DIY Life

I love wandering through the brand new show-homes in our area. I do it under the cover of looking for new decorating inspiration, but I think I might just like to tease myself with all the swanky stainless steel appliances.

Thanks to Life Hacker, who pointed us to this great tutorial on how to make old appliances look new again, I can have show-home style appliances in my eleven year old kitchen without investing in new ones.

Make sure you follow the cleaning instructions first. This is critical to getting the stainless steel look just right, but it will also improve the efficiency of of your appliances. After all your prep work is complete, you just need to apply stainless steel contact paper, accommodate for any dials, smooth out the bubbles, and enjoy your brand new appliances.

The tutorial details how to refresh your dishwasher and fridge, but I think it would be hard to stop there once you got started, so bring on the stove, range, and microwave... even the coffee pot -- this is going to be fun!

There eventually comes a time when your home's cooling system will have to be replaced. While you might shell out some big bucks initially, modern systems are very energy efficient and will pay for themselves over time. The type of indoor environment altering equipment you purchase depends on many factors.

These factors include where you live, cost of the available systems, the size of your house or condo, and the availability of those good old tax credits!

Central air conditioner systems

Central air conditioners are probably the most popular home cooling systems. They actually perform two functions; they remove heat from the air, and additionally, remove humidity. The main elements of central systems are an air distribution system (duct work), a condenser unit (located outside), and an evaporator coil (inside the furnace).

The home's heating system shares some of these resources.

As you fire up your central air conditioner, is the temperature really what it says? If it's not, you could be spending extra bucks on your electricity bills. The good news is that you can take care of it yourself without calling a service person. And if you know it's not right, follow these steps before buying a new one:

1. Turn off the power to the heater and A/C.
2. Remove the cover.
3. Obviously, change any batteries.
4. Clean the bimetal coil with a soft, clean brush. On a round thermostat, you might have to turn the dial for complete access.
5. Remove the body from the base on a round model. There are usually screws involved.
6. Clean the switch contacts with a piece of bond paper.
7. Replace the body on a round model.
8. Adjust the anticipator. Start by finding and noting the amp setting; it may be in your manual, on the furnace service panel or on the boiler's transformer. Look at the anticipator setting on the scale. If it's off, adjust it with your fingernail; or you nail-biters (you know who you are), use the point on a pen.
   NOTE: On an air heating distribution system set it to the amp setting. On a water heating distribution system set it to (amp setting X 1.4). I have no idea why.
9. Replace the cover.
   

It's hard to turn around these days without being bombarded with information on being "green." There certainly are many good reasons to adopt ecologically-friendly habits, but why not do the things that both contribute and save money?

I recommend that you start with another offering of mine: a number of ways to conserve water around your home. Then, combine those tip with some additional ideas, some of which you may not have considered as realistic for your residence, such as the solar hot water heating panel pictured at the right.

First, some suggestions, via the gallery.

In my ongoing mission to conserve energy (and thereby lower my electricity bill), I'm always looking for ways to tweak my energy efficiency. Some of these cost money initially, but my favorites are the ones that are almost free. Check this one out.

My garage/wood shop is of the attached-to-the-house variety as I described in the recent walk-in-pantry article. Because of the way the house is located, the exterior brick wall gets a lot of afternoon sun, which is quite fierce in the summer. The bricks absorb the heat and relay it into the garage. And of course, it used to make the AC work very hard to cool the kitchen area.

My solution? I attached some lattice to the brick and planted some English ivy in a 10" terracotta pot at the base of it. It really likes the lattice and had not issues with climbing up it. It's also starting to spread to the non-lattice area by setting its creepers into the mortar. I did this about three years ago; it's not an instant fix. But once it takes off, it acts as a natural insulator and really looks great!