Archive for December 7th, 2011

Mount Satellite on Siding of Your Home

Satellite TV signals have really made a difference in many people’s lives. Now Mount Satellite on Siding of Your Homesomeone in Rural Canada or the rural United States and in fact all over the world can now receive hundreds of TV stations, many in high definition. Also they now provide much needed competition to the cable companies and have kept the price of cable down as well. Competition is always good at controlling prices, but many people are worried about mounting these dishes on the side of their home. You need to Mount Satellite on Siding of Your Home in most cases.

If you have a brick home, a satellite dish can easily be mounted on the side of the house using lag bolts drilled into the bricks on your house. There will be no leaks and the dish will be very solid. If a dish sways in the wind or moves the signal will be degraded and you may even lose the signal. So a solid mounting is critical as is a clear line of site to the satellite. You need holes for the anchor bolts and also for the cable to run from the dish into the home either at the location were you mount the dish or lower down near a window or door of your home. More on that later.
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Analyzing Hourly Hydro Usage and Cost

Analyzing Hourly Hydro UsageOne of the things we have learned while doing some research on alternative energy sources is that the payback you get for your time spent and also for the money you are going to spend is greatest when you practice energy conservation. I just received our annual summary of our electrical bill and was pleasantly surprised to see a 22% drop in out total annual hydro cost, while rates went up by 6.8% over that same time period. That’s a total of 29% savings in my books! All you need to do is start analyzing hourly hydro usage and then take the necessary steps to lower the usage during peak rate times.

These are real savings and real reductions in energy costs to our household. It is easy to accomplish and the payback is almost immediate without too much impact on the family.

Analyzing Hourly Hydro Usage – How did we do that?

Well it turns out it was pretty easy.  Here is a summary of what we have done:

  • Convert all incandescent lights to fluorescent light bulbs
  • Run the AC only during non-peak hours (avoid  11am – 5pm)
  • Run the clothes dryer in off peak hours (avoid 7am -7pm)
  • Operate the pool pump for 3 hours in the morning during mid-peak hours
  • Run the pool pump for 4 hours in the evening during off peak hours
  • Weekends are all off peak, so anything you can push to the weekend saves money e.g. Oven self cleaning
  • Turn off lights when you are not in the room
  • Turn off the TV if no one is watching it
  • Avoid using electricity any time you can

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Burglar Deterrent Plants

Burglar deterrent plants should be part of your crime prevention strategy. As part of our property management series we decided to write a few posts about burglar deterrents. This one is about what you can do with plants to deter burglars and importantly what you should not do with plants when you are thinking about burglars. Anyone looking for a home to break into is going to look for the easy score and stay away from anything that looks difficult. If someone wants to get in or has an objective in mind, regardless of what you do they will break in. Plants will deter the criminals who are looking for an easy way in.

There are lots of other things that consumers should focus on as well when it comes to making your home unattractive to burglars. Everything from placing signs about attack dogs, to burglar alarm signs, to actual burglar alarms and many other things can be done. All of them are designed with the thought of deterring burglars from selecting your home as a potential place to break into. However this post will focus on the role that plans around the outside of your home can play in this regard.

Burglar Deterrent Plants – What not To Do

Most people know that they should not place shrubs that provide hiding places for burglars while they are breaking into your home. These include shrubs that hide the front door from the street or the neighbors as well as shrubs around windows that are easily opened for entry into your home. Think about it. On a dark night, with little lighting around your home, the perfect conditions only get better if there is a shrub or bush to hide the burglar while he quietly breaks into your home.
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5 Basic Tips When Choosing Hardwood Flooring

Choosing Hardwood FlooringMore and more people are choosing hardwood flooring over carpet and other finishes. Timeless beauty, clean lines, strength and durability as well as the ease of cleaning and the classic look make hardwood flooring the perfect choice for your home. Hardwood flooring delivers another benefit as well that allergy sufferers appreciate. Lint and dust cannot build up on your hardwood floor the way it can on rugs. Install a central vac with the exhaust outside and you have the best situation for allergy sufferers. Choosing Hardwood Flooring can be very personal.

No matter what your personal style is, there is a flooring choice for you because of the unlimited selection of colors, stains, board widths and styles available. But before you rush out shopping for your hardwood flooring, there are a number of tips to keep in mind. These are basic tips, but may save you a lot of money as well as ensure that you will be satisfied with the final installation.

Choosing Hardwood Flooring – Budget

Always set a budget for yourself. Having a wide variety of flooring to choose from is great, but the downside is that it is easy spend more and to get overwhelmed quickly. This can mean that you end up overspending past your budget if you are not careful. Remember to balance style with quality with your budget when you make your final choice. Select something that enhances the sales value of your home as well. If you are unsure about what is or is not the right choice from this perspective, enlist the help of a real estate agent.

Match the Room with Your Choice of Flooring

You will be wise to match the room with your choice of flooring, whether hardwood or otherwise. For example, do not try to put hardwood flooring in a bathroom or a kitchen, due to the high levels of moisture a bathroom receives or food being dropped on the floor in a kitchen.

Match the Type of Wood to the Room

Different areas of the house demand different types of wood. For example, wood floors that have very light or very dark finishes typically do not fare well in the kitchen. You really should not mix and match different colors of flooring, unless the rooms that are being covered with hardwood flooring are physically separated. Rooms that run into each other, should really have the same flooring.

Select Hardwoods with a Strong Finish for High Traffic Areas

Choose a hardwood flooring that has an appropriate finish to match your lifestyle and the traffic in that room. A sitting room that is seldom used will let you get away with a lighter finish. However a hallway or living room will get continual traffic and requires a choice that offers a tougher finish that can stand up to a lot of wear and tear. Alternatively placing area rugs along high traffic areas will preserve your floors and offer contrast as well.

Choosing Hardwood Flooring – DIY  – Do It Your Self?

Consider installation – doing it yourself to save money or having a professional installer do a high quality job  for you? Many people successfully install their own flooring, but only after they have done their homework. It is often easier to hire a professional, however the cost will more than double in many cases.  Do your due diligence when selecting a hardwood flooring installer, talk to friends, ask for references and even visit homes were the installer has performed the work. You will want to be absolutely sure that it will be installed correctly.

Avoid Fad Styles That become Unpopular

Choosing the color and style of the floor can be the fun part for you and spouse. Choose a hardwood that matches your personal taste and your lifestyle without breaking the bank. The comparatively high cost of the flooring and installation demands choosing a wood that will not go out of style quickly. After all you do not want to replace the floor in a few years.

Comments are welcome about these tips and others. For more information about hardwood floor selection, click here.

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Programmable Thermostats

Programmable ThermostatsWith all of the emphasis on reducing energy costs, it would seem that using programmable thermostats should save you money.  It turns out that programmable thermostats are just like anything else used by consumers. If used correctly they will save you some money in terms of heating or cooling costs. But in the wrong hands, a programmable thermostat can actually cost you more for heating and cooling your home!

The Right Way to Program a Thermostat

Turns out that the rule of thumb is to set the temperature for a period of 8 hours and leave it there. If you do this every day then you probably will save money. For example, when you go to bed, there is an 8 hour stretch were you can turn the heat down for heating purposes and reduce your energy costs. The same thing when you go to work. However if someone is constantly fiddling with the thermostat, and adjusting it every few hours either manually or by programming, you can end up using more energy than necessary.

A 1978 research paper (“Energy Savings through Thermostat Setbacks” by Nelson and MacArthur) confirmed basic physics. On average, if you turn the thermostat down by one degree Fahrenheit for eight hours every night, you’ll use about 1% less energy. (So, if you turn the temperature down by 10 degrees every night, you’ll use about 10% less energy.) But note that you’ll see less savings in milder climates (the bigger the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, the more you save by adjusting the thermostat) and with electric heat.

The Real Answer About Programmable Thermostats

If you are motivated to reduce your heating and cooling costs then you are going to be setting your thermostat lower to be gin with when heating and higher when cooling and you are going to leave the setting alone. You do not need a programmable thermostat to do this. Rather it is all about what you as an individual and your family want the temperature in your home to be.

A programmable thermostat will help you manage the temperature better, but it alone will not save you money. If people in your family are constantly adjusting the temperature then you are going to pay more for energy. It is just that simple. No thermostat is going to change this unless you put it under lock and key. You might end up with a revolt in your family if you actually try this.

There were a number of studies that have been conducted that proved this point. We included an excerpt here for readers . See below.

If your motivation is to reduce your energy costs and save money, consider a programmable thermostat as a tool to help you accomplish your goals. By itself they will not save money. You need to program these thermostats to adjust the temperature in the same manner that you would have manually adjusted the temperature on a manual thermostat. Set the temperature once for an 8 hour period and leave it there.

Turning down the temperature for 8 hour periods will definitely save you money , only if you leave it and do not play with it.

Where’s the savings?

In 2007, RLW Analytics prepared a report for GasNetworks, a New England-based energy company. “Validating the Impact of Programmable Thermostats” found that using an Energy Star-certified programmable thermostat produced an average savings of about “6.2% of total household annual natural gas consumption”. Those who installed programmable thermostats into older heating systems saved an average of 6.8%.

Note: The New England study also found that people who micromanage their manual thermostats use more energy. This was in comparisonto those who just leave them at predefined points for longer periods of time.

 

 

 


What Tire Supplier Should You Choose

What Tire Supplier Should You ChooseThe last post that we added to our blog was all about the criteria and information you needed to have in order to select a set of tires for your vehicle. It was aimed at the average consumer planning on buying a set of tires for their car. Now we will focus on what Tire Supplier you should consider.

We had recently bought tires for our own car and wanted to share the experience and also what we learned. Every ones criteria will be different, so it is important to give some thought about what you want, what is important to you or high priority and who you need to talk to about tires for your car. The title of our previous post is “How To Select New Tires for Your Car” and you may want to spend a few minutes reading this post as well. Buying tires does not have to be complicated if you have all of the facts.

Our High Priority Criteria for Tire Supplier

For us, we wanted a good quality tire at a reasonable price with a high mileage warranty that would give us stable and safe driving characteristics. We also wanted the following key features :

  • TPMS compatible
  • Nitrogen filled
  • Lifetime Balance and tire rotation included
  • Canada / US Warranty support

Most tire shops carry all of the big name tire brands and most will price match, so after doing a little homework to determine what price I should expect to pay for a set of four tires, it pretty much came down to the above 4 categories that would determine who I would go with.

America’s Tire

Very few Canadian companies operate in the US or have affiliates that you can go to if you have tire problems. The same is true for US companies. We really like Americas Tire, They have given us really good service in the past and we would like to use them. However, they do not have a relationship with any Canadian company and cannot provide warranty service in Canada. They do have shops all over the US and within 100 miles of our home in Canada, but there are companies that are closer to Canada – US coverage.

Wal-Mart

That pretty much left Wal-Mart and Costco as the two places that we could turn to that provided the coverage we were looking for. Wal-Mart had two negatives that caused them to fall by the wayside. Their price certainly was competitive, however, they do not have the facilities to provide nitrogen filled tires or at least the location I visited. Also, their shop did not inspire confidence when I went in to get a price for the tires. The person helping me really did not know that much about tires and I just was not satisfied with the service they provided.

Tire Supplier – Costco

Costco was just so much more professional in quoting a price for tires plus they met all of our requirements. They provided Nitrogen filled tires at no extra cost, they were able to show me the tires they recommended. The tires were on sale at the time , they could install the tires within an hour of purchase, they supported TPMS and they provide a lifetime balancing and tire rotation service.

They are actually international, however being only concerned about Canada and the US , they have lots of stores throughout both countries and they fully support their warranty at all locations. In terms of TPMS, they had skilled technicians that knew enough to not damage the TPMS devices when installing the new tires.

So all in all, it was the right decision to go with COSTCO in this case for tires. The price and the service were excellent and they met all of our criteria for new tires for my car.

For the record we chose Michelin X-Radials DT with an 80,000 mile  warranty, nitrogen filled, lifetime balancing and tire rotation at any of their locations across North America.  Everything included the price came to $539 including taxes!

For more info about the right tires for your car, click here.


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