How Many Bathrooms Do You Really Need? Building New Homes

When my dad was a kid, they lived in a two bedroom house with one bathroom and the family consisted of him, his two brothers and his mother and father. When I grew up, we have it a little bit better. We had the same sized family as my father did, but we lived in a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms.

How many bathrooms do you really need? Think about it. Here's what I would like to suggest, if you have more money than you know what to do with and would love to help the economy, then you should put as many bathrooms as you need in your home.

If you really need to tell your friends, that you have a 250 bedroom house with 275 bathrooms, and you have the money to pay for it, do it and knock yourself out. However, if you are building a new home, I would like you to consider, this question. How many bathrooms do you really need?

If you want each one of your children to have their own bathroom, then go for it. It will require more cleaning, more money to build these bathrooms and is it really necessary.

Here's what I would suggest as a guideline for deciding, how many bathrooms you really need. One bathroom for two or less people, two bathrooms for five or less people and three bathrooms for eight or less people. You could actually add one bathroom for every three people as a general rule of thumb.

Don't get carried away and start installing bathrooms all over your house, it doesn't make sense. Bathrooms are expensive and I have been in the homes, where I was the only person that used at bathroom. Some bathrooms might not ever be used.

Click here if you are looking for some more Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Click Here If your looking for some great Bathroom Ideas or Bathroom Remodeling Contractors

How to Choose the Ideal Shower Tray

Choose the ideal shower tray

Keep your bathroom floor splash free with a shower tray

Start with these frequently asked questions

Which material should I choose?

Acrylic is warm and cheap. Go for a reinforced model that's 5-8mm thick to avoid flexing, which can lead to leaks where the tray meets the wall.
Enamelled steel is tough, but can be cold underfoot and more pricey than acrylic.
Fire clay or ceramic is rigid, long lasting and easy to clean, but can be heavy and the floor may need to be reinforced to support the weight.
Stone resin or composite is stable, durable and comes in lots of shapes and colours.

What size should I go for?

Shower trays range from 80cm x 80cm to 170cm x 90cm.
Flush-to-the-floor models create a wet-room feel. Brands to look for are Kaldewei, Bette and Roman. If you don't want a screen, you'll need to 'tank' the room by applying a waterproof membrane under the floor.
Low-level trays (under 4cm high) mimic a wet-room look without the need for tanking.

Which is the best colour?

White is popular as it's clean, fresh and goes with other fittings, but you'll also find black, anthracite and acid brights. The widest colour choice is in composite trays. Corian comes in over 70 shades, and ceramic ore fire clay is great for high-gloss colour.

Where can I put it?

This depends on the position of any waste pipes and water supplies. A solid floor makes it harder to move pipes (although one solution is to build a false floor on top). Corners and alcoves are useful because the walls form a natural enclosure. If you have room, consider fitting a large tray against a long wall to make a striking focal point.

Can I fit one myself?

If you're replacing like for like, it's fine to fit a tray yourself. Choose a tray with adjustable feet to make levelling simple. If you need to relocate drains and pipework, it might be wise to call a plumber.

Tray shapes to look for:

Square
A great choice for an alcove as it can slot neatly into the space.
Quadrant
A quarter circle shape that's good for corner installations.
Pentagonal
A corner model with five sides is just the thing for smaller spaces because it won't protrude into the room as much as a standard square tray.
Rectangular
Ideal for twin showering, with more space for showering than a square tray would offer.
Walk-in
Has a drying area by the entrance, which keeps bathroom floors drip and slip free.

Good to know

Shower trays need to be totally level to ensure a watertight seal and perfect drainage - check with a good-quality spirit level.

You can find more information on interior design and interior design ideas at idealhome

How Wide Should I Make My Carport? Planning Your Next Project

Whether you live in a home with or without a garage, you might be thinking about building a new carport. You've came to the right place and by the time you're done reading this article, you should have acquired a little more valuable information for your next home remodeling project.

Some homeowners install carports in front of their garage, on the side of their homes or even in their driveway. Car ports can be built anywhere on your property, as long as you have enough room and access to these areas for a car to be parked safely.

The most important thing to remember, when building a carports, is the width that will be required to park your vehicle underneath it. You will need to allow plenty of room, so that you will be able to access your vehicle comfortably.

There are plenty of carports, all over the country that are built right next to something, like a retaining wall, the side of your home or even another garage. I myself have parked in carports that were too small and over a period of time became an annoying inconvenience.

The minimum width that I would build any carport would be 10 foot wide, if you're going to build your carport next to a building, I would suggest that you park your car, open your door and measure the width of your car, with your door open.

This will give you a comfortable width for building your new carport. This is the best advice I could give anyone, who is planning on building a carport.

Garage Building Tips

If you're thinking about building a garage and San Diego County, we would be glad to help, for more information click on this link San Diego Garage Building

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Thanks for reading my articles.

Lake District Hotels - A Recommendation

What defines a hotel, as distinct from any other type of accommodation in the Lake District? It's an odd question isn't it? and difficult to answer, yet we all know what a hotel is and what isn't.

The Inland Revenue helpfully point us to a definition given in the hotel proprietors act of 1956 being "...an establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food and drink and, if so required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveler presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received."

Clear as mud then, as a bed and breakfast could fit those criteria if they wanted to, yet clearly it wouldn't be a hotel in the minds of most people.

Defining a Lake District hotel adds a further layer of complexity.

Establishments many centuries old that may have fitted the label when Wordsworth was a boy, still retain the title but no longer fit with modern perceptions.

I'll attempt my own definition for a Lake District hotel, see if you agree.

A Lake District hotel should have a minimum of a dozen guest rooms, a public licensed bar, a residents lounge/bar, a car park, a restaurant and preferably a night porter.

Why a dozen rooms? Well there has to be a minimum number and one just doesn't cut it. Ten might but its decimal, and as we're talking about the Lake District an English dozen does the trick. In Addition, a hotel should have a certain ambiance and that's only created by having a critical mass of people.

This demotes for example, the Bay Horse Hotel in Ulverston which has only nine rooms to Inn, or Pub. All the other criteria are met, but they're a little light on the accommodation front.

Similarly a public bar invites transient customers into the establishment which adds a little diversity to the mix. However the residents lounge/bar is a sanctuary for those who choose to stay at the hotel and usually confers some privilege to the residents, for example the ability to purchase drinks after the public bar has closed.

A car park takes the place of perhaps stables in the case of an older establishment. Without sufficient space to park your transport, preferably in the hotel grounds, a little credibility is lost.

That those who seek to rest their heads would prefer to do so on a full belly (or at least a satiated palette) is natural. Standards of food may vary from pretentious to practical and everything in between, but having a restaurant to serve it up is a must for my criteria.

A night porter completes my list. It adds a layer of security helping the residents to sleep soundly and means that assistance is at hand should there be any problems with the room or anything else.

My idea of the perfect Lake District hotel would be the Old Dungeon Ghyll in the Langdale valley. Known to locals as "the old" it just sneaks in on the bedrooms count with a bakers dozen.

The public bar is as lively a place as you could wish to find, populated as it is with locals, fell walkers, climbers and people from the nearby campsite. If you find that all a little too busy, a resident's lounge and residents bar offer quieter surroundings.

There's an ample car park and a fine restaurant serving excellent home cooked food backed up by a fine wine list, which complete the picture perfectly.

A night porter? You'll just have to book and find out for yourself.

Tony Scott runs the popular Lake District website http://www.discoverthelakes.co.uk where you can find lots of information on hotels in lake district and other lake district accommodation. Compiled by people who live and work in the area, Discover The Lakes is your comprehensive guide to the Lake District.

Plumbing Problems and Solutions - Repair Manuals

If you've owned a home for over 20 years, there's a very good chance, that you've had a water pipe break, a drainpipe clogged, a toilet that wouldn't flush right, or a water leak that damaged part of the home. If you don't know, what you're looking for and you have no idea what damage can be done, over time, this could mean trouble for the homeowner.

Plumbing problems like these have been around and will be around for many years. Knowing what to do about them, how to repair them and what materials will be needed, can be found in plumbing repair manuals for books. How would you like to have a professional plumber to advise you on your plumbing repairs. What if I told you that you could have a plumbing professional on hand at all times. Is this something that you might be interested in.

Well I can't guarantee that, so let's forget about what I just said and go to the next best thing. Plumbing repair manuals are full of tips and advice that when needed can sometimes be priceless. If water is leaking from the ceiling in your home and you have no idea, where the water is coming from or how to stop it from leaking, any information could be priceless and I mean priceless.

Plumbers, usually charge over $100 an hour for emergency service. I've seen plumbers come to peoples homes, turn the water off to the house, stop the water from leaking and now it is no longer an emergency. The plumber quickly pulls out an invoice for the plumbing repairs and it could be over $1000, if you decide that this is ridiculous and choose not to pay it, the plumber can hand you a bill for stopping the water leak. Some of these bills are what I would consider quite ridiculous, for just shutting the water off.

You're not paying the plumber for the amount of time it took him, you're paying him for his knowledge. If you knew where to shut the water off, you wouldn't have an emergency situation and could contact a plumber during normal hours. This could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

With a simple home repair manual or a home plumbing book, you could prepare yourself for a situation like this and other plumbing problems. Most home repair manuals have general solutions and advice and can solve most of the problems around your home. If they can't solve all of the problems, they can probably save you from major catastrophes like a water leak.

Most of the time it's not the water leak that will cost the most money, it's the damage the water will do to your furniture, carpeting, wood flooring, walls or ceilings. A little information and preparation can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Home Plumbing Books

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Modern Conveniences Are a Must in Today's Public Restrooms

When you are in the everyday bathroom at school, work, or out in public, there are a few modern devices that you will find in the bathroom. The modern hand dryer is one. Toilet paper dispensers are another, and Micro fiber cleaning cloths are sometimes used to clean your everyday bathroom. The benefit of having these modern devices in your public bathrooms is that it makes everything easier. The task of using the restroom becomes a lot simpler and much more comfortable.

Hand dryers are not only a modern device, but they also help the environment. Hand dryers eliminate the use of paper towels. They also include a lot less effort in using them. All you have to do is run your hands under the dryer for a minute and your hands are dry with a simple motion. Some hand dryers have become revolutionary and new like the "Excelerator". This hand dryer is found commonly in many relatively new movie theaters and malls. The hand dryer uses excessive force when drying your hands so that your hands become very dry in a short amount of time.

Toilet paper dispensers are a modern device that we have seen frequently in many bathrooms for years. The dispensers eliminate the hassle of having to unroll a roll of toilet paper. They also eliminate the sanitary issue by not being out in the open, but in an enclosed case. Toilet paper dispensers are also helpful to a restroom user because they include space for more than one roll. This makes the janitor's job in the restroom easier as well.

Micro fiber cleaning cloths are a revolutionary new tool used for cleaning bathrooms, cars, kitchen counters; virtually anything. The Micro fiber cloths soak up more liquid than a regular cloth, and reduce the use of paper towels. The Micro fiber is easily washable and is inexpensive as well. The micro fiber cloths that I use in my home for dusting work easily with a spray form of wood polish. The cloths make it easy and affordable to keep the items in your house looking clean and new.

New bathroom appliances and devices are being created for restroom use all of the time. The ones that we use now are overlooked by the general public and disregarded as nothing new. Without these few devices, public restrooms would be more disgusting and dirty than they are now. Thankfully, hand dryers, toilet paper dispensers, and Micro fiber cloths make using the restroom a whole lot simpler.

Another good thing about hand dryers, micro fiber towels and toilet paper dispensers is that they are simple to make and operate. With the downfall of the economy today, our manufacturers need an easy to make, sell, and buy product. All of these bathroom appliances are easy to make, easy to operate, and simple to purchase for your place of business. On the internet you find most anything you need. With just a little searching, you can purchase hand dryers, micro fiber towels, or toilet paper dispensers today!

An interior designer can help you find the right Hand Dryers as well as Toilet Paper Dispensers for your workplace or business public restroom area.

Take Pictures of Your Growing Foundation Damage Or Cracks

I champion people and try to get them to look at their house, at least once a year. One of the easiest ways to inspect your home is to use a home inspection checklist and if you really want a good home inspection checklist, there's a good chance that you are going to need to purchase one. You get what you pay for and don't ever forget that.

Foundation repairs usually start with a small crack and that's no joke. If you notice a crack, take a picture of it and save it somewhere. If you think, that the crack is actually getting a little bigger or starting to separate, you can simply take another picture and compare the two photos.

I would like to give you an example of what I'm talking about. Sometimes we look at something and we think that it's getting larger, but we don't have anything to compare it to. As time goes on, we think that the crack is still getting larger, but our mind is creating an optical illusion. This happens to a lot of people.

If you had a picture, from a few years ago, you could refresh your memory and this could be very helpful in reducing your anxiety or jumping to conclusions about foundation damage. Trust me, sometimes, I'm like a medical emergency crew, going to visit a homeowner to relieve their foundations stress. People panic over foundation cracks and I'm the doctor they call for any one of their home emergencies.

I would also advise you to take pictures of the rest of your home. How hard would it be to take about 300 pictures of your home each year and store them on your computer or on a disk, for easy access later? A picture is worth a thousand words and don't ever forget that.

Click Here for Some More Great Foundation Repair Solutions.

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If you're really interested in basement remodeling and repairs, you should click on this link Home Repair Problems. Get some great home repair advice that can make a big difference on any of your home remodeling projects.

Handling Bathtub Faucet Leak the Easy Way

The conditions seem tediously familiar. You have a bathtub faucet leak that drips slowly, but steadily. Apart from the severe drain on your resources, it's also draining you of your financial health. Being a layman, you don't boast of the competence to tackle this ostensibly Herculean task on your own. Handles, valves and 'O' rings seem too hot to handle, right? So you are left with no other option but to invite an expert to put an end to this drip-drip saga.

I'm sure this account has stirred up some not-so-wonderful memories in you. Well, just in case you belong to this bandwidth, you better get ready to invert that parochial thinking. Fixing that leaky faucet in the bathtub on your own is not as blatantly absurd as it sounds. With a few household tools and a boatload of patience, you can sail into seemingly uncharted waters without any hiccups.

Are you ready to be suffused by a gush of self-worth?

A Watershed Of Sorts?

That's exactly what this event is often referred to as, especially by homeowners without much plumbing experience. But here's what you need to do to sort out this recurring problem:

• Before you get down to business, make sure you turn off the water supply. While in case of faucets in sinks, the valve lies under the fixture, in case of bathtubs, it is the main valve in the house that needs to be turned off.
• Remove the faucet handle cautiously, by removing the screw that lies under the plastic or metal cap found on top of the handle. Make sure the screw is not misplaced.
• The stem of the faucet is next in line. Use the correct wrench to undo this part, and that too with utmost care.
• At the end of this stem lies the villain of the piece, the worn-out washer. Replace this part with a new one; make sure there's no discrepancy in the size.
• If, to your utter dismay, you do not find a washer, what's the next course of action? Simple, replace the faulty stem.

The time of reckoning is finally here. Replace all the parts in reverse order, and wait for the sparkling results with anticipation.

Turn on the water supply, and you have an achievement that is second to none. Still believe in those age-old robotic roles?

Learn exactly how to generate 100's or even 1000's of positively *BRILLIANT* Bathroom Remodeling Ideas ... FAST ! And here are 25 Dirt Cheap Home Improvement Ideas that could increase the value of your home by several $1000's ...

Home Purchasing Checklists Provide Protection

Home purchasing checklists provide protection for consumers with useful information for future home repairs or current home repairs that will need to be done before the home is sold. Home inspectors often use checklists like these, while they're inspecting the home.

If more home shoppers used home inspection checklist while shopping for houses, we would probably have more satisfied homebuyers than dissatisfied ones. Recently just purchasing a home, we had our real estate professional, the previous homeowner's real estate professional and a mortgage lender, involved in the purchase of the property.

There was a home inspection report from the current homeowners, available for us to look at. It provided us with the damaged parts of the home that were repaired or replaced. Some of these repairs were from termite damage and it was stated so on the report. This was helpful information for us as we walked around the home inspecting it for damage.

The work that was repaired to look satisfactory and the rest of the home had minor damage. Listening to one of the real estate sales people that were involved in the transaction, you would've thought we would get in the deal of a lifetime and they had nothing but good news to say about the product they were representing. I easily understood that, this person could have influenced some one into believing that the home was in great shape, if they didn't have a home inspection checklist with them.

The home had been re-carpeted, painted and was in generally good shape. The problems with the home, were the old windows that were hard to open, the heating unit leaked gas, the tile flooring that ran through the kitchen and a large room addition looked great, except for one thing, they installed the tile over linoleum.

This eventually will have to be replaced as the tile starts to separate from the linoleum. While I'm writing this article, there's about 40 square feet of tile that needs to be replaced, because it's popping up and cracking.

A home purchasing checklist does not guarantee that you will find everything but can't eliminate some of the things that homeowners have the biggest problems with. If you could just eliminate one of these problems, the small price of purchasing, one of these checklists would be worth it.

Home purchasing checklists provide protection for the shopper and I would recommend, never shopping for a home without one.

If your looking for some more home inspection or home building ideas.

By Greg Vandenberge

Installing Beadboard Panels

Beadboard is great for heavily used areas in the home. Beadboard is ideal for walls in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways or anywhere where there is a high likelihood of the walls to be regularly scuffed or scratched. Typically it is fastened to the lower half of walls and is topped off with a piece of cap rail.

Contrary to installing strips, installing beadboard panels is relatively an easy project for the do-it-yourself homeowner. Beadboard panels come in 4'x8' sheets that have been manufactured to look exactly like a series of tongue and grooved beadboard strips fastened together. They are relatively lightweight and can be cut using a table saw.

Tools Required:

• Table Saw or Circular Saw
• Miter Saw
• Level
• Pencil
• Hammer
• Screw Driver
• Tape Measure
• Safety Glasses
• Paint Brush

Materials Required

• Nails
• Beadboard panels
• Cap Rail
• Baseboard Trim
• Corner Molding
• Vapor Barrier
• Paint / Polyurethane

Before installing panels in a room it is best to allow the boards to sit in the room for 2 or 3 days. This allows the panels to stabilize relative to the temperature and humidity of the room.

Installation starts with removing any baseboard trim that may be on the wall. Also remove outlet and switch covers that are located in the area where the beadboard is to be installed.

To install the beadboard panels, first start in a corner of the room and make a mark with a pencil at the top location of where you want to have the board to come to. Using a level and either a chalk line or pencil, make/draw a line the entire length of the wall at this height. You want to make sure that your line is level.

Next, place a section of trimmed panel up against the wall in the corner where you first made your mark. The trimmed panel should be cut to a height to allow it to be placed on the line and still have 1/8 to inch of clearance at the bottom. The gap at the bottom is necessary for thermal expansion of the panels.

When placing this first piece of trimmed panel up against the wall you will probably need to trim the edge of it to make it plumb with the wall. It is important that you do this to ensure that the vertical lines of the beadboard run perfectly perpendicular to the floor.

When securing the panel to the wall, leave about a 1/8th inch gap between the end of the panel and the corner to allow for thermal expansion. Likewise leave a 1/8th inch gap around doors and windows and cutouts for electrical outlets and switches.

To secure the beadboard panels to the wall, it is important to make sure you nail the panels to wall studs. Make sure you use finishing nails that are long enough to penetrate 3/4th of an inch to 1 inch into the wall studs.

The nails should be placed 6 to 8 inches apart along the edge of the panels and approximately inch in from the edge of the panel.

If you are installing the beadboard in an area where there is high moisture content you should use non-corrosive nails. Also, if you are installing it in a basement area a vapor barrier should be tacked on the wall first prior to installation.

After you have fully nailed the first panel in place, continue along the length of the wall installing the next panel. Make sure to fully nail each panel in place prior to moving on to the next panel.

Once you have completed the installation of the beadboard in the room, secure a cap rail to the top of the panels, and fasten baseboard trim to the bottom of them. In the corners attach corner molding.

Depending upon what type of finished look you want, either seal the beadboard paneling with a couple of coats of clear polyurethane or paint.

About the Author: Over the past 20+ years Mark Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For more information about Home Additions and Home Improvement, and Home Remodeling and Repair visit homeadditionplus.com and homeaddition.blogspot.com

Do-It-Yourself Concrete Room Addition Foundation

This information can also be very important to do-it-yourselfers that will be building other projects, for future home improvements. How can a do-it-yourselfer learn to build a concrete room addition foundation? Let's get started.

The first thing that you're going to need is a set of plans or building blueprints and they should have been approved by your local building department and planning department. There should be specific architectural details, that you will need to examine carefully, to build your new concrete room addition foundation correctly.

Let's get started with the digging. You're building plans, should give you the width and depth and the exact location, of the building footings that will need to be dug. Grab your shovels and get started. Make sure that all of the dirt is removed properly, before you start to form the room addition foundation footings.

Next you will need to form the foundation. This can be done using 2 x 10 or 2 x 12 form boards. You can easily apply these form boards, in the exact location, that the building plans are suggesting. You can use 1 x 3 wood or metal stakes that can be purchased at any home improvement or lumber yard, to hold up your form boards in the correct position.

The sole purpose of the form boards, will be to hold the concrete in, once it is poured. Next you will need to install all of the rebar and building hardware, that will also be required on your building blueprints. Make sure that you examine these building plans to find the exact location, for all of your anchor bolts, hold down bolts and all of your structural rebar.

Once this is done, you're ready to pour your concrete, but don't pour your concrete, until you have contacted your local building inspector to examine your new room addition building foundation.

If You Live in Northern San Diego County or South Orange County, and You're Looking for a Great Contractor, Click on This Link Escondido Remodeling and Home Repairs

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Click Here For Some Great Ideas About Room Addition Foundations

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors.

Thanks For Reading My Articles

Home Remodeling Tips For Staying Organized

Home remodeling is a big investment, and for many home owners its also one of the biggest decisions you can make. While there are many suggestions available to make the process a little less stressful, one of the most pragmatic ways to reduce anxiety is to be as prepared as possible. And a big part of the preparation means being as organized as possible. Some people take to organization a little easier than others, but with a little help, even the most scatterbrained of homeowners can take control of the situation, and feel better about the entire process. Anything you can do to sleep a little easier during a big ticket project will be worth your time. The best home remodeling tips offered by the experts takes the moderation is best approach. Check them out for yourself:

While one of the most handy home remodeling tips out there is to stay organized, that doesn't mean every little note you make or piece of paper the contractor gives you needs to be done in triplicate and the copies filed accordingly. Every person is different. Some homeowners might prefer to have one master binder with individual folders for each of the rooms being worked on. Someone else might work better to keep the vital information about the home improvement projects according to categories like general, plumbing, and electrical work. It doesn't matter how you organize things just as long as you have a system in place that works for you.

Another part of keeping up with your home's remodel and making sure things are done the way you want is to pay attention to the details. For example, some electricians have an unpleasant habit of placing electrical outlets in some pretty unattractive, not to mention inconvenient places. They are usually just trying to meet the building requirements. Make sure you talk to him or her about where you want the outlets. It's better for everyone. Another of the good home remodeling tips to follow is making sure your painter leaves some of the paint in the can for you. You can guarantee you will need touch ups later and it's helpful to have the supplies you need for the job.

This article was written by Gregg Hicks of http://www.reliableremodeler.com which provides Internet-based home improvement information and services. Offering homeowners a simple, quick, and free way to access, qualified home improvement remodeling contractors.

Repair Wood Shutters

Learning how to fix wood shutters can be a fun do-it-yourself project. To repair wood shutters, you need to incorporate some long term maintenance along with an understanding of what can cause them to rot. Although wood shutters can rot over time, however, many people enjoy them because they don't look like plastic and they can be installed on operable hinges. The distinct look of functional shutters that come out of the house adds a different look and type of curb appeal that vinyl shutters just don't offer. The problem is the headache that can come every 3-5 years when it's time to replace those shutters. So what can you do to get the most out of your wood shutters? Follow our tips for fixing shutters and how to repair wood shutters and exterior shutters and you will get more life out of them.

The first thing is understanding why exterior shutters can rot. The sun is your biggest enemy, because it will cause your shutters to contract and expand. If your wood shutters are painted dark colors or black and if they get direct sunlight for most of the day then this is even more so the case. Heat from the sun will cause the shutters to expand and split apart. This will expose untreated areas and the rot process will begin as water and insects make their way into the shutters through these cracks.

By maintaining your shutters, you can prolong their life. Paint your shutters every other year. Paint can fade in the sun and as that layer breaks down over time, the rot process can accelerate. You never want to put an adhesive between a shutter panel and the rails that surround it. Common mistakes are the use of caulk or glue to reinforce the panel. Panels have to have the ability to contract, expand, and shift with changing environmental temperatures. Th rails and styles are never glued to the panel for this reason and only serve to hold the panel while allowing it some slight contraction and expansion mobility. A paint contractor can often overlook this minor detail and cause more harm than good for your shutters. If your shutters are starting to split apart at the rails and panels, you need to do a couple of things. First, you should try to paint any exposed wood that's been untreated. And secondly, you should hammer the rails back in place and reinforce the rails and styles with screws. Never screw the panel to the rails or use glue or caulk.

If possible, don't use the color black. Try to avoid colors with dark pigments in them as they will absorb more heat and reduce the lifespan of the exterior shutters. You can also use a vinyl safe paint or a semi-gloss paint to help minimize absorption from the sun. If your shutters are cupping or bowing, then it's likely that the need reinforcement. Overexposure will do this and a long shutter may need a third hinge in the middle to make it more structural.

Keep in mind, that the sun is your worse enemy. If maintenance and repair are not your cup of tea, then have no fear. There is a no rot solution that does still offer the look of wood and functionality of operable shutters and they don't look like plastic. They're also not made from vinyl. What's nice about vinyl shutters is that they are affordable and they don't rot. The disadvantage is that they will always look like plastic and they too can crack and split over time. They're also not hingeable. Many people like wood shutters so that they can be hinged and function as operable shutters. You can consider upgrading to PVC shutters, which look just like wood and can be hinged. They can be an easy way to avoid a shutter maintenance nightmare. With a little bit of shutter repair and preventative maintenance you can prolong the life of your shutters so that they last twice or three times as long.

Matt Buquoi is the owner of Flower Window Boxes, a window box company that specializes in affordable no rot window boxes. They offer no rot PVC shutters that are maintenance free and operable. Visit their website for more information about their no rot shutters and window boxes.