HardieFlex Flooring Installation Video

By: James Hardie

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HardieFlex Flooring Installation Video - Video

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - A Tyler man who is a Vietnam veteran says is humbled by what East Texans are doing to help him. Terry Cuba has a new roof over his head, thanks to Habitat for Humanity. Cuba is one of two local veterans selected for a program that helps build and renovate U.S. veteran's homes.

Eight years ago, a tree fell on his house.

"It covered the top of the house and bent and broke a lot of shingles," Cuba said. "It messed up things."

The roof stayed covered with black plastic until Habitat for Humanity showed up this week to help.

"GAF has a grant with habitat where they'll provide shingles and labor to put a new roof on, so that was the first process that I did," said Habitat for Humanity director of construction Raimund Gideon. "I utilized those grants to get the roof back on to where water was not getting in the house."

Cuba and his family have lived in this house on Meadow Lane for the last 30 years but they fell on some hard times.

"In the 70s I went in the Marine Corps and I got a medical out of there," Cuba said. "I'm out here trying to work and raise a family."

When the roof was damaged he didn't have insurance or money to fix it.

"My wife was sick; she had cancer. I was sick myself," Cuba said. "We were struggling so God helped us make it so far, and God blessed us for this to happen."

Now the 61-year-old and his family no longer have to struggle. They'll soon have central air and heat which means they won't have to heat their house with the stove.

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Vietnam veteran's house gets long overdue repairs

For consumers interested in taking advantage of stores' design services, it pays to come prepared. Appointments, after all, may give you just a short time to consult. Have on hand:

A list of must-keep items. If your new-ish couch, a favorite painting or Mom's antique chair need to be worked into the plan, designers say, then it helps to know that upfront. (Heading for an in-store consultation? Bring pictures of the pieces, and of the room or rooms you're redecorating.)

Inspiration. "It's really great if they can go in with a mood board or wish board," said Marston. Most people describe their style as "eclectic," so shots of how you want your space to look, from an inspiration site like Houzz or Pinterest, or the store's own website, can help the designer get a better feel, fast, of what you like.

Special considerations. Need fabric that can stand up to kids and pets? A dining room table that'll work for regular dinner parties? Expect designers to ask a lot of lifestyle questions, said Jacobs

Measurements. The scope of the room is necessary for planning layout, as well as determining whether or where large pieces will fit.

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In addition to making your life better every day, home remodeling projects will ideally impact your homes value for the better. However, your homes value is at the mercy of the market and, in fact, some home improvements will positively impact your appraisal more than others.

Appraisers look at the basic structure and floor plan of your house, as well as the homes condition. They then compare your house to similar houses in your area that have sold most recently. Comparable houses (also known as comps) in your surrounding area will impact the appraisal of your house. When making these comparisons, appraisers make adjustments in value based on the age, size and condition of the houses, which makes the process somewhat subjective.

Appraisers are more interested in size, function and condition than in style. For instance, a faucet that costs $1,000 is no more functional than one that costs $100. While the more expensive faucet should look better and last longer, no credit is given since there is no comparison showing these advantages.

If you want to focus on home improvements that will increase your homes value, here are few worthwhile investments.

Adding bedrooms and bathrooms

In a home appraisal, a comp is determined by the bedroom and bathroom ratio and square footage. For example: a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house will be compared to other three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses. If the house is a five-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom house, it moves into a different bracket with different comps instantly with higher home values. If you want to increase the appraised value of your home, adding bedrooms and bathrooms is a sure way to do it.

A finished basement

Finishing the basement is another sure way to add livable square footage and drastically change your homes value. If you have a full basement, finishing the lower level could potentially double the square footage of your house. Plus, most basement remodels add bedrooms and maybe a bathroom.

Home repairs

The condition of your house figures strongly into the appraisal value. If you want home improvements that increase your homes property values, invest in the condition of your homes major systems and components. Therefore, a new roof, windows or new exterior siding will be positive factors in the equation of an appraisal. According to Mitra Kalita in a Wall Street Journal article titled, Ten Tips for High Value Home Appraisals, appraisers tend to think in terms of $500 increments when calculating values. Therefore, if there is an obvious repair more than $500 that has been neglected, this will count against the value of the house.

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Renovation Solutions: Three types of home improvements that increase home value

YOURE visiting your parents and have been asked to help find something in their cupboard. Off you go to their room, switch on the single fluorescent light and open the cupboard door. Its as though youre peering into an abyss because there isnt enough light to see whats inside the cupboard. You have two choices: You either close the cupboard door immediately or take everything out, find what they need and spend the next few hours putting everything back.

SENSOR LIGHTS

Now, we have a third option, says Lim Joo Yee, consumer marketing manager at Philips, a global market leader in lighting solutions. With those hard-to-see places, we have Philips Spot On sensor lights. They have motion sensors and are battery operated. With the double-sided tape at the back, you stick them on the inside wall of the cupboard. No necessity for screws and plug points, explains Lim during an event called Philips LED The Way to showcase some of the cutting-edge LED solutions that Philips offers.

With LED technology, Philips is focusing on enhancing peoples lives with the kind of light they use in their living spaces, says Adrine Ong, lighting division general manager. All the products on show came under holistic LED ecosystem and included lamps, indoor lighting and light fittings.

Ong shared some of the benefits of LED lighting. For one, the quality of light from LED bulbs is superior because it provides vivid lights with natural shades of white, which means less glare. Since LED bulbs tend to be smaller, they create an ambient atmosphere. With a typical lifetime of between 15,000 and 20,000 hours, it will be between 15 and 20 years before your LED bulbs need to be replaced.

Since our electricity tariff is going up, LED bulbs will reduce maintenance costs, keep electricity bills from skyrocketing and use up to 85 per cent less energy without compromising on lighting performance. More important for environmentalists is the fact that LED bulbs dont contain lead or mercury, which are harmful, says Ong.

While all this may sound technical, Ong adds that research shows more consumers are no longer simply saying they need more lights. In fact, what theyre saying is, I need more energy efficient lights.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Lim cites the kitchen as an example. Previously, kitchens had one light. Now, as kitchens become smaller, so are work spaces like countertops. Often, when people are doing something like washing or cutting, there is a shadow and they cant see clearly what theyre doing, she says. For this, we have something called Philips myLiving Linear lights. They are motion sensor lights so you just pass your hand underneath the light and it will come on. Also, these lights produce little or no forward-facing heat.

She adds: Today, in many houses, there are three generations living together. Each generation has different lighting requirements. Childrens eyes are more sensitive and they dont need such bright lights. As people age, however, their needs change so grandparents may need bright lights.

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Enlightened for life

Full Overlay Conversion with Colorado Cabinet Refacing
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Palic XXI
I have the pleasure of announcing that between 46 projects my design has been presented with Sponsored Award at the International open competition for the Pl...

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Palic XXI - Video

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ARCHITECTS - Colony collapse (part) 28.03.2014 WARSAW

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Here are a few truisms about tiny homes: They are ecologically friendly. They are generally inexpensive. They can help avoid house debt. They reduce one's carbon footprint. They offer the possibility for a freer, simpler life.

Plus, they're cute.

And now, tiny homes have something else: a coolness factor. Architectural innovation has become part of the tiny home movement, with some of today's top designers testing the boundaries of imagination and possibility, transforming ultrasmall spaces into marvels of eco-sustainable, microminimalist design.

Just look at what a tiny home can be: A "free-spirit" tree sphere, hanging above the forest floor. A steel hut constructed of salvaged car parts. A plastic "loft cube" that can be airlifted by helicopter. A Space Age microhouse with round, rotating rooms. A diamond-shaped glass house suspended on a pole.

"There are a lot of architects today who are pushing the envelope," said California architect Cate Leger. "We're among them. It's fun."

Leger and husband Karl Wanaselja, founders of Leger Wanaselja Architecture, are "green builders" who recently designed a residence in Berkeley, Calif., the McGee House, that utilized car windows and 100 salvaged car roofs. Needing a storage shed during construction, the team quickly slapped together a metal hut-like structure using some of the leftover car parts, and the result was unexpectedly appealing. It looked futuristic yet primitive, like a prop for a science fiction movie. Leger and Wanaselja were intrigued.

"In the next five years or so, you'll see us turn that idea into tiny house architecture," Leger said. "I believe tiny homes are the future. Or they should be. It's hard to tell people you have to live small. But building ecologically responsible housing is essential to our survival as a species."

Read MoreTiny houses: A big idea to end homelessness

Many architects agree, and are putting that idea to work. Tiny homes are being retrofitted with ecologically conscious features like solar panels, rainwater collection systems and compost waste management systems. Some even have state-of-the-art internal heating and cooling systems that can be digitally controlled by laptop computers or smartphones.

Some of the most cutting-edge design is happening outside the U.S., such as in Tokyo, the world's most populated city and one of the most expensive. There, living tiny is often not a choice or a philosophy but a necessity. Radical tiny homes abound there, such as the microcompact Paco House cube or the bullet-shaped Lucky Drop House, which is only 30 inches wide at its narrowest point. Even tinier housing possibilities include portable Tricycle Homes that can be joined together like Legos, or prefabricated Pop-Up Houses.

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Architects push envelope with tiny homes