Attic Handrail Safety - Do it Yourself Home Repair

Some stairways that lead up to your attic will have a safety or guardrail to prevent people from falling down the stairs or off of them. Attic handrail safety can provide homeowners with a little peace of mind if they just follow the few simple steps. Make sure that the handrail is at least 42 inches in height. 42 inches is the minimum height for guard rails and can be found in the uniform building code.

The uniform building code is the Bible to the building industry and sets the standard for new construction and remodeling.

The 42 inches will be measured from the floor to the top of the handrail. Some older homes will have handrails that are 36 inches and some of them will be even 30 inches in height. A 30 inch handrail provides limited protection for anyone who is over five foot tall. 30 inches becomes the center point for any one over 60 inches and these people could easily fall over the short handrail.

Now for the homes that don't have any attic handrail safety systems. Some homes that were built before the 1960s won't have a handrail system at all in the stairway. Keep something in mind here, when these people were building these houses, some of them were trying to save money, some of them figured that it wasn't going to be a big deal and other builders simply forgot to install them.

It's not hard to install a working attic handrail for safety but keep in mind, that if the handrail isn't the right height, it will provide you with limited protection. Attic handrails that are lower than 30 inches can provide young children or others who are shorter than five feet with very little protection but can be a safety hazard to anyone over 5 feet tall.

If your attic doesn't have a safety handrail, use caution and be careful in these areas of your home. It wouldn't be a bad idea to install a locking doorknob if your attic access has a door that can be secured to prevent small children or other people from entering these unsafe areas.

Home Attic Repairs

Greg Vandenberge 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 has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Best Material to Be Used in the Bathroom

Everyone wants to live in a big house, which looks grand and beautiful. Though the bathroom is a small room, which you cannot personalize a lot or add a lot of furniture, there are numerous ways of making it look pretty. A simple way to do this is by using good materials for your bathroom. You have got to find and choose the best material to make your bathroom look more splendid. Here are some of the best materials to be used in a bathroom.

Material for the Countertops

You could start by deciding what material should be used for your countertop. There are many choices available from which you can choose. Before settling on what type of countertop you want, you must take into account factors such as its price, durability, maintenance, style and installation. Having a countertop in your bathroom is a must. You must decide on a countertop material, which is not affected by water, that is considering the humidity and water in the bathroom. Bathroom countertops are usually customized however nowadays you can even get yourself pre-made countertops. Some of the best materials that can be used for your countertop are marble, laminates, tiles, granite and soapstone.

Material for the Bathtub

Next you can decide on the type of bathtub, whether you want a luxury bathtub or an old fashioned one. Later on you can decide on the material for your bathtub. Again there are a number of materials to choose from while deciding on the material to use for your bathtub. Each of these materials have there own advantages and disadvantages. Even though these materials may be quite superior and good in quality, you must remember that over time they will be damaged due to use. Some suitable materials you can use are acrylic, marble, fiberglass, cast iron, enameled steel or porcelain on steel and solid surface.

Material for the Bathroom Walls

Selecting the material required for your bathroom walls is quite a task what with the endless number of options that are now available to you. But you must remember to make the right choices. You must consider certain factors such as it should be water resistant, easy to clean and durable. Also each material has its pros and cons that you must keep in mind before deciding on the final material. Some materials which are most commonly used and are the best to use for your bathroom walls are tiles which are available in a wide variety, fiberglass, acrylic sheet materials and marble and natural stone tiles. These come in a variety of sizes and colors to choose from.

Material for the Bathroom Floor

There are many options available when picking the right flooring for you bathroom. However you must keep in mind how the material handles moisture, whether it is durable or not and how the particular style will suit your bathroom. Materials that can be used are laminates, tiles which come in a wide variety of styles and surfaces and also vinyl flooring.

Keeping all these suggestions in mind you can now decide on how to remodel or design your bathroom according to your preferences.

Marble City Company is the leading installer and largest importer of granite slabs in the Bay Area, California.

How to Find a Excellent New Home Builder

Looking for a good home builder or contractor, isn't an exact science, but hopefully, by the time you're done reading this article, you will at least have a better idea, what you will be looking for. Let's get started.

As a general contractor, the most important thing that I would be looking for any new home builder, would be experience. You can't sacrifice price for experience. If you're looking for the cheapest contractor, there's a good chance that this person will be lacking experience in home building knowledge.

How long has this person been in business? Just because you're new home builder has only been in business for five years, doesn't mean that he isn't capable of building your home. The same holds true for someone who has been in business for 30 years. Just make sure that these people have actually built homes in the past.

What is their attitude like? This is the second most important thing and I tend to focus on this more than experience, sometimes. If you don't get along with the person, you're not going to have a pleasant home building experience. If you think that there lying to you, scammers or generally don't feel comfortable with them, but they seem to have the most experience and build more homes in your area than anyone else. I wouldn't think twice about getting rid of them and finding someone else.

Last but not least, you should contact some of the people that they have worked for in the past. Talking to past clients, is going to play an important role in making your final decision. You need to find out, if these home builders, treated their clients fairly and were they generally happy with the overall outcome and performance, not only of the homebuilder, but each one of his subcontractors.

I would recommend writing out a list of questions and offering your new home builders past clients a free meal. Offer to take them out to dinner, lunch or breakfast, this way you will have their undivided attention and get the low down on your potential future home builder, it could be the best money that you ever spent.

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Greg Vandenberge 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 has just finished a home inspection checklist to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Making Slip Covers

Slip covers offer many excellent opportunities for introducing color and pleasing design into a room that would otherwise appear dull and cheerless. They add an informal atmosphere in either summer or winter months and also serve for recovering shabby or uninteresting furniture that does not harmonize with the other decorations.

There are two types of slip covers to be taken into consideration; the temporary ones used during the summer months, and the permanent ones that form part of the decorative scheme of a room and remain on all the year. It is proper taste to use them all through the year provided they are well tailored and fit snugly over the piece of furniture and the material harmonizes with the decorations already existing in a room.

When choosing material for slip covers, the character of the room should he considered as well as the type of the chair or sofa to he covered. In general, as far as the pattern is concerned, the same principles should be applied as when selecting any other type of upholstery material.

The laws of harmony and contrast should be considered, particularly when designer window toppers are taken into consideration. As a rule, slip covers should be made of the medium weight fabrics, such as glazed and unglazed chintzes, plain and printed linens, cretonnes, plain and striped taffetas, satins, sateens, silk and cotton repps.

Other materials which are often suitable are mohair, plain and striped poplins, ginghams and crash. Patterned fabrics may be found in practically all of the above mentioned weaves to harmonize with historic or modern period types of rooms, formal and informal.

Where economy is to be considered, and no particular style is to be adhered to, there are many varieties of inexpensive cretonnes with all-over flower patterns which are always in good taste. Checked ginghams and percales are smart and effective for covers for small boudoir chairs and can be found in striking color combinations. Such designs are also appropriate for covering French Provincial and quaint Colonial chairs.

For sun porches and semi-outdoor rooms, awning striped material is very durable and it makes striking and colorful slip covers. There are also waterproof glazed chintzes and rubberized materials which are practical for such rooms. For the purpose of obtaining unity in a room, the furniture covers are often of the same material as the curtains and even the picture frames.

In many instances colorful glazed chintz that has been chosen for the curtains may be repeated in slip covers for one or two chairs or a sofa with cushions made of a plain material - either plain glazed chintz, taffeta or satin repeating colors appearing in the chintz pattern.

Plain glazed chintz is a particularly good choice for use in rooms where wallpaper has been used and a patterned rug. Slip covers of plain material will be found more attractive when the seams are bound with a contrasting color.

However much may be said in favor of other materials, it is the decorative character and gay colors of flowered chintz and cretonne which gives them first consideration for the purpose of slip covers. Besides the color interest they add to a room, they may also give unity to a color scheme which appears disconnected.

Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer specializing in do-it-yourself home improvement, interior design, and fashioning designer window toppers and one of a kind picture frames. For the best in the hardwood moulding industry, please visit http://www.ferche.com/.

Fixing Ceiling Cracks - Home Repair Advice

It's not uncommon to find cracks in your plaster or drywall ceilings. It's not uncommon to find cracks in your wood ceilings either, but this article is about plaster or drywall ceilings that have small or large cracks in them and what actually causes the cracks and how you can repair them.

Believe it or not, most cracks in your ceilings and in your walls, on any drywall or plaster home interiors, are going to be the direct result of structural movement within the house. This could be from a small earthquake, the framing components are starting to shrink, as the lumber starts to dry it out or it could even be from your house settling. Larger cracks might signify problems with your foundation or even your soil.

If you have a large crack in your ceiling, and this would be something that you could stick a quarter into, you could have a structural problem and I would recommend contacting a home repair contractor in your area to evaluate your situation.

You realize that you have cracks in your ceilings and they're not very big, how do you repair them. The easiest way would be to apply a paintable caulking into the cracks and repaint the area. This could save you some frustration in the future, especially if the crack starts to become larger.

The best way to fix the crack, would be to apply some fiberglass drywall tape and then apply a standard drywall joint compound to finish the ceiling correctly. If your ceiling has acoustic or wall texture, you will need to reapply to finish over these areas to match your existing ceiling correctly.

If you have hairline cracks, I wouldn't even worry about them, unless they become larger. However, you could always apply a little bit of caulking and repaint them.

I would like to remind you something that I already said before in this article, if the cracks are larger than the width of a quarter, you might want to contact a building professional. You could have some serious structural damage occurring in your foundation or framing.

Ceiling Repair Advice and Tips

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Greg Vandenberge 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 has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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How Will First Lady Michelle Obama Re-Decorate the White House?

While the media has brought up the personal side of the transition into the White House and discussed the kid's picking of the "First Dog" or Presidential Puppy, maybe it's time to discuss how Michelle Obama might decorate the White House? No doubt this is of interest to many Americans and the interior designer profession.

Will she choose a more traditional look, will she enlist Martha Stewart's assistance, as Martha Stewart did endorse President Barack Obama prior to the election with much of the same kind words as Oprah did. Will Mrs. Obama, The United States' First Lady wish to put more color into the interior ambiance of the White House, and give it a little pizzazz?

Indeed, the Obama's are a young couple and they may like a White House with a little more personality, than the traditional old pastel look? There will be window shades to dress, colors to choose and furniture to pick out. It's a huge job and if you do not believe it, simply read some of the comments of other First Lady's who spent countless hours choosing how best to re-decorate it.

Perhaps the interior rooms are the wrong color and need more Earth Tones, that might be more to Michelle Obama's liking? It will certainly be interesting to see just how our new First Lady Elect Michelle Obama chooses to re-decorate. And you can bet whatever she chooses will be big news in the major media as the Obama's settle into their new home. How Will First Lady Michelle Obama Re-Decorate the White House? Please think on this.

Lance Winslow - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

What If My Contractor Does Not Return My Call

This is one of the biggest problems in business today. You have some work done on your home in good faith that the contractor knows what he is doing. When all is said and done you have a problem that needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I really don't care how long it has been since the work was done. If you have a problem the least that your contractor can do is answer the telephone.

Some companies go out of business and others get to busy to respond to your problem. You will hear the old excuse "That's not my problem" or the ever popular " I didn't do that". I have been in business for over twenty years and had very few problems. Of course I built things to last as long as possible.

Keep in mind that some contractors are a one man operation and they might be on vacation. Some contractors do not answer their phones over the week ends or after business hours. So don't sink the ship to fast.

Do not call the Contractors Licensing Board or the Better Business Bureau unless it has been at least a few working days. I would give it at least a week or so. Oh yeah don't assume that the contractor got your message. Call a few times at the least.

It has always made me mad when I have to fix someone else's problems. I get the call when the other contractors won't respond. I listen to the home owner with regret for being in a business where I am considered a crook. This is one of the reasons why contractors in my business get out of it.

If you have the contractors address and they aren't responding by phone you can always send them a letter by certified mail. Request a return receipt. That's your proof that the company received your letter. Keep a copy for your files.

The good news for a home owner when a contractor will not respond to your calling them is the Department of Consumer Affairs. Most states have a complaint department of some sort that will listen to your complaints. Does this mean it will get resolved? NO there are no guarantees here.

If your state has a licensing board for contractors, this will be your next step.

This will get your contractors attention and there is a great chance they will respond now. If there are enough complaints against the contractor and they do nothing about them the contractors board will take their license away.

If your contractor does not respond after all of this. There is very little you can do about it. Hire someone to fix the problem and look at it as a very important lesson learned.

If your state doesn't have a contractors licensing board contact the Better Business Bureau or your local government for their recommendation. Ask some of your friends if they have had any problems like this and how they handled them.

For some more tips about hiring contractors go to
http://gregvan.com/library/homeowner_checklists.htm

Greg Vandenberge has been in the home building and remodeling business for over 30 years. With this knowledge he has created a few websites that provide useful information for home owners as well as contractors. His main goal is to educate professionals in the home related businesses, dealing with problems that can easily be avoided with just a little bit of information.

His website http://gregvan.com provides all kinds of answers to remodeling and new house building issues that could create major damage as well as possible damage to your pocket book.