Green Home!

Archive for February, 2010

One of the best ways to increase the value of your home is to improve the bathrooms. Here’s a primer on things to consider.

Sinks

Villeroy and Boch makes a sink that mimics a boulder worn into a bowl by water flowing into it. It can be quite handsome in a minimalist home or a rustic one. You can see it and others at villeroy-boch.com.

Concrete Jungle makes some dramatically simple concrete sinks and vanities that surprisingly look very modern, or very farm-house. Check concretejungleonline.com if that idea appeals.

Walker Zanger’s designs include a perfectly simple sink in white marble for a dressier look. They also have a sturdy dark wooden “table” base that gives it dramatic contrast. You might enjoy visiting walkerzanger.com for more ideas.

Showers

A shower separate from the tub is one of today’s favorite luxuries. Some of them have been designed to feel like rain (at least part of the time). Dornbracht has one called “RainSky M” which can be checked out at dornbracht.com.

Large frameless (or nearly frameless) glass shower enclosures are showing up in more and more homes. MAAX makes a line of showers with features like overhead “waterfall” systems, hand held shower heads, and body sprays coming from the side that work well in a frameless enclosure.

I helped a family sell a home with a very interesting master bath not too long ago. It had a shower much like the one described above, but it was designed for two people. It looked like a glass room “floating” inside the large bathroom.

Tubs

As for tubs. Well. Would you believe a tub in an arched tile niche with a gas log fireplace at its foot? Believe it. Can you imagine a nice long soak while listening to flute music and sipping chilled champagne? (James Bond can keep his martini.)

Then there are the Acryline tubs which employ warm air hydro-massage to counter the effects of the daily rush-grab-dash of life. Explore their therapy theory at acrylineusa.com.

You get the idea. Updated means simple. It does not mean blah. It does mean coddled. It can give you and your family pleasure and comfort while you live in your home. It can increase your home’s sale value. You’ll be tempted, but don’ overbuild your neighborhood with the Taj Mahal of bathrooms if you want to be pleased with the result when you sell.

Disaster, especially water disaster is an unexpected event that sometimes we cannot avoid. Cleaning the house or other building after water disaster happened is a difficult job to handle. With assistance from a qualified and experienced restoration company, we can reclaim our home and building back to normal. A water disaster may as a result of flood, storms, broken pipes, and or even from an overflowed sewer because of system failure. A small leak from a pipe in a long period will result in a massive damage if the leaks are undetected.

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Bunk beds are a great way to fit two beds into a smaller space, or to maximize the floor space of a shared room. There are now bunk beds available with storage drawers, roll out mattresses and even some that double as desks and workstations. All the additional amenities that bunk beds now offer are certainly something to be considered, but nothing is more important when purchasing a bunk bed than safety. Know what to look for and you will get a great looking bunk bed that serves its purpose. There are certain things an educated consumer should know to look out for, and it also goes without saying that not all bunk beds are created equal. There are several manufacturers of bunk beds who make quality furniture pieces, and armed with a little knowledge, you can purchase the right bed for your children.

All bunk beds should have rails for the top bunk. Without question, the number one cause of bunk bed related injuries stems from children falling out of the top bunk. A quality bunk bed will never lack rails for a bed so high off the floor. Additionally, parents should always make sure the rails are tight and secure after the bunk bed has been purchased or assembled.

Ladder placement is important. Ladders will either be on the sides or front of the bed. A good rule of thumb to follow is that bunk beds with four feet or four posts touching the ground should have the ladder in front; meaning on the long side of the bed that usually faces out from the wall (provided the bed is set against a wall). You should only see ladders on the short “ends” of the bunk bed if the bed has a solid foundation on both ends, meaning wood or metal all the way across the end that touches the floor. The reason for this is that front side ladders are at an angle while end ladders are straight up and down. If your child slips on a front sided ladder, which is always angled, he or she will not fall straight down, eliminating the possibility of landing on the bottom bunk rails or getting an appendage caught in the bed. This can happen with a vertical ladder, which is why they should only be placed on the ends of beds, preferably with “walled” or “semi-walled” ends that go all the way to the floor. This will prevent your child from getting an appendage caught on the bed should he or she fall on a vertical ladder.

Bunk bed construction, as one might imagine, is also very important. Wood has substantially less compression strength than metal, so while wooden bunk beds are certainly fine, be wary of those that don’t weigh much more than their metal counterparts. Wood bunk beds are just as good as metal bunk beds, but should weigh considerably more.

Being an educated consumer will allow you to get the bunk bed you want while making sure that your children’s safety needs are met.