Posts in category 'Home Improvement'

The first property I bought was in desperate need of some TLC in the downstairs unit. I ripped up all the flooring, entirely replaced the bathroom and painted nearly every surface in the whole place. In that instance it was all well worth it. The upstairs unit was covering the mortgage and thankfully the repairs did not end up being that extensive (or expensive). In many cases though, folks get too excited about some (likely false) fantasy of a fixer-upper they see on some reality TV show and are more than disappointed at the end-result. Let's take a look at some history in the "needs some TLC" world and see if we can come up with a more solid strategy.

Porch.com did a study of over 1,000 homeowners and the data below comes from their findings. Most of us think that buying a home that needs so...

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It's no secret that I love the outdoors. Whenever possible I am out on the road, trail, water or slopes simply enjoying NOT being in front of a computer. This time of year we are apparently in the midst of "growing season" for my lawn because I'm mowing it twice a week. We also have some rather robust weeds sprinkled around the front of the house and, because I like a less "abandoned home" look, I tend to work at keeping those under control. Besides some other basic chores to keep the flies away, our house is pretty self-sustaining.

This is the time of year when people like me get hair-brained ideas about a remodeling project. For some reason, we can't leave well enough alone and feel the need to upgrade, improve or simply re-do something to better suit our needs. Today I'm speaki...

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To be fair, I'm not expecting you to actually read to your home. There is also no need for it to go to college and learn Latin. What we're going to talk about today is making your home a little smarter by adding some technology to the mix. The objective is to make our homes (and the systems therein) work "for" us and not just be a monthly channel for outgoing money. Last week I watched myself turn off a lightswitch (in a room nobody was actually IN) and heard myself say "Is anybody in here? I guess not. I'll turn off the light". Just like I had heard echoing in our home as a teenager. It turns out we really DO become our parents. ( Happy Father's Day, Dad!)

It is no secret that HVAC is one of the more expensive systems in a home. We certainly see our share of temperature extremes in N...

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To be fair, I'm not expecting you to actually read to your home. There is also no need for it to go to college and learn Latin. What we're going to talk about today is making your home a little smarter by adding some technology to the mix. The objective is to make our homes (and the systems therein) work "for" us and not just be a monthly channel for outgoing money. Last week I watched myself turn off a lightswitch (in a room nobody was actually IN) and heard myself say "Is anybody in here? I guess not. I'll turn off the light". Just like I had heard echoing in our home as a teenager. It turns out we really DO become our parents. ( Happy Father's Day, Dad!)

It is no secret that HVAC is one of the more expensive systems in a home. We certainly see our share of temperature extremes in New Hampshire and having both systems functioning is pretty important to one's comfort. This is especially true for those of us who work from home. The installation (and subsequent programming) o...

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I'm guessing you can see my smile from where you're sitting. OK, I'm not THAT excited about spring cleaning, but I'm not NOT excited. To be fair (for my Letterkenny friends) it's not so much that I love cleaning. It is mostly the fact that we can open the windows and doors and refresh the stale air we have been stuck with all winter. Combine that with a healthy dose of cleaning and decluttering and you have the makings of a happy author. Today I'd like to talk a bit about some of the cleaning tasks that are better left to the pros. Just like roofing, sheetrock and insulation when building a home; these tasks are "possible" for you and I but will have a much better result if we let the smarty-pantses do what they do best.

First out of the gate is upholstery. We recently had a guest stay...

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