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Garage Door Weatherstrip – Garage Facelift

You would probably ask yourself why do you need a facelift for your garage. It is only a garage! But what if you have a two or more cars garage? The garage doors take up a significant portion of the front of the house. What is the use in having a great design for your house but having only generic garage doors?

Garage Door Replacement - Nowadays the garage door trends are to incorporate the doors into the design of the house. For example you could choose carriage-style doors(look like they open like old-fashioned doors in carriage houses, but they open like normal garage doors) or you could choose wood carriage doors. These wood carriage doors are reminiscences of the horse-drawn carriage days and they are very popular. You don’t need to go as far as to order custom made garage doors because you can find more appealing garage doors at most home improvement stores.

In addition to the doors, the floor of a garage gives style and can integrate to the overall aesthetics of your house. You could try interlocking garage floor tiles that come in multiple colors and patterns. They are made of polypropylene and are easy to install and clean. Another interesting and practical flooring is the coin shaped G-flooring.

Home Energy Consumption

5 Ways to Cut Down Your Home Energy Consumption

If you have been receiving high electric bill month after month, then be alarmed. You might be using your appliances more what your require them.

Normally, a regular American household would consume between $1500 and $2000 on electric bills alone. If you happen to fall between these figures, then you can consider yourself as a regular homeowner that uses electricity that is not really needed. Why? One reason: You don’t need to spend as much as $2000 a year for energy. And you don’t even have to spend more than that either. You see, a regular household that spends at this amount often wastes power and of course money. And with an increased electric rate, the bills will go even higher.

Want to do some changes?

Then, here are the things you should know. The 5 ways to cut down your home energy consumption:

1. The thermostat control

When you want your room to be super cool because you are sweating from the inside, you simple don’t turn the thermostat super low. Remember this: the thermostat will not run as quickly as you want. It will run on the same level all throughout until it reaches the temperature you set. So whether you gradually switch your thermostat low or instantly set it on its lowest, you will receive the same result. The main difference is, you only spend more energy when you think you can get your room to cool quickly if you set your thermostat low.

Think of it this way: You are driving at 5mph when you suddenly shift to 5th gear. What you will get? More pressure on the pedal with lesser speed gained. In other words, you waste so much gas but do not instant speed.

Also, to further cut down your electric bill, you can set the thermostat several degrees lower when you are out or when you sleep.

2. Several small consumptions add up

Your iPod charger, cellphone charger, and other chargers that are plugged 24/7 can cost you additional digits on your electric bill. This also goes to your night-lights that are switched on all day, all night. Also, your digital clocks and pots that are plugged since brought to the house consume high home energy. The computer monitor that is left on the whole day adds up to your electric bill. All these contribute to the cost you pay for your electric bill. Imagine this: these things that you think do not contribute so much adds 5% on your electric bill.

3. The cool way

You don’t need a warm water to wash your clothes. Oh, you think that warm water kills germs on your clothes. Well, you don’t need them. Settle for cold water. You can save as much as 90% on your washing machine’s electric consumption of you don’t use water heater.

4. Sealing the leaks

Leaks can come from doors, sills, windows, cracks on the walls, and joints. And making sure that these leaks are given proper attention would yield to saving in the long run. Make sure that your doors are closed properly. If there are spaces, seal them. This goes with all the doors from garage doors, exterior doors, operable windows, to door of the attic. Use sealants such as weather strippers. Windows should also be free from leaks. Cover them with plastic coating so that the heat will be contained inside your home. Cracks on the walls should also be sealed. Regular sealants will instantly do the jobs. The reason for doing this is that you need to keep the heat contained inside your home so that the heating system would not need to do extra work due to heat loss from these leaks.

5. Keep them small

If you are dinning alone and would want to warm up left over straight from your fridge, do not use large pots or ovens. Instead, settle for small pots and microwave. Small pots require less heat while microware has use lesser power than oven. Small burner instead of large burner is more ideal in preparing meals for two reason: one, it consumes less electricity, and two, it your air conditioning would not work double time cooling down the room. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, you can save from 30 to 40% on energy cost if you follow these ways.

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Door Weatherstrip - Fall Home Energy Savings Tips

The fireplace – Getting our fireplace ready will certainly yield to better savings; and fall is the best time to clean and repair our fireplace. Make sure that the dumper is tightly sealed when not using them. A small space would let the cold air rush in and send the warm air out. If you were using electric heating system, an opening on the fireplace would mean bigger work to maintain the place warm. Let professional contractor to do the proper maintenance. They are certainly more capable in securing your fireplace.

When you decide to use the fireplace, you can turn down your heater. This will save you as much as 8% on heating cost.

The furnace – The furnace will work extra effort if the filter is full of dirt. This will equate to energy waste since the furnace will consume more power against the service it brings. To avoid this, make sure that your filter is clean. The owner’s manual will tell you how to clean the filter. A clean filter will let you breath clean air around your house. A clean filter saves you 5% on heating cost.

The duct – Small leaks on duct will certainly result to lost heat so make sure that this is regularly checked. Usually ducts are located on unheated places. This is another reason why heat is lost. Insulate the ducts by wrapping it with R-6 or higher fiberglass. Never use cloth-backed tapes. You can also wrap them with UL-approved metallic or plastic tapes and mastic sealants. The note that leaking ducts work 30% more on your heating system so make sure they are sealed and secured.

The solar heat – You need not have solar panels on your roof to use the sun as the source of heat. All you have to do is use open your drapes during the day to warn your room without using electricity. Just close them at night to keep the warn air inside. Reduction of the use of heating system during the day will let you cut as much as 10% on your electric consumption

The openings – Openings on your doors, windows, joints and sills will let the cold air outside to go in and the warm air from the inside to go out. Make sure that these openings are sealed with either sealant or weatherstripping. It will help reduce the work of the heating system immensely.

The thermostat – A programmable thermostat or a centralized heating system will let you save on the heating cost. The programmable thermostat will let you set your desired room temperature on a specific period of the day. This is much useful if you are leaving your home or are going to sleep overnight. The centralized heating system on the other hand will give you the ultimate control on the temperature of every room. These 2 will let you decide how warm a room could be. One interesting thing to note is that a centigrade lower on your heating system will let your save uas much as 5% on your heating cost.

The water heater – Households can set the heating system between 120 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This range is ideal on both mobile homes and regular homes.

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Tips For Your Garage Door

The new generation of garage doors is reasonably priced, safe and easy to install and they are no longer a convenience for only a select few. You should consider changing your garage door if it is too old or if it has an old motor or pulley system.

The garage doors can be selected by the type of the chain System they use: screw-drive system, chain drive system or computer controlled system. The screw drive system has a mechanism that moves the length of a steel rod; it is a lifting mechanism that is mounted in your garage ceiling. The chain drive system is made of a chain that moves the door along a pair of tracks; this is the most common and affordable system but also has the disadvantage of being extremely noisy. The computer drive mechanism doesn’t use any screws or chains; the system’s body is mounted above the door.

The speed and the type of power are other factors used in selecting a new garage door. A faster door means a more expensive one, but this feature reduces the waiting time on your driveway. Even though it opens quickly, a door usually closes pretty slow for safety. The power of the motor is important in choosing a door because it has to have enough power to raise the door; a large motor is likely to last longer. Also the quietness of the motor should be another decision factor.

Enhanced security features can be found in a newer generation door that uses random codes. A new random code is generated each time the remote control is used to open the garage door. This security code prevents you from opening another garage and vice versa.

The remote control may be found in several models with a different number of buttons. A multiple button remote control is the best choice for someone who has several garages. The fixed controller is mounted on the wall either inside or outside, near the garage door and it allows the garage door to open without a remote controller. The keypad allows to close the door for a specific period of time and it provides enough time to exit the garage without running.

Safety features are present on every garage door. These features prevent the door from crushing objects or people by reversing the direction if it hits something. This safety feature is triggered by an electronic beam and it is mandated by law. A computer-controlled mechanism can detect or compensate for varying conditions, for example if the door is coming in contact with an obstruction or is closing too fast.