Children’s Swingsets: Tips to Buy & Assemble

Children

Swing sets and spring seem to go together. The box stores assemble and display a swing set near the front of the store and parents buy them. What you might not recognize is just like the candy on display at the grocery store check-out line, these swing sets are often an impulse purchase that maybe needs a little more research before you buy?

When you’re at the store, you only see the physical swing set so it’s hard to imagine exactly where it will go in your yard, and very few yards have a perfectly level space without trees. Instead you... 

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Do You Love Open Floor Plans?

Stairs become part of a home

When you think about an open floor plan, you are likely to think of a kitchen/family room combination and if it has tall ceilings, you might call it a great room. Unbelievably, barns offered the first open floor plans with their post and beam construction allowed large, interior spaces without traditional walls to create separate rooms.

Frank Lloyd Wright introduced the “open plan” concept in the design of his Prairie Houses (beginning in 1900). These houses had extended low buildings with shallow, sloping roofs, overhangs and terraces, and tall windows that connected the home’s interior with the outdoors. Wright was... 

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Build Blocks Teach Building Concepts

Children

When you’re struggling to understand how your home is built, sometimes it’s better to forget the details and go back to the basics. Your home is very complicated but only when you try to absorb all the puzzle pieces together. When you separate out the individual systems and components, it’s a bit easier to learn the basics.

Do you remember building things as a child? Did you enjoy the challenge of balancing building blocks to see how high you could stack the blocks before they’d tumbled down? The reason why we can learn and transfer these concepts is that gravity and... 

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Spring Home Maintenance to Protect Your Home

Wood decks require ongoing maintenance - cleaning, repairs & sealing/staining

The best way to protect your home, which for most homeowners is your largest investment, is to consistently perform routine home maintenance. Next come updates like new counter tops, a bathroom remodel and improvements for energy efficiency like new windows or that side-by-side refrigerator you’ve been wanting for a while.

In years past, it was common for homeowners to move every 5 to 7 years. With the real estate turmoil of the last 5 years (2007 to 2012), people aren’t moving like they used to. The average length of time you’re likely to spend in your home is now over 10... 

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Home Product Labels: Learning to Read Them

You read food labels & now it

We’re used to reading labels on boxes, cans and other packaging at the grocery store. If you’ve bought any home products with an Energy Star label recently, we hope you read the “energy smart” labels as there’s lots of important information to help you make more informed decisions.

When you’re buying a refrigerator, it costs a lot more than your food … and it’s going to be there in your home much longer than a box of cereal or can of soup. The bright yellow, Energy Star labels help you make long term (sometimes up to 20 or 30 year) decisions.... 

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When You Visit Your Unfinished Attic

Attic stairs make it easier to store things in the attic

A few lucky homeowners have finished their attics but most of our attics are unfinished. We use our attics to store things we don’t use very often like holiday decorations, baby gear and furniture we’re not using. The space doesn’t cost anything so we carry stuff up there all the time, often forgetting what’s there.

That’s why we wanted to give you some tips on how to store things safely and how to label things so you can find things quickly and safely. We also want to encourage you to inspect your attic for signs of problems each time you... 

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Lightbulb (Incandescent, CFL & LEDs) Update

CFLs are the optimal lighting solution today until LED costs come down

Can you remember when gas cost less than $1.00 per gallon? It wasn’t until the oil embargo in 1973 that Congress first set fuel efficiency standards and that forced dramatic improvements that started to take effect by the mid 1980s (read Time Magazine’s, A Brief History Of: Fuel Efficiency to learn more).

We’re finding new ways to squeeze oil from the earth but with global population growth there aren’t enough fossil fuels to meet everyone’s needs. Americans consume almost 5 times the global average per capital non-food energy (from Paul Chefurka’s World Energy and Population Trends to 2100) so it’s time... 

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Home with the Groundhog

Groundhogs like their homes and we home you like your house too

Weather patterns are changing and it’s hard to know how to prepare our homes for every possible emergency like the tornadoes, earthquakes, flooding and heat waves we had last year.

Today is weather related, but it’s a fun reminder of the changing seasons, so relax and smile as there’s nothing (yes nothing) you need to do. It’s simply February 2nd which means it is Groundhog Day!

According to folklore, we’re supposed to watch to see how the groundhog reacts when he comes out of his home … like his fancy front door?. When our local groundhog comes out of his home today,... 

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Windows: Repair, Replace, Other Choices?

Windows need inspection & repairs on an ongoing basis to keep them airtight

Do you have a favorite room in the house? Curious if you also like spending time there at a certain time of day, and if your choice is based on sunlight streaming into the room to brighten your day? Windows are really one of today’s modern treasures as they let us visually enjoy natural sunlight and views of the area around our homes, they’re our eyes to the world beyond!

When people talk about curb appeal, they start with the front door but consider your windows — they have great visual impact on the overall appearance of your house so you... 

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Making Our Homes More Airtight

Many types of insulation to pick from

As energy costs rise, there’s a lot more focus on making our homes more airtight to reduce energy consumption.You can save money when your heating and air conditioning systems run less. At the same time you’ll need to use mechanical ventilation similar to your kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans, to remove stale air and replace it with fresh air from outside.

You’re going to start hearing more about Indoor Air Quality or IAQ. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineering (ASHRAE) is the organization identified most often with respect to air quality. The first term you’ll want to get... 

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