Dale Adams asked:


As you plot and plan your retirement, there may be some things you are forgetting. Is your home maintenance free?

 

There are many things a person can do to their house to make it maintenance free.  Many seniors don’t think about this option and some attempt to do their own maintenance and instead end up in the Hospital Emergency Room.

 

The first thing you can do is prominently post a sign by your front door stating, “No Canvassers, Swindlers or Salespersons welcome.” That sign lets people know real quick what you think about them and just how welcome they are.

 

I was a contractor for many years. I was also an author and knowledgeable about the aging baby boomers and their need to have a maintenance free home in their great grey years. So I designed several ways a home owner could almost make their home completely maintenance free.

 

A rusted out leaking chimney cap can cause severe water damage in an unattended home. Depending on your environment they need replaced every 10-20 years. You can use a rust remover to preserve them or you can buy a stainless steel or aluminum chimney cap and not have to worry about it again.

 

Annual gutter cleaning can be avoided with durable gutter guards. Plastic or rust proof are preferable. Replace average down spouts with larger ones for a worry free gutter system. Having a drain tile system in place is also very convenient and removes possible water damage problems to the foundation of your home.

 

One area of a house that is always prone to rotting and water damage is the soffit and fascia. You can either use vinyl or durable hardy board siding to cover the wood to eliminate this problem.  Having this siding on the whole exterior of your house is also advisable for a maintenance free lifestyle.

 

Removing or replacing a wood fence with a vinyl fence can be costly, but it will never need a repair or to be replaced either. To eliminate weed eating around a perimeter fence, dig a 6 inch trench under the whole length of the fence and pour concrete into it.

 

Docks or decks can be made with plastic wood planks to last forever.

 

Metal roofs are maintenance free as well as energy efficient.

 

Sealing cracks in concrete with an elastic polymer crack sealant will add many years of life to a concrete driveway.

 

Replacing house numerals, mailboxes, and any exterior metal fixtures with plastic ones will eliminate future problems during your lazy retirement.

 

You can add many years of extra life to you’re A/C unit as well as slashing your electric bill by putting radiant barrier in your attic. It is the best and most cost efficient way to cut your electric bill, as well as doing your part to save our environment.

 

If you insist on keeping your wood exterior you can make a very strong and durable paint that is also energy efficient by adding ceramic microspheres to the paint.

 

I’ve had more then one customer explain to me how they were on the roof and slipped trying to make a repair on their own. They had the battle wounds to prove it. Plan a maintenance free retirement home and enjoy your life. You earned it.



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Dr. Arthur Lubitz asked:


Basement window wells should be protected with high quality window well covers in order to protect a home from water leakage which can lead to significant damage in a home. Windowbubble.com is an experienced manufacturer of well built, secure window well covers

Spring is here! In addition to the sunshine and warmth, it also means snow thaw and heavy rain. Therefore, one of the most important things on the spring home maintenance checklist should be to install window well covers to guard basements from water damage. Basement window wells can collect water which can easily seep into the home. Experts recommend taking precautions for flood protection, including having a physical barrier of a window well cover, to stop rain water from leaking into basements. It is also important to check a home’s gutters, downspouts, grading, and foundation for proper function to protect from water damage.

Moisture and leakage in a basement can ruin walls, floors, furniture, and valuable stored items. Having a wet basement can also lead to secondary problems such as the growth of mold; this makes the environment in a home very unhealthy. Window well covers not only keep out rain and snow, but they keep out dirt, leaves, and animals while letting in sunlight and offering a layer of insulation. They also can protect children from falls, while allowing proper egress from inside the basement in case of an emergency.

Window well covers should be custom made of high quality material in order to keep out the heavy rains. When a heavy downpour occurs, the flimsy, one-size-fits-all covers will likely not give the protection needed. They are known to fit poorly, easily crack, and blow away in cases of heavy storm winds.

Windowbubble.com makes outstanding quality, custom window well covers which are sized to fit securely and protect basements from water leakage. Their guaranteed window well covers are made of 3/16” Plexiglas, and are easy to install, maintenance free, and meet all safety requirements.



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Mario Kotik asked:


With so many choices in gutter guard for gutter protection which one do you choose? I am going to explain the differences in the different types of gutter guards.

There are aluminum gutter covers that work on the water adhesion principle, these products do work but there are requirements for cleaning the nose of the system, you have to keep it clean so water does not shoot off the gutter, water can not adhere properly to the dirty nose of this gutter system. I have also seen and heard people having problems in the winter with icicles the reason being once the small opening freezes over there is nowhere for the water to go but over the side which in freezing temperatures can cause massive icicles, now a company can put a heater cable across the entire nose of the product adding to the expense of this gutter protection system, but making it work better. Another issue associated with this style of gutter guard is the design creates a home for bees, yellow jackets or wasps, the structure of the nose keeps there nest dry and the opening makes for an easy entrance or exit.

There is a foam filter that fills the gutter with a exterior grade urethane material. This product is in the shape of a triangle it leaves a lot of room for water flow but there are small clogging issues in regard to valley areas. This is a good do it yourself product because it is simple to install but there are cleaning issues that you will face, if you have valleys you will have to clean the material in the inner corners after heavy build up otherwise the system will not take water and will overflow also in areas with, pine needle, oak strands or any other small seedling these areas too may need to be hosed off or blown off, this is a great system for the money one that any person able to climb a ladder can install themselves.

There are many screening materials that seal off the gutter. Some of these products you can pick up at any home improvement store they are typically made of aluminum, plastic or nylon. The products you can buy and do yourself I have never seen work to any great extent, but I always tell the customer anything is better than nothing in regards to gutter protection because the main issue is keeping your gutters flowing.

The product we recommend and feel is the best by far is ContractorsFilter.com it is a combination of a Urethane Filter with a UV Protection top coating. This system only allows water through the top and with a great warranty it can not be beat. This is a gutter guard the customer understands when they see, plus the low price makes this the smartest choice for the consumer looking for gutter protection.



Concrete Floor Paint

Michael Tabone asked:




A sword is a bladed weapon, consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade and a handle. The blade is usually of some metal ground to at least one sharp edge and often has a pointed tip for thrusting. The handle, called the hilt, can be made of many materials, but the material most common is wood covered by leather, fish skin or metal wiring. The parts of a sword are remarkably consistent between cultures. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship is fairly constant.

This kind of weapon has been in use from the Bronze Age when the construction of long metal blades was possible for the first time. Early swords were made of solid bronze or copper; these were hard, but quite brittle. Not until iron could be forged did the sword truly become an important weapon. Soon, smiths learned that with a proper amount of coal (specifically the carbon in coal) in the iron, another metal (alloy really) could be produced: steel.

Several different ways of swordmaking existed in ancient times. One of the most reputed is pattern welding. Over time new methods were developed all over the world.

In Pre-Columbian South America and Mesoamerica several cultures made use of types of swords without developing metallurgy; for example swords with obsidian “teeth” mounted along the “edges” of a wooden “blade”.

Having seen use for about five millennia, swords began to lose their military uses in the late 18th century because of increasing availability and reliability of gunpowder weapons. Swords were still used although increasingly limited to officers and ceremonial uniforms. Cavalry sabre charges still occurred as late as World War II during which Japanese and Pacific Islanders also occasionally used swords.

There are hundreds of types of swords. Here are the most famous:

* Rapier - a longer european dueling sword, optimized more for thrusting than a slashing action

* Small-sword - a very short and light descendant of the rapier.

* Long-sword - a straight, pointed, two edged European sword with a grip long enough for use with two hands.

* Katana and Tachi - Japanese samurai swords (see also Wakizashi)

* Claymore - either of two types of Scottish sword

* Sabre - (saber) a sword with curved edge intended for slashing or chopping

* Jian - a Chinese double-edged thin straight sword

* Dao - a Chinese single-edged curved sword, sometimes translated as sabre or broadsword in English.

* Gladius - a Roman legionaire’s short swordSeveral modern sports and martial arts have components based upon older principles of swordfighting. Among these are fencing, kendo, kenjutsu, escrima, aikido and some variants of kung fu.

Many swords in mythology, literature and history are named by their wielders or by the person who makes them.

* King Arthur - Excalibur

* Kusanagi (Grasscutter) - The Japanese equivalent to Excalibur

* Sword of Damocles

* El Cid - Tizona

* The Polish kings - Szczerbiec

* Unferth, associate of Beowulf - Hrunting

* Sigurd - Gram (in the Volsung Saga) or Balmung (sometimes in later traditions)

* Tyrfing - a cursed sword from the Elder Edda

* Durandal - the sword belongs to Roland, a hero of the medieval French epic “The Song of Roland”

* Joyeuse - the sword of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), medieval king of Franks

* Grus- the historical sword of Boleslaw Krzywousty (Boleslaus the Wrymouthed), medieval prince of Poland

A tool exists that resembles the sword and it is called a machete (or, in Southern Africa, a panga) and is used to cut through thick vegetation. Indeed, the difference between a machete and a sword is mainly that of utilization, and several types of swords in history resemble the machete in construction, such as for example the scramasax, the dusack, and the falchion.

While a rigid classification is not feasible, the latter is usually referred to as a kind of chopping sword. The scramasax, usually lacking a cross-piece or any kind of guard, is more properly considered a war knife.

Parts of the sword

* Blade - the cutting part of a sword is the blade. In single-edged swords, the non-cutting edit is the back. The blade may also have grooves or fullers. The purpose of these fullers is not to act as gutters for blood (as was once thought), but to lighten the blade while allowing it to retain its strength.

* Hilt - the handle of a sword, and consists of the guard, the grip, and the pommel. It may also have a tassel or sword knot.

* Scabbard - the scabbard is the case that the sword is kept in when not in use.

* Ricasso - the short section of blade between the base of the guard and the grip. The ricasso is not sharpened, which allows a finger to be wrapped around the guard for better control. On some large weapons, such as the German Zweihander, the ricasso was covered with leather and might be gripped in one hand to make the weapon more wieldy in close quarters combat.

* Shoulder - the short section of blade between the hilt and the start of the sharpened portion of the blade. The maker’s mark is normally to be found on the shoulder.

* Tang - the part of the blade extending from the top of the blade through the hilt and the grip. The sword is often held together by a nut screwed onto the tang above the pommel.

* The CoP (Center of Percussion), AKA Sweet Spot - the part of the blade that can deliver the strongest blow with the least vibration.

Historical Armouries manufacturers of authentic historical arms an armour of any Century.

www.historicalarmouries.com



Cable Lighting Fixtures

Lexi asked:


I am building a rainwater purification system for a completely sustainable prototype house. I want to use an indoor living or green wall for the microbial filtration, but I am having difficulty figuring out what other filtration is needed.

I know that rainwater is pretty clean after the initial pollutants are washed from the roof… Right now im thinking of having gutters guards for leaves and big debris and then running all of this water through pretreatment of a sand filter like this

http://www.uoregon.edu/~hof/S01havestingrain/filter.html

form there running it through the green wall to further purify and than maybe UV? is that needed?

any answers are greatly appreciated thanks!

Stained Glass Fireplace Screen

Terry Edwards asked:


Gutter guards are meant to aid in keeping leaves and other debris from settling within your rain gutters. Unfortunately, not all of these guards are created equally. What this means is that you have to do your due diligence and research when deciding what brand of a gutter guard to buy, since there are many on the market. Here are some helpful tips.

One of the first questions many homeowners have is, do these rain gutter protectors really even work? It’s a good question, and the answer is yes they do, but to an extent. Gutter guards do aid in preventing a build up of leaves and other debris within your rain gutters and downspouts, but they are not 100% foolproof. Smaller items will often still find their way into the gutter channel and eventually need cleaning out. Of course, by using a guard you can substantially reduce the clogging of bigger items that you would eventually have to remove manually if you didn’t have one at all. It will also reduce the times you will need gutter cleaning as well.

You’ll find that each company that offers these protectors for your gutters all have a variation to the invention. Most will have small holes or slits. Even though the designs may vary, the ultimate goal remains the same which is to protect your gutter from a build up of debris and leaves.

Cleaning rain gutters can be a pain to say the least, especially in the summer time, which is why these items have become such a hot commodity. Anything that decreases the amount of clean up needed when cleaning your gutters is a welcomed invention in my books. It goes without saying that anytime you are cleaning the gutters, you need to be very careful when climbing ladders and when you’re actually on the roof. The gutter guards were created to limit having to head on top the roof to do this arduous task.

We all know the hype surrounding these items. The advertisements all tout that you will never have to clean your gutters again, etc. Even though this may not be the case, it does give you the advantage of having less work in the long run. When deciding if these are right for you, take the time to analyze the overall costs, get the facts about their effectiveness, and do thorough research on the company providing the gutter guards. After doing your research and analyzing the cost, you can then make an informed decision.



Gas Furnace Reviews

Max L asked:


Background on her:

She is 21 years old. She had a very messed up childhood, her father was a crack addict and an alcoholic. He abandoned her when she was around 11 and didnt start talking to her again till she was around 17 and then died soon after as a result of his abuses. Her step father has always been very cruel to her, saying things like “i shoulda left you in the gutter with you father” and “i dont care if you live or die”.
She has developed a thick outter shell and doesnt share the insides with many people. But she is very emotional and sharing with me. Somedays she is very hot and some days she is very cold. She has had many relationships however most did not last long except one, but they broke up like 10 times over a 3 year period.

Relationship Background:

We have been together for 8 months now. We dove in head first we were together almost everyday after the first date. She told me she loved me after like 3 weeks and how is amazing i was and how she wanted to be together for ever, i felt the same. Over the past few weeks she has become distant. I would mark the start of this period with her telling me that she is not sure whether she wants to be with me forever anymore. All of a sudden her constant barrage of i love u text msg’s has stopped and she has been making less time for me. Naturally i want to know what’s up and this how it went down:

Me: So why are u acting so distant lately?

Her: There is something wrong with me i dont love you like i did at first even though i should your great.

Me: ?????? what?

Her: There are things you dont know about me i have a defense mechanism. I dont let people get to close because then they are able to hurt me. This is why all my relationships end because i always try to find things wrong so i can leave the guy and then he wont be able to hurt me.

Me: I would never hurt you. I love you. We can work through this, im here for you.

Her: You deserve better i need some time and space to think about this ill call you in a few days.

Me: (hurt and angered) ok call me, bye. (hangs up phone)

That was 2 days ago we havent spoke since. If she wants to leave ill just accept it even though i still love her and want to be with her.
But if she cant change i dont want to be with her. Can she ever change/ let her guard down?

Bamboo Steamers

klshink asked:


We own an adorable 2 bedroom home right near a college for the time being while my boyfriend finishes school. The house was built in 1941 and has it’s vices (plaster walls, old steam heating system with equally old furnace & oil tank, etc.) but the absolute worst part is the basement. We are planning on selling late fall/early winter and I was looking for some inexpensive ways to touch up the basement to help with selling. The house will most likely be sold to somebody planning to rent to college students so they are not as fussy, but it would still help to not cringe at the basement.

Basement characteristics:
-Stone foundation which is very crumbly in some places and has several layers of paint on it which is also very crumbly
-Many working bare light bulbs but still dark
-3 small windows with iffy wood framed windows and awful filthy curtains I have never touched
-narrow stairs with rubber no-skid things on them
-occasional water seepage from poorly plumbed faucets outside (if hose is run for significant amount of time)
-a huge white plastic double filthy but working utility sink next to the washer/dryer
-huge wooden workbench

We have dug out and replaced those half-circle guards that go around the basement windows on the outside of the house. Also, it used to flood a LOT more but we re-vamped the gutters on the house which solved that problem.

Modern Lighting Choices

Luke Wildman asked:


Scaffold towers are temporary elevated platforms and the supporting structure used for holding people, materials, tools, or a combination of any these. They are designed to provide an elevated work area that is more efficient than other means. Scaffold towers can be used for a variety of jobs, from simple house work like fixing the ceilings or cleaning a gutter to big constructions such as building skyscrapers.

Constructing Your Own Scaffold Tower

Some people would like their own customised scaffold towers. They can decide on which material to use and also the desired dimensions. They can also choose if they want it mobile or stationary.

You can build your own scaffold towers with scaffolding parts from a lot of stores. Solid scaffold towers can be built using your own measurements and with just a little background information on using the frames, cross braces, brackets, guard rail systems, ladders, jacks, decking, clamps, castors, adapters, and other accessories. In addition, there is a lot of information regarding building your own scaffold towers on the Internet. And also, there are lots of sites that sell scaffolding spare parts. A person can buy it in bulk or individual pieces according to their preference. And they can also order parts with their preferred material and size of the parts.

Basic Parts to Consider when Building Your Own Scaffold Tower

Here are some of the basic parts you would need to know about building a scaffold tower.

Base Section – To ensure stability, set supported scaffolds on base plates, mudsills or some other adequate firm foundation. Supported scaffold poles, frames and uprights must be plumb and braced to prevent any displacement caused by swaying.

Access – The cross braces should never be used as a means of access. A specific access, such as a mounted ladder, must be used.

Bracing – Connect panels and frames with diagonal, horisontal, or cross braces along or as a combination, in order to laterally secure the vertical members. Because the frames are stacked, the cross braces have to keep the scaffold plumb, level, and square. All brace connections must be secured to prevent dislodging.

Guardrail Systems – Standard rails are required on all scaffold towers. They should be installed along all open sides and at both ends of platforms.

Platform – Except when used as a walkway, the platform is the main working area of the scaffold. Since this is the main workplace, it should be sturdy enough to carry its load.

Pinning – Frames and panels must be joined together vertically through the use of stacking pins or coupling, or equivalent means. Frames and panels should also be locked together to prevent uplift.

These are only a few basic physical structures of scaffold towers. But in building these equipments, the safety when using these should always be highly prioritised. Since it is an elevated platform, the stability decreases as the height increases. In addition, the scaffold and its components must support, without failure, its own weight and at least four times its maximum intended load. Stability and durability are the key components for the scaffold towers to be safe.



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