Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. Homeowner s insurance is probably the single most important tool you have for protecting your biggest investment and your family s security, but it isn t a buy-it-and-forget-it deal. Besides just keeping your premiums current, you should review your policy every year to be sure it covers any changes to your property, like that new boat in the garage or the home office you added. Take out the camera and create a photographic inventory of everything you own. Keep the records with your policy in a fireproof safe or in a bank safe deposit box. Things like testing your smoke alarms, installing deadbolts, shoveling the stairs when it snows and getting a building permit for that new deck are all pretty much common sense, but they re also commonly neglected, leading to claims due to accidental injuries, theft, fire and, most often, water damage. Frequent claims lead to higher premiums, so give yourself a break: Work out a home maintenance schedule that covers all the bases and put safety projects at the top of the list. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

The new family room is all done and furnished and looks terrrific. Bob talks with Sarah Monzon, the homeowner who also acted as the general contractor on the project, about the remodeling work done on the room. The room was a "cave" according to Monzon before the project was started. A pitted soapstone sink was previously used as a laundry and had become an eyesore. The room was also cluttered with accumulated junk. Because of the shortage of space in the house, the family decided to finish the basement to add to the living space of the home. Monzon acted as the general contractor for the project because there wasn't money budgeted for the expense, which was not necessarily an experience she would choose to repeat. The local inspectional services department provided a large amount of information for the novice general contractor. It is imperative before homeowners do any work on their home that they obtain the necessary permits and find out what is safe and what is not. If homeowners do work on their homes without a permit and anything goes wrong, insurance will not cover the damage. Before any work was done on the house, the basement floors were concrete and heating ducts crisscrossed the ceiling. There was flooding damage in the basement during the past fall which needed to be corrected and prevented in the future. Basement Systems was called in to install a perimeter drain and drainage system. A lot of existing plumbing was then moved from the ceiling to make more headspace and a new HVAC system was installed to move the heating ducts. The new central air system complete with an air filter made the house much more livable. In one of the smaller spaces in the basement, a new bathroom was installed with the help of technology from Saniflo. Owens Corning Basement Finishing Systems was then called in to install new finished walls. Many of the mechanical devices in the basement are now hidden behind the walls but are still accessible as the walls can be easily removed. A new entertainment center was then installed in the finished basement featuring a S1 Digital Media Center. The media center allows the homeowner to browse digital pictures taken using the family's digital camera or to set the image as wallpaper for the screen. Television shows can be watched or recorded using a schedule guide. The media center also can store home videos, movies, and music. New reclining chairs from Bell'O were put in the entertainment room. When laying protection from flood damage in a basement, it is important to elevate wood from the concrete floor. Instead of using a plywood underlayment, a plastic tile system was used which interlocks and can be screwed down onto the concrete. Plastic webbing underneath the tiles diverts any water which may come up through the concrete or spill in the basement to the perimeter drain. Slide-Lok cabinets were put in the basement to increase storage space. The Slide-Lok wall system was put in place to hang tools in the workspace. The husband of the family is a musician and uses much of the storage space to hold his instruments. Because the room can double as rehearsal space, two and a half inches of fiberglass are in the walls to reduce sound transmission to the outside. The basement has a small office space for the husband as well. Accents throughout the space correlate with other things in the room. The lampshades on the desk have a design which relates to the flooring product. The floor does not have a wall-to-wall carpet although it looks as if it does. The floor is from Binvetec and features tiles of carpet which stick to the floor. The product has interlocking patterns which can easily be layed down. Bean bags from Sumo were put in the room for lounging in and the kids love to play on them. A stairwell fishtank from AquaVista is only four inches deep.

Bob meets with Pat Fricchione and Dave Boniello from Simplex Industries to observe the delivery of the modular home pieces to the home site. The 15 ton pieces are craned directly from a truck bed onto the Superior Wall�s Insulated Concrete Form basement foundation. Prior to delivery Simplex Industries scouts the route from the plant to the home site to insure the fifteen plus foot wide sections can be trucked safely down the road. Simplex must also obtain permits or permission from every state they traverse; this insures they are in compliance with department of transportation regulations. On site a team of skilled workmen secure heavy-duty cables to pick-up points on each section to maintain a uniform weight distribution and prevent the twisting or bending of the home�s frame.

Bob and developer John Druley walk through a home under construction by Qualker Homes in Falmouth, Massachusetts. This standard design is used for both the market-priced and affordable homes. The overall dimensions of the house are 26 feet by 36 feet. A center-door entry leads to 13-by-18-foot living room on one side and a 16-by-13-foot master bedroom on the other. The back of the house has a 13-by-18-foot kitchen with a back door and a window onto the backyard, a half-bath and laundry, and an entry to the master bedroom with full bath, tub-shower combination, double-bowl sink, and linen closet. The upstairs has two bedrooms with operable skylights and a full bath. This three-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath Cape will be lotteried as an affordable home to eligible families who make between $29,000 and $65,000 per year, and who qualify for a traditional mortgage. The home is stick-built with traditional 2X4 framing, oriented strand board (OSB) exterior sheathing, low-e glass, tilt-in vinyl windows, and gas heat. Bob and Druley point out that an affordable home must be affordable to operate and heat as well as being affordable to purchase.

…States, specializing in hardwood flooring. We have one of the largest…
…finished and unfinished hardwood flooring in the industry. From…
… Related Articles Hardwood Flooring Installation Basics…

…flooring matches perfectly the leather furniture in this living room. Bellawood offers over 120 wood flooring varieties, including…
…Flooring Installation Season 14 Related Articles Hardwood Flooring Installation Basics Article Securing Wood Floors…

Hardwood floors work anywhere in the home. In areas where they may see water and spills, regular maintenance will keep them looking like new for years. Hardwood floors can be installed above or below grade, on concrete slabs, over plywood subfloors, or over existing wood floors.

… 24 percent of Baby Boomers anticipate that their…
… 8 percent of Baby Boomers would charge their…
…who specializes in hardwood flooring installations, who…
…space such as a formal living room that is never used…

…Inc. divides the living room and bedroom without…
…at more than 2,300 square feet. But there is a growing…
…households, retiring Baby Boomers not wanting excess room…
…cottages, each about 500 square feet, into a successful…

…farmer's porch gets a nice touch: a ceiling put together of v-groove pine, and the hardwood flooring from the kitchen is recycled in the living room. Bob takes a trip to the inner city to visit an exciting new kind of urban renewal project…