If your electrical bills are getting to be just too high for you, not to worry! Handyman Connection of Florida is here to provide you with a few tips on how to keep your costs low with some small home improvement tactics!

• Ceiling fans can greatly reduce the use of the air conditioning in your home. While using less energy they will also keep your home cool and improve on your bill! It’s usually good to consult with a handyman electrician to make sure that the installation goes smoothly and the fan of your choice is compatible with your home.
• Switch to either florescent or LED light bulbs in your home. While they are both pricier, they greatly reduce the use of energy as well as last much longer than your regular bulb. Florescent bulbs are the cheaper of the two and release much less hear than a regular bulb, allowing it to keep your home cooler in the warm months of the year. LED bulbs are the most efficient and can actually last around 100,000 hours!
• The easiest thing to do is to remember to unplug electronics and appliances when not in use. Computers and power strips will continuously use up energy even if they are not on. Make sure to unplug that charger and turn off your power strips when not in use.
• Replacing your old window panes can make a bigger difference in your bills than you might think. If your windows are not properly in place, around 30% of your air conditioning or heater’s energy can be lost through any kinds of gaps or cracks, creating the need for your home to use more energy to replace what is lost. Replacing panes and having a proper sealant can save you money in the end. When doing this, remember to consult with a professional handyman to make sure that this home improvement task is done correctly.
• Installing occupancy sensors can also decrease your energy usage. These will sense when a person is in the room and turn the lights on and off depending on the occupancy. Installing these in your kitchen and porch can definitely make a difference on your bills since these are the lights that get left on most frequently.
• Having a handyman install a thermostat that can be on a timer will also decrease your bills. It will automatically change the temperature so that while you are away from your home, it will not waste energy heating up in the winter and cooling down in the summer.

It’s summer and therefore it’s time to spruce up your home after all of the purging from your spring cleaning. Now that you can see your walls and floors again, why not make a change so that they add flavor to your home? 2011 has inspired some exciting new color trends that can change your home from boring to inspiring. Painting projects can be a drag so why not let a professional handyman painter from Handyman Connection of Florida help you out?

This year, Sherwin Williams has come out with four lines of fashion forward paint colors. Since its summer, we suggest their Gentle Medley line. This line focuses on soft colors that can remind you of summer all year round. These pastel tones and parchment pale neutrals can add a young and relaxing feel to your home. From the lively “breaktime” blue to the “Chivalry Copper” orange, your home can bring 2011 summer trends into your life. A handyman painter can easily help you get these colors into your kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.

AkzoNobel has also come out with their Color of the Year that ties perfectly in line with the Gentle Medley line. They chose a citrus yellow color that is full of energy and positivity. This color can bring character and voice to your home. It is the perfect reflection of summer that invites emotions of warmth and sunshine all year round.

Handyman Connection’s professional painters can easily and quickly transform your home with the new interior paint colors of 2011. Check out our website for a free quote, or contact us for more information from a Handyman painter.

In this post-boom housing market, a lot of people are finding good deals on new homes. They are opting for new development for all kinds of reasons, from modern fixtures to a lack of desire to make home repairs. While newly built structures do give you a “brand new” feeling when you move in, home buyers should be aware that even a new house will likely need some renovation within the first few years.

If you are in a home that is just a few years old, you might be noticing some things around the house that warrant concern. Have you noticed:

• Cracks on the exterior of the house
• Cracks around door and/or window frames
• Bowing or space in hardwood or laminate flooring

Buildings Settle

All of these occurrences in your new home are most likely a result of your home settling. Generally speaking, these occurrences are not the fault of your home builder; rather they are natural occurrences that happen as your home settles. The foundation that your home is built on will sink into the earth a little bit, and the building materials used (we are talking about wood here) have a tendency to expand and contract as humidity and temperature change. This is an unavoidable event as gravity and nature have uncontrollable affects on your house. As these forces take their effects on your home, the structure itself will be tested and moved. While architects plan for this when designing buildings, anyone who purchases a new home should plan on making some repairs over the first few years to keep their house together.

What to Do Next

Gauge the damage: You will have to survey your house to see what has moved as the house settled. Cracks in the exterior of the home or along door and window frames will be visible, as will any instances where the floor has separated slightly. If you are having an issue where a door—to a room or to a closet—has become difficult to open, then this itself is a sign of settling. The door is sticking because the frame around it has pressure applied to it.

Get to work: Once you know what is broken, you will need to make the necessary repairs. Identify your issues, make a list, and plan out your repair schedule. Each issue will require a different approach.

• Cracked exterior: Often the cracks that show up on the outside of your home just need to be filled in. This will make sure that your structure does not fall victim to further deterioration from water damage. One summer of Florida storms will expose these cracks to enough water to make them larger and can eventually let water inside your home. If you have small, manageable cracks in your stucco, you will need to take a trip to your local hardware store. Talk to someone at the store about your problem and ask them to recommend a filler. You will probably end up with a bag of hydraulic cement, which you will need to mix with water according to the instructions on the bag. Once you have mixed it, fill in the crack using a trowel and then let it set for half an hour. The cement will expand slightly, so after it has set, take your trowel and remove any cement that has expanded outside of the crack until it is flush with the rest of the wall. Once it is dry, a little paint will cover it up and you will have sealed your cracked outside wall.
• Door frames: You will need to examine your hinges to see where the problem begins. As a house settles, the hinges are screwed into the frame, which moves. You may need to install a pad behind a hinge if the frame has bowed outward. You may also need to change the hinge out altogether. Each door solution will be a little different, so we can’t offer a one-size-fits-all fix here. If you can’t see what the problem is by looking at the hinge, you should call in a professional.
• Bowed floors: Settling foundations cause the floors to change slightly, which can separate floor boards or push them closer together, causing them to bow upwards. In either case, you will need to add or remove some of the flooring to bring it back to normal. You will be able to see where the problem starts pretty easily; it is either the gap or bowed part of your floor. The humidity we live in is usually the culprit here, so issues with wood-based flooring is simply a trade-off for the snow-free winters you get once you move to Bradenton or Orlando. Once the home settles and the floor has been repaired by someone who knows what they are doing, you should be trouble-free.

Sources:

eHow.com

House Task.com

Ask the Builder

Remodel Kitchen.net

Related Posts:

Time for Floors: Laminate Verse Hardwood

Interior Doors More Than Finishing Touches