Shining a Light on LED Upgrades

In these, the darkest days of the year, there’s nothing more important than adequate lighting. Unfortunately, firing up those incandescent bulbs costs money, and the more hours they run, the more they cost. Although change can be hard, today’s LED bulbs are better than ever, mimicking traditional bulbs in almost every way but with significant benefits to homeowners who make the switch.

LEDs Are Much Safer in Homes

Incandescent bulbs get hot. Sometimes they get very hot, especially when in enclosures like ceiling can fixtures. There are endless stories about recessed lighting catching fire because the wrong wattage bulb was put in by a homeowner in an attempt to brighten their space a little. That 100-watt incandescent bulb generates significantly more heat than a 40-watt or even 60-watt bulb.

LED bulbs, on the other hand, barely generate any heat at all no matter how bright they are or what color they put out. There’s almost no risk of fire due to overheating, making them super safe to leave running without supervision, even in a can light. Even better, LED recessed lighting kits are now available that replace the old can light housings, further reducing risk with upgraded construction.

LEDs Offer Additional Features

Incandescent bulbs are really good at making light, but they’re kind of a one-trick pony. LED lights, on the other hand, are super versatile. They can have built-in speakers for music on demand in rooms like bathrooms or on covered patios where it may be awkward to keep a stereo or smart speaker. They can also be smart themselves, allowing you to change the color of the bulb based on your needs. If you’re in the mood for a blue light in your kitchen, well, just a few clicks on your phone and it’s done. If you’d rather stick to whites, but like to flip between blue hue light and yellow hue light as the day progresses, you can do that, too. You can even turn a smart bulb on and off without installing a smart switch.

Energy Consumption: Plain LEDs Versus Incandescent Bulbs

The other thing that LED bulbs do is they save money and energy, and in a huge way. It might not seem like much, but running a 60-watt incandescent light bulb five hours a day adds up to about $11 a year in energy expenses – if your house has 30 light bulbs, that’s $330 a year! That incandescent bulb is rated for about a 1,000 hour lifespan, so if you only use them five hours a day, you’ll be replacing them every six months, on top of the $330 extra you’ll spend on energy. For people who work from home and may have lighting on all day, 16 hours a day, the cost of running a single incandescent bulb shoots up to $35 yearly, with a bulb change every couple of months. The electricity cost alone for those 30 bulbs is over $1,000!

LEDs, on the other hand, cost only a fraction of an incandescent bulb to run and last a whole lot longer. At five hours a day, a 10-watt LED bulb (equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent) will cost you $1.83 a year to run, and last five and a half YEARS. Even with 16 hours a day of use, that 10-watt LED is still only $5.84 to run; 30 of them will cost $175 yearly. And they’ll still last most of two years (1.71 years, to be exact).

Tips for Painting Over Dark Walls

Hooboy. You’ve finally bought a house, but the paint is so, so dark. “It’s only paint,” you told yourself as you walked through the place, and repeated at your walkthrough prior to closing. “It’s only paint.” And while it’s true that it’s only paint, and paint can always be painted over, going over dark walls is a much different story than trying to paint over light colored walls. Reds, purples, browns, and dark grays are particularly tricky, though anything with much pigment can pose a significant challenge if you’re not prepared. But don’t worry, we’ve put our best painting tips together to help you conquer your dark wall challenges.

Tip #1: Primer Is Not Optional

It can be easy to scoff at basic prep work when you’re “just painting,” but as with any project in your home, the end result is going to be directly related to how well you do the prep work ahead of time. And just like laying new tile or installing a new bathroom sink, the amount of preparation time you put into repainting your dark walls will show. The right prep also will make the job so much easier, so that’s something to look forward to.

When painting over dark walls, primer is absolutely not optional. Even if you choose a paint that claims to have a primer built in (it does not, it’s just a thicker paint), you will still need a high quality primer. This is not time to skimp on the cheap stuff. Choose a primer that’s designed specifically to block pigment bleeding. The greater the color difference between the paint that’s being covered and the paint you’re covering with, the more your primer will have to do. Plan to paint at least two coats of primer on very dark walls.

Tip #2: Choose Colors in the Same Family

If you like the color that your wall already is, but it’s just a shade or two too dark, well, that’s a much easier problem to solve than going from, say, midnight black to snowfall white. Taming the shade is a much easier proposition, since you’re staying in the same color family, and any small amount of pigment bleed may easily go unnoticed. However, you’ll still need to stay close to the same shade, or else you’ll need to go back to Tip 1 and prime like your life depends on it. You should still prime before you paint no matter what you do, but you may not need industrial strength primer to switch from a deep burgundy to a middling plum, for example.

Tip #3: Paint More Than You Think You Should

One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when applying new wall paint, besides skipping the primer, is stopping before they’re done. With some colors, it can be a little tricky to tell if you’ve actually finished the job, but if you see any thin areas at all, you should really apply another coat. Chances are good that you didn’t just have one thin spot.

Two coats are often plenty of paint for a regular job, but don’t be shy about applying a third if it’s warranted, or going back later and adding another coat of paint after you’ve lived with it a while and noticed that the paint coverage isn’t really consistent. It’s easy to underpaint a wall, especially if you’re trying to get a job done over a weekend.

Choosing a Walkway Deicer

As the threat of winter ice and snow increases, many homeowners start stocking up on deicer and other products to try and keep their walkways safe and clear throughout the winter. Not all deicer products are created equal, however, and some can actually do some harm around the home. Not only can some deicing compounds harm plants around your walkway, but they can even cause some damage to your walkways as well if you aren’t careful.

Obviously, damage to your lawn or property isn’t ideal when trying to use a product to keep yourself and your family safe during the winter. With several options available, how do you know which deicer is best for your home? While it may differ based on the composition of specific deicer products, here are some things that you can look for to help choose the right deicer for your walkways.

Avoiding Harmful Compounds

When people think of deicer, one of the first things that they think of is rock salt. It’s the most common deicing compound and has been around for decades, but it’s also the most dangerous to both your walkways and your yard. Rock salt is made of sodium chloride, abbreviated as NaCl, so if you see this on a deicer product you’re considering then you’re probably better off picking something else. Don’t pick just anything, though; some deicers use potassium chloride (abbreviated KCl) instead of sodium chloride, but this can also cause damage and even inhibit the root growth of plants in the spring.

There are a few options out there that are much better for your property than rock salt or potassium chloride. One of these is calcium chloride, also abbreviated as CaCl2, which not only is effective at lower temperatures than rock salt, but also gives off heat as it melts the ice, so it performs better as well. Urea-based deicers, which are made from ammonia, are also useful and are less likely to damage plants than many other compounds. Calcium magnesium acetate, also known as CMA, can also be used and is significantly less damaging than most other deicers because it is free of any form of salt.

Reducing Deicer Damage

If you do have to use a deicer that is potentially damaging to your walkways or plants, you have some options to help you reduce the damage that’s done. Mix the deicer with an inert compound such as sand or cat litter before spreading it, as this will provide traction and reduce the overall amount of deicer that you have to use. Use a mechanical spreader as well instead of just tossing the deicer out by hand to ensure a more even application that will keep large concentrations of salt or other chemicals from being deposited in one location. If you have advance warning before snow or ice hit, you can also cover portions of your steps or walkways with plastic, cardboard, or old towels or rugs; once the winter weather has passed, you can pick these items up and reveal mostly ice-free surfaces beneath them to greatly reduce your dependence on deicer.

Preparing for Winter Weather

Once the worst of winter hits, it’s usually too late to go out and try to buy deicer; many places start running low once winter weather starts showing on the radar. To avoid this, it’s important to stock up on at least a little deicer and other winter prep items well in advance of the bad weather actually arriving. There’s more to getting ready for winter than just keeping deicer and some basic supplies on hand, though.

Take the time to get winter prep inspections done of your HVAC system, roof, and other critical parts of your home done while the weather is still mild. This can help you avoid costly repairs and potentially dangerous situations once you’re in the middle of winter.

Cool Weather Pest Control for Beginners

The need for effective pest control is unfortunately all too real for many homeowners. As temperatures start to drop it can become even more vital as many critters begin seeking places to stay warm and dry during the winter. Add in a readily available food supply and your home can start to look awfully appealing to various rodents and creepy crawlers. The problem is only going to get worse as the nights get colder and the outdoors become more inhospitable.

Obviously, no one wants to share their home with a bunch of freeloading pests. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to help keep your home pest-free throughout the winter months and into the spring. There are also services available to help you evict even the most stubborn of unwanted invaders. Let’s take a look at some of your options.

Preventing Pests

One big thing that will help in controlling unwanted pests during the winter is a bit of preventative maintenance. Go through your home and look for signs of damage or other weak points that rodents, insects, and other critters might be able to use as an entry point. Once you’ve identified these potential entryways, block them off or fill them in to close those avenues off to any critter or creepy crawler that might want to use them.

If you think you’ve already got critters in the eaves of your home or other places, you can also take steps to get them out before they can bed down and have babies. Items such as excluders with one-ways doors can be installed over the holes or other areas where they’re getting in and out to feed. These covers allow bats, rats, and other pests to leave your home to go out and eat, but when they try to come back, they’ll find the way blocked and will have to locate a new place to live.

Baits, Traps, and Other Measures

If it seems like a pest infestation is already underway and simply closing off entry points doesn’t seem to be working, you may need to turn to more permanent measures to get rid of your pests. There are a variety of baits, traps, poisons, and other solutions to take care of pests that are already in the home. Some of these will kill the pests, while others allow you to capture them alive and take them elsewhere for release.

When using baits, poisons, and traps, it’s important to be safe about where you place them. If you have pets or small children, make sure that any such items are placed in inaccessible areas where your uninvited pests will have access but those who live in your home will not. You should also use care when choosing poisons or baits to make sure that pests can’t cause illness in your pets afterward if one of your pets find them. Desiccant-based baits and traps are usually the safest options in this regard.

Calling In Some Help

If you’ve tried everything else and nothing seems to be working, it may be time to call in some professional help. Exterminators and animal control professionals in your area not only have the equipment to help get rid of the pests in your home, but also have years of experience rooting out even the most dug-in of critters. They should be able to help with even the most frustrating of invasions, and even have resources to tackle uncommon occurrences such as groundhogs or other large pests taking an interest in your home or its foundation.

Should You Keep Your Radiator System?

Radiators have been around for a long time and are a staple of many heating systems, especially in older homes. They often provide heat throughout the winter at a lower energy cost than some other heating options, since true to their name they allow heat to passively radiate into the surrounding air. Unfortunately, some older radiator systems can require a lot of maintenance to keep in service year after year and may not be the best at providing even heat in your home.

Because of this, some homeowners will consider getting rid of radiator systems even if they’re still in mostly good repair. If you’ve got one of these heating systems in your home, you might even have considered it yourself. Let’s look at the topic and see whether it’s a good idea to get rid of your system, or if you should keep it around for a bit longer.

Pros and Cons of Radiator Heat

While radiator systems aren’t as common as they used to be, there are definite advantages to using them in place of forced air or other heating options. With that said, there are some downsides to radiator heating as well. Here are some of the pros and cons to consider when trying to decide whether to keep your radiator system.

Pros:

• Heat from a radiator is often more humid and comfortable because water isn’t removed from the air by blowing it over a heat source
• Better room-by-room control than other heating options
• The modularity of radiator systems makes it easy to replace individual radiators or other components without having to replace major sections of the system

• Very little noise compared to other options

Cons:

• Radiators typically require a lot of room, both for the radiator itself and space around it for safety purposes
• Cleaning radiators can be difficult, especially around the elements
• Poor maintenance can result in steep drops in heating efficiency, especially when compared to other heating types
• Radiators are much slower to react to changes in the thermostat than other heating options

If you’re still on the fence, perhaps it’s time to look at your existing radiator system to see if it needs to be replaced.

Evaluating Your Radiator

There are a few things that you should look at when trying to evaluate how well your radiator system functions and whether it needs to be replaced as a result.

First, give your radiator a visual inspection and look for signs of damage, corrosion, or other potential indicators that there’s a problem with the radiator. Be sure to remove any radiator covers and similar items so that you can see the radiator clearly. Make note of anything that seems out of the ordinary, because even small cracks can cause large problems over time.

You should also shut a radiator off and then turn it back on when it’s cool, timing it to see how long it takes to get back up to temperature. If it seems to take an excessively long time, especially compared to past performance, then it might indicate that there’s a problem with the heating elements or other components. You should also listen to the radiator as it heats up to see if it appears to be louder than before or makes noises that you aren’t used to.

Keep track of the maintenance that you have to perform as well. Do you seem to be doing some tasks more often than you used to? Are there problems that you keep having to correct that didn’t used to be an issue? If maintenance is increasingly an issue, it may be time to make a replacement.

 

Create the Illusion of Indoor Space

Having space within the home is important to most homeowners. If everything is too small and cluttered, it can make an otherwise charming home seem claustrophobic and unpleasant. With that said, adding space to your home can be a significant ordeal that comes with a lot of cost; at the very least, adding space means a major remodeling project even if you don’t have to make major modifications like taking out a wall.

It’s often possible to create the illusion of space without actually making modifications to the home, though. The available options will depend on the layout of your house and a few other factors, of course. If you want to make your home seem a lot more open without making major changes or sinking a lot of money into remodeling, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Keep It Light

One easy way to make your rooms seem larger and create an illusion of indoor space is to lighten things up. Dark walls absorb light and make your room seem darker overall, which in turn creates the appearance that the room is smaller than it actually is. If you paint your walls and even the ceiling in lighter shades such as white, yellow, and light browns, then this will lighten up the whole room and make it seem a bit bigger overall.

Adding to this concept, eliminating a lot of the shadows in your room will also make things seem brighter and create your illusion of space. This includes large and dark shadows, obviously, but also smaller shadows such as those cast by popcorn ceilings and small tiles. That doesn’t mean everything has to be flat and covered in light to be effective, of course; large segments, shallow impressions, and similar concepts will allow you to add some contour and shadow to your rooms without ruining this effect.

Low and Open

Another great way to create an illusion of space in your rooms is to keep everything relatively low and unobtrusive in the center of your rooms. This gives the room a much more open look, letting the space flow freely and making it look like there’s more space than there actually is. This can be accomplished with furniture that lacks high peaks or complex designs that draw the eyes; keep everything attractive but favor minimalist designs over extreme complexity.

Of course, if everything’s at the same level then things are going to get boring pretty quickly. To combat this, put a few decorations on or near the walls so that they can draw the eyes of visitors. Not only does this make a room more appealing, but if someone’s line of sight is drawn to something on the far side of the room then it will help to create that illusion of space that you’re trying to achieve. The brain will register the items of interest as being farther than everything else, making it perceive additional distance even if your decorations or standing lamps are relatively close behind your furniture.

Watch the Clutter

Clutter is the enemy of space. Even large rooms can seem small if you’ve got something scattered everywhere. If you’re trying to maximize the amount of space that a room appears to have, avoid over-decorating and keep clutter on your surfaces and walls to a minimum. This is especially important when it comes to plants and similar items, as it’s easy to overdo it, and those plants are just going to get bigger as time goes by.