Owner: One Project Closer URL:www.oneprojectcloser.com Join Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:45:09 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Advice on home improvement, community improvement, rental property management, DIY projects, lawn & gardening, and more (as we think of new topics :-) Site statistics:Click here
Floor Joists: Solid Lumber, I-Joists and Open Web Floor Trusses 2008-06-03 06:30:08 When constructing a house, builders need to decide what type of floor joists to install. Joists are horizontal supports that span from wall to wall, wall to beam or beam to beam. There are several different options including solid lumber, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), wood I-beams, open web floor trusses or steel floor joists. I [...] Read more:Floor
, Solid
Andy Asks: How can I Fix a Sinking Concrete Patio? 2008-06-02 06:30:45 Howdy folks! We need some help… A good friend of mine, Andy, sent me a question and asked if we could help. Frankly, I’m not sure what exactly to do given Andy’s budget constraints, but I thought someone out there might have some creative ideas. My only idea is posted at the end, and it isn’t a [...] Read more:Patio
Staining & Sealing Our Deck: Before and After 2008-06-01 06:30:43 This week’s Before and After is brought to you from our deck. Several weeks ago, Kim power washed the deck to remove dirt and grime and return the deck to its original yellow shade. On Memorial Day weekend, we put two coats of stain/sealer on the deck. The whole project took us more than 24 (wo)man-hours, not [...]
Weekend Round-up: Tire Check, Rug Giveaway, BH&G Contest 2008-05-31 00:00:17 Another weekend is here. And I thought I’d put together a few things that I’ve come across recently that are worth checking out.
Tire Check
I’ve seen a few posts recently reminding people to check their tire pressure. It’s important that all your tires are set to manufacturers’ specifications. Low pressure causes poor gas mileage and noone [...] Read more:Contest
, Weekend
Use PODS Storage When Staging Your Home for Sale 2008-05-30 06:30:32 Staging homes for sale has become all the rage in the last two years. With the real estate market in the tank, sellers are considering every option to make their houses sell quickly without taking a huge hit to their bottom line.
By now, you probably know what staging is. For those who don’t, it’s making your house more [...] Read more:Staging
Black Eyed Susans, Dwarf Coreopsis, Limerock Ruby Coreopsis 2008-05-29 06:30:46 Jocie, a large part of Jocie’s family, and I gathered in North Carolina for Memorial Day. Her Grammy owns a great house right on Lake Gaston which is fun for all ages. After coming back home, we found an awesome surprise. Amy had filled out our flower beds. She planted several different perennials. She is quite [...] Read more:Black
, Black Eyed
, Dwarf
Malibu SolarSELECT Accent Lighting Review 2008-05-28 06:00:47 Malibu’s PR company recently sent us two sets of Malibu SolarSELECT accent landscape lamps, one to giveaway to our readers, and another to review.
We’d like to thank Malibu for sponsoring a giveaway on this site (something I forgot to do in our winner announcement). With 450 entrants to the contest and thousands of viewers, we think their investment [...] Read more:Lighting
, Malibu
How to Market / Advertise a Rental Property 2008-05-27 06:30:24 So you’ve finally put the finishing touches on your investment property and you’re ready for the rental applications to start pouring in, preferably from dozens of over-qualified prospective tenants. In the right market, a simple front yard ”for rent” sign and an on-market price tag will attract more than enough applicants to give you the pick of the litter. In Read more:Advertise
, Market
, Rental
U.S. Memorial Day - Putting Home Improvement In Perspective 2008-05-26 07:00:17 For the last 5 months, the four of us here at OPC have been working on (and writing about) our home improvements and community activites. Each day we work & write, we take for granted the safe homes and community we live in, the amazing U.S. infrastructure that provides us food, water, and power, and the [...] Read more:Improvement
, Memorial
, Memorial Day
, Perspective
, Putting
Free Lowes 10% Off Printable Online Coupon 2008-05-25 16:00:13 Hope your Memorial Day holiday is going great so far. Here’s several Lowes Coupon
s that’ll give you a great cost break off your next home improvement project.
1. LowesMoving.com will e-mail you a free printable coupon (and mail you a copy) for 10% off any in-store purchase up to $5000.00. Just follow that link and fill out the form [...] Read more:Printable
Acclimating the Hardwoods 2008-06-04 06:30:05 Fred and I picked up my Brazilian Walnut hardwood floor a few days ago. 27 boxes and they are heavy! I opened one of the boxes for a preview and it looks amazing. I’m very please with the color and variation. Click on the picture for a larger version. Corey, hope this helps you decide.
Why [...]
Home Depot 10% Off Coupon 2008-06-03 22:35:31 Howdy folks… Here’s an online Home Depot
10% off coupon available at homedepotmoving.com. You have to sign up for Home Depot
’s moving site to get the coupon, but you don’t have to be moving anytime soon (I entered a date around 2012 as an ‘estimate’).
In case you didn’t notice last week, you can still get [...] Read more:Coupon
Should We Refinance Our House? 2008-06-05 06:00:49 We’ve been in our house about 2 years. We bought just at the end of 2005 and locked in a decent 5.75% interest rate on a $250,000 fixed 30-year loan. Just after we locked in, rates started to climb, ultimately rising into the high sixes about 12 months later. We timed the market pretty well with respect [...] Read more:House
, Refinance
Baltimore HVAC Contractor - MG Mechanical Services - Excellent! 2008-06-06 06:00:52 Two weeks ago, just as it was starting to get very hot in Baltimore
, we walked past our thermostat and noticed that the display had gone out. We checked the usual things: breakers at the main panel, breakers at the HVAC subpanel, and fuses by the outside A/C compressor (although I believe the latter would have [...] Read more:Contractor
, Services
About Tent Caterpillars and Ways to Remove Them 2008-06-09 06:30:51 I’ve noticed a few trees in the community with the signs of Tent Caterpillars. They are easily spotted this time of year by the tent like nests they are named after.
About Tent Caterpillars
Tent Caterpillars prefer Black Cherry trees but will infest others. The mature female moths lay eggs on pencil sized branches. When spring arrives [...]
Before and After: Removing Carpet and Hardwood 2008-06-08 14:28:02 This weeks Before and After is brought to you from my first floor hallway. I’m preparing to lay hardwood floors in about 2 weeks time. And there is a lot to get ready.
To prepare, I’m removing all the quarter-round, baseboards, carpet, carpet pad, and existing hardwood. It’s slow going but I hired Bryan to help [...] Read more:Carpet
, Hardwood
How to Take a Home Inventory for Insurance and Tax Purposes 2008-06-10 06:30:33 We all think it will never happen to us: a house fire, a hurricane, or some other calamity destroys our house and everything in it. Of course, these disasters happen every day to people across the country; they aren’t uncommon. All of us have homeowners insurance to pay for replacement items, but in the event [...] Read more:Inventory
Installing a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter 2008-06-11 06:30:00 I finally got around to installing a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) on my deck. The PO’s had a regular receptacle which worked about 50% of the time. A soft kick usually got it working. This was obviously something that needed a little more attention.
How GFCI’s Work
A GFCI is a device used to protect against [...] Read more:Circuit
, Fault
Your Take: Flipping Items on Craigslist for a Profit 2008-06-13 06:30:45 Two weeks ago I purchased an item listed on Craigslist that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t use. I was sure that I could resell the item for about 3-4x the purchase price. I wasn’t looking for a flip opportunity; I just happened across it. There it was: a great deal. It was so great, in fact, I didn’t haggle with the seller. I [...] Read more:Flipping
, Items
Before and After - Summer 2008 - Supporting Habitat for Humanity 2008-06-14 07:37:11 If you’ve been reading here for some time, you know that each Sunday one of us here at OPC posts an article with Before and After pictures from a project we’ve been working on around our house. If you’re new here, or don’t remember what we’re talking about, take a look at this Before and [...] Read more:Summer
Pruning A Neighbor’s Tree 2008-06-17 06:30:38 I love the trees on my court. When they bloom, it’s an explosion of pink and white blossoms. They last only for a short time, but I look forward to it each spring. This year I noticed that one of the trees had been pruned back quite a bit, but only on one side. It [...] Read more:Neighbor
Flat Paint to Eggshell: Walls After Kids 2008-06-18 06:00:04 When I (Kim) left my job to stay home with our boys, I was excited to have a few months before the adoption finalized to whip our newly-purchased fixer house into better shape. Most of our rooms still had their construction-grade paint from 1985, and they were gross.
Summoning my just-enough-to-be-dangerous interior design experience, I picked a [...] Read more:Paint
, Walls
Before & After 2008 Graphics 2008-06-17 20:55:40 To our blogmates: Thanks so much for your response so far to Before and After 2008! Many of you have posted articles on your blogs encouraging others to support our event for Habitat for Humanity, and have committed to providing an article yourselves. We very much appreciate it, and are excited about watching the event unfold!
If you’re interested in [...] Read more:Graphics
Is DuraCeramic better than Ceramic Tile 2008-06-26 06:30:16 My brother and his wife are remodeling their kitchen. They’ve taken the time to carefully investigate all the different aspects. And I was really curious when they began talking about DuraCeramic
for the kitchen floor.
What is DuraCeramic?
DuraCeramic basically falls in between laminate floor and ceramic tile. It is manufactured as 16 inch square tiles that [...] Read more:better
Refurbished Table Saws @ Factory Reconditioned Prices 2008-06-25 06:30:31 I recently researched a variety of factory-reconditioned table saws available on Amazon. The results of my research are below. In summary, you can purchase a refurbished table saw for approximately 30-60% off retail (big box) store prices. With most table saws costing between $300-$600 retail, the advantages of a reburished saw are significant - anywhere from $100 on up!
Most (if not Read more:Factory
, Prices
, Table
HVAC Maintenance Cost Worth It: A Contractor’s Recommendations 2008-06-24 06:30:25 Fred ran a post about a great experience with a local HVAC contractor earlier this month. One reader, Scott, had a few questions about annual maintenance and warranties. He was curious if they were really worthwhile. A buddy of mine has been in the HVAC business for some time. Here is what he told me.
Is [...] Read more:Contractor
, Maintenance
, Worth
New Rental License Requirement - Baltimore County, MD 2008-06-23 06:00:30 Rental properties. Some swear by the investment; others swear off, due to the horror stories. Fred and I found ourselves landlords by path of least resistance. When we were in the very first months of dating, we were both house hunting, and since it was too early to know whether “We” would continue as such [...] Read more:Baltimore
, County
, License
, Rental
, Requirement
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