1. home and garden
2. home improvement and repair
3. roofing

1
HOME
SHOW
Looking for new
ideas and ways
to save money on
your next home
improvement
project?
It’s all
inside!
Also inside find information
and specials from
these advertisers
Bob’s TV & Home Furnishings
Casebine Community Credit Union
Century 21 Property Professionals
Culligan-Vetter’s Inc.
Floorcrafters
Your Dream Home
Furniture & Floors
Tips for Selecting
Your Home’s
Exterior Color
See Page 2
HP Enterprise
Industrial Motors
Jern Company
Green Oak Development
Myers Construction
Reid’s Landscapes and Turf
Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors
SE Iowa Garage Door Specialist
Sinclair Tractor
Standard of Beaverdale &
Beckman TV & Appliance
Wiley’s Interior Furnishings
Window World
Wright Electric
Spring Home
Maintenance
Checklist
See Inside
2
8 Tips to
Selecting
Colors for
Your Home’s
Exterior
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Caulk the Cracks
(NewsUSA) - You’ve no doubt driven
down a street, seen a house, and
thought, “Yikes! What were they
thinking?”
If the gap around a door or window is wider than a nickel,
you need to reapply exterior caulk. Check window-glazing
putty, too, which seals glass into the window frame.
Add weatherstripping around doors, making sure that you
can’t see any daylight from inside your home. You’ll save
money on air conditioning and you won’t have to repeat this
task in the fall.
Colors can evoke a visceral response,
especially on home exteriors. At once
both personal and public, colors make
a first impression, can accentuate
attributes and soften flaws and offer a
glimpse into your personality.
“Homeowners can be influenced by
many sources -- friends and neighbors,
magazines, TV shows or the guy at the
hardware store -- so you’ll need to be
careful you’re not just chasing the latest
trend; otherwise, your house might be
the one that people end up rolling their
eyes at,” says PBS home improvement
expert Vicki Payne.
Payne says you’ll be happy for years
to come by following eight tips on
selecting colors for your home’s exterior:
1. Deciding between bright and cheerful
colors or deep, rich earth tones will
influence all other decisions.
2. Pick colors that will blend in with your
surroundings.
3. Make sure your choices in siding and
trim don’t clash with materials you
are not going to replace, such as roof
shingles, brick, stone and tile.
4. The size and lot location of your
house matter. Light colors can make
a house look bigger, and dark colors
can make it look smaller.
5. Landscaping will continue to
grow and change colors as the
seasons change, so trees, shrubs
and flowering gardens need to be
considered.
6. Use neutral colors to de-emphasize
things such as an air conditioning
unit or gutters and downspouts, and
use contrasting or accent colors to
highlight things such as architectural
detailing, porch railings, windows and
front doors.
7. Computer visualizers can give a
general idea of what colors will look
like, but large swatches (about 2
by 3 feet) give a truer look at what
colors might actually look like on your
home. (Take a look at the swatches at
different times of day. The colors will
look different as the intensity of the
sunlight changes.)
8. Make it last. Who wants to invest
thousands of dollars every few years
to re-paint? An alternative is prepainted planks, but their finishes
degrade just like paint. Better are
cladding products that are certified
and warranted to retain their color
over their lifespan. Vinyl and other
polymeric siding manufacturers
incorporate color at the front end of
production -- actually blending the
pigment into the formulation. The
color can’t chip, pit or peel, giving
homeowners peace of mind that
they won’t have to paint or repair the
finish. And just like the leading paint
products, vinyl siding, soffit, trim and
accessories come in an enormous
number of colors -- from classic
lighter colors to deep barn reds,
hunter and sage greens, deep blues
and more.
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Put the Temperature on Autopilot
Energy Star says that for an initial investment of $50 to $150 for a programmable
thermostat, you can save about $180 annually on cooling and heating bills
-- if you can live with higher indoor temperatures in summer (and cooler
temperatures in winter). Set the “hold” or “vacation” feature for a constant,
efficient temperature when you’re away for the weekend or on vacation. In summer, you can make those settings more tolerable if you install ceiling fans.
Just remember that a ceiling fan cools people, not a room, so turn it off when
you leave the room.
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Clean Out the Gutters
Nature’s detritus -- decomposed leaves, twigs,
and spring petals and seeds (think maple-tree
“helicopters”) -- may be worse in spring than
in fall. Add extensions to downspouts to carry
water at least 3 to 4 feet away from your home’s
foundation. You can use 4-inch corrugated plastic
pipe (about $7 for 10 feet).
“Keeping your home’s exterior looking
fresh and timely doesn’t have to be
challenging,” Payne says.
(form erly partofFour Seasons Excavation and Landscaping)
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HOME
SHOW
Planning for a
Flowerbed
Spring Home
Maintenance Checklist
More ideas
to make
your home
the best it
can be!
See Page 8
More inside
Inspect the AC
Call a technician to tune up your cooling
system to manufacturer-rated efficiency -- so
you won’t sweat the first hot weekend with
an out-of-commission air conditioner.
Note: Dirty filters make your air conditioner
work harder, increasing energy costs and
possibly damaging your equipment. Check
them monthly and replace as needed, or at
least every three months.
Spruce Up Your
Hom e forSpring
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Flowerbed Factors
By Tresa Erickson
You love flowers, and lucky for you, you
have a nice lawn with plenty of room for
flowerbeds. You have some idea of the
flowers you would like to grow, but your
selections will depend upon a host of
other factors.
One of the first factors you will have
to consider is when you want the
flowerbeds to bloom. Spring, summer,
fall or year-round? While a flowerbed
that blooms throughout the year would
be ideal, it won’t be easy to attain,
especially if you are a beginner, live in
an area with harsh winters, travel a lot
or change residences throughout the
year. Choose a season when you will be
around to care for the flowerbeds and
appreciate the fruits of your labor and
select flowers that grow during that
season.
Along with the season, you will also
have to consider the site conditions.
Where will the flowerbeds be located?
Does each site receive full sun, partial
sun or no sun at all? Does the soil drain
properly? What is the soil pH? The
answers to these questions will dictate
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Pressure Wash Your Home
Spring-clean your home’s exterior to remove
accumulated dirt, mold, stains and the like from the
siding, deck, sidewalks, driveway and garage floor,
fences, and lawn furniture. You can rent a pressure
washer or hire help, depending on the
amount and type of crud.
the types of flowers you can grow.
While you may envision rows and rows
of tulips in front of your cottage during
the early spring, the soil conditions there
might not warrant it.
The characteristics of the flowers
themselves will also have bearing in
your decision. Some flowers require
more space than others. If you have a
fairly small bed, you will need to select
flowers that spread little, whereas if
you have a rather large bed, you might
be able to choose a wider variety of
flowers, including some that take up a
great deal of space. Height, color and
texture should be considered as well.
Flowerbeds usually feature flowers of
varying heights, often with the shorter
species in front where they can be
seen. Colors and texture may vary but
should complement each other and the
landscape. Soft pink blooms might look
out of place in front of a rough, red
cedar plank fence.
When you are choosing species for your
flowerbeds, take the surroundings into
consideration and do your homework.
Know what flowers grow best when,
where and with what. Read everything
you can about flowerbed design and
go shopping armed with the right
information. The more you know,
the better choices you will make and
the better your flowerbeds will look.
And remember, things change. The
flowerbeds you create today may not
look like the ones you create 10 years
from now. Prepare for your flowerbeds
to evolve as your gardening skills
improve.
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HOME
SHOW
Give Your Kitchen a
New Look
See Page 11
More ideas
to make
your home
the best it
can be!
Spring Home
Maintenance Checklist
More inside
Wash the Windows
It’s only when the windows are clean and the
spring sun shines in that you’ll realize how
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Before washing the glass, clean out the sills
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11
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Repair Sidewalks and Driveways
Fix any breakdown in concrete or asphalt before it worsens. You can patch or fill
surface cracks, chips or flaking in concrete yourself using cement-repair products.
For deeper cracks, settling or sunken concrete, or frost heaves (when moisture
beneath the concrete has frozen and jacked up the slab), call a pro, whether a
handyman or a concrete contractor.
Asphalt is harder to work with, so call a pro.
To increase the longevity of your driveway, have asphalt resealed every two to five
years, depending on climate and wear patterns, and have concrete resealed every
one to three years (you can probably do the concrete job yourself).
Give Your Kitchen a New Look
With a Lighting Update
(NewsUSA) - A simple, inexpensive
lighting update can completely
transform your kitchen from dull to
dynamite.
look, lighting does not always get the
attention it deserves. According to
Dross, this is to the detriment of home
design.
According to the American Lighting
Association (ALA), good lighting design
makes kitchens more functional, as well
as more enjoyable, relaxing and suitable
for entertaining.
“Lighting is as important a design
element as wall coverings, flooring
and countertops,” says Dross. “It can
make an average kitchen look great and
elevate a fabulous design to perfection.
Need to increase the visual size of a
room without tearing down a wall? Add
lighting above the cabinets and at the
toe-kick space.
“Good lighting is vitally important in
kitchens,” says Jeff Dross, corporate
director for education and industry
trends for Kichler Lighting. “Perhaps
more work in the home is done in the
kitchen area than any other room, and
having improper lighting would be
tantamount to candles in a warehouse
or flashlights on a factory floor.
“Food preparation is a vital, though
sometimes tedious, task performed
virtually every day,” Dross continues.
“Cooking in a poorly illuminated space
only increases the drudgery and the
danger. Good lighting adds to the
overall space, and increases the pleasure
in using said space.”
The very fact that kitchens are spaces
where people spend a lot of time makes
them valuable areas when reselling a
home, as well. For this reason, many
experts agree kitchen renovations are
among the best ways to boost the value
of your home. Along with bathrooms,
kitchens are an integral part of the
home to virtually everyone.
SPring Home Maintenance Checklist
Prepare to Mow
A dull lawn mower blade doesn’t slice, but instead tears
grass, leaving it vulnerable to disease, sun damage and
insects. A blade typically needs sharpening once or twice
a year, or more often depending on how big your yard is,
how frequently you mow and the type of grass you have.
You should also tune up your lawn mower after every 25
hours of use to increase its efficiency and reduce polluting
emissions. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to change
the spark plug(s), oil and oil filter (or clean it).
“The importance of good, high lumen
output for task (under-cabinet) lighting
cannot be over emphasized,” Dross
adds. “Wall-mounted cabinets create
shadows on countertop work surfaces.
The only way to alleviate those shadows
(and the accompanying dark spots on
the cutting board) is with under-cabinet
lighting.”
Another factor to keep in mind relates
to energy usage, and by extension,
your power bill. The U.S. Department of
Energy reports that American consumers
use electricity for lighting the kitchen
more than any other room in the house.
So, to save electricity costs, invest in
energy-efficient lighting in the kitchen.
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Check Your Deck
Resealing is always a good idea to protect the wood.
But more important, before you invite the clan for a
reunion, make sure your deck can handle the load. At
a minimum, test several areas of the deck for decay,
especially those that tend to stay damp. Two signs:
The wood is soft and spongy, and it doesn’t splinter if
you poke it with an ice pick or screwdriver.
To see the most up-to-date fixtures
and shades, and to consult with a
professionally trained lighting expert,
visit your local ALA-member retailer, or
go online to americanlightingassoc.com.
Unfortunately, when it comes time
to updating kitchens with a new
The
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