Building Projects With Treated Wood - Home Remodeling Ideas

Building with treated wood and the idea that this project will last forever because of the wood you used is not necessarily true. Over the years I have seen contractors and homeowners use treated wood for projects like building decks with this idea in mind.

I just met with a homeowner that was asking me about vinyl fencing. The homeowner approached me with some facts about vinyl fencing. She started to explain to me how long a vinyl fence would last verses a wood fence. I reminded her that the vinyl posts usually slip over metal or wood building materials.

She proceeded to inform me that treated wood will last a lot longer than wood used when building a wooden fence. It took me a while to change her mind and reprogram her with a few picture this from my website. I know this is hard to imagine but wood rots and steel rust.

All you end up with is a vinyl fence that is in pretty good shape if taken care of properly laying down in your yard with broken or rusted fence posts.

Do you know that some people use treated wood for countertops and food preparation areas when building certain projects like an outdoor barbecue? Do you know people build outdoor furniture with treated wood and then sit in it with a chance of toxic chemicals entering into your body? This is where Redwood comes in as a natural building product or other nice looking woods. Redwood is classified as a softwood and if used for a countertop and a barbecue kitchen area you will have to protect it from heavy pans and people using the countertop for a cutting board.

Do not use treated wood for a projects that will be used for food preparation later.

It's a good idea to wash your hands after handling treated lumber. It's a really good idea to wash your hands after using treated lumber if you are going to eat something or make something for another person or yourself.

For all the homeowners and building contractors that use treated wood and bury it in dirt. Or build a low lying deck right above the ground I would like to share something with you. I have been repairing and replacing your work for over 30 years now. You guys keep me busy and I want to thank you for all the years you guys have been in business.

I still can't believe the amount of work I see being done using treated wood with the illusion that it will last longer than regular construction standard wood. I don't know how else to put it except to say treated wood will rot fast in the right conditions.

Treated wood does need to be protected from rain, snow, heat and other elements of the weather. It cannot sit in the dirt or lay in water for long periods of time without slowly disintegrating. Oh yeah one more thing termites will eat sections of the wood that is not completely treated.

Use treated wood properly when building and inform other people about some of the stuff you learned in this article. Reread this article later and save it for the future.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and Vista Structural Home Repairs

Rafters Sitting On Garage Beam

Follow Your Instincts When Looking For a Contractor

One of the most popular search terms on the Internet is the word "contractor." People are searching on how to find good ones, recommendations, reviews, and information to back up who the contractors actually say they are. The largest global topic about contractors is "how do I find a good one?"

If you're looking for a contractor, or have recommendations or names, the first step in getting to know someone who's going to be doing work in your home is to call them.

When you call them, set up a sit down conversation about your project. Remind them to bring their license numbers and credentials. Having them provide pictures of past jobs only helps you to see their individual style and how it might coincide with yours. This first meeting is for them to get an idea of the job and for you to feel out your reactions to them being in the home.

My first rule with this is simple: Trust your gut.

If you get a funny feeling having the person in the home, most likely it's not someone you're going to trust to have there and in the long term this can and will cause problems. Not only will they feel like you're trying to "watch their every move" through the whole project, you'll be uncomfortable with the whole process. Avoid this at the beginning, smile and nod, and kindly say "I don't think we're going to be a match."

Second rule: Once you find a contractor you get along with check their license number against the state records.

Simply put, there are many capable people out there who are trained to do your home improvement job the right way. There are also many capable people who don't really follow the rules. To further narrow down the field of people you're going to let do work in your home, compare their contractor license number against state records.

You can easily do this on most State's Public Safety Department websites as well as over the phone. This information will let you know who's up to date, keeping certified and if "everything is in order." Not to say that people who are carrying out of date license numbers are bad, but it means that the state won't protect you against something that goes wrong in the case that something does in deed go "off-plan".

Always trust your gut and always check the information they give you. Just two ways to keep yourself protected, prepared and on your way to finding the right contractor for your job.

Jacob Lee - pioneer basement
http://www.pioneerbasement.com

Leveling Your Floor - Home Repair Tips

If you've ever been in a building where you feel like you are getting pushed to one side and you can't seem to stand up. You have either been drinking too much alcohol or the floor could be sloping. I was just in a store the other day that was full of antiques and glass but I could hardly stand up because the floor was sloping enough to create what I would consider a liability issue to the store owner.

Sloping floors are not going to be that easy to fix and repair. Repairing these floors will require a little skill and it would be a good idea to hire a professional to repair the damage. This is not going to be a simple fix and this is probably the main reason most people never choose to fix their sloping floors.

Fixing these floors will require either pouring a new concrete slab, replacing the wood floor framing members or replacing the actual building foundation itself. No matter how you look at it the sloping floor is going to be a costly item to repair.

What causes a sloping floor? Termite damage or dry rot destroying the wood framing or it could be as simple as a water leak over a long period of time causing the building foundation to sink and become out of level. Poor soil conditions with either too sandy or an expansive clay soil could be the culprit also.

Sloping floors can be damaged from incorrect landscape drainage. This would involve water settling around the foundation of your home and over a period of time the weight of the house along with soil problems can create the building to start sloping to one side.

The number one contributor to a sloping floor again like most damage done to a house is going to be water. Do your best to keep the water away from the house using roof gutters and landscape drains. These items are relatively inexpensive compared to the costs involved in repairing sloping floors.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more building stairs books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Find out more about Water Damage.

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Wood Does Rot - Home Repairs and Advice

Let me give you some advice right now," All Wood Rots Eventually". I have heard it all when it comes to this wood or that wood lasting this long or that long........ Hello....... All wood is going to rot at some period of it's life.

With that out of the way we can focus on some wood seems to last a little longer under certain conditions.

Teak is a wood that has a lot of natural oil in it. But you won't frame a house with it. Teak is used on boats and expensive outdoor furniture. It is a excellent wood to use when building a ship. The woods natural oils seem to create a protective barrier around it allowing it to last a long time even at sea. Great wood for the outdoors...

Oak is a excellent choice for almost every wood finish inside your home. It is used for kitchen cabinets, entertainment centers, flooring, trim and furniture. Oak is a hard wood and can take a lot of abuse from almost anything except water. I have seen a nice piece of furniture get stained from just setting one glass on it for ten minutes. Great Wood For Inside Your Home.

Poplar is also a great choice for inside your house. This wood is used by many finish carpenters for making cabinets and other built ins for your house. It is also popular not poplar for wood trim . Most of the poplar that is used inside of your home will eventually get painted. So that makes poplar a inexpensive choice of wood for homeowners that want a nice painted finish on their interior wood projects. Great Wood For Inside Your Home.

Douglas Fir is the most common source of lumber used on the west coast of the United States. This is a extremely durable wood product. On the East Coast they use southern pine and the nominal thickness is usually two inches by four inches for a 2 x 4 . With Douglas Fir a 2 x 4 is one inch and a half by three and one half inches to support the same weight structurally. In my opinion one of the best home framing materials.

Douglas Fir can and has been for a long time now. A great source for clear finish materials used inside of the house. You will see a nice orange or brown looking piece of wood stained naturally in some older home. This is Douglas Fir. It can be a bit pricy but really gives a log cabin look to your home.

Redwood is a great choice for inside or outside your home. I love Redwood it has a nice look to it stained naturally. Redwood is used for a lot of siding, fences, decks and out door furniture. The main problem with Redwood is that is is soft and will get scratched easily. Now for the facts about Redwood. It does rot and termites will eat it.

Wood myth number one eliminated. I have heard stories about wood that termites won't eat. Well Redwood is not one of them. I have seen termites tearing this stuff up. Don't get caught up in the hype that this or that wood will last for 5 years or 50 years. Under the right conditions almost all woods will rot at a accelerated rate.

For more information on wood damage, check out wood repair at http://gregvan.com/wood_repair.htm

Copyright 2008 Greg Vanden Berge All Rights Reserved

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more building stairs books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry. Few Home Remodeling Rules

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Does Home Improvement Still Make Sense In A Housing Slump?

Last night I watched a home improvement show in which a Florida couple had spent $50,000 updating their home. Now they were asking their realtor for a home appraisal. Amazingly, the realtor told them their renovation had increased the value of their home by $120,000 - more than a two-to-one return on their investment!

Cable TV is filled with shows like this that inspire homeowners to take on kitchen remodeling, bedroom makeovers or similar projects.

But many of these shows were filmed two or three years ago during the height of the housing boom.

As we enter 2008 we face a very different housing market in which nationwide home prices are stagnant and even declining in some markets.

In this sort of environment, does home improvement still make sense? The answer depends on what sort of home improvement you want to tackle.

Avoid Style Makeovers

First, it's time for a reality check. Even during the peak of the housing boom, the idea that remodeling your home produced a high return on investment was simply a myth.

According to 2004 survey by Remodeling Magazine, the average home renovation returned only 80% of its value at the time of resale.

So for every dollar you invested in a major renovation, you could expect $0.80 back in your pocket. And that was in 2004, when home values across the country were climbing at an unprecedented rate.

If you want a style makeover to make yourself happy, by all means you should do it. But you shouldn't expect it to dramatically increase the resale value of your home.

In fact, your taste could well end up driving away potential buyers. Personal tastes can be tricky. You may love red and gold walls in your living room, but some buyers will see this as a liability that needs to be fixed.

Even if your tastes are in step with current tastes, styles will change over time. Your choice of kitchen tile and countertops may be in line with current fashion, but if you don't plan to sell your home for another ten years, the style may well be dated when you sell.

Keep in Step with Your Neighborhood

Your home's location is still the biggest factor determining its value. With that in mind, renovations make the most sense if they bring your house up to the norm for the neighborhood.

If your 3,000 square foot home has only two bathrooms, adding a third bathroom makes sense. If all other homes in your neighborhood have a deck, then adding one to your home makes sense as well.

But this rule only applies to major items. Just because your neighbor added solid gold faucets and a sunken marble bathtub doesn't mean you should remodel your master bath to keep pace.

And if you are already the biggest house on the block, further home upgrades will do little to increase the value of your home.

Invest in Home Maintenance.

Home repairs and preventative maintenance are the best investment you can make in your house, and they make sense regardless of whether the housing market is in a boom or a bust. They won't necessarily raise the value of your home, but they can prevent your home from loosing far more value due to damage and wear.

Putting off repairs simply means they will cost more when you do get around to fixing them. A crack from a settling foundation will expand over time. Water damage from a leaky gutter will only cause further wear to your exterior walls.

When you sell your house these issues will almost certainly come up in the home inspection, and you may need to discount your home's price to allow the buyer to make repairs. Worse, too large a repair bill may simply scare a buyer away.

The Bottom Line:

Overall, the best advice is to invest in sound home improvements that keep your house in good shape and up to the standard of your neighborhood.

If you still want to make a style upgrade, that's fine. But do it for aesthetic reasons, not financial ones.

How to Install Door Locks - San Deigo Home Tips

Recent reports show that the majority of home burglaries occur due to an unlocked or faulty door. If your door is not safe and secure, you might as well just leave it open and invite the thieves in. No one wants to do that, so the next option is to fix the locks or replace them. You can do it yourself or call a NYC locksmith. If you are good at handy man tasks, it may be no problem to replace security locks.

The first issue you will find in replacing locks is choosing the best ones. There are a wide variety of security locks and styles on the market today. Most of your decision will be persuaded by the type of door you have. If you have an exterior door, you may want to consider a set of security locks. These locks would include a dead bolt. There are different types of dead locks available on the market. You can choose from one that locks internally with a lever, or you may want to go with the type that locks from the inside with a key.

After you have chosen the right type of lock, you will need to choose between a right- or left- handed style. The style is based on which side your door opens from. You will also need to consider if your door swings in or out when opening. For your locks to work efficiently, you will need to know these details. The next step after purchasing is to ensure you have proper tools. You will need basic hand tools like a hammer, screwdriver, and a chisel. You will want to start your installation by first removing the old lock or door knob. Make sure you clean up the surface of the doors and remove any caulk or grime that may be there.

Then it's time to start installing the new locks or door handles. You should first check to see if the new locks will fit inside the holes for the old. If they do not you may need to enlarge the holes with the chisel. You can mark the area with a pencil to ensure the right size. Once you have the new lock in the proper size opening, you will need to read the individual instructions for your new locks. Each type of lock will have its own exact way to be installed. Most are very simple, but some will require exact steps for proper fit. Don't worry, if it gets too complicated, you can always call your local locksmith for a little help.

Rob Hargreaves - An American Locksmith of leading locksmith company named Mr-locks. Call or contact me for all locksmith services.

What Does a GFI Do

In your bathroom you should have a GFI electrical outlet. Most new homes or newly remodeled homes require you to have GFI electrical outlets in the kitchen. Most older kitchens do not have GFI electrical outlets. GFI stands for ground fault circuit interrupter.

Why not call it a GFCI instead of a GFI electrical outlet? Well it is called a GFCI in some instances. GFI is short and is the most common name used by most electricians and builders for this type of outlet.

GFI 's come in 15 amp and 20 amperage outlets. GFI outlets must be wired properly. Make sure you're using the proper wire size when hooking up the GFI outlet.

How do I know which size wire to use? This all depends on how far away you are running it from the electrical panel. There are charts you can use to figure this out. If you are not running the electrical wire more than 80 feet from the electrical panel you can use 12 gauge electrical wires for a 20 amp GFI. This is a general rule of thumb for most electrical house wiring.

If you're going to be using a 15 amp GFI and you are going to be less than 80 feet away from the electrical panel you can use 14 gauge electrical wires. Again this is just a general rule of thumb for most electrical house wiring.

A GFI is a light duty electrical plug used in bathrooms, kitchens and the exterior of your house. The sole purpose of the GFI is to shut the breaker off faster if there is any moisture or light load problems.

Let's say for instance you have your hair dryer plugged into the GFI outlet. The hair dryer somehow falls into the sink while it is on or plugged in. The GFI outlet will instantly shut off because of the sensitivity of the breaker inside of the plug it self.

The GFI plug has a test button and a reset button on it. If you are continually resetting the GFI you will wear it out eventually. I have had GFI plugs after resetting the button about 10 times break and no longer able to use them.

The GFI electrical plug is a great idea and if you don't have them in your bathroom or outside of your home it would be a great idea to have an electrician install them for you.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Home Building Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

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