We are always looking for ways to bump up the curb appeal of our home and when Clopay approached us about sharing some interesting new products that do just that, we had to take a look.
But first we wanted to know what a garage door manufacturer knew about increasing a home's curb appeal. Turns out A LOT! Typically garage doors don't rank high on the beauty shot scale and we've yet to come across a Pinterest board dedicated to beautiful garage door photos, but according to a Remodeling Magazine 2011 cost vs. value report, maybe we should take garage doors more seriously.
According to the study, garage door replacement ranks in the top 5 exterior home improvement projects, netting a 71% cost return at resale, on average, nationwide. This is a huge number that could make a big difference in appraisals and your listing price.
Garage door replacement ranks high in both categories for a few reasons:
1. It is among the least expensive projects in the survey.
2. A new garage door improves curb appeal in a way that can affect a potential buyer's first impression and, consequently, a home's resale value.
Garage doors are a major exterior design feature, especially if the garage faces the street. An upgrade doesn't necessarily cost a lot but it makes a big first impression, considering 73 percent of Americans now enter their home through their garage.
A remodeled kitchen and bath can help sell a home, but curb appeal is what gets buyers through the door. If they don't like what they see from the street, chances are they won't waste time going inside.
Door replacement can be done in less than a day and the visual gratification is instant.
3. Smart exterior upgrades improve energy efficiency - another important factor as homeowners look at ways to reduce the long-term costs of owning and maintaining a home.
You know you're an avid do-it-youselfer when you're ready to step up to an angle grinder. Most angle grinders are found in workshops, service garages and auto body repair shops but we're certain you'll find a use for this tool if you win it. Nothing matches an angle grinder when you need to cut or grind through anything.
This week our Giveaway is courtesy of Tough Weld Workwear. The Metabo W8-115 Quick 4 1/2" Angle Grinder is a high-powered angle grinder with extra high cooling capacity for fast work progress and includes a robust Metabo marathon motor. Other features include Metabo dust-protection technology for an extremely long device service life, a quick wheel change system, non-locking paddle switch, spindle lock, low profile aluminum die-cast gear housing, burst-proof guard w/ 7 stops, anti-vibration side handle, metabo slip clutch, and auto-stop carbon brushes.
Tough Weld is also offering our readers a 10% coupon code for their online store which includes brands like Dickies, Carhartt, Wrangler and Timberland. Just enter "c&h10" at checkout.
HOW TO ENTER
You can enter once-per-day and you've got three options! Enter all three ways to triple your chance of winning!
1. Leave a comment below stating what you'll cut or grind with this tool.
note: Please don't add URL's or email addresses in the actual comment as it may go to spam. Make sure you provide a working email in the comment form so we can contact the winner.
3. Like this contest on Facebook
2. Tweet this contest on Twitter with the words "Win a Metabo angle grinder from @Charles_Hudson @ToughWeld http://bit.ly/toughweldwork #giveaway"
PRIZE
One winner will receive a Metabo W8-115 Quick 4 1/2" Angle Grinder (retail value $258).
GIVEAWAY DEADLINE
We will select one random winner at 12 midnight EST on February 15th, 2012 and he/she will be notified immediately.
BONUS: EVERYONE WINS
Don't forget the coupon code. Use "c&h10" at checkout on ToughWeld.com for 10% anything in your shopping cart. They've got brands like UnderArmour, Justin and Wolverine Workboots.
As a blogger in the home improvement world I've come to know quite a few construction professionals so when I had a question regarding the differences between circular saws, more specifically the worm drive and the sidewinder, I asked my friend Robert Robillard who is a carpenter and also writes about tools and home improvement challenges at A Concord Carpenter.
As a seasoned DIYer who lives on the west coast I've only really shopped for sidewinder saws which I always just called circular saws. But circular saws also come in another variation which is a worm drive saw.
It seems there is a regional bias for what type of saw contractors use. Early on the sidewinder saws were marketed to the east coast and the worm drive to the west coast. The SKIL 77 worm drive saw is a legendary workhorse and many right-handers prefer it because you don't have to look over the motor to see the blade cut. Sidewinders have become the preferred choice among DIYers because of their lighter weight and lower cost.
Comparison
Robert breaks down the differences for me.
Carpenters from coast to coast have used worm drive saws for framing, stair and roof rafter construction. The "Worm drive" is the name of the gears inside the saw. The motor drives a worm gear that transfers power to the blade. Because of this a worm drive has more torque and will cut when a direct drive saw would stall out. Which means more powerful!
It also means more weight and for years this was a negative for a lot of carpenters who are not framers.
In my opinion, worm drive saws are unmatched for their line of sight and blade visibility [blade on left for right handers] as well as their ample power. As a carpenter I can attest that my job site needs change and evolve with newly developed materials, updated building techniques and streamlined methods of working. Todays worm drives are lighter like the DEWALT 13.8 saw.
Many carpenters who do rafter and stair work would have a worm drive and a side winder for the opposing bevels.
Sidewinders or direct drive saws are small, light and get the job done. I personally own both and if I'm making a few cuts I use the lighter sidewinder. If Im on a framing job - it's the worm drive.
I'd love to hear what type and brand of circular saw you use and why?
photo: Fine Homebuilding
Our little guy is now four months old and one of the best things we did to prepare for parenthood was upgrade our laundry room. We are renting a home and fortunate enough to have the space for a separate laundry area. After living in NYC it was important that we had our own washer and dryer and with a baby its even more vital for comfort and convenience.
Old Utility/Laundry Room
The old laundry room was functional but it was ugly and washer/dryer units we had were at least 10-15 years old. We are all for solid appliances that last a long time but we are also into saving water and energy and the old units did neither. You just set a wash size or dryer time and thats it. Most new washers and dryers are energy star rated and have a lot of built in features to save you energy. We knew we'd be doing a lot more laundry with the little one on the way so it was a no brainer to consider upgrading our units.
We also had a problem with the red tile and faux wood walls. They were just ugly and had to go.
The room itself had also become a bit of a storage area and "catch-all" for stuff that we really had no other place for. This would have to change as baby stuff takes over and is more important so we knew we'd have to reorganize everything to make it work.
The utility room portion has a nice deep sink and we used it often for cleaning our hands, rinsing out brushes and a lot of other home improvement projects. But we wanted to also use this sink to wash our baby in and in it's current state it wouldn't fly because of the dirt and grime that had built up.
We also desperately wanted to add a toilet to this room. We knew we'd be having a lot more house guests with the baby and our 900 sq ft home has only one bathroom which is tiny so it's already a bit cramped.
What We Did
Since we're on the subject of toilets here is what didn't happen. The plumbing to the utility room was only sized for washing machine and sinks and standard toilets need a larger outlet for going direct to the sewer line. We chatted with a couple of plumbers and they would have to dig up the yard and run a line and after all was said and done we'd be out at least $5,000. We toyed with the idea of a shower in this room but that brought the cost up even more.
So our dream of adding making this utility room a proper bathroom was squashed. One path we could have taken was a mascerating toilet. These toilets don't require the larger fittings as waste is "churned" up and will clear existing pipes but there are only a couple companies that sell these toilets and we weren't totally sold on them. They are often used in basements where it's tough to dig into a foundation and if we find the right one we still may add it.
We did paint the room which gave it an instant transformation! We decided to whitewash the room and do the walls, floors and ceiling in white. For the walls and ceiling we went with the new Valspar + Asthma/Allergy friendly paint available at Lowe's. It's the most kid friendly paint we've seen. It's Zero-VOC, low odor and dries to an antimicrobial finish. It is also mold and mildew resistant. At this point I don't think we would use any other paint now that we have a little one.
The floors required a different type of paint and we stuck with Valspar and went with their floor and porch paint which was also low-VOC and low-odor. To be safe Laura still stayed far away from the painting but we did have time to goof around and take some fun photos before we painted the room.
We let the room dry for a couple days and were amazed at how much the room opened up with the white. We were really happy with our choice and also knew that white is about the easiest color to decorate with.
The last piece of this makeover was the most important and this involved upgrading our washer and dryer. We knew we wanted an energy efficient replacement that we could stack to save space so they would have to be front loading.
We wrote up another article sharing our experience in choosing and using the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer.
For now we are sticking with our sink which is nice and deep but we did a very thorough deep cleaning and since baby is so little Laura has been bathing him with her which also creates a nice bonding time.
Final Touches
Before this all came together there were a few things we needed to do.
The door on the dryer unit needed to be reversed so it swung in the same direction (towards the wall) that the washer did. I found some basic directions online and it took me about 20 minutes to figure it out but it just takes a few simple tools and I switched the door around. There have been no problems with it sealing and it's like it came from the factory.
We needed more storage so we made a quick stop to IKEA and grabbed their EXPEDIT bookcase unit in white and laid it down on it's side. We already have this bookcase in brown and use it in our son's nursery and for an IKEA product its very solid.
We had a clothing rack and hampers that we had already purchased from Bed, Bath and Beyond and it still fit perfectly in this space.
We also made our own chalkboard using Valspar Chalkboard paint and a picture frame from Target. We needed a simple message board that we could attach to the side of the dryer and this worked perfectly. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how we made a chalkboard.
Finally we acquired a 10 point deer mount over the holidays and it seemed like the laundry room was the best place for it. We have no other art or decoration so a little taxidermy adds a bit of quirkiness to the space.
We are extremely pleased with our new laundry room space and we feel that the time and effort was worth it. As with any home improvement project its all about balancing your budget and expectations and although we really wish we could add a 1/2 bath to this space we know that sometimes its best to wait and just focus on what is really important to our day to day living.
Check out page 2 for photos of our new laundry room which we've already put to great use!
