Home Tips for Heavy Snow

Maryland has been hit with about 30″ of snow so far and more snow is falling. I don’t mind the snow but it does present some unique challenges for protecting my home. This post will focus on things homeowners need to address during / after a heavy snow fall. Freezing Pipes Frozen pipes cut off water supply and are in danger of bursting. Pipes running along exterior wall and uninsulated... 

Seal Your Home website

A good resource I’ve come across is called Seal Your Home. This site was created by DAP to help educate consumers about weatherizing- improving the energy efficiency of a building’s envelope. Reducing the flow of cold air into your home is an important part of weatherization and this site helps you identify air leaks and also how to fix them. Seal Your Home is a simple website, packed... 

Your Take: Home Phone Service or Not

Recently, I’ve been sifting through our spending, thinking of ways to save a few dollars. One popular way to trim down monthly bills is to cut out the home phone service. Just about everyone has a cell phone, so why keep a home phone too? There are some benefits to having a home phone but is it worth the additional cost? Benefits of Having a Home Phone Here are the reasons I found for maintaining... 

What Matters for Home Appraisals

Recently, we’ve been going through the process of refinancing our mortgage. One part of the process is a getting an appraisal done. I was very interested to find out how much our house is worth, and how the upgrades have impacted the value. Fortunately, the house appraised well. It was at the top of the range! Most of the upgrades really helped our house stand out from the rest. However, it’s... 

Refinancing My Mortgage: Starting the Process

I’m still going through the process of refinancing my mortgage. At this point, I’m hunting around trying to find a good rate, without huge closing costs. As this is my first home and first mortgage, I’m also learning about the whole refinance process. Necessary Information to Refinance My first question about refinancing was what kind of information do I need. Here is what I’ve... 

Home Depot Tool Rental Review

I had a bad experience with Home Depot Tool Rental. I attempted to rent a tool and ended up sacrificing about 4 hours of my life. Perhaps this short post will give me some perspective. The Problem Monday’s post was about fixing a jammed floor nailer. Just before that, I decided to rent a nailer from Home Depot. I only had a small area left and I really wanted to finish. So I called the local HD Tool...