LED Light Bulbs..What’s all the fuss!!!
![images[3]](http://www.stanbetter.com/stansblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/images3-150x150.jpg "images[3]")
LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) have actually been around for quite a long time. The first visible LED was invented in 1962 and was subsequently used as a “power on indicator light” for appliances like stereos. So how far have we come in 50 years and where are we heading? The biggest difference between what was around [...]
American-Made
I came across an ABC news article about a man in Bozeman, Montana that caught my eye. The article is about a man who is an Economist turned builder. Now this story doesn’t seem that unique, however, upon reading further, the man’s selection of materials is. He is constructing his houses entirely from American- Made [...]
How to deal with your Insurance Co. on a fire damage loss
One of the most horrific things that can happen to a Homeowner is fire damage. Equally horrific is after the fire, the ordeal that a Homeowner is put through to get their home and life back together. Unfortunately, there are more horror stories on this subject than all other aspects of home ownership. After over [...]
Basement Water Leakage Solutions
Now that we know what to look for to identify possible problem areas in our leaky basement, we will focus on what solutions are out there in the marketplace. I have found that the solutions tend to be categorized into three divisions: The exterior major surgery approach: Some basement waterproofing companies feel that the best [...]
Basement Water Leakage Problems
I am sure everyone has been experiencing our historic amounts of rain for this April. As a consequence of all this water, we have been getting numerous inquiries about water in basements. I thought I would dedicate my discussion in this newsletter about this topic. Most people see water in their basement and immediately [...]
Do you have “Green Lighting” in your home?
Pop quiz: What technology in your home is 132 years old and yet is still being used today. The answer is the incandescent light bulb. It is hard to believe that with all the advances in the last 100 years and especially in the last 20 years that we still rely on a technology, invented [...]
How to create a GREEN kitchen
Green is the buzz word of the millennium. Everyone wants to be a part of the Green Movement, but most do not know how to do it. So I am going to take the principles of green construction and apply it to the remodeling of a kitchen. There is no such thing as getting a [...]
Aging-In-Place
Aging-In-Place Design enables people to have their homes be pre-user friendly before they would be forced to remodel due to illness, handicap, or condition that would require them to leave their home and have to go into a healthcare facility. By thinking about this ahead of time and implementing certain design/remodeling changes one can extend [...]
Thinking Green
If there is one undeniable truth that I have learned in my 30+ years of practicing Architecture and building remodeling projects is that this is a cyclical business. In the late 70’s and early 80’s the buzz words were: ENERGY CONSERVATION (DUE TO THE OIL SHORTAGE) HEALTHY LIVING (DUE TO ASBESTOS HAZARDS IN BUILDING MATERIALS) [...]
LVL Beams
Hi Everyone My last newsletter was on the business side of remodeling as it related to the state of our economy. This time, I would like to get back to some of the nuts and bolts issues of remodeling. If you were to ask me…Stan-what has been the greatest technological advancement you have seen in [...]
