Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Outdoor Deck Design

An outdoor deck design can be flexible, did you know that you can add on year after year to any deck you make as long as you start with solid foundations. If you decide to start with the conventional rectangular deck to step onto out of your back door you could plan a much bigger project with your deck design software and build up your outdoor deck design in stages over time. A rectangular deck could later expand to include decking around your hot tub and then extended to surround your swimming pool. Expand the other way to include an outdoor dining and BBQ area with a pergola (want ideas! see pergola photos here - Gazebos and Pergolas

A multi-level deck requires precise planning and design with professional assistance, for all shapes and sizes of ground level decks, it's a lot of fun to design your own bespoke deck design on your deck design software, if you haven't got your software yet you can read our review here at Deck Design Software to help you decide - it's going to be a wonderful summer to spend evenings on your wonderful outdoor deck design.

Arpad from Home Improvement and Financing.com

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Home Improvement Tips, when to use a nail instead of a scew!

Anyone got any ideas on this debate... Well we would nearly always use screws over nails for every home improvement or home remodeling job that comes to mind except perhaps one...

We always use nails to settle roof tiles, just a few taps with a tack nail and they are in place, the real advantage of using the nail is discovered however on the day that you have to carefully try to take tiles off or if you want to replace one without disturbing the others, it's difficult to get screws out without ripping up the tile whereas a nail, with a bit of effort, will lift out leaving you with a roofing tile that you can use again another day!

The nail gun is fast and easy to use... but you still can't beat the screw, its worth the effort to place screws properly for the strength of finish, durability and longevity they give you.

Arpad
Home Improvement and Financing.com

Loft Conversion / Attic Conversion

If you are planning to convert your attic into viable living space this summer you may be interested to know that we are running a series of articles in both our April issue of Home Improve E-zine which you can subscribe to here at Home Improve E-Zine, and on our home improvement website at Home Improvement and financing.com

We all want more space to meet our needs in 2005 and the attic can be comfortably converted to provide you with a home office, en-suite master bedroom, guest room or even a play room for you, they are not just for kids...

But there are a few important factors to take into consideration when assessing your attic or loft to see if it is viable for conversion or if you really would have to raise the roof to get the job done or lose a box room to create enough space for access to your attic loft that complies with building rules...

It's going to be exciting so make sure you subscribe in time for the april issue and we will also let you know everytime we publish NEW related attic loft articles on our website.

Build you dreams come true in 2005
Susan
Home Improvement and financing.com

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Deck Design Software

Deck design Software packages can be bought for 20 dollars and upto and over 200 dollars, they are specific to help you design your own deck and most come with the ability to make up a shopping list of the materials that you are going to need for your deck design.

If you are planning to build a deck for this summer, 2005, are you in effect planning to build a big pallet to sit on top of the ground or are you going to cement in foundation posts to give you a good base to build from. One of the nicest outcomes of a deck building project is that you can continuously build on it year after year, but this will only really work well if you start with good solid foundations.

To help you choose, you can read a review of the latest deck design software here at Deck Design Software, you can also follow the links on that page to read articles on deck design and decking timber and find a useful deck dictionary of terms.

There are companies who will partially build for you, doing the vital part of foundation and frame building up so that you can place the boards yourself in your own time, this is a cheaper option than paying for a full deck installation but with the guarantee that the foundations are good and strong AND you get the feel good factor of having done some of the work yourself.

Wouldn't it be great to enjoy this summer on your own deck!
Arpad from Home Improvement and Financing.com

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Basement Remodeling

Basement remodeling is going to be very big this year, 2005
as more of us are reaching to make full use of every undeveloped
nook and cranny in our homes.

One of the biggest issues emerging is that homes are not equiped
with real home office space & that the squashed little area under the
stairs will no longer suffice for the extent of time spent and work to
be done from the rapidly growing work at home adults worldwide.

Homeowners are looking up and looking down and the basement
and attic/loft spaces are fair game as home offices. However a
basement with natural lighting (and no damp) has a clear advantage
over the attic/loft area IF it has direct access, i.e. visitors do not
have to tramp through the whole house.

Bottom line is... if you have a basement like that and you work from
home you could be in a very very lucky and enviable position if you
develop it into a real open planned work area...

Enjoy discovering your basement
Arpad from Home Improvement and Financing.com
Get your FREE monthly newsletter of home improvement
trends, tips & articles here: Home Improve E-zine

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Welcome
My first post has got to be a warm welcome to everyone, especially those who have caught the home improvement bug. I have just started a newsletter called Home Improve E-Zine and thought that I should join everyone else and start blogging as well.

Home Improve E-Zine
In Home Improve E-Zine you will find articles to help you plan your home improvement project in 2005, also ideas to help you evaluate your home to find the best project to improve your homes value and your family's quality of home life, together with Home Show information and links for March and April. (if you missed the March issue, back issues are available at the website link below)

Our Aim
The aim of this blog is to develop an exchange of home improvement tips and advice to help each other accomplish our home remodeling projects this year, 2005. One massive advantage of a home improve blog is that we can write in for help and see if someone out there knows different methods of solving home improvement challenges.

A Basement Question:
To start the ball rolling I would like to ask: if you have developed your basement, what product did you use to damp-proof the walls and how pleased are you with the outcome, especially if the improvement has gone through and survived a winter. Did you for example: paint on a masonry waterproofer or did you install plastic sheeting?. I think that it is a question that may help many people get started on a very worthwhile project for this summer 2005.

Look forward to hearing from you
Arpad from
http://www.home-improvement-and-financing.com
and here is a link to that home improve e-zine to make it easier for you to subscribe:
http://www.home-improvement-and-financing.com/home-improve-e-zine.html