The sun’s heat and light provide an abundant source of energy that can be harnessed in many ways.
In my quest to discover what there is to know about solar power, I found all kinds of uses for the suns rays that can help us conserve energy. First off was my discovery of solar water heaters.

Also called solar domestic hot water systems, solar water heaters generate hot water for your home in any type of climate, fueled solely by sunshine.

Solar water heating
systems usually cost more to purchase and install than conventional
water heating systems. However, a solar water heater can usually save
you money in the long run. Check out the U.S. Department of Energy site on solar power for the economics of potential savings. Find out more about solar water heaters here; and if you’re feeling particularly DIY, check out how to build your own unit!

The next interesting thing I found was an article at News Scientist Tech about solar-power paint.

Scientists are developing a
way to paint solar cells with a photovoltaic paint onto the steel sheets of walls and roofs of
warehouses and other buildings to generate electricity from the sun.          
       

   
       
            
            
               
The
paint will be based on dye-sensitised solar cells. Instead of absorbing
sunlight using silicon like conventional solar panels, they use dye
molecules attached to particles of the titanium dioxide pigment used in
paints.            
       

   
       
            
            
               
Finally, the solar panel. Through the use of photvoltaic cells, solar panels make use of renewable energy
from the sun, and are a clean and environmentally sound means of
collecting solar energy.

If you are looking for information
on solar panels and don’t know where to start, check out CALFINDER’s blog on solar panels and going solar.

Not quite ready to tackle solar projects on your own???   Don’t forget the fact that searching for a qualified solar installer will never be a dilemma. CalFinder Solar does the FREE screening for you and only works with the best installers in the industry. Get a bid now!

Say hello to warmer colors, and goodbye to minimalism. It
appears that several interior designers and industry insiders are saying you
should be ready to introduce color into your decor. According to Sean
O’Driscoll of the Associated Press in an article Hot Trends Of Home Design for 2008 , Minimalism is out.

“Susan Gutfreund, who designs for some of the most
expensive apartments in the U.S and Europe, said that minimalist white and
beige are being pushed out in favor of color, textures and layers. Speaking
from Paris where she is redesigning an apartment, Gutfreund said there is a
move toward warmer colors and away from the shininess and flatness of interiors
over the last few years.

In 2008, red tones take on a decidedly soft, warm feel,
such as watermelon or a carrot orange. Black and white continues to be used,
but with unexpected combinations of yellow, lime orange and fresh green,"
she said.

Janice Simonsen of IKEA Designs said

“fruit colors such
as lime yellow, kiwi and tangerine will be very popular in 2008, especially
when used in the kitchen. But blue will continue to be the number one color
choice for homeowners. In 2008, blue will be combined with camel and tan, pale green
and yellow,” she said.

Think you’re ready to try out 2008 colors but not sure
what fits your style? CALFINDER (the source for certified remodeling contractors) has an excellent post about basic color
psychology. They say,

"All too often homeowners choose colors without
understanding basic color psychology. Color impacts our mood, appetite, and
energy level. Years of color response research have shown

that certain colors
elicit specific and often strong responses."

Check out their awesome post Color
Options-Painting for a guide to help you narrow the choices when choosing
colors for your home.

Also remember you can get FREE ESTIMATES from CALFINDER for pre-qualified
contractors in your area to do the work for you when you’re ready to add that
splash of color to your life! From painting to general remodeling, to complete home renovations, they have the expert for you.

What colors do you plan to decorate with this year? Leave us a comment, we’d love to know!

Finding a good contractor for your remodeling project can be a dicey proposition. A friend of mine recently interviewed a contractor who got into a screaming match with his ex-wife on his cell phone while she was interviewing him. My parents hired contractors who left the state, leaving their job unfinished and with their money long gone. We’ve all heard the contractor horror stories before.

If only you knew who to call, to avoid getting ripped off. Well, now you do; our friends over at CALFINDER has started a network that has taken the worry out of the process. CALFINDER was developed by homeowners for homeowners.They do the screening of contractors for you as well as conduct ongoing monitoring and customer satisfaction surveys. All CALFINDER’s contractors are carefully pre-screened and monitored. Here’s just a few of the services you get when you partner with CALFINDER to find your next contractor;

"Before we certify a contractor we perform a variety of checks. Below are just a few of those checks:In-depth check of current license and insurance coverage   

• Personal interview with at least 10 previous clients ensuring customer satisfaction and business reliability
• Ongoing monitoring and customer satisfaction surveys
• Follow up with each homeowner we work with to ensure that our contractors are providing a great service

CALFINDER’s founders, who have a diverse background in construction,
computer technology and business management, realized that planning and
executing home improvement projects are incredibly time-consuming and
expensive and believed they could fill a void by developing a reliable
source to help local homeowners find high-quality contractors. CALFINDER was established in 2005 covering main home improvement
projects including home remodeling, painting and window installation. Working with a vast network of 200 top-notch,
professional contractors, CALFINDER handles more than 600 homeowner service
requests per month."

We at Shakhammer think this is a great solution to taking the worry out of finding a good general contractor who is good
enough to work on one of your most valuable assets- your home. Check out their home improvement and remodeling blog too for the most up-to-date information on home rejuvenation trends and remodeling projects.

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Laminate Flooring Guide by JonitasKalimpo

Laminate Flooring, Make a Dream Home

Unlike hardwood, laminate floors will not stain, fade, dent and are far more scratch and water resistant. Warranties range from 10 years to lifetime and cover such factors as mentioned above. Entry level laminate wood flooring is designed for light traffic areas and come with warranties ranging from 10 to 15 years. Most people set their expectations too high and expect that entry level floors will perform under heavy traffic conditions and still look good for the duration of the warranty. This is however not the case, as an entry level floor subject to high traffic will start to show wear and tear within three to five years.

We hope this guide will help to understand better what laminate flooring is and how can improve your home, ALOT!

Everything You Need To Know on Laminate Flooring

Laminate Flooring mimics the look of traditional woods while offering easy installation and lasting durability. At first glance, it can be difficult to spot the difference between hardwoods and laminate flooring. What appears to be a natural wood grain pattern is really a thin layer of decor paper (a photographic image) under a tough-as-nails protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Laminate Flooring comes in an array of wood effects as well as stone and ceramic effects.

Laminate floorings main advantages are that it is easy to install, is very hardwearing and relatively inexpensive compared to real hardwood flooring.

Laminate flooring is a floating floor, which means it does not fasten directly to the sub-floor. Instead the planks are clicked together. This enables the floor to be fitted fast and with no real mess.

Most laminate floors today fit together with a click system with the most common being the UNICLIC system as used by Quick-Step. This is extremely easy and fast to fit. The ingenious UNICLIC-system has a special shape of tongue and groove. You simply place the tongue of one plank into the grove of another at an angle and press down. Their sophisticated and very accurate milled shape makes it possible to create a very tight connection during the installation. The floor can be walked on straight away.

If you are laying laminate flooring over a concrete sub-floor then you will fist need to lay down a damp proof membrane (DPM). This is basically a sheet of plastic usually around 5mm which helps protect the Laminate from moisture. On top of this goes the foam underlay this acts as sound absorption and also helps even out minor irregularities in the sub-floor.

Most manufactories now offer a combined DPM and underlay along with several underlay’s that have better sound absorbing qualities
Most of the leading laminate floor manufactories now also have ranges of flooring that also include built in underlay. This underlay is pre-fitted to the bottom of the flooring and is usually of sound absorbing quality. You do not need to install this type of floor a secondary but if you are laying over a concrete sub-floor you still have to lay down a D.P.M. (Damp Proof Membrane) first.

Laminate flooring has been around in Europe for around 15 years and has seen massive growth in the past few years read the rest……. 

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about laminate flooring, visit the entire lens by clicking: Laminate Flooring Guide

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Hiring Contractors For Service Work by SemperFidelis

Hiring Contractors for Service Work

A lens devoted to hiring contractors to do work in your home or business.  Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring the wrong contractor.

Lies From Contractors

If you have dealt with contractors, you have probably heard the same lies I have. They erupt from their mouths as rationale for their questionable behavior and unreasonable demands. They are often accompanied by "righteous indignation" that anyone would question this contractor’s forthrightness.

Here, in no particular order of deceitfulness, are four of them.

It’s a standard agreement

Sure it is.  It’s your standard agreement that requires the property owner to give away the store and that doesn’t require the contractor to complete the job in a workmanlike manner or, for that matter, even complete it at all.  The "standard agreement" does require you to pay, though.

One electrician who did work on a property of a landlord I know had a "standard agreement" that didn’t even require him to clean up his mess or repair the wall he put holes in for the wiring.

Everybody does it that way

I certainly hope they don’t, because if everybody did it that way, buildings would be falling down all over the country.  Those are the words you hear when you ask about the corners the contractor cut to get the job done cheaper. Because contractors always "did it that way" we have building codes.  Those building codes were not instituted because every contractor was meticulous in his work.  They were instituted because of the work that goes along with "everybody does it that way."

I need the money up front

Then you don’t need to work on my property.  You get paid when you are finished and the work is done properly.  Not getting paid should not be a problem for a contractor because of contractors’ lien laws, which can result in a lien on the property they worked on if the owner doesn’t pay.  If the contractor doesn’t have the money or credit to buy the necessary equipment to do the job, that should raise a crimson flag.

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about hiring the right contractor, visit the entire lens by clicking: Hiring Contractors For Service Work

I posted on Love Shak, Baby earlier this week about doing a massive bunch of laundry. I posted that Monday, and here it is Friday and I am still doing laundry. I wrote in that post that I thought we had too much clothing. I didn’t know the half of it.

Since Monday I have gotten rid of 6 kitchen sized trash bags full of clothing. While doing the laundry, I hung a bag on the laundry room door for getting rid of clothing that looked bad, didn’t fit, or otherwise needed to exit my house.

Today, I’m nearly finished with the laundry, so I went into all our closets and got rid of tons of stuff. I looked at the clothes and thought, "Do I feel good when I wear this?" If I didn’t, in the bag it went. Also, I got rid of a great deal of items that I have several of. for example, I had 7 white button up shirts. Why? Who really needs seven white button up shirts? Not me, so in the bag it went.

I also got rid of every single pair of overalls I own, except one pair. I got rid of many, many pairs of jeans. I don’t know why, but I have a problem with hoarding bluejeans. Out they went. Once I had all the clothing I no longer wanted out of the closet, I pulled all the unused hangers out. I was surprised- I have a ton of hangers. Hangers have always been a scarce commodity in our house, but they won’t be anymore. I have enough hangers to hang up half the clothing in the state of Rhode Island, I’m convinced.

Now that I have the clothing pared down to a minimum, I have new rules. If I get a new item of clothing, one item of old clothing must go. If I try something on and hate it, it goes in the "I don’t like this" box. I think if I keep to these rules, I will be able to keep the clothing clutter down. That’s one less thing to have to worry about!

My mother decorates for Thanksgiving, but I do not. I like having a nice period of neutral decorating before the long, long Christmas decorating season, personally.

On the other hand, after seeing Jennifer’s Thanksgiving decorating over at her blog, The Felt Mouse, I may have just changed my mind. After looking at Jennifer’s pictures, I am inspired. That’s just another great thing about blogging, it opens your decorating horizons!

[Photo Credit: Jennifer at The Felt Mouse]

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Who Is Mike Holmes by dougeby

Holmes on Homes - Hero to Home Owners

He’s a modern day hero.  He’s every shoddy contractor’s worst nightmare.  He’s the star of Holmes on Homes.  He’s Mike Holmes.

Once a week we get to watch Mike Holmes rescue home owners from the clutches of despair and often times, financial ruin.

Mike apprenticed under his dad who frequently told Mike "If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time" and has continued to use this as his motto.  Mike is a craftsman with integrity, who knows the importance of resourcefulness and craftsmanship.

"I’ve been fixing a lot of sloppy, lazy and dangerous work for the past two decades" says Holmes. "I think it’s time to expose the work of these so-called contractors and help some homeowners make informed decisions. I want to take the word ‘minimum’ out of the construction industry and stop the slow death of craftsmanship".

In 2006 the Holmes Foundation was launched by Mike Holmes.  The foundations main goals are to assist Canadians who need help or resources to get their homes and lives back after botched renovations; and to support the training of youth in the skilled trades, through apprenticeships, scholarships and bursaries.

A True Hero.To learn everything you ever wanted to know about Mike Holmes, visit the entire lens by clicking: Who Is Mike Holmes

Mike Holmes - Holmes on Homes Seasons 1-4

Get the first four seasons of Holmes on Homes.

Holmes on Homes: Season 1

Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 11/01/2007)
List Price: $29.98

Holmes on Homes: Season 2

Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 11/01/2007)
List Price: $29.98

Holmes on Homes - The Complete Third Season

Holmes on Homes - The Complete Fourth Season

Holmes on Homes - The Complete First, Second, Third and Fourth Seasons

Tools for the DIY

Stanley 45-300 Aluminum Carpenters Square

Amazon Price: $11.54 (as of 10/15/2007)

Robotoolz 3610-3 Torpedo 3 Level with 3 Beam Laser

Amazon Price: $89.99 (as of 10/15/2007)

Starrett 11H-12-4R Combination Square with Cast Iron Head and Black Wrinkle Finish

Amazon Price: $58.09 (as of 10/15/2007)

Swanson 9-Inch Sliding T-Bevel (Hardwood Handle Stainless Steel Blade and Brass Fittings)

Amazon Price: $12.68 (as of 10/15/2007)

M-D Building Products 63388 48-Inch Carpentry and Construction Aluminum Level

Amazon Price: $27.23 (as of 10/15/2007)

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about Mike Holmes, visit the entire lens by clicking: Who Is Mike Holmes

I think if you can say you have never, ever been guilty of one of HGTV’s "25 Biggest Decorating Mistakes", then you are either a professional decorator or you’re lying. I think we’ve all fallen prey to at least one of these in our lifetimes. I’ve definitely been a perpetrator of hanging my pictures too high, and I still don’t have all my cords hidden.

I think their list is good, but some of their examples, like this one on the "Everything Matches" no-no, actually look pretty cool. Maybe it IS too matchy-matchy, but I quite like it anyway.

What do you think? Can you add some major decorating faux pas to the list?

HT: Ribbon Rock Star
[Image Credit: HGTV]

The Clutter Control Freak Blog has some great advice for people who have to control their clutter in small spaces. There’s some great advice here. I would add a couple of things, like:

1. Be especially wary of paper clutter. Somehow this ends up being worse in smaller houses. Make sure you have a good filing system for the paperwork you need.

2. Use bold accents, but try to keep them within the same color range. Too much color of different types can make your room look even more cluttery, even if it is not.

That’s about all I’ve got, does anyone else have any suggestions?