I was totally called out by my friend, @kylerohde today. He claims that most all homeowners are already fully aware of the winterizing “tips & tricks” that I blog about every year. Is this true? Is it common knowledge that you need to leave all of your faucets dripping during freezing temperatures and that you need to check your smoke alarm batteries?

Okay fine.

What about tools. Are you hip to the recommended winterization processes for tools? I bet you’re not, Sen. @kylerohde. Check this out:

OIL
When oil sits around for a period of time, it turns sludgy and makes an engine less efficient. It’s best to drain your tools of any oil and dispose of properly (i.e. not down your toilet or kitchen sink).

FUEL FILTERS
A dirty filter will force an engine to work harder than necessary to draw gas. Do you like to work harder than necessary for any reason whatsoever? Didn’t think so. The winter months are a good time to evaluate, remove and replace filters. (By the way, they’ll only set you back $5-$30 – A cheap date if I ever saw one).

SPARK PLUGS
You’ll find these bad-boys in your gas-powered tools. They ignite the air-fuel mixture that fires your engine up and they get dirty with repeated use. You can pull these out and clean them, or you can pick new ones up for about $3 a piece. Not sure about you, but I’d just assume swap the little suckers out. This is strictly personal preference, however.

FUEL
Fuel will degrade in a tank if left to sit idly for several months. Pick up some fuel stabilizer and follow the directions provided – don’t make up your own, that almost never works out in your favor (speaking from personal experience, here). The stabilizer will keep the gas fresh for about 6 months.

RUST
Your mower used to look all shiny and new, didn’t it? What happened? You abused it with stuck-on soil and muck. That crud traps moisture and when secured next to the metal for a period of time (uh, like a winter), then rust will form and degrade your shiny, yard tool. Before you stow your mow, give it a thorough cleaning. Pull out the putty knife and work with a wire brush.

LUBE
Hinges and moving parts should be sufficiently lubed before storing equipment for the winter season. This will prevent rusting and cracking. Wouldn’t it be great if they made some of that tool lube for humans?

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What do you know? The annual Remodeling Cost vs. Value report for 2009-2010 was just released and despite the track record of recent years past, a new trend is being established.

Hip, hip, hooray for Exterior Remodeling Projects!

Gone are the days of “best bang for your buck” in the form of Kitchen and Bathroom remodeling. It’s the remodeled exterior of your home that will now offer the greatest return, according to this year’s cost vs. value report. Seven out of the top ten high-yielding value projects on this acclaimed report are exterior remodeling projects.

Reason being? I’ll give you one guess.

The state of the economy has forced many homeowner to scale back on their projects in the name of frugality. Tax credits and energy efficiency incentives also aide in this outcome.

Folks are recognizing the importance of quality product vs. price of product (i.e. Most homeowners are now willing to pay more money up front for an energy efficient window that will help to lower utility bills in the long run). Projects are being recognized more and more as true investments.

Your Top Ten list is here:

1. Entry door replacement steel (128.9%)
2. Attic bedroom (83.1%)
3. Deck addition wood (80.6%)
4. Siding replacement vinyl (79.9%)
5. Minor kitchen  remodel (78.3%)
6. Window replacement wood (77.3%)
7. Window replacement vinyl (76.6%)
8. Basement remodel (75.4%)
9. Major kitchen remodel (72.1%)
10. Bathroom remodel (71%)

No, I did not illustrate this cartoon. Not a chance. I stole it from the web. Pulled it off of Google.

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I thought I might post a quick blog about our blog and our blogging efforts.

We started bombarding the blogosphere with our advice, opinions and recommendations earlier this year. And not only have we not been kicked off of the world wide web (surprisingly), we’ve actually been applauded. That’s right – Somebody other than us thinks we’re pretty cool.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) publishes a bimonthly magazine, The Remodelers Journal, that is distributed to thousands of industry big-wigs across the nation. A couple months back, we received a phone call from a NARI Remodelers Journal reporter who had caught wind of our bad-ass blogging and social media campaigning.

The lady interviewed us and told us that she was going to feature Total Home in the upcoming magazine. Well, that upcoming magazine has been written, printed and distributed.

Do you know what that means? That means that your little, local remodeling company is the greatest remodeling company in the world! Okay. It may not mean that, exactly. But it does mean that we are kind of a big deal. Look out Hollywood, here we come.

Check out our article. Be proud of us. Feel free to help us deflate our overly inflated ego – but in regards to that last one, give us just a day or so if you could, we kind of like feeling like we’re something extra special.

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