Entry bubble Hiring Home Improvement Contractors

By: Sommer | November 30, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

So, I’m sure that most of America is wondering how our painting went last weekend. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any done although my house is cleaner than it’s been in a very long time. Since, by the time Thanksgiving Eve rolled around all we wanted to do was veg out in front of the TV with some junk food we didn’t get furniture moved or take our planned final trip to the home improvement store Wednesday night. Then, Thursday morning, as we lolled around the house, we decided it would be so much easier to “just hire someone” to do the work for us.

Little did I know, “just hiring someone” is almost as much work as just doing it ourselves!Handyman

As far as I can tell, we’ll need to hire 3 separate contractors to help us complete the items on our checklist. One to replace our windows (we’ve still got the originals from the ‘40’s), one to fix our drywall (the last person did an AWFUL job), and one to paint. If we’re lucky, maybe the same person can fix the drywall and paint. Yay!

The first thing we'll need to do is find a few qualified companies to get bids from. I plan to start with:

If, like us, you live in a larger metro area like DC, the Twin Cities, or San Francisco you have access to Consumers’ Checkbook, a great subscription service that rates and reviews local contractors. Another subscription service, Angie’s List, serves 124 communities in the U.S. and provides consumers with the opportunity to submit their experiences and also helps with resolving complaints. 

Of course, the tried and true “ask your neighbors” method also works well. 

We’re planning to start with the window replacement so once I find some qualified companies to do the work, I’ll ask at least 3 of them to submit bids. Stay tuned to see what happens. My husband and I are new to the home improvement game so I welcome any of your advice. Please leave tips in the comments!

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Entry bubble Painting Weekend!

By: Sommer | November 23, 2007 | Category: Health

This weekend, instead of traveling or shopping like crazy, we’ll be painting the bedrooms in our townhouse. I’m really excited to finish this project so I can focus on the other decorating and organizing that I’ve been putting off for about 6 months. Also, since I’m one of those people who can’t stand white walls, I’m doubly excited to paint! (I inherited this case of “white-wall-itis” from my mother…) painter

Although I’m excited to paint and do some other minor home improvement projects I’m also concerned about the quality of our indoor air, both since our townhouse is about 60 years old and because the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the air in America’s homes contains 2 to 5 times more volatile organic compounds (VOC) than the air outdoors.

Products like paint, carpet, building materials, cleaning products, and dry cleaned clothing all contain VOC’s which include chemicals like benzene (in glues, paints and furniture wax), methylene chloride (in paint strippers and aerosol paints), and perchloroethylene (in newly dry cleaned clothing). Obviously, products with lower levels of these chemicals are better for your health and home and they’re better for the environment, too, since they’re typically produced with more environmentally friendly processes.

Remembering back to how bad the fumes smelled after we painted in the spring led me to look into using low VOC paints this time since they release fewer dangerous and stinky fumes into the air. I think they’re a little more expensive but the difference in price is definitely worth the added comfort and peace of mind.

| Comments [2] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: chemical   health   home   organic   paint   sommer   voc