The emphasis on low cost products drives lower quality products. Poor quality means products have to be replaced more often. When you have to replace building materials frequently, they cost more when you include installation costs. Walmart focuses on consumable products, ones that aren’t expected to last a long time. They don’t sell cheap house … Read More
Home Maintenance Saves Money
When you buy a house, it doesn't come with an owners manual. Like changing your car's oil, you know a house needs some ongoing home maintenance. But you're probably not sure what's on the list or what it takes to complete the tasks. Do you have the right tools or know what materials to buy so you can do things like change your HVAC air filters and clean the dryer vent.
At Home Tips for Women, we offer advice on protecting the investment you've made in your home, based on founder Tina Gleisner's experience running a handyman business. She wrote many of these articles following phone calls with women who didn't know what to do. Tina decided she wanted to help women homeowners manage their homes with confidence!
Simple Steps to Effective Home Maintenance
1: Learn the home maintenance tasks your home needs to stay safe and comfortable. We've got lots of home maintenance checklists to help you.
2: Pick a strategy for maintaining your home on a regular basis. This is key to minimizing your monthly operating costs like the electric bill. It will also help extend the life of expensive home features like a roof, that one day will need to be replaced.
3: Decide who's going to tackle all your home maintenance tasks. Remember that your #1 role is to make sure everything gets done, and that doesn't mean you have to DIY!
Do it yourself if you've got some experience and the time to learn how to do it right.
Build a team of home contractors for tasks requiring more skill, tools or time.
Use a home warranty company for repairs while you do preventive maintenance.
Best Furniture Pads to Protect Floors
When you move into a brand new house you want to decorate, organize and protect your home so it sparkles forever. Furniture pads will let you move furniture around, knowing your floors are protected from scratches and gouges. The challenge is finding the best furniture pads for your floors and furniture. More homeowners worry about … Read More
How Electrical Outlets are Changing
Electrical outlets are becoming more critical in our connected world. Home fixtures like lights are getting smarter and everyone in the family has a smart phone. So why aren’t we getting smarter about where we put our outlets?
Fun Ways to Organize Ribbon for Crafting
Organizing crafts in your home can be challenging. With lots of quilting fabric, there’s enough shelf space for fabric but not enough room for the extras – ribbon, books and more. Learn how to organize ribbon so you’re ready for the next project. As I’m still unpacking from my move to Florida, when Mary asked … Read More
Attic Baffles & Why You Need Them
Attic baffles play an important role keeping your home comfortable and safe. They keep space clear so fresh air can flow from the soffits under your roof eaves to the vents at or near the top of your roof, illustrated by the red arrow above.
Why Call Professionals for an Appliance Repair
Growing up, I often remember my grandmother marveling at all the “newfangled appliances” that were available to make household chores easier. She would tell tales of using a ringer washing machine where she fed clothes through rollers one piece at a time. Appliance designs were simpler and many times a homeowner would handle their own … Read More
Ridge Vents on Top of Your Roof
You want your home to be well-insulated to reduce the cost of heating and air conditioning. Equally important is the need for proper ventilation to ensure that moisture and heat can escape from your attic to avoid problems with mold and/or ice dams. Ridge vents (also called roof vent systems), working in combination with soffit vents, are … Read More
What is a Fascia Board on a House
We all love watching birds and get excited when they visit us at home. One instance where homeowners would rather not have birds is when woodpeckers look for bugs in their fascia boards, leaving ugly holes in the wood. What I can’t tell you is whether bird houses will prevent this damage (but I love … Read More
Roof Decking, Shingles and Roofing Nails
When picking a builder in Florida, I had the opportunity to ask the building supervisor questions. One of the most important questions was “… tell me the three best ways to make the house more energy efficient”. Based on this discussion, I agreed to pay a surcharge for a radiant barrier on the roof. While … Read More
Wall Insulation Tips: What Kind & Installation
Our houses are becoming more energy efficient thanks to building codes focused on driving down US energy consumption. Similar to Energy Star appliances you see at the store, building materials like wall insulation must also meet more stringent building codes. In Florida, there are different codes based on the type of construction and where the … Read More
