2016

Fireplaces are popular for two main reasons. First, they provide a certain ambiance. Second, they provide heat for a home. Many people with fireplaces are now getting fireplace inserts, but there are a few things that should be taken into consideration before doing so. Inserts Versus Fireplaces With a fireplace, up to 90 percent of the heat that's produced ends up going up the chimney. A fireplace insert helps to prevent this and make the fireplace more efficient overall, with potential energy savings of anywhere between 10 and 40 percent depending on the insert chosen.

Buying your first home is an exciting process and gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment. However, home ownership comes with a lot of responsibility. You need to maintain your home and property so it looks nice and holds its value. If you've never cared for a yard before, you'll need to invest in some yard tools. Besides a lawn mower, a leaf blower is one of the most useful tools you can own.

If you found that your central air conditioner's evaporator had dripped water on your furnace, leaving behind unsightly corrosion from this condensation, you will want to take the appropriate steps in removing it in its entirety. The first step would be to stop moisture from accumulating in this area. This will require a call to an air conditioning repair service. When they have finished their repair work, the corrosion left behind will be your problem to clean up.

Even for adults, the world can get scary when the lights go out. After all, it seems like they do so right after you have watched a scary movie or seen some frightening stories on the news. Often, you are not prepared for this occurrence, even though it tends to happen several times a year. After powerful storms, the power can be out for days. This year, it's time to get serious about emergency power solutions for your home so that you never have to live in the dark again.

If you are renovating your home's guestroom to provide your grandchild with a comfortable and attractive sleeping area when they visit, enhance the drapes that cover the windows with a child-themed design. Add felt-backed pieces that depict some of your grandchild's favorite cartoon characters by completing the following steps. The designs can be attached with self-adhesive hook and loop fasteners and removed quickly whenever the drapes need to be laundered or if you would like to add another design to the drapes.

At one time, wallpaper could be found plastered on at least one wall in whatever home you visited. Even though wallpaper may not be as popular as it once was, it is definitely still around and an easy way to add a little personality to a space. You may even have a few leftover rolls tucked away in your attic or garage. Before you haul that old wallpaper out to the curb or donate it to the secondhand store, you should know that wallpaper can be useful for way more than just covering walls.

The fencing you have installed on your property can make a big difference to your neighbors, especially since the fencing may run alongside their property. While you should be choosing fencing with mainly your own needs in mind, it doesn't hurt to also think about what your neighbors may like. With this in mind, you can look into what can help make sure that your neighbors are satisfied with the new fencing you have installed as well so there won't be any confrontations with your neighbors over the installation.

If you are considering adding stone features to your indoor or outdoor living areas, you should consider using artificial stone in place of natural stone. Besides presenting an extremely realistic appearance, artificial stone has many advantages over its natural counterpart -- following are just three of the excellent reasons why you should choose artificial stone products. Artificial Stone Provides Good Quality  The appearance and texture of natural stone has often been negatively affected by adverse climate conditions as well as by the natural erosion process.

The installation of lawn sprinklers will help your grass look its best—and prevent you from having to waste time watering the grass manually each evening throughout the summer. Given that installing lawn sprinklers can be a complicated task, it's best to leave this job to a trained professional. Look up sprinkler contractors in your city who specialize in residential jobs and then call a few of these experts to discuss your yard, the style of sprinklers you want and get a price estimate.

Moving is not something that you want to handle lackadaisically as it could lead to an injury or the damaging of your possessions. Also, while your kids may want to help out with the move, you should not give them just any task as they may not have the strength nor understanding to handle certain things. For instance, it is best not to put them in charge of securing fragile items as they may not know exactly how much newspaper or padding is needed to securely protect something that is delicate.

If you're planning your garden for the rest of this year, wildflowers are a suitable choice for beds, accents, and otherwise unused corners. The flowers add lots of color and don't take up a lot of water. However, as pretty as random seed mixes can be, they can become fairly uninteresting if you use the same ones year after year. This year, try planting some wildflower patches with specific themes. Here are three variations of seed mixes that you might want to plant now.

Heavy wind and rain can cause debris to fall from trees and clog the gutter system that is attached to your home. Inclement weather may also result in small cracks forming in sections of the system. It this occurs, water may drip from the damaged sections and form puddles close to your home. Learn how to clean the gutter system's interior and patch cracks by completing the following steps so that the system operates properly and deposits water away from your home's exterior.

When you see that your trash has been rummaged through and your garden has been ransacked, there is a good chance you've had a raccoon visit your property. Raccoons are very adaptable and can be found in both rural and urban areas, although they prefer wooded areas with plenty of food and water. Typically, you will find an abundance of raccoons around wooded areas, but they aren't usually the type of animal that likes to hide out.