Give Twice this Holiday Season

Winter is knocking at our door and many small businesses are keeping their fingers crossed they will make it through this one. With the tourists away and residents hunkered down in their warm homes, winter can be a slow season. There is something we can do to help them through this winter. Shop local this holiday season. When you shop local your money goes directly in to the pockets of your friends and neighbors, whom in turn spend it to pay their employees and overhead expenses. Western North Carolina have a lot to offer. This is a unique area to find handmade items you can't buy in any box store. But don't just limit your shopping to the local stores. Service related businesses are struggling as well. Buy your friend or family member a house cleaning, massage or yoga class. Gift certificates for lawn care or home repair make great presents for the hard to shop for. So pick up a beautiful mug for a coworker, a hand knitted hat for your mother, but also consider an art class for your Niece and a car wash for your Dad. Give once to a friend or a loved one, and give twice by purchasing from a small business that helps make Western North Carolina a uniquely wonderful place to live!

Tips to prepare your home for winter

Crisp mornings and vivid blue sky's signal the change of seasons here in western north Carolina. While we are enjoying the mild temperatures now, remember winter is just around the corner, bringing with her the possibility of high heating bills and repair costs. Here are a few steps to help you potentially save hundreds of dollars.

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  Change the air filter in your heating system. A fresh filter will make your system run more efficiently and will keep your home's air cleaner. Have your heating system inspected by a professional. This will help insure you will not be without heat during the cold winter months. Lack of heat is not only uncomfortable, but can lead to frozen water pipes witch can cause serious damage to your home.


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  Look for gaps and cracks around the exterior of your doors and windows where heat can escape. Fill gaps with a good exterior grade caulking.


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  Have your chimney inspected and cleaned. If plan on using a fireplace or wood stove for heat you should have a battery operated smoke and carbon monoxide detector near the area to be heated. Test detector monthly.


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  Weather strip and insulate the attic access or staircase. There are products available at home improvement stores for this task which could cut down on heat loss significantly.


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  Add attic insulation and caulk recessed can lights, ceiling fans and light fixture boxes to drywall from the attic. You will be surprised how much heat is lost in those small spaces.

Playhouse for The Housing Assistance Corporation.

This 6x8 play house will be raffled off during the Apple Festival on September 2nd through the 4th 2011 in Hendersonville North Carolina. The Playhouse was designed and built by Kirby Custom Builders Inc. http://www.kirbycustombuilders.com/. All raffle ticket sales will go to The Housing Assistance Corporation, a private non profit organization committed to providing safe and affordable housing for persons of limited income in Henderson county. The Housing Assistance Corporation believes every human being deserves the opportunity to live in a decent home. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. If you would like tickets in advance, you can contact Todd Kirby at Kirbycustombuilders@yahoo.com or The Housing Assistance Corporation at 602 Kanuga Rd Hendersonville NC. Drawing will begin Sunday evening at the end of the Apple Festival. See you at the Apple Festival!

Extending the Life of Your Home’s Exterior Paint Finish
Most homes should be repainted every five to ten years, costing homeowners thousands of dollars. A quality paint job not only looks nice, but protects the siding and trim from water damage and bug infestation (like those nasty carpenter bees!) There are ways to ensure you get the maximum life out of your painting investment. First, choose the best quality paint. Good paint lasts longer. Make sure it is exterior grade. Either oil or latex are fine. Some painters prefer oil for exterior work. Just keep in mind the dry time is longer and the clean up requires special care. If you are doing the work yourself, make sure the siding is free from dirt, debris, and loose paint chips before you begin. Also use the best caulking you can get for use around the windows, doors, and trim. Cheap caulking will dry out faster and crack, causing water damage and allowing the water to leach behind the siding. When there is moisture behind the siding the sun will pull it through and cause the paint to blister and peel. Walls that receive full sun exposure will deteriorate the quickest and will need to be repainted more often. Planting trees and shrubs to create shade will extend the life of the paint on full sun exposure walls, but too much shade may then create the problem of mildew. Mildew is a living organism that eats paint, shortening its life. Well shaded homes should be pressure washed every two years to remove mildew. Pressure washers can be rented at home improvement stores or other equipment rental sites. Be sure to use the right setting so as not to damage the paint and siding. A professional paint contractor will be happy to inspect your house at no charge in hopes of getting your business. It is a good idea to do this every 2 years. They often find problems you don't. Summer is a great time to get moving on your painting project. Paint does not dry well in temperatures below 40 degrees, so save this project for spring through fall. Following these few tips may cost you some time and money now, but can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in repairs down the road. Happy painting!

How to find a Reputable Contractor

We've been having some beautiful warm days lately. So warm, we have turned on our air conditioner a few times. Luckily, ours seems to be working just fine, but nothing is worse than finding out yours doesn't on that hot afternoon. But how do you find the right HVAC contractor to call who will come when you need him and won't rip you off? The exterior of your house needs painting this year and you don't have the skill, tools or desire to try to tackle that project yourself. You need a professional painter. Where do you even begin to find the right one? Open the yellow pages and point? That's just gambling. There are several on-line referral services now, but in my opinion they are only marginally useful. Their so called "background checks" are minimal at best. And any contractor can ask a few friends to write a good review on a web site. Asking your friends and neighbors is better idea. They may have used someone they like. Most contractors of all types do most of their business through referrals. We are only as successful as our last happy customer! But finding a neighbor to give you the name of a good electrician after the ice storm or a plumber that comes on the weekend is sometimes hard to come by. What then? Ask a general contractor. We use these contractors every day. We have our own "go-to" guys, from painters to electricians and we are happy to give you their name and number. We know who is reliable and who does the best work. If you don't know a general contractor, contact your local Home Builders Association. They can not only give you a list of names, but information on each contractor as well.

Why should you make energy saving upgrades to your home

Why should you make energy saving upgrades to your home? The obvious reason is to save money on your electric and gas bill. Energy prices are soaring and many researchers believe we can expect to see prices double in the next ten years. Lets face it, the energy market lacks certainty and we have to work to reduce our dependence on them. So if you are someone who is planning to live in your home for a long period of time, making energy saving investments is a good idea to save money in the long run. But what if you plan on living in your home for a few years? Does it pay for you to make these energy saving upgrades? How will these upgrades effect the value or the ability to sell your home? Some bankers are now asking appraisers to look at energy saving upgrades such as energy star windows, appliances, insulation, and high efficiency heating systems and factor them in to the appraisal value. You can bet the real estate agents are going to be selling these upgrades to their clients as well. We also have to think about the implementation of the 2012 building code witch is just around the corner. It includes new energy efficient building standards for new homes that will undoubtedly make older, less efficient homes, even less desirable. Do you remember about ten years ago driving buy a car dealership and at the front of the lot you would see all of those beautiful suv's. If you look now you will see that they are all parked at the back of the lot and the fuel saving compact cars are all at the front of the lot. That's because the new car buyer wants efficiency. Today's car buyer is tomorrows home buyer. I mean why would I buy a car that gets 20 miles per gallon when I could get one that uses 30 miles per gallon or buy a home that uses 10,000 kilowatt hours a year when I can buy the same house that uses 5,000 kilowatt hours a year. Sure this home will cost me more initially, but my mortgage rate is fixed and my electric bill is not. You should see your home as an investment by thinking today of how it will present itself in tomorrow's market.

With the rising cost of energy that could double in the next ten years, many home owners are deciding to upgrade their homes efficiency. Some of these upgrades include more insulation, energy star windows and doors, sealed crawl spaces, high efficiency heating systems, and energy star appliances.
These are all worth while investments that could continue to save you money in energy costs and improve on your investment if they were properly installed. Sure, energy star appliances will bring you a home run. But what makes the energy star windows, high efficiency heating systems, and sealed crawl space effective, is the installation.
In some cases the home owner is not getting what they paid for. A few months ago I started a bathroom remodel. The home owner had new energy star replacement windows installed buy another contractor a month prior to the remodel. The remodel was a total gut including the window trim the window installer installed. To my surprise the contractor did not insulate around the windows.. You could see daylight behind the trim. I was angry when I saw this. An energy star window is worthless if not installed properly. On a different project where I was doing some siding work, the customer previously hired another contractor to install a sealed crawl space. The crawl space was hardly sealed. They just laid plastic on the ground which did not cover all of the ground. A sealed crawl space should be exactly that. The crawl space is supposed to be covered with a heavy duty plastic with all seams overlapping and taped and the walls covered in foam board. Included is a drain system and a heating vent. The crawl space should be conditioned like the rest of the house.
If you want to make these upgrade to your home, you should hire a reputable contractor with references. The most important thing is to check their work. Someone once gave me some advice when I took a superintendent job for a condo project. He said trust every one but check them. One way to do this is to require a permit be pulled. Now, some contractors will tell you that you don't need a permit,and in the case of replacement windows and adding insulation technically you don't. That does not mean that you can't get one. If installing windows, the inspector will check if they are properly installed, the structure was not compromised and the windows were properly insulated. Another option is to hire an energy rater or general contractor to over see the project. This may cost more but a third and impartial party can insure the work was done properly.