Did Ben Franklin "discover" electricity? No. Want to elaborate on that a little? Okay, fine. Scientists were working with electrical forces for over a thousand years before Benjamin Franklin supposedly flew his famous kite. What Franklin’s experiment did demonstrate was the connection between
Installing Your Hot Tub
In part one, we answered the question "Does a hot tub increase the value of my home?" and landed on the less-than-definitive with the not-so-definitive answer of "it depends." We shared some hot tub health benefits (turns out they’re relaxing) and finally estimated roughly how much a hot tub will
Things to Consider Before Installing a Hot Tub
Hot Tub, Gonna Make Ya Sweat-a! That might be what Eddie Murphy sang when he impersonated James Brown on Saturday Night Live, but don’t worry: the hot tub itself might make you sweat, but putting it in won’t. Seriously? It's easy to put in a hot tub? "Easy" is a relative term, so let's just say
My smoke alarm won’t stop beeping. Help!
Beeping smoke alarms are pretty common, and there's usually an easy fix for them. Before you shut up beeping smoke alarm for good, however, you should know why it’s beeping in the first place. It’s good to know stuff, and it turns out that beeping is happening for a reason. That’s why we’d like to
Installing Landscape Lighting You’ll Love, Part 2
Landscape Lights Don't Install Themselves Last time, we gave you an overview of types of landscape lighting. We promised to show you how to install them in part 2. Well, this is part 2, and we’re keeping our promise. Is it hard to install landscape lighting kits? The difficulty of any project is
Installing Landscape Lighting You’ll Love, Part 1
Floodlights? Two words. Ug. Ly. Floodlights are for theater plays, lighthouses, and prison yards, but they sure don't flatter your home. What you really want is landscape lighting, because landscape lighting: is low voltage so it's safe to use. is easy to install. accents the plants
Why Isn’t My In-floor Heater Working?
My in-floor heater is not working! Walking on a cold floor with bare feet should be banned as a cruel and unusual punishment by the Geneva Conventions. Fortunately, fixing a broken in-floor heater is possible. As always, let's back up a bit for a little background information. When it comes to
Why Should I Update My Wiring?
What's all this about updating wiring? If you were to lay all your veins and arteries end to end, it would be messy and you'd die. It would also be messy (and expensive) if you remove your home wiring. But you might have to! The analogy makes sense--really! Your electrical panel is the heart.
How Can I Use Less Energy?: Part Two
Yes, this is part 2. (Here’s part 1, in case you missed it!) There are so many ways for you to reduce energy use, we just couldn't fit them all into one blog. The first blog was about electricity, so are you going to write about other kinds of energy use? Is your name Claire Voyant? This one is
How Can I Use Less Energy?: Part One
How can I use less energy? You could take more naps. Oh, you mean how can you use less electricity? Got you covered: there are a lot of ways to reduce the amount of energy you use. One note before we start. With every one of these tips, you don't need a professional electrician. But you do
How Do I Fix a Broken Bathroom Fan?
I need to fix a broken bathroom fan It can be exhausting when your bathroom fan is not exhausting. You know your fan gets rid of bathroom smells, but its main job is to remove hot, moist air and keep the room dry to help prevent mold and mildew. Use your exhaust fan both to get rid of smells and
Why is My Bathroom Fan So Loud?
My bathroom fan is super noisy. Well, that's super annoying. Can I fix it? The bad news is your noisy bathroom fan is probably super noisy for one simple reason that cannot be fixed. The good news is, if that one simple reason is not the reason it's super noisy, it can be easy to fix. All About