Moisture Against Gravity - Destroying Walls

Well I'm going to start this article with a little information on a job I did once.

I had been repairing a rental house for one particular homeowner for about three years when all of a sudden I got a phone call from him telling me the rental house was destroyed and he had never seen nothing like this. He sounded so upset over the phone I told him I would meet with him immediately.

On my way to the house I was trying to get an idea in my head what the house was going to actually look like. Since I have been repairing rental properties for over 20 years at this point of my career, nothing really shocked me. I had pretty much seen everything that could possibly be done to rental property by the tenants that lived there. There is a lot to be said about taking care of it as if it were your own.

He was waiting for me at the front door and he looked thoroughly disgusted. As I approached him he was shaking his head and yelling at the same time can you believe these people, can you believe what they did to my house. I was expecting to see the front door ripped off and all the windows broken out of the house but this wasn't the case.

As he led me through the home and I could see the usual clothing on the floor, broken cabinets, a few holes in the walls and of course that awful smell of mold and mildew. All of this stuff was nothing new to me because I'm the guy they call to fix it when a renter moves out of the property.

As I entered one of the bedrooms I got my first glimpse of something I had never seen before but heard stories about and could not believe my eyes. Looking at the walls in the bedroom about 3 feet from the floor all the way around the room, the plaster was soft. It actually looks like someone shoved popcorn into the wall somehow.

The homeowner wasn't even looking at this because of the rest of the damage in the home. I started to explain to him I'd never seen nothing like this but I could guess it was water damage somehow since the plaster was soft. I could actually stick my finger into the wall, that's how soft the plaster was.

My first thought was to examine the carpeting a little closer to see if it was wet. Well it was damp but it wasn't as wet as I would've expected it to be with the amount of water in the walls. With a little more home inspecting I had found the culprit, it was a broken water bed. The water bed was now in the backyard looking innocent.

I couldn't believe a broken water bed could do this much damage so I looked around for broken or leaking water pipes and could not find any. The other bad news I had to inform the homeowner was that the water had damage the bathroom and closet walls also. These walls of course were on the other side of the bathroom walls that were damaged.

Well the point of this story is that water will actually wick its way up or worked its way up into a wall. I had to remove 4 feet of drywall all the way around the room. The plaster or drywall actually acts like a sponge pulling the water into the walls. Hard to imagine that gravity in this case seems to reverse. I would've never thought that water would've traveled so far up the walls creating that much damage.

To repair the rental property I had to remove the damaged drywall, remove the carpeting, dry the wood framing out and put the whole thing back together.

I'm still amazed and will remember that project for as long as I live.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

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Stop Feeling Guilty Part 1

4 Ways SMART Repair Services Can Benefit You

If you're not familiar with SMART repairs, they use special techniques to perform small and medium repairs without replacing or repairing large areas of the vehicle. This can save you both time and money. Even if you are familiar with these services, you might not be aware of the many ways they could be beneficial to you. Below you will find several times when the average person can benefit from SMART repairs.

Restoring your personal vehicle. Most people like driving new vehicles. They are completely unblemished. However, no vehicle stays new forever. No matter how well you take care of your vehicle, over time you might start to notice a little wear and tear. Maybe there are a few small scratches, or you have a couple of tears in your seats. A SMART repair service can quickly and easily take care of these repairs and many more, restoring your car to its original glory.

Getting a vehicle ready to sell. While you can try to sell your vehicle "as is" with all of the little dents, dings, and other imperfections, you may not get the ideal price you're looking for. Now, if you were to repair all of those small imperfections, you would be able to sell your vehicle for significantly more than if you leave it "as is". SMART repairs are very cost effective, making them a great option when you need to boost the value of your vehicle for little money.

Returning your leased vehicle. When you lease a vehicle, you have to be extra careful about what happens to that vehicle. The company you lease the vehicle from will more than likely charge you an outrageous fee for any damage they find, even minor dents and scratches. Since you can't keep your vehicle in an impenetrable bubble, you might want to consider using a SMART repair service before you bring your vehicle back at the end of the lease. They should be able to repair the small damages and will charge a lot less than you will pay to the leasing company.

Repairing company vehicles. If your company relies on one or several vehicles for its business needs, SMART repairs are a great way to keep the vehicles in the best shape possible. As a company, you want to make sure that your vehicles go along with the professional image you're trying to project. This means making sure they always look their best. As a bonus, SMART repairs are more cost and time effective, meaning that you'll have more money and time to spend on your actual business needs.

As you can see, there are many ways that SMART repairs can benefit you. Just make sure that you choose an experienced and reputable company to perform the repairs. There are many companies that specialize in SMART repairs.

Check out our review of Smart car repair specialists http://www.bestdentrepaircardiff.co.uk/index.html Who are located in South Wales.Covering Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Bridgend and surrounding areas.

http://www.bestdentrepaircardiff.co.uk/4-ways-smart-repair-services-can-benefit-you.html

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Where to Find Obsolete Appliance Parts

As the economic recession deepens, more and more people are becoming reluctant to buy new appliances. They would rather have their old ones repaired and re-done than by replacing them with new and more expensive units. During this trying time, any suggestion to save money will be most welcome. For broken home appliances, submitting it to necessary repairs will come to mind. However, the option to repair broken home appliances poses some problems. Of course, having sufficient skills in doing repair is an advantage; it certainly yields huge savings by becoming free from repair costs and for being able to paid repair services for other people. But sometimes, broken appliances would need its worn, blown and damaged parts replaced. This is actually not a problem for more recent appliance models. However, whatever happens if the replacement parts needed are already obsolete?

In many cases, broken down appliances are caused by a single blown or damaged part. Naturally, that part will be discovered as the repairman thoroughly examine how far the damage has got into the appliance. Although he is skilled enough to salvage that appliance, he will need to have the damaged part replaced to fully restore its mechanisms. Without a replacement part, any repair attempt will be like a 'house of cards going down'. Unless that part is supplied, the appliance will be rendered beyond salvage. And the problem triples if that single part is found to be obsolete.

So what exactly is an obsolete part? What makes a part obsolete?

For a specific model of a home appliance, such as refrigerators, televisions and washing machines, is usually assembled from a unique set of parts and system of mechanisms. These components are the secret to its powerful cooling, cleaning and other functional mechanisms; claiming advantage over its competition. Appliance manufacturers normally put their appliances under a series of performance tests, which help determine or estimate service life of their appliances. That span of time also allows them to determine for how long they will need to manufacture spare parts for those appliance models. Once the manufacturers stop producing spare parts for a particular model of appliance, its parts will be rendered as obsolete.

In some cases, a well maintained appliance outlives its estimated service life. With that, certain problems will be faces once they start stalling. Very old appliances usually have obsolete parts. This makes it harder for a handy man or repair man to locate an exact part replacement for the damaged parts. Unless an exact part replacement is found, the repairs needed by a broken appliance will never be completed.

Where to shop

For years now, the internet has become extremely helpful in locating hard-to-find trinkets. With that, it has extended help in locating obsolete parts. There are a number of websites that feature stocks and listings of obsolete appliance parts. Collectively, these websites have created a helpful inventory on the surplus parts of very old appliance models. All you need to do is determine the part number of the replacement part that you needed to make the search easier. Antique parts are no exception. For very very old part models, replacements can be found on specialty online shopping stores or even in auction sites. Now, finding those obsolete switches, light bulbs, gears, and other machine pieces is made easier. You are only but a few mouse clicks away to finding the obsolete parts that you are looking for. All you need to do is mark your purchase's shipment date and wait for the package to be delivered right at your doorstep.

Eric Stein is the eCommerce manager for Midwest Appliance Parts, which specializes in helping people find the appliance parts they need to cost effectively repair their appliances by themselves. MAP has a huge inventory of new appliance parts for all the latest models and also obsolete appliance parts. So next time your machine has a problem, save time and money by starting your search for appliance parts at Midwest Appliance Parts! http://MidwestApplianceParts.com

Basement Wall Staining

Winterizing Your Home

Before the long, cold winter months, you may want to consider winterizing your home to keep it safe from the cold, especially if it is vacant and on the market. Even if you are not selling your home, winterizing your property can go a long way in preventing problems from the cold in the future and keeping your home healthy and in good repair. Here are some places in your home that you can check in order to make sure your property is properly winterized.

Inspect doors and windows for air flow and not only will you keep your home at a comfortable temperature, you'll also save money in energy bills. Check for cracks or chipped paint around the doors or windows, and caulk if necessary. If you feel a draft coming in from the bottom of your door, invest in a door stopper to run the length of it for further insulation.

Have your HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system inspected. You do not want to have to worry about a broken HVAC system in the middle of the winter. Have it inspected before the cold months come and your home-heating professional will be able to tell if you need repairs or just a simple tune up.

You should also protect your plumbing from expensive pipe bursts by disconnecting hoses around the house and draining them properly. Make sure your sprinkler system is turned off, and you're sure to keep your home safe and in good repair all winter long.

RE/MAX of Alabama (http://www.remax-alabama.com/orange-beach-real-estate.aspx) is a real estate brokerage that specializes in Orange Beach real estate. Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer.

Attic Sheeting Water Damage

Wall Spacing For Home Building

Remodeling and building homes over the years I have seen all sorts of stud spacing measurements in bearing and non-bearing walls.

How far should we space a framing stud in a bearing wall?

Most plans will give you this information. If you have a structural shear wall the plans will tell you what size of lumber to use at the plywood breaks. The normal spacing on a bearing wall will be 16 inches on center unless otherwise noted on the building plans. This is the most common spacing for studs in a wall.

How far can we space framing studs in a nonbearing wall?

I have seen studs spaced as far as 24 inches on center in a nonbearing wall. Over the years looking at the building code books I have found this to be acceptable for most framing applications. Do not confuse a nonbearing walls with a structural shear walls because there is no weight sitting on the shear wall.

Interior structural shear walls will require 16 inch on center spacing or less depending on the structural engineer and your local building department.

What are the disadvantages of spacing the studs 24 inches on center?

Using half-inch drywall with 24 inch on center stud spacing can give the wall a week or spongy feel. I have been in houses that have 24 inch on center's stud spacing and can actually push the wall and see it move. Using 5/8 drywall will solve this problem in your walls.

What are the advantages of spacing the studs 24 inches on center?

The only advantage in spacing the studs farther apart is the fact you will be able to save a few dollars on the overall cost of building or remodeling your house. I personally do not recommend this process because the savings is miniscule compared to the overall cost of building the entire house.

If you look on a measuring tape between 19 and 20 inches you will usually find a little diamond. This little diamond is another measurement for laying out eight-foot walls or floors. So instead of using 16 inch on center layout you can use 19 1/4 for stud spacing. This will save you an additional stud in your wall or floor joist every 8 feet.

I have been writing more articles on home construction problems trying to help contractors and homeowners build safer stronger houses.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as

well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes in San Marcos Home Building

Easy Wall Repair, Home Video

Great video on how to fix a hole in your wall .

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more home inspection or home building ideas.

Framing Basement Walls
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The Choices of Cellular Shade Blinds

Choosing a window covering can take a lot of thought, mainly because there are so many things to think about before a final decision is arrived at. One of the most popular choices of recent years is that of cellular shade blinds, which have the advantage of offering many of the advantages of other window coverings, but all rolled into one.

There are essentially two types of shade in this category, and that is the honeycomb variety and the room darkening shade variety. Which one should be chosen depends very much on the type of effect that is desired, and how much insulation one expects, such as that to be had from a decent set of curtains.

If you are looking for a shade that simply makes the place a more relaxing place to be, then honeycomb cellular shades could well be a good choice, since they provide excellent shading qualities and yet do not make the room totally dark, or at least so dark that the room looks gloomy. They also give total privacy, which is important for many people.

However, depending on the type of house you live in, keeping warm may also be a consideration. In this instance the choice of cellular room darkening blinds may be a more apt choice. These styles of shades will not only provide more room darkening ability but will also provide a great level of insulation, and that's something that many people would welcome.

These are the two basic choices in the cellular shade style, and to know them makes the job that much easier when it comes to choosing the type of window blinds that are right for you.

Carl Formby owns and operates http://www.bamboopatioblinds.com, a site dedicated to information about window blinds and especially Cordless Cellular Blinds.

Lower Basement Wall Staining