It seems almost like a monthly occurrence; the water bills come out and someone asks something along the lines of – why did mine jump up so high? Do I have a leak? Did the water main break have something to do with it? Is my meter bad? Did anyone else’s inexplicably double or triple? […]
Monday Musing: Don’t believe the Hype
Lately there is a lot of chatter & hype over a “new study” where many groups are going – wow, we got to ban gas cooking, Electrify Everything, or quite simply saying, see we told you so. They love showing charts similar to this one below (taken from said study) as all the evil attributes […]
Monday Musings: Polar Vortex Lessons Learned
There is nothing like adding together some colder than normal weather & wind to see just how well designed your home or a building is. With all the news coverage leading up to this last polar vortex you would have thought we were going to see ships outside our front doors like in the movie […]
7+ Questions not to ask your Contractor
A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Theresa & Mark Clement of My Fix It Up Life if I wanted to participate on one of their Google Hangouts. While I am not a big fan of getting my picture taken much less being on video I accepted immediately. There was only one catch, […]
Why is everyone so vague on pricing?
How much will it cost to do X, or how much per square foot (SF) or linear foot (LF) to install Y… are the two most frequent questions asked during the initial phone call. The fact of the matter though is most legitimate remodeling and renovations contractors don’t even think in terms of SF or […]
Finding The Perfect Home for You, Your Family, and Your Pets
This week we have a great post from Maya Rodgers, with her dog Mindy (shown below). When discussing her doing a guest post she mentioned the troubles one can have when finding a new home & the idea for this post was born – the things I wish I knew before buying a new place […]
10 Questions to ask your Contractor
Ahhh finally, it’s time for the proverbial rubber to hit the road and to turn ones dream project into reality… yes, it is time to hire a contractor. One of the biggest things to remember is that remodeling is not a commodity based solely on price, but rather a complicated service. The Rationale for Getting […]
Of sales tax holidays, disaster preparation & others of interest…
Alabama is one of three states that have a “severe weather” sales tax holiday. This year the “holiday” is set to start tomorrow (February 22nd) and it runs through Sunday. Unlike Virginia & Louisiana which both occur in the later part of May (to get people ready for Hurricane season), Alabama has chosen the last […]
Safety Sunday: Be careful who you let in…
Ever since we were young we were always told, don’t talk to strangers. Fortunately as we grow older we learn that not only is it necessary to do so (and most people are honest & good) we also develop some street smarts to go along with it for those that aren’t so trustworthy. Unfortunately while […]
Help rescue my project…
Sometimes it’s a DIY project that has gone wrong, has left you stumped, or your spouse is going, it’s taking too long. Sometimes you might be stuck with a dishonest contractor that has bailed, or appears to be in over his head. Shoot sometimes you might be looking at something & going that just doesn’t […]