Home Energy Rating And Why is it Important?

A home energy rating or better known as a HERS is an analysis of your home’s energy efficiency. The home energy rating is the nationally recognized scoring system for measuring your home’s energy performance. The home energy rating gives homeowners or prospective buyers an insight as to how efficient the home they are considering purchasing is. The home energy rating also provides the homeowner with a detailed report regarding energy problems that they may have in their house and need to improve on.

How Does A Home Energy Rating Work?

A comprehensive HERS home energy rating is the most in-depth energy performance assessment of a home that you can possibly get. The HERS home energy rating consists of diagnostic testing that uses specialized equipment such as a blower door test, duct leakage tester, combustion analyzer, and infrared cameras.

You are probably thinking what in the world could they possible need all of that equipment for. The equipment is used to determine the amount and location of air leaks in your building or home. It determines the effectiveness of insulation inside the walls and ceilings, and it also determines any existing or potential combustion safety issues. The HERS also checks every area of your home or office such as floors, attics, foundations, crawlspaces, windows, doors, vents, duct-work, water-heating systems, and duct-work.

How Does The HERS Index Work?

The HERS index can be quite difficult to understand. In order to calculate a home’s energy rating, your local HVAC contractor performing the HERS will do a home energy rating and compare the data they collect with a reference home, which is similar to the size of yours. So the HERS system always goes by the size, shape, and type of house you live in. The lower the rating you get the more energy efficient your home is.

Why The Home Energy Rating Is Important

The home energy rating is not something that you have to have done but it is recommended. Today’s prices are steadily rising so it is important for most families or businesses to save as much money as possible and one easy way is by cutting down on your electricity costs. By having a home energy-rating test performed on your home you will be able to see exactly where energy is being wasted in your home and some areas that you can improve the amount of energy that is being used.

Who Performs The Home Energy Ratings?

The home energy rating system was first developed by the Residential Energy Services Network or better known as RESNET. Since this network was the first to develop it they will be the ones you will more than likely want to call.

If you, however, don’t know of the nearest RESNET service near you should call your local heating and cooling company. Some heating and cooling companies can also perform a home energy rating.

Heating and cooling companies today are expanding their range of services so that they can better serve the customers needs. If they don’t offer home energy ratings they will usually point you in the right direction concerning who you should call next.

Believe it or not if you have a home energy rating performed some heating and cooling companies will review the results for you. If you are unsure of what the report is talking about they should be able to clarify it for you. Most companies will even take the time to tell you some ways that you can improve your home’s energy efficiency. So in the end you can never go wrong with a home energy rating so have yours done today!

Advantages of Home Energy Ratings

As a homeowner, you will be wondering why you should take all this effort. In reality there are multiple benefits.

1. Understanding how energy efficient your home is. Many homeowners suffer from high utility bills and low comfort levels. These issues are not necessarily because of usage of electricity, but more because of low performance of HVAC units. Again, the HERS index also helps in pinpointing the exact reason for low performance. It might be surprising, but an average American family spends nearly 21% of post IT income on utility and energy costs.

2. Cost of Home. When you are buying a house, one usually looks at cost of the house and it’s mortgage value and options. Very few people look at the cost of running and maintaining the house. A home with high HERS index will mean higher utility bills, more maintenance costs, and repair costs of improve the energy efficiency.

3. Higher Resale Value. When you are selling your home, if you have low HERS index score, you can actually demand a higher price for it. You can explain to potential buyers the advantages he will enjoy with all the effort you have taken to keep you home energy efficient.

4. Improved Comfort. One of the simplest and most obvious advantages of keeping you home energy efficient is the enhanced comfort you will have every day. Your home will be warmer in winter, and colder in summer. The indoor air quality will be better saving you and your family from health issues.

 

 

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Why Are Bugs Bugging Me?

The best way to keep pests out of your home is to know their behavior and prevent them from spreading before your home is infested. Knowing which insects to look out for during each season is the key to prevention.

Winter- This is when pests hide in the walls of your home to keep warm. If your home is warm enough they will venture out and forage in your home.

Spring- This is the mating season for most insects and spiders. The pests that survived the winter will multiply extremely fast.

Summer- This is when insects are most active, and are mostly likely to be seen moving around your home.

Fall- During the Fall is when pests begin to invade your home looking for a place to hunker down for the winter. It’s important to keep crevices in your home that insects can crawl through sealed.

This guide by TERRO should help you maximize your pest control efforts!

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5 Reasons to Use Drink Dispensers

Are you hosting a party and need a beautiful and elegant assistant to help you serve drinks to your customers? Drink dispensers are the latest trendy items that will add oodles of panache and style to any party you host. It is basically a stylish vessel that is fitted with a spigot made from either metal or plastic, which dispenses the liquid smoothly into the glass.

Hosting a party always requires too many efforts and refreshing the served drinks is a big chore. This will take up all of your time and it will also become a little uncomfortable for the guests to ask for refreshments again and again. A drink dispenser works wonder in this case, as once you fill it up, the liquid can be dispensed easily by your guests and you can now enjoy their company with ease.

Why should you invest in this product? Let us give you five reasons to help you make up your mind and allow you to gain more information on this magnificent invention in the household items..

ELEGANT LOOKING

A party without elegance is not a party. Even in your Halloween party, u dressed as pumpkins will just add a wow factor to the whole event. Your favorite lemonade or vodka mixed punch will be held with style in a drink dispenser and will also allow your guests to take refreshments on their own.

Here is an example of an elegant looking drink dispenser that will take the ambiance of your party to a whole new level. This stunning glass dispenser is accompanied with a gold lid and can hold up to 1.13 gallons of liquid in a versatile style. You can use it for both casual and formal occasions and the spigot is made of metal, which just adds up to its beauty.

FRESHER DRINK

To add more to your amusement about these incredible products, there are drink dispensers with infuser that enables you to keep your drink fresh and chilled for hours. This is a tube that is pre-installed in the drink dispenser and holds the key ingredients like strawberries or lemons or ice and slowly releases the juices into the drink. This keeps the drink tangy and unsullied for a long time.

This is an exceptional example of a drink dispenser with infuser. With a capacity of 1.5 gallons and attractive metal stand, it also comes with an infuser that holds the key ingredients of your drink. Keep your drinks refreshed with summertime strawberries and lemons and your guests happy.

EASY CLEANING

As all high-quality drink dispensers are made from top-notch materials, they can be easily cleaned and managed. Just put the liquid and place it effortlessly in the fridge or on the table and just let your guests enjoy your magic potions.

DIFFERENT SPIGOTS

Now the drink dispenser buyers have a choice for spigot. They can either pick plastic or metal one, depending upon their personal taste and the product’s requirement. The spigots are all leak-proof, which indicates that the liquid will flow with ease and it will not seep out.

This exceptionally beautiful tear drop drink dispenser with cork lid also has one more thing different about it, a metal spigot. The design itself is unique and stylish and the metal spigot just adds oodles of elegance and chic. This is charming and it can contain 1.625 gallons and become the best hostess.

EASY SERVING

Every host knows the struggle of serving the guests with constant refreshments is real. You don’t get the time to enjoy your party and all you can think about is if anyone needs refreshment. With a drink dispenser, all of this comes to a rest and all you have to worry about is to refill the dispenser, which takes a while. Just lay back and enjoy what you have arranged and let your drink dispenser be your helping hand.

 

What can be easier than serving in a double glass drink dispenser with plastic. Double the fun and flavors with this dispenser and make hosting both attractive and elegant. It has a capacity of 1.16 gallons each and can be used for both formal and casual occasions. It is ultra-stylish and can be used in a variety of different places, both outdoors and indoors. Just fill it with your favorite potion and let the guests enjoy the flavors and essence of your hosting with ease.

Now that you are familiar with all the aspects of drink dispenser and how it can revolutionize your party hosting skills, you can buy the best dispenser and experience it for yourself.

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Types of Fire Pits

This infographic provides fire pit safety information to keep your backyard parties safe and enjoyable! The includes information about what kind of woods should be used, what supplies should be kept around, and how to lay out a fire pit area to avoid pitfalls like putting yard chairs too close to the fire.

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Spruce up your kitchen – dark vs. bright colors?

Colors bring joy, especially during depressingly dreary autumn evenings, or long winter nights – they make the difference and can turn your mood from the lowest to the greatest. If you are planning to renovate your home, or are in the middle of the process, and it’s kitchen’s turn to go through a huge makeover, you are probably wondering what to do with it in terms of color. Should you follow current trends, do they fit your needs, or should you give it a personal touch and stay away from modern tendencies?

When it comes to trending, on the one hand there are people who follow trends; whereas on the other, there are people who are not that keen on trending and do everything they can in order to leave their personal stamp on interior design.

If you are one of the people who are in the middle – who like following trends, yet allowing space for personal touch – here are some pros & cons guidelines that can help you decide between dark and bright colors in your newly remodeled kitchen.

Bright colors

If you have a small kitchen, painting it white and investing into brightly colored kitchen cabinetry will definitely open it up. Bright colors are famous for making the space look bigger, whereas dark colors tend to make the space look smaller than it really is. Bright kitchens look more modern, contemporary, European, and what is best about them is that you will easily repaint them once you get tired of them.

The bad thing about bright countertops is that if you make a mess or leave stains on them – it will practically enhance the fault and make it look even worse than it already is. Remember that bright colors need constant maintenance, and will soon show traces of time (especially if you are a smoker, this will reflect on your cabinetry color), so it would be best to opt for darker tones.

If you want to create the illusion of vastness in your small kitchen, you can also hang a big mirror onto one of its walls, because mirrors make the space look bigger than it really is. Adding natural sources of light will also help you achieve the similar effect, so, if you can, dig another window hole (or enlarge the existing one) and help you kitchen breathe in bright colors and beautiful daylight.

Dark colors

On the other hand, when it comes to dark colors, primarily, they are easier to maintain because you do not have to clean them every hour or so or worry about leaving marks. Aesthetically, brighter colors may look as a better option, but if you do not plan to keep your kitchen sterile – do opt for darker tones. Here are some ideas for dark kitchen cabinets in combination with natural stone, wood and other kinds of materials.

If you are thinking about resale, the bad side about dark kitchens is that they really do not sell as good as bright ones. So, think twice before you combine your beautiful sink with a dark shade of green, because it may come back to haunt in the long run, that is, you once you decide to resell the place.

Mix & match

There is also the option of making balance between the two, that is – try to find the middle ground and combine, for example, bright flooring and walls with dark countertops and cabinetry. You can also make room for dashing multicolored countertops in combination with bright runner rugs to protect your feet during the winter or simply when standing for a long period of time. These can be your best and most practical choice if you want the decor of your kitchen to be like from a magazine cover.

In the end, what matters is your personal liking, so if you decide to have a dark kitchen – you may as well have one, because there are many good reasons for it. The same goes for a bright one. What matters is that you express yourself through this remodeling project, and enjoy cooking in it in the end.

And of course, if you have anything to add, please do not hesitate and write your comment in the section below. We would love to hear about your experience with both kinds of kitchen!

About the author

Marie Nieves is student of economics who loves unusual trips, gadgets and creative ideas. She is an avid lover of photography interested in interior and exterior design. Marie loves to talk about her experiences and she is regular author on Smooth Decorator. You can find Marie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and G+.

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4 Exciting Halloween Home Decor and Furniture Ideas

Halloween is less than a month away now, which means you have plenty of time to decide whether you’d trick or treat Mr. Jack-o-lantern. But sadly, you don’t have enough time to think how you are going to decorate your dining room.

Don’t worry, I am here to help you. Whether it’s a creepy ice bucket that pops open and a skeleton hand comes out or a “Poison” tagged Martini glass, I can help you generate some spooky Halloween dining room ideas.

Let’s not waste time. Here are the ideas:

Graveyard dining room

How about turning your dining room into a graveyard? Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Your dinner guests will surely like it. To keep it simple, buy some artificial grass patches and lay them on the floor. Put foam-board tombstones on the patch.

You can build cemetery fences yourself. Materials you are going to need are PVC pipes, wood rods, black paint, strong glue and strings. Create two fences, place them approximately 2 yards from the dinner table, as if they are doors leading to the table.

Use card stock, fence edge punch and normal paper bags. Keep the bottom of the bag intact and cut its top portion off. Then put the fence punch around the edges of the top. Carve tombstone shapes out of the cardstock and put them into the bag. To make it more exciting, write the names of the guests on the tombstones.

Addams family

They say at the Addams Family House, every night is halloween night. This Halloween, you can surprise your guests by turning your home into the cursed Addams family mansion.

You must be having family members, who are tall. Pick the one, who’s tallest and tell him to play Lurch. Select someone short from your family or extended family for playing Uncle Fester. Your kids can be Pugsley and Wednesday, and you and your spouse can be Gomez and Morticia.

Put phony spiders on the floor, and some on the dining table. Use an LED fixture that hangs from the ceiling above the dining table. Decorate the fixture with a large plastic chain and stick some spiders to it.

Thing can be made of plastic, rubberwood, copper, brass and many other materials. You can buy one that features a victorian design and a key on the top. I’m pretty sure your guests would be impressed seeing it.

A creepy centerpiece

The centerpiece captures the attention of the guests. Make it look creepy. You can put a deliberately ripped large piece of quilt batting at the center of the table. It’ll look like a makeshift spider web. Put an LED skull light and two LED Halloween lanterns on the centerpiece. If you are weary of spiders, Put some fake plastic-made blood-drenched fingers on the table, and around the dinner plates.

Halloween dinner plates and napkins are available in the market. Google “dinner plates Halloween” and “napkin Halloween” and skim through the results that the Search giant lays out. Purchase those, which you find affordable. The plates and napkins have skeletons, owls, haunted houses and shadows engraved on them.

Halloween furniture

Assuming money is not a constraint for you, I suggest you to buy some Halloween furniture. Don’t go for quantity, go for quality instead. Don’t buy a vintage canopy that looks creepy unless you have kids, who can’t walk. Mirrors have become a passe, so don’t buy one. Buy an ouija board table or a skull chair, or a steampunk bed. The furniture will be in use even after the Halloween.

For all those out there who want to have fun, buying Halloween furniture is a good investment. You can even go for DIY halloween decor and furniture if you want to save cost.

Halloween lighting

You can bring the feel of Halloween simply by doing some lighting tricks. Don’t go for anything expensive, go for the old-school pumpkin lighting and place the pumpkins on the path leading to your door. If your backyard is spacious enough, turn it into a graveyard with mystic bluish light and artificial tombstones.

Color contrast is essential in bringing an eerie feel. Red, purple green, white and blue lighting can help you bring this feel. Purchase a fog machine to make artificial fog. A fog machine can be as cheap as $5. The fog made by it can add to the spooky feel; visitors will enjoy it in the dark blue lit entrance of your home.

Be imaginative

On top of everything, you need to be imaginative. And never hesitate to experiment with ideas. For example, black color dining chairs are common on the Halloween night. But you can put white dining chair if you can compensate it in other ways. So use your imagination, and have the scariest Halloween ever this year.

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Create a joyous friendly atmosphere at home with your beautiful garden

Beyond anything, what really make a home a place to live are the people that live in it. Creating memories and sharing experiences is what turns a house into a home. Of course, one the most prominent features of your house could very well be the garden. It’s where the whole family comes together and, depending on the weather, spends a lot of time at.

The garden is where you and your family have sunny afternoons with a barbeque and cold winter evenings with a hot cup of coffee.

Have morning tea with the family

Cheering up the garden with a little family time is never a bad idea. Try to get everyone together to start having lunch or snacks or tea in the garden. The time you spend bonding in the garden will help you realize the value of the fresh air and clean open space in your backyard.

Playing with kids

There are plenty of items you can buy to install in the backyard garden that will help you kids play and be occupied for the whole day. A garden in a house with a playground could be every kid’s fantasy and is just the thing you need if you have the space and young enough kids. Join them in play and get them to learn new games. Families that play together have a closer relationship and are much more comfortable sharing things with one another.

Playing with the pets

Gardens could also be the perfect thing for pets at home. Whether you have dogs or cats at home, you can always find a way to make the garden a bit more comfortable for them. Toys and exercise machines for the pets are available from stores and you can use them to create a pet-friendly environment at home. Plus, the exercise pets get outdoors is hugely beneficial for their health.

Walking in the garden

Taking a walk is scientifically proven to be the single best exercise your body could get. Now walking outside is, of course, much better than striding around in your living room, so try to make your garden walker friendly. Make the pathways much wider on either side of the garden and see if you have enough of space to move around. Encourage the family to walk around the park whenever they can. Also, grow some grass if the weather permits. Nothing beats walking barefoot on the grass in the mornings.

Yoga

Breathing and movement are integral to practicing yoga, and what you can do is create an environment that will help you stay calm and breathe deeply as you go from pose to pose. A clean, flat surface and a yoga mat is all you need for this wonderfully ancient form of exercise.

Exercise

Yoga doesn’t have to be the only exercise you get. If you are more into aerobics, Pilates, weight lifting or running, you can get the right equipment and get started right in your garden. Essentially, it costs nothing to get a workout in the house, but if you have a garden the fresh air will help you in a whole host of ways.

Patios and decks

The main focus in your garden should ideally be the amount of elbow room and space you have to entertain guests. Nothing creates a joyous environment at home like a place in the garden to eat food and relax. Consider how many people you have over to the house on a regular basis and just how much space is needed for everyone. If there is at least a couple square feet per person in the patio area, you can start developing it with furniture.

For the Feet

Paving’s and pathways are essential if you are going to go around the garden and move freely. Keep wide pathways to allow for walks but you can also pay attention to the paver blocks used in each path to make sure it has enough of strength and quality materials to provide support to your feet. Taking care with the materials is even more important if you live somewhere with bad weather. Rain and snow can make most pathways slippery and dangerous and you want to avoid this at all costs. Preferably use gravel.

Headroom

High archways and pergolas could be great for making your garden more useable. Because you are dealing with outdoor structures you can go a little bit higher than your doorways indoors and take advantage of some pretty creative ways to get some shade. Perhaps a small yoga canopy right in the center, if you have the space for it. Objects tend to look a bit smaller in wide open spaces so you can take advantage of this and build much bigger.

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