The Jeffrey And Tracey Info Emporium

When electricity prices were low, it was often difficult to justify the upfront investment of money required to install solar panels, solar water heaters and similar equipment. The reason was simple to understand - it would simply take too long to recoup the cost of the equipment in the form of lower energy bills.

Things have changed though. As energy prices continue to go up, the amount of time required to recoup the upfront cost goes down. In addition, a number of state and local tax incentives make it even easier for homeowners to go solar and save money right away.

Solar power has already proven itself and its ability to lower energy costs substantially, and more and more homeowners are taking a serious look at converting their residences to solar power. The costs of installing solar panels is still high, with a typical two kilowatt installation of solar panels from OVR Solar costing in the region of £10,000 / ($20, 000) in most cases, but special tax incentives and long term energy savings can help homeowners recoup those upfront costs faster than ever before.

For example, the Federal government provides homeowners with a tax savings of up to 30% of the cost of a solar unit. This tax savings can help eligible homeowners recoup some of the costs of installing solar panels and solar water heating systems up front, in addition to the energy savings they will enjoy down the road.

Many states also provide special tax incentives for homeowners who install eligible solar panel and solar water heating systems. The specifics of these tax rebates and tax incentives vary from state to state, but many states provide at least some level of tax relief for homeowners who install and use energy efficient systems.

The factors affecting how long it will take to break even will vary from case to case.. However, as the prices for heating oil, gas and other forms of traditional energy continue to soar, the appeal of solar energy will only grow.

Spring has sprung! Even more important than buds, birds, and bees, spring brings buyers! When buyers are looking for a place to nest, they would really rather not see problems. As it turns out, nearly every home inspected has problems or imperfections of some sort or size. Most issues are very minor and simple to correct. Almost all are a result of deferred maintenance.

Most of these simple deferred maintenance problems, when discovered during the home inspection, cause the majority of the headaches when trying to bring a contract to close. With the five quick checks described below it is probable that 90% or more of the minor maintained items typically discovered in the home inspection could be eliminated, and with them a great portion of the time and stress associated with their correction:

• Dirty Filter and Coils in the Heat Pump. The clean and efficient flow of conditioned air as well as the longevity of this very expensive system is dependant on proper airflow. A professional cleaning is most always well under $100. Routine filter replacement can be done by a homeowner for about a dollar.
• Poor Caulking of Ceramic Tile in the Tub and Shower Area. The cost to repair or replace a rotted shower wall often exceeds thousands of dollars. This is an avoidable event! A homeowner can accomplish caulking of tiled areas easily for under $20. If a crack in the caulk or grout is visible, you can believe it’s large enough for water to pass!

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) not Properly Functioning. GFCI’s are the electrical outlets that have the “press” and “test” buttons. These devices are critically important in reducing the chance for electrocution. The homeowner can test the devices by pushing the “test” button. The cost of a new GFCI is less than $10. They can be installed in less than 10 minutes.

• Amateur Workmanship. When something looks like an amateur did it, that means an amateur did it, even if the perpetrator was paid for his work! When amateurs do things, the materials are often improper for the intended purpose or of poor quality. Many times they are both. Seldom are proper permits pulled or inspections performed when work is performed by amateurs. Amateur work is also difficult to maintain. Amateur work and the people who perform it always complicate a closing.
• Wood Rot. Closing contracts sure would be simpler without wood rot. It sure would be nice to see a home listed that said “clear WDO on file”. Consider doing the WDO inspection at the time of listing to greatly reduce the greatest challenge in Florida real estate.

The act of selling real estate can be made simpler, more enjoyable, and more profitable by educating buyers and sellers about preventative maintenance. Spring is a time of renewal - renew your interest in home care and take a few simple steps to keep safe, comfortable, and ready for some summer sun!

Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, and has been featured regularly on HGTV’s “House Detective”. Wally has recently written a book entitled “Secrets of the Happy Home Inspector”, available at GoHomePro.com or Amazon.com. As a speaker, writer, instructor, and host of The Happy Home Inspector radio show every Saturday at 3 PM on WOKV 690, Wally blends the right amount of up-to-date information with just the right amount of humor, insight, motivation, and real-world application. Visit WallyConway.com for more information!

Carpet plays an important role in making your home look neat and clean. This is one reason why regular carpet cleaning is recommended (and necessary). Moreover, you need to be careful with materials and substances that can stain your carpet. Even after taking utmost care, you might still end up spilling a liquid or dropping a substance on your beautiful carpet and hence causing a stain; and even a small stain can really destroy the look of your carpet and make it look unclean. So, stains need to be attended to and cleaned as quickly as possible. Here are some tips on cleaning carpet stains:

1. Act immediately:

1a. As soon as you spill a liquid or drop a liquid substance that can cause a stain, blot the area with a white paper towel. This will prevent the stain from spreading and will make cleaning easier for you. This kind of simple blotting is used generally for coffee, tea and juice stains. For stains that are caused by some non-liquid or semi-liquid substances, you might need to dampen the cloth before using it for blotting. For oily or greasy substances a suitable solvent is used for dampening the cloth before using it for blotting the stain. In fact, you should plan for such contingencies and have such solvents available in your home at all times.

1b. For solid substances like cakes etc, the first step is to carefully scrape off the solid substance as much as you can. Be careful to not spread it around or else cleaning the stain will become a really tough job for you.

Immediate blotting or scraping is one of the most important parts of the procedure for cleaning carpet stains. You should continue dabbing the stain with a white paper or cloth towel until you remove all excess.

2. The second step for cleaning carpet stains: After the initial blotting or scraping, the excess liquid/solid is removed and you are left with the actual stain to deal with. Depending on the type of stain, you would use carbonated water (e.g. club soda) or detergent solution or vinegar or household ammonia or other specific stain removers for further blotting out the stain. However, plain water is used for cleaning carpet stains of all kinds. Irrespective of the cleaning agent you use, you would be using a dabbing motion for cleaning stains (no rubbing or scrubbing). Hydrogen peroxide solution is useful for cleaning carpet stains caused by spilled coffee/ tea and juices.

3. Patience: You need to exhibit patience at each and every step of the procedure for cleaning carpet stains. Keep blotting the stain till it is completely gone. It could be a bit tiring or frustrating, but that is the only way to get rid of these stains (and remember, if you lose patience you might end up spreading the stain or making it worse).

4. Never rub or scrub: This is the golden rule for cleaning carpet stains. When you see a stain, blot it; never rub or scrub it. Rubbing a stain will only make the stain grow bigger and cleaning the stain will get even more difficult.

5. Special stain removing agents: If you find that the stain is not going away with the simple household measures you need to get special stain removing agents for cleaning carpet stains of that particular type (caused by that particular substance).

About the author:

Chris Daniel is the webmaster and publisher of CarpetCleaningHints.com where you can get more information on Cleaning Carpet Stains and find some great Carpet Cleaning Tips.

My seven year old daughter’s recent haircut had me thinking, once again, about the age-old “less is more” topic. With the waist-length hair cut to an above-the-shoulders bob, suddenly my little one looked so much bigger (and more grown up, too). All that hair was visually dwarfing her simply because of the ratio of hair length to body height.

With hairstyles being quite a deviation from my field of expertise, I was intrigued by the similar effects of cutting back hair to cutting back on the items within a space. “Cutting back” in a room can mean many things:

Using smaller scale furnishings to open up the space;

De-cluttering / removing excess items that create a “busy” feel in the room;

Using fewer by pieces of furniture by selecting pieces that are multi-purpose, such as an upholstered ottoman that doubles as an occasional table.

Proportion, or scale, is one of the most important elements in good design — interior design, graphic design, and obviously hair “design” too. Something quite big just doesn’t work as well when it’s background is relatively small, unless of course the big item is meant to be the only focal point, as could be the case with a piano or pool table in a home setting.

Although I do like the look of minimalism, I have never accepted it as an achievable style for my own home, or for that of any average family. Most of us are comforted by having some personal belongings visible around us, whether they be books, photos, crafts/hobbies, displays of collectibles, or just a special something that has sentimental value. “Cutting back” too much equates with shaving your head, I suppose. Both are extreme. There is a way to find a happy medium.

In under a day, you can revamp your home in such a way that it is no longer being dwarfed by its contents. Here are some simple (and cost efficient) tips to open up your rooms to showcase the space as well as your belongings:

> Busy prints or patterns, especially on large furniture pieces (such as sofas), tend to make the pieces appear even larger. Cover it with a solid-colour or subtle tone-on-tone print, leaving small areas of the original print exposed.

> Reframe photos in matching frames, or use the frames that accommodate multiple pictures.

> Display collectibles in shadow boxes or on appropriate shelves or in display cases that can be hung on the wall.

> Determine if any of your furnishings can be used as multi-purpose pieces, and do some rearranging if needed. For instance, an old-fashioned desk can be used as a console table, while providing you with an instant place to handle mail and even bill paying.

> Look for hidden storage space. First clear out what you don’t need, and make proper use of the storage space you do have; then look for “hidden” storage areas. Storage solutions can be created underneath stairs, above the washer & dryer, wherever you have wasted space in your home… Depending on your heating system, you may have bulkheads concealing ducting; often some bulkheads are put up just to make the needed ones look balanced. Empty, or fake, bulkheads can easily be transformed into storage space. Don’t leave an inch of space un-thought of if you really are short of room to keep your family’s stuff.

> Strategically hang mirrors to reflect windows and doors. Although this doesn’t affect your layout, it creates a sense of more area. On the other hand never hang a mirror at the end of a long corridor or hall as the “long and narrow” will be emphasized, giving a bowling alley feel.

> Use contrast to define space. Make sure there is a contrast between your wall colour & doors and window frames. Have a stronger contrast between your walls and your small furnishings than between your walls and your larger pieces whenever possible.

> Emphasize open floor space with a simple rug that fits within that open space, leaving a border of visible floor exposed.

> Establish a furniture layout that has your largest (highest) pieces of non-focal-point furniture furthest from the entry to the room. For example, a tall dresser opposite a bedroom door will accentuate the size of the dresser, while a small piece of furniture in that same location will accentuate the space your room has to offer.

A trip to your local library or bookstore can provide you with even more inspiration for you home.

Karen S. Weiner is the owner and principal interior designer of Idealspace Design in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). http://www.idealspacedesign.com

Tabriz are one of the most popular Persian rugs. Tabriz is the dominant city of Northwest Iran and is the second largest city in Iran. It has been the center of the carpet trade for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Tabriz rugs have many unique designs, but the typical pattern is filled with dense floral motifs, large palmettes or vases. Typical colors are dark red and a powerful blue. Newer carpets can also be soft green and brown.

Tabriz carpets come in all different sizes. The majority will range in size from 4X6 feet to 8X10 feet. You can also find rugs up to 10X18 feet.

Tabriz also has several “sub-styles”. These include the Mahi, Naqsheh, and Tabatabaie. The Mahi is commonly referred to as “The Decorators Carpet”, because the colors available can match any room. The Naqsheh is generally considered the most spectacular of Tabriz rugs due to its coloring scheme. The Tabatabaie has touches of orange, lemon green and beige.

The material used for the pile of Tabriz rugs are wool, silk, or a combination of the two. A beautiful blend of fine Kurk wool and silk is the most common in fine Tabriz rugs, with wool only used in those of medium quality. In the very finest Tabriz rugs, the foundation is pure silk instead of cotton, and some even have 18 or 24 karat gold threads woven into the foundation.

The master-weavers of Tabriz often weave their signature into a part of the carpet’s border. These signatures can, of course, be found on extremely fine rugs made in other cities, but a signature on the ‘ceremonial’ border of a Naqsheh is the ultimate in formality and sophistication, the true mark of Tabriz rugs.

About The Author

Jeff Brokob is a freelance writer providing tips and advice for consumers buying Persian rugs of all types including Tabriz Rugs, Oriental carpets, antique, and contemporary rugs. His numerous articles offer money saving tips and valuable insight on typically confusing topics.

As we become more of a home-based society, many more of us are
pouring money into our houses with DIY renovations. Do it
yourself home improvement projects are both rewarding and
usually will give you a good return on investment should you
decide to sell or refinance your home. But you won’t need to
tear down walls, add closets or buy all new furniture to upgrade
or change the decor in your house. Often it’s the little things
that count. Small changes in lighting alone can alter the look
and feel of your home or even just one room with minimal
financial investment and time. Consider going country with your
lighting! Listen, unless you’re ready to spend a lot of money on
renovations (in which case you’ll be changing light fixtures
anyway), you can get a lot of bang for your buck with carefully
selected decorative lighting. And if a more comfortable, home-y
feel is what you’re after, there’s no better way to achieve your
goal than to look to the current trend of country decorating!
The reason why this style of decorating is so popular these days
is because garden or farmhouse inspired rooms ground us in old
world values. A space where our organic bodies feel ‘in touch’,
our psyches feel ’safe’, and stress levels drop. After all, what
is more peaceful than spending a few hours in the garden, a
weekend at the country home, or a week at the summer cottage?
Bring country decorating home to the city with country inspired
lighting! You could drive around for hours looking for antique
lighting, shop ebay for other’s used lighting, or you could buy
new lights from many lighting stores that will give you the same
rustic, relaxed, retreat. Think punched tin, replications of
candle chandeliers, small lamps that depict a cowboy or horse
scene. You get the idea. Be as tacky, playful or downright
country as you like. And, for under $200 and 20 minutes of
replacement installation, you’ll find that you’ve just
transformed a city-worn room into your own personal country
haven. Ten years or so ago, Martha Stewart brought pendant
lighting back into style using upturned garden cloches hung from
chains over bare bulbs. That can take some real hunting in the
antique shops! Thankfully pendant lighting is now available in
many shapes and sizes. And, you don’t have to stick to dull or
boring. Pendants are available to look much like the old,
color-glass, hand-blown garden cloches or as punched tin - both
are very ‘country’ looks.

With winter finally behind us, you’ve probably started to prepare for the warmer weather ahead. That means putting away the snow blower and snow shovels and getting out the lawnmower, rakes, garden tools and patio set. You may have noticed that many of your stored items, look at little worse for the wear… they’re covered in spider webs, dirt and rust. While it’s no secret that you can clean off the dirt and spider webs with a little water and elbow grease, you may be unaware of your options when it comes to fixing the rust.

Most of the rust you encounter can be fixed with a little help. Not only will the item look better when you’re done, but it will usually perform better and last longer.

Before you get to work, it’s helpful to understand what rust is and why it occurs? Rust is the common term for corroded steel or iron. The reddish oxide is caused by exposed metal coming into contact with oxygen and moisture.

Since moisture in the air is one of the most common causes of rust, decreasing the humidity around your stored items can reduce the likelihood of rust forming. If you usually keep your stored items in the basement or garage, moving them into a climate-controlled part of your house can help. A dehumidifier can also help reduce humidity, but they can be expensive to purchase and operate. Since running a humidifier or moving the stored items is not always practical, you may need to explore other methods.

For smaller items that can be stored in cabinets, drawers or tool boxes, you can invest in moisture control products, like the Tool Buddy Moisture Eliminator. Each packet reduces moisture in an area between seven and ten cubic feet. Sold in a five packet box, the Tool Buddy is an inexpensive and convenient way to prevent rust from forming.

The most important thing to know when it comes to rust, is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Spend a little more time when it comes time to storing your items, and you won’t uncover the ugly rust spots when you take the items out again.

For those items that can’t be stored in a less humid environment, we recommend applying a rust prevention product before storage. First clean your item to remove salt, dirt, grass clippings, etc. Then thoroughly dry the item. Next apply a protective coating to any unpainted surface. There are many different options available. We recommend either Boeshield T-9, a convenient aerosol spray or Bull Frog Rust Blocker which is non-flammable, non-toxic, non-polluting and biodegradable.

For those items that have already suffered from rust damage, we recommend a rust remover or converter product. There are several types of rust removal products available. Evapo-Rust is a safe and easy-to use on items that can be soaked. Bull Frog Rust Remover is an organic, non-toxic gel that also protects the product against future rust formation. It works particularly well in household applications as it does not contain any harsh chemicals or emit strong odors.

And lastly for those items where it is not practical to remove the rust, you can use a rust converter product to turn rust into a black protective surface than can then be painted over. Rust Converter works particularly well on lawnmower beds, snow blowers and vehicles.

Visit The Rust Store (www.theruststore.com) for more valuable rust prevention and removal information including product comparisons, how-to’s, before and after information and more.

So you bought a new house. You love everything about it except for the ugly wallpaper borders in almost every room. Time to get them off the wall. Removing wallpaper borders is not an easy task, but with a few good tips and some elbow grease, you can get the job done.

The best way to remove the wallpaper border depends on what type of wallpaper was used, what type of surface it was glued on and what type of adhesive was used. One of the easiest things you can try is to use a hair dryer to heat the wallpaper border which may loosen the adhesive enough to let you peel it off.

Usually if the border has been glued to wallpaper, it will come off fairly easy. Slightly mist it down and use a plastic scraper to remove it from the wall. If the wallpaper border has a vinyl covering that won’t let the water or any commercial wallpaper remover soak through, use a perforation tool over the entire surface of the border to allow it to soak in.

If the wallpaper border has been glued directly onto a painted wall, use warm water and some commercially available wallpaper remover and give it plenty of time to soak in before you try to scrap it off.

Steaming also works well for removing wallpaper borders. Steam the entire surface of the wallpaper border. Start from the bottom to the topmost part in sections. If the adhesive is very strong, steam the boarder twice or more until the wallpaper boarder starts to loosen from the wall. Use a plastic or soft metal scraper to avoid damaging the wall. Scrape the border off the wall working from the bottom up. Use warm water and a clean sponge to remove any remaining adhesive from the wall.

Instead of using a commercially available wallpaper stripper, you can also use a mixture of fabric softener and water. Mix 1 capful of fabric softener with 1 quart of water. Pour it in a spray bottle and spray it right on the wallpaper border. For very strong adhesives, you can also use a sponge and soak the boarder with pure fabric softener.

Another “homemade” option is vinegar. Mix water and vinegar and pray it on, or use an old paint roller and roll it right on the wallpaper boarder. The stronger the wallpaper adhesive seems to be, the more vinegar you should use. Use the vinegar option as a last resort, since it will smell pretty strongly for a few days. Wipe the walls down with a damp rag after you removed the wallpaper boarder to get as much of the vinegar as possible off your wall.

Visit http://www.LearnHowToRemove.com for a growing library of tips to remove those annoying messes in your life.

Every year, usually in January, we (Builders Architectural - a
top Chicago-based window contractor) receive phone calls from
customers who complain of sudden condensation on their windows.

This condensation can be surprising because of its sudden onset
and large volume. Condensation is widely misunderstood but
actually it is quite simple.

Think of a glass of cold beer on a muggy summer day when you are
outdoors. The glass in your hand is dripping water on its outer
surface to such extent you might almost think the liquid is
actually leaking through the glass.

Unless you are drinking from a practical joker’s dribble glass,
leaking glass is probably not the cause. The real cause is
airborne water vapor(a gas) converting to liquid when it cools
while contacting the cold glass. The water vapor has cooled to
its “dew point” and condensed into a liquid.

This happens on your windows during a winter cold snap in the
exactly same way.

Lets say you live in Chicago and so far the winter has been
moderate. Your humidifier is set at 35-40% relative
humidity(RH). One day the outside temperature drops from +30F to
+10F.

Suddenly your windows are fogged. In extreme cases water drips
down the face of the windows. Left unattended, water can damage
window frames and finishes.

Then you call your favorite window contractor and complain that
your windows are defective. Chances are they are not. The
elevated humidity in your home has come in contact with very
cold glass surfaces. The water vapor within the air has changed
to a liquid form and is now visible on your windows.

Generally, most windows which are “thermal”- meaning they have
insulated glass and either wood frames or aluminum frames with
thermal breaks - are designed to function well to a range of
+10F exterior and +70F interior, with an interior relative
humidity (RH) of 25-30%. If any of these variables change,
condensation may result.

Window treatment should help, shouldn’t they?

One of the most surprising aspects of condensation can be that
it frequently take place behind fixed, insulated, or tightly
fitting window treatments such as heavy drapes or
honeycomb-style window treatments.

This is not what one would expect. We correctly think of these
treatments as adding insulating value to the house. Why would
condensation take place here?

The answer is simple. While it is true that window treatments
can reduce the flow of heat through a window opening, there is
an unfortunate by-product:

Window treatment prevents the flow of roomside heat from warming
the glass surface. Glass surface temperature will cool. An
environment may be created for condensation.

While window treatments retard the flow of heat, they don’t do
much for retarding the flow of water vapor. You need a fully
taped foil or plastic vapor barrier for that.

Remember osmosis and diffusion from high school biology? Of
course you do. These forces of nature are playing themselves out
on your windows and draperies. To refresh your memory:

Osmosis: The force in nature wherein water naturally migrates
from a place of greater concentration to a place of lesser
concentration. This is your roomside humidity equally dispersing
itself throughout your house.

Diffusion: Osmosis through a semi-permeable membrane. The
membrane is your window treatment. Diffusion is also known as
“vapor drive”.

What can be done in my home? # Wipe off the condensation. By
doing this, you are physically reducing roomside humidity.

# Open the windows an inch or so. The dry outside air will mix
with humid inside air and reduce roomside humidity.

# Lower your humidifier settings to 25% or below.

# Open up your blinds and drapes to a level which will allow the
roomside heat to warm the glass surfaces.

# Use exhaust fans during and after showering and cooking.

# If you are painting or drywall taping open the windows to
allow moisture to dissipate.

# Look at your clothes dryer. Make sure it vents to the
exterior. “Vent-less” clothing dryers can bring large amounts of
moisture into living spaces.

It could be the windows too…

After excluding non-window sources, look for these possibilities
on the windows themselves:

# Weather-stripping not tightly compressed allowing air
infiltration into the space. Although we know that air
infiltration can actually reduce interior humidity, it can also
focus a cold spot on a metal window or glass edge.If there is a
cold spot you could see condensation or even frost which could
be window related.

# There could be a similar cold spot where caulk is missing at
the perimeter of the window.

# Your windows could be single-glazed, where only one layer of
glass, rather than two, separates you from the exterior.

Deal with humidity first

Good strategy would be to deal with the living space issues
first. If you attack them as we describe above, condensation can
disappear in 24-48 hours.

If condensation persists, look to the windows and caulking.

5 questions You need to ask Yourself before
even considering acting as Your own General
Contractor and or becoming an Owner/Builder.

There is a ton of information out there about
how to be your own general contractor,
luring you into the idea usually with a price
attached. The $29.95 be your own General Contractor
and save thousands electronic book.

Hey, I don’t blame you in the least. Contractors
have overhead and need to make a profit so
they mark everything up from between 10 and
15 percent…don’t they?
On a $200,000 house that’s $20,000 at least
and that’s nothing to sneeze at but, are you going
to actually save that?
In some cases you will but just like any other business
with a world of variables, you may end up paying
more than if you’d hired a contractor to build the house and
hand you the keys. Plus contractors have
learned how to handle all the stress of getting the
job done in good time and within a set budget.

I’ll close this introduction and get on with the questions
by adding that planning is everything.
A good plan and good planning can save you money.
How to arrive at that point where everything is on the table
and no stone is left un-turned takes experience and cannot
be learned totally from a 30 dollar book.

Questions to ask yourself.

1. Do I have a set budget and my finances in place?
Decide on a set amount that you have to spend on your project
even before you get your plans drawn. Let your budget carry
the project and remember that 90% of the time a project ends up
being underestimated because the budget wasn’t allowed to govern the project. There is one person out there that can help you determine whether your budget is high enough to get your project done and can even go over your plans to make sure nothing is left out by the architect.

2. Do I have a final plan and specifications that leave nothing to chance?
This includes a site plan spelling out where your utilities are located, where they will enter your house and where they will be terminated inside the house.
For example do you know exactly where you want your electrical panel located even before you put your project out for bid?
Make all your decisions on fixtures and materials ahead of time.
What you need is a good checklist to make sure you don’t forget
something.

3. Do I have the time to spend over-seeing my project?
Don’t get drawn into believing that running a construction
project is easy. Just making sure everything is coordinated
and getting all the subcontractors there to get the work done
is a full time job. Can you afford to take the time away from your family?

4. Am I a natural leader that knows how to get the most out
of people without rubbing them the wrong way? The best way to
deal with people is from a position of respect. Make the contractor feel that you value his expertise and give him the responsibility of getting the job done. For under a hundred dollars, you can utilize the services of people that can save you thousands.

5. Am I knowledgeable enough about building systems to be able to make decisions when questions come up?
Sub-trades always have questions and answers are needed on the spot not a day later.
A list of the top 20 most asked questions on a building site is a
must have.

So there we have the 5 questions and some answers.
If you are considering a building or renovating project, look for Mark on the web.

Mark Saville is the owner of http://www.buildwithmark.com a documentation of over 30 years in the building and remodelling business. On his website he answers questions asked by most home-owners when they are considering a building project of any kind.