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Set Up Regular Home Fire Drills Several times a year have a fire drill in your home. Show everyone how to act and how to get out in case of a fire. Make certain your children know what to do. Then designate a neighbor's house as the meeting place where all gather when they get out so you will know that everyone has been accounted for. This can save your life and your family's too!

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Quick Remodel

Here are a couple of quick, easy and inexpensive remodels.

- Consider changing the hinges and door pulls on kitchen cabinets. New hardware is a fraction of the cost of painting the kitchen and can make a significant change in the look of the kitchen. - Adding a decorative paper border around the top of the wall can change the look of any room.

These remodels are only a step above rearranging the furniture, but they may hold that more expensive project at bay for a while.

- Stephen Corwin

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001

Answers

Compact Discs Have Distorted Sound? The surfaces of CDs are delicate. Hold them by the rims, store in containers and definitely read the manufacturer's instructions. If you get skin oil or dust on them, it can confuse the laser, which distorts sound. To Avoid Oven Messes Baking fruit pies or cobblers? Put a large sheet of foil or a baking sheet underneath the pan. If it bubbles over, it will do so on the pan, not on the bottom of the oven.

Toilet Drip

Drip. Drip. Drip. It's coming from the bathroom; it's coming from around the toilet but there is no water on the floor and no other signs of a leak. Lift the lid off the tank and check the water level. If the water is all the way to the top of the overflow tube, the problem is most likely the fill valve (ball cock). However, if the water appears to be at its normal level, the leak is probably around the flush valve, which is located at the bottom center of the tank. Both repairs are inexpensive and simple -- a cinch for a do-it-yourselfer like you.

- Stephen Corwin

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001


Grating, a Messy Deal? Hate to grate cheese because it is so hard to clean up? You can avoid all that scrubbing just by spraying the grater with nonstick spray — before grating.

Pay Backs

Home repairs and upgrades almost always have economic considerations attached to them. The amount of money put into a project is usually based on a set of considerations. Besides disposable income, other factors to consider include how long you intend to stay in the house and the value of other houses in the neighborhood. Projects that improve energy efficiency will eventually pay for themselves through lower energy bills. Some projects increase the value of the property dollar for dollar. Some projects we do because we want to -- and that is the pay back. Here are a few improvements that typically have a 90% or better pay back: new heating systems, kitchen remodels and bath additions.

- Stephen Corwin

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2001


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