Latest Home Improvement, Renovation & Remodeling Trends

With the heightened awareness over pesticides and chemical fertilizers making their way into the water tables across the nation more emphasis is being placed on organic solutions. When it comes to nourishing plant life nothing worked better and is so self-sustaining as compost.

Too Cheap

Compost can be made without any expense. It improves soil texture and bulk and allows the soil to hold water when the weather is dry and, especially, if the dirt is sandy. It breaks up clay and prevents it from becoming a sold clump. But its best quality is that it fertilizes without harming any of the natural organisms in the soil. In fact, unlike the chemical versions, compost provides sustenance for microorganisms which, in turn produce nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

The key ingredients to producing compost are carbon-rich “brown” material - dried leaves, wood material and straw - and “green” material, vegetation such as lawn clippings which are high in nitrogen. There are basically tow processes:

Passive Composting: A free-standing pile in which kitchen compost and other garden vegetation is placed. This pile will take up to 2 years to decompose completely but compost can be taken off the bottom.

Managed Compost: This is like passive except that the pile is turned over regularly to mix the compost thoroughly and let the worms and microorganisms do to work.

Indoors With Worms

Composting can also be done over the winter and indoors. Composting with earthworms, or “vermi-composting,” is great for providing houseplants with nourishment over the winter or all-year round. All you need is a plastic bin, some dirt, some worms ( 1/2 pound per bin) and organic matter: shredded newspapers, coffee grounds, vegetable matter, etc. To harvest the “castings,” or compost and loam, simply put the open bin under a bright light. the worms will go down to the bottom of the bin and you scoop out the top layer. Then put new bedding in and another supply of composting materials and you’re ready for another batch.

Worms can be purchased at your local garden store or ordered online. For more infomration about composting contact Renovation Experts

In traditional lore, log homes are often spoke in terms of “cozy” and “warm.” But are they? In other words, what is warmer 8″ logs or a 6″ framed wall with fiberglass insulation?

Fiberglass insulation is rated as a K-value (meaning the rate in which heat is transferred - the lower, the better) of .050 while solid wood is around .144. This means that fiberglass should be 3 times more efficient than sold wood. But it it?

Thermal Mass

The thermal mass of a material is the capacity to take in and store heat. What you want is the material to accept heat during the day and then give off the stored heat inside the building afer dark. This is good for heating and air conditioning because it keeps an even temperature so that the furnace or air conditioner (or both) are on less often.

Logs and Thermal Mass

Materials offering the best thermal mass are ones which do not conduct heat. For example, glass and steel are not good for thermal mass whereas cement, brick and dense wood, like logs, are very good.

A good example of thermal mass is a cement foundation and the earth around it. In the winter this combined thermal mass draws heat from your home, when you don’t want it, whereas in the summer it stays a constant cool temperature when you do need it for cooling. Log homes fill this bill and will provide a constant temperature that requires less energy.

Most log home contractors will build the home on their own lot to make sure the logs fit tight. Then the logs are numbered, taken apart and reassembled on site. This ensures that the thermal mass integrity is met.