Adding a room to your house is a very exciting project However, before embarking building a family room addition the homeowner should first consider several important items. These items include: home market values in the neighborhood, financing, home building costs, family room design plans (size and scale of project), architecture, and timetable for completion, personal disruption/inconvenience threshold and the sweat equity commitment level.

Designing a Family Room Addition and Assessing Market Value
Prior to actually breaking ground on a family room addition, it is best to first have a plan. You need to determine what you are looking for in additional living space. For example: How many square feet? What types of rooms? Once this is understood, it is then important to find out the market value of homes in the local area with similar size and features to the new and improved home. With this information the homeowner can then calculate the difference between their current home market value and the new and improved home market value. This difference should represent the maximum cost budget for the new addition if a positive investment is desired. For example, a homeowner would not want to spend $40,000 on a new family room addition that provides only $20,000 in increased market value to the improved home.

Schedule and Sweat Equity Commitment
The next two items that should be considered include the timetable for completing the project and the homeowner sweaty equity commitment level. Many homeowners assume they can do a lot more than they are either skilled to do or have the time to do. From personal experience, I would suggest contracting out the site/ground work, rough framing, roofing, siding, heating/cooling, and the drywall. All of these tasks require skill, time and brawn. If local laws permit, electric and plumbing may be tackled by the homeowner. However, both require skill and can be life threatening if not performed properly. Other tasks that a homeowner could tackle include installing interior doors, finish trim, painting, cabinet installation, tiling and hardwood flooring. Prior to a homeowner signing up to any specific task however, they should first honestly assess their skill and available time, and compare them to their project schedule. If they don’t match, hire the contractor.

Threshold of Inconvenience and Disruption
Finally, a homeowner should consider their threshold for inconvenience and disruption. A family room addition, particularly if it involves the kitchen, is very disruptive to today’s busy lifestyles. It is also a dusty, dirty and noisy endeavor. In addition, dealing with subcontractors can be challenging at best. For a typical family room addition anticipate several months of effort and inconvenience. If after assessing all these issues you are still willing to move forward with the project, contact your subcontractors, pull your permits and get ready for an exciting time. For most homeowners building a family room addition is a positive experience that provides both new living space and a great investment.

Any remodeling project can seem overwhelming, but it’s guaranteed to go more smoothly if you hire the right contractor.

Remodeling is a big event, whether it’s a room or your whole house.

As the client, you are the one driving the process.

Our expert consultants, at Preferred Home Builders, will answer all your questions, and provide you with a creative and modern design for your home, Contact us at any time 1.888.937.8321

An energy efficient form of house heating, which is particularly suitable for new build houses, is the ground source heat pump system.

Although the initial expense of fitting a ground source heating system is high compared to the normal gas or oil fired hot water systems, the running costs are lower and, since the heated air is taken from the ground under your garden, you are immune from future increases in home heating fuel bills.

A geoexchange heat system is a heating and cooling system for both domestic houses and commercial property. In a normal central heating system, oil or gas is burnt in a boiler to heat water which is then pumped through radiators in your house and heats the air in each room in your house.

In the ground source system, the heat pump circulates a refrigerant which collects the heat trapped in the ground around your house and delivers it into your house. During the winter, the soil under your garden is at a higher temperature than the air above it and the ground source heat pump system uses this situation to move heat around to the place it is wanted, in exactly the same way as the fridge in your kitchen operates, but on a larger scale.

Modern houses with good levels of insulation are better able to take advantage of the warm air provided by the ground source heat pump.

New build houses, designed around the system from the start, can benefit the most from its energy efficiency. The loops that carry the refrigerant fluid can be buried in the garden of the house at the same time as the foundations are being prepared.

The energy efficiency of the system is reflected in the fact that for each kilowatt of electricity needed to operate the heat pump, around 3.5 kilowatts of heat can be delivered to the house.

This article is only intended as a basic general summary and you should always seek professional advice where necessary.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, in 2005, heating equipment was involved in an estimated 62,200 reported home structure fires, 670 civilian deaths, 1,550 civilian injuries, and $909 million in direct property damage.

In 2005, most home heating fire deaths (73%), injuries (64%), and direct property damage (57%) involved stationary or portable space heaters.

Chimneys and chimney connectors accounted for the largest share of home heating fires (36%).

Although we have had several balmy days this past week, the heating season is right around the corner. This morning alone I saw two “breaking news” reports regarding fires in our community. Please take a moment to read these important safety topics and be a step ahead to protecting yourself from a house fire.

Gas or electric furnaces that have not been used for several months will most likely have a build-up of dust and dirt on heating elements. This can cause a burning smell and even a light haze of white smoke when first operated for the season. This smell and haze are not harmful, and will take only several uses before all the dust and dirt on the heating unit are burnt away. To be safe, try to run the furnace on a warm day while opening all windows so the smell can escape. If the smoke turns black and the furnace starts to rumble leave the building immediately and call the fire department by dialing 911.
Before using the fireplace for the first time in a season, make sure the flue is open. The flue is a trap door that keeps heat out in the summer and cool air from coming in when the fireplace is not in use. You can check it by looking up the chimney to see if you are able to see daylight. If there are any obstructions, remove them. If not removed, these obstructions will cause carbon monoxide to back up into your home. Carbon monoxide is a deadly, odorless and invisible gas. Artificial logs made from wax and sawdust should be used one at a time. Pressure-treated wood should not be burned in stoves or fireplaces because it contains toxic chemicals that can make you sick. Never leave a fireplace unattended. Chimneys and vents should be inspected and cleaned annually. Have chimneys inspected and cleaned when necessary by a professional chimney sweep. Creosote is an unavoidable product of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces. Creosote builds up in connectors and chimney flues and can cause a chimney fire. Don’t burn newspapers or other trash in a fireplace because they burn too hot and can ignite a chimney fire.
Coal and Wood Burning Stoves
Use coal only if specifically approved by the stove manufacturer. Gasoline or other flammable liquids should never be used to start a wood fire since it might explode or flare up. Never use gasoline in kerosene heaters. Gasoline or other flammable liquids should never be used to start a wood fire since it might explode or flare up. The directions on artificial logs made from wax and sawdust say they should be used one at a time in fireplaces and never used in wood stoves. This is because the heat can melt the log causing it to flare up or leak burning liquid from the appliance. Pressure-treated wood should not be burned in stoves or fireplaces because it contains toxic chemicals that can make you sick.

Safety Tips:
>Space heaters need space. Portable space heaters need a three-foot (one meter) clearance from anything that can burn and should always be turned off when leaving the room or going to sleep.
>When buying a new unit, make sure it carries the mark of an independent testing lab. Be sure that a qualified technician installs the unit or checks that the unit has been installed properly.
>Wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys, chimney connectors, and all other solid-fueled heating equipment need to be inspected annually by a professional and cleaned as often as the inspections indicate.
>Portable kerosene heaters must be fueled only in a well-ventilated area, free of flame and other heat sources, and only when the device has cooled completely. Use only the type of kerosene specified by the manufacturer for that device, and never use gasoline instead of kerosene. Also, be sure that portable kerosene heaters are legal for home use in your state.
When turning a heating device on or off, be careful to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. When buying heaters, look for devices with automatic shutoff features.
>Be sure any gas-fueled heating device is installed with proper attention to ventilation, and never put unvented gas space heaters in bedrooms or bathrooms. Also, LP (liquefied petroleum) gas heaters with self-contained fuel supplies are prohibited for home use by NFPA codes.

Tomorrow on Home&Yard Radio with the Fixie Chick, 950am at 10:00am, we’ll be discussing alternative home heating options and renewable fuel types. You can now listen on line! www.HomeAndYardRadio.com
Thanks for reading.
-The Fixie Chick

Did your heating bill again knock your socks off? Why not mine? I have a 2100 plus square foot house but my heating system costs only $200 per month. As compared to me, your bill may be even more than $500. Why is there such a big difference? Let’s know the basics to minimize this intolerable difference.

When it comes to my house, its visage is southern and obtains a good heat in winter seasons which turns into shade in summer. Most importantly, it is earth sheltered and on ground floor it is heated by propane heater. Additionally I have a wood stove for wintry days and even it is used for cooking whenever power is off. Higher altitude of mountainous location gives my home an appreciable air conditioning for free.

Now let’s look on possible problems in your house. First of all your house may be in city where it gets little sun heat. Even though your house might be new and expensive but still I think insulation may be poor. Additionally you may have conventional gas heating and electric cooling system, both of which are expensive. In this way your house is sucking some extra money from your pocket. Obviously most of the houses in US are power controlled. So what you should do to save money? Here are three valuable strategies to do it efficiently.

1. Make sure to use less gas and power in extra efficient systems like air conditioners, hot water heaters and thermostats.

2. Insulation makes a big difference. You should try to increase insulation in structures which are not properly insulated. Cover all cabinets and shelves in the wall with doors. Also build a porch to shade the windows which will serve to save your home from hot sun. Investment in new sheet rock and insulation is required only once but your bill will come every month. Surely these are old ideas but we need to bring these ideas back to save some useful money.

3. While building your house you should ensure good science. Many builders avoid learning and doing something new so they use conventional ideas which are surely sucking our resources. Also poor quality systems are embedded in these extra large and too fragile houses. For this you need to learn all the basics so you become able to ask your builder for a higher quality.

Always remember houses built on small footprints have proved more energy efficient. Experiences have proved that smaller houses are cheaper to have proper heating and cooling system. Another way of proper heating and cooling is to stack the floors over each other. This way they work more efficiently and save some extra money. Similarly, earth sheltering is another useful approach. By this approach the under ground temperature remains 55 degree and it requires only a small amount of heating and dehumidifying. However some of these structures my not need any cooling or heating but still best thing about them is storm and fire resistance capability. Another option can be the addition of solar collectors to your yard and house. The idea of fireplace can be excellent in cold climates to have good heating environment in your house.

Does all this sounds good for you? Surely, if we go for good science rather than fashion, valuable money can be saved to invest some where else!