Inspector Says He Faked Results in Building Tests
A safety inspector's admission that he submitted clean asbestos or lead results for buildings in New York that he never inspected raises many troubling questions.
New-Homes Sales Jump 27%
Some Economists Think Rise Is Overstated and That Sales Are Simply Being Shifted to the Present From a Few Months Out
The New Rules of Remodeling
After years of economic recession and housing-market malaise, people are starting to fix up their homes again.
Renovating Home and Marriage
Lately, it seems as though our marriage is undergoing the same process as our Harlem brownstone. It's being gutted and remade anew.
We're all looking for easy to use room design tools that will help us layout a design before lifting one piece of furniture.
Today, AutoCAD Freestyle launched and it promises to be the design tool that is as easy to use as pen and paper, but has the accuracy of professional grade design software.
According to the developers Autodesk:
AutoCAD Freestyle is a simple and easy-to-use free 2D drawing application that can be used by homeowners to easily create professional, accurate designs and share them with landscapers, salespeople at Home Depot (or wherever they are purchasing their renovation supplies) and other project partners. Freestyle is making it possible for amateurs to meet simple design needs without the steep learning curve of industrial-strength design software.
Homeowner Michelle de la Vega rented out her main house for extra income and began a remodel on a 250-square foot garage for herself. With the help of her dad she transformed the space in a beautiful living area and kept costs down by serving as her own contractor and using mostly salvaged materials.
Typically we hear of families remodeling a garage for tenants to live with but not the other way around. It seems to have worked out well for Michelle and her place looks great!
We were recently introduced to SnapStone which is a floating porcelain tile system. What's unique about SnapStone is that along the edge of each piece of tile are a set of over/under teeth that when set against another piece of tile will lock each in place.
This inter-locking system creates a uniform installation and cuts your tiling time down by eliminating the need for spacers and grids. The bottom is also rubberized which minimizes sound and eliminates the need for underlayment as it will "float" directly over vinyl, wood, concrete or ceramic without adhesive or mortar.
