New-Home-Jitters

Home Improvement

Just Bought A New Home? Do Not Forget To Buy These Tools

When you buy a new home, especially one that has no additional equipment like screwdrivers and drills, you must know that you should also buy the equipment that you could eventually need. Whether you are working on applications for Spiral Wound Gasket or a round table, you should be equipped with the right tools. Although we had talked in some previous posts about the tools you must have for the home improvement projects, in this article we will list the tools that you must have when you buy a new home.

A battery-powered drill

Yes, this is one of the first tools you should buy as you never know when you could need some drilling for hanging a painting, a shelf or connecting the two elements on your walls. For the convenience, as well as the price, a battery-powered drill will be enough for smaller projects and needs.

Drill
A battery-powered drill

We recommend you to buy Phillips drill, along with slotted and squared drills to make sure you can perform different types of drilling. Always buy a new drill and new sets, as the price is not so different used and a new one.

An adjustable wrench

If you are not a big fan of home improvement, you will probably never need a whole set of wrenches. Instead of buying the whole set, you can buy one high-quality adjustable wrench and cover all the sizes of bolts and nails.

An adjustable wrench tool
An adjustable wrench

The high-quality ones have a self-ratcheting screw so they can adjust to the bolts easily, without any effort of adjusting them. This wrench will be just enough for all your projects and everything you could eventually need to hold, tighten and screw.

Hammers

When gearing up your set of tools, the inevitable part of this set is a hammer. There are many different types and sizes of hammers, but you would need more a pin hammer, which is lightweight and it is primarily designed for the in-house projects.

top-best-hammer
Hammers

However, it is not a bad idea to have a big and heavy claw hammer, in case you need to work with bigger nails. The claw hammer is usually used in some projects outside of the house, but it does not cost a lot.

The extension cord

This one is often omitted when selecting the gear for your toolbox. The extension cord come in handy when you need the additional sockets for your tools (hammer drills, electric saw or any other electrical tool) to avoid using the one socket for different tools.

Instead, plug all the tools in and use them all at the same time. Make sure you buy a high-quality cord to avoid possible fire and short-circuiting.

Step stool/ladders

This is beneficial part of your home toolbox set as it can provide the additional weight if you need it to work on higher levels. How many times you had a situation to change a lightbulb but you cannot reach it from your sofa or a chair? Buy an aluminum one as these are lightweight and provide a high level of stability and height support.

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Home Cleaning/ Services

How to hire a home cleaning service for the first time?

Finding someone to clean your home is a complicated and challenging task. First of all, you’ll need to find a reliable and trustworthy person or company with whom you will be comfortable enough and then test their professional skills.

If your budget can handle this change, then it would be nice to have someone address your mess, and give you some extra time for your personal needs. In the past, home cleaning service was reserved for wealthy and rich people, but the times have changed and now even average people can hire a cleaning company. That’s why commercial cleaners in Leeds assembled the list of things you should follow when hiring a cleaning service for the first time.

Online ad – 1 or 2 hours cleaning service

For a professional to clean one bedroom, it will take approximately 2.5 hours. Also, there is a time where even a small bedroom requires more time than expected. The majority of cleaning jobs are charged by the hour. However, some of them are not.

So, before you hire some cleaning service, make sure to know how they charge, and how your cleaning time will be spent. In addition, check out online reviews and find more information about your cleaning professional.

cleaning service

Do you need to perform cleaning before the cleaning?

If a cleaning professional enters a home that is a complete disaster, them more likely he won’t have time to focus on more pressing matters, such as deep cleaning on the areas you hate. In this case, you should consider picking up your socks and laundry and putting it to the right place, so that cleaning service can focus dirt behind your toilet.

Based on numerous studies, a lot of people do the necessary cleaning before the cleaning service arrives. So, you won’t be alone in this process.

Should you stay in your home?

Well, this is all up to you. Some homeowners like to be on board, so they can walk the housekeeper around the house, while others will leave this thing to professionals. If you aren’t sure what to do, then discuss this matter with a cleaning company.

A lot of people have a hard time trusting strangers with their home and personal belongings. But, any awkwardness should disappear after the initial meeting.

house-cleaning

Off – limits things to clean

There are a lot of things in this industry that is considered biohazards, such as blood, urine, pet mess. That’s why many cleaning companies avoid black mold. It is toxic, and it needs additional and professional assistance.

Also, some companies won’t move heavy furniture or do blinds or outdoor work. If you are dealing with pests, then don’t expect cleaning service to come to your home. Many cleaners are trained not to touch jewelry, TV and computer screens. So, before you hire a cleaning service, make sure to check their not-to-do list. This will save you some time and avoid unnecessary confrontation.

An-Ugly-Basement-Into-A-Functional-Room-111

Home Improvement

How To Turn An Ugly Basement Into A Functional Room In A House

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Turning a very ugly basement into a functional room in a house is easier than you might imagine. It can take up your time and resources, that is for sure, but when you think that you will be getting another room, it will all be worth your while. In addition to all that, you will be raising not just the functionality of your home but also its value. It is definitely a project worth considering, whether you have the experience necessary in DIY projects or not.

How To Create An Amazing Basement

In case you have a not-so-amazing basement, you might have found yourself a bit jealous of all the people with amazing basements. This is completely normal as it will give you the touch of jealousy and envy you need to be able to work towards creating an amazing basement for yourself. Do not think of it in a negative sense, rather think of it as of your inspiration to make your home better and more functional. Creating an amazing basement is easy when you invest time and effort into changing it for the better. You can also visit this website to find out more about how you can achieve just that: www.remodelgurus.com.

Step One – Clear Out The Basement

The first step would be to clear out all the crap that is sitting in your basement with no real purpose. You can have a garage sale that will make sure that you even get a couple of buck of all the things you no longer need. It can help you fund the investment in your basement, so this will be the first step that you can make in the right direction. The basement that you use just for storage is not a functional room in your home, so starting with this step is the basis of all the rest.

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Funding Changes To Your Basement

If you still need more money to fund the changes to your basement, make sure that you set aside some finances so you can go through with the projects. In case you exceed your budget, you will need to stop with the project, so make sure that you have a separate fund in case your budget dries out. Turning a basement into a room might take up more of your resources than you think, so being prepared is a plus.

Prepare-for-Home-Renovation

Home Improvement/ Tips

How to Prepare for Home Renovation

Doing a complete home renovation is a huge project that you shouldn’t take on by yourself if you don’t have any experience. however, if you do have or you are feeling brave, you can try it, but there is a risk that you might fail at some point or the results won’t be as good as planned. Speaking of having results as planned, the key thing with every project especially big ones like a renovation is to have a plan. Once you have a plan and you know what to do, you can simply follow the plan and not steer off the course. This article will hopefully teach you how to prepare for your home renovation and what steps you should take beforehand.

If you follow the advice that we will give you, then you shouldn’t have a lot of issues finishing your project no matter what it is. Keep in mind that a home renovation requires a certain level of skill and if you don’t have experience, you might find it complicated, but we will do our best to help you out.

Determining Your Budget

Number one step that should be involved in the planning process is to estimate how much the project will cost and see if you are in fact able to afford it. We have seen a lot of people make the mistake of starting a big project such as home renovation and never finishing it because of financial issues. Even if you find out that the project will cost more than you can afford at the time, you can make some changes and cut out some parts of the renovation projects and simply do it later on. This way you won’t have to deal with unfinished work because you didn’t have enough money to buy materials.

Eliminating rookie mistakes like this will help you with your project and even speed up the entire process because you won’t have to think about money while working. If you want quality results that you are proud of, you have to start thinking like a professional.

Preparing the Equipment

Getting ready for such big project is like doing half of the work. You might not believe us now, but if you skip these essential steps for preparation, then you will regret it quite fast. We are here just to help you with some friendly advice, it is on you to decide whether you will listen to us or no. If you don’t prepare the equipment that you will use for the project, then you will have to do it while doing the project which will prolong the process.

If your equipment is ready and you know how to operate with your tools, then you can start the project and you will feel confident. Trust us on this, it will be a huge benefit if you prepare your equipment on time. The tools and materials that you are going to use need to be all ready before you start, this way this won’t stand in your way of success.

 

Estimating-Property-Value

Home Improvement/ Tips

Tips for Estimating Property Value

When estimating the value of your property, there are some tricks that can help you get better results and, in this article, we are going to share some of those tricks with you. Therefore, if you are interested in learning those trick, better stay here and take in all the information. First of all, let’s start by explaining why you need to estimate your property. Well, the first most obvious reason is when you are looking to sell the property, you should know how much it is worth, so you know how much to ask for it. You cannot just put a random price on your home without doing a professional estimate, this way you will either sell your home for much less or you will never sell it because you put a too high price. Here are some tips that will help you get a better value after professional estimating.

Fix Big and Obvious Issues

When selling your home, the key is to get a quite high price estimate and one of the ways you can do it is by fixing mistakes and damages on the home. Of course, the overall price will depend on the location and the neighborhood also, but you cannot do anything about those things. However, what you can do is fix the obvious damages that are not going to cost you a lot of money. The reason why this is important is that damages can lower the price of your home quite a lot. You might pay $500 for a fix, but that damage could lower the price of the home by few thousands. So, you have to be smart when selling your home and invest in repairs that will benefit you in the future.

Coverups

In some cases, you don’t even need to repair a damage on your home, if you are creative enough, you can find a more affordable way to hide a flaw by covering up a damaged area. When the professionals come to estimate the home, there is a chance they won’t notice the coverup job and you can get away with it easily, but it is still risky.

 

Affordable-Home-Improvement-Ideas

Home Improvement/ Tips

Affordable Home Improvement Ideas

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Home improvement projects don’t always have to be expensive and take months to finish. Of course, there are some huge projects that in some cases need to be done but we are here to talk about some smaller projects that people can do by themselves. Hiring professionals is always a good choice because you are eliminating the chance of having a failed project, but you are spending more money. If you want to learn some easy projects that you can do alone without professional help, then you are in the right place. We want to share with people some simple ideas that can change your home and improve it significantly.

The key to every project is to have a result that will stand out and make a difference. If you are doing a project that won’t change anything, then what is the point of doing it. In case you don’t have ideas for new projects, don’t worry we got you covered with a short list of things that you should do around your home.

Planting New Grass

If you are not satisfied with the look of your backyard or even the front of your home, the easy way to fix it is to simply dig up your old grass and replace it with fresh seeds. Of course, if you already have nice grass, this isn’t a project that you should be doing. However, if you have old grass that needs some patching up, the smartest thing to do is simply planting new grass. There isn’t anything more beautiful, than seeing a home that has fresh cut grass that shines in green color. This is a project that you can do for yourself, it might take some time depending on the size of the property. The good thing about this project is that you don’t have to hurry with it, you can take your time and do it when you have some free time.

For the new grass seeds that you plant it will take some time to grow and give you nice results, but in a month, you can have a beautiful lawn. It should take around a week to have some results, but its safe to say a month is a good estimate when you should expect to see the wanted results. Grass seeds are not that expensive and because you can do it yourself, you can save a lot of money.

Pressure Washing

This is a very effective and inexpensive way to turn your home into a beautiful place. The entire concept behind pressure washing is to use these powerful machines to wash your walls, decks, and driveway. These machines are so powerful, they can remove dirt that has been on your walls for few years.

 

Planning-a-Project-Beforehand

Home Improvement/ Tips

Importance of Planning a Project Beforehand

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If you ever took on a home improvement project by yourself, then you definitely know the struggles, especially if for the first time because then you are just learning from mistakes. It is quite normal to make mistakes, that’s why your first projects should always be quick ones that don’t require a lot of skill. Once you get used to using all the tools, you can move up to some more serious projects. However, one of the key things that you should learn from your first project is that having a plan before starting is very important. Some people need a little time to realize this and they fail over and over. We don’t want you to be one of those people, that’s why we decided to create this article where we talk about the importance of planning out a project beforehand.

Even if you never planned out anything, you don’t have to be scared because it is a very simple and easy process. In this article, we will be covering some of the reasons why this is so important to have before starting a project. Next time you have a project coming up, just take our advice and make a plan, it will make your life much easier and save you a lot of time.

Helps you Avoid Mistakes

The first reason why we think this is so crucial is that it allows you to take a look at the project from a different angle which will give you the chance to avoid some very obvious mistakes. This is how professionals are doing it and the reason why is because they don’t want to look stupid making some obvious mistakes. That’s right even professionals are making mistakes, but they are planning out every step before they do it to make sure it will work. So, if you want to make a professional looking job, make sure that you plan our first all the steps that you are going to make.  Even with the simplest projects, you cannot go wrong if you plan.

Saves you Precious Time

Some people will refuse to plan out their projects just because they think it is actually costing them additional time. However, they are quite wrong because planning out a project will actually save you quite some time and you will finish the project much faster. Of course, you will spend some time planning, but later on during the project itself, you can just take a look at your plan to make sure everything is going the right way. Also, when planning, we mentioned you will avoid mistakes that otherwise you would make. Well, all those mistakes are using your precious time and, in some cases, these mistakes can take more time to be fixed than the whole project. By simply avoiding those mistakes, you are saving enormous amounts of time. For professionals, saving time is key because they want to do a quality job, but do it fast so they can move onto the next project.

 

Home-Improvement-Tools

Home Improvement/ Tools

Most Essential Home Improvement Tools

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Whenever people without experience start a home improvement project without professional help the results are almost never good and that leads to a lot of money and time wasted. The biggest mistake that rookies often do is use the wrong tools, in some cases, people even do projects without the help of tools which is absurd. Of course, if you have some experience with home improvement or you are just a type of person who has a lot of tools at their home, then this article might not be right for you. However, even in those cases, you can read it in order to see if you have all the essential tools that are most commonly used. Here is a short list of the tools that are a must-have for every project.

Tape Measure

The number one spot on this list of essential tools must go to tape measure because there are just too many people who forget how important it is to use it. Even if you are just doing a painting project that requires no cutting of materials, you still need a tape to measure out approximately how much paint you will need. If you ask any professional what the most useful tool in their toolbox is, they will all agree that the tape measure is on top. It is a tool that just allows you to do very precise projects, even if you don’t need precision, it is always a benefit to having one. It can save you a lot of time and in most cases, it saves you a lot of material.

Screwdrivers

Fixing something on the wall or just assembling some parts together is not possible without the proper screwdrivers. This is one of the most common tools that every household should have because you never know when you might need to use it. Most of the home improvement projects that are done inside your home will require screwdrivers, therefore make sure to buy a kit that has different sizes and types.

A Drill

Having a drill will most definitely speed up most of your projects because it is just a very fast and easy way to drill holes into things that you need. When buying a new drill, the key is to get one that is powerful enough to drill through the material that you are using. This can be an expensive tool, but it is worth investing in, especially when you are doing all kinds of projects. Also, when buying you should get yourself a large set of drill bits because you never know how big or small of a hole you need to drill.

Utility Knife

Cutting boxes and materials with a regular knife can be a pain and you will realize that as soon as you try it out. Using a dull kitchen knife is not the way professionals are doing it, if you want to make a quality job, then you need quality tools and a utility knife is one of those tools. These knives are specially made to be durable and sharp.

 

Professional-Home-Improvement-Tips

Home Improvement/ Tips

Professional Home Improvement Tips

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Take on Quick and Inexpensive Projects

The first tip that every professional will tell you is to don’t take on big projects that you cannot finish by yourself. The reason why this tip is so important is that there are a lot of people who make the same mistake of starting a huge project and never finishing it. If you don’t have any home improvement experience, then you cannot start working on big projects as simple as that. You need to stay in your lane and climb up slowly as your skills progress and improve. In the beginning, you first need to know the tools that you are using, if you don’t know how to operate with tools, then don’t even bother starting.

Make sure that you are starting a project that will take no longer than a day. If you cannot finish it in one day, then you need to find a different idea and leave that one for later or simply hire professionals. Also, a huge tip is to avoid expensive projects because there is a chance that you will screw up something and all you did was waste money on nothing. Sometimes, taking the easier and more affordable route is a far better option than aiming for something that you cannot finish.

Do Your Research

Before starting any project by yourself or with a help of some friends, the key to success is to be prepared and know what you need to do. There is a high chance that not one of you will have experience and because of that, you need to do your research. If you just start a random project without looking up what you need to do or how to do it, then you are just waiting for failure. You must have some guidelines that you can follow otherwise nothing positive can come out from that.

It is actually really simple to do your research, all you have to do is take an hour out of the project and spend it on online research. For sure, you will find some helpful articles about the project that you are doing.

Have the Right Tools

You cannot start a home improvement project if you don’t have the right tools for the job as simple as that. Most likely you have tried doing some repairs without the proper tools and you know how difficult it is to achieve something that way. Even if you haven’t had any previous experience, now you know, there is no need for you to try it out now. Tools are specially designed for a certain job and that’s why you have such a variety of available tools. Depending on the project that you have, you need to use different tools that will help you finish the project.

If you refuse to get the proper tools, then you won’t be able to finish the project, and even if you somehow manage to finish it, the results won’t be any good. You cannot compare a quality job that was done with tools to a poor rookie job that was done without those tools.

 

Home Cleaning/ Home Improvement

4 appliances you need to get rid of this 2017

Most shoppers usually dislike purchasing new appliances to supplant their old ones. They don’t see it that helpful or sufficiently enough, and it is expensive to buy new ones considering appliances are costly.

They would rather spend their cash on say, new garments, new autos, or a delightful treat. They assume that their money would be preferred devoted to extravagances rather over purchasing appliances which, truth be told, they as of now have and is working fine and dandy.

Be that as it may, did you realise that you are losing cash when you stay with your old appliances as opposed to purchasing new ones?

With the fast progress of innovation, appliances have been significantly enhanced and advanced over a brief timeframe. Most appliances increased monstrous jumps as far as usefulness, comfort, and above all, in vitality proficiency.

Old appliances are costing you a great deal more cash in your vitality bills since they devour bunches of energy to work and their usefulness is wasteful. Take for instance an old vacuum more cleanly. Did you see that old vacuum cleaner discharge tidier than they suck? Also their tremendous utilisation of power.

When wanting to broaden your home or changing over your space, experts (like Clapham Loft Specialists) will in all likelihood counsel you to buy new appliances since they can spare you some trade out energy bills.

It is best to consider disposing of your old appliances and begin putting resources into new ones. Presently, I know fresh out of the plastic new appliances cost a lot of cash, so don’t continue supplanting them at the same time. Be that as it may, here are a few appliances you can begin with:

Washing Machines

Clothes washers have likewise observed its share of developments. More seasoned models have a kind of top-load highlight. Water rounds out the clothes washer from base to best. In any case, more up to date models have an alternate technique. More modern clothes washers utilise the front load garments washer in this way making it around 39% more energy efficient than its antecedents. It additionally spares you a considerable measure in your water bills since it just uses half as much water than the more seasoned models.

Refrigerator

Since the year 2000, coolers have always been patched up and overhauled regarding effectiveness. Standard iceboxes today have an incredible 45% – 60% expansion in energy productivity contrasted with the more traditional models. Doing some upkeep on your old refrigerator is an exercise in futility and cash as it will at last still be energy wasteful.

Water heater

Water warmers contribute around 20% of your entire home’s energy utilisation. In any case, now, more current models are discharged and will just take up around 14% of your energy use.

Air conditioners

Aeration and cooling systems are known to eat up much power amid the summers. An aeration and cooling system are given a numerical incentive for its energy effectiveness proportion (EER). Essentially, the higher the number, the better. Advanced ventilation systems have an EER of roughly 9 to 10 while more seasoned models have just a most extreme EER of 7. This is an enormous distinction in energy utilisation and can enormously influence your month to month energy bills.

I propose you honestly consider supplanting your old appliances. You will surely see an exceptionally huge drop in your month to month energy utilisation when you utilise fresher appliances.

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