Until recently, we lived in an old house. Not old enough to be considered historical, or even classic, just old enough to be considered junky. There’s not a straight line or level plane anywhere in sight, and without a total demolition and reconstruction, we’re pretty much limited to cosmetic fixes.
Kids are fickle creatures. Their passions change weekly, if not daily. A parent can go crazy, not to mention broke, trying to decorate a kid’s room in the style that he wants right now. Let’s not even think about that fact that as a child gets older, the Barney motif is out, and Junior will be horribly humiliated if any of his friends see one trace of purple in his domain. So what’s a suitably concerned parent to do? Improvise! There are many ways to give your child a new room frequently, without going banktrupt or insane.
Many of us are afraid to try coordinating colors in a room. This fear can be acquired by simple self doubt, or the experience of walking into a friend’s room and swearing that you will never, ever make the mistake of trying to combine colors in case it should end up looking like that. Fear not, there is a simple, fool-proof method that will have you using colors like a pro!
A room is divided into five main parts – walls, trim, floors, furniture and accessories. The problem arises when you’re trying to decide what colors to use on each element. Most of us simply give up, and choose safe, boring white for a good portion of it. How do you utilize other colors, and not end up with a garish, ugly color scheme? Keep reading, and you’ll see just how simple it is.
You’ve already learned that the room has five parts, so you won’t be too surprised to find out that the color is a four-part system. These four parts are – Main Neutral, Secondary Neutral, Main Color, and Secondary Color. A color is neutral if it is a shade of white (bright white, cream, eggshell), brown (beige, sand, tan), or black (light gray, charcoal gray, dove gray).
Five parts to a room, four color options. Pretty simple so far, right? Don’t worry, it doesn’t get much tougher. In most rooms, the walls and the floor will be the two main sections, with the trim and furniture being the secondary areas. If your floors are wood, they’re completely removed from the mix, and the equation changes. Walls are still main, and either furniture or trim is elevated to main. Which one will become a main element depends on the room and your own personal taste.
Let’s take a closer look at a standard room, with the floors and walls being main, and the furniture, trim and accessories being secondary. Pick a main neutral and a main color for your walls and carpet. You could choose sand colored beige for the walls, and a deep burgundy carpet. Or perhaps a dove gray carpet and a navy blue wall. Either choice works beautifully. Now your secondary neutral and color come into play. Beige walls and burgundy carpet. How about chocolate brown trim, and some hunter green furniture? You could even use a neutral for the trim and the furniture, reserving your secondary color for accessories, like pillows and decorative items.
In some rooms, the trim is extensive and/or ornate, and deserves main status on its own. Choose a color that highlights and accentuates your trim work, with a contrasting color for the walls. Two neutrals are fine, as long as they don’t blend together. White trim and charcoal or reddish-brown walls is a stunning look. The trick is to decide which of the four room elements you want to draw attention to, and use a color that will highlight it. Using dark shades elsewhere, and a bright neutral or color in the desired area works, as does the reverse method of using light shades in areas you don’t want to stand out and deep, rich colors in the area you want people to notice. My living room has a lot of handcrafted woodwork in the moldings, mantel, and attached shelves. There are also two sets of double windows that take up most of the wall space at either end of the room, along with a swinging, multi-paned glass door leading into another room. There is no way that the trim could not be one of the major parts of the room. My woodwork is bright white, the walls are charcoal gray to accent the white, the floors are hardwood (which is insignificant for this exercise) and the furniture is beige. However, I have accent pieces in cobalt blue and ruby red to bring a much-needed splash of color to the room.
You may have noticed that I’ve talked about five room parts, and only four colors. Accessories usually don’t comprise a true main focus in a room, so you have lots of room to play around with them. If you’ve used two different neutrals and two different colors already in the room, you can use any of those colors accessorizing, or a different shade of one of them. Let’s go back to our first room, the one with beige walls, burgundy carpet, brown trim, and hunter green furniture. You could use the same burgundy in throw pillows, silk flowers, matting in paintings. Or perhaps some beige and brown striped silk pillows would do the trick. You could venture into a new shade by choosing a mint green color for some lamps or pillows, playing off the hunter green; or perhaps a rose color to tie in with the burgundy.
If you’ve chosen a fabric that is multicolored for your furniture, or wallpaper with more than one color, the dominant color is the one you consider when choosing the rest of the shades for the room. Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell exactly which color is dominant. A pale yellow wallpaper with deep green vines may actually have more yellow, but the green may stand out more. A good way to find out which color is stronger is to call a friend that’s been to your house often and ask them, “would you say my walls are yellow or green?”. Most people don’t notice an actual pattern, instead they notice a predominant color that sticks in their memory.
When choosing colors for the main, I’d recommend using the same color tone for both. If you’ve selected a sapphire blue, make sure the other color is also a rich jewel tone, or keep both colors pastels. You can use a pastel and a deep color as mains, but not all colors will actually go together well, and many times it’s not apparent until you’ve done all the painting, carpet installing and furniture buying. Just because the sunshine yellow and emerald green look good together when you hold the paint chips side by side doesn’t mean it will translate well when your walls are yellow and your emerald green carpet is installed. Too much depends on the size of the area that is being covered, the layout of the room, and the style of the room. If you simply must have that one particular shade of color in your room, use it in the accessories.
Simply put, pick two neutral colors and two “real” colors. Use them on the walls, furniture, trim, and floors. Then use one of these four colors, or a different shade of one of them, for accessorizing. If you’re not that brave, use neutrals everywhere, and save your two colors for the added touches.
We recently bought a new house. Well, it’s actually a very old house, 100 years old, but in great shape. I’ve been trying to do some cosmetic work on the inside that will personalize it, but not cost a fortune. The 3/4 bath downstairs was painted a hideous shade of Pepto Bismal pink with a stunning floral border in the same shade. Mind you, this was a recent decorating disaster, as evidenced by the fact that part of the border hadn’t been put up yet. The previous owners moved out while they were remodeling, leaving a lot half done. I’m still marveling at the fact that someone would actually choose that shade of pink to paint a room.
The whole family was beset with dry heaves every time they entered that room, so it was apparent that the color scheme would have to be improved as quickly as possible. You can see the results in the picture above. It’s probably not too terribly clear due to the fact that it’s a small picture, but you can get the general idea. It’s a small room, about 6 by 8 feet. There’s a corner shower taking up a good chunk of wall space, so there’s not a huge amount of wall area. Even so, I was particularly proud of the fact that the finished room cost me a grand total of $2.25!
The gray and white walls weren’t a conscious color choice, they were simply the two colors left over from when the painter did our living room and dining room. He over estimated the amount needed by an incredible margin, so I’m stuck with a lot of gray paint I need to get rid of. The room is too small to paint the whole thing a dark gray, and there’s only one small window to let in light. Gray alone would have made the room entirely too cave-like, but I had to use some gray. I decided on a two tone paint job, with the upper half being one color and the lower half being another color. The standard choice is to put the darker color on the bottom, and the lighter color on top. In this case, I decided that gray on the bottom and white on top would give the room a somewhat institutional, “penitentiary” feel, so I threw caution to the winds and reversed the color scheme.
Once that was accomplished, I was left with a demarkation line between the gray and white. Something was needed to cover it up and add some “oomph” to the walls. They still had an institutional look to them. Possibly a mental institution look. A border was the logical choice, but a ready-made border wasn’t possible for two reasons. One, there’s no place in my one horse town to buy a ready made border, and two, I hated spending $12.00 a roll for 15 feet of border.
The thought of stenciling or painting a border crossed my mind, but I’m not an artsy craftsy person, and I knew it would look really, really bad. I needed something with straight edges that I could just stick up there, following a measured line. I can measure and draw a straight line. The next day, I went to our local department store and browsed around for ideas. By “department” store, I mean small store that carries more than groceries, but no wallpaper. I found myself in the craft department, quite by chance, and stumbled upon the answer to my dilemma. Ribbon! Weather proof ribbon in lots of rich shades and various widths. I grabbed a roll of deep purple in the inch and a half width, and a roll of maroon in half inch width. Each roll contains 15 yards, instead of the typical 15 feet found in a wallpaper border. I also bought a roll of ice pink in the 3 inch width, but decided not to use it when I heard the gagging noises emanating from my husband when I suggested it.
I measured the width of each wall, cut the ribbon to length, and glued it using “tacky glue”. The first run followed a line I’d drawn, and the following two rows simply followed that row, overlapping it slightly. It took me less than an hour to put up all three rows, and the result is something unique and striking, in colors I want.
The ribbon cost $1.49 for the inch and a half, $.99 for the 1/2 inch, and the glue was $1.69. I used less than half of the ribbon and glue, bringing my actual cost down to less than $2.50. Not a bad price to finish off a room and give it a new look!
If you have a room that needs a little something extra, think outside the norm. Try to find other materials and methods that will give you the result you want in an easier, cheaper fashion. When it’s this inexpensive, you can afford to rip it all off if it doesn’t turn out the way you’d like.
When it comes to decorating, some decisions result in the war between the sexes. All of us have seen rooms that are fabulously feminine, or marvelously masculine. This works fine as long as you’re single, but how do you integrate both styles in a household with both a man and a woman?
As I thumb through various decorating magazines, I repeatedly see rooms that just do not look like they would be inviting for a male, done up in a multitude of floral prints and pastel pinks. I also see plenty of the reverse, with rooms done in dark colors, heavy furniture, and decorative accents that are quite manly. How do you reach a happy medium, and come up with a room in which both sexes can feel equally at home?
The answer is actually quite simple…moderation. As you’ve seen in other articles on this site, I’m a big believer in neutrals. Not only in color, but also in style. A room, especially a common room like a dining room or living room, should be mostly neutral, with accents reflecting the tastes of both homeowners. Fifty percent of the room should be neither masculine nor feminine, while the remaining fifty percent is divided equally between them.
For example, avoid a wall color that is strongly considered either “girly” or “boyish”. Leave the pink for the lady’s sewing room or bathroom, and the tobacco brown for the study or office. Choose a more gender neutral shade like blue, green, beige or gray. Avoid a frilly, feminine furniture style, or a heavy wood manly look for the whole room. If you simply must have that pretty floral sofa, then balance it with a couple of non-floral chairs. A pair of elegant wingback chairs will match in style, but if they’re upholstered in a hunter green, they’ll balance the floral and lend a masculine air.
Most of us have our own “spot” in a room. You and your spouse probably each have a favorite chair or end of the sofa that you claim each time. Turn your spot into a little island of femiine or masculine comfort. An end table with a lace cloth, a filigree picture frame, a bud vase of flowers and a pretty lamp will make your area quite pretty, while a solid wood end table (perhaps with a solid color cloth on it), a heavier lamp, a wooden or brass picture frame, and a pewter Porsche will make the man’s section suitably masculine.
Accent pieces for the rest of the room are easily available in styles that are gender neutral. I have a number of gorgeous vases and pitchers in shades ranging from emerald, to cobalt blue, to ruby, and my husband loves them. The glassware is very sleek, with no patterns or designs. The colors and the lines of the glass make a statement all on their own, with no need for added ornamentation. Artwork is another way to bridge the gender gap. Put a more masculine print in a slightly feminine frame, or the floral still life in a simple wooden frame. Let the masculine and feminine elements compliment each other, and provide a contrast to each other.
In rooms that you share with each other (or with company), the objective is to make it welcoming for both sexes. Each of you should have a room of your own to decorate in whatever style you love, with no interference from the other party. Get together and decide which room each of you gets to claim, and get to work making it into the retreat of your dreams. If space requires that you share a getaway room, divide it in half, and each of you decorate an end in your favorite look. Pull it together by becoming more neutral (there’s that word again!), as you work toward the center
With a little give and take, you can make the rooms in your home welcoming and inviting to members of both sexes, which is the object of any decorating endeavor. Neutral doesn’t mean boring and impersonal. Neutral means having a complimentary backdrop to showcase what makes you unique!
Sometimes, despite the best intentions, and the best laid plans, things go wrong. Horribly wrong. I thought I’d share a few of my little decorating mishaps with you, in the hopes that it may make you feel better the next time something doesn’t work out quite right for you. Then again, you may read this, laugh hysterically, and think, “what a moron!”
If you have a window that isn’t well suited for conventional window treatments, or if you need the window as a source of unencumbered light, consider etching the glass.
Etching provides privacy, while letting in light. Depending on the design you select, it can also give you some visibility, while restricting what those outside can view. Etching is a lot simpler than what most be think, and doesn’t require a lot of specialized equipment. Most of what you need is probably already available in your cabinets right now!
There are two methods used in transferring the design to the glass. The first method will require the following supplies:
First, decide how you want your pattern to be positioned on the glass. If you want high visibility, an etched “frame” around the edges of the glass is fine. For a little privacy, an additional, larger pattern in the center works well. Play around with the positioning until you find a layout that pleases you. Unless you have multiple copies of the same stencil, you’ll have to do one section, then move the stencil to the next one.
Using the masking tape, secure the stencil to the glass. Apply the etching gel according to the manufacturer’s directions, let it set for the recommended length of time, then remove it according the instructions. The etching compound is highly corrosive, so make sure your wear gloves and goggles to protect yourself from spatters. Once the first section is finished, move on to the next section.
The second method requires the supplies listed above, with the addition of:
Cut a sheet of contact paper the same size as your pane of glass. Lay it on your work surface right side up. If you’re using a stencil, simply place the stencil in its location, tape it down, and trace the pattern through the cut outs. Move it to the next section of contact paper and repeat until the entire sheet has been filled in. If you’re using a printed pattern, place the carbon paper upside down on top of the contact paper, lay the pattern over that, and trace the pattern with your pencil. The pressure will transfer the design from the carbon paper onto the contact paper. Repeat the process in new areas until the contact paper is filled in with your design layout. Carefully cut out the pattern with your X-Acto knife, cutting through the contact paper and its paper backing. The result will be a sheet of contact paper with open spots where your etched design will be.
Carefully peel off the top half inch of the backing, all the way across the sheet. Position it on the glass, making sure it’s lined up correctly. Press the exposed adhesive onto the glass until it sticks. Slowly peel the backing down, aligning the contact paper and pressing it into place as you go. Apply the etching gel according to the instructions. The contact paper removes easily when you’re finished. This method is more time consuming than the first, but it does allow you to use any design you like for your pattern. It also allows you to do the entire window at once, instead of one section at a time.
Etching isn’t difficult or expensive to do, and it’s a marvelous way to add an artistic element to a window, or any glass surface. This technique is a great way to add that “something extra” to a mirror, or even glass doors in kitchen cabinets. Best of all, you did it yourself!
While you can’t always remodel to increase the size of your rooms, you can make a room appear to be larger than it is. With a few simple design tricks, you can open up those smaller spaces.
With the use of color, lighting and the right furniture arrangements you can literally trick the eye into seeing a larger room. The room just looking bigger will really seem to open up and provide extra space!
One of the best and easiest ways to make the room seem larger is with color. Most people already know that light colors make objects seem bigger, but bright colors also create the same effect.
The trick is to paint the moldings and trim with a lighter color than the walls. Darker objects appear farther off and lighter objects appear closer. With the wall just a shade or two lighter they’ll appear farther away than the trims and the room will look more spacious.
Arrange the larger pieces of furniture such as a bed or sofa at an angle. This will take advantage of the diagonal length of the room and give the eye a farther distance to follow.
Using scaled furniture is another way to optimize the appearance of space in a small room. Over stuffed furniture will take over a space, but a simple love seat or sofa will fit in great.
Chairs that have open backs and a slim style chairs are great accessories. And, if it’s a bedroom choosing an open styled headboard will open up space. The ideal furnishings for a smaller room would all be below eye level in height.
Mirrors aren’t only decorative, the rooms reflection will create a look of having a larger area. They can even add to the brightness with the reflected light from a window or lamp.
Replacing the closet doors with mirrored sliding doors will greatly increase the desired look. This works well in a small bathroom by adding mirrored doors to the vanity and even on kitchen cabinet doors.
Floor and table space can be cleared up with the use of track lighting. Track lights are easily installed and when angled toward the walls not only adds the look of space, but provides a relaxing mood lighting.
Add splashes of color to the room with your accent pieces. Colorful throw pillows, small pieces of artwork and other size appropriate pieces can compliment the room without taking up precious space.
Just keep the decorative accessories to a minimum for the best results.
A clean, neat room always appears larger, so keep magazines, books and other items hidden away when not in use.
One real good way to add storage space is with a ottoman that has built in storage. This would be a very good place to keep your magazines and books, as well as anything else that you don’t need all the time.
The more floor space you have the larger your room will look to. Choose sofas, love seats, chairs and other items that have exposed legs to open up the space underneath them.
For a really small bedroom you might want to get a futon or even a day bed. Both are multi-functional since they can be used as a sitting area during the day and then double as the bed at night. Even something as simple as not using a dust ruffle on the bed can add space!
Avoid upholstery material that has large designs. Choose either a small design or solid colors, you can always add the color with matching pillows and table doilies.
Although, following these simple design tricks won’t actually increase the size of your room, it will make you think it has. It’s quite amazing what you can trick the mind into thinking!
No decorating theme would be complete without art work to accent the rooms walls. But, sometimes deciding how to display framed art can be quite daunting.
Many times you can find the perfect picture to compliment the rooms theme, but once you’ve got it hanging on the wall it doesn’t look right. The problem usually isn’t the picture, it’s more than likely the place or the area that you’ve hung the picture in thats not right.
There are different areas that are best suited for certain sizes of art. Knowing how to arrange them in the right way can make all the difference in whether you like the picture on your wall or just like it when it’s off the wall!
Any piece of large artwork is going to be the focal point of the room. Size the art to an area of the room, for example a large print should be hung over a large piece of furniture. The sofa, a dining room set or a fireplace are all great areas for larger artwork.
Grouping small pictures together is very pleasing to the eye. Your eyes will normally move around the set noticing each picture. When grouping smaller frames together the best look is achieved by having matching or at least similar frames.
Just having frames that are in the same color scheme as the room will improve the look of a group. You can also use matting to blend several pictures together to make them appear to be a matching set.
Small pieces of artwork hung alone on a large wall or empty space will appear to be just floating on the wall. And, a large wall can make a small picture appear to be even smaller than it is.
If you only have one small piece of artwork that you want to use, hang it low on the wall. You should also place it close to the rooms furnishings so that it won’t stick out and seem out of place in the room.
Before hammering all the nails into the walls and just hanging a group of pictures, figure out how you want to arrange them. Lay them all out on the floor or a table and move them around until you get the look that you want.
The decorators rule of distance when grouping artwork is three inches. This is used for both groupings of the same sized artwork and groupings of various sized artwork.
Leaving a three inch space at the tops and bottoms of all of the frames will separate them without leaving a large gap. It will help them to blend together instead of seeming to be just hanging there on your wall.
One of the main mistakes most people make when hanging artwork is to hang it to high on the wall. Artwork should always be hung so that the center of the picture is at eye level.
No matter how big or small the artwork is it should be hung with the center at the same height. The basic height used by most interior decorators is between 60″ and 66″ from the floor.
If you’ve ever been to an art gallery or visited a home that’s been professionally decorated, you may have noticed that you don’t have to look up to see the pictures. You’ll be amazed at how just lowering the artwork a little can make all the difference in how it looks on the wall.
Large pieces of artwork that are hung behind a sofa should be hung no more than ten inches above the back of the sofa. Hanging the picture too high over the sofa will leave a void that separates the frame from the furnishings. A lower picture will blend in and the eye will follow the sofa up to the picture.
Black and Decker has been a household name for many years. Their dependable products have been a staple for both the professionals and the weekend home repair novice.
The Black & Decker CS1030L circular saw has a 13 amp motor that can provide you with all the power you need for any job around the home. The 5,000 rpm’s will quickly cut through any kind of wood that you’re working with and perform crosscuts with ease.
This inexpensive circular saw comes with a priceless feature, a built in laser sight line! If you’ve ever tried to find and follow a thin pencil line that you’ve marked your measurements with, you will greatly appreciate this added feature.
Cutting in the wrong place or making a crooked cut can cost you lots of money if your boards are ruined. It can also be pretty aggravating when you’re trying to repair a uneven cut, or make it fit instead of being out money replacing the board.
A thin line is really hard to see and almost impossible to see when you’ve got saw dust flying every where. The laser will give you a perfectly straight, bright line that is easy to see and follow and will make achieving straight cuts a snap!
This circular saw has a 90 degree capacity and will make fast, smooth cuts through wood or other materials up to 2 3/8 inches thick. And, with angled cuts at 45 degrees, the CS1030L will slice right through materials that are as much as 1 13/16 inches thick.
You’ll achieve perfect angled cuts with the bevel scale adjustment that goes from 0 up to 45. It also has a depth adjustment that is calibrated and quickly fine tunes the saw and locks securely into place.
Another great feature with the Black & Decker CS1030L are the soft comfortable hand grips. Both the front and rear handles are covered with soft grips that are ergonomically designed for the greatest of comfort.
The extra comfortable grips give you more control in stabilizing the saw and making those tricky vertical cuts. They will also help prevent the stress and strain on your hands that normally come with those long periods of cutting.
The CS1030L circular saw is a good sized saw for anyone to use with ease weighing in a just around eight pounds and measures at just around 15X11X8. It’s a lighter weight saw with the capabilities of a heavier saw that can tire you out much quicker.
The light weight makes this a really good circular saw for the many ladies that have began to do their own home repairs. Unlike heavier saws that are harder for women to control, this one shouldn’t be any problem.
The Black & Decker CS1030L comes with an 7 1/4″ 18T carbide “Piranha” blade and blade wrench for easy changing. But, you can purchase many different types of blades that are specifically made for cutting various materials.
One downside to this circular saw is the power cord. It’s just equipped with a six foot cord that makes using an extension cord a necessity for most jobs.
However, priced at around $55 the Black and Decker CS1030L is still a really good deal for most users. The 13amp motor and the laser sight line will prove invaluable and it also comes with a two year warranty.
Changing all of the tiles in a kitchen or bathroom can be quite expensive and time consuming. If you don’t have the money or the time, you can paint them to give the room a whole new look!
The options are limitless in how you can paint the tiles. You can create a checkerboard effect by painting alternating tiles or paint them all. You can also just add some decorations by using stencils.
There are many different styles of stencils to choose from. You can add some seashells to your bathroom tile, add fruits to your kitchen tile or do floral designs.
Basically all you’ll need is some ammonia, a paint roller or brushes, Alkyd paint and a shellac based primer. If you’re going to be using a paint roller, you’ll also need a paint tray.
The type and size of the paint brushes or rollers you’ll need will depend on how you want to paint the tiles. For small designs you will of course need smaller brushes.
The surface of the tiles will need to be as clean as you can get them in order for the primer to adhere properly. Ammonia and water is a good cleaning solution to use on tiles, clean them throughly and let them completely dry.
Next apply the shellac based primer to the tiles that you want to paint. It will probably be easier to use a small roller to apply the shellac, but you can use a regular brush or even one of the sponge brushes if you’d prefer.
The primer must be throughly dry before applying any paint to the tiles. Follow the instructions on the label for the correct drying times, they may vary with different brands of primer.
After the primer has dried you’re ready for the creative part! If you enjoy painting or crafting, adding the designs to the tiles will be lots of fun!
Stencils can be easily taped into place with either painter’s tape or regular masking tape. Tape can also be used to line the edge of the tiles to keep the paint from getting on the other tiles and to make sure that you get a nice smooth paint line.
If you’re designing your own tiles for installation, it’s best to use unfinished tiles. You can use finished tiles throughout the room and then just purchase enough unfinished ones to paint for accents around your stove or sink.
Unfinished tiles should first be cleaned with vinegar before applying any paint. Then use epoxy paints to create the designs or colored tiles and let them dry for at least 24 hours.
Once they’re dry, you will need to bake the tiles at 325 degrees. The baking time will vary between manufacturers, so if you’re planning on painting them, ask how long to bake them when you buy them.
After they’ve baked for the appropriate amount of time and cooled, you apply them in the same way as you do any tile. Baking the paint onto the tile will make them last longer in areas where there is a lot of moisture such as a bathroom or around your stove.
Since you obviously can’t bake the tiles that are already installed, you can apply a moisture resistant polyurethane to them after you’ve finished the painting. The polyurethane will help the designs stand up to moisture and cleaning much better.
If you don’t have the time to do a tile makeover with paints just use some rub on transfers to add designs. Although, there won’t be as many different choices in transfers you can still find many pretty designs.
For any room that already has a theme, you can design the tiles to match. You can choose a design from the wall paper, fabric or anything else in the room. Just trace the design and use some wax free transfer paper to put the design on the tiles.
There are just so many ways of decorating tiles to match any decor you have. With a little imagination and time, everyone will think that you’ve installed all new tiles.
Following a safety regimen on your boat is just as important as following one in your home. While many people have items such as fire alarms and extinguishers in their homes, they don’t think to take the same safe guards on their boats.
If your boat has a cabin it should have a fire alarm and for added safety install a carbon monoxide detector. Getting a early warning can literally save your life!
The American Boat and Yacht Council now requires that a carbon monoxide detector is installed on all new boats. Even if your boat is powered by a generator it doesn’t mean that your safe from carbon monoxide. Heating and cooking appliances and even lanterns can emit deadly carbon monoxide.
You should always carry a fire extinguisher aboard your boat no matter what size it is. For the best fire protection, make sure that there is a fire extinguisher on both ends of your boat even if it’s a small boat.
It may surprise you to know that the regular 10-BC dry chemical type fire extinguishers will only last for about ten seconds if you need to use them! They are great for really small fires or fires that you see immediately, but if it turns serious they won’t be any help.
There are also Coast Guard regulations that you must follow when choosing a extinguisher for your boat. If your boat is over 26′ long, you are required to have at least two 10-BC extinguishers onboard.
You may also be surprised to learn that even if you follow the Coast Guard regulations, you’ll only be equipped to extinguish small fires! For better protection keep at least a B-II extinguisher onboard, or better yet go for at least a 60-BC rated fire extinguisher.
Another Coast Guard regulation requires that you keep three day time use and three night-time use flares onboard if your boat exceeds 16′ in length. But, no matter what size your boat is, flares may be your only way to signal for help in an emergency.
Flares should be kept in water proof containers and make sure you check the expiration dates regularly. The flares often still work beyond their expiration dates and can be kept aboard as long as you add new ones.
Even if you and your passengers are expert swimmers, no boat should leave shore without life jackets for each person onboard. An expert swimmer will still drown if they’re injured and can’t swim!
There are three different types of life jackets, Type I, Type II and Type III. While having any life jacket on your boat is better than none at all, the right one could make all the difference in life or death!
The best type of life jacket to carry is Type I. In an emergency it can save your life literally without any help from you! It has more buoyancy than the other two types and will keep you floating face up.
Type II is a lot cheaper, but cutting corners on a life saving device isn’t the best way to save money! Compared to the buoyancy of the Type I jacket, this one only has about a third as much. It is very uncomfortable and won’t keep you floating face up in the water.
Type III life jackets live up to all the requirements of the Coast Guard, but in reality it’s only good for emergencies that happen close to shore. They do provide about the same buoyancy as the Type II jackets and are very comfortable.
If comfort is a main concern opt for manually inflatable PFDs, they are also Type III life preservers. They keep you afloat face up and are extremely comfortable to wear.
With this great weather you’ve probably already taken your boat out on the water. But, with it sitting all winter long you really need to clean and maintain your fuel system before running the motor too much.
One of the best ways to make sure that your boat always runs it’s best is to make sure you have clean fuel! Pour a small amount of the fuel into a glass jar and let it set for awhile, any dirt and contaminants will settle on the bottom of the jar.
If you do see debris in the jar, just make sure to filter all of the gas before putting it into your boat motor. About 90% of engine problems can be attributed to dirty, contaminated fuel!
If your boats motor runs on gasoline, a little bit of water won’t do a lot of damage. But, any amount of water can destroy a diesel engine! Even if you have a water separating filter on your tank, if there’s a large amount of water in the fuel the filter can’t detain it all.
Water doesn’t just get into your tank from the fuel. The fill cap should be tight to prevent water leakage and water will even naturally form from condensation inside the tank. It can also leak in if the vent fittings get flooded.
Regularly check all of the gaskets and seals on your deck fill or tank caps. And, keeping your fuel tank topped off can help prevent the build up of condensation in the tank, especially if the boat is going to be sitting for awhile.
No matter what you do to ensure that your fuel and tank is clean, over time sediments will settle in the main bottom of the tank. At the beginning of each season you should siphon some fuel out of the bottom and check it in a glass jar to see if it’s got sediments in it.
If the fuel is dirty you need to find a way to remove all of it and start over with clean fuel. If you’re tank has a drain or port to clean out the tank you can use that to remove the contaminated fuel. But, if it doesn’t then you’ll need to figure out a way to siphon all of it out.
Diesel engines are equipped with two separate fuel filters. There’s the main fuel filter and a secondary fuel filter. The secondary filter is meant to only catch small particles that escape through the primary filter.
The primary filter should keep all of the water out of the engine. Both of these filters need to be inspected on a regular basis. These also need to be changed regularly, you can check your owners manual for the suggested time periods or choose to do it on your own time schedule.
If you have a choice, choose a primary filter that has a clear sediment bowl. That way you can inspect it at any time and will immediately know when there’s water in your tank. If you have to empty the bowl frequently, then you’ll know that the tank needs cleaned out.
Metal fuel lines will last a lot longer that rubber lines. But, metal lines won’t give very much with vibration or movement and can easily crack or snap into!
Flexible fuel hoses can handle all the vibrating and movement of those big waves. But, you need to use certain types in certain areas on the boat. Your feed hose should be Type A-1 and any fill or vent hoses can be Type A-2.
Maintaining your boats fuel system can save you lots of money on expensive repairs and maybe even keep you from having to rebuild or replace your motor. It can also help keep you from getting stranded out in the middle of a really large lake!
If you’ve had your boat for a few years, it may not have the glistening shine it had when you first purchased it. The elements can cause your fiberglass to become dull, faded and even chalky looking.
Most fiberglass boats are coated with a special material called gelcoat. Gelcoat is applied for various reasons, it will protect the hull of your boat, but it also gives the boat it’s shine and color.
The first step in trying to restore any surface is usually to clean it throughly and your boats surface is no different. You can add a cup of any detergent to about a gallon of warm water and use a sponge to clean the surface.
If there is any mildew on the boat, you can simply add a cup of bleach to the soapy water to remove it. If there’s a lot of water scum deposits on the boat body, you’ll need to purchase a special cleaner to remove them without damaging the surface.
You won’t get the desired results with waxing your boat if the gelcoat surface isn’t completely clean. Detergents won’t always remove the grease and oil and wax won’t adhere well.
To safely remove any grease or oil on the boat, wipe the surface with a old rag soaked in acetone. Keep turning the rag over to clean areas as you wipe and when the rag is really dirty get a different one. You will want to wear some rubber gloves when cleaning with the acetone.
The best way to keep your boat shiny is to keep it waxed from the time you buy it new. The gelcoat can shine like new for over 15 years if a good coat of wax is regularly used to protect it.
Follow the manufacturers directions on the wax that you plan to use. Generally the wax is applied with a soft cloth or sponge in a circular motion. The wax is then left to dry and buffed with a soft cloth or towel.
Polishing will remove any pitted spots in the gelcoat. It works like a fine grit sandpaper and is abrasive. Polish should be applied to small areas and rubbed in a circular motion just like the wax.
Keep polishing the area until it becomes shiny and glassy looking. Then apply a good coat of wax to give it more shine and added protection. You can purchase polishing compounds that have wax already in them for added convenience.
If you’ve tried to polish the shine back to the fiberglass and it’s still dull, you will have to use a rubbing compound. There are many types of rubbing compounds, so you need to make sure that you purchase one specially made for fiberglass.
Rubbing compounds are even more abrasive than polishes and any wax will need to be removed before you use one. Just like before you’re going to apply the rubbing compound in small circular motions until the surface is shiny again.
Since rubbing compounds are very abrasive you shouldn’t rub one particular spot for too long or you may remove the gelcoat. The gelcoat on your boat is normally about ten times as thick as the paint applied to a car, but it can still be damaged if you keep rubbing the same area for a long time.
After you have gone over the entire boat with the rubbing compound, polish it throughly and then apply a coat of good quality wax. Then use a soft cloth to buff out the shine. This process has been known to restore even the most damaged fiberglass surfaces.
Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that can cause serious illness and death. The main sources of this extremely toxic gas in the home comes from the land and rock beneath your home. It also comes from well water and some building materials can contain radon.
Radon is estimated to contribute to up to 30,000 deaths each year from lung cancer. This invisible killer doesn’t produce any immediate symptoms, so there’s no warning of the damages it’s caused.
Testing your home for radon is a simple and fairly inexpensive process. Radon testing kits can be purchased at many hardware stores and they are usually less than $20.
The First Alert Radon Test Kit is a very good choice. First Alert has been a long time trusted manufacturer of fire alarms, so they have years of experience in keeping your family safe.
The test kit is very effective in detecting any radon in the building and is completely safe to use. And, the First Alert Radon Test Kit is listed in the proficiency program with the EPA.
Your kit will include everything you need to properly test your home for radon. The process will only take 2 – 3 days and you’ll know how safe the air your breathing in your house is.
For the most accurate results, the detector will come sealed inside a plastic package to prevent contamination. All you’ll need to do is to open the detector and place it in the area that you want to check for radon.
Follow the direction included with your radon testing kit to see how long you’ll need to leave it sitting undisturbed. It’s best if you can set the detector in the middle of the room or area that you wish to test.
Leave the detector undisturbed for 24-48 hours to complete the test. Follow the directions in the manual for the correct amount of time that the detector will need to get an accurate reading.
Once the time has elapsed all you’ll need to do is place the detector inside the mailing envelope supplied in the kit and place it in the mail box. The lab fees are included in the price of the kit and once they receive your detector you will get the results within 72 hours.
While many manufacturers of radon kits try to add on extra charges for lab fees and other items, First Alert is a one time cost. The purchase price includes everything you need, the results and you’ll even get the recommended actions to be taken if they test is positive!
Most homes don’t have any problems with radon gas, but testing your home is the only way to find out if there’s radon present in your home. One First Alert Radon kit will test 1000 square feet of open space, if you wish to test several areas of your home, you will need to purchase more than one.
The presence of radon in your home doesn’t mean that you need to move. There are ways of lowering and even eliminating the toxic gas from your house. The cost and method will depend on how the house was built and how serious the radon levels are.
One of the proven ways to reduce the radon levels, is with a vent and fan system. Vents are connected underneath the home and the fan pulls out air from under the floors. This keeps the radon in the dirt from seeping up into the home.
This system works without making any major changes to the building. The only needed repairs will be to seal any leaks and cracks that are under the floor and in the foundation.