Twitter Home Building Lessons Blog Facebook

My new blog, Tracy DeCarlo's Home Building Lessons is live! For more practical ideas for building your home, click the above link.

Building or Remodeling?

Do yourself a favor and increase your knowledge of the construction process and your options. Being informed can have a direct positive effect on the bottom line, the conveniences inside your home, and the future cost of  running the home.

• Do you know how to select the most energy-efficient roofing?
• Do you know which commodes can save an average family of 4 approximately 7000 gallons of water per year?
• Do you know the difference between a positive and negative undermount sink and which one is easier to clean?

The Difference is in the Details: The Homeowner's Planning Guide to Building a Functional Home not only provides hundreds of tips like these, it also provides lives links to suppliers and organizations. This photograph-filled e-Guide shows you how to adjust the building sequence to your financial advantage while helping you create a healthy, energy-efficient home that works for your family - inside and out, from the foundation to the rooftop.

“With dozens of “how to build your new home” books available, what could be left out? Plenty, as author DeCarlo shows in her practical approach to topics often left out, forgotten, or given scant attention. Readers will thank her for raising subjects to consider in the earliest stages of planning a new home.”
-- Carol Smith, Author of "Building Your Home: An Insiders Guide"

• Click here for the Table of Contents
• Click here to place your order
• To read more about this home building reference manual visit www.DifferenceInTheDetails.com

Two Products to Help Weather the Storms

In many areas of the country, storm season is again upon us, an annual reminder to focus on products to help weather the storms and protect our homes and families. Whether you're building, remodeling, or just looking to protect your current home, the following two products are worth considering.

Meter Collar Portable Generator Connection: Do you live in an area prone to severe weather where a generator would come in very handy on occasion? I know firsthand the expense of rewiring for this product, but you can avoid that expense and have a safe generator hookup installed in about 20 minutes with GenerLinkTM.

This product, from Global Power Products, Inc., has been designed to make connecting a portable generator safe, easy, and less expensive. The manufacturer states that it can be installed by utility personnel behind your electric meter in 20 minutes or less, and it requires NO REWIRING. GenerLinkTM detects when a generator is operating and automatically disconnects from the utility grid, eliminating dangerous backfeed. It provides the flexibility to run virtually any appliance, up to the capacity of the generator, by simply energizing appliances from the breaker panel. GenerLinkTM can be used with a generator up to 22 kilowatts, but it must have a 4-prong plug.

In order to install a GenerLinkTM in your home, specific generator and electric service requirements must be met. Before purchasing, check with your utility company to make sure they have approved use of this product and that you understand their installation procedures. Visit www.GenerLink.com for a list of these requirements plus additional information.

Lightning Protection System: Think about the expense and hassle you’d have to go through to replace all of your appliances, phones, and those fancy electronics if your home was the victim of a lightning strike or other electrical catastrophe, (not to mention the potential for fire). As a matter of fact, lightning is the main cause of house fires in Florida but yet lightning protection is rarely addressed during the planning stage of a new home.

A proper lightning protection system (LPS) safeguards all ports of entry—protects your electrical, phone, and cable lines from indirect and direct lightning strikes and takes care of power surges. Although no form of surge protection (a lightning protection system included) is 100-percent effective, a properly designed and installed LPS offers a superior defense. In fact, such a system installed in accordance with the latest standard requirements is approximately 99 percent effective in preventing lightning damage. (This statistic, from Underwriters Laboratories, is based on UL Master Label-inspected systems from 1923 to the present.)

A lighting protection system provides a low-resistance path along which the discharge of static electricity from lightning can enter or leave the Earth without passing through and damaging parts of a structure. A key component in the creation of this low-resistance path is the installation of a thorough grounding system surrounding the entire home. Rising from the home’s roof in the picture above are a pair of air terminals that are part of a whole-house lightning-protection system.

The cost of comprehensive lightning protection can be less than the cost of your LCD TV alone. Thus, a well-designed lightning protection system, installed by a UL- and LPI (Lightning Protection Institute)-certified company, can be well worth the money. For more information or to find a certified contractor in your area, visit the Lightning Protection Institute at www.Lightning.org

I hope the ideas in this ezine series continue to help you avoid unforeseen problem areas and/or provide a few “aha” moments (as Oprah would say) as you plan and build your homes. Drop me a line and tell me your story. I love to hear how something I’ve sent into cyberspace has helped others to incorporate practical features in their new homes.

IS THERE A SUBJECT YOU'D LIKE ME TO COVER? Let me know by sending an email to tracy@tracystips.net.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? All past issues of this ezine are in the Ezine Archives on our web site. Click here for Ezine Archives !

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Tracy DeCarlo, author of "The Difference is in the Details" publishes the idea-packed, monthly e-zine "Tracy's Home Building Tips." If you're ready to learn how to plan a more durable, energy-efficient, and easy-to-live-in home, get your FR*EE tips now at www.DetailedSolutions.net.

Tracy DeCarlo owner of Detailed Solutions, Inc. and One Stop Green Home Certification, has more than fourteen years' experience in the residential construction industry. As a Home Building Function Analyst, Certified Green Professional, Green Certifying Agent, and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, Tracy addresses the functional aspects of home construction, design, and usage, including items such as energy efficiency, disaster mitigation, air quality, aging in place, green building, plumbing, electrical, lighting, and storage.

By working with homeowners to focus on their daily habits and preferences, she helps them create living spaces that support and compliment their lifestyles, while at the same time teaching techniques to manage the bottom line.

I’d love to hear from you:

• What topics would you most like to see covered in upcoming issues of "Tracy's Home Building Tips"?

• How has this e-zine helped you to improve your design or avoid change order charges?

• Mail to: Tracy's Tips E-Mail

Tracy DeCarlo, Detailed Solutions, Inc.

P.O. Box 161644

Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, United States

Phone 407-814-2328

Want to take yourself off our list or change your e-mail address? See below.

Copyright ©2010 Tracy DeCarlo Detailed Solutions, Inc.