Building an outdoor kitchen is considered to be the height of luxury in today’s luxury homes. Making one outside your own home can easily be done as well.

• Consider the cost - One of the main things that a person needs to do before he starts on his kitchen outdoors is understand what the total cost will be. Because most people are not willing to put in as much money as it takes to completely do one of these kitchens, it is important that a person knows up front exactly what the cost will be.

• Choose the place - The outdoor kitchen should be something of an extension of the home. This means that it is usually best if it is located just outside of the kitchen or dining area. When this area is close to the indoor kitchen, it makes the moving of furniture and food much easier than it would be if the outside kitchen were much farther away.

• Use the patio - If a patio already exists at a home, there is no need to build any new kind of place for the kitchen to be. However, it is important to make sure the existing patio will be able to withstand the weight the grills, fire pits or cabinets that might be set upon it. A strong wood patio or a concrete patio should be able to hold up well.

• Consider the hook ups - A kitchen outside of the home will require that certain things be done to make sure that all of the necessities a person need in a kitchen are accessible. For example, if a person is going to use a gas grill, he may need a gas line in order to operate it. Similarly, an outdoor sink will require plumbing and draining. Pretty much any outdoor kitchen will require outlets and wiring for electricity.

• Use pre-built cabinet bases - By using cabinet bases that have been pre-built, a person will be more easily able to arrange them in a certain way in the outdoors. It is important to make sure that the cabinets are safe distances from the grills or fire pits in order to avoid any kinds of fire hazards that might present themselves due to them being too close to each other.

• Weatherproof materials are best - Outdoor kitchens are fun places to spend time, but there are times when they are not as fun simply because of rain or other inclement weather. Rain water will almost certainly warp wooden cabinets and counters. It is best to buy cabinets or countertops that are not made from wood, but if a person insists on using wood, he or she should use treated lumber and put several coats of waterproofing elements on them to avoid damage.

After considering each of these things, a person should be ready to build or install his or her outdoor kitchens. Depending on who is building the kitchen, it could take as few as a couple of days or a few weeks to complete the installation.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on outdoor kitchens, please visit Outdoor Kitchens.

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In my last article I defined High Performance Homes; “A High Performance Homes is one that uses sustainable materials, is energy efficient, and uses value added green building practices that causes it to be friendlier to the environment.” In the next few articles we will look at some of the materials and practices used to produce the High Performance Home.

The single biggest heat sink or energy robber in a home is the windows. There are several things to consider here. First and foremost is the total square footage of windows. I’ve never had someone come to me and say “Ronnie build me a home that’s dark and doesn’t have many windows.” Always it goes like this,”I want a home that is light and airy.” Then of course the buyer covers all of the windows with blinds, shades, shutters, drapes, curtains, or heaven forbid foil and seldom opens them due to excessive heat, cold or allergens in the air.

What should you do when designing or selecting a new home? Be realistic. The more windows, the bigger the windows, the bigger the utility bills. If you can, keep your windows down to 15% or so of the exterior wall square footage. Strategically place them to maximize views and limit the direct exposure to the sun. Keep the windows from facing the East or West this will help tremendously. If the windows can be located under a porch or patio so that it has a large overhang protecting them they will perform much better. Also, a larger Cornish overhang will help protect windows as well as shade the exterior walls.

There is an organization that evaluates windows and scores them as to how you can expect them to perform; giving the consumer a chance to be sure they are getting the best product for their money. It is The National Fenestration Rating Council. They subject windows to testing and prescribe how they must be built to obtain a certain score. The scoring speaks to the ability of the windows to block the transmission of heat and ultraviolet rays.

Look for windows that have a low “U-Factor” score. This score indicates the windows’ ability to block heat. A lower score is better.  Many builders are using good windows with scores in the .50 range. I like those that are .35 or lower. The next score to look at is “Solar Heat Gain.” Again many windows are being installed with a score around .50. We install those with a score of .32 or lower. Lower is better here as well. Then, the window coverings mentioned before will add additional protection from heat and ultraviolet penetration.

Let me briefly mention doors. Most doors today are made of steel, fiberglass, wood or glass. Nothing insulates like insulation. Hollow doors like steel or fiberglass can be filled with insulation.  Wood is not a particularly good insulator and glass is worse. Generally I prefer steel with fiberglass a close second. These doors don’t rot or warp and provide the most security and energy efficiency.

Try to avoid sliding glass doors, after all, what are they but large windows and therefore a big heat sink. And double French doors are hard to keep from leaking heat in or out of your home. If you need that look think of placing a window close to a door or 2 separately cased doors close to each other.

In my next article we will continue to explore best building materials and practices and talk specifically about insulation.

Copyright 2007

Ronnie Godfrey, Certified Graduate Builder

For more information about this article and other energy saving tips, visit our website http://www.RGodfreyHomes.com

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Painting drywall is a fairly specialized task but with the right equipment, tools and preparation it is one that can be achieved by nearly anyone. The following steps apply:

(1) Drywalling jobs are best done when the weather is fairly warm and not too humid. Make certain that the surface to be painted is dry, clean, and free from oil and grease. Three coats of a joint compound should be applied to the drywall, then the joints between panels need to be taped with paper or fiberglass-mesh tape. This ensures the joint gets surfaced over. Fill in any cracks or marks the same way.

(2) Wiping the dust off walls and ceilings before priming may produce a cleaner finish yet from experience, I would suggest a light sanding with fine grade sandpaper (200 grit) after the prime coat has dried. Any imperfections, raised fibers and rough chips get smoothed off with ease. Wearing goggles and a mask is a good idea when drywalling as gypsum dust can be really irritating and in some people has been known to cause breathing problems and eye infections; always dress in sensible protective clothing.

(3) Before painting get out the vacuum cleaner or hand dust out electrical boxes and take care to remove dust above doorway or window trim. As with any painting job, drop cloths should be used to protect finished floors, doors, windows, taps and any other fixtures, 1-mil plastic or “painter’s plastic” is highly recommended.

(4) Do not let the drywall sit too long after being taped and sanded as sunlight can cause the face paper of the drywall to yellow and fade looking uneven after painting. Use a good-quality latex stain-killing paint before priming to combat yellowing.

(5) Three painting techniques commonly used are to apply with a brush, a roller or by spraying. A brush is fine for cutting in around trim and for fiddly areas like corners. Rollers are great for large areas, the bigger the area to be painted the bigger the roller used should be. Roll the top coat across the direction that the primer coat was applied; this promotes evenness for a great finish. Using a sprayer is a faster technique yet the finish achieved doesn’t always look as uniform and consistent as using a paint roller. A better idea is to use a paint-sprayer followed by a second person who rolls the finish. Makes quick work!

(6) Two coats of paint should be adequate. One trick when it comes to priming drywall is to paint the first coat with a low-sheen, latex flat wall paint, tinted to match the color of the top coat. The problem with using standard ‘primers’ or ’sealers’ or even a good-quality ‘primer-sealer’ is they don’t always adequately cover taped seams and fasteners. You sometimes end up with a bit of a see-through effect which does not look good. It is never a wise idea to skip the first coat as it prepares the surface for the top coat to be applied.

(7) For the top coat, two coatings of a gloss paint (includes satin and eggshell) used for wall surfaces, leaves a finish that is easily washable and not prone to smudges and marks. Bathrooms and kitchens, heavy cleaning areas, are ideal rooms for this. A flat paint is a better option used on the ceiling. A photographing (transparent) effect will be avoided; common with gloss paints.

Take time to prepare your drywall, use good quality painting products and tools and you should end up with an even, impressive-looking finish that will last for years. Consulting a paint specialist at the hardware store before beginning any job will clear up any doubts over which products are the best ones to use. Keep in mind that some jobs may require adjustments to the steps listed in order to achieve the best painting result.

For More Great Articles, Please Visit: http://fatherspirit-mydailybread.blogspot.com/ Thanks! 

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The renovation and construction work to your home is an expensive and difficult proposition. There is the design and preparation work that will need to be done. The cost and the hiring of contractors will sometimes be such an overwhelming task that it will cause a great deal of stress to the homeowner.

If the project is particularly large the homeowner will want to hire the services of a professional contractor. A contractor is someone who will have access to the services and equipment that is necessary to get a large project completed. Any type of addition or construction work on a home will require the use of a drywall contractor. These are people who have specialized their trade in the installation of drywall and will have all of the necessary tools and equipment necessary to do the job.

There are some homeowners who will decide to do the drywall themselves. It is necessary that all of the proper tools be used in this type of work.

There are many drywall tools of all sorts of sizes and shapes. They each have their own special function and use in the job. If the drywall is done in the correct way you will have a completed beautiful addition to your home that will be a wonderful asset to your home.

A proper list of drywall tools is drills, sanders, tape measures, utility knives, t-squares, drywall saws and screws. These are the basic list of the tools necessary to complete a drywall job. Of course there are a great many more that a drywall contractor will have to handle every aspect of a drywall job.

There are different types of jobs that are used at different parts of any project. The drywall professional will be well versed at using all of them. The instructions that come with each type of tool must be well read to ensure that you are using them in the correct manner. You must use the right tools for the job at all times.

The basic part of installing drywall will require the simple use of the tools. However, you may decide that you want to add some extra special finishes to the room. The way the walls are textured will make a difference in the way your room looks.

Usually a professional drywall contractor does this type of work. The cost of a professional contractor can be quite high, but you are guaranteed a fabulous result. Today’s homeowner can use some great tools that will give them the same look with a little bit of work. There are handheld tools that can add texture to a wall that will give them a great look at a fraction of the cost.

The right tools can make any drywall job look professional and elegant. The tools of the past were large and difficult to handle. They have since been remade to be smaller and easily managed. This work can be heavy and difficult but if the right tools are used it can be done quite easily.

Make sure that you have the right drywall tools and you can create a great look in your home. With practice and patience anyone will be able to successfully hang drywall and make their home an elegant and inviting place to be.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group marketing company.

Peter provides marketing services for finishing tools, including Drywall Tools.

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By the time you finish reading this article, you will be able to perform basic repairs to damaged drywall. There are some basic tools that you should keep around the house, if you have an active family and are prone to get dings in the walls.  This article will not provide enough information to do major repairs to drywall. Major repairs are simple, but you must learn the basics first.

Here is a list of some tools you will need. Your local big box can supply you with some basic tools. They run in price range from cheap to professional quality. They have plastic putty knives for less than a dollar all the way up to stainless steel that with care, will last a lifetime. If you expect a very small number of repairs, the plastic will suffice. Also, get a carriage bolt, a small hammer, a can of drywall joint compound, 150 to 220 grit sandpaper and a paint brush. These basic tools will repair most small dings and dents in drywall.

An example of a ding would be where the locking button on a door knob has left an impression in the wall behind it. This is typical of a quick and easy repair. Look at the damage. Is there anything protruding above the wall surface?  If so, use the carriage bolt to push the protrusion below the wall surface. Use the hammer to help persuade the protrusion to go below the surface of the wall and round the edges. Next, take the putty knife and some joint compound or as it is commonly called, drywall mud, and fill the hole.  Wait until the mud dries, sand lightly and fill the hole again to bring the material to the same level as the wall.  Sand the surface again until the wall is smooth and level. Do not over sand. This will rough up the drywall allowing the paper to fray and requiring more mud to seal the rough surface. There should not be any differences in the surface. Several small applications will last much longer than one large application and give you better results.

Is everything smooth? If not, apply some more drywall mud to even the wall surfaces. Sand again. When the wall is smooth, apply the paint primer. When the paint primer is dry, apply your regular wall paint. The paint primer is to seal the wall so the new paint does not dry too quickly allowing the patch to be visible.

That is the basic method of repairing damaged drywall.

For more in depth instructions on basic drywall repair visit http://www.single-family-home-remodeling.com/drywall-repair.html

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Installing drywall is something that takes patience and detail. If you’ve never installed drywall you’d be surprised at how easy it is but how important it is to do correctly. How well you apply the mud will really determine the final look of the walls. Here are some tips to mudding drywall.

Make sure you have the right tools for the job and familiarize yourself with them. These include course taping compound and the smoother topping compound. Other tools include taping knifes, sand paper and putty knives for smoothing surfaces. Jointing compound (the mud) comes in a few different forms. There is powder that needs to be mixed with water and there is pre-mixed, both of which come in different textures.

Before applying the jointing compound, make sure the surface is completely flat and smooth. All the nails and screws should be flush (if not a bit indented) with the wall. You can run a putty knife along the wall to if any nails snag. Putty can be used to smooth out indentations from nails or you can use a bit of the joint compound.

Use the course taping compound to cover the seams and apply the jointing compound to all seams and over tape, nails and screws. Everything must be filled and the surface level and smooth. This coat must dry 24 hours and this process repeated another two times. After each coat, a longer taping knife should be used to smooth the compound to ensure your wall is even and level. It takes a bit of practice and a lot of patience to get the application of the compound right. You have to apply pressure to your knife in different places depending on the angle and amount of compound needed.

Before applying the fourth coat, use your tape knife to scrape an excess dry compound to ensure the surface is completely smooth. Apply the final coat with attention to detail. You may want to thin out your compound stage; it tends to smooth out easier. After the final coat is dry (24 or more hours later) you’ll want to smooth out your surface with the tape knife and sand paper before applying a primer.

The key to mudding [http://www.insidewoodworking.com/drywall/howtoinstalldrywall.html]drywall is patience and that can be difficult since you’re usually at the end of your project and ready to prime and paint your wall. Make sure you do all four coats of compound and wait the 24 hours between applications. After the final coat, make sure everything is completely level and smooth. It may not appear to be a big deal but mistakes will show once you paint or apply wallpaper. Mudding drywall is easy but it takes patience and attention to detail.

Being really interested in drywall and types of drywall, Jerry Blackburn has been publishing many informative papers in this specific area. You might come across his observations on how to install drywall and types of drywall at http://www.insidewoodworking.com

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The biggest problems facing people today are the state economy and the state of the environment. And often it seems impossible to save your money and be good for the planet, too. Well, we can’t solve all the problems of the world by ourselves but we CAN do our part. By preserving what we have instead of replacing with new, by improving the efficiency of our home climate control and by keeping it from escaping it into the wind, a good paint job may all you need.

Yes, painting. “Painting” is the name we use for the trade of “finishing”. But it takes a whole lot more than painting to produce a quality finish. In fact, the most important part of the entire painting process is the prep work: filling and caulking. In essence, sealing your home!

Once all the cracks and holes have been filled and somewhere between priming and painting, a good painter will seal the gaps around all your doors, windows and baseboards. This not only gives you clean straight lines between wall and trim surfaces, it also eliminates air transfer in these areas between inside and out. And that means better air efficiency, better climate control and best of all, energy and cost savings for you AND the planet!

Right now, the best thing you can do is reduce waste and save money wherever you can. Painting your house may seem like a decorating luxury but in fact, it’s the cheapest way to maintain the structure and increase the value your home while paying off in energy cost savings. And in these times of economic uncertainty, go with what you can be sure of: your home is your castle and castles can be draughty. Take care of your home with a simple and cost effective paint job and it will take care of you for years to come.

DEE POTTER is a Toronto, Ontario area painting contractor who’s helped hundreds of homeowners get the most out of their properties with creative and money saving solutions to their repair and decorative challenges with his company, ColourWorks Painting. To learn more about ColourWorks painting solutions and services visit http://www.PaintByColourWorks.com

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Everybody loves a good bargain, but for many things in life, you get what you pay for. In most cases, when someone is advertising unbelievably low prices, chances are good their service will also be delivered at a low quality.

This can also be the case with home exterior painting. When a contracted painter is advertising specials that seem too good to be true, this may very well be the case. It is unfortunate, but there are many people out there who claim to be a contracted painter but are actually just con artists waiting to rip you off. With this mind, when a contracted painter is advertising unbelievable specials, contact them with caution. It is always great to find a bargain, but you do not want to end up hiring a painter that will complete your home exterior painting at a low quality.

The way your home exterior painting looks is a reflection of you and the quality with which the job is completed determines how well the outside of your home will be protected, so it is usually best not to skimp on the quality of the home exterior painting just to save a few dollars. There are many reasonably priced painters out there that will complete your home exterior at the professional level that it deserves to be completed, so do not settle on the first painter that promised low prices and a quick finish. Take your time in selecting someone to complete the job and be sure to ask them all of the questions that come to your mind with regards to the project.

More information on College Works Painting exterior painting and College Works Painting opportunities in your area is just a click away.

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The time will eventually come for the exterior of your home to undergo a serious makeover. Painting your home’s exterior is one of the less expensive ways to complete this transformation. Still, resist the urge to simply jump into this task. When it comes to painting your home, adequate preparation makes the difference between a beautiful new exterior and an all around disaster.

Your home, as it is today, is not ready for exterior house painting. Painting can get messy, so it’s important to make sure that this project doesn’t interfere with the other functions of your home. Before you start, turn off both the air conditioning condensing unit as well as any other exterior appliances. Be sure to cover any plants with a breathable canvas, so that they are not damaged by any stray paint. You may also want to remove other outside home accessories, such as shutters and light fixtures.

It is also necessary to prepare the area to be treated before exterior house painting. Any loose paint on the house must be removed, otherwise the new paint will not absorb well and the result will look fairly tacky. Loose paint can be removed by scraping and sanding or with a power blaster. Use a power blaster carefully; its strength could potentially cause damage to other areas of your home’s exterior.

Exterior house painting can be a rewarding experience if done properly. By taking the time to pre-treat your palace, you are guaranteeing a clean, professional-looking paint job that you will enjoy for years to come.

More information on College Works Painting FAQ for homeowner and [http://www.collegeworkspainting.com]College Works Painting opportunities in your area is just a click away.

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A Handyman can do any number of jobs around your house that you might be to busy to do, or perhaps you don’t have the right tools to do the job or you don’t feel confident enough to do.

Here’s an idea of the sort of jobs that any Handyman should be able to do for you.

Fix a dripping tap.
Stop a floorboard creaking.
Install a washing machine.
Stop a door hinge from creaking.
Fixing the flush mechanism on a toilet.
Change a door lock.
Install Fitted Kitchens.
Putting together flat pack furniture.
Making patios doors open smoothly.
Painting doors and windows.
Install light dimmer switches.
Put up shelves.
Hang pictures and paintings.

Generally they are the sort of jobs where you don’t need a skilled qualified professional. If the job that you need doing is any bigger or more involved than the examples shown above you can find a local professional by checking local online business directories.

If you have never used a Handyman before, make sure you get two or three quotes for the job. Alternatively see if your friends can recommend a Handyman.

Once you have used a local Handyman for two or three times you will be able to recommend him to your friends and family.

Clive Carlton writes for HandyExperts.co.uk. the quick way to find all the recommended tradesmen in you local area. []What can a Handyman do for you?

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