Browsing articles in "Uncategorized"
Feb 8, 2012
tanha
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A Tall Thanksgiving Order

A Tall Thanksgiving Order:

Just last year, in A Woman in Need of a Dish, I complained that every year at Thanksgiving, I feel like the only person who doesn’t have a signature dish. Each year, I rack my brain for creative ideas, and they’re yummy but – let’s face it – the holidays are all about tradition, and I wanted one.Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for! Shortly after posting that blog, I got some very unsettling news. Thanks to a new, smaller kitchen (and being much closer to 90 than to 80), my paternal grandmother – my Granny Nell – had decided to stop making her famous coconut cake, beginning right now! It was an earth-shattering declaration that I really thought she made way too casually, without nearly the drama it deserved.

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A Tall Thanksgiving Order

Feb 4, 2012
tanha
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How to Find Wall Studs Behind Bathroom Wall Tile

To find the location of wall studs behind a tile wall in a bathroom.Use a standard stud finder above the tile, and plumb down from it.Use a special deep sensor stud finder than can go through tile.Danny Lipford says, It is fairly easy to find the wall stud in a wall, even behind ceramic tile like this, especially if the tile doesn’t go quite to the ceiling. You can use a stud finder like this, locate exactly where the stud is, level down, and you’ll know exactly where to attach your grab bar into that stud.

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How to Find Wall Studs Behind Bathroom Wall Tile

Feb 2, 2012
tanha
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Scarecrows in the Garden

The Scarecrow history is a long history running through our ancestors from the Greeks. From the time our ancestors who were involved in the initial stage of farming have told us stories regarding the scarecrow. The birds have always been trying to eat our crops and there has to be somekind of a scary image to scare away birds entering our farms. The Scarcrow was built in an intention to drive away the birds to scare them.It has worked wonderfully.

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Scarecrows in the Garden

Feb 1, 2012
tanha
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Two-Story Home Addition Project

To modernize this older home and increase the living space, we added a two-story addition of over 2,000 square feet, along with a 500-square-foot porch. This massive renovation project took months to complete, but the result was well worth it.

Danny Lipford: What a beautiful house, a lot of architectural style to it and obviously one with a lot of potential. It’s located in Mobile, Alabama in this wonderful neighborhood where each and every street is shaded with a canopy of oak trees. A lot of families, a lot of sidewalks, just overall a wonderful neighborhood so you can see where it would be very desirable for a family to move to.

Now, the wood I-beams are an engineered building component that’s been around for a long time, and it’s a very green way of building because you’re able to use a lot of materials that may have ended up in the landfill. Those materials are used in the manufacturing of the OSB, or oriented strand board, as well as the little 2x2s that are on each end of the joist. You can see little strips of wood that are all glued together to make up these pieces.

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Two-Story Home Addition Project

Jan 28, 2012
tanha
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Problem Growing Grass Under Crabapple Trees

Problem Growing Grass under Crabapple Trees:
Crabapples aren’t known for emitting any particular chemical that kills grass. It can still be a challenge to get lawn grass to thrive underneath them for several reasons:Nutrient Competition: Even though crabapples don’t have particularly aggressive roots, all trees compete with lawn grasses for nutrients, and sometimes the lawn loses out. Try planting a tough, shade tolerant, and low-fertility lawn grass, such as creeping red fescue, that might not be as vulnerable to competition.If grass just won’t grow under your crabapple, consider digging up the area and creating an annual or perennial flower bed. Perennials in particular will be less vulnerable to falling petals and fruit underneath your tree.

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Problem Growing Grass Under Crabapple Trees

Jan 26, 2012
tanha
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Growing Camellias in Full Sun

Growing Camellias in Full Sun:

By nature, camellias are woodland shrubs that thrive in spots with dappled sun and shade that provide protection from harsh winds. In home gardens, it’s recommended to plant camellias in locations with partial sunlight or up to half a day of sun.Too much sun exposure on camellias can cause yellowed, scorched leaves and overall poor health. During the winter, too much sun can cause the plants to warm up too quickly and be damaged by late cold snaps.However, depending on your yard’s microclimate and the variety you choose, you may have some luck growing camellias in full sun. I’ve seen camellias thriving both in wooded backyards and in sunny front borders.

Grow Sasanquas: Fall blooming Camellia sasanquas are more sun tolerant than larger leaved, spring blooming Camellia japonicas.

Think Red: Camellias with red blooms tend to tolerate sun better than white or pink varieties.

Provide Some Shelter: If possible, locate your camellia where it can be a little bit sheltered by your house or nearby trees as the sun moves across the sky – ideally about half the day, but whatever you can manage.

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Growing Camellias in Full Sun

Jan 25, 2012
tanha
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Adding Soffit and Ridge Vents to Your Attic

Proper attic ventilation is an important component of an energy efficient home, since it keeps your house cooler in the summer. It’s also important in the winter to vent moisture from your attic to prevent rot, mold, and mildew.

To provide proper attic ventilation, your home should have:

Soffit Vents: These vents are located in the soffit under the eaves to allow outside air into your attic. They’re available in both rectangular and round shapes.

Ridge and Gable Vents: To let hot air out of your attic, you also need either ridge vents cut into the roofing on the peak of your roof or gable vents at the top of gables in your attic.

Power Vent Fans: If you need additional attic ventilation, you can install vent fans in your attic. Vent fans can be either hardwired or solar powered, and should be located high up on the roof just below the ridge or inside your attic behind a gable vent.

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Adding Soffit and Ridge Vents to Your Attic

Jan 21, 2012
tanha
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Do Solar Powered Attic Vent Fans Really Work?

Do Solar Powered Attic Vent Fans Really Work

It’s important that you have plenty of ventilation in your attic to remove hot air in the summer and prevent condensation and moisture problems in the winter. In addition to soffit, gable, and/or ridge vents, you may want to add a power vent fan to your attic to increase air circulation.Solar powered attic vent fans usually don’t move as many cubic feet of air per minute (CFM) as hardwired fans; but they’re much easier to install, since no wiring is needed. To determine the number of cubic feet per minute needed for a power vent fan, multiply the number of square feet in your attic by 0.7.But, the key thing is making sure you size it properly. First thing you need to do is measure the square footage of your attic times point seven will tell you how many cubic feet you need per minute you will need to properly ventilate your attic. Now you might be able to achieve that with one solar powered exhaust fan, but it may take more than that.

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Do Solar Powered Attic Vent Fans Really Work?

Jan 19, 2012
tanha
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Indoor and Outdoor Audio Options for Your Home

Indoor and Outdoor Audio Options for Your Home:

To power speakers for your home theater system without having to run wires in walls, consider the SonicAir from SpeakerCraft. The wireless transmitter and receiver can send audio signals from your home theater or sound system to speakers as far as 100’ away.To take the music outside your home for outdoor entertaining, consider the OutCast Jr. from Soundcast Systems. These rechargeable, battery powered speakers are weatherproof and include a direct connection for an MP3 player in the speaker. You can also add an iCast wireless transmitter to send a wireless signal to the speakers from an audio system up to 350’ away.

Brad Sundberg: No, I can’t go down. I’ve got bedrooms down below. So, the most economical solution, and the high quality solution, is to use a wireless transmitter and receiver. That’s what this is here. That’s what this is. SpeakerCraft makes something called the SonicAir.

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Indoor and Outdoor Audio Options for Your Home

Jan 14, 2012
tanha
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Kitchen with a View

Kitchen with a View:

We totally remodeled and enlarged this kitchen, taking in an adjoining bathroom and adding 8’ in length. New dark wood cabinets, granite countertops, and warm hardwood floors provide a big change from the white painted cabinets and cold tile floors which were here before.Instead of widening the kitchen to increase square footage the new plan added about eight feet to the length of the kitchen. The first thing to go during demolition was the small bathroom situated next to the kitchen that also functioned as a pantry. This really opened up the kitchen. The homeowner will now have a great view of the playroom and the pool from her new kitchen.

The bathroom was relocated to the lower level, while the cabinets took over the pantry chores. The new custom cabinets included some great features like an offset sink cabinet, raised bar on the lower level and peninsulas on either end of the room. All helped add interest to the narrow long space. The warm wood floors and the rich tile backsplash create a nice contrast for the cool granite counters and the stainless steel appliances.

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Kitchen with a View

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