Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Home Energy Supply - How You Can Increase Your Home Energy Supply Cheaply

Modern technological advances have allowed the average person to create their own home energy supply for much cheaper than in the past. The idea behind wind and solar power has grown into an two industries: those seeking to profit greatly and those seeking to find the cheapest ways for you to have a home energy supply while profiting modestly. This article will explore ways you can increase your home energy supply by building cheap solar and wind power systems.

It really is much cheaper than most people think! Wind energy is the most cost effective way to produce your own home energy supply. Wind energy is such a cheap renewable energy because windmill technology has been deconstructed to its most basic form.

It no longer takes an investment of thousands of dollars to use a windmill as a way to bolster your home energy supply. In fact, it is ridiculously cheap nowadays. You can purchase plans that will teach you in a step by step fashion how to get most of what you need to build a wind energy system for nearly no money or absolutely no money. There really are ways to get quality parts for free if you know where to look.

Solar power is ten times less energy producing as wind power is, but a solar panel can work anywhere that has sun. As far as a consistent source of for your home energy supply goes, solar power can be set up anywhere and work as long as there's sun, and wind power is so cheap that it will work when there's no sun and a little wind.

Today, you can install both home energy supplies for much cheaper than ever before. If you want to increase your home energy supply than pick an energy source and find plans that allow you to build it for cheaper than ever before.

Step by step plans to build a home energy supply using solar energy and/or wind energy can be found at the link. Bear in mind these steps teach you where to find the parts for both systems that will cost you either nothing or next to it.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Drywalling Your Bathtub Area

How to renovate bathroom walls; removing and replacing wallpaper, sizing the walls, preparing drywall for painting, removing and installing bathroom fixtures.
Remodel Your Bathroom Walls
Some studies have shown that the two most important rooms in the modern home are the kitchen and the bathroom. That makes sense; the first is the most public and the second is the most private. As time goes on, any living space is going to need to be remodeled, either to bring it up to the latest fashion or because of normal wear and tear. There are a few things to be aware of when you remodel your bathroom walls.

Removing the Wallpaper
Your bathroom has either wallpaper or paint. In either case, the first thing to do is to remove all the fixtures such as towel racks, toilet paper dispensers, etc. If the walls are painted, just caulk any holes and repair any faults in the drywall and you're ready to repaint. Or if you plan to hang wallpaper, sand off the texture.

If you have wallpaper, wipe down the walls using a sponge and a bucket of warm water. The purpose of this is to loosen the glue.

Before hanging the wallpaper, a good paper hanger will “size” the walls. This means painting the walls with what is usually an acrylic primer. This is sort of a barrier between the wall's porous surface and the wallpaper glue.

It the walls were properly sized the wallpaper should come off fairly easily as you coax it with the warm water. Otherwise, you're going to be pulling off drywall paper facing and perhaps even chunks of drywall.

Skim the Walls with Drywall Compound
The thing you want to do now is to get a smooth surface. You do this by skimming the walls with drywall compound, or “mud”. Most likely you will need both a wide floating knife and a narrow taping knife. This is common when you remodel a bathroom because of so many narrow surfaces.

Sand the wall lightly after the drywall compound dries. You may need to skim the bathroom walls again to get a good finish. Disobey the temptation to rush this part of the job. Unlike what you might see on TV, actual remodeling projects do not reach completion in thirty minutes!

Prepare the Bathroom Walls for Paint or Wallpaper
Once you are satisfied with the walls it's time to decide on paint or wallpaper. If you are going to paint it's a good idea to texture the walls. Any imperfection will show up and the glossier the paint, the more obvious this will be.

There are many simple texturing techniques. Or for a really unique look, use this knockdown texturing tool.

Next, use a good latex primer to prepare the walls for paint. Be sure that you use painter's tape on the areas where you are cutting in such as on the baseboards. After the primer is dry, use a good quality paint to ensure proper coverage. It's important to choose the correct paint type. A satin finish paint works well in bathrooms.

If you decide on hanging wallpaper, size the walls first. After removing the old paper, you know how important this is. Now hang the paper.

Install the Bathroom Fixtures
In most cases, you are going to be lucky to find even one stud to screw into. Invest a few dollars in a stud finder for this so you don't have to mess up your new finish. Where you don't have studs right where you want your fixtures, that's ok, use spring-wing toggle bolts. Too many people rely on those little plastic wedges and end up disappointed. There is a plastic wedge on the market that works. This one actually screws into the sheetrock. It is distinguished by very wide threads.

That's all there is to it. Not rocket science, just patience and attention to detail!
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