If you want to install a roof, you should hire a roofer. If you need someone who will help you protect the people and things under your roof, you should hire a roofing contractor. Crystal Anderson owns AGC Contracting of Maryland Heights, MO, and she fully understands what lies under a roof. Finding hidden leaks, [...]
I’m not crazy about using green in my home. My favorite color is brown, because it is warm, and almost neutral, which means I can switch out accent colors as I please. Our brown carpet also conveniently matches the dog, but that’s another article. I recently learned, however, that I could go green while keeping [...]
The Builders St. Louis Home and Garden Show will be the best place in the Midwest this weekend for shopping, learning, playing, and just stopping to smell the roses. The show offers attractions for kids of all ages, gardeners and garage gearheads, home designers and home improvement DIYers – all in one sprawling location. Kid [...]
Set your 10-year-old inner balloonist free at the Builders St. Louis Home and Garden Show I want to be 10 years old again. This year at the Builders St. Louis Home and Garden Show, I want to be 4-ft high, have a cookie in my pocket, and be responsible for nothing. I don’t want to [...]
While it may not be landscaping season where you live, it is definitely home and garden show season. These mega shows offer consumers a one-stop shopping experience where you can shop and compare without driving all over town, and in some cases all over the state. Most of the time these homeshows feature show gardens [...]
Visit the Builders St. Louis Home and Garden Show this weekend for green home design inspiration Ten years ago, you were green if you recycled your plastics and insulated your attic. Five years ago, we were told to change to CFL light bulbs and buy a hybrid car. Now, in the spring of 2010, America’s [...]
Paints and stains are harsh, often harmful chemicals. Granted there are a handful of “green” paint products coming out on the market. But what happens when you need to rejuvenate and protect wood that has braved the elements for years? It’s hard to find an environmentally friendly product for that job, can you? Relax – there [...]
Thanks to advancements in alternative wood products and the use of wood treatments on older wood constructions, your fence and deck options are getting greener. Richard Lusa, CEO of Fence Depot, Inc., in St. Louis, MO, says more and more of their products are rated as green building products by the LEED criteria. Some of [...]
There are lots of do-it-yourself jobs around the house or jobs that you might trust to a handyman, but electrical work shouldn’t be one of them. According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), home electrical problems account for nearly 55,000 home fires every year. These fires cause more than 500 deaths, injure more than [...]
One of today’s most popular home improvement projects is energy efficient window replacement. Today’s new replacement windows are better insulated and longer lasting than ever before. Of course, installing a window involves some serious structural issues, so finding dependable, capable window replacement companies is as important as finding the right windows. Thomas Construction, located near [...]
As Old Man Winter and his partner Jack Frost plot together to assure a chilling winter season, I can almost hear them laugh as they hurl blustery winds and snowballs at my windows. I’ve spoken to neighbors that have fiberglass windows and they say they haven’t had any issues with the co-conspired companions this season. So, [...]
The many intricate details of landscaping which people need to consider when selecting the right design for making their property look more aesthetically pleasing.
My mother deliberated endlessly between harvest gold and avocado green when selecting the appliance color for our new home. Those were the current color trends–burnt orange was as well-but it had already been eliminated by my father. He hated the other two less, but equally, that is why my mother got to choose. My father [...]
If your idea of a log home is “Little House on the Prairie,” allow me to bring you up to speed on 21st Century log homes. It’s still true that log homes have a “rustic” appearance – there’s really no way around that. (And the “lodge look” is sort of the whole point.) But innovations [...]
A&E and HGTV still haven’t called, nor have their cameras ever appeared at one of the many properties I “flipped” or rehabbed. I’ve been at it longer than these stations have existed: buying foreclosed and distressed properties fixing them up, staging them and selling the property for a profit. It did surprise me that someone [...]
Are you ready to go beyond the “small steps” to go green? If you’re like many energy conscious consumers, you’ve already switched to CFL light bulbs. You’ve installed a programmable thermostat. And your appliances are all Energy Star rated. It’s true… small steps really do add up. But maybe you’re ready for a big change [...]
Aaron and Jeny Lindsey had inherited a 980-square-foot farmhouse that was built in 1960. While quaint, they really wanted more room. More important, their little cottage was built with dangerous, old asbestos siding. After deciding to renovate, the couple conferred with Dependable Siding, O’Fallon, MO, who removed all the asbestos materials and then installed new [...]
Are you taking advantage of the current federal energy efficiency tax credits? If you watch the news, you’ve seen Cash for Caulkers and another $5 billion in renewable energy incentives just in the last few weeks. Chances are your neighbor or someone you know is letting the government pay them to improve their home’s efficiency [...]
With the economy slowing and the green movement growing, more homeowners are choosing to remodel their existing homes rather than to build or buy new. Older homes are greener simply because they already exist, so no new resources are required for construction. Even if your current home needs upgrades for energy efficiency, function, or style [...]
Stretching a dollar has an alternative meaning for Joey Green, aka The Pantry Professor. Most of us suffer from “functional fixedness,” the unconscious condition of thinking Kool-Aid is for drinking. But Joey knows you can fix a broken dishwasher with it! You may look at a can of Spam and ask, “Why?” Joey Green looks [...]