Are Your Faucets Frost-Free?

Depending on where you live, this may be the time of year when you keep watching the mercury drop lower and lower as weather patterns come and go. Cold winter temperatures can be difficult for people and pets to deal with, but they can also be an issue as far as your home is concerned. Freezing pipes and faucets can be major hassles that cost a significant amount to repair, especially as they often require emergency service calls that cost extra. This is part of the reason that so much emphasis is placed on freeze prevention during the winter.

One thing that can make a big difference in the freeze safety of your home is the use of frost-free faucets on your home’s exterior. As the name implies, these faucets are designed to make it much more difficult for them to freeze and potentially crack or leak as a result of cold weather. If you aren’t sure whether your home has frost-free faucets installed and you think that you might need them, read on for more information.

What Are Frost-Free Faucets?

As the name suggests, frost-free faucets (which are also called freeze-proof faucets by some) are exterior faucets that are designed to prevent freezing around the valve and within the spigot itself. They do this by using a longer faucet neck and slightly different valve angle to place the shutoff valve of the faucet inside the house instead of outside, ensuring that the valve is in a warmer environment when the temperature drops and therefore the likelihood of freezing is significantly reduced. This protects the valve from freezing damage, but also provides additional benefits as well.

Because the valve is inside of your home, the spigot itself remains dry while the water is turned off. This eliminates one of the other major issues with freezing, damage to the spigot itself that can cause leaks. Since there isn’t any water in or near the spigot, there’s no water available to freeze and expand within the spigot and no way for the increasing internal pressure to cause cracks. It’s worth noting that having a hose connected during the winter can still cause water to be held within it, though, so disconnecting your hoses before cold weather moves in is still important when using frost-free faucets.

Frost-Free Faucets on Your Home

There are a few ways to tell if you have frost-free faucets already installed on your home. One way is to look at the orientation of the faucet itself; if it tilts upward at an angle, it’s likely not a frost-free model. Frost-free faucets have a longer screw mechanism that run the length of the faucet neck, so the faucet and valve control are almost certainly going to be situated straight out from your home and perpendicular to the wall.

Another key feature of frost-free faucets is that the neck of the faucet goes into the wall instead of simply being connected to a pipe coming out of the wall. While they may have mounting hardware that helps to hold the faucet in place against the wall, upon closer inspection you will likely be able to tell that the faucet and the “pipe” going into the wall are all part of a single piece of material. Standard faucets will have a separate pipe that will be obvious upon inspection.

Installing Frost-Free Faucets

Proper installation is important for frost-free faucets since even a small leak during installation can increase the chances of freezing during cold weather significantly. As a result, it’s generally recommended that you bring in a plumber so that the new faucets are installed professionally. If you aren’t sure which plumber in your area is the best for the job

 

Fix Your Yard’s Drainage Now

Drainage problems can be a major issue for homeowners. Not only does poor drainage cause standing water in your yard, but it can also lead to leaks and foundation problems with your house depending on where the water collects. As if that wasn’t bad enough, landscaping and lawn upkeep become a lot harder when your yard doesn’t drain well. Is there anything that can be done for these problems?

Fortunately, yes. There are actually a few different ways to treat drainage issues in your yard, and this is a great time to undertake a project to correct them. By taking action now, you can avoid problems that might arise from heavy spring rains. The exact solution to your drainage issues will depend on the cause of your problem, so here are a few different options to consider.

Grading Issues

One common cause of problems with drainage is inconsistent grading in your yard. This can cause problems if your home is at the bottom of a big slope across your yard, but it can also be an issue if the grading is inconsistent and as a result has one or more low spots in the yard. Water flows along the soil wherever the grade leads, so this can cause it to collect around your home or in low areas which can then become swampy and overgrown.

Regrading your yard can be done either with specialized tools that scrape soil from higher areas into lower ones, or by bringing in additional soil to completely change the grade. Each method has its advantages, with redistribution being favored when there are both high and low areas in your yard, and the addition of new soil being best when you need to change an otherwise mostly good grade. Once the regrading is finished you can seed the graded area and have grass growing by the time spring arrives.

Soil Penetration

Another big problem with drainage comes when water simply can’t penetrate down into the soil in time to be absorbed. This is especially problematic because you end up with way too much water in the areas where water collects but the soil in other areas might not get enough. Sometimes this is because the soil has too much clay in its composition so it’s difficult for water to penetrate, and sometimes it’s a result of other issues such as thick thatch. In some cases, it’s even just a matter of the soil being too compacted by traffic and time. Regardless of the cause, though, there are solutions.

Clay-heavy soil is the most work-intensive to correct, but the solution is also pretty simple. You simply need to break up the clay and add soil or sand into the mix to make it easier to drain. Sometimes this is as easy as adding a few holes in the clay-heavy area and mixing it together, especially if the clay is in a relatively small area. In some instances, though, you may need to do some tilling or other heavy mixing to break up larger clay beds.

Other issues can be fixed by using a dethatcher on your lawn to break up the thatch buildup or running tools over the ground that punch small holes to break up overly compacted topsoil. Dethatching and aerating the soil like this are often done together, as the loosening of soil is good for the growing grass as well even if it wasn’t excessively compacted.

Fix Your Drainage Problems

Correcting drainage issues can be a big job, but your yard and your home’s foundation will thank you. If you’re in need of a landscaping pro to get the job done, HomeKeepr can help with that. Creating a HomeKeepr account is free, and once you’re a member you can connect with a wide range of pros in your area to help with this and other tasks around the house.

 

Is This the Year You’ll Add a Home Gym?

Winter and early spring are typically great times for construction projects around the house. Not only do materials tend to be a bit cheaper due to reduced overall demand, but some labor costs may be reduced as well. Because of this, some homeowners tend to start looking for add-on projects or major remodels to undertake so that they can take advantage of lower prices and faster project starts.

One popular home project in recent years is adding a home gym, often converting a largely unused basement or garage space into an area for a wide range of workouts. It’s possible that you’ve considered adding a home gym yourself, either as a room conversion or in an exterior building or add-on. Let’s look at this project a little more closely to determine whether this is the year you should let those home gym dreams come true.

Home Gym Basics

When you think of a home gym, you might think of some big elaborate space with big, bulky equipment and mirrors hanging everywhere. Sounds intimidating, right? Not only is something like that probably more than you need, but having such an over-the-top gym area in your home could actually make it harder to sell since it’s such a specialized room. This is why most home gyms are generally much simpler affairs, and really only require a few things to make them truly functional.

The basic things that you’ll need for your home gym are floor space (obviously), good ventilation, some storage areas, and access to electricity. In a pinch, you can even make do with a small shed or room corner that has some storage totes and some foam padding on the floor. Even when you go for a full-room conversion, these basics will generally remain the same.

Designing the Gym

If you want to convert a room into a home gym, start with adding some impact-absorbing foam panels or something similar on the floor where you’ll be doing a lot of your workouts. Plan out where you’re going to place treadmills or any other equipment that you’ll need to plug in and see if there are outlets nearby; if not, you’ll need to bring in an electrician to add some. You’ll also need an area to store exercise equipment, either in cabinets or totes, and possibly a laundry basket for dirty towels to keep the sweat contained. For ventilation, you’ll either want the room to connect to your heat and air system or to have fans and windows that you can leverage to circulate the air around.

If you want something smaller, take these same basics and scale them down. Instead of plotting a full-room floor plan, arrange your storage solutions along the walls leading into a corner. A small TV in the corner can also help you to access exercise videos and other content to help you with your workouts. A standing fan can help with ventilation, and so long as you make use of your storage you should be largely good to go. Even with minimal changes to the house, it should still be an effective workout area.

Building Your Home Gym

A home gym project can be as big or as small as you need it to be. Even if your plans are relatively minor, though, you may still need to make a few changes to your environment or bring in a decorator to help you arrange things in a small space. Fortunately, HomeKeepr is here to help you find the pro that you need for your home gym design no matter how big or small the project is.

 

Home EV Charging Stations: The Basics

Electric vehicles are increasingly popular, and many EV owners enjoy the fact that they don’t have to hit the gas station every week to stay on the road. These cars still need fuel, however, and that means that access to a charging station is very important. While there are adapters available that let you charge an EV using a standard outlet, the charge takes a significant amount of time because the adapters provide current at the lowest level that the cars are able to accept.

Because of this, an increasing number of EV owners are installing their own charging stations in their homes. This allows for a much faster charge, getting them back on the road sooner and making it much easier to top off a charge in between trips to town. If you own an electric vehicle or are even considering one for the future, it’s important that you understand the potential benefits of a home charging station to determine if one is right for you and your home.

Home Charging Basics

Unlike the standard outlet adapter that you would use to charge your EV from existing electrical receptacles, a home charging station contains a specialized charging cable and the technology that’s needed to perform a quick charge of your vehicle. Depending on the vehicle you have, the charging station may have a generic EV connector on the charging cable or might have a specialty connector designed for a specific make or model of vehicle. When choosing a charging unit, it’s important to consult your vehicle’s documentation to find a unit that will charge at the highest possible speed for your EV.

In most cases, home charging units are installed in the garage and connected to the home’s electrical wiring. This allows you to park your car, plug it in, and have it ready to go without worrying about weather or other issues that might affect your charging connection. For homeowners who don’t have a garage or who have other vehicles or items within their garage space, charging units connected to the side of the home are also somewhat common.

Solar-Powered Charging

An increasingly popular option for homeowners with electric vehicles is to set up a solar-powered charging station by installing solar panels and batteries that connect to the charging unit directly. This keeps the EV from running up the electric bill while still ensuring that there’s plenty of juice available to top off your car when the charge is running low. Even homeowners with no other solar equipment on the home sometimes opt for this sort of charging, installing the solar panels on the garage roof and mounting the solar battery units on an interior wall of the garage.

This can also be a good starting point if you are interested in cutting down your overall dependence on the electrical grid and shifting to solar. Once you set up a solar system to power the EV charging unit, it can be expanded to provide additional power to the house as well. When doing this, it’s typically best to set up separate home batteries to ensure that your home and EV aren’t competing against each other for power.

Charging Station Installation

In order to make sure that a home charging station is properly installed so that it won’t damage your home or your vehicle, it’s important that you bring in professional help to get the unit connected to power and set up. This is especially true if you plan on using solar energy to power the charging station, since the solar system will also need to be set up and connected to the charging station. Finding an electrician who’s experienced with charging station installation can make a big difference in getting a unit installed quickly and correctly.

 

Getting Ready for a Bathroom Remodel?

When it comes to redoing the various rooms in your home, the bathroom is often overlooked. Some homeowners won’t even touch the bathroom unless a leak or some other problem makes it necessary. This is a really poor way to look at it, however, especially given how much time we spend in the bathroom, between bathing, getting ready to face the day, and a few other things. Your bathroom is just as deserving of attention as any other room in your home.

Of course, the why doesn’t really matter; whether you’re remodeling your bathroom because you want to change its look or you’re doing it because you’re already making repairs, the time to start is almost here. The question is, how do you get ready to remodel your bathroom? Here are some things that you should keep in mind before the remodel actually starts.

Prepping for the Remodel

The first thing that you need to do is get the bathroom ready for the remodel. This means getting all of your stuff out, and that may end up being a lot more than you expect. Set aside all the things that you use daily, then start packing up less-common items and organizing them by category. This way all your makeup, your hair care products, your bathing products, and everything else that you use in the bathroom will all be kept together so that you can put everything back up more easily when the remodel is done.

This is also the time when you should make plans for what you’re going to do while the bathroom is inaccessible. If you have another bathroom in the house then you can obviously use it, but if you don’t, then you might have to talk with a neighbor about using their bathroom, or even rent a portable toilet until the remodel is finished. Not all bathroom remodels will make the room completely inaccessible, of course, but it’s good to keep in mind just in case your plans will take the bathroom offline for a day or two.

A Clear Remodel Plan

Once you’ve packed everything up and done any contingency planning that you require, double check your remodel plan to make sure it’s all in order before the work starts. This includes choosing paint colors, showerheads and fixtures, countertops, and anything else that might be needed for the remodel. The last thing you want is to have to spend even more time halfway through because you realized that no one had decided whether to replace the bathroom wallpaper or not.

This is also when you should decide if you want any construction changes or bathroom additions so that they can be planned for accordingly. This can include anything from new cabinets or additional closet shelving to built-in shower nooks or other accents that will be built directly into the walls. These items generally aren’t that big of a deal if you plan for them in advance, but deciding that you want to make big changes to your bathroom closet halfway through the job can be a major inconvenience.

Remodeling Your Bathroom

Depending on the specific plans you have for your remodel, there’s a good chance that you’re going to need some help. Maybe you’ll require a plumber to implement your plans, or need to get a contractor involved because you want to make major changes to the interior. You might even need an electrician to help change up the lighting in your bathroom and make sure that all of the wiring is safe for a more humid environment. No matter who you need, HomeKeepr is here to help.

 

Curb Appeal That Lasts Through the Winter

When most people talk about curb appeal, at least part of what they’re talking about involves landscaping and other greenery to make your home look inviting. That’s great during the spring and summer, and even the fall to an extent. What happens when the icy winds of winter sneak in, though, and a lot of that greenery is taken out of the equation until spring rolls around again? For some reason, it seems acceptable to just abandon curb appeal and making your home look inviting once the days grow short and the temperature drops.

This doesn’t have to be the case, of course. There are ways to make your home seem warm and appealing throughout the year, making it look like a place that friends and family really want to visit. If you want to increase your home’s curb appeal throughout the winter months, here are a few things to keep in mind that should help you accomplish your goal.

Make Your Porch Stand Out

One way to increase your curb appeal during the winter is to find ways to make your porch stand out and really draw the attention of visitors. There are several ways to accomplish this, with one of the most basic being a good use of color. Add some red to your front door, either by painting the entire door or by adding red trim or decorations, as red really draws the eyes and puts a visitor’s focus on the entry to your home. Tasteful, colorful statues or other decorations on the porch will also help to draw the eyes and make your home stand out from the rest as well. Adding a colorful wreath during the holiday season, a season-appropriate decorative flag, or some similar decorative piece can make a big impact.

Replacing your old worn house number (or adding a house number if you previously didn’t have one on your home itself) can also make a big impact. Use large, easy-to-read numbers to make the biggest impact. Opt for numbers that are 6 inches tall or larger, and ideally use plastic or metal numbers instead of stickers or decals to give them some depth. Be sure to place the number near enough to a light source to make it easy to read.

Good Use of Decorations

There are multiple holidays that come during the winter months, so you should have plenty of opportunities to decorate around your home. Keep your decorations tasteful and avoid clutter, but be sure to always have something that will create a visually appealing look for your home. Avoid overly large decorations that will block the view of your porch, and choose lighting and decoration options that complement the colors that you use on your porch. Add some garland around your door or other matching decorations on the porch itself to really tie everything together.

If you don’t feel like decorating for various holidays, there are still options available to you. Add large, mirrored orbs or other reflective ornaments in spaces where your greenery might have previously stood out, creating some visual appeal even without the lush greens that you were used to using. Other decorations such as decorative lamp posts and lighting, tasteful statues, or even a revamped modern-styled mailbox can all help to carry the weight of curb appeal until the greenery comes back in the spring.

Winter Curb Appeal

Maximizing your curb appeal during the winter is a challenge, but it’s not insurmountable with a bit of planning. If you aren’t sure exactly how to tackle it, consider consulting a landscaping or decorating pro to help answer any questions you might have. HomeKeepr can help you find one to give you the assist you need.

 

Do More With Your Corner Cabinets

A good set of cabinets is all but essential in the kitchen. Not only do they keep your plates, bowls, and assorted other implements organized, but they can also provide easy access to dry goods and other items that you need to use frequently while cooking. The more cabinet space you have, the less clutter you’ll have in the kitchen itself, because you can store your various kitchen gadgets until they’re needed while still having them close at hand.

Corner cabinets can be a bit of a problem, however. While these cabinets tend to provide the most interior space, a lot of this space isn’t easy to access because of the narrow opening that the corner cabinet provides. Fortunately, this isn’t an issue that you just have to accept. There are a few different ways to address this problem so you can make better use of all that space without having to contort yourself in the process.

Install a Lazy Susan System

One of the most popular ways to make better use of corner cabinets is to install a multi-tiered Lazy Susan system inside the cabinet. You’ve likely seen one of these before as they’ve enjoyed significant popularity over the years. The assembly is made up of two or three large round platforms connected by a central spindle around which the platforms can easily rotate. You place items on the platform, turn it, then fill it up all the way around; when you need something, you simply turn the platform until it becomes available.

A lot of these systems use two platforms, one at the bottom of the cabinet and one near the center of the cabinet’s height. You may occasionally see Lazy Susan systems that have three platforms, however, or possibly different configurations as well. Keep in mind that there’s a trade-off as you add more platforms; while you have more storage space with each platform that’s added, the amount of vertical space you have available for your items decreases with each addition.

Add Pull-Out Shelving

Another option that’s increasingly popular is pull-out shelving. These shelves either pull out straight or rotate out from within the cabinet on tracks, letting you gain full access to the shelf’s contents and then slide it back into your cabinet space while done. Some may even feature complex sets of hinges and tracks to maximize the amount of shelf space that you can have in the cabinet; these setups typically have one shelf attached directly to the door and others being pulled along after it for easy access.

Regardless of the specific configuration of the shelves, the idea is to bring the shelves to you instead of making you reach into the cabinet to try and access items at the backs of the shelves. This makes using the entire space within your corner cabinet much more convenient, since the shelves can fill up that space when not in use, then be easily pulled out when you need them.

Revitalizing Your Cabinets

There are other ways that you can make use of corner cabinet space, including replacing your existing cabinets with new cabinets that have corner cabinets with an angled interior for easier access or a set of L-shaped drawers that make better use of the available space than a standard cabinet might. You might even consider eliminating the corner cabinets altogether and adding a floor-to-ceiling corner pantry instead. Depending on the layout of your kitchen, there may be other corner options available to you as well.

 

The Color of the Year Has Been Announced!

You may not be aware of it, but many paint and pigment companies choose colors that they think will be hot in the coming year. Shades of green seem to be an overwhelming favorite for 2022, with almost every company choosing some green hue as either their top pick, or part of their overall range of choices. In fact, green is so well-represented this year that there’s really only one company that seems to be bucking the green trend entirely, but it’s a big one.

Pantone Color Institute, the company that actually manages color standards, broke from the pack with a significantly different choice for color of the year. Before we get to what that choice actually is, though, let’s take a moment to consider the rest of the color of the year choices from other companies. This will help you to appreciate just how big of a break with industry trends the Pantone choice really is.

Something in a Shade of Green

Usually, different paint companies offer up a pretty wide range of shades when it comes to choosing color of the year options. For 2022, however, there’s a pretty rare consensus among most of the big players in the industry that neutral shades of green are where it’s at. This isn’t just a couple of companies, either; take a look at some of these selections:

• Benjamin Moore: October Mist, a light green with touches of grey and yellow
• Sherwin-Williams: Evergreen Fog, a soft green close to olive
• PPG: Olive Sprig, another soft green with a hint of yellow
• Behr: Breezeway, a soft, light green
• Dutch Boy: Cypress Garden, a somewhat stronger green
• Glidden: Guacamole, another strong green with a hint of yellow undertone

Other popular companies such as Valspar and Dunn-Edwards offered up multiple color of the year choices, and green shades were included in the offerings of both.

Pantone’s Color of the Year

With green being so well represented by other companies, you might expect Pantone to have chosen something similar. That’s not the case, however, as Pantone’s selection for 2022 is a periwinkle blue offering known as Very Peri. It’s a pretty well-rounded periwinkle shade, falling in between blue and purple without being overwhelmingly either. Looking at it, it’s pretty easy to see why Pantone believes the color is really going to take off in the coming months.

According to Pantone, the color was chosen because of how well it reflects the changes that the world is currently going through. Pantone Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman stated that the classic blue color with violet-red undertones “displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.” It’s a cool, calming color and could see use in just about any room in the home as well as the exterior.

Using These Choices in Your Home

Whether you’re going with one of the green options offered up by the paint companies or Pantone’s choice of Very Peri, there are a number of ways that you can use these colors in your home. They can be used as accents in bedrooms, living rooms, or kitchens, as door and shutter colors to accent your home, or even coatings for islands or other large wooden furniture pieces to really make them pop. They may need other colors or some strong woodgrains to add some warmth or contrast, but if you put in the work to find the right shades, then you’ll have color combos that will leave people talking.