The Home Know-It-All

Electric Space Heater Buying Guide

A space heater eats plenty of energy, but it doesn't use nearly as much as your furnace. Place one in a drafty room to supplement heat, rather than crank up your furnace, and you'll save energy and money. Here's what to look for when buying one. 

Thermostat and Adjustable Power Levels 
Choosing a space heater with a thermostat and adjustable power levels allows you to set the temperature and power as low as possible to comfortably heat your room and avoid energy waste. 

Oscillating Blower Fan
A space heater with an oscillating blower fan warms a space quickly and efficiently. A unit with a higher heat output but no oscillating fan leaves a room feeling colder than one with a lower output and a fan. 

Overheat Protection and Tip-Over Switch
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 25,000 residential fires are started every year as a result of space heaters, leading to more than 300 deaths and 6,000 emergency room visits for burns. Fortunately, many new heaters come with great safety features. One is overheat protection, which automatically turns off the unit when the heat rises to high. Another is a tip-over switch, which shuts off the unit if it falls over. Some units even have infrared sensors that cut off power if anything gets too close to the heater—a handy feature for those with kids or pets. 

Testing Company Approved
Always look for space heaters that have been tested and labeled by a nationally recognized and reputable testing company such as the Underwriter's Laboratories Inc. (UL). Many companies manufacture cheap imitations of popular brands, but these devices are untested and possibly dangerous. 

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

Building a Winter Fire

Snow storms, freezing temperatures, and brisk winds can often leave you couped up indoors all winter long. This holiday season move the party outside and stay warm by enjoying a fire. If you have a fire pit, encourage guests to gather around for hotdogs and s'mores. No fire pit? Start a bonfire.

Here's what you'll need:
1. A fire starter: newspaper, birch bark, dead pine needles, or cotton balls dipped in Vaseline
2. Tinder: twigs with a small diameter
3. Kindling: sticks as thick as your thumb
4. Fuel wood: logs too large to be broken by hand.

Your fire starter, tinder, and kindling should be dry, or you’ll struggle getting the fire burning. However, some of your fuel wood can be damp. Start out with the driest wood, and once the fire is roaring, place the stack of wet wood near the flame (not so close it catches fire!) to dry. 

How to construct: 
Unlike starting a fire in the summer, you have to build a solid base in the winter. Try compacting snow, laying down a layer of thick logs, or digging down to frozen ground before building your winter fire. Otherwise, the flame will melt through the snow it’s sitting on and suffocate. Build your fire using a traditional “tepee” method. Angle the larger fuel wood to form a pyramid, and place the kindling on the ground to serve as a floor. Your fire starter and tinder can be placed on the kindling. This design protects the flame, giving you a better chance of igniting a blaze. 

What to avoid: 
Don't build your fire under snow-laden trees. The heat can cause snow to shift and melt—and a big pile of falling snow can extinguish your fire and give friends a cold surprise. As with any fire, avoid burning polystyrene (also called styrofoam) cups, plates, plastic, or other waste—the resulting smoke is considered 300 times more likely to cause cancer than cigarette smoke, and it damages the atmosphere.

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

 

Happy Holidays

 

We at The Home Know-It-All wish you a joyous holiday season!

As we all depart for our own holiday adventures, we leave you with a few of our favorite links: 

• Bring some cheer to your feathered friends.

• Surprise your host or hostess with a functional bouquet.

• Find your 2011 calendar.

• Play in the snow!

2011 Color Trends for Home Interiors

Even those of us not on the cutting edge of fashion can appreciate a change in color—and this year, the one we can expect to see a great deal of is "honeysuckle." Caught somewhere between an intense pink and red, honeysuckle was chosen as 2011’s color by Pantone—a company known for its system of identifying, matching, and communicating colors to those in the fashion, home design, and graphic design industries. Each year, Pantone polls top graphic designers, fashion, and industry leaders from around the world to forecast the next hit color.

Pantone chose honeysuckle to contradict the bleak economy and an overabundance of bland colors in the marketplace. Honeysuckle is said to conjure feelings of summertime and emanates optimism. Try applying it on a wall to brighten and revitalize your home. Or pick up vases, pillows, or other home accents in honeysuckle to add small splashes of the color throughout your space. For more tips on decorating with bold color, visit this post, or pay a visit to the helpful folks at Pittsburgh Paints. 

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

Ice Dam Prevention

Nothing beats a cozy house when you're surrounded by snow. But that warm home may cause ice dams. When heat escapes from your attic, it melts the snow on your roof, and if it's cold enough outside, that melting snow may refreeze, creating ice dams. 

You know those glittering icicles hanging from your home? They're a telltale sign that ice dams are forming, and your home is losing heat and energy much faster than it should be. As they form, ice dams force water under your roof covering and into your attic or exterior walls, causing serious damage to your home. Here are some tips to keep them away. 

Prevention
The best method for dealing with ice dams is to prevent them from forming. You can do this by properly ventilating and insulating your attic. By ventilating your attic, you make sure the warm air from inside your home is being replaced with colder outdoor air and the temperature inside your attic stays as close to the temperature outside as possible. Also check your attic insulation. If it's lacking, you can try insulating your attic yourself. (It's often one of the easiest rooms in your house to insulate.) For specific instructions, visit the U.S. Department of Energy's site. 

Solutions
If ice dams form on your home before you're able to ventilate and insulate your attic, you may want to call in a licensed contractor to remove them safely and effectively. If you plan to remove the dams yourself, avoid getting on the roof. Instead, use a roof rake and push broom to pull the ice and snow down the slope of your roof while you're on the ground. But be careful. Removing an ice dam can be dangerous.

Never use salt or calcium chloride to melt the snow because the chemicals are highly corrosive and will damage metal gutters, downspouts, and flashings. 

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

Kitchen Computers

A computer in the kitchen is great for many things—looking up recipes, streaming cooking shows, and converting measurements—but finding a safe place to store it can be tricky. A kitchen is ripe with messes, hungry children, and scurrying chefs, and all are capable of damaging your computer. Here are a few ways to keep your kitchen computer out of harm's way. 

Mount it on or in the wall. 
In a small kitchen, it may not be possible to set your computer on the counter, but if you have the space, it may not be wise. You may bump it off fixing dinner in a rush, or a wayward spill may damage it. Instead, mount it on or inside the wall like these folks. The computer won't contribute to your kitchen's clutter or stand in the path of destruction, but it will still be convenient.

Invest in a tablet computer. 
Tablet computers—like the iPad or HP Slate—are portable devices with a touchscreen as their primary input device (rather than a keyboard like most computers). Small, lightweight, and capable of running many of the same applications as conventional computers, they are ideal for kitchen use. Store yours on a tabletop easel meant for small areas. The easels are affordable (often under $10, like this one) and a great way to secure your tablet computer and make it easy to read. 

Put it under glass. 
If you're in the process of creating a kitchen, consider putting your computer under glass. Glass countertops are readily available, and a little creativity with your cabinetry can give you the freedom to click while you chop. 

Until next time,
The Home Know-It-All

 

Favorite Salt Uses

With winter upon us, we in the midwest can expect plenty of icy roadways covered in salt. And in that form, salt is a mixed blessing—great for de-icing and traction, but bad for the metal on our vehicles. When it comes to household applications, however, salt is pretty much always a handy mineral. Here are a few of our favorite uses for salt. 

Sink De-Clogger
A strong salt-water solution can reduce odors, eliminate minor clogs, and cut down on grease buildup. 

Flower Freshener
Blending a little salt and baking soda with the water in your flower vase can help to extend the longevity of your bouquet. 

Coffee Pot Cleaner
Mixing salt, water, lemon and ice together makes a powerful, all-natural cleaning agent that won't distort the flavor of your coffee after cleaning and doesn't leave soap residue. 

Brass, Copper, and Pewter Polish
Dissolve one teaspoon of salt in a cup of distilled white vinegar and stir until it becomes a paste. Apply to the metal and let sit for 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water. 

Do you have a great way of using salt around your home? Be sure to visit Morton® Salt’s website to share your favorite "salt secret." You may win a $1,000 AMEX gift card!

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

LEED Certification

Building a new home that is truly “green” can be far more difficult than most would imagine. Finding a contractor who shares your vision, securing environmentally responsible materials and appliances, and juggling the typical stress of building a home can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there’s a system that can help: LEED.

What It Does
Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED gives builders and homeowners a specific framework for green construction. Encompassing all building types, the LEED system emphasizes and awards credits based on nine key areas:

1. Sustainable Sites: discourages development on previously undeveloped land, emphasizing erosion and light pollution reduction, and minimizing impact on ecosystems and waterways. 
2. Water Efficiency: encourages smarter use of potable water inside and outside the building.
3. Energy and Atmosphere: emphasizes the use of renewable and clean sources of energy and energy-efficient building design and construction
4. Materials and Resources: encourages material and resource waste reduction during the construction process and the use of sustainably grown, harvested, produced or transported products and materials. 
5. Indoor Environmental Quality: emphasizes strategies that improve indoor air and provide access to natural daylight
6. Locations and Linkages: rewards homes that are built near already-existing infrastructure, community resources and transit. 
7. Awareness and Education: credits home builders and real estate professionals for providing homeowners, tenants, and building managers with the education and tools to understand how to use their home to its maximum green potential. 
8. Innovation in Design: credits construction that uses new and innovative technologies to improve a building's performance beyond what is required by LEED. 
9. Regional Priority: identifies environmental concerns that are regionally specific and awards credits for projects that address those concerns. 

Finding a LEED Certified Builder
If a builder is LEED certified, you can be certain that they will build your house to the highest green standards. To find a LEED certified builder in your area, visit the USGBC member directory. 

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All

Home Security Devices for Under $30

Even those of us who trust in the inherent good of others should make some effort to protect our homes from criminal behavior. As an alternative to installing expensive alarm systems, here are some simple, affordable home security devices—each under $30—that will help bring you peace of mind. 

 

Entry Alarm With Remote Control—$22.50
Thieves don't like piercing noise. But that's what they'll get when you install this entry alarm. By simply attaching the alarm to a door or window, and installing the corresponding magnet bar to the frame, you'll have a foolproof mechanism for deterring would-be robbers. The best part? It can be activated remotely. Since the alarm can be set to three different channels, you can have multiple alarms that activate with one remote, or have each alarm activate separately. 

 

Guard Dog Door Brace With Alarm—$28.50
Sometimes—as is often the case with apartments—the easiest way for a thief to enter is through the front door. The Guard Dog Door Brace not only prevents the door from being forced open, but it also engages a deafening 120 db alarm if its pressure-sensitive switch is activated. And it's collapsible so you can bring it with you when you travel. 

 

Dome Dummy Camera With Motion Activated Light—$21.00
Sometimes just the façade of home security is enough to deter would-be criminals from trying to get inside. At a fraction of the cost of a real security camera, the dome dummy camera is built from real dome camera parts for an authentic look. When the built-in motion detector senses movement, a red LED will blink for 20 seconds before resetting—making any people in its path think they're being recorded.   

 

Book Safe—$19.95
Thieves tend to spend just a few moments inside your home, so hiding your prized possessions in an inconspicuous place could be even more effective than locking them in a safe. The book safe is a time-tested device that embodies the axiom "out of sight, out of mind." This safe is made from a real book, so it should blend in seamlessly with others on the shelf.  

 

Motion-Activated LED Outdoor Light—$26.00
Put suspicious activity in the spotlight with this motion-activated LED outdoor light. Battery-powered and weatherproof, this light comes with five blinding LEDs that illuminate when the device detects a moving heat source. 

Until next time, 
The Home Know-It-All