Category Archives: Yard & Outdoors

Make Your Summer Garden Sizzle

July 11, 2024   Matt

Make Your Summer Garden Sizzle

Most people spend a great deal of time and effort planning their summer gardens. Whether you are planning a summer garden that is designed to awe and amaze all those who manage to capture a glimpse or simply trying to construct a summer garden that will inspire you when you manage to take a moment and glance around, taking in the fruits of your labor there is no reason you should skimp on the planning stage as it may prove detrimental to the overall effect. If you are looking for ways to make your summer garden sizzle the absolute best way is to give it the careful planning and attention to detail it deserves.

First and foremost you need to plan more than the plants that will go in your summer garden. Whether you are planting flowers, trees, shrubs, greenery, fruits, or vegetables you need still need to plan the boundaries, bordering, landscaping, and layout of your summer garden. You should also consider the accents in your lawn and garden area that will showcase certain aspects of your summer garden while diminishing the effects of less attractive features of your summer garden or the natural landscape of your lawn.

Arrange your summer garden in a manner that is attractive. Whether you are using traditional rows for a vegetable garden or raised landscaping boxes in select areas along the exterior of your home there are plenty of opportunities to present your summer garden in as attractive of a manner as possible. Take great time and care that you do just that when planning your garden. You want your summer garden to be a place to show off to friends and neighbors. Arranging it attractively so that it doesn’t detract from the remainder of your landscaping efforts is a wise move-even if your summer garden is intended to be merely functional as a vegetable garden.

Use lawn furniture, birdhouses, water features, and other clever landscaping tips and tricks in order to provide additional focal points throughout your summer garden area. Provide plenty of distractions so that visitors may see something different every time they stop by. Be careful that you do not make your summer garden seem gaudy or overcrowded though. There is a fine balance between having too many gaps in scenery and overloading the senses. Take care that you do not cross that line.

Use lighting so that your summer garden may be enjoyed even when dusk is imminent. There are many ways this can be accomplished. I recommend using solar powered lighting along pathways and walkways within your summer garden and overhead lighting in common areas where there is seating and that are meant for congregating and socializing.

Create pathways within your gardens and mark them with pavers and stones. These pathways provide visitors a walking path through your garden area and keep feet from compacting the soil and inhibiting the growth in your garden. This is also a great method for keeping your garden attractive in appearance and from looking overgrown in areas that aren’t readily accessible for mowing.

Install a water feature such as a goldfish pond or waterfall for a little dramatic flare. These are not only beautiful but allow the opportunity for a social area and a little more lighting in your garden area. If you enjoy birds, it also gives the water a little room in which to flit and flitter to the delight of young and older kids alike. For a really sizzling summer garden it needs to be a garden that people want to enjoy and where they wish to congregate. Little touches such as those mentioned above make a huge difference to visitors and increase the enjoyment of summer gardens exponentially.

Plan your summer garden to attract visitors and keep their attention and you should have no shortage of flattering comments about your green thumb or your gardening efforts. Remember to keep the plants looking healthy and beautiful though of you may find the opposite of the desired effect is the case.

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Home Security (5)

July 06, 2024   Matt

Home Security

You may not believe it but most burglars do not plan their break ins. They are crimes of opportunity. They pick what appears to be a simple target. If they see a greater risk than they anticipated, they move onto a safer target. Therefore the more effort you take to keep your home from seeming to be a simple target, the safer you will be.
A multilayered structure is the best way to approach arranging your home security, and the first layer is the landscaping and other features of your yard.
Landscaping and Yard Security
A few simple changes to your landscaping can help to protect your home from would be burglars. They are looking for a home they can get into and out of quickly; the more time they spend in your home the more chance of getting caught. Their best target is a home surrounded by tall hedges and shrubs, which restricts visibility from the street and your neighbours’ houses.
Trim your shrubbery and trees so that your doors and windows can be seen by neighbors, and from the street, by forgoing a little privacy you will not be providing a hiding place for a burglar. If you have more than one floor, prune trees away from upper floor windows to prevent an intruder using them as a ladder, also make sure any trellises won’t provide a convenient ladder to gain entry to the upper floors.
All planting close to the sidewalk, driveways, doors or gates, should be kept low say no more than two feet in height. As you move further away from the sidewalk you can increase the height but keep it down to no more than four feet.
Any plant under the window should be kept below the windowsill.
Trees should have their lower branches trimmed to at least seven feet off the ground.
Be sure to keep your lawn trimmed; an uncut lawn will indicate to a potential burglar that you have been away from your home for some time.
By placing gravel on the ground under windows you will be warned if someone walks on it, this can be a useful psychological deterrent. Remember not to have any large rocks or stones near glass windows or doors. There’s no point in providing a burglar with his tools!
Plant spiny (thorny) plants along fences and under windows, and on border fences, roses are ideal. Protecting your home with spiny plants is as good as using barbed wire, and it looks a lot better too.
Street Numbers.
Make sure your house number can be seen easily from the street. This can save time for the police and emergency services if they need to find your home.
It is best to use numbers made of reflective materials, or alternatively black on white, they should be at least six inches high to facilitate visibility from the street. Keep the number clean and trim any plants, so it can be seen. The number should be illuminated and near the front door or the garage entrance.
Limiting Access to Yards and Store Rooms:
The main thing burglars are looking for is an obstruction free and speedy exit. Fences will stop burglars from carrying away your larger processions, if the gates are locked. Gates should be locked at all times!
Make sure that any ladders and tools are stored in a garage or a storage shed, and these should be locked when not in use. To increase security chain your ladder to the wall of the garage when it is not being used.
The idea is to use the landscaping to control access to your property. Proper fencing hedges etc. create barriers that will make a potential burglar feel uncomfortable as they approach your home, but will not prevent a neighbour or passer by from seeing any unusual activity.
I will be covering additional steps you can take to improve your home security in the next article in this series.

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Common Mistakes of First Time Home Buyers

July 01, 2024   Matt

Common Mistakes of First Time Home Buyers

Buying your first home is exciting. No more rental payments to a landlord making money for someone else. Instead, you are purchasing your own home and investing in yourself. Money paid to your home mortgage is really investing in your future. It is no wonder that first time home buyers are so excited, sometimes so excited that they make mistakes. There are a few common mistakes of first time home buyers, which with some knowledge and direction can be avoided.

First of all, it is always good to research the housing market and see what is out there. Yes, the very first house you look at may look like its perfect, but there are others out there for sale too. Be sure to at least look at a few before deciding on the one you want to buy.

Watch the cost of the home, do not be swayed into thinking that you can not barter down the cost of the house, you probably can.

Insist on a home inspection by a qualified inspector. There are plenty of people who will provide you with a home warranty when you buy their house and try to sway you from having the house inspected.

Having a home warranty is important and many first time home buyers just don’t know that they should or could get one when they are buying an older home. Home warranties are not a new product; they’ve been around for many years, but many people think that they are for new homes only, not realizing that they can be purchased for older homes as well.

A home warranty makes great sense when you are purchasing an older home – you just don’t know the house very well until you’ve lived in it. A home warranty protects first time home buyers from major expenses for repairs and replacements that could come up.
A first time home buyer can make a major mistake if he or she does not understand that if something goes wrong, they are fully responsible to fix it. There is no landlord to call and the costs are all theirs to bear. This is one of the major reasons it is so important to invest in a home warranty when you purchase an older home. If any major repairs need to happen, most often the home warranty will cover the costs, making owning a home much more feasible.

When looking for a home warranty, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what you are looking for. When you talk to an agent, there are many questions that you need to ask to be sure you know what level of warranty you are getting. Questions to ask include:

  • What is covered with the home warranty? Most often the electrical system, plumbing system, heating system, cooling system/air conditioning, and major appliances that are covered under the warranty.
  • What is excluded from coverage with the home warranty? Most often this includes outdoor water, including the sprinkler system, faucet repairs, hot tubs, pools, spas and costs of hauling away debris and old appliances.
  • What are the rates/premiums? How much will you have to pay for the home warranty?
  • What is the deductible on the home warranty? The deductible is how much you will have to pay when you make a claim. Most often the deductible is , this amount will be deducted from the overall cost of the reparations paid by the warranty company.
  • How long is the warranty active for? Most often home warranties are offered in one year terms.
  • Is the warranty renewable at the end of the term? If you’ve purchased it yourself as the buyer, it is likely renewable. However, if the seller purchased the home warranty, it will not be renewable.
  • What are the terms of the warranty? When will the warranty be void? Most often if you’ve misused the item, or if it is not up to code or not installed properly, your warranty will be void and will not cover any reparations.
  • How are claims handled?
  • How do I make a claim?

With the above information, first time home buyers can avoid some of the serious mistakes that are usually made, and then go through with their home purchase knowledgeable and safe from the fall out of a potentially serious mistake. Mistakes such as the ones listed above can land a first time home owner in serious debt paying for repairs they were not prepared for financially. Owning a home of your own is very exciting, especially a first home, but make sure you go into it with your eyes open, your finances secure and a plan for the future should a problem rise with one of the major components of the home.

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How To Get The Best Rates On Homeowner’s Insurance In Florida

June 26, 2024   Matt

How To Get The Best Rates On Homeowner’s Insurance In Florida

For most homeowners in Florida their home represents their biggest investment and their most valuable and prized asset. Therefore it’s only natural that they would want to do everything possible to protect their investment. One way to protect your home and its contents is to purchase homeowner’s insurance.

Even though everyone wants to protect their home in case of a disaster, everyone still wants to get the best rates on homeowner’s insurance in Florida that they possibly can.

The good news is there are several simple steps you can take that can help to reduce the cost of your homeowner’s policy.

Let start by reviewing how much insurance you need. You need enough insurance to rebuild your home from the foundation up and to replace the contents of your home. In other words, after a disaster you need enough money to put things back the way they were.

The one thing you do not want to pay for is homeowner’s insurance on the value of the land underneath your home. Your land doesn’t need to be insured.

Keep in mind that here in Florida most homeowner’s policies have a wind exclusion and no standard homeowner’s policy covers your home in case of flooding. You need to speak with your agent about ways to get insurance for wind and flood.

If your home is more than 10 years old ask your agent how much of a savings you would realize each month if you upgraded the plumbing and the electrical systems. Often the savings can really add up over the course of a year.

Make sure all brush and weeds are cleared at least ten feet away from any structure on your property. This reduces the risk of fire and could result in a monthly savings.

Make certain that every exterior door has a working deadbolt and that every window, regardless of what floor it is on, has a working lock. Let your agent know about any upgrades or improvements that you make to your home or your property. Even new landscaping, fixing cracked or broken walkways or replacing loose floorboards or hand railings on porches or decks can reduce your monthly homeowner’s insurance premium.

Adding motion-sensitive outdoor floodlighting can also reduce your monthly premium as can trimming back bushes away from windows (making it more difficult for burglars to ply their trade).

Inside your home make certain that you have installed the proper number of smoke and fire detectors for the size and layout of your home and make sure they all have fresh batteries at least twice each year. Many people make a habit of replacing the batteries in their smoke and fire detectors every time they switch their clocks forward or backward an hour.

Buy a kitchen-rated fire extinguisher for your kitchen and mount it in a convenient place.

Keep your credit rating clean. Believe it or not, your credit rating affects how much you pay for your homeowner’s insurance. The higher your credit score the lower your monthly homeowner’s insurance premium.

If you have multiple insurance policies, such as auto and health with the same insurance company you should qualify for a special Multi-Policy Discount.

If you’ve been with the same insurance company for at least 5 years talk to your agent about a Long-Term Policy Discount on your Homeowner’s insurance.

If you can afford to install a home security system that monitors your home 24/7 for fire and burglary you could save a considerable amount on your insurance premium each month, but be sure to consult your agent before purchasing any such system as some systems qualify for a much larger discount than other systems.

If anyone in your household is 55 or older and retired you could be due another discount on your premium.

How long has it been since you reviewed your deductible? If you can afford to increase your deductible then you can save a good deal each year on your premium payments.

O.K., that should be enough for you to put together a homeowner’s policy that saves you money month after month, year after year. All that’s left now is to get online and find at least 3 different websites that allow you to compare the cost of your super-policy between different insurance companies and you’ll be all set.

Take the extra time to make your comparisons on at least 3 different websites so you can be certain that you are seeing the prices of all the different insurance companies here in Florida. Once you’ve done that then you can rest easy at night in the knowledge that you have gotten the very best rates on homeowner’s insurance here in Florida.

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How To Get Cheap Homeowner’s Insurance Online In Iowa

June 21, 2024   Matt

How To Get Cheap Homeowner’s Insurance Online In Iowa

It would be easy to tell you to just jump online, find one of the many sites that allow you to make comparisons of the prices of homeowner’s insurance policies from a variety of different insurance companies and be done with it.

Unfortunately doing that will not necessarily get you the cheapest homeowner’s insurance that you can find online in Iowa.

The good news is, the steps you need to take before getting online to look for your cheap homeowner’s policy are all relatively easy to take.

Let’s start with smoking. If you smoke you are going to pay more for your homeowner’s insurance. It’s that simple. You need to stop smoking if you want to get the best possible rates. If you already have a homeowner’s insurance policy and you were a smoker at the time you took out the policy but you have since quit, you need to let your agent know as you will be in line for a rather nice reduction in your monthly premiums.

Do you have other insurance policies – auto insurance or health insurance for instance – with the same insurance company? If so you should be getting a multi-policy discount.

Similarly, if you have had your policy with the same company for 5 or 6 years you need to ask your agent if you qualify for a Long-Term Discount.

Keep your credit rating good. Many people are not aware that the monthly premium you pay for your homeowner’s insurance is based, in part, on your credit score. The better your credit score the less you will pay each month for your homeowner’s insurance.

If your home is more than 10 years old talk to your agent about the savings you could receive if you were to up-grade the plumbing or the electrical system.

Fire danger is a big part of the monthly premium you pay for your policy, so clearing all brush and weeds ten feet away from all structures on your property can often lower your premium.

If you can afford to install a sprinkler system or a monitored home protection system that reports fire and burglaries to the authorities 24/7 you could be entitled to as much as a 30% reduction in your monthly homeowner’s premium, but talk to your agent before installing such a system as not all systems receive the same discount.

Install motion-sensitive outdoor floodlights to discourage burglars, and trim bushes away from all windows to further discourage home break-ins.

Install deadbolt locks on all exterior doors and make certain that all windows, even those on upper stories, have a working lock.

Install the proper number of fire and smoke detectors for the size and layout of your home and make certain that all of them are in working order. Change batteries twice yearly at the same time that clocks are set forward or backward an hour.

Buy a fire extinguisher that is specially designed for kitchen fires and keep it handy in your kitchen.

When setting the value of your policy make certain that it is enough to rebuild your home from the foundation up and that it is sufficient to replace all of your belongings – but don’t make the mistake of insuring the land under your home.

Can you afford a bigger deductible on your policy? Consider this question carefully as you will be asked to come up with the cash to cover your deductible if you ever have a claim. Doubling your deductible from 0 to ,000 can greatly reduce your monthly premium payment.

O.K., now that you know what you are looking for in a policy – how you can structure a policy to save you the most money each month – it’s time for you to get online and start making comparisons on at least 3 of the websites that allow you to compare homeowner’s insurance policies and prices here in Iowa.

Be sure to take the extra time to make your comparisons on multiple sites (at least 3 different websites) if you really and truly want to get cheap homeowner’s insurance online here in Iowa, since no one website compares all of the different insurance companies operating in the state.

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Energy Efficiency in Your Backyard

June 16, 2024   Matt

Energy Efficiency in Your Backyard

A pretty backyard can only go so far. Many experts have proven that efficient landscaping that takes into consideration energy needs, may well save a family more then 30% of their usual heat or cooling costs – either in the winter or summer. These savings could tangibly translate to almost 0 worth of savings in a year.

So how does one make an energy efficient yard? There are various things that can be considered in both existing and soon-to-be-developed landscapes.

Keep the Sun Out

One of the key considerations in landscaping includes the various weather conditions that prevail in the area. This means taking into consideration where the sun shines and what path the sunlight takes. A house’s walls and foundations, when hit directly by the sun, will absorb almost 90% of the sun’s heat, thereby increasing the burden on the air-conditioning or cooling system to keep the house cool.

Usually, the best way to keep the sun out is to plant deciduous, dense, and broad trees to the south or west of the house, where their foliage can provide shade against the rays of the hot summer sun. Keeping the sun out can reduce temperatures to up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

These deciduous trees lose their foliage over the winter and will give you access more of the sun’s heat in the winter when your home’s walls and foundations need the heat.

Break the Wind

One of the primary contributors to lowering home temperatures is the wind that blows through the house. Especially in the winter, this wind is particularly sinister as the wind chill is much colder than the normal atmospheric temperature in the area.

Plants that serve as effective windbreaks include evergreens or trees in general. In fact, even fences placed in strategic locations can serve as windbreaks.

Keep the Heat or Cool In

One of the primary culprits in the wasting of energy is the heat or cool that escapes through the home’s roof, windows and doors. It is imperative to find a way to keep heat or cool air inside the home.

The best way to achieve this is by planting shrubbery around the home’s foundations. This creates a dead air barrier, keeping the heat and cool inside the home where it matters. Experts have suggested widening the distance between the shrubbery and the house’s walls in order to increase this area for dead air.

In landscaping your yard or garden, it is important to maximize the benefits by using an aesthetically pleasing landscape. After all, energy efficiency in the area will effectively save energy and money in the long run.

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