Easy care landscaping

Is your landscaping full of weeds? Are you finding yourself driving by neighbors’ homes, envying their perfect, weed-free plantings? If so, you may be in need of some easy-care landscaping. Many of the problems you see in your own yard and others are due to outdated landscaping practices or general neglect of installations that were assumed to be “one and done.” The good news is that you can have a low-care landscape, even if the upfront labor means giving up a few weekends.

What’s Going Wrong in the Landscaping?

It’s not hard to guess what’s gone wrong with your beds if weeds are popping up where they should never be or your mulch looks like it’s turning to dust. There’s something keeping that mulch from mixing with the soil and that something is probably a geotextile or plastic mulch.

Geotextiles are woven fabrics that allow water to pass through into the soil, but prevent evaporation. They can be good deterrents for weed seeds that are in the soil, but once an organic mulch like wood chips or pine needles is placed on top, they prevent the breaking-down mulch from mixing with the dirt below. Instead, that mulch powder creates a medium for new weed seeds to take root, eventually poking holes through the fabric below with their roots.

This is not awesome, as you might have guessed.

The best solution for this situation is to take out the old landscape fabric or plastic (if it’s plastic, you have a huge job ahead of you, as it tends to tear aggressively after only a few years in use) and rethink the whole situation. This is a demolition job that takes a lot of elbow grease, but no particular expertise. Just try to get most of the powdered mulch onto the bed below so it can finish breaking down.

The Pros and Cons of Geotextiles

As previously mentioned, geotextiles allow the soil below to absorb and retain water, but they don’t let nutrients from above mix in. They’re frequently used on landscape installations and overhyped as “maintenance free” barriers. What a typical homeowner hears is “I’ll never have to do anything with this again.” What the typical installer means is “you’re gonna get some good years of ignoring this, but wait too long and you’ll pay in backbreaking labor.”

Geotextiles are not a permanent solution, for a lot of reasons. We now know that they discourage insects and earthworms, since there’s not direct access to the surface of the soil. Since those creatures are needed to help aerate the various layers under your plants, soil compaction can become an issue. Then there’s the matter of that broken down mulch up above: it has nowhere to go. It can only clog the geotextile at worst and hang around to grow weeds at the best.

If you’re prepared to completely remove all your mulch when it starts to break down, or want to use inorganic mulches like stones, then a geotextile may be a fine solution. A careful installation of professional grade fabric, reserved for plants that have a central stem or that are already mature, is ideal. Keep in mind that spreading plants can’t function properly under any sort of weed fabric, as it stifles their growth, too.

Another Option: Mulch and Lots of It

For homeowners who are less interested in interacting with the landscape and more interested in just looking at it, organic mulch without a weed barrier is the best solution. You’ll need to replace broken down mulch yearly, but a few pre-emergent herbicide sprays throughout the season should be all you really need to keep the beds healthy.

Organic mulches like bark, shredded wood, pine needles and cotton seed hull break down, eventually feeding the plants below. They also allow you to plant whatever you want, since anything from single trunked trees to spreading rhizomes like Iris can move through and above the soil with equal ease when necessary.

If you’re installing a mulch-only cover, remember to use a four to six inch metal retainer so the mulch won’t slide away during heavy rains or winds. There are several on the market that you essentially just pound into the soil around your beds, they’re a snap to install.

With that skirting installed, you’ll want to fill your bed with two to four inches of fresh mulch, depending on local weather conditions and the size of your plantings. Just make sure that the mulch doesn’t touch any trunks or stems. Create a little donut-shaped moat around each plant for best results.

It may be less expensive to buy mulch by the truckload if you have a lot of beds, make sure to check with your local municipality about free or low-cost mulch created from limb and yard waste from your area. This isn’t the most attractive mulch sometimes, but it can help lower the costs of a whole yard makeover. Just top with about an inch of nicer mulch for a gorgeous, inexpensive mulch job.

What If I’m Not the Landscaping Type?

Don’t worry, your friendly local landscapers can come by and renew your plantings for you. As members of the HomeKeepr community, they’ve already been recommended by your Realtor and are ready to take your job seriously, with the commitment and eye of true professionals. Before you know it, your shrubs, perennials and trees will be gorgeous again and you can sit inside, admiring them over coffee while you watch the sprinklers spray.

Fences...

Humans have been enclosing things in fences since there were fences and things to enclose. It’s natural that you’d want to build one eventually. After all, with a good fence you could better defend your property from wiley raccoons and urban foxes or maybe to keep your squirrely goat herd from wandering into the neighbor’s yard. It’s your fence, you have your reasons.

But, building a fence isn’t just a matter of nailing a few boards together. Even though it’s a good project for new homeowners, there are a few things to keep in mind before taking the plunge.

The Before You Build Boogie

If you’ve read any of these blogs, you know that the planning and prep are keys to success with any sort of project, whether that’s repainting your house, sealing your driveway or, in this case, building a fence. The legwork involved in fence building is nearly as involved as the actual fence building, but doing it right means a fence that will last and last.

Do these things before you even start to think about digging the first post hole:

Find Your Neighborhood’s Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions

The Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dictate what can and cannot be done to property belonging to a particular homeowners’ association. If you have HOA fees or commonly owned property (playgrounds, pools, etc) in your neighborhood, you probably have a CC&R somewhere that you need to read.

Understand that you are legally obligated to this agreement since you signed what amounts to a contract to abide by the rules at closing. They can literally dictate anything, from how tall the fence can be to what type of materials are allowed (or required). If you can’t find your copy in your closing documents, call your closing company, they can get you a new copy.

Go Visit Planning and Zoning

Your city’s Planning & Zoning department makes lots of rules about things you’d never imagine there needed to be a rule made about. Things like sign setbacks, minimum sizes for new homes and minimum required green space per residential lot are a few that drive real estate pros up the wall.

The P&Z rules that will get you are going to be related to the height of your fencing, how far it has to be off of the road and, like in your CC&R, the materials the fence is made of. In areas with high winds or other regularly destructive forces, there may be specific requirements for construction style in order to minimize the chances your fence becomes a weapon in the next big disaster.

Get Your Permit!

Not every municipality will require that you have a permit to build a fence, especially if you’re just replacing an existing fence with a new one, but some do. This is not something to take a chance on, just go to the city and apply for one. The chances are great that you’ll be granted an approval, but an inspector will still come by to make sure your fence is sturdy and sound. This is good in the longer term, don’t be confused. If you built the fence wrong, you’re really just wasting your money on a structure that won’t last.

Invite a Surveyor Over

Surveyors have a tough job. They know where the property lines are supposed to be, and too often, they’re forced to have to tell a homeowner that the lines aren’t exactly where they thought they should be. Breaking the bad news is basically their job, so along with having great working knowledge of surveying, they also have to be good at telling people they’ve been wrong all this time.

Now, this may not be the case for you, but before you even think about putting in a fence, have a survey. You don’t want your neighbor to sue you because the fence was put in the wrong place, forcing you to do it all over again, or buy them out of the land that should have not been fenced in.

Actual, Factual Fence Construction

Now that you’ve managed the details, you can start thinking about your fence. It’s ok. Do it. You know what materials are allowed and which aren’t, plus the heights and setback requirements. You are a fully loaded fence-building machine now.

When you choose those fencing materials, you’ll have a few important choices to make. It’s important at this stage of the game to figure out the purpose for your fence. Do you like having company over and don’t want to disturb the neighbors? Are you putting in a pool? Does your dog need a place to romp?

Although all three can be serviced by a fairly generic fence type, there might be more specific advantages to particular fence styles whether you’re trying to keep the noise level down or want to make sure neighborhood kids don’t sneak into your pool at night. The pool is better protected by a sturdy wooden fence or tall metal fence, where your noisy parties can be dampened with a lower maintenance PVC or vinyl fence. Focusing on your intent makes it easier to narrow the huge field of fencing materials and styles.

Once you know what you’re going to use to make that fence, the rest is a piece of cake. It goes something like this:

1. Plan your post positions ahead of time so you don’t end up with some weird little section of fence at the end. Recommended spacing of posts will depend on your fence style, height and materials.
2. With the posts planned, it’s time to dig. Depending on your location, holes as deep as 30 inches are recommended. You’ll want to backfill the hole with cement or crushed angular gravel until it’s tightly packed. Leave the posts a day or two for your material of choice to set and settle in place.
3. Run your horizontal rails across the fence posts, either on your side of the fence (so you have the nice side of the fence facing you) or on your neighbor’s side (so the nice side is facing them). Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to have wooden fence pickets face an area you will always have access to in case any need to be replaced or treated.
4. Once you’ve chosen a side and installed the rails, you can put on the pickets. At this point, you’re done, save sealing wooden fences. You should wait a few days after installation for sealing.

Fences are Time Consuming Projects

Now that you know the basics of building a fence, you may be rethinking your plan for isolation. Don’t panic, there are plenty of experts in the HomeKeepr community that can help you turn your backyard into an island of solitude.

Maybe fence building isn’t your thing, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up having a glorious fence of your very own. Just reach out to a pro that your Realtor has already given the thumbs up to and you’re ready for breezy evening entertaining or long games of fetch with Fido’s favorite ball.

June 2018 Newsletter

Happy Friday! We hope you are enjoying this unseasonably warm weather lately, just on the heels of unseasonably cold weather a few short weeks ago. For many of us parents, today is the last day of school. While our kids are excited for some much-deserved downtime, it puts a strain on us parents to find activities to keep our kids entertained. We hope you are prepared and ready for another fun summer. It is an absolute shame and frankly, beyond ridiculous that yet another school shooting took place this morning-this time in Noblesville-at the middle school. For most of us, Hamilton County, we thought was immune from these senseless acts of violence. Clearly, we are not. We hope and pray that the injured heal and that everyone affected by this act of violence recover mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our kids (and everyone for that matter) should NOT have to deal with this...EVER. While we don't have the solution, one needs to be found before more of our precious kids and their teachers are injured.

It is equally disturbing that this happened on the last day of school and on the eve of Memorial Day weekend. For all those brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice, we remember you, we thank you, and we are eternally grateful for the sacrifice you gave to all of us for our freedom. That is a debt we can never repay, but we remain grateful nonetheless. We hope that you will take some time out of this holiday weekend to remember those brave men and women and pray for those active service members to remain safe.

On a more upbeat note, what summer plans do you have? In just a few short weeks, we leave for Michigan to drop Ana off at Blue Lake Fine Arts camp for a final intensive week of practice prior to leaving for her 3-week international choral tour. She will be visiting France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. We are so excited for and proud of her! This will be an experience of a lifetime and we can't wait to hear all about her experiences. We will be going over there to see her perform in Belgium and then also visit Paris again. Tali will be coming with us and will enjoy time with just mom and dad, but make no bones about it, she will miss her big sister.

We are also super-proud of Ana for being just a handful of kids selected from her school to be trained by the Joseph Maley Foundation to produce and perform puppet shows at area schools talking about and celebrating the differences each child has, including physical, emotional, and social. This teaches acceptance and inclusion-something that could have been used today at Noblesville...

Ana and I are also taking our adult/child First Aid/CPR/AED class on Tuesday to become certified/re-certified (in my case). Ana is starting to babysit and along with her completion of her SafeSitter course, we wanted her to be as prepared as possible for most any situation that comes her way. If you need a good babysitter, Ana would be happy to help! :-)

The market continues to be white-hot and we have too little inventory available and that is affecting the housing market with fewer sales reported, as a result. While the inventory ticked up 0.1% from the prior month, it is down over 33% from this time last year. We need more people to put their houses on the market. If you have been thinking about it, NOW is the time. Give us a call-317-573-1880.

Finally, there are still a few more spots left for the Heritage Place Golf outing taking place at Broadmoor Country Club on June 28th. Let me know if you would like to attend and play on this beautiful, private course while supporting a very noble not-for-profit helping seniors.

Here are the April 2018 vs. April 2017 real estate stats, as reported by MIBOR:

New Listings-UP 3.6% to 4,348 units
Pending Sales-UP 15.9% to 3,920 units
Closed Sales-UP 3.0% to 3,212 units
Median Sales Price-UP 9.4% to $175,000
Average Sales Price-UP 9.6% to $213,715
Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale-UP 1.4% to 97%
Total Active Listings Available at Month End-DOWN 32% to 6,046 units
Months Supply of Inventory-DOWN 33.3% to 2.0 months

Enjoy the June newsletter and have a safe and restful holiday weekend!!!

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Your Friends in Real Estate,

Steve, Jack, Kylie, & Julia

P. S. Please don't keep us a secret...

How to keep cool this summer

Summer’s almost upon us. That means more ice cream, fewer snowball fights and, of course, the battle to keep your house cool as the heat bears down. As it turns out, you don’t have to build your own ice cave to keep cool until fall. There are plenty of easy changes you can put into action to get a lot more out of your air conditioning budget this year.

How Air Conditioners Work

To really get to the heart of the matter, it’s important that you understand how an air conditioner works. This way, you can strategically plan ways to help it work better, rather than doing things that are counter to its function.

Room air is cooled by an air conditioning unit (or heat pump) in three basic steps:

1. The fan located inside your indoor air handler or furnace kicks on, sucking room air in through your cold air returns. The air passes through your filter, so make sure it’s clean!
2. The warm room air then moves over a set of coils that contain a refrigerant, which cools the indoor air and causes it to release water. The water drops into a pan and is removed via the condensation line. At the same time, the liquid refrigerant inside the coils absorbs the heat, changing into a warm vapor, which is then pushed outside to the condenser coil in your outdoor unit, where it releases the heat from your home.
3. Since the fan is still running on your air handler, cold air comes out the vents and more warm air is sucked across the evaporator coil (also known as the a-coil because of the inverted v shape). Meanwhile, the fan in the outdoor unit is cooling the refrigerant down until it turns back into a liquid and moves back into your home toward the evaporator coil where this whole cycle started.

It’s the cycle of life for refrigerant. That sounds more epic than it is, but hey, air conditioning is pretty great when it’s hot enough to cook an egg in your hammock.

Help Your Air Conditioner Out

Though your A/C unit is absolutely doing the best it can, it could probably do a lot better if you’d lend it a hand. As a homeowner, this benefits you in two ways: first, your house is cheaper to cool and secondly, not pushing your condenser unit as hard as it possibly can go can help prolong its life. Some of the things that can make a big impact should really be performed by a pro, but there are lots of little ways you can contribute to the health and happiness of your entire household. Try these out:

Start with the outside unit. Your condenser unit should always be free of weeds and debris, no matter what time of year it is, but it’s doubly important in the summer. The more garbage that’s plugging up the fins on the coil, the less air movement — and more effort required — for cooling the refrigerant down.

You can also help your unit by giving it a bath at least once a month. Just take a regular garden hose with a trigger sprayer and go all the way around the unit, spraying between the fins, until the water runs clear. Lots of dirt and sand could be hiding up in there, reducing your unit’s efficiency. A fin comb can also help straighten bent fins.

While you’re at it, make sure that unit has plenty of shade. Plant a tree, erect a sunshade, build a little roof over it (but allow at least two feet all around and on top for adequate air flow). The heat from the sun is yet another enemy of the refrigerant in the coil. Keep it as cool as you can with what you have to work with.

Take advantage of those ceiling fans. As the days get warmer, make it a point to set your ceiling fans to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, pushing air down. You do double duty with this one. The proper rotation creates a chilling effect that allows the average homeowner to keep their thermostat as much as four degrees Fahrenheit higher than they would without the fans blowing. It also helps keep the cold air more evenly distributed, assuming you have ceiling fans in all or most of your rooms.

Cover the windows. Seriously. It doesn’t matter how good your windows are when the worst of the summer’s heat is beating down on them, there’s going to be a noticeable warming coming from that direction. This is when having heavy curtains, thick blinds or other heavy-duty window coverings comes in handy. During the part of the day when the sun hits your windows the hardest, cover them up to reduce heat radiating into your cool spaces. Another option for places where it stays hot a lot of the year is to add awnings over windows that are chronic sources of radiant heat.

Do hot stuff at night. Meaning your cooking, your drying, your extra hot baths — whatever produces heat that’s not really tied to any specific point in the day should be moved to the night shift. If you absolutely need to do these things during the day, keep the cooking limited to the small appliances, dry your laundry outside in the smouldering heat and maybe try a warmish shower. Remember, the more heat you add to the house, the more heat your air conditioner has to move out of your house. Don’t make it an unwinnable battle.

What About the Bigger Stuff?

There are other improvements to your home that can help keep the heat out — they should be performed by a professional installer. Most of this takes place in the attic or on the roof, including installing radiant barriers to reflect the sun’s heat, attic fans that can push the super hot air out and suck in relatively cooler outside air and verifying that you have adequate attic ventilation and insulation.

The how, when, what of planting a new tree...

Being a homeowner means more than just cleaning, decorating and maintaining your house. It’s also your responsibility to take care of whatever land is yours. For a lot of people, this means putting their own mark with landscaping like perennials, shrubs and trees. Unfortunately for those trees, many are planted in the wrong place and end up being cut down in their prime. It’s a great loss to the neighborhood and to your yard. Next time you plant a tree, you’ll need to be more careful about where you put it.

Tree Things to Know About Trees (Get It?)

Planting a tree is a commitment, don’t ever think otherwise. You’re placing a sapling that has the potential to spread to enormous heights, overshadowing your house, your neighbor’s cars, and maybe even getting tangled in power lines or uprooting sidewalks. This is why it’s vital that you choose the right tree and put it in the right place the first time. So let’s talk about trees!

If you choose a tree from a nursery or home improvement center, it’s a good bet that the tree will succeed in your climate. After all, they’re not going to stock trees that will die over the summer or winter (though certainly ask if you’re not entirely confident). There are other things to pay extremely close attention to, though, like:

Size. Trees get big, even the little ones. You can expect even the smallest ornamentals, known as understory trees, to grow to be 15 to 25 feet high when they’re fully mature. In the forest, these trees are found growing on the edge of groupings of taller trees. Those bigger trees can grow to be 80 to 100 feet tall and just as wide, depending on the tree’s natural shape. Ultimately, there’s a lot of difference between the space required for a dogwood than a white oak.

Water needs. Just because a tree can theoretically survive in your area doesn’t mean that it can do it alone. During establishment (the baby years), that tree will need a lot of regular waterings to keep it going, no matter the species. Obviously, you won’t need to water on days that it’s raining, but as it starts to warm up and during the heat of the summer definitely plan to be on watering duty. Keep the tag around because you’ll need to know how to care for the tree as it ages. If it needs more water than naturally occurs, you’ll want to set up a sprinkler, drip irrigation system or get fancy and redirect gray water to it to keep it alive.

Spacing. This is where the rubber meets the road. Or rather, where the tree roots get under the sidewalk and your foundation and start breaking stuff. It says right on the tag how far to place your tree from anything else. When there’s a range, like 10 to 15 feet, go as far away as you can. This is the hardest part of tree planting, honestly, because other elements in the yard have to be considered. It’s 10 feet from the house, but only seven from the mailbox and not quite 11 from the sidewalk (weird yard, I know). Best to choose your tree, then check spacing requirements and stand out in your yard with a tape measure to ensure that tree will work where you want to put it. It’ll look a little sparse the first year or two, but you’ll be glad you took the time when it’s bigger.

Tree Roots and You

Some of the most serious issues a house or cement pad can experience are caused by tree roots. Big, glorious trees are amazing to have in your yard, they provide shade and protection for wildlife, but it comes at a cost. This is why spacing matters.

Many trees will put out roots that are as far across as their canopies. A tree with a 25 foot wide canopy has the potential to send roots out 12 ½ feet from the trunk. A tree with a 60 foot canopy is often surrounded by a 30 foot root zone.

Besides considering the above ground elements, you need to know where your gas, water and sewer lines run. Deep rooted trees can get into sewer lines, causing the line to fail or wrap around utility lines, slowly shifting them out of place. But deep roots aren’t the only issue, shallow rooted trees create a nightmare when you’re mowing, since you have to somehow deal with them as you go along. Landscaping is a good option here, but also keep in mind that a good stiff breeze may cause that shallow rooted tree to uproot.

Choosing trees is tricky, but that’s why you ask a lot of questions before you leave with your new baby. The very best trees for your home are trees that are native to the area (so they can handle the climate without extra care), grow relatively quickly to let you can start reaping the benefits of a nice tree in your yard sooner and fit in the space properly, keeping all those roots away from anything they can break.

Tools Every Homeowner Should Own

Buying a house is a little like taking up a new hobby. There are lots of things you don’t know yet that you’ll learn as you go along, you’re also gonna need some specialized equipment to get very far. Whether you hope to become a top level home remodeler or simply want to put some new slats on your privacy fence, it takes the right tools to do the job.

The Right Tool for the Job

First, it’s important to note that you need the tool you need on any given job. Trying to improvise can result in connections that don’t connect quite fully, excessive and unnecessary damage to your home or damage to fasteners that will make them hard to back out later. Always use the right tool. If you don’t know which tool is the right tool, ask someone at the hardware or home improvement store — they’re usually pretty friendly and ready to help.

Without further ado, here are our picks for the top tools all homeowners need:

7. Stud finder. When you need to hang something heavy, you really should hang it on a stud. Although people with really good hearing can use the tap test on sheetrock, it’s always better to be certain that you’re hitting a stud, rather than tapping and hoping.

6. Hammers. Yes, it’s a broad category, but you really need one of each of these:

* 10 oz. hammer. This tiny hammer, otherwise known as the “tack hammer” is handy beyond imagination. Not only is it great for projects that require finesse (you can’t take a big whack at anything with this baby hammer), it’s also dainty enough to use to pull delicate trim work or tiles off the wall.
* Rubber mallet. It gets the award for best rubbery-headed hammer for its ability to pound things without leaving a dent. If you decide to put down certain kinds of laminate floors, for example, this guy is a must-have.
* Standard claw hammer. Everybody needs a standard hammer. They’re general purpose tools that can put nails in and take nails out. Claw hammers also double as pry bars in a lot of situations.

5. Pliers. Another combo group. It wouldn’t be fair to break the family up, after all. Plus, these pliers all do different jobs. Check them out:

* Locking pliers. These adjustable pliers also have a clamping feature, making them a multi-purpose wonder. You can clamp, you can hold, you can adjust! If you buy only one pair of pliers, choose a mid-sized pair of locking pliers. They’ll do everything regular pliers can do, plus some things groove joint pliers can.
* Groove joint pliers. This iconic plumbing tool is good for other stuff, too. The grooves allow you to expand the plier opening across a wider range of sizes than your locking pliers, but you have to hold them closed yourself. They are incredibly handy at 3 am when the plumbing’s sprung a leak.
* Needle nose pliers. In a totally different class, needle nose pliers are helpful when you’re trying to wire anything or fish out tiny things when you drop them in weird spaces. Primarily, though, wiring things in your home. Always turn the power off before wiring anything, even a new smart thermostat.

4. Utility knife. If you don’t have one of these, it’s high time you got one. Or six. Skip the disposables and go for the heavy metal options, you will not regret it. A good utility knife is perfect for cutting through boxes, carpet and vinyl flooring.

3. Level. Everybody’s seen those pictures on your wall, but they’re afraid to say anything about how badly leveled they are. Is it because you didn’t own a level when you hung them? The level on your phone is all fine and good for an estimate, but things like cases change how well they can work. An old fashioned level will never steer you wrong. Ideally, you’ll want a set, including one that’s about six inches long, another that’s two foot long and a third that’s four feet long if you intend to do any construction work in your home.

2. Tape measure. Look, I know you know exactly how long your shoe is and that you never vary in your strides, but for the sake of appearances, pick up a good tape measure. The wider models with 25 feet of tape are really flexible choices. Guess what? You can also use a tape to level if you didn’t pick up a level. Just choose either the ceiling or floor to level with, then measure from either point to the place where your shelf or picture is going to go. Make a mark, then go to the other side and repeat, making sure your tape isn’t slacking. Set as many points as you need between the two ends, being sure to mark at the same height each time.

1. Screwdrivers. You’re not going to get very far in your homeownership without interacting with a screw. That’s why you need screwdrivers. But instead of keeping track of a pile of screwdrivers, choose a really good model with magnetic bits. The longer the bit shaft, the better for the really tough jobs. You can also get kits that contain sockets, as well as hex and torx bits. This will be your favorite screwdriver — and your only screwdriver. Ratcheting screwdrivers can be more trouble than they’re worth, but well-made models do significantly cut down on wrist strain.

If you have a little extra cash rattling around, you should seriously consider a battery powered tool set that contains, at minimum, a drill and small circular saw. These two tools can get almost any job done, though you may have to buy different bits or blades. Eighteen volt models are much better at being tools than the lower voltage units, many are designed for professional work, they’re that tough.

Inexpensive Home Updates That Pop!

Owning a house is a never-ending adventure in investing your heart and soul into a wholly unique structure. Some homeowners have great big budgets for massive changes or enhancements to their home, others are working with a shoestring. If you’re in the second group, you can still put your mark on your house. There are plenty of ways to personalize it without spending a lot of money.

Even Simple Changes Create Huge Home Impacts

After the stress of moving is over and the dust has settled, you may start to ponder other ways to enhance your new home. When you moved in, it was pretty generic, with cream-colored walls, light brown carpet and an outside paint job that absolutely no one could find offensive. A lot of houses end up in this generic state when the owner is wanting a fast sale, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way!

Take a look at these small projects that can really make your home pop:

Replace the front door. According to Remodeling Magazine’s 2018 Cost Versus Value Report, replacing your front door is one of the most value-packed changes you can make to your home. A new door not only creates a new focal point, it allows you to really get personal. These days you can special order doors in nearly any size with exquisite touches like frosted or stained glass, as well as bigger units that have full size windows on either side.

Remodeling Magazine ranked front door replacement third in cost recuperation; the best value return on the list was also a door. Consider your garage door while you’re upgrading. Like front doors, garage doors are becoming increasingly detailed, with lots of options for personalization. Because they take up so much real estate on the front of your house, a new garage door can make your home look completely different.

Choose a paint scheme with more than two colors. That’s not to say that you should go wild and paint your house in every color of the rainbow, but by using at least three colors, you can draw attention to the neat little details instead of letting them get lost in a monotone trim color. For example, if your post-World War two era home has neat porch brackets and dentils, you might paint those features to match the front door so they pop out from the trim. Just don’t go crazy with color or the effect will be lost in the cacophony.

Add shutters and window boxes. On the right house, shutters or window boxes can pack a huge visual wallop. Choose shutters that are appropriate for the style of your home, even if you need to special order them. You can keep them seriously low-maintenance by selecting vinyl shutters in the color you’re after — just hang them and forget it. The same goes for window boxes. Low maintenance boxes with colorful flowers can help perk up plain windows.

Relight the night. Details matter and that includes your lighting. Get rid of those generic carriage lights and clunky motion detecting flood lights and install some impressive lighting on the outside of your home. There are lots of styles to choose between, many with motion detection built-in, and several sizes. Lighting that fits in the space appropriately, provides lots of light and matches your home’s outer theme is an important element in a total shoestring makeover.

Raise some flower beds. Growing plants on your lawn can become a messy proposition as the summer’s heat starts to bear down. Built-up beds are easier to maintain than patches in the grass and they lend a bit of formality to the space. Choose a location that makes sense, like along a walkway or up against the porch so visitors are greeted with your cheery plants.

It doesn’t take a huge budget to make changes to the outward appearance of your home. Planning colors and accessories strategically makes all the difference, especially when you’re on a limited budget.

Upgrading to GREEN

Sometimes, it ain’t easy bein’ green, but other times, like when you’re trying to outfit your house with money and energy saving components, it’s a piece of key lime pie. The demand for retrofitted green homes is only growing while the green home industry is busy developing new ways to save from every angle. Whether you live in Death Valley or Nome, Alaska, there’s something you can be doing to improve your home’s green appeal.

Start Your Green Home Upgrade Here

Before you can improve your home’s efficiency, you’re going to have to know where your home is under performing. Is the attic lacking insulation? Are the windows leaking? How many cracks and crevices need to be caulked or otherwise sealed?

It’s not easy to see these things with your naked eye, otherwise someone else would have already caught them long ago. Instead, an energy auditor will use specialized tools like infrared cameras to find the hidden energy loss you’re trying to correct. Often, you can have an energy audit completed by your utility company at low or no cost, but even if you need to find your own pro, it’s worth the minimal cost.

After all, how can you begin to know what green upgrades are appropriate for your home if you don’t know where the leaks are? The US Department of Energy made a short video that explains what an energy auditor does, it’ll help you know what to expect from your own audit.

Spending Green on Green Upgrades

With energy audit in hand, you get to decide what upgrades, if any, are in your budget today or tomorrow. Some upgrades you’ll be able to tackle on your own with no problem, others will require a home pro to do them right.

Common DIY green upgrades include:

Sealing air leaks. Grab a caulk gun, a can of spray foam and get to it. Your energy auditor identified the areas that are leaking, now you only need to seal them up. Caulk is good for small, consistent gaps no more than about ¼ inch wide, like areas where trim meets the wall. Spray foam is awesome for big holes where cables and wiring go into the living area. Caution: if you’ve never used spray foam before, practice a little bit ahead of time. It can be tricky to gauge just how much is appropriate because of the incredible way it expands.

Installing insulation. When your energy audit says you don’t have enough insulation, you need to get more. It’s really pretty simple. Batt insulation, the type that comes in a bag or on a roll, is the easiest for homeowners to DIY, especially in an attic. You just buy the roll, unroll the roll and secure it. All done! Mind the wires and recessed lighting.

Adding a smart thermostat. Your home is getting smarter, but your thermostat is still a C student. That’s ok, it’s not too late to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system with better climate management. Choose any of a wide range of smart thermostats from manufacturers like Honeywell, EcoBee and Nest, then follow the simple installation instructions. As these thermostats are taught your schedule, they can raise or lower the temp in your home to reduce energy usage when no one is home. They’re also handy for those chilly mornings when you don’t want to get out of bed because it’s cold. Just grab your smartphone and raise the temperature accordingly!

Repairing air ducts. This is a slightly more challenging procedure, depending on where your air ducts are located. If they’re in your crawlspace, the tight turnarounds and feats of acrobatics required to find each duct and check it could make it worthwhile to call a pro for help. Once you reach the duct, though, it’s all pretty straightforward. Check all the joints and connections along each run of duct, tightening screws, taping joints with duct tape (the silver kind, don’t go designer) and replacing any sections that are damaged as you go. Air that’s going into your crawlspace is just warming the outside. The process is the same in your basement or attic, there’s just less dirt and fewer obstacles.

Buying new appliances. There’s really no question that older appliances use a lot more energy and water than newer ones — especially when the older appliance is not an Energy Star rated unit. From refrigerators to washers and dryers, each and every appliance in your home contributes to your overall energy usage. In fact, you may be able to get rebates or credits from your utility company for upgrading particular appliances, since your contribution helps reduce the strain on already overtaxed power plants and sometimes limited water supplies.

Swapping out light bulbs. Changing out your lightbulbs is a small thing, but it’s also additive in nature. If one incandescent light bulb costs $4.80 per year to power, then swapping it for a much more expensive LED that costs $1.00 per year to operate seems like not much of a savings. But if you consider the 10 recessed bulbs in your kitchen alone, plus the five in your bedroom ceiling fan, four in the living room, two in the dining room and so forth, the savings can really add up. Also, keep in mind that LEDs are rated for a 25,000 hour lifetime, where old fashioned incandescents are only expected to live for about 1,000 hours.

Now for the Big Projects

All the small projects together will make a big dent in your energy costs and help your house save the planet one day at a time, but there are also big upgrades you can make that will take a significant bite out of your utility usage immediately. You’ll need a home pro to help with these, but you can find your perfect match in the HomeKeepr community.

Among the big energy savers, these are right at the top:

Upgrading Your HVAC System. According to the US Department of Energy, homeowners like you spend about $11 billion every year on air conditioning alone. That’s a lot of beans, especially when you consider that heating isn’t included in that figure. Upgrading your HVAC can cut your utility costs sharply, even if you go with one of the less expensive options with SEER ratings near the minimum required by law (that’s anywhere from 12 to 15 SEER depending on your location and configuration). If you can afford a higher SEER rating, go for it.

The better your Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, the better for the environment and the less energy you’ll use staying cool. If you have a heat pump or upgrade to one, you’ll save a bundle on heating, too! The minimum SEER rating for residential homes was 10 until 2006, any upgrade to air conditioners installed prior to the change will be dramatic.

Swapping Out Older Windows. Sure, they’re still transparent and let in light and air, but your windows could probably be doing more. Newer windows are loaded with treatments and special characteristics that allow you to control how much heat and cold transfers from outside. When choosing windows, these are the most important items to consider:

U-Factor. This is a measure of the rate of heat transfer of your window. It basically tells you how well the window will insulate overall. U-factors range from 0.25 to 1.25 btu/h*ft2. The lower value, the higher the ability of the window to insulate.

Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC). With sunlight comes heat, and with too much heat comes higher utility bills. You can choose windows that block a lot of sunlight to reduce air conditioning needs, or go the other way and choose one with a higher SHGC in order to take advantage of passive solar heat. The scale goes from 0 to 1, with typical values falling between 0.25 and 0.80. Mixing and matching SHGCs may be your best answer if you’re in an area that gets warm summers and cold winters.

Air Leakage (AL). You don’t want your windows to leak, but it’s inevitable that they will a bit. This tiny amount of leakage is the AL and you want to keep it as low as possible.

If you’re on a budget, you might consider replacing those windows that contribute the most heat gain or loss first. Make sure you ask your energy auditor which windows are the worst and having them indicate it on the report..

Chilling Your Roofing Out. Your roof contributes a huge amount of heat gain to your home, in both summer and winter. In the winter, you’re probably not too worried about it, but in the summer your roofing material can easily reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Your attic absorbs that heat, and ultimately, your air conditioner runs a lot harder than it should have to. Cool roofing absorbs less of the sun’s heat, keeping your attic and your home cooler. These roofs take many forms, with common types including metal roofing coated with white paint containing special reflective pigments and roofs with heat-absorbing layers sandwiched against the decking. Choosing a cool roof over a standard roof install raises the price minimally, it’s an easy decision if you already need a new roof.

Gardening Tips

Planning a garden out on a paper is one thing, but when it comes time to get your hands dirty, it might all go a bit sideways. Gardening is an exercise in improvisation, forcing you to work with soil that’s probably less than ideal to grow plants that may have very specific nutritional requirements. How do you know when your garden’s ready to grow plants?

Soil Testing 101

There are two ways to do a soil test, you can either buy a soil testing kit from a local home improvement store or you can connect with the local university extension office. A rapid test (the home test) can give you a lot of information to start with, but if it detects serious problems, you’ll need to resample and have the extension run it. The cost is typically minimal and the information they’ll provide can guide your amendment decisions.

It’s your call — doing a rapid test is a great way to get an idea about what’s up in the garden, but an extension test will give you deep level details. Their tests are designed for agriculture, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work for your future blueberry patch.

Either way you choose, you’ll have to take some samples. Using a proper soil core sampling probe (or you can wing it with a pointy hand trowel), dig into the soil about eight inches, then bring up your first sample. You only need a bit, but it’s a good idea to keep each sample roughly the same size. When you’re done, you should mix all the soil together to create a combined sample (several plugs from across the whole area you’re trying to plant).

If you’re using a home test, you’ll get the basic information you really need to start. Your home soil test kit should contain these four tests, minimum:

pH. Some plants like acidic soil, others like alkaline. Obviously, you can’t plant the two types in the same garden, since it’s impossible to create both conditions at once. Many gardeners choose plants based on the pH of the soil, rather than trying to alter the soil to fit their plants of choice. The first option is way easier in the long term.

Nitrogen (N). Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for most plants. It’s a major component of chlorophyll, the green substance that allows plants to make their own food. In general, more nitrogen is better than less, but there’s a limit on that. Too much of a good thing will cause your plants to grow rapidly, putting out a lot of leaves at the expense of flowers and fruit. Many overly-nitrogened plants will get “leggy,” that is to say that they’re taller, thinner and more frail than they should be.

There’s one exception to the “more is better” philosophy of nitrogen. If you’re planting legumes, either ornamental or edible, low nitrogen levels aren’t a problem. They have structures on their roots that harbor nitrogen-producing bacteria, so they’ve basically brought their own nitrogen to the party. If you turn annual or edible legumes back into the garden before they die naturally, you can also improve the nitrogen levels of the soil over time.

Phosphorus (P). Phosphorus helps plants mature, as well as being vital to flower and fruit production. Without sufficient phosphorus, your plants will be stunted, they may have a purple cast and they’re definitely going to be a serious let down. It’s difficult to get too much phosphorus in your soil, though. In fact, top dressing your plants with a little extra phosphorus can really get them going in the spring.

Potassium (K). Did you know that plants breathe? Well, they release oxygen regularly through openings on their leaves called stoma. If your plants don’t get enough potassium, they can’t open those stoma efficiently and their entire respiratory system starts to kind of fall apart. Potassium is used in many other metabolic and growth-related functions, as well. If you don’t have enough, your plants are doomed.

Amending the Garden

There are lots of different things that might be going wrong in your garden, which you’ll know all about because of your soil test results. Since the combinations are nearly endless, we’ll discuss amendment in a sort of general sense. Otherwise, you’ll be reading all night instead of taking care of your garden!

If you’re using a general purpose fertilizer to correct your N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium) issues, you’ll want to apply your fertilizer of choice to the bed you’re working long before planting. Typically, the bag will say how much to mix into the soil per square foot or per foot of growth if you’re fertilizing a tree or big shrub. All you need to do is scatter the granules across the soil and cover them with an inch or so of soil. Watering the whole thing will help prevent any sort of blow-away and allows the fertilizer to start moving deeper into the soil.

As for what to buy, if N, P and K are kind of the same on your soil test, go with a balanced fertilizer. A 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 will provide equal parts of each of the NPK components. If you have a lot of nitrogen, for example, and simply want to improve your potassium levels, then just buy a fertilizer that breaks down into potassium. It’s really that easy.

pH problems are harder. Much harder. You can get lots of different products to adjust that pH, some are organic, in that they’re made from plant materials, others are strictly chemical. The main advantage of the chemical treatment is that it can change the pH of the soil very quickly. Organic amendments, on the other hand, have to break down before they can start being effective. Those are really best applied in the fall so that they have all winter to turn into juicy plant nutrients. The fall is also a great time to apply compost to keep your soil light and airy.

No matter which products you choose, it’s important to give it a little time (at least a week) and sample again before making any other changes to the soil. Correcting soil problems is a slow process, but when you’ve mastered the garden, you’ll be able to plant exactly what you want there and find tremendous success.

Wood-eating pests

Unless you live in a cave, you’ve probably got some wooden bits on or around your house. In fact, the whole frame of your house is probably made of wood. It’s a great choice for framing, but it comes with one very specific weakness: bugs! Not just any bugs, but the kind that like to chew right on through studs and drill holes in eaves.

Make Bugs, Not War

The horrible truth is that these insects are pretty much everywhere, so you have to always be on alert for them to pop up and attempt to take over your home. There’s nothing quite as unbearable as an unwanted house guest who won’t stop eating your house, you know?

These are the most common wood-destroying insects you’ll find inside:

Powderpost beetles.

These tiny, grey-brown beetles can go almost unnoticed for generations (beetle generations). Because they’re no bigger than a pencil eraser, the holes they drill in your house are also quite small and easy to miss. They could be anywhere, and unlike a lot of insects, powderpost beetles don’t necessarily need higher humidity or moisture to thrive. These little monsters tunnel through wood surfaces aggressively, leaving behind series of holes that resemble a shotgun pattern.

Evicting them can be extremely difficult, since simply varnishing over the holes they’ve created doesn’t do much to the beetles inside their tunnels and a whole-house fumigation only kills live beetles, not the eggs that are waiting to spring to life. You definitely need a pro if powderpost beetles are suspected.

Carpenter ants.

The good news is that you probably don’t have carpenter ants right now. The bad news is that as your home ages and some part of your yard flattens just enough to allow water to puddle until it comes in contact with wooden parts, eventually rotting them out, they might find you. Carpenter ants don’t eat rotting wood, but they use the weakened areas as an entry point to hollow cavities like those between your interior and exterior walls, or even inside of hollow core doors. They won’t attack good wood, but if they’ve established a colony, their activities will cause the wood adjacent to them to begin to rot, so the problem spreads slowly across your home.

If you’re very patient, you can deal with a carpenter ant problem on your own. You’ll have to figure out where they’re living, first and foremost. Then you can begin leaving poison ant bait near the nest, making sure it’s always full, until the ants finally disappear. Using on-contact poison won’t help, since you’ll only kill the workers. The ant bait is carried back to the nest, where everyone inside enjoys a nice poisoned dinner every night until the whole bunch are gone. Repair the damaged wood as soon as the last ant gives up so that they have no incentive to return.

Carpenter bees.

They look like jumbo bumblebees and are just about as terrifying, but instead of pollinating and stinging, the most visible of the carpenter bees, the male, has no stinger and basically spends his entire life hovering outside the nest of a special lady. When she comes out, she’s a smaller black bee, but chances are good that you’ll only ever see the male. He’ll divebomb you every time you go outside your home and attempt to attack anything that gets near the nest.

The female is the real problem, though. She nests inside exposed wood on the outside of your home. One carpenter bee isn’t such a big deal, but one means that more will follow and eventually those tunnels risk compromising the integrity of your home.

If you don’t have carpenter bees now, go ahead and run outside to paint or otherwise coat all your exposed wood. We’ll wait. If you do have carpenter bees, dusting the holes with a general insecticide can stop your problem in its tracks, but you’ll still need to plug the holes with cork or another suitable material and paint and seal the surfaces so bees don’t return. An alternative would be to wrap affected eaves or other outdoor pieces with aluminum to stop bee drilling all together (you still have to kill the bees, though).

Termites.

Subterranean termites are the most common variety found in homes, causing 95 percent of all damage in North America. You’ll know you have termites if there are muddy tunnels stuck to walls or areas of wood that give with minimal pressure. There may also be a dust-like coating on wood that’s damaged. Another clear sign would be finding a pile of discarded wings in the springtime. This can indicate the termites have swarmed and are on their way to increasing their numbers. Termites will eat anything they can reach, they’re not an insect to mess about with.

Subterranean termites are encouraged by moisture, like what would be produced by a leaky pipe or plugged air conditioning condensation line. The limit of what you can do as a homeowner in most states is figure out where the termites are, then point to it for the termite exterminator. The chemicals involved are quite noxious, requiring a license to handle. Once the termites are gone, though, you can prevent reinfestation by eliminating contributing moisture and repairing any termite damage that has already occurred.

Tips for installing a new backsplash

You’ve been watching HGTV again and you’ve been inspired to do something about that dated backsplash in your kitchen. It’s not exactly a small job, but certainly one an adventurous first time homeowner can do with just a few tools. Installing a backsplash is a pretty straightforward process, with a few caveats. Just make sure you’re really ready before you put mastic to wall.

Choosing Backsplash Materials

Anything you can glue to the wall can be used as a backsplash. How effective it will be, on the other hand, is a point you really need to consider. Sure, that wine cork backsplash you saw on Pinterest is cool, but how well will you be able to clean it the first time you splatter spaghetti sauce on it? Remember that backsplashes are exposed to tough conditions, including:

* High heat.
* Steam.
* Water.
* Food splatter.

Even though you may love the idea of making your kitchen backsplash out of old newspapers, ask yourself how you’re going to address these issues. If, for example, you somehow transfer the images from a newspaper onto a piece of tempered glass, you might be on to something. On the other hand, just taping newspaper to the wall is going to result in a very short-lived mess.

What the backsplash is made of is almost the most important question there is to answer. Many homeowners choose tile because it’s easy to install, universal and, hey, it’s what’s in the bathroom so you know it’s great with moisture. Before you rush out the door to buy supplies, consider the pros and cons of the materials you’ve been imagining as you cook dinner every night.

Prepping the Space

Changing out the backsplash in the kitchen isn’t the hardest job out there, but it can be an incredibly gross one, especially if the old backsplash was tile. You’ll want to move all the appliances out of the way (don’t just dodge around them, people get hurt this way), don’t forget to take the range hood down for access behind it. At the store, you’ll want to pick up some heavy drop cloths, either thick plastic or the reusable canvas ones. Also nab a respirator for each person who will be helping. You really don’t want to breath in the dust you’re about to generate.

Turn the power to the kitchen off, and with a heavy metal putty knife or small claw hammer, lift the first tile off the wall. Just shimmy under it and give it a twist of the wrist. Also have a bucket or something nearby to toss the tile into. Repeat this until all the tiles are gone. You’ll also need to have a plan for leveling the wall afterward — it should look nearly new, in a perfect world.

Depending on what was used to attach the tiles, you may be able to just knock the ridges down with your putty knife and sand the rest out or you might be able to go over the top of old, existing mastic with new mastic and tiles. Ask your home improvement store for specific help on this because the combinations and solutions are nearly limitless.

If you’re dealing with a formica backsplash (the same material as many countertops and a common backsplash choice for homes built and remodeled in the 1970s and 80s), you’ll need a heat gun to melt the glue, but you can essentially just peel it off as the glue is heated. The same applies to any other glued-on materials, short of wallpaper. Don’t heat that with a heat gun unless you like kitchen fires.

Is it Prepped Yet?

You’ll know your kitchen wall is ready for action when there’s no sign of anything behind the new material, including bumps, discoloration and the like. For glass tiles, for example, this might mean you’ll need to go over the drywall with a thin coat of white mastic for consistency, false tin tiles might look better after you’ve completely stripped any evidence of old backsplashes down to the drywall.

If you neglect this very important step your backsplash will look awful. It might even fall off. So prep like crazy. If you spend half the time on your project doing prep work, you still might be better off prepping a little more. Ultimately, the quality of the project is primarily determined by the quality of your preparation.

Tips for Doing a Great Install

The worst feeling in the world is reaching the end of a project only to realize that it looks nothing like you had imagined. Pinterest (and pre-Pinterest) fails are common in home improvement projects, but you can avoid the worst of them with a little pre-planning. Consider these tips before you go back in with your new material.

Ensure your backsplash actually fits. Laugh all you want, but sometimes people are drawn to particular materials or tiles and can’t be swayed otherwise. Measure your space and then measure it again. Not all materials are easy to cut down, keep that in mind as you make the final decisions.

Consider grout color choices as a part of the process. If you’re going with tile, grout is not an afterthought. Grout colors can completely change the way a tile backsplash looks in the space. If you use black grout with a white subway tile, it’s going to pop like mad, but that might not work in a kitchen that’s otherwise pretty calm. The reverse is also a problem, a white grout with those white tiles is going to make a kitchen with a lot of energy feel sterile and lifeless.

Plan your cuts ahead of time. This applies to any material you can cut. When you’re making cuts, you’re changing the pattern just so much and sometimes that little bit matters a lot. For example, if you’re using a piece of heavy acrylic that has fish silk screened onto it, you don’t want to lob a head off or cut a fish in half. Consider where you’re going to place each piece of material, where it’ll be cut and how it’ll all fit together at the end and your backsplash will steal the show.

Number your pieces. Use an oil pencil (or a Sharpie works if you’re using tiles) and label each piece on the back, in order of application. It can get very confusing when you’re in the middle of an install, there are a lot of things to keep on the brain. Labeling everything and drawing out even a crude diagram to show yourself where they go will make your job so much easier.

Remember, it’s not a race. No matter what type of backsplash you’re installing, slow and steady is the way to go. Going too fast ultimately means sloppy work. You don’t have the experience of a pro, you can’t expect to have the speed. Just put one tile, panel, or chunk of glass in front of the other as you move across the kitchen.

Getting The Most Out of Solar

As spring begins to really set in across the country a lot of homeowners are finally getting out into the yard and garden, soaking up the sun’s rays. Something else is taking in the rays in a big way right now: your neighbor’s solar panels. Although they function all year, just to be clear, the longer days mean more electricity production and lower utility bills. If you’ve been glancing up at those panels with envy in your heart, maybe it’s time to get your own mini electricity plant.

Depending on where you live, getting started with green energy can be a simple process with a range of providers to choose between. You should still learn as much as you can before choosing a system.

Solar Panels and Green Energy 101: Start Here

Before you dive head-first into a solar system, we want to give you a bit of a primer so you know what you’re looking at when you see it. Pretty much everyone knows that solar panels somehow make sun into electricity, but that may be the end of their knowledge base.

What’s actually happening inside is that the sun’s rays are being captured by special solar cells and converted into DC electricity. Just how that all works and what you need to make it happen is more of a mystery. Luckily, you don’t have to be a scientist to choose a good system.

Solar Panel Materials

Not every solar system is the same, which is why they vary in price so much. See, solar cells can be made from one of two main materials: monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon (thin film options are also becoming more widely available, but the adoption rate is low due to high cost). The first one, monocrystalline silicon is a more expensive, but more effective, solution. You’re gonna get more juice out of this material per square foot. That matters a lot when you have limited space on your roof to place panels.

Polycrystalline silicon is meant for areas with more space to spread out, like solar farms (or even dairy farms). But, the larger surface area means more maintenance, more chances of failure and so forth. For your house, focus your efforts on monocrystalline silicon if you’re serious about green energy.

Configuring Your Panels

Although there’s a very clear answer for the materials that should be inside your solar panels, how to configure them from there is a bit more open. You should really think about what it is you want your solar array to do before committing to a setup. These are your primary options:

Photovoltaic Direct. Unless you’re only going to use it for a single application that you do during the day, configuring an array as photovoltaic direct doesn’t make much sense. Basically, this is the kind of solar power that’s on your calculator (remember those?). It’s on-demand and when there’s no light to use, there’s no juice.

Off-Grid. Mountain Men and vacationers alike can take advantage of off-grid photovoltaic systems. These are systems that aren’t hooked up to the grid (hence the name), but are sufficient to provide your entire power needs. Used in conjunction with a battery bank for those long, dark nights, an off-grid system can make sense for temporary setups (like your RV) or very remote ones (that cabin way up on the hillside).

Grid-Tied with Battery Backup. After coming back to civilization, you may want to consider a grid-tied photovoltaic system with a battery backup. This way, you kind of have your cake and eat it, too. You store your own power, but you can also pull from the grid if you don’t make enough. You’ll be able to use these systems in an outage, since you’ve stored some electricity. Once the batteries are used up, though, karaoke party time is over. That aside, metering techniques have changed enough that it may be more cost effective to chuck the battery bank.

Batteryless Grid-Tied. Most systems today will be batteryless grid-tied photovoltaic. Essentially, your solar energy goes into your house, whatever needs to be used in that moment is sucked up by your TV and your fridge and so forth, then it travels out of your house to the grid. Your electric meter keeps track of how much electricity is leaving your house, as well as how much is coming back in during the night when you’re not generating any of your own juice. The only real downside to these systems is that they cannot act as an electricity backup in case of a power outage.

Getting the Most Out of Solar

Not all areas of the country are a good fit for solar, no matter how much you may want them to be. In fact, not even every house in an area generally believed to be good for solar is good for solar, so it pays to do a little legwork here before getting too emotionally invested. And by little, go to Google’s Project Sunroof and type in your address. It’ll do the rest.

Of course, having a house that’s awesome for solar is just the first step. There are several things you should do before making the leap to get the most out of the sun, including:

Weatherproofing your house. All those tiny leaks and the lack of insulation in the attic can impact how much you really benefit from solar in a big way. Because your air conditioning or heat is going to be influenced by those points, it’s a good idea to start by weatherproofing your home, no matter the season. Do it tight, do it right.

Upgrading the windows. Normally, if windows are opening and closing safely, they’re basically good. But when you’re talking about squeezing every cent out of your pricey solar panels, a window (and other glass panels like patio doors) upgrade is a great idea. Look for a low U-factor, indicating a tightly constructed window. Solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) is another story. If you’re trying to use passive solar heat with your active solar panels, choose a high rating. If you’re trying to stay cool, or at least prevent outside heat from coming in unauthorized, go with a lower number. Your local window experts should be able to advise you on what’s best for your location.

Investing in Energy Star appliances. Energy Star appliances have long been the standard for efficiency. When you see an Energy Star tag, you know you’re looking at a washing machine, dryer, microwave, refrigerator or whatnot that’s among the most efficient in the market. If your new solar panels are trying to power your 50 year old refrigerator, you’re wasting an awful lot of power for nothing. Upgrade that fridge right away (they have some new ones with really cool features like on-door touchscreens and cameras that can show you what you forgot to get at the market)!!

Planting trees and bushes strategically. This is another one of those “depending on where you live” suggestions, unfortunately. In some areas, you simply can’t grow a tree tall enough to shade problematic parts of your home, for example, but maybe you can grow a taller bush to shade your air conditioner condenser from the heat of the summer so it works more efficiently. Grow all the things, but nothing too big too close to the house.

A Note on Solar Panel Financing

When you’re looking to pay for these fancypants solar panels of yours, there are plenty of options. There are a lot in most states, including rebates and grants, so seriously, go find a good loan.

May Steve & Jack's Home News

Happy Spring...finally!!! After what seemed like an eternity, it appears as if Old Man Winter has loosened his grip on us. We hope that you are ready for some spring weather as well, and if you are like us, you have a long list of projects to start tackling.

With the spring market here, real estate is white hot. This is the absolute craziest market I have ever seen in 20-years in the business. Houses are literally selling in hours with multiple offers all above list price. Some are even selling before they hit the market. In fact, that is the case with Jack and Mary Anne's house, which sold before we could even get it listed! They are excited about the new buyers who will love their home as they have and close on May 24th. As you might imagine, this is a very difficult move after living there since 1980! There are lots of memories (and junk) to process, but it will be a very good move for them as they don't need that much house or yard for which to care.

The biggest piece of advice I can give people who are thinking of downsizing or even selling the house and moving into an assisted living community is to 1) start early for de-cluttering, & 2) have your financial affairs in order ahead of time. We see all too often people leave these two items to family members after they are gone and the stress and pain it causes everyone. This is a very difficult subject to broach, to be sure, but one that is absolutely necessary. If you need a very good estate-planning attorney, and/or people who can help with de-cluttering/selling items, please call us. We have several excellent recommendations we can give you so you can be ahead of the game and have everything planned out, according to your wishes and not leave your family guessing.

Jack and Mary Anne are looking forward to celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary this summer!!! It is hard to believe it has been that long. Michelle and I are planning a nice celebration to mark this impressive milestone and look forward to reaching it ourselves one day.

Brigid is staying very busy with her work at Merck and, on top of that is remodeling both of our girls' bathrooms. We hope to have those finished by the end of the weekend. Not a fun job, but a rewarding one!! Tali just finished her final gymnastics' meet for the season and is practicing all summer to prepare for moving up a level next season. She so loves gymnastics and we love supporting her. Ana is preparing for her month-long trip to Europe with Blue Lake Fine Arts camp this summer. We are looking forward to seeing her perform in Belgium and then spending a few days in Paris. This will be a trip of a lifetime!

Brigid's brother Jim was just awarded Professor of The Year at Northeastern University out of over 1,600 professors as well as he just received his tenure. We are so proud of him for all of his hard work!! Amazing!!!

Below are some staggering stats for our housing market courtesy of MIBOR comparing March 2018 to March 2017. We have never seen inventory this low...ever. This is literally historic. If you are even remotely thinking of selling, please call us as proper planning is crucial to achieving your goals and ensuring a smooth transition.

New Listings-DOWN 8.8% to 3,932 units
Pending Sales-UP 30.5% to 4,285 units
Closed Sales-DOWN 7.5% to 2,966 units
Median Sales Price-UP 11.2% to $173,500
Average Sales Price-UP 10.6% to $209,313
Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale-UP 1.2% to 95.9%
Total Active Listings Available at Month End-DOWN 34.7% to 5,708 units
Months Supply of Inventory-DOWN 34.5% to 1.9 months

Thank you to all of our friends and clients for joining us a Matt The Miller's last Wednesday for our monthly Happy Hour! We had a great time, as always and hope you can join us next month on May 16th from 5-6:30PM at Matt The Miller's in Carmel. Food and drinks are on me!!

We hope you enjoy reading this month's newsletter. If you would like a paper copy, please let me know. We are sending a limited number out and would be happy to add you to the list, if you prefer that over electronic. Happy Spring!!!

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Your Friends in Real Estate,

Steve, Jack, Kylie, & Julia


P.S. Please don't keep us a secret!

Killer vines??

There’s nothing as stately as a red brick house covered in green vines. This iconic image has been portrayed on television, in movies and, sometimes, in actual neighborhoods. Little does the general public that are busy oohing and awing at these buildings actually know, they’re really watching a house being destroyed bit by bit.

Clinging vines are some of the worst things nature throws at your home on a regular basis, but a lot of homeowners have no idea because it’s death by a thousand cuts. Any one day isn’t probably hurting your house much, but as time passes, more and more hidden damage is taking place.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but if your house has vines running up it, it’s time to figure out what you’ve got growing and start getting aggressive about destroying damaging vine infestations.

Telling the Good Guys From the Bad

Not all vines are the Devil — it just so happens that most of the ones people like to train up their houses are. This may be because they hang on for everything they’re worth, so a strong wind or a violent storm won’t result in a massacre. Whatever the reason, it’s led to a lot of damage to homes for hundreds of years, even if the homeowner never knew it.

Identifying damaging vines isn’t difficult, even the beginner horticulturalist can spot the differences once they’ve been shown what to look for.

Elements of a Damaging Vine

Vines don’t set out to destroy your home, they’re merely doing what vines do: climb. It’s just that some of the climbing methods that vines use tend to be fairly destructive in a long term kind of way. Vines have several different methods they use to climb. Some will literally grow in a spiral form to wrap around a nearby support, others send out specially modified parts called tendrils that coil around whatever they can find.

Those two types of climbers are basically harmless, at least as far as your siding is concerned. The real killers are the vines that climb using an adhesive disk or adventitious roots. Both adhesive disks and adventitious roots are very difficult to dislodge once they’re established. You can imagine how this kind of tenacity could bust masonry, dislodge vinyl siding, pull down gutters and lift shingles from your roof.



Adhesive disk of P. quinquefolia

Vines with adhesive disks literally have shoots coming off the vine tipped with roundish pads that grip tight using an adhesive that the plant produces. A common troublesome vine that uses this technique is Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Virginia creeper is a beautiful disaster for houses pretty much everywhere. In the summer, it’s a deep green and as fall approaches, it turns to a burning red-orange. It can be hard to make a villain out of a vine like that.



Adventitious roots on brick home

Adventitious roots are a little less complicated, biologically speaking. These are just extra roots that the plant uses to grab hold of things by penetrating any available crack or nook that’s available. The plant doesn’t care if that happens to be a crack in a brick on your house or a nook in a tree somewhere. These structures look a bit like the air roots that orchids produce, or, for those of you who don’t cruise the floral department at your market, they can appear much like thick hairs and cause a centipede sort of effect on the leafless parts of the vine. English Ivy (Hedera helix) is a champ at producing these roots and also climbing up houses.

Know Thy Enemy

The vines that could be destroying your house already aren’t some kind of plague or an unlucky hand you’ve been dealt. In almost every case, they were planted purposefully. In fact, you can get them at your nearest greenhouse or home improvement store. Neat, huh? People go in looking for a vine to train up their house, then they leave with a bag full, not knowing what they’re about to do. A few examples of the worst vine offenders include:

Wisteria (Wisteria spp.). This glorious vine with hanging purple, white or pink flowers can make a dramatic statement when raised in the right spot. When it’s close to your house, however, the statement it makes is, “I’m about to destroy your siding and your roof.” There have been many cases of Wisteria getting out of control, climbing to the roof, invading the gutters and lifting shingles off of homes. It’s an amazing plant, but keep it far from your home.

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). The configuration of the five-part compound leaves of Virginia creeper has caused a lot of confusion for homeowners, with some believing it to actually be poison ivy. Virginia creeper is not a plant to worry about from a medical standpoint, but it does put out both adhesive pads and, as it grows, adventitious roots, making it one tough sucker to uncling from your house.

English Ivy (Hedera helix). If there was an Olympic category for climbing and also plants were allowed to compete, English ivy would probably lose to a human that can move faster than it can. But, for a plant, English ivy is quite fast and strong. It’s also enormous. A single English ivy vine can grow to 80 feet in length. That makes it more than capable of climbing to the roof, consuming your television antennae and anything else that it fancies.

Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris). Like English ivy, climbing hydrangea can be a tough number to contend with. The masses of white flowers are awesome, but the adventitious roots will invade any space they find to hold tight, allowing the plant to achieve its full potential: 80 feet of vine growth. Don’t kid yourself, this isn’t a plant to put near structures.

The Indirect Problem With Climbers on a Structure

Beyond being able to cause direct damage to your home anywhere and anywhere they can get a root in sideways, growing climbing plants on a house opens you up for all sorts of interesting problems. Remember that the environment under that mass of leaves is generally very humid, making a perfect place for mold, insects or rot to take hold.

There’s no question about it, growing a vine on a house is really a very bad idea. It was traditional at one point, but now we know better, so we should do better. Tackling an established vine is no picnic, but with patience, consistency and plenty of herbicide, you can wrestle the monster to its death. Removing all the attachments is a different story, though. Depending on your siding and the type of vine you’ve killed, you may just have to learn to live with root remains until they finally dry up and blow away.

How to get good curb appeal

First impressions are everything. That’s as true for job interviews as it is for making your house the best version of itself it can be. No matter how big or small your remodeling budget, your first plan of attack needs to aim at improving the curb appeal of your home. Aside from major system issues, this is the decision point where a future buyer is going to eventually come inside or drive on by. No matter how flashy your interior is, if your exterior doesn’t say “love me!” you’ve already lost the real estate game.

What, Exactly, Is Curb Appeal?

Not that long ago (in the early days of the Internet, even), it was a lot harder to get an idea of what a house looked like simply from a listing. Instead of an online database, many markets had giant bound books that looked a lot like a phone book. But instead of telephone numbers, there were listings upon listings of properties for sale. Realtors would send their clients to drive by these homes to see if they thought they’d like to have a proper viewing. These potential buyers would pull up to the curb to take a look, and thus, the concept of “curb appeal” was born.

You may not think that how your house looks from the street really matters. After all, you’re going to live there forever / you have years and years to tick that box / you think a sterile lawn and worn out shutters are fine. Whatever your reasoning, you’re looking at this all wrong. It’s not just that curb appeal is good for a sale (though it is), it’s also a powerful tool for maximizing the property’s appraisal value. If you need a home equity loan or to refinance down the road, you’ll wish you had bothered.

So, let’s bother today. We’ll take a walk around the yard and figure out how to turn your boring house into a dazzling wonder with the budget you have.

Tips and Tricks for Better Curb Appeal

First of all, you’ll want to get cozy with the neighbor directly across the street from you. You’ll be popping over pretty regularly to see how your house is looking to a passer-by. After all, how can you judge the effectiveness of your efforts without seeing it from the same angle they would? Curb appeal is a difficult concept, and often an overwhelming one, but that’s why we came up with these tips to get you started:

Clean up any debris. Hey, whether it’s your leaf collection or just a bunch of junk you’ve been meaning to get rid of, get rid of it. Think about your home the way some people think about mullets: “Business in the front, party in the back.” Or to put it another way, keep the front of your house clean enough to eat off of, do all your cluttery things in the back. Your neighbors will also thank you.

Trim the hedges. Overgrown shrubbery and beds that need to be weeded are worthless, trim those and clean them up so you can make use of them. If someone chose to plant a tree in a poorly chosen spot, you should be the one to correct that tragic error. You can always plant a smaller tree in a better spot to make up for the one you cut down.

Paint the front door and shutters. There’s something exceptionally special about a front door. It sets the whole tone for the rest of the house, so if the paint is worn out or just the wrong color, people will notice. Consult a color wheel for suggestions or spend a lot of time standing at a paint counter going through paint chips. This is a big deal, take your time. While you’re at it, buy some shutters or choose a paint color that will give your old ones new life.

Consider an all-over paint job that really makes features pop. Every house has some architectural features that make it special and place it within its own time. Unfortunately, too many people bury these features with the wrong paint pallet. Plan your home’s exterior colors to emphasize these good bits of awesome.

Replace the old, worn-out lighting. New lighting can make a huge difference to the way your home looks. Choose something that fills the space appropriately, but is also period appropriate. After all, you’re working on a theme here.

Add to the softscape. When you’ve got a yard that’s kind of meh, it’s important to pump it up a bit. Choose plants that will be easy to care for in your climate and that will come back year after year. These softscape elements can make your place far more interesting, plus perennials will multiply over time, giving a nice, full look to the garden.

Give the whole front yard white glove service. Whether that means rebuilding your cement driveway or adding a new mailbox, carefully go over the entire front of your property. Clean windows, take care of crumbling patios, make people eager to get out of the car to see what else you have in store.

Why you need a home inspection

You should never judge a book by its cover, or a house by what you can see during a showing. Not only are showings about seeing yourself in a space, rather than assessing a home’s structural stability and system functionality, they’re generally too brief to really get to the nitty gritty. No Realtor is going to wait around while you crawl through the attic.

Anyway, that’s what home inspectors are for.

What a Home Inspection Is and Isn’t

One of the biggest misconceptions about home inspections is that the report you get is a run down of a static structure that’s unchangeable. The truth is that a home — or even an empty lot — is a constantly changing ecosystem. In a house, there are lots of parts behind the scenes that are growing and shrinking, shifting and moving, albeit slowly.

A home inspection isn’t a projection of the future health of your house. It’s a right now look at the structure and all the moving parts. A home inspection is a snapshot and it can only reflect what the inspector sees during the time they’re at your future address.

This means that a year from your home inspection the furnace may go out, or the roof may succumb to high winds. Your house may change in ways no one can predict now. But, that doesn’t mean that a home inspection has no value.

Three Big Reasons to Have a Home Inspection

Home professionals know what they’re getting for the price of a home inspection, but many home buyers balk at the idea of spending even more money trying to buy a house. Granted, home inspections aren’t cheap, but they provide a lot of value for the money. There are plenty of reasons to hire a home inspector, but these three biggies are worth pondering if you’re unsure about pulling that trigger.

1. Home inspectors can sniff out problems you may have missed when viewing the home. No one wants to buy a money pit, but people do all the time because they’re either overestimating their abilities or they’ve failed to get a home inspection. When your home inspector goes through your home, they’ll not just walk around in the living room. They crawl through the crawl space, they get up into the attic, they really give it a good look. Home inspections take hours to complete, but when they’re done you’ll be given a report that provides you more information than you could ever imagine. The types of problems found will help you decide if you can really deal with the house in the longer term or if you can afford the house at all.

2. They’ll prepare you for upcoming repairs. Although your home inspection is a snapshot of your home at a particular moment in time, and not meant to predict the future, there are many parts of the ecosystem that predictably show signs of wear. When your home inspector sees that your shingles are starting to lose their asphalt coating, for example, they’re going to make a note of that in the report. If the furnace is beyond its useful life, even though it still works, you can brace yourself for replacing it. Knowing that there are problems in your future can give you more time to prepare for fixing them, even if that means changing loan types to a mortgage with a rehabilitation loan component, like an FHA 203(K).

3. Don’t forget, an inspection report is also a bargaining chip. Most real estate contracts allow you an inspection period, during which you can get your experts out and have them look around the property. You also have the right to ask for repairs based on what they find, provided these were not readily apparent issues. (If the carpet’s worn in the hallway, you can’t ask for that during the inspection period because you could see it. You should request those kinds of repairs with your initial offer.)

Those less visible defects are everything. Say, for example, that your home inspector found that the plumbing is leaking under the house. When that report comes in, you can request that the seller fix this issue, because it’s obviously a major problem you couldn’t have known about. If they refuse, you can come back and ask to lower the sales price (with most loan programs). Some lenders will require that something as important as the piping is in working order before closing, so make sure you and your Realtor know what your loan requires before breaking out the home inspection bargaining chip.

After closing, a lot of buyers lose or toss their home inspections. This is kind of a mistake. You can use that home inspection as a punch list of items to update, repair or replace, and check them off as you go. Later, when you go to sell that house, you can show your potential buyers that you literally fixed everything on the home inspection. That’s a confidence builder, for sure.

Strange weather conditions...and their problems to your house

Of all of the dramatic and awe-inspiring developments of the modern era, surely climate control is high up there among the most beautiful. It can be a muggy 95 degrees Fahrenheit outside and yet, with a well-maintained air conditioner, it’s amazingly 74 and dry inside. In the winter, you can walk into a cozy 68 degree house after shoveling your -4 degree sidewalk. There truly isn’t much better in the whole world.

That’s why when your climate control system isn’t working, it sort of creates a bit of a panic. After all, you wouldn’t want to actually have to deal with -4 or 95 degree weather. That’s definitely a bummer. Luckily, a lot of the most common reasons for your forced air unit’s failure to do its duty can be easily DIY-ed.

Wielding Power Over Sun and Rain

Hey, there’s nothing unimpressive about what your friendly neighborhood HVAC expert can do when it comes to turning a brutal building into a climate-controlled structure, but you, too, can take a little bit of credit for keeping the weather under wraps. Before you call in your HVAC expert, a bit of troubleshooting can save you money and your repairman time.

Many of the problems with HVAC systems can be corrected at the filter, the condensation line or the breaker box. Let’s take a look at each issue in a bit of depth.

HVAC Filters are Your Worst Frenemy

When your climate control system kicks on, it immediately starts sucking air into the cold air return, pulling it across the air handler, which is either set to heat or cool. After a quick pass, that air is pushed out through the ducts, to be collected again by the cold air return and put through the ringer again.

As your air filter picks up more dust, hair and other airborne particulate, it gets harder for the air handler to suck air into the system. Eventually, you’ll find yourself in a position where the filter is so dirty that there’s almost no air flow and, therefore, no climate control. Strangely enough, most homeowners aren’t ever told how often to change their filters — the three month estimate on a lot of filter packages is a ridiculous overestimation of how long that filter will last.

Instead, HVAC experts recommend you check your filters at least once a month and replace them any time they start to look dirty. The higher your filter’s MERV rating, the more frequently it’ll need to be changed. This doesn’t mean you should seek out a filter with a low MERV rating, though. Too low of a MERV rating will leave your HVAC system vulnerable to dirt and dust collection inside the system, rather than on the filter. For most homes, a MERV of 7 or higher will filter out the stuff you really don’t want in the air, like mold spores, pollen and dust and protect your system.

If it’s been a while since you changed the filter and the system’s still kicking on, just blowing the wrong temperature, start at the filter. Change it, even if it’s only discolored. This can indicate that the tiny passages in the paper are clogged.

Awkward Conversations About Condensation

Plenty of people who are fairly hands-off when it comes to home maintenance don’t realize that their systems have something called a condensation line. This is essentially a tube that moves water from the air handler to a drain or outdoors, depending on the way your system is configured. Sometimes, your system will do something weird like kick on and off again rapidly or simply not cool properly as the only sign that your condensation line needs help.

In a modern HVAC system, the air from your cold air return is pulled across a special tent-shaped coil system that gets really cold when the gases inside are compressed. As that warm air passes and is cooled, it drops much of the liquid it was holding and that water collects in a pan below the coil. From there, the water goes into a dedicated line or vinyl tube, the condensation line, and out of the house.

When the condensation line is blocked, this process is disrupted. Some air handlers are designed to essentially stop working until the standing water is removed from the pan, others will simply spill everything into the floor, which is not a good time. This is why it’s usually recommended that you flush that condensation line every time you change your HVAC filter.

If you suspect a clogged condensation line, flushing it with straight vinegar or a diluted vinegar/ hot water mix can get the water out of the catch pan and restart the air conditioning party.

Have You Tried Turning it Off and Turning it Back On Again?

Hey, if it works for computers, televisions and all manner of electronics, turning it on and turning it off again should work on your air conditioner, should it? The truth is that your HVAC system is not your granddad’s system. There are plenty of computerized parts that are necessary for it to do its job property. When you’ve tried replacing the filter and you’ve cleaned the condensation line until it’s allowing water to flow free and neither of those things worked, it doesn’t hurt anything to reboot the system.

Most HVAC systems have at least two breakers in different parts of the house. Your air conditioner, for example, should have a double-wide breaker inside your main breaker box, as well as a breaker on the outside of the house. This outside breaker is housed in a little box of its own, hanging on the house very close to the outdoor unit.

Both of these need to be reset, since the problem could be anything from a computer that’s simply confused or a partially tripped breaker that was the result of a particularly windy night. Start by flipping the breaker inside your house to the “off” position, then go to the outside breaker box. Depending on the type of electricity interruption technology inside, you may just need to flip a switch, or it may require that you pull the fuse out and put it back in. Once you’ve done that, you can go back inside and turn the power in the main breaker box back to “on.”