Basement Remodeling

Basement Remodeling is a great way to increase the living area in your home. And unlike adding an addition onto your home, ground/site work and installing a new foundation are not required. Consequently a basement renovation project can be a much more affordable project to do and provide a much higher return on investment.

However before you decide to tackle a basement remodeling project it is important that you first develop a basement renovation plan.

Goals of Basement Project

Part of a good finished basement plan is listing the purposes of the finished basement. For example, will the basement be used for a recreation area, or for bedrooms? Is a bathroom or a kitchen area desired? Is a home theater or wine cellar part of the ultimate plan? Understanding how the basement will be utilized will help in determining what specific engineering and mechanical needs are required in the actual design and plans for the basement remodeling project.

Making Preliminary Repairs before Basement Construction

The second major item that should be addressed before tackling a basement renovation project is taking care of any problems that exist in the basement. For example if there are cracks in the foundation walls or floor, they need to be repaired before starting the basement construction project. Also, if there are leaking or sweating pipes they should be repaired before remodeling starts. In addition, if the basement construction plans include plumbing that will require demolition of some of the basement floor it is critical to do this before the rest of the basement construction starts.

Also you should consider the size and location of the furnace. You need to determine if the existing furnace will be adequate to properly heat the newly remodeled basement area? If it is not, a larger furnace may be required. You also need to consider the location of the furnace and the noise it generates. If the furnace is going to be located near a finished basement area then you may need to wall off and properly insulate the furnace room from the finished basement area. You may also need to modify the furnace design such that fresh air is pulled in from the outside of the home.

Insulation of the exterior walls should also be considered. During the framing/construction phase, rigid Styrofoam insulation can be installed to help make the remodeled basement area warmer. Consider insulation requirements before starting the basement remodeling project.

Basement Lighting

One of the most important aspects of a basement renovation project is the lighting. A finished basement that is naturally dark is very uninviting for family members and guests. To address this problem, your basement remodeling plans should consider adding natural light wherever possible. If the foundation has concrete knee walls, consider framing in windows above the knee walls. If the basement has a walk out area, consider installing glass sliders or French doors.

In addition to adding natural light to the basement, consider installing can lights in the ceiling, and sconces on the walls. They can really brighten up the basement area and make the space into a warm and inviting area.

Basement Floor Layout Tips

When developing the floor layout of your basement project, consider putting bedrooms and recreation areas near the natural light areas, e.g. near the walkout sliders.

If a home theater or wine cellar is part of your basement design goals, locate them in areas of the basement where natural lighting is not required.

If a bathroom or kitchen area is part of your basement design objectives, locate them directly below existing plumbing on the first floor of the home. This will help to minimize the amount of piping that is required in the precious head room area of a basement. It will also help to limit the amount of structural/framing work required.

Again, if there is a furnace area that needs to be contended with in terms of noise, locate the wine cellar, or storage spaces near the furnace. These areas/rooms can help to insulate the rest of the basement rooms from the noise of the furnace.

If there are Lally columns (support posts) that need to be contended with, try to develop a basement construction plan that locates walls such that the Lally columns can be buried in them. If burying them is impossible, then consider schemes for boxing them in or finishing them off so that they become less of an obstruction and eye-sore to the finished basement.

Basement Ceilings

When developing a Basement design, the ceiling choice is an important decision. Many homeowners choose to install dropped ceiling tiles, while others elect to install drywall ceilings. Both have their pros and cons. Dropped ceiling tiles allow easy access to pipes and electrical wiring, however they do impact the ceiling height more dramatically than a drywall ceiling.

Drywall ceilings, on the other hand can give a more finished looked and provide more head room, however access to pipes and wiring is limited. If a drywall ceiling is your preference or requirement due to limited ceiling height, plan for access doors underneath first floor bathtub J-traps, valves, and key electrical junction boxes.

Who will perform the Basement Remodeling Construction

Deciding on whether to hire a remodeling contractor, or do it yourself is always a big question. Yes, you can save yourself a bundle if you do it yourself. However, frequently many homeowners start a basement project and never complete it.

If you truly want a finished basement, you need to be honest with yourself on the time commitment and the skills required. If you can not dedicate your next 12-16 weekends to the project, or lack skills in framing and construction, then you should probably hire either a general contractor or act as your own general contractor.

A Basement Remodeling project is a great way to provide additional living space in your home at a fraction of the cost of building an addition onto your home. With proper planning, a finished basement can become the spot in your home where the family and friends want to spend all of their recreational time. Good luck with your basement remodeling project!

About the Author: Over the past 20+ years Mark Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more information about Home Improvement and Home Additions, and Home Remodeling and Repair visit homeadditionplus.com and homeaddition.blogspot.com

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The Benefits of Installing Gable Vents in Your Home's Attic

Gable vents are a great alternative, or an addition, to your home's ventilation system. They typically reside near the peak of your roof, on the gable ends of the house. Frequently they are used as the sole means for keeping the air moving in your attic, however sometimes they are used in conjunction with ridge vents and soffits vents.

It is important that your home's attic have a venting system to help bleed off the heat and humidity in the attic during the summer months, and moist stagnant air during the winter months. The heat of the summer, if left in the attic, will counterbalance the effort of the air conditioning system on the upper level, and can cause structural damage to the home. If the attic heat is not removed, the life of the roof shingles can be dramatically shortened, which could lead to roof leaks and water damage to the home. Also, anything stored in the attic can become damaged due to the excessive heat build up.

If the stagnant moist air is not taken out of the attic during the winter months, condensation can form in the attic. This condensation can then cause mold and mildew to grow in the attic. The formation of mold and mildew in the home can cause health problems for the occupants and can be extremely expensive to remove.

Gable vents are a great alternative to ridge vents, as they can add some charm to the home. Gable vents are passive venting systems that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Rectangular and octagon shaped ones are fairly common. They are constructed out of wood, vinyl or metal and have slats or louvers on them to help prevent wind, rain and snow from entering the attic. In addition, they typically have an insect screen on the back side of them (the side that faces the attic) to prevent insects, bats and other rodents from entering the attic space. Some of the more elaborate models have fans that sit on the backside of them to help push the attic air out of the home, and to draw new air into it. For example, one side of the home may have a gable vent that sucks new air into the attic, and the other side, a gable vent to push air out of the attic.

Over the past 20+ years Mark Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more information about Home Improvement and Home Additions, and Home Remodeling and Repair visit homeadditionplus.com and homeaddition.blogspot.com.

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Container Gardening In Apartments or Condos

Container gardening is for many people that think that their gardening days are over when they move to an apartment or condo. You can still grow pretty and useful plants if you opt for a container garden. There are a few rules you will have to follow when starting your container garden. The five elements that are crucial to your container garden are the pot (size for each individual plant), the soil, how much light your plants will need, watering requirements and fertilizer. For example herbs do not need big pots but they do need at least six hours of sunlight. Their fertilizing is minimal and they need good drainage in loose soil.

Choosing the right container is very important for you and your plants. You will want to choose a pot that is complementary to your home or outside patio and you also want to meet the needs of the plants. Cedar and redwood containers are rot resistant while other woods will rot. If you do choose to use wood pots make sure that they are not treated with harmful chemicals that will be detrimental to your plants. Do not use plastic pots in the sun; they will fall apart very quickly. Terra Cotta containers do not do well in the sunlight. They dry out quickly and have a tendency to crack and break. The best pots to use for your container garden on the patio are glazed ceramic pots. These are pretty and colorful but make sure there are plenty of drainage holes.

For soil that is completely dependent on what kind of plants you plan to grow. Remember you are going to be growing your garden in limited space so make sure that the soil will drain sufficiently. The key here is to have a soil mixture that will retain moisture put has adequate drainage as not to drown the roots. A little bit of research into the type of plant you are growing should tell you each individual plants needs. For instance some plants may require a little sand be added to the mix. In container gardening getting all the components right is absolutely necessary for your success.

Another aspect of your research is to know how much light your plants need. All plants have different light levels. For instance, impatiens do well in the shade while vegetables and flowers thrive in the sunlight.

Fertilizing is a most important aspect of container gardening. When a plant is in a container it only has a small amount of soil to draw nutrients from so you will have to give it a little help. To be consistent it is advised to fertilize on every other watering. Don't just use one fertilizer; a mix of nutrients will keep your plants happy and healthy.

Watering a container garden should be your utmost concern. It will take time to determine the right schedule for the individual plants since they all have different needs. If you are having an extremely hot spell it will be necessary to water everyday.

You will be surprised how rewarding container gardening will be for you. It allows city folk to experience a bit of the outdoors in limited space. Once you have researched and decided what type of plants to grow your next step is to gather the necessary materials and plant your container garden. You will reap your rewards when you use your fresh herbs or vegetables in your next dish or you cut beautiful flowers to adorn your home.

Happy Container Gardening!

Copyright Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Gardening Landscaping Tips Gardening Outside and Herb Gardening

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Indoor Vs Outdoor Vegetable Gardening

Whether you prefer to grow your vegetables indoors or out, there are trade offs involved. Soil type and preparation, watering practice, light control, disease and pest control, and other tasks will differ between the two environments. Which is preferable can only be an individual choice, based on individual circumstances.

Preparing and maintaining the soil for outdoor vegetable gardening can be a major chore. Nutrients can be exhausted by yearly planting of the same crop. Fertilizers get leached away. Soil disease is more difficult to control. Breaking up clay or changing pH in a large area requires considerable effort. But you do save the effort of preparing multiple containers and changing them out.

Indoor soil preparation requires less fertilizer, but one has to be more careful to control the amount. Excess is more readily retained. The soil has to be prepared precisely in order to provide the right balance between drainage and moisture retention. Outdoor soil is much more self-regulating. More plants are killed by overwatering than underwatering.

But it is much more difficult to devise an automatic watering system for indoor gardens. Outdoors, a simple and inexpensive drip irrigation system is easy to install and use. Indoors, an automatic sprinkler system would be very costly and messy if it isn't done just right. But if you have only one or two containers and enjoy hand watering, it might well be a negligible effort.

In outdoor vegetable gardens there is rarely a problem with adequate sunshine, provided they're planned correctly. In most climates during the Summer it's not difficult to give plants the five or more hours they need daily. Inside the house that can be tricky. Few will want to move plant containers around all day, but finding a single window that receives adequate light without burning the plants can be hard.

But the type of light and shade is certainly much easier to control indoors. Drawing a window shade or closing louvres when the sun is too hot is simple. There are even automatic systems that will do it for you. And putting a plant near a glass window provides something of a natural greenhouse effect without the expense of a greenhouse.

Diseases and pests can be a problem in either environment. But fighting them outdoors is decidedly harder. It requires constant vigilance and generally more chemical assistance. Fungi are more likely from moisture on the leaves during the night. Insects have easier access to lay eggs that become larvae.

But the smell of controls, either in the form of artificial chemicals, organic substances or trap crops can be more unpleasant than many would want inside. Most insecticides don't have pleasant odors. Even plant-based oils can be overpowering, and they are much more expensive than other types of chemical control.

In the end, each grower will have to weigh the pros and cons for his or her particular situation. Either form of vegetable gardening requires effort, but both bring great rewards when done well. There's nothing quite like fresh vegetables for good taste and great health.

Do you dream of growing a garden but just aren't sure where to start. The Gardener's Atlas offers a ton of gardening tips for gardeners of all levels - beginner or experienced. Visit http://www.gardenersatlas.com to get more information about growing your dream garden.

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Growing and Cloning Great Looking Plants Through Aeroponics

Take heart my fellow hobbyist gardeners. Just the colder winter months are soon upon us doesn't mean we can't continue to grow vibrant, healthy plants indoors. One method I plan on trying out this winter season is aeroponics. Surprisingly, an aeroponics system doesn't need a large amount of space nor potting soil to see luscious results.

Aeroponics is a way of growing plants indoors using air or mist instead of a soil environment. The basic principle is to grow plants in a closed or semi-closed environment. Aeroponics works by spraying the roots of the plants with a nutrient rich solution. The growing environment is kept free from pests and disease so your plants can grow healthier and quicker than normal plants grown outside.

Growing with aeroponics is not as difficult as it may sound and its benefits far outweigh the potential drawbacks. Most plant can be grown using aeroponics. Vegetables using an aeroponic cloner are a great example of this being true. The plants grow faster, with more flowers and fruit produced.

Plant cloning has been known and practiced for centuries. The cloning of plants, through aeroponic prorogation for example, allows gardeners to replicate a genetically identical plant from the parent plant. The cloned plant will hold the exact same characteristics as the original. Everything from growth habit, disease resistance, fruit shape, flower color and yield potential will be exactly the same.

Plant cloning is not a new concept. The process of aeroponic cloning is basically the exact same thing. Only in aeroponic propagation, the cultivation of sibling or cloned plants is done using an aeroponic system instead of the more traditional soil-potting.

If aeronponic propgation sounds like something you may be interested for your home garden. Here are some basic, step-by-step guides to starting your own aeroponic cloning operation:
Select a healthy branch from the parent plant with several clusters of leaves.
Cut off a piece of the branch leaving at least 2 leaf nodes intact.
Remove the largest few leaves as they can be hard for a rootless plant to maintain in the early stages.
Then remove all branches and leaves apart from the top 2 sets. Make sure they are within close proximity to the aeroponic fogger and aeroponic mister.
You are now well on your way to procuring your first crop of cloned plants.

The only drawback to growing and cloning plants with aeroponics is that everything needs to be kept extremely clean. These systems are a continually moist environment, making them very susceptible to bacteria growth. You also need the money up front to pay for an aeroponic cloner, aeroponic fogger, and aeroponic mister.

So if you are looking for another alternative for growing plants this winter, think about growing your plants with an aeroponic cloner. This method works great for growing plants indoors. Aeroponics cloning yields healthier, more abundant growth.

Susan Slobac has a great deal of experience with aeroponic propagation. Hydroponic gardening is the way of the future. Known to some as "soil less gardening", hydroponics are proven to grow plants 20-30% faster than their soil grown counterparts.

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Designing a Year-Round Garden

All great gardens have one thing in common. That is, they offer something during each of the four seasons. Through spring and summer the colorful flowers of perennials, annuals and flowering trees and shrubs are the focal point in the garden. Once the summer flowers begin to fade, the brilliant, colorful foliage of autumn brightens the garden. In the winter, it's the evergreens, berries and bark which provide the garden with color as the form and shape of the plants become more prominent.

Green is the dominant color in the garden in the spring as everything seems to be rapidly putting out new growth. The bulbs and perennials which do flower in the early spring do so against a backdrop of green foliage and brown earth. Bulbs are earliest blooming plants in the garden and are essential to the spring landscape. Some bulbs will even provide color until more perennials begin to bloom in May and June.

Early flowering perennials such as iris range in color from white to yellow to purple and in size from a few inches to 4 feet. For spring foliage, plant some hosta, they grow in a wide variety of greens, from blue-green to yellow-green and they're the perfect backdrop plant for the spring flowers.

Perennial borders peak in mid summer as a wide range of sun-loving flowers begin to bloom. Part of the mix include some leftovers from spring and, towards the end of summer, there are signs of the later blooming flowers as well. Annuals are also in full bloom mid-summer. Though most have finished flowering, fully leafed out shrubs can add a lushness to the garden.

A third wave of blooms begin brighten up the garden once again as the summer flowers begin to fade. The colors in the garden begin to change a bit in the fall with many perennials blooming in shades of yellow, orange and purple. Among these flowers are the annuals, which continue to flower until the first frost. Later in the season, the flowers, especially those of the sedum and black-eyed Susan, turn into brown and rust colored seed heads. They fit in perfectly with the colorful fall foliage of the surrounding trees. The foliage of the late season perennial is attractive on its own.

Once the blooms of the these flowers fade deciding whether to cut them back is up to the individual gardener. Some perennials will collapse to the ground anyways while others will remain standing though the winter with their showy seed heads creating off season interest in the garden.

Winter, the season in which many gardeners forget about the landscape, can offer color and visual interest through evergreen shrubs, bark, plant form and seed heads. For example, a clump of ornamental grass could be left standing through the winter. Redtwig dogwoods are great against the snow and birch trees have colorful, flaking bark. The winter landscape truly would be empty with the hardy evergreen trees and shrubs. Garden walls and fences become more prominent as the foliage which screens them in the summer disappears. Hedges, as well as walls, make a stronger statement in winter. protecting houses from icy blasts and sky-high heating bills.

With some careful planning, it is possible to have a beautiful garden year round. Even in winter, when everything seems to be stark and barren. A few choice shrubs or trees can provide winter interest and a well thought out garden can flower from early spring until the first frost.

R Birch is the publisher of GardenScope.com a garden resource site.

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Where to Start With Organic Gardening?

For many organic growers, farming or gardening is a passion. We feel a connection to the Earth and believe it has become a moral duty to protect her and provide for her. Aside from the apparently spiritual affiliation, it's just plain fun to be out in the sun playing in the dirt and watching things grow - something I never dreamed I would be doing until my wife Pamela introduced me to organic gardening as a way to help feed our menagerie of exotic pets and help distract me from my hectic business life.

Those who take up organic gardening often have no idea to where to buy supplies, for example. They don't know what products they need for soil nourishment or pest control. They may not know how much water to supply, or how to go about composting kitchen scraps for their gardens. They need more than a few organic garden tips and ideas. Many will need hand-helding through their first steps in organic gardening.

Imagine growing a beautiful garden or orchids,, or other plants and be the envy of all your neighbours out there :)

Here are a few tips just to get you started in the right direction with organic gardening:

- Firstly, you need to choose what you will grow and decide how much you will need to plant based on your needs or goals in sales. Without knowing what you want to put in your soil, you can't start organic gardening.

- Second, you need to keep the soil healthy. Healthy soil produces healthy plants. Healthy plants, like healthy humans, are better able to withstand disease.

- Use ladybugs. Yes, ladybugs (or ladybirds as they are also called). These beautiful little red insects with shiny black spots control aphids naturally and totally. You can order them from several organic garden places on the Internet. Until they arrive, spray every part of aphid-infested plants with well diluted soapy water and then rinse with clear water.

- You will also need to know how to make compost. Make compost the lazy way, by layering leaves, lawn clippings, and kitchen waste. Then simply leave it until it's ready. Nature's recyclers will take organic matter no matter how it is presented and turn it into rich, nice dark compost.

These were just a few tips that took from Organic Gardening, my "bible" for organic gardening.

An avid organic gardener
http://organic-gardening-ideas.blogspot.com/

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