Practical tips about DIY, home improvement, home maintenance and repairs, gardening and other how-to tips here for the taking.
10.4.12
Home and Garden Products from Taylor Gifts
A place to shop for home organizers and other items for your home and garden is Taylor Gifts, an online store specializing in mail order catalog business since 1952. Here you'll find a large selection of gadgets, novelties, as-seen-on-TV items and many other products for the home and for personal organization. Over five decades, Taylor Gifts has established a loyal customers follwing in and outside USA. Taylor Gifts website offers a number of items to fit all types of shopping preferences and budgets. Browsing items on their online store is easy because of their well organized assortment of products.>>> MORE
The product categories are grouped into the following:
Gifts & Novelties
Home Décor
Houseware
Home Organizers
Kitchen
Outdoor & Patio
Personal Care
Lighting
Cleaning
Pets
Auto
As Seen on TV
5.4.12
DIY Painting: Choosing Your Paint Primer
Paint primers are formulated to produce a solid base, seal stains,
and help bond the top coat to the wall. Both alkyd and latex primers provide
good coverage and do a great job. Which one you choose will depend on the top
coat you have selected.
Likewise, go with good quality, brand-name primers and
paints, like Sherwin-Williams, Pratt and Lambert, Benjamin Moore, or Pittsburgh
Paints. Better yet, visit a professional paint supplier and talk to the
knowledgeable employees. They can give you useful tips and help you get the
paint system (primer and top coat) that will work best in your climate and for
the job you're doing.
Flickr image by Aine D |
Here are some important priming tips:
If the walls and ceilings were heavily prepped and the first
coat did not do the job well and there's a light bleed through, apply a second
coat.
• Some climates, especially those near salt water, need a
second primer coat.
• Closely work with your paint supplier. Some primers are
best for wetter rooms like bathrooms and laundries. Meaning, one primer doesn't
necessarily fit all conditions.
Older homes that were constructed without vapor barriers
will need a primer that seals and stops moisture from getting under the paint
and causing peeling.
Plaster walls and drywall are different and normally require
different primers. Consult your paint dealer for the ideal type that matches
your walls and conditions.
Interior wood trim may also need different primers. Your
paint dealer can also lead you in the right direction in this area. If you have
primed over unpainted drywall or wood trim, you'll probably have to lightly
sand after the primer has dried. Primer tends to raise the fibers or grain so a
light sanding is needed before painting the top coat. Make sure to run a tack
cloth over the sanded area so no dust is left on the surface.
Don't spot prime problem areas on walls that you've had to
go back and work on. Those areas would often show through. Correct the problems
and then recoat the whole wall. Luckily, ceilings are more forgiving and never
show spot priming as much. There are also special paints developed for ceilings
that cling to textured surfaces better than wall paints. Check with your paint
supplier for what works best on your kind of ceiling.
If you prefer a darker top coat, tint the primer coat to
match. It could save you having to apply a second top coat.
Selecting the Right Top Coat for House Painting Projects
Selecting the Right Top Coat for House Painting Projects
© 2012 Tip Writer
Selecting the Right Top Coat for House Painting Projects
A visit to the home center or paint supplier may be
confusing. There are scores of paint types, methods of application, and special
effects to select from. The following suggestions will help you sort out the
confusion:
Choose a high quality latex primer and top coat. That means
you'll spend $30 to $45 per gallon. Top quality paint applies better, lasts
longer, and looks better compared to cheap discount paint. Consider it an
investment in your home's value.
Gloss and semi-gloss paints are more stain-resistant and
washable, but highlight any wall problems. Flat paints are excellent for living
and dining rooms. Eggshell gloss is a nice all-around finish for hallways,
kids' rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms.
• Some professionals feel flat paint is
the best way to go for ceilings, others love a bright white gloss that reflects
more light into the room. If your home tends to be on the dark side, gloss
ceilings reflect more light and makes the room appear larger.
• Plan on two top coats for the best looking job and figure
on about 400 square feet per gallon. Also, be sure you have about a half gallon
left over for touch-ups.
• If you live in a dry climate, you might want to put in an
additive to slow down drying time and make the paint more workable. Adding a
few ounces per gallon of Floetrol or another similar additive can make the jobgo easier.
Go over those mildew-inhibiting paints if you live in a
humid area, and also for baths, kitchens, and laundry rooms. These paints will
not kill mildew that's already present, but they'll keep mildew from forming
later on.
When you've decided on the paint system, the following step
is to decide on the colors and tints. For a few homeowners this is the
project's fun part, for others it's divorce material. Fortunately, there are
six shortcuts that will help you decide:
1. Take your time and look into builder's open houses to get
ideas of what's currently voguish in your area.
2. Consider color schemes in home magazines and check out
some helpful websites
3. Gather up paint chips of colors you like and narrow it
down to those that you believe will go with your home's other colors.
4. Keep in mind that color choice should take into
consideration your home's architecture, ceiling height, and exterior and interior
colors.
5. When you have narrowed it down to three or four colors,
get pint samples from the paint store and roll four foot swaths on one of the
walls you are planning on painting. Live with it for a few days and see which
color grabs you.
6. Don't be afraid of making a big mistake. What's the worst
that can happen? You could always repaint!
© 2012 Tip Writer
4.4.12
DIY Painting: Steps in Painting a Room
House painting can be fun and rewarding, especially when
it's all done and you step back and see outstanding results. Many people who
say they hate painting and don't want anything to do with it may ultimately
admit that they once tried to paint a room and it turned out terrible.
The joy of living in a well-decorated home, that feeling of
pride when company comments on how nice your home looks, and, of course, the
boost a great interior gives your market value—these are great reasons to learn
how to do a super job with brush and roller.
photo by Chance Agrella |
Actually, a great paint job is one of the easiest and best
things you can do to increase the value of your home. If you're thinking of
selling in the near future, you'll want to get started on the painting about
ninety days prior to planting a For Sale sign, so it doesn't turn into a rush
job.
However, if you've just bought a home and are looking at
dismal or uninspiring contractor- white walls, this section will show you how
to change your environment for the better.
First, plan on about two days per room. No, you can't knock
out painting the house over the weekend; not even the Labor Day weekend. Even
though slumlords and painters with power sprayers can coat a new house in a
day, that's not for you. So allocate the time to do it right, which means a
room at a time.
Basically, painting a room consists of three parts:
1. Prepping the
Room. This encompasses getting the drywall in perfect condition, because a
paint job can be no better than the prep work. Remove or mask all the fixtures,
doorknobs, and whatever you can't remove from the room.
2. Priming the
Walls. A great-looking top coat starts with a great primer coat.
3. Applying the
Top Coat. This is the main event. Using good technique, tools, and paint will
guarantee you a lot of compliments at your next party.
© 2012 Tip Writer
How to Make Your Own Wildflower Garden
A wildflower garden isn't for everyone but may add something
unique to your landscape. Most wildflowers are not hard to grow once you
understand their nature. You could start a wildflower bed two different ways:
1) buying plants or seeds from commercial growers; 2) getting them from their
native sites. Remember that many are protected by law and cannot be gathered
from native sites unless construction projects will be uprooting them.
Great care must be taken when digging wildflowers or they
will not survive. A lot of wildflower species have been depleted due to
careless uprooting. Your best bet is to purchase hardy wildflowers from a
nursery. Nursery-grown plants are generally better suited to your garden than
those dug up in the wild.
Success rides planting wildflowers in the same conditions
under which they grow naturally. For instance, marsh marigolds, swamp iris, and
cattails like boggy conditions. Arbutus, goldenrod, most asters, and daisies,
and black-eyed Susans like poor, dry soil. Do not try to grow woodsy shade
lovers in the sun. Do not plant sun lovers in the shade and observe the
conditions around your home before you try to start a wildflower garden.
A lot of wildflowers like shade and humusy soil. The north
side of the house where few tame flowers would grow can be turned into a
wildflower bed if the soil is prepared to resemble conditions where
shade-loving plants are grown by nature.
Study wildflower catalogs and reference books before
planting. Flowers that grow naturally in wooded areas love generous amounts of
humus in the soil, and moisture in hot weather.
Spring is perhaps the best time to start a wildflower
garden, although some plants can be moved during fall. Success rate is high
when moving early-flowering species like Dutchman's Breeches in fall. The
secret is to maintain the soil moist after transplanting, particularly during a
dry fall.
Warning! Be careful about putting wildflowers to your front lawn. Some neighbors may object to the "no one lives here look" of a
wildflower front yard, and city officials occasionally frown upon wildflower
yards and have passed ordinances forbidding them.
© 2012 Athena Goodlight
1.4.12
Lawn Care: Dealing With Lawn Problems
Lawns are prey to more than one hundred different diseases,
although they're not likely to be severe except on bent grass and highly
managed lawns. No single chemical can cure all of them, and recommendations
change quickly, so consult your local garden center or state agricultural
college for the up-to-date recommended remedy. But prevention is favored over
treatment. Most lawns are not so easily damaged by diseases if not over-stimulated
by high feeding.
Lawn Of Puerto Rico by Darrell Goode |
Luckily, newer turfgrass varieties have been bred with at
least an amount of resistance to diseases. A generation ago almost every
bluegrass lawn was victim of excessive leaf spot during spring. Now almost all
of the new varieties withstand this disease. A mixture of several varieties
should provide you a reasonable disease-proof turf without using fungicidal
sprays.
Among the latest innovations in lawn care is the use of
endophytes—"contaminated" turf grasses that survive extreme droughtconditions better than other grasses and even kill insects. An endophyte can be
either bacteria or fungi that live inside another plant without causing
disease. These endophytes can be found in broadleaf plants and grasses all over
the world. How endophytes work is a mystery, but they're believed to be fungi
that create toxins which disrupt the biology of insects. Plant breeders hope to
harness these endophytes ("End-o-fights") as important tools in
bringing down insect population.
Non-Chemical Lawns
The trend toward non-chemical lawns is spreading. In the
past, the suburban picture perfect lawn drenched in toxic herbicides and
pesticides did more than kill bugs—it made a lot of people sick, primarily
because of careless application. Environmentalists, committed gardeners, pest
control people, and producers of alternative lawn-care products have shown that
organic ideas spread faster than crabgrass. News wire services have carried
stories about non-chemical lawns and many writers narrate horror stories
experienced by some homeowners. Because of these problems, there has been a
boom in sales for oldline organic gardening products.
Presently, about 15% of U.S. households use commercial lawn
services that apply pesticides, says the Environmental Protection Agency. It
estimates that another 20 to 25% of households are do-it-yourselfers, also
employing pesticides on their lawns.
Chemical Lawns
While lawns have many turf diseases, there's a ray of hope
that a lot of these diseases can be checked with systemic fungicides. These are
applied to the grass and are absorbed via the root system. At the present time,
the composition of fungicides shifts frequently. Hence it is best to consult
with your state college of agriculture. The systemics give great control of
Sclerotinia dollar spot, fusarium, smut, pink patch, snow mold, and others.
Some golf course diseases are checked marginally, if at all, by the systemic
fungicides.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)