DIY Life

Do you need an energy audit? If your electricity and gas bills are higher than they should be, or if you have an older home, you probably do. You already know about insulation, radiant barrier, efficient windows, and Energy Star appliances.

The problem, of course, is that these are many areas to address, but you don't have pockets that deep. Things need to be prioritized here. And that's where the energy auditor comes to the rescue. After his inspection, he'll provide you with a report that tells you:

• Where you stand with your current cooling and heating system.
• Your home's efficiency overview. This details where your home is bleeding hot and cold air.
• The most efficient use of your dollars to save you money by saving energy.
• Bigger outlays of cash that will begin paying for themselves right away.
  

After the break, I'll describe how the tests are done, and the costs involved.

Have you ever had an electrical problem with your appliances, car, boat, or motorcycle and thought, "Hey, I'm handy; I do mechanical work on my ride all the time. I can handle this." So you grab your book of wiring diagrams and unfold the page.

And then it sinks in. It's a totally foreign language and looks suspiciously like the spaghetti you had for dinner last night. Wiring diagrams can be tricky to trace through when troubleshooting an electrical circuit.

Don't despair; it takes a process and a bit of knowledge about electrical symbols. This Temperature Control Division site will guide you through the process of tracking down the problem. It makes the "overwhelm factor" a bit more manageable and gets you started on the road to electrical recovery.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Progress Lighting, has announced a voluntary recall of about 1,000 Progress Lighting outdoor ceiling light fixtures. The fixtures can fall and injure nearby persons, due to the fact that a weld that affixes a mounting bracket to the ceiling pan can fail. Although no injuries have been reported, the firm has received six reports of fixtures falling.

Manufactured in China, and sold at electrical and lighting distributors nationwide from January 2007 through November 2007 for about $200, this recall involves only Progress Lighting ceiling mounted outdoor light fixtures with model numbers P5526-20 and P5526-44. You can find the model number written on the product packaging.

To schedule a free repair of the lighting fixture, consumers can contact Progress Lighting at (866) 418-5543 or visit their website at www.progresslighting.com.

We have all seen LEDs become more and more prevalent in our daily lives. They are as common as traffic signals in major cities (after the whole energy rate fiasco a few years ago) and power indicators on most items. They are also as frivolous as LED hats to support your favorite team.

Manufacturers and retailers are starting to see the future in LED items as well, as they realize that a lot of people are looking to save energy. People want to support being "greener," sure, but they also want to keep a few more dollars and cents in their bank accounts.

Here are a few items I have come across that demonstrate how LED products will continue to make inroads in new categories of retail.

When my wife and I decided to mount our LCD TV to the wall instead of having it on its stand, we were faced with the problem of hiding all the cables and wires. There were the component video cables, power cable, RCA wires to connect the VCR, and the cable connection. That was gong to be a lot of ugly spaghetti to have hanging from the bottom of the flat screen.

I decided to use surface mounted wire moldings to hide them. After installing them I painted them to match the wall. While this does neaten things up, you can still see the two runs of molding that I had to use to contain all the cords.

I had considered putting them inside the wall, but seeing as the electrical panel for our town home was directly on the other side of the wall, I decided that it was going to be nothing but heartache to try to do it that way. The other draw back was going to be the extra cutting, patching, pulling, and painting that was going to be required to do it properly.

Now I have discovered a newer, easier, and cleaner way to accomplish this goal of a hidden installation. FlatWire Is the answer that I was looking for.

I don't know where you live, but here we're already getting spring weather, which means a blistering summer isn't far off. What does this mean in my home? A constantly running air conditioner. To help out with the energy bill, we have ceiling fans in every room but the kitchen and the bathrooms. This allows us to run the thermostat a bit warmer and the savings on the electrical bill really build up.

If you aren't already maxed out with ceiling fans yet, this is the time to do it. Although I'll provide you with this link for installing a new ceiling fan, let me go over some of your choices when you go shopping.

Ceiling fans are a lot like sinks or faucets – you can spend as much as you want to depending on the fanciness and the bells and whistles. I just recently retired the fan in the living room and installed a new one. I bought a model that has lights bundled with it. That old "killing two birds with one stone" thing. I also bought an extra down-rod since we've got a vaulted ceiling. Don't do what I did, though. I relied on the chart on the wall at Home Depot telling which length to use. I had to go back for a shorter one; the first one would have guaranteed me a haircut!

So, get ready for the summer now. There are many models out there so you won't have any problem finding one to fit the your room's motif .

There are many places in the home that could use a little extra light. These areas include anywhere work is done; think about the places where you prepare food, do all that extra work that the boss shamed you into bringing home, or your workshop bench. A great solution for these situations is to install under-cabinet lighting. They also come in handy for the dark corners in the bathroom vanity under the sink. For these areas, it's more practical to use the battery operated ones.

These lights are inexpensive and easy to install with just a few common tools. Energy efficiency? They score very highly in this area, especially if you go with the latest LED lights.

Read this article on under-cabinet light installation. Then do a walk-through of the house to identify the spots that could use a bit more illumination. A shopping trip, a bit of DIY fun, and your work spaces will be glowing in short order!

Are you a morning person? I am-- once I'm up, showered, and fed, but getting out of bed isn't exactly my favorite thing to do. These winter mornings are especially hard. Dawn comes late and it just seems easier to pretend it's still nighttime, even though my alarm clock or my children say otherwise. If you have a tough time getting going in the mornings, there are a few small changes you can make to your bedroom to make things easie, according to MSNBC.

1. Let there be light. Turn your bed so that you can see out the window when you wake up in the morning. Leave your shade up when you go to bed (or put it up first thing in the morning). As the sun comes up, your body will get the message that it's time to get up and it will send out a delivery of feel good serotonin. If you get up before the sun, consider an alarm clock that simulates the sunrise.

2. Speaking of light. When replacing light fixtures, look for those that aim light toward the ceiling. This will reflect light back down into the room. It's not the same as the sun, but it may help.

3. Bedrooms are for sleeping. TV in your bedroom? Move it out. Just think about what you could do with all that extra space! If you can't part with your TV/laptop/PDA in the bedroom, at least turn them off an hour before you go to sleep. Technological devices give off a blue light, which puts the brakes on the body's production of sleepy-time melatonin. If you or your kids need a night light, opt for one with a reddish tone over blue as well.

And if all of that doesn't work, you can always try Feng Shui. Sweet dreams!

If you're like most DIY'ers, most projects don't intimidate you at all. Drywall repair? No problem. Repair a leaky faucet? Bring it on! But when it comes to electrical work, it's like entering a different dimension. Electricity is daunting for many reasons. Not only is it esoteric with complicated mathematical formulas, but it's mysterious. You know it's there waiting for you to slip up, but you can't see it. Sometimes, electricity bites. Figuratively of course.

Before you work with appliances, add new services, or replace an electrical outlet or switch, you should take a stab at understanding home wiring concepts. And then, there are a few basic rules to follow:

Sometimes we all get in over our heads and need a little professional help. Here are a few things to remember when you find yourself needing to locate a little hired help to fix up the homestead.

1. If they won't come give you a free estimate keep dialing until you find those that will. 3 written estimates is a good minimum.

2. Check their license. Use the Internet and verify that it is both valid and under their name. Contractors sometimes let other friends work "under" their license. Don't get caught using someone "borrowing" a license.

3. Make sure you only pay up front what your state allows them to charge you, and never finish paying for the job before it is done or you can bet on never seeing them complete the job.

4. Make sure the contract has a finish date with built in penalties for delays and time over runs. You can make this more palatable to the contractor by offering a bonus for early completion.

5. If you are buying the materials make sure you keep track of receipts AND where the material goes. Buying 400 sheets of drywall and then only counting 75 sheets hung on the studs should raise a red flag. Look at coverages of materials used and how many square feet of work is being done to try to minimize the chances of being taken for a ride.

Low voltage outdoor lighting is a great way to accent your home's appearance, enhance security, and increase the safety of those who walk around your property at night. It's a relatively simple process and is an easy one day project to add about a half dozen lights, do the wiring, and hang the transformer. The materials are available at your local home store, although I recommend that, for a truly professional look, you consider buying at least the transformer and lights from a landscape lighting dealer -- it will be more expensive (imagine that !), but the return, in terms of durability and serviceability, will be worth the added expense.

A little planning is called for, before you head out to buy stuff. Landscape lighting should be situated to accent architectural features, specimen plantings or hardscapes, and provide secure access to areas such as paths,walkways, and steps. Don't light the front of your home so that it looks like the exercise yard at the county jail, but don't be chintzy so that it appears you ran out of materials. Lay out the approximate sites for the lights, add about 3' at the ends for fine-tuning the positioning (you'll do it, believe me), and compute the total footage so you can buy the correct amount of wire.

A short trip to your local Wal-Mart and The Home Depot could turn your back bedroom or attic into a professionally-lit photography studio. That is, if you have camera equipment to take pretty pictures once you have several lighting equipment environments at your disposal.

Start with some outside tripod-style floodlights and add some foil-covered windshield heat protectors and standard light bulbs and you have the makings of a makeshift and workable lighting studio. Total cost? About $75. Results? Well, they will probably produce 90% of the quality (if done right) for less than a fifth of the price of professional lighting equipment. That ought to do well for us budding amateur photographers, right?

Consult the entire breakdown here to get a rundown on assembly of these items into your very own photography lighting arrangement: some hot-lights (a few tripods required), some light diffusers and portable reflectors and some camera flash diffusers as well. For professional-looking photo results with little monetary investment, you can't beat this.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and L G Sourcing, Inc. have announced a recall of approximately 90,000 Portfolio Incandescent Torcherie Lamps, due to the fact that a short circuit in the lamps' wiring poses a fire hazard. Although no injuries have been reported, L G Sourcing has received two reports of lamp fires.

The recalled lamps were manufactured in China and sold exclusively by Lowe's retail stores nationwide from March 2005 through October 2007 and sold for $17. Please check out the CPSC press release to see if you have a recalled lamp.

Stop using the recalled lamp immediately and take it back to any Lowe's retail outlet to get a full refund. For more information, you may contact L G Sourcing toll-free at (866) 916-7233 or visit www.lowes.com.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Kash N' Gold Ltd. have announced a voluntary recall of 60,000 Tinker Bell lamps. The paint on the lamps contains excessive amounts of lead and violates the federal lead paint standard. No injuries have been reported.

The lamps were manufactured in Hong Kong and sold at electrical and appliance stores nationwide, including Lowe's. The lamps were sold from January through October 2007 for about $40. Please check out the CPSC press release to see if you have the Tinker Bell lamp.

Stop using the animated lamps immediately and return to the store where you purchased the lamp to get a full refund. You may also contact Kash N' Gold at (800) 354-8785 or visit their website at www.kngamerica.com to receive a merchandise credit.

If you like taking professional-style photos of your kids, pets or even for that eBay listing, one thing many aspiring photogs have discovered is that lighting is the single largest key to taking a great, well-exposed picture.

Yet, many of us don't have photography studios in our homes. What to do? How about carve out a bedroom corner when you need it and fancy up some on-the-cheap lighting companions to help you? Yes, there is a way to emulate a decent lighting environment similar to what you'd find in a pro studio -- and it'll cost ya not that much in greenbacks.

This lighting example uses three specific lights to create an excellent lighting arrangement that you'll find very useful if you're tired of those grainy point-n-shoot images your digital camera usually serves up. Needed: some used slave flash assemblies (look for these at pawn shops and photography stores), some taping ingenuity and a few miniature tripods that cost just a few bucks at a local electronics retailer.