HouseSight Helps Home Remodeling Contractors Find Customer Leads

By Mark J. Donovan

HomeAdditionPlus.com’s HouseSight continues to attract more home remodeling contractor members. HouseSight is ideal for contractors looking to find customer leads, but without having to pay for them. HouseSight is a free online tool that enables contractors and homeowners to create unique home remodeling project pages and to share profile information about themselves and businesses. HomeAdditionPlus.com and HouseSight visitors viewing project pages can contact the members either directly via HouseSight’s messaging tool or by clicking on the home remodeling contractor’s website displayed on the project page(s). As a result, HouseSight connects highly motivated customers with hungry home remodeling contractors.

HouseSight also provides the ability for members to upload project files, such as spreadsheets, drawings, bill of materials, and customer lead lists, and then access them later from any computer connected to the internet. As a result, contractors can access and manage their home remodeling project and project files from the field.

HouseSight registration is fast and the service is free. Whether you’re a DIY homeowner or home remodeling contractor its worth spending a few minutes to become a HouseSight member. Where else can you advertise your contractor business for free and get exposure to hundreds of thousands of people a month.

United States Downgrade Could Be another Nail in the Housing Market Coffin

By Mark J. Donovan

Friday’s S&P downgrade of the United States debt credit rating from AAA to AA+, the first time in the history of our country, will have major financial repercussions for years to come, the housing market included. Interest rates, including mortgage rates, will rise and when they do more people will be out of reach from buying a home. In addition, potential home buyer’s stock portfolios and 401Ks have already been dramatically hit since the announcement on Friday. As a result, they’ll now have less money to plunk down as a deposit on a new home. And even if they had staged their money in cash with the plan on using it as a deposit they will be rightfully skittish about pulling the trigger and signing a purchase and sales agreement on a new home at this point in time.

Why the downgrade? Spending. Spending. Spending. Our country is over 14 trillion in debt due to uncontrollable spending by the clowns in Washington. When I hear the democratic party blame the Tea Party, or say we need to tax the rich more for this debacle it only solidifies my belief that they are the first that need to go. Make no mistake, the Republicans have done their fair share of spending during the Bush administration but the current executive administration and its liberal democratic allies in the Senate are running our country into the ground just as fast as they can possibly do so. And yes, I am suggesting they are doing it on purpose. They want to bring the American public down to its knees so that we beg at the federal government trough for help and assistance, and so that we can be permanent servants to them. What is even more disheartening is the percentage of the American public that has apparently bought into this lifestyle change. As long as the beer keeps flowing and there’s a game on every night it seems the average Joe is content. Just what the current executive branch and Senate leadership want.

In regards to taxation, currently only 49 percent of the U.S. population pays federal taxes. This means the other 51 percent are contributing nothing to use the country’s roads and airports, and other services. They pay nothing for our military to protect their interests and safety. I could go on, but you get the message. Instead, the Democrats say “Tax the Rich” some more. Even if we taxed them 100% it still wouldn’t come close to keeping up with the rate of spending. It’s a red herring that sounds good on a sound bite, but in reality it’s total baloney.

One interesting note, our country was founded on the concern of “Taxation without Representation”. It seems we’ve gone full circle. It appears the majority gets Representation without any Taxation.

The bottom line, if we are to take back our country, we need to throw these bums out come next November and complete the job that was started in 2010.

Building a Shower Pan Correctly is Essential for Preventing a Nightmare

By Mark J. Donovan

When installing a custom ceramic tiled shower it is critical to install a shower pan membrane liner correctly. Otherwise you’ll end up wasting your money on the tile and cause major water damage to your home, particularly if the custom tiled shower is on an upper level floor. I’ve personally installed shower pan membrane liners on concrete and wood subfloors and have never had a leak. I’ve also filmed the installation of a shower pan membrane liner and you can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXTAkwMqtEc. I’ve also wrote an ebook on the subject, “Shower Pan Membrane Liner Installation Ebook” that explains every step on how to correctly build a shower pan and it is loaded with helpful pictures. So before you waste money and cause damage to your home, check out these sources for building your own shower pan.

Home Construction in the Heat of the Summer

By Mark J. Donovan

Driving around doing some errands today at lunch, and seeing the outside temperature hovering over 100 degrees, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor construction workers that I passed by toiling away in the heat. It reminded me of the importance of preparing for the summer elements when working on a home construction or remodeling project. Normally when it comes to jobsite weather concerns it’s more about cold temperatures and/or rain and snow. But intense heat can be even more of a problem, particularly for the safety of the workers.

If you have plans to tackle a home construction or remodeling project during the heat of the summer, always make sure you show up to the jobsite prepared. First and foremost bring plenty of water and fluids (not alcohol). Second, stay out of the sun as much as possible. Third, wear proper and protective clothing that is light weight and light in color. Also make sure to wear a hat to protect your head.

Throughout the day make sure to take plenty of breaks for consuming water and if you feel dizzy or nauseous call it a day. No home remodeling or construction project is worth having heat stroke and dying.

LG Portable Air Conditioner Installation was a Cool Breeze

By Mark J. Donovan

With temperatures in the upper 90s earlier this week we finally broke down and purchased a portable air conditioner. Unlike our other window air conditioners this one stands up on the floor and resembles R2D2. The specific model is an LG LP0910WNR 9000BTU Portable Air Conditioner. The unit outputs 9000 BTUs and can cool 300 square feet of living space. It has multiple fan speeds and has a programmable 24 hour on-off timer. My wife actually purchased it and hooked it up in about 30 minutes. The exhaust vent pipe assembly mounted easily in a window. Standard window air conditioners on the other hand can take an hour or more to install and typically need installation brackets. In addition, since this air conditioner is portable we can move it easily to other places within our home with little effort.

We’ve used our new portable air conditioner heavily over the past several days and it has worked like a charm keeping our kitchen cool and comfortable. So if you’re in need for a cool summer breeze within your home you may want to take a look at this air conditioner.