Water Damage: Corner Boards (Part 3)

Corner Board #1

Typically a handyman focuses on making the repairs a customer requests. With blogging, there is a new dimension as I’m stitching together small stories of our work, that in fact start to present a bigger picture when you look at all the parts.

This is part 3 in a series about the places on a home’s exterior that suffer the most water damage. What are common threads between these elements of exterior home trim? They’re more vulnerable to the elements because they stick out further than the siding or other other components next to them.

The real story behind these (photos below)... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Water Damage: Window Trim (Part 2)

Window Sill BEFORE

Continuing our series on common water damage problems faced by homeowners, we next look at windows. My theory is we see window problems more frequently as they are difficult to paint, and paint is what protects them from water damage.

Unfortunately many homeowners put off the task tooo long. What might have been an easy repair, becomes very costly when multiple windows have to be replaced as the photos below illustrate. The water only needs to penetrate through the protective paint to start the rotting process. It continues, extending in all directions invisible to a visual inspection. The best way to... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Water Damage: Wood Trim Below Roof (Part 1)

Soffit BEFORE Repairs

Most homeowners don’t realize how critical it is to paint your home’s exterior on a regular basis. Any time you see cracks or other surface problems, your home becomes vulnerable to water damage that can extend beneath the paint surface without being visible. I like to tell homeowners, paint isn’t about being pretty, paint protects exterior wood from the elements.

Water Damage Before & After Photos (1st in Series)

This is the first post sharing BEFORE and AFTER photos of common repairs done by Mr/My Handyman. The series will cover the most common exterior wood rot problems.

Here we are repairing the soffit,... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Kitchen Designs That Can Change Your Life

Kitchen Lifestyles

Most home owners are familiar with the kitchen triangle. The concept dates back to the 1950s and was based on a study to find the most practical kitchen design for a 4 person home. The kitchen triangle is a triangle connecting the 3 critical work areas in a kitchen, the sink, stove and refrigerator (diagrams illustrating the kitchen triangles).

Kitchen Lifestyles

Our lives have changed dramatically since the 1950s, and so have kitchen designs. We have more appliances (dishwashers, microwaves, food processors, etc.). Families are spending a lot more time in the kitchen and it’s not just to prepare meals and... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Seniors: What They Want in a Home

Grandpa with Kids

You may wonder where I get my ideas. Sometimes I stumble on them. I googled “energy and age of house,” to learn the percentage of homes built before home construction improved with 2 x 6 walls which enable more insulation.

Grandpa with Kids

What I found was some great information about seniors, what’s important to them so I decided to share with you. The article’s name is inspiring, Features of the Age-Proof House. Seniors are staying in their homes longer than even twenty years ago. They used to sell their homes as they retired, around age 65. Now seniors are buying... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Who’s Insurance Covers Burst Pipes?

I just shared a story about a friend who’s pipes burst and another post shows how to protect pipes in cold weather. This friend lives in another state but recognizes that I have a broad base of knowledge about construction, homes, common problems and he hoped I could help him with some insight into the tangled web of insurance claims.

You see the furnace was only 3 months old so anyone would assume it was under warranty. The company who installed the furnace had to make several trips to the home to identify the problem(s), ordered parts and ultimately installed everything... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Ceiling Fans – Using Them in the Winter?

Installing Ceiling Fan

Installing Ceiling Fan

Most people use ceiling fans in the summer, creating a downdraft that causes a wind-chill effect. The skin evaporates slight amounts of water from the sweat glands, providing cooling through the skin’s surface. The air is only moved, not cooled so you want to turn the fan off when there are no people in the room. You may find you can lower your thermostat down a degree or two to save on energy costs.

Air settles in layers with the warmest air at the top of a room. In the winter, ceiling fans can run counterclockwise to redirect... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Wasting Energy: Learn How to Save Energy & Money

Time Magazine recently published an interesting article, Wasting Our Watts. Here are the key messages from this article.

Available immediately, surprisingly abundant

=========================

A simple concept, Waste Less Energy

… or “more precisely, consuming less energy to get the same amount of heat for your shower, lights for your office and power for your factory. It turns out to be much less expensive, destructive and time-intensive to reduce demand through efficiency than to increase supply through new drilling or new power plants.”

Here are the key points I took away from this article:

Without the energy saving measures taken after the 1973 energy crisis, the... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Tips for Recycling CFL Bulbs

Compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs are gaining in popularity as they use 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs. It is also easy to convert to CFLs. You simply replace old light bulbs in your existing light fixtures, with new CFLs.

However CFLs contain mercury which makes their disposal more challenging. Home Depot has announced a CFL recycling program. Bring unbroken CFLs in a plastic bag and place in one of the designated brigh orange collection units. Home Depot will coordinate the packaging, transportation and recycling of your CFLs.

To clean up a broken florescent bulb (EPA recommended steps):

Before cleaning up,... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Energy Vampires: Learn How to Identify & Tame Them

Vampire Bats

Vampire ENERGY

Vampire energy is a new term I learned today. I admit I knew the concept but like most Americans, I haven’t made the effort to conserve energy like I should. So what is it?

Vampire energy is the energy used by things 24 hours a day, even when they are turned off or aren’t being used. You may not realize that TVs, VCRs, DVD players, computers/printers, stereos, microwaves, coffee machines, washers/dryers, rechargeable power tools, etc use vampire energy. You think you’ve turned them off, but they are still using power.

We think the TV remote saves us energy but it... 

Read full story Comments { 0 }