Home Improvment 2012 A special publication of the Sidney Daily News,Troy Daily News, Piqua Daily Call and the Weekly Record Herald.
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 2
Now is the time to winterize your home BY MARY ELLEN EGBERT Ohio Community Media Temperatures are changing. Air conditioners are being given a long needed rest and fresh breezes wind their way through the open windows, down the hallways and into each room as our houses breathe their last scents of summer. And if you need to relax, now is the perfect time to enjoy our weather, because soon it will be time to close the windows and batten down the hatches as we get ready for winter. So what exactly do we need to do in order to proOCM PHOTO/MARY ELLEN EGBERT tect our homes as well as Now is the time to replace your furnace filter before our families from cold, winter hits. snowy, icy weather and
potentially harmful storms? A number of easy tasks can be completed in a relatively short amount of time to accomplish this. Starting with the exterior of your home, it is important to close up any gaps or holes where cold air and precipitation can come through. A quick trip to the roof will uncover any loose or missing shingles and cracks in caulking around vents and chimneys. These need to be repaired before the cold and snow come. Windows and doors should be caulked from the outside to seal the framing and again, keep out the winter elements. And as you are looking at your windows, if you dis-
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cover a broken or cracked window pane, it needs to be replaced. If your windows do not have storm windows, they are relatively easy to install. And if your budget does not include this major addition, heavy plastic can be applied around the frame of your windows to keep out the cold. As you pass by the garden hose, unhook and drain the hose before storing it for the winter. Then give that water valve an extra right hand turn to assure the water is shut off completely. After all the leaves have fallen, take extra precautions to make sure your ladder is safe, then get up there and clean out those gutters. If leaves and debris are clogging your home’s draining system, snow and ice have no place to go but down, and with significant weight, the gutter will come down with it. Since you won’t be using that air conditioning during the winter months, the best way to protect your unit is to cover it. If your AC is a window model, drain the hoses so that all the condensation is out of the unit. Of course the best course of action is to remove the AC from the window, but if that is not possible, keep it dry and covered as you plug any holes and/or cracks around the unit where air can get through. Do you have a fireplace? And if so, how long has it been since the chimney has been
cleaned? A fireplace can provide warmth and even a place where you could cook if necessary, but it also can be dangerous if not properly maintained. Check out the chimney sweeps in your area and have the chimney cleaned. For those who have detached garages or no garages, position a snow shovel and a bag of salt inside your home in a closet or near an exit so that you can get to it if the weather turns nasty. Once you start investigating the inside of your home, look for any place where air can get in. Check the weather stripping and thresholds around all your doors and replace anything that shows cracks and/or dry materials. Still feel air? Those draft dodgers that you can lay across the bottom of your doors really do work as long as you have ones made out of heavy materials, inside and out. If you water pipes aren’t insulated, this is a quick fix and very easy to install. And you water heater should also be wrapped with insulated blankets designed for just that purpose and available in any hardware or home improvement store. Our furnaces should be cleaned and checked once a year to insure they are working properly and as efficiently as possible. And while your serviceman is already there, ask him to check your thermostat to make sure it is in good operational
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 3
Winterization standing. While you are looking at your furnace, you can clean your electric filter yourself or change the replacement filters. Electric filters can be taken to the carwash and cleaned with the high pressure washers or cleaned out with an air compressor. This is a great time to change all the batteries in the smoke detectors in your house, too. And while you are in the battery isle, grab extra fresh batteries for flashlights, radios and even personal music, video and game systems that operate on that low voltage. Even though it is not part of your home, keeping a full tank of gas in your vehicles is not only smart for extra traction when driving in the snow and ice, it is also important to know you have that extra source of power for charging cell phones (always keep a cell phone charger in your car or truck), a source of heat and informational radio stations. And as far as cell phones are concerned, keep a full charge on them and use only when necessary in case of power outage. Most people don’t think about vacuuming their heating vents, and it doesn’t need to be done annually, but if you have never done it, it can create a healthier atmosphere and help your furnace run more efficiently. By simply changing the direction of your ceiling fan blades, the warm air that naturally rises will be returned down to the floor and recycled to keep you more comfortable without air blowing on you all the time. And you will save money on your heating bill by being able to decrease the temperature on your thermostat. Do you know why duct
tape was created? It was so we could tape around the seams in the venting system to close any leaks. This is just one more way to help the efficiency of your heating system. And depending on where your venting system runs, you might decide you could use extra insulation in your attic or in the ceiling of your basement or crawl space. Anyone on medical equipment that requires electricity needs to register with Dayton Power and Light so they can locate patients who need their power restored as quickly as possible (in case of a storm or any disaster that would shut down our power sources). But it also is important to be proactive by taking care of our families as well as our neighbors if we have the means to do so. A generator can be a lifesaver to a person on oxygen. Just make sure the unit is outside and well ventilated. And a generator can be used for a small number of electric appliances, electric heaters and lights. If a generator is on the property, keep extra gasoline on hand and educate yourself on its use. In case of power loss in the winter, remember to use the outside elements to your advantage. Food will spoil in a refrigerator that isn’t working, but if it’s cold enough outside to cause a power outage, chances are it’s cold enough to keep your food safe. Just keep it in a cooler or tote so that hungry animals don’t find it. Cook on a grill, which means keeping a full tank of gas on hand, or a full bag of charcoal on hand. Store a case of water, some dry foods, canned goods (and a hand can opener), an extra month worth of prescription medication (which you
should have all year round), candles, matches, blankets, wet wipes, personal hygiene products, hand sanitizer and a fully packed first aid kit. In the case of an emergency due to weather, put a huge HELP sign in your window if you have no other means of communication. Find a room in the middle of your house where there are no windows or outside doors and that will be the warmest. We take it for granted that the store shelves will be full and that we will always have our televisions to keep us entertained, but as we get our houses ready for the winter season, we also need to be prepared for usually two to three days of the things we need on a daily basis. Find a safe hiding place and keep some extra
cash in case of power outages that would disable our plastic piggy banks. It’s basic. Keep your house free from cold air seeping through cracks and crevices. Check the infrastructure of what makes your house comfortable and healthy. Make sure you have a way to stay warm, food to eat, water to drink and good communications with your neighbors. And in case of a winter storm, read a book, play board games, play cards, write overdue cards and letters, clean a room (it will generate heat as you work), dance or run up and down stairs for exercise, mend those clothes you haven’t been able to wear or do anything to stay busy. It’s your refuge, enjoy it, OCM PHOTO/MARY ELLEN EGBERT take care of it, and it will Caulking windows can help cut down on heat bills. take care of you.
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 4
Get your fireplace in order before winter gets here BY WILL E SANDERS Ohio Community Media wsanders@dailycall.com With the dog days of summer behind us, Old Man Winter will be creeping into the picture before most home owners realize, which is why careful attention toward a home’s fireplace might be in order. Fireplace face lifts are designed to both make your fireplace appear more decorative, but also to allow for better efficiency in terms of heating a home during the coldest months of the year, said Jane Bauer, of Bauer Stoves and Fireplaces, which is located at 3548 State Route 54, Urbana. Like practically every other avenue of home repair or renovation, better energy efficiency is key when selecting the type of fireplace face lift a home owner is interested in. While fireplaces are commonly associated with burning wood, many high energy efficiency fireplaces or other wood-burning devices can make use of not only wood, but gas or pellets instead.
“We often sell things that you can put into your fireplace to not only make them more beautiful, but also to make them more efficient,” Bauer said. Face lifts to fireplaces could be anything from selecting new glass doors and the type of tint on the glass, but large projects might also include installing a new mantle or wood-burning accessories, she added. “There are some people who just want the fireplace to look good, and other people want it to look good and be energy efficient,” Bauer said. “Many people just want to give their fireplace an entirely different look.” Homeowners interested in giving their fireplace a face lift have a wide variety of styles open to them, everything from gas inserts to back lighting, from woodwork to decorative compliments. The costs associated with such fireplace face lifts can span the gamut of prices, but many repair or remodeling kits come with do-it-yourself instructions or for more labor intensive projects a fireplace profes-
sional should be involved. Price ranges vary, but on average such projects come with a price tag of a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Turning from eyeappealing and energy efficiency, an equally important task for owners of fireplaces is fireplace inspections. Having a fireplace inspected helps prevent and reduce the chances of an emergency situation such as a fire, according to the Piqua Fire Department. Fire Capt. John Kendall said fireplace and chimney inspections are key to preventing a common type of call most fire departments are use to during the colder months of the year: chimney fires. “Having them inspected is good because there can be secret hiding places, cracks in the mortar, that a fire or heat can get built up in,” he said. “It is extremely important to make sure your chimney flue is clean because it can also release carbon monoxide into a SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE PHOTO home or smoke coming Now is the time to clean your fireplace before winter arrives. back into the house.”
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 5
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Invest time in your lawn before winter JOE LAMP’L Scripps Howard News Service Fall is on the way, and for many areas the gardening season is drawing to a close. But for your cool-season lawns, such as fescue and bluegrass, fall is the time when you need to invest the most effort to get turf ready for the stress of the upcoming months and heat from the upcoming summer. The next few weeks are your window of opportunity for establishing new lawns and renovating those that need rejuvenation. If your lawn is showing poor growth, or it’s been a few years since you’ve checked the condition of your soil, start with a soil analysis. Your county agricultural agent or university extension service can test your soil for a nominal fee. All you have to do is provide the sample and follow the collection and shipping instructions provided. Generally, the process is the same. Mix together samples taken from different areas of the lawn to provide about two cups of the blended sample for analysis. Place the mixed
sample in the container provided and mail or carry the bag to the test facility or extension service office. The resulting report is a valuable tool to let you know what the soil is lacking and what steps are needed to correct it. With or without a soil test, there are important steps you can take to improve your lawn. First, start with a clean surface by removing any thatch — that layer of dead grass and debris that settles on the soil. Over time, too much debris can build up as thatch, which can prevent water and nourishment from getting to the lawn’s roots. To loosen the thatch, use a dethatching or stiff-tined rake on smaller lawn areas, or rent a power dethatcher for larger jobs. Then simply rake it up to remove it. Over time, soil becomes compacted, especially in areas that get heavy use, like play yards and along driveways and walks. Aeration opens up space in the lawn to allow water, nutrients and air to get to the roots, making thicker and healthier turf grass. It also helps drainage and water runoff and can
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The next few weeks are your window of opportunity for establishing new lawns and renovating those that need rejuvenation. reduce drought damage. There are aerators for every size of job, from small step tools to walk-behind, self-propelled models and even ones towed behind lawn tractors. Whatever type you choose, make sure it’s a “core” aerator. This type literally removes cores of soil rather than just punching narrow holes in the ground. Once the aeration is
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complete, it’s the perfect time to top dress the lawn with a half-inch of organic compost. The benefits of adding compost are many, but all lawns will benefit from the nutrients and organic matter provided by it. If you can see patches of bare soil in your lawn, it needs to be over-seeded, and fall is the perfect time to do so. Over-seeding helps
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make lawns full and dense, keeps the weeds down and helps prevent disease. Just before over-seeding, mow the lawn at the mower’s lowest setting and rake the surface clean to remove all the cuttings and debris. This allows the new seed to have better contact with the soil for improved germination. The label on the seed bag will tell you how to set your spreader to apply the appropriate amount to your area. Once the seed is applied, water for short durations several times each day for the first two weeks or until most of the seed has sprouted. The key to good germination is to never let the seed dry out. Grass stores nutrients in the roots to carry it over the winter months, so apply a generous applica-
tion of organic lawn fertilizer. It’s what I use for getting my lawn well-established and ready for the following spring. Fall is the best time to feed your lawn for winter hardiness and robust growth come spring. Mow the lawn at the mower’s highest level for the next several weeks. This minimizes the stress on the young grass blades as they settle in. In addition, keep debris off the area so the grass blades can absorb as much light as possible — an important part of a well-established lawn-renovation program. Joe Lamp’l, host of “Growing a Greener World” on PBS, is a master gardener and author. For more information visit www.joegardener.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 7
Will a robot one day be cleaning your gutters? ROSEMARY SADEZ FRIEDMANN Scripps Howard News Service
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE PHOTO
One day cleaning your gutters by hand may be a thing of the past. people are injured each year falling off ladders. Isn’t that exactly what you have to do to clean the gutters — climb and work from a ladder, going up and
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You may have read about and even seen on television those little robot vacuum cleaners that can feel their way around rooms and furniture to do the vacuuming for you. There are also robots that sweep and mop the floors. Even though these little helpers take a long time to get the job done, they do the job so we don’t have to. Some robot owners claim they just love to watch the little guys while they work since it is entertaining. Many companies sell the robots, so you have a choice of pricing. There are robots that clean pools, too. But wait! There’s more. The techies have created another robot that does dangerous work so you don’t have to. This robot cleans gutters. According to the U.S. National Safety Council, more than 30,000
gutters clean. And you can do this from 50 feet away. Another nice feature is that the robot cleans about 30 feet of gutter in five minutes. OK, so you do have to climb the ladder, but you don’t have to go up and down to move it so many times. Mostly you stand stationary while the robot does the work. No dangerous overreaching and no hard labor involved. If this idea seems interesting to you or if you are simply curious, you can find more information online through any search engine. iRobot is one choice and the innovator of this product, but there are others available also. The cost is around $300. Does this remind you of the Jetsons? (Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, an interior designer in Naples, Fla., is author of “Mystery of Color.” For design inquiries, write to Rosemary at DsgnQuest@aol.com.)
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 8
Spots to dress up with faux fall greenery MARY CAROL GARRITY greens. For arrangements, start with a base of fallen Scripps Howard News branches, salvaged from Service the yard or roadside. With Everywhere you turn in their imperfect twists and the fall, you see Mother turns, natural branches Nature’s creativity. The give you a great template tree leaves are aflame in to follow when inserting red, orange and yellow. faux greens. Just mimic the Bushes and vines are pep- lines of the branches and pered with berries. And you can’t go wrong. 2. Fireplace Mantel don’t even get me started I really like to keep my on the pumpkins and gourds! I like to bring the fall foliage bouquets light outside in when I decorate and airy, loose and a bit for every season, but in fall, topsy-turvy, so they feel it’s practically mandatory wild, organic and alive. because there is so much When creating a bouquet, beauty right outside my periodically stand back and window. One of my tricks it ask yourself if you’ve ever to use lifelike faux green- seen plants growing like ery in seasonal displays this in nature. If the throughout my home. It arrangement looks too pertakes just minutes, but fect, chances are the transforms my home. Here answer will be “no.” Mess it are six great spots you can up a bit — I think you’ll dress up with faux greens like the results. When styling fall bouto make your home beautiquets, try combining a mix ful for autumn. of faux plants. Once the 1. Entry Table Knock guests’ socks off fallen branches are in the minute they walk in place, insert tall sprays — the door by styling a showy usually they look like fall bouquet for your entry. branches with the leaves Start with a large-scaled still on. Next, use shorter vase, like a twiggy urn. To sprays to fill in the middle give an urn even more ground. Then finish off presence, place it on a riser with a few interesting picks, like berries or nut— or a table. I use nature as my guide covered twigs, placed when working with faux toward the bouquet’s cen-
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Knock guests’ socks off the minute they walk in the door by styling a showy bouquet for your entryway. ing assortments of gourds and greenery. When you decorate your up-high places, be sure to let the branches and vines twist and reach into the space around the furniture and trail down the sides of the piece. Otherwise, it will look too staged and stilted. 5. Light Fixtures If you want to ramp up
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ter or woven throughout. Also, let vines twist about and hang down. Real honeysuckle vines are still one of my favorites. 3. Dining-Room Buffet Bouquets in vases or urns aren’t the only way to bring fall greens into your decor. Consider using a fake pumpkin vine, complete with plump pumpkins affixed. One of the most common mistakes people make when working with faux foliage is to not take the time to shape each piece until it looks natural. When the garland, sprays and picks arrive at Nell Hill’s, they are squished flat in packages. Before we put them in our displays, we fluff them out, opening the leaves, giving the branches some twists and turns, until they mimic the growth patterns of real foliage. 4. Tops of Tall Furniture Those “up high” places in our homes are often the hardest to decorate. What do you put on the top of your armoire, bookcase or secretary? Plenty! I like to use this little stage for a faux-greenery display. I have had more fun coming up with different looks for the spot on top of the antique bookcase in my study. For fall, I perch a wooden dough bowl up there and fill it with vary-
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the look of your fall display, but not spend a lot of time doing it, decorate your light fixtures with faux vines. These dramatic displays are super-easy to pull together and take your seasonal decorating to the next level. Any spot where you have a light fixture that hangs down is fair game. I always hit the fixture in my study because it’s a small one and I can crank it out in a snap. I always save my most creative ideas for the showier chandelier in my dining room. If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, be sure to do that fixture, too. The key to styling your light fixture is to have a faux vine or garland climb the chain in languid loops.
Be sure it doesn’t look symmetrical or staged. Instead, let the vine meander through the arms of the fixture, then trail down a bit from the center. If you want to take the display a step further, weave in some picks and a twist of fall ribbon. 6. Exterior Decorating for fall is an indoor-outdoor thing for me. I like to add touches everywhere. Since I have a semi-enclosed screened porch, this has become one of my favorite spots to dress up for fall. I frequently hang lanterns on my wall, decorating them with faux greens. You can do the same at your home, whether on your front stoop, back patio or in your garden.
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ Page 9
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 10
SHNS PHOTO COURTESY MAUREEN GILMER
Synthetic lawns are now so realistic-looking that they pass for real grass both close up and at long range.
Artificial turf grows up
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MAUREEN GILMER Scripps Howard News Service When watching a fantasy film, you suspend disbelief and become part of an impossible happening. High-tech special effects can fool the brain into accepting a whole different reality. When my practiced eye was fooled by the new artificial turf, I knew it had finally come of age. I am not an easy sell. When the first “plastic grass” came on the market decades ago, there was no way to suspend disbelief. It was obviously fake. The earlier products denied oxygen and moisture exchange to the soil underneath. It literally smothered to death, losing vital microbe populations. We also found that trees could not survive within the fake grass because the roots died. Water would pool on the surface if the ground underneath wasn’t perfectly graded. And then there was the wear and tear of kids and bikes and pets.
Today’s artificial turf is a whole different animal. It’s made of space-age materials resistant to traffic and extreme UV exposure. The foundation fabric is permeable so water can move straight through and oxygen exchange is free. Colors are more accurate, too, with variations that match every region’s specific grass types, so it blends in with the living lawns nearby. In the West where the land is dry and the climate rainless for much of the year, thirsty grass lawns are rapidly being exchanged for these new products. In this hot, arid region and elsewhere, too, this material expands your landscaping opportunities. In the past, hot pavement has made it impossible to add turf-grass bands into paving to break it up with a cooler color. The problem has always been heating of the concrete during the day, which dries out the adjacent soil and burns grass leaves. At night the absorbed heat is
radiated back into the soil so these strips of turf never find relief during summer and fall. The other problem is irrigation. To make grass or any other matlike plant grow in slots, you must ensure that enough water gets to the super-heated roots every day. With so little soil surface for water to flow through, it’s not easy. Getting deeper penetration is quite problematic. Enter the new artificial turf, and a swanky design trend has emerged. New homes and remodels are featuring patios, walkways and driveways with inset bands of turf in paving. Designers are creating gorgeous patterns of strips and grids and latticework. Now you can do this, too, for more-lush appearances in areas that are paved. This also helps rain penetrate a patio to reach subsoils without runoff. In areas where Environmental Protection Agency LEEDS regulations
• Continued on Page 10
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 11
Turf • Continued from Page 10 require that all drainage remain on site rather than flowing into the storm drain, artificial turf is a perfect solution. When these spaces are filled with fine gravel, it’s a maintenance problem keeping all the pebbles in place. If you use artificial turf, there is no maintenance and it looks greener overall. When turf is used to replace a larger lawn, you save water as well as the cost of watering, mowing,
fertilizing and, in some areas, over-seeding the dormant turf. Some waterchallenged communities are demanding that artificial turf be used in lieu of living grass on all new construction. Some cities are offering tax credits and rebates for residential artificial-turf projects. Going green was never easier and more beautiful. Let your imagination run wild, for no matter how hot it gets or how long the drought, your turf will
remain perennially green all by itself. If you’ve longed for those trendy grass strips in your paving but it’s too hot to keep them alive in summer, help is on the way. Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at w w w. M o P l a n t s. c o m . Contact her at mogilmer(at)yahoo.com or SHNS PHOTO COURTESY MAUREEN GILMER P.O. Box 891, Morongo Finally, there's a way to use turf amid flagstone without concern for brownouts and hot spots. Valley, CA 92256.
Dirty roofs sweeping the midwest on a roof. There are numerous methods for killing the algae and there are pros and cons to all of them. The only method approved by the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association and the Roof Cleaning Institute of America involves the use of a cleaning agent composed of water, sodium hypochlorite, some general cleaners and a surfactant. This method does not involve pressure spraying the roof (never do that) but lightly spraying the cleaning agent onto the roof to kill the algae. Pressure spraying a shingled roof removes the protective granules from the shingles and decreases the life of the roof. The algae itself will also cause granule loss as it grows. Proof of this can be easily found in the gutters of a home. A dark or black streaked area of a roof will have many more granules in its corresponding section of gutter than a section of the same roof, which has not yet turned dark or black. Cleaning a roof can be a do-it-yourself project, but it is time consuming and dangerous without the appro-
priate equipment, Timmerman said. A quick online search for “roof cleaner” or “roof cleaning” in your city and state will generally result in a couple
of certified roof cleaners. They can often clean a roof without even stepping onto it and should always take appropriate safety precautions, which will benefit
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For Ohio Community Media least amount of sun, they stay wet longer from rain You may have noticed and morning dew day after over the past couple of day. This, combined with years a growing number of the limestone smorgasbord, homes with dark black creates a perfect home for streaks running down the any algae spores that may roof. Maybe you have seen land on the roof, he said. this on a friend’s roof or a The algae spores are not relative’s roof, but beware, actually black when they if those streaks are on your land on a roof. If there are neighbor’s roof, your roof black streaks on only a may be next. It may north-facing roof, the other already be discolored. roof faces are probably Those streaks sure are infested also. The algae ugly but wait, it gets worse. spores just have not turned Those streaks are actu- black yet. They create that ally algae (gloeocapsa dark sheath to protect magma) eating the lime- themselves from ultraviostone filler in the shingles, let rays. Unfortunately, this according to Bill dark pigment can also Timmerman, project man- affect energy bills since ager, Midwest dark colors absorb more Improvement Services LLC heat than light colors, of Troy. This filler was according to Timmerman. added to shingles about 30 The spread of the algae years ago when asphalt (and the corresponding shingles were largely black streaks) from roof to replaced with the heavier, roof is likened to that of more wind-resistant fiber- dandelions spreading from glass shingles we have yard to yard. If your neightoday. Algae love limestone, bor has them, you probably he said. will too. Another similarity You may notice that the is the best method to get discoloration is primarily rid of them. Mowing your on north-facing roofs, yard can make a lot of danaccording to Timmerman. delions disappear … for a This is similar to moss little while, but the only growing on the north side way to keep them gone is to of a tree. Since north-facing kill them, he said. The roofs generally get the same is true for the algae
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 12
HOMEFIX Q&A
Fixing a hole made by a doorknob
the wall so many times it has made a large hole in the wallboard. I tried to fill the hole with newspapers and DWIGHT BARNETT then spread some drywall Scripps Howard News paste over the hole, but, as it Service dried, it would crack and fall Q: The doorknob has hit off. What should I do to fix
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remove the drywall from the opening you made. Purchase a small piece of drywall from a home store and cut it to fit the opening. Most of the larger home stores carry small pieces of drywall for repairs such as yours. Attach the drywall to the studs using drywall screws. Use a 4-inch-wide putty knife to apply drywall compound to the joints and cover with mesh drywall tape. Allow the compound to dry and apply several more coats, feathering the edges of the compound further out each time. Sand the area and you're ready to paint. 2. Using a drywall saw, make the opening slightly larger and as square as possible. Purchase a small piece of drywall and a 3-foot-long (or longer) piece of 1-by-3inch lumber. Cut two pieces of the 1-by-3 to the width of the opening plus an additional 2 inches. Remember, there will only be 14 inches of space available between the wall's 2-by-4-inch studs. Place the 1-by-3 inside the opening of the existing drywall with half of the 1-by-3 exposed. Use drywall screws to secure the 1-by-3 to the rough opening of the existing drywall. Do this at both the top and bottom of the hole to act as a backing for the piece of drywall you will be adding. Cut the purchased piece of drywall to fit the opening and secure to the 1-by-3 backer boards using drywall screws.
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Getting the look of cobblestones of yore MAUREEN GILMER Scripps Howard News Service They say that the cobblestone streets of Virginia were paved by the tobacco trade. So great was the demand for this American weed that ships arriving in the ports carried ballast stones to offset their light weight. Once anchored, the ballast was removed and replaced by heavy oak barrels of freshly cured tobacco. Throughout the colonies, ballast stones accumulated around the harbors as abundant raw materials were shipped to the Old World. These were often heavy, hand-hewn blocks of granite, and sometimes fired clay brick. Today you can see them occasionally in Boston and other old cities where the ballast stone paving is revealed when asphalt laid over them deteriorates. Today these communities cherish such pavers and are relocating them to high-profile streets of historic districts and for accent in urban plazas. As much as we’d love to use old granite pavers to create walks and patios, the cost of those reclaimed from colonial streets is high and the supply limited. Yet there’s nothing that gives a new landscape that Old World look than the evidence of hand-hewn
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What may appear to be brick pavers are concrete pavers colored and tumbled to give the look of old usedbrick paving. stone. Decades ago when concrete pavers were first invented, they were manufactured with precise
shapes and edges. This rigidity could be felt in the landscapes where they were used. Many of the colors, while highly variable,
did not resemble natural stone. When you saw a paver patio, you knew exactly what it was. Paver makers got the
olden days, everything was done with hammer and chisel because labor was cheap. This meant that the surface was not smooth, but bore divots as chunks of stone were knocked off to give it a roughly rectangular shape. Often Old World ballast stones were the leftovers of European construction or teardowns. They might be cracked and chipped or just a piece of a broken block. This added even more irregularity to the process of laying pavement. Stone masons hand-set each unit, which required skill just as it does today, which drives up the cost of installing old reclaimed blocks. Paver manufacturers such as Belgard Hardscapes Inc. were keen to create new lines of precast concrete pavers that offered the look and feel of old ballast stones without the irregularities that drive up the cost of installation. The first step was to create colors that closely resemble Old World granite. Then shapes were limited to squares and rectangles sized like the old cobbles. Finally blocks were loaded into a huge drum and tumbled just as they would have been years ago when ballast stones were thrown into wagons and ship holds and then onto docks and into colonial street-paving projects.
message and went to work creating new products that look old. What gave ballast block its character were signs of hand-hewing. In • Continued on Page 15
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 15
Cobblestone • Continued from Page 14 If you love that age-old look, if you live in a historic home, or if you dream of an old English garden pathway in your backyard — tumbled new pavers are the ideal choice. Take a look at the examples at Belgard online at belgard.biz. Click on the Old World collection to see a dead ringer for ballast pavers. Like the granite predecessors, these feature an irregular surface. But as a modern product, the pavers are uniformly sized for swift installation. For a more refined look, try the Antique category, which offers new tumbled pavers with more sedate surface textures for the softer look of old building stone. With dozens of examples of finished patios for each of their product lines, you’re bound to find exactly what you want in these affordable new, yet old, pavers. Instead of throwing money away on vacations next year, consider paying for a new outdoor living space. Use the right pavers to make it feel a lot more like New Orleans, Baltimore or Nantucket than your own backyard. Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at SHNS PHOTO COURTESY BELGARD INC. www.MoPlants.com. Contact her at mogilmer(at)yahoo.com or P.O. Box 891, Morongo For smoother aged paving, more-uniform tumbled-concrete pavers offer the look and feel of real stone for a fraction of the price. Valley, CA 92256.
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 16
Collecting rainwater has many benefits JOE LAMP’L Scripps Howard News Service We’ve discussed collecting and storing rainwater before, but let’s revisit the various aspects involved for the benefit of those who are merely curious about the practice or are in serious need of options due to drought and waterrationing. To that end, this column extensively incorporates material covered previously. The setup can be as simple as a rain gutter, downspout and barrel. Kits are available from catalogs and the Internet, but you can easily make your own. Before getting started, however, check local building codes to be sure that it’s
OK to have rain-collection systems in your area. First, to keep any debris from the roof from getting into your system, install a wire-mesh or plastic screen over the opening in the gutter where it is connected to the vertical downspout. Next, choose some kind of barrel or tank to collect the water. Many homeimprovement stores and garden centers sell 55- to 75-gallon plastic barrels for around $50 to $100. Complete kits, including, leaf screens and downspout connectors, go for $100 to $250. If you use a recycled barrel, select one that’s been used for food storage rather than any kind of chemical. Barrels MUST have a sturdy cover that can hold the weight of a child who
might climb onto it. Screens over all openings will keep out mosquitoes and small animals. During winter months, drain the barrels in areas that experience freezing weather. If you’re making your own system, install a heavy-duty plastic drain spigot into the barrel wall using waterproof plastic cement. Select one with common-size threads that can attach to an ordinary garden hose, and locate it as low as possible on the side of the barrel. Place the barrel on a raised platform to make room under the spigot for a watering can or hose attachment, and you’re ready to water. A typical 1,000-squarefoot roof can provide about 500 gallons of water from only 1 inch of rainfall.
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By collecting and storing rain, you have an alternative supply to keep your landscape green without depending on municipal water. When the barrels are full, divert the rest of the water away from the house or, better yet, into a rain garden. A rain garden is just a deep depression that collects runoff from impervious surfaces like roofs and driveways and lets it soak slowly into the ground. They’re planted with shrubs and perennials and maintained like any other landscaped area of a yard. Install a rain garden 10 feet from the foundation, about 30 feet from the downspout. Keep it away from low areas that always seem wet; they probably
don’t have the loamy or sandy soil that will percolate water properly. To test, dig a 6-inch hole and fill it with water. If the water is still standing 24 hours later, choose another spot. Avoid septic systems and wells, too. They could become contaminated fro the collected water. A typical rain garden needs about 75 square feet of collecting area, so plan on a 10- by 8-foot, flat-bottomed bowl 6 inches deep. The bottom should be fairly level, and the sides gently sloped. Use the dug-out soil to make a retaining berm on the downhill side of a
sloped area. Use plants that do well in wet soil, but can also tolerate very dry conditions. Try perennial iris, blackeyed Susan, cardinal flower, astilbe and spiked gay feather, along with grasses like panicum, carex or sedge. Mulch with a layer of bark or gravel to keep down weeds and stabilize the soil. Joe Lamp’l, host of “Growing a Greener World” on PBS, is a master gardener and author. For more information, visit www.joegardener.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 17
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Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 18
Three important areas to decorate this fall MARY CAROL GARRITY together, but look fetching. If you don’t have a natural Scripps Howard News spot to place a fall display Service up close to the road, put a Even if you are pressed lantern on your front stoop. I also like to do a little for time this year when you decorate for autumn, be something near the entry sure to add a touch or two to the walled courtyard to these three important behind my home. The wall is large and open and just areas. ripe for a lantern. My Front walkway Before guests even get favorite picks are flat-back to your door, let them know wall lanterns because they you’re excited about fall. hug the wall and don’t flap Find a spot on your front in the wind. If you don’t walkway to tuck in a fall have a wall, dress up your display. My favorite trick is garden gate. Let your creativity run to select two large lanterns, then fill each with an wild when coming up with attractive seasonal display. a display to put inside the It might be a battery- lanterns. How about a figoperated pillar candle sur- urine of a bird? A bird’s rounded by fall foliage nest? Maybe a piece of artinside and a cute fall rib- work that features fall bon tied onto the lantern images? Or, just take some handle. Lantern displays fall picks and intertwine take just minutes to pull them with strands of bit-
tersweet. Finish off with a great seasonal bow. I’m partial to burlap ribbon because I love how it looks with the organic elements of fall. Front door If you have time to decorate only one outside spot this fall, make it your front door. It’s here that you set the stage, giving everyone who visits a glimpse of what they can expect inside. If you have only minutes to spare for decorating, tap into the power of the wreath. Good in a pinch, they always look lovely. I hang mine from my door knocker. When you hang a wreath, you can just secure it to the knocker with some zip ties or florist wire. Or you can hang it with fall
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If you have time to decorate only one outside spot this fall, make it your front door. ribbon. I think the ribbon adds a nice touch and gives you a chance to include a bit more color and texture. Don’t like wreaths? Here’s another fast and easy idea: Find a bundle of tried twigs in your backyard or at a park, cinch them together into a small bouquet, tie them up with a fall ribbon, then hang them upside down on your front door. Sometimes understated treatments like this are the most powerful because of their simplicity. Add intrigue to your garden Adding a touch of fall to your garden is easy. All you
need to do is augment the display Mother Nature has already created. Pile up some pumpkins around a tree. Fill a birdbath with gourds. Top a pillar with a pumpkin. I use a mix of real and artificial pumpkins and gourds when I decorate my home. I love the real pumpkins and gourds because they are so crazy-looking, full of interesting colors and imperfections. But the fakes are so good these days, it’s often hard to tell them from the real. And if you put up your fall decor before the weather turns cool, you don’t have to
worry about them rotting. I invested in a set of iron pillars a few years ago, and I’m so thrilled I did. I use these guys constantly in outdoor decorating, reinventing them season after season. Sometimes you’ll find them holding serving trays. How about a cachepot filled with a fall mum? Or lanterns? That’s the beauty of versatile decorating tools like these: You can use them a million ways. You can also place decorated lanterns in your garden beds or on the edge of garden walkways. Don’t overdo — one or two usually is sufficient.
Fall Home Improvement Guide 2012 • Page 19
Let high-luster mercury glass shine in fall decorating MARY CAROL GARRITY Scripps Howard News Service
poked in some grass and berry picks, and let the sprays and picks dangle down the side and front of the mantel. Look 4: Coffee-Table Creation Bruce selected a few favorite fall icons as the backdrop for our mercuryglass gourds and pumpkins: greenery, including a sprig of fall leaves that features a tiny bird’s nest; an adorable chalkboard for back to school; and some old books. Look 5: Splashy Occasional Table Bruce pulled together a super-simple bowl of mercury-glass gourds in a jiff
to balance out the sparkling silver in the drink service on an occasional table. Start with a beautiful bowl. If you want a punch of color or some added texture, line it with a piece of fabric, perhaps a geometric print napkin. Then just fill in with a tumble of shimmering mercury-glass gourds and pumpkins. Five seconds, and you are done! The column has been adapted from Mary Carol Garrity’s blog at www.nellhills.com. She can be reached at marycarol@)nellhills.com
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Mercury-glass pumpkins are glorious accents. Balance for a Buffet If you want a gorgeous look for your buffet, but you don’t want to invest a lot of time (or money), this is the arrangement for you. Start by placing a substantially sized lamp at the center of your buffet to serve as the high point of the display. Then, flank the lamp with two matching mercuryglass arrangements. Simple, balanced and stunning, this display gives a clean look for fall. Look 3: Magnificent Mantel Display For a fall mantel treat-
ment, Bruce used mercuryglass accents in a supporting role, not as the stars of the display. That honor went to a transferware plate, carefully selected to repeat the reds in the faux fall greenery, which gives a mantel display so much depth. The plate is held in place by a few twiggy trays. Inexpensive and versatile, these trays are a mainstay for me, especially when I decorate for fall. They work wonderfully as chargers for fall place settings and as the base of fall table displays.
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I’m crazy about highluster mercury glass: all the sparkle and none of the polishing work of real silver. I have been using mercury-glass accents in my decorating for years, but I took an even brighter shine to it when I discovered the most adorable mercuryglass pumpkins and gourds at market. They are my top pick for fall decorating this year. Here are five fabulous looks featuring the mercury-glass pumpkins and gourds. Look 1: The Center of Everything This fall, we are having lots of fun dreaming up tableaus that play up the juxtaposition of the cool, sleek mercury glass with the organic textures and rich colors of fall. Bruce, a visual designer, set the stage by placing two of our favorite buffet lamps on either side of the centerpiece. Not only do the silver lamps add sparkle and shine of their own, but with their dark shades, they cast light downward, acting like spotlights for the star of the show: the centerpiece. When creating a display, the key is to work high to low. Bruce used a cut-glass compote as a riser, topped the mouth of the compote with a fall wreath and then nestled three mercuryglass pumpkins inside. Next, he created a bed of fall leaf sprigs to hold more mercury-glass pumpkins. Two tiny wreaths served as nests for additional pumpkins. He finished off with a mercury-glass partridge figurine. The design is fabulous because it’s simple to create, but looks layered and lush. Look 2: Beautiful
Bruce again worked high to low to create a richly layered asymmetrical mantel display. The high point is a mercury-glass gourd perched on top of a mercury-glass candlestick, backed by a spray of fall leaves. The display flows down to the left, to the plate and trays. The shortest layer is a matching twig tray filled with mercuryglass pumpkins. The thread that holds all these pieces together is the spray of fall leaves that ensconces each unit of the tableau, making them into one. To get a more threedimensional look, Bruce
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