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Woold Flooring Options

The past 20 years have brought about more flooring options then ever. Traditionally a wood floor meant strip wood nailed, sanded and finished in place -- a time consuming, labor intensive, messy operation. While there are still plenty of traditional wood floors installed, there are now some other options. Prefinished flooring has cut out the mess and a fair amount of the labor. These floors may be nailed down or just edge glued (floating). When they're down, they're done. Typically the material cost of prefinished flooring is more, but the labor is less so the price of the prefinished versus the traditional wood floor are not far apart. If you install your own, the savings are greater, of course. The down side to prefinished flooring is that while they're very durable, typically they can be refinished only one or two times. The floating floors are laid over a thin foam pad and some folks object to the slight "soft" feel of the floor when walked on.

- Stephen Corwin

New Idea for Christmas Ornaments To make your holiday tree really memorable, use saved baby rattles, blocks, photos, shoes, from your children. Transform them into ornaments and decorate your tree with loving memories.

Laminate Flooring Options

Plastic laminate flooring has captured a respectable chunk of the flooring market in a short period of time. Just like the kitchen countertop, there is a wide selection of both wood and non-wood styles. Laminate flooring installs just like most prefinished wood floors. With proper installation, plastic laminate can be installed in both kitchen and bathroom applications. Plastic laminate floors are very durable but cannot be refinished like wood.

- Stephen Corwin

Vinyl Prep

Vinyl floors are the workhorses of kitchen and bathroom floor coverings. Like many other things, to get the best and longest lasting results from this flooring, proper preparation is crucial. The existing surface must be suitable for the new covering. Floor coverings are not meant to cover up existing problems. Under some circumstances the old surface may be suitable, but most often a new sub floor needs to be laid. Follow manufacturers recommendation for sub floor material, for example not all luan is acceptable. If you use an unapproved underlayment and later have a problem with the vinyl, don't expect help from the manufacturer. Using the proper adhesive is crucial as well. There is no generic vinyl adhesive that will satisfy all brands of flooring.

- Stephen Corwin

How to Wrap a Giant Present If you can't figure out how to wrap a large package, buy a big colorful holiday tablecloth and use to wrap the present. It's two gifts in one!

Low E?

Window replacement continues to be big business, and about half of the cost goes to installation. If you are considering replacement windows and are feeling handy, doing it yourself is usually pretty straightforward. In fact, choosing the window might be the most complicated part of the job. The home center probably stocks standard size replacement windows in both regular and low-e models.

What's low-e? Low-e is an invisible coating on the glass that reduces heat transfer through the glass. This helps keep the heat out in the summer and heat in, in the winter. Low-e has been around long enough that the cost is reasonable. For a wealth of both practical and technical information on windows check out www.efficientwindows.org.

- Stephen Corwin

Does Your Sink Have Bad Breath? It just may be the garbage disposal! To get rid of the odor, clean with lots of warm, soapy water. Then take citrus rinds and run them through it with water running down the drain too. It will be sweeter smelling.

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001

Answers

Woold?

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001

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