree or disagree with them?

1. Lighting quality in a room is about the quantity of illumination that your lighting system provides.
2. Quantity of light your lighting system provides is the most important consideration.
3. Quality of light can affect productivity and a person’s visual comfort, mood and safety.
4. Factors like color, glare, occupant age, required visual acuity, and time spent performing tasks in a lit room are afterthoughts and you can make up for them with lamps if you don’t know how your current lighting system addresses these.
5. Bad lighting can negatively influence your perception of others in the room.
6. Bad lighting can negatively influence your productivity.
7. Proper lighting influences how long you want to stay in a room.

If you agree with #1, you’re partially correct. According to Thomas E. Glavinich, an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Kansas, lighting quality also helps people perform visual tasks more effectively and efficiently than they would otherwise. If you disagree with #2, you’d be onto something, because it must be the right amount of light. If you agree with #3, good job. If you agree with #4, think again. All of these factors are important considerations and change over time or may never have been addressed in the installation of your lighting system. If you agree with #5, good job. If you agree with #6 and #7, you’ve got some bright ideas and likely are going to walk through your home later today and be a little more mindful of lighting your rooms.  Call an electrical contractor who can help you. You might see your results better!

What are the most important features that you expect if you decide to have wrought iron fencing installed?

Eye-popping, like images that flood our minds from the pages of a Hemingway novel, wrought iron craftsmanship fastens itself in the imagination of a passerby. It’s not surprising that Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West in the 1930s had a wrought iron gate hanging at the side entrance. That gate was being sold on eBay in February of this year, as an aside. “That gate opened and closed for some of the most notable characters that have ever visited Key West,” said Bob Smith, 12 year tour guide at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum.[1]

When I see a beautiful wrought iron fence, I think it adds elegance, class, an impression of stability and timelessness and, ornamentally speaking, a touch of magic. It’s moving beyond functionality. The fence compliments and enhances what lies behind its dark fingers of strong spike tipped posts. It’s like an ornament except that it evokes a feeling of security. A wrought iron fence inspires awe, intrigue and blends mystery with character.

The features that you want in the wrought iron fencing you choose all depend on good craftsmanship. Excellence in craftsmanship is in the eye of the beholder, or is it? I think it comes from the workmanship and is recognized by the beholder. If you’ve ever watched HGTV or listened to “Down and Dirty with Frank Fontana,” you may have heard about ornamental ironworker Fred Gebbia.[2] He thinks that fences “rank somewhere between living objects and works of art, requiring both compassion and attention to bring out their true patina.” He is passionate about fences and takes a lot of pride in what he does, with a devotion to quality. In fact, he searches the country looking for true wrought iron antiques to buy, and has a “warehouse with 20 tons of antique gates, window guards and fence sections.”[3] 

Wrought iron fencing brings a timeless quality to your home. Artisan craftsman Adam Roberts, from Savage, MN thinks that’s true and that people should consider wrought iron, because “there are a lot of options – as far as design and fitting into the style of the home. There’s also the durability factor. Wrought-iron pieces can last for 30 years to a lifetime.”[4] 

Once a passionate high quality professional installs your wrought iron fence, it’s a low maintenance product. The posts may rust eventually and the paint will experience wear and tear. Embedded posts should be treated to resist rust and be well caulked at the seam with the concrete so that they can last a long time. Hire a professional who is passionate about quality and beauty.

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[1] http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/02/01/hemingways-key-west-gate-being-sold-on-ebay/

[2] www.fencedoctorsinc.com

[3] http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120930/entlife/709309999/

[4] http://www.angieslist.com/articles/minneapolis-wrought-iron-expert-discusses-his-trade.htm

How do you know if your tree trimming is satisfactory?

Did you know that some cities fine for improper pruning? I doubt that the Albemarie Road Presbyterian Church will ever forget! In 2011, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina levied $100 per branch fines on the church for excessive pruning. The bill? $4,000. A landscaping parishioner pruned the crape myrtle trees. “We always keep our trees trimmed back because you don’t want to worry about them hanging down in the way. I just couldn’t believe it when I heard about it. We trim our trees back every three years all over our property, and this is the first time we have been fined.”[1] 

Have you heard that in Overland Park, Kansas, a tree trimming company charged a customer $8,000 to remove two trees from her home, and were only chased away from the home after police got involved?[2]

Lessons learned? Hire a certified arborist that knows the difference between necessary and excessive trimming, but make sure you do your homework.

According to several certified arborists, the way to avoid the novice uninformed “tree guy” from doing irreversible damage to your trees is to make sure that you hire a company that is either accredited or certified by the professional societies. There are two worth mentioning. The first is Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA).[3]  The second is the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).[4] They both focus on ethical and safe treatment of your trees while promoting proper care. According to certified arborist Joe Green, the former Roswell, Georgia’s City Arborist, ISA requires 30 hours of training every three years to remain certified and you must document a minimum of 3 years full time experience working in the field prior to certification.[5] You also need to be very current on tree biology so that you can apply that knowledge to planting, pruning and protecting trees.

Certain practices that used to be commonplace are no longer accepted by many arborists. One of these rejected practices is tree topping. It is illegal in some counties. The ISA defines topping as the “indiscriminate cutting of tree branches to stubs or lateral branches that are not large enough to assume the terminal role.” In a tree care information brochure, they assess that topping is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known but despite this it still remains a common practice.[6]  They provide the following reasons: topping stresses trees, causes decay, can lead to sunburn and creates hazards among others.  Another practice to avoid is climbing spikes. Someone who uses climbing spikes is not following industry standards and could do severe damage to the exterior bark of your tree, while also creating entry ways for diseases.[7]  

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[1] http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/05/29/nc-church-fined-4000-for-improper-tree-pruning/

[2] http://www.kshb.com/dpp/money/consumer/call_for_action/tree-trimmers-charge-woman-8000-to-remove-2-trees

[3] http://tcia.org/

[4] http://www.isa-arbor.com/

[5] http://forestry.about.com/od/arboriculture/a/arborist_interview.htm

[6] http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/topping.aspx

[7] http://tcia.org/PDFs/Press%20Release%20Archive/PR_Climbing%20Spurs%20Damage%20Trees.pdf

No closet space, what?

Stories about people living in old houses with no closets or smaller closets abound.  Here are a few that caught my eye.   One family who lives in an old farm house has no closets. They use old metal filing cabinets to store their stuff.[1]   Another story comes from someone who lives in old federal style house and although the room is about 20x15, it has no closet. They rigged up a rod and some boards.[2]  Finally, one guy once lived in a house where one bedroom had such a tiny closet under the attic steps that no one could stand up in it. It even had hooks on the back wall. It wasn’t deep enough for a rod. His parents turned a downstairs sitting room into a bedroom and installed a closet and installed a closet in the biggest bedroom upstairs.[3]

There are reasons for no closet spaces in old houses. One reason that is shared by Nolo’s Real Estate and other realtors is that back in Victorian times and olden times, houses were taxed based on the number of rooms inside of the house and closets were included in the count as separate rooms![4]  So people used wardrobes rather than closets.[5]  

The whole closet issue got me thinking, what can a closet building contractor do to help you?

Have you ever seen this quote:

"If you look at your entire house as one unit of junk, you'll never do anything because the job is too overwhelming. Take it one drawer at a time." Janet Luhrs

Considering one drawer at a time and no closet space, you stand to benefit from a closet building expert for the following reasons. First of all, they have experience with blue prints and building what’s on them. They can provide suggestions that tweak your idea a little bit and improve on it! Usually small-scale jobs aren’t expensive and if you don’t know what you are doing and don’t have much experience, you may end up making costlier mistakes. Why not save on labor time? Finally, a professional will be able to tell you what’s possible in the room you’re considering.[6] Don’t forget that some municipalities require permits.  

A closet installation can become a nightmare if you decide to do it yourself. A professional can help you get the look and feel you want and the project done capably. Check references and insurance. Besides getting recommendations from friends and family, you can check the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).[7] They are dedicated to helping individuals and businesses bring order and efficiency into their lives and their group membership includes approximately 4,000 professional organizers.

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[1] http://kristenmomof3.xanga.com/644626856/old-house-means-no-closets/

[2] http://www.houzz.com/discussions/172744/Old-federal-style-house-with-no-closets-

[3] http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/oldhouse/msg0116021912059.html

[4] http://blog.nolo.com/realestate/2011/06/18/why-older-homes-lack-for-closet-space/

[5] http://activerain.com/action/question/view_question_consumer?question_id=8567

[6] http://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/storage-and-organization/build-a-closet/

[7] http://www.napo.net/who/

Missing Electrical Outlets in your Old House?

Best if wired by a Licensed Electrical Contractor. Let’s just start there.

Q: What's grey, crispy and hangs from the ceiling?

A: An amateur electrician.

Okay, there are lots of amateur electrician jokes like this one.

Old houses weren’t built with the expectation that computers would be as common as dishes in the sink in every household. Not every homeowner bought a home with the experience necessary to make sure that wiring doesn’t create surges, spikes, or damage hardware.

You need to talk to a licensed electrical contractor about your electrical needs in an old house. I need to be a little serious about this. You need to know the proper wiring. You need to be aware that electrical repairs and replacement of wires can require an electrical inspection to avoid any dangerous consequences in the future that were likely unintended, but still preventable at this point. Additionally, local building code authorities need to be complied with and contractors know these like the back of their hands.

The risk of a tragedy is not one you should take, according the Avner Leibovitz, an Ohio electrician. He suggests that to avoid a tragedy, you consult with a trained and professional electrician or electric company.[1] A trained professional won’t scrimp or cut corners. Most importantly they are well versed in safety standards and know that your peace of mind is established when you don’t think that a bad wiring job might lead to you losing your hard-earned possessions or your family. He considers that many bad electrical wiring issues stems from do-it-yourself fixes.

Even do-it-yourselfer websites recommend some prior working knowledge of electrical wiring systems as being necessary since there are a lot of risks.[2]

Why take the risk in the first place? I wouldn’t. A lot of old houses aren’t even wired up to current code specifications. Did I mention that making an AC wiring mistake can kill you?

If you’re thinking about adding electrical outlets, it’s a good time to piggy back that idea onto considering how old your wiring is. According to Timothy Thiele, an IBEW Local #176 Union Electrician, “older knob-and-tube and Romex wiring has a way of becoming brittle. The insulation dries out and starts to crumble, causing the inner wire to become exposed. The cloth insulation around the wire deteriorates with age and eventually becomes unsafe.”[3]

Another consideration to make is that older homes often have electrical fixtures and receptacles that are ungrounded. Although many local codes do not require rewiring, grounding is worth adding because it protects against electrical shock.[4]

If you’re not even sure what older versions of wiring you have, consult with a paid trained professional.

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[1] http://electriccleveland.com/articles/bad-electrical-wiring.php

[2] http://www.buzzle.com/articles/adding-electrical-outlet.html

[3] http://electrical.about.com/od/wiringcircuitry/qt/oldwiringbad.htm

[4] http://inspectapedia.com/electric/Old_House_Wiring.htm