MAY 8, 2019 • Volume 14 • Issue 19
RE WEEKLY RESIDENTIAL • ACREAGE • FARM • COMMERCIAL • AREA DEVELOPMENT 515-233-3299 • 317 5th Street, Ames • All REALTOR® ads within are REALTORS® licensed in the State of Iowa
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RE WEEKLY
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TIPS OF THE WEEK CLEANING
DECOR
GARDENING
FRESHEN UP YOUR MATTRESS
FRIENDLIER FURNITURE LAYOUTS
INK OK FOR COMPOST
The experts at Consumer Reports recommend cleaning your mattress twice a year to remove allergens and extend its life. First, remove all bedding and vacuum the entire surface, including the crevices and seams, of the mattress with a hose attachment or a strong handheld vacuum. Next, spottreat any stains with an upholstery cleaner or enzyme-based pet-odor remover. Lastly, deodorize by sprinkling a generous amount of baking soda over the entire surface of the mattress. Leave it to sit for 24 hours before vacuuming up the all baking soda.
If a room feels too stuffy and formal, try rearranging the seating in a way that encourages social interaction, say the experts at Houzz. Imagine how people sitting in a particular chair or on a sofa will communicate with one another when deciding where to put these pieces of furniture in a room.
Good news, the inks from laser and inkjet printers as well as newspapers are not considered toxic even for a vegetable garden, according to the Oregon State Extension Service. However, avoid composting the colored advertising inserts in newspapers. You can also surface mulch with paper shreddings to keep weeds at bay and soil moist in hot weather. — More Content Now
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DEAR MONTY
Household waste disposal gone wild
RICHARD MONTGOMERY
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eader question: I have a neighbor with a house for sale. He had another neighbor with a backhoe come into his yard the other day and dig up a portion of the yard to bury a large amount of trash. By trash, I mean lumber, building materials, large metal signs, furniture, cans, bottles, plastic garbage bags full of who knows what,
and there may even have been BBQ fluid and a jug of DDT thrown into the hole. The digging spanned two days, and I was in a state of disbelief at what I saw. I emailed the real estate agent to alert the new owners about the “buried treasure.” I believe it fell on deaf ears. Reporting to authorities could bring about retaliation. The county issues dump permits to take our trash to the landfill for free. Is this legal? Monty’s answer: A federal law called the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act controls hazardous waste from “cradle to grave.” Also, state governments have laws regulating hazardous waste that can be more restrictive than federal law. Your comment that the “buried treasure” should be disclosed on the seller condition report is accurate
for a variety of reasons. If the regulators came to believe the owner buried BBQ fluid and some quantity of DDT in the yard it could lead to expensive consequences. If you find the agent ignored your warning, inform the real estate agent’s broker. The Department of Natural Resources in your state will be interested in learning of this development on the property. They will most likely see to it that the owner remediates the situation if someone makes them aware of it. If you have a drilled well, you should be concerned about any buried material finding its way into your water supply. Fearing retaliation is a common concern, yet you could be jeopardizing your health. Most states have a hotline where one can anonymously report violations.
Additionally, witnessing this event could come back to haunt you. What will happen if your new neighbor accidentally discovers the pit when they install a new swimming pool or make some other improvement? I feel an obligation to opine on your witness role. If I saw my neighbor burying trash in his backyard with a backhoe, I would report the incident immediately. Consider promptly seeking a legal opinion. Richard Montgomery is the author of “House Money - An Insider’s Secrets to Saving Thousands When You Buy or Sell a Home.” He advocates industry reform and offers readers unbiased real estate advice. Follow him on Twitter at @dearmonty.
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Dry stone
WALLING
Decorative fencing, firepits, tables, a base for a grill in an outdoor kitchen with a niche to put firewood. I’ve done a couple of bridges. Anything you can make out of masonry, you can do the same with dry stone. How green is dry stone walling?
Potentially very green. Most of the walls I build are fieldstone; no quarrying’s necessary. Because I don’t use mortar, no greenhouse gasproducing cement or lime is needed, either. More often than not, stone is actually gathered off the property I’m building on, so the only carbon footprint comes from me driving to and from the site. When I go to work, I bring a bucket and a couple of hammers and chisels … no glues, no power tools, no dust, no noise. A pry bar and a dolly help, but that’s all I need to run my business. What shape of stone works best?
To be honest, lately I like working with ugly stones, really gnarly, terrible-looking ones most people would call garbage. It’s funny; you don’t need a perfect stone in order to build a beautiful wall. What type of maintenance is involved? By Laura Firszt More Content Now
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another, so a cross section has a rough “A” shape. Do you need a foundation?
ver heard of dry stone walling? It’s worth investigating if you’re looking for a ruggedly beautiful, green type of fence that stands the test of time. Read our interview with John Bland of Montreal’s John Bland Stonecraft and discover the ancient craft of dry stone walling.
Debatable. I always bury my first course of stone. I like making the foundation course much wider than the rest of the wall, so it acts as a footing. Here in Montreal, we have clay soil, so I’d add a gravel bed for drainage.
What is a dry stone wall?
Longevity. Mortared walls are subject to freeze-thaw cycles, which cause mortar to deteriorate, crack, and eventually fall apart. But dry stone walls are weather-resistant — great when you live in a cold climate. A dry stone wall behaves like a bicycle chain; it can move around but stays linked together, even in spring when the ground is shifting like crazy. Every joint in a mortared wall is very hard and rigid, but every joint in dry stone is essentially an expansion joint.
A dry stone wall is built with only one ingredient— natural stone. There’s no mortar gluing everything together or backup made of concrete blocks. How does it stay up?
You create structure by intelligently laying stones, using gravity and friction to make them stay together. I follow some basic rules, like “two stones over one and one over two,” as in bricklaying. Grade your stones — biggest on the bottom, smallest on top. The wall’s faces should actually lean into one
What’s the advantage over a mortared stone wall?
What is dry stone walling used for?
A dry stone wall’s worst enemy is vegetation. If you notice a small seedling growing in the wall’s base, remove it before it becomes a full-grown tree and destroys your wall. That’s the only maintenance issue, to my knowledge. How long does a dry stone wall last?
About 150 years, sometimes far more. If you build on bedrock, there’ll be no soil movement, and who knows how long your wall could last? Is dry stone walling feasible as a DIY project?
Yes. There’s no real right or wrong way of doing it; you can take rocks and stack them any way you want. However, I suggest getting some training first. If you want to build a wall that’s reasonably tall, dry stone walling involves working with a lot of weight. You don’t want it to fall over and hurt somebody. Laura Firszt writes for networx.com.
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Quartz, granite and marble in your bathroom remodel By Laura Firszt More Content Now
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he ideal bathroom remodel is a winning combination of beauty and practicality. Natural stone adds both qualities. We recently interviewed Adriene Araujo, co-owner of Vitoria International - a family-owned wholesale stone supplier, with warehouses in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina. Find out what this expert has to share about quartz vs. granite vs. marble in the bathroom. What’s your background in working with stone? I’ve been in this business 18 years. We supply stone for bathroom vanities and tub surrounds, as well as kitchen countertops, laundry room counters, and fireplaces. My husband, Fabio, and I are from Brazil, where people use stone a lot in their houses because it’s so hot. And we happen to share a passion for natural stone. Each slab is a piece of art. Could you tell us the pros and cons of quartz vs. granite vs. marble in the bathroom? The beauty of natural stone, such as granite or marble, lies in its uniqueness. No two slabs are alike, in terms of color, shade, or veining, because you’re dealing with Mother Nature. However, if you personally want a more standard appearance, go with quartz, which is a uniform, manmade product. Also, I recommend quartz for kids’ bathrooms,
rentals and laundry rooms, because it doesn’t require maintenance at all. No material is totally bulletproof for bathroom countertop installation, but quartz and natural stone are very hard and very heat resistant, compared to alternatives like cultured marble or laminate. Some homeowners are concerned about etching and staining. If that’s true for you, avoid marble, which is more porous, and go for harder materials like granite or quartzite. Diamond tools are needed to cut granite - that shows you how hard the stone is. If you choose marble countertops, we usually recommend a honed finish so that any etching will not be as visible. I’m really a marble person myself; marble gives a special kind of patina, a vintage look. Just think of historical buildings - old hotels, banks and galleries - everything was marble. White Carrara marble, for example, has been used for hundreds of years. Can you add curb appeal with stone in the bathroom? Sure. When you’re trying to sell your house, the bathroom is second only to the kitchen in terms of curb appeal. Buyers walk into a nice master bathroom and that’s definitely a selling point. But if the bathroom’s out of date - even if the rest of the house has been
renovated, their reaction is: “What the heck? What were those people thinking?” I just redid my own bathroom; previously, I had a tile surround, but all that grout is a turnoff. To replace it, I installed a natural stone tub surround, all out of one slab rather than a lot of little cuts, so there’s no seam whatsoever and no grout. It looks VERY nice. What’s trending now in terms of stone colors and styles? Marble is the look everybody’s after, white and gray, with varying amounts of graining - if not actual marble, then quartzite or quartz that will give a marble look. Come to our warehouse and you’ll see. A trendy bathroom feature is the floating vanity. Wallmounted vanities are super cool done in marble; when you match the veining, it looks like you have this 12-inch piece of rock on your wall. Any insider tips to share with our readers? Go to the warehouse and look at the full slab. Often when you go to a dealer, they have little 5x5 samples for you to choose from. Those give you an idea of color, but not the full picture. You cannot really see all the detail in that small square but when you see the full slabs, the veining will blow you away. And then your choice is obvious. You’re already spending money on your bathroom remodel, so why not spend a little extra time to handpick the slab that you like best? Laura Firszt writes for networx.com.
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2018 Marketing Plan
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