Get Started in March, Sell in June

Staging a home for sale can be a complicated process.  Since June is the peak month for home sales (both the weather and the typical schedule of employment make it a desirable time to buy, sell, and move), it is a good idea to start getting ready in early March.  That way, you can move through all the steps necessary to get your home ready in a leisurely manner, and be ready to hit the market with a bang come the hot season.

In March:
1. Take a thorough, searching inventory of your home, listing all of the ways it could be improved, and how much they are likely to cost versus how much they are likely to gain you in your sales price.  Now is a good time to enlist a real estate agent or other consultant to help you with this process.  You want to take note of anything that is:
– noticeably damaged (chipping or peeling paint, substrate damage, water damage, broken or run-down appliances, chipping tile or flagstone)
– noticeably stained, dirty, or run-down (impurity leaching, paint stained with grease or smoke, old and faded paint or stain)
– idiosyncratic, not universally appealing (strange color combinations)
Remember, when you sell a house, you want it to look strong, clean, and impersonal.  That means that the bright mauve and blue that you have always loved in the downstairs bathroom, even though it is in decent shape, might be something you want to consider changing before you offer your home on the market, because unusual decorating schemes can make it hard for other people to picture themselves in your home.

2. Make a plan. Come up with a schedule of the work you want to have done.  Don’t forget that de-cluttering your personal items, landscaping, and thorough cleaning are essential steps in the process, in addition to any painting, refinishing, and remodeling.

3. Schedule the work.  It is good to hire your contractor as soon as possible, so that you can ensure your project fits amongst their busy spring schedule.

In April:
1. De – clutter.  Take the time to get all of your personal objects organized and managed so that it is convenient to work in your home, and so that when the time comes you can present a decluttered open house.  Clutter is one of the biggest deterrents to a home being successfully sold.

2. Get all intensive work done.  Anything that involves reframing, replacing fixtures, plumbing, drywall replacement, etc., should begin in April.

In May:
1. Get the repainting done.  You want to get it done before any furniture is put back or fixtures returned to their original locations, if you have had them moved for any reason.

2. Tend to your landscaping.  Landscaping, as well as exterior painting, greatly enhances curb appeal.  Nw is the time to make sure that your landscaping makes your home shine!  Ask your realtor for simple tips that make a huge difference.

3. Decoration!  Once the paint dries, it is time to focus on gently decorating your interior and exterior to make it universally appealing.  Remember, you are trying to appeal to the widest collection of people, not specifically to yourself.

In June:

Hit the market!  Now you’re ready!

Liberate your Arlington, VA condo with Outside-the-Box Interior Design

A homeowner out in the suburbs, or a farmer with a cute farmhouse in the hills, has a lot of options when it comes to remodeling.  You can bash a wall out and put up an addition.  You can raise the roof, finish the basement, add or cover windows.  You can change your roof shingles and siding, you can put up a deck, you can landscape.  All of these changes will transform the mood and the practical potential of your living space.

In Northern Virginia, however, a lot of us live in condominiums.  Arlington County hosts some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the entire country, and the region’s popularity might account for its being voted by October 2008’s Business Week as the ‘Safest City to Weather a Recession’.  However, at the current population density of Virginia’s smallest county, many of its citizens don’t have the luxury of a whole lot of extra space, and are proud to secure themselves a simple high-rise condominium.  Neighborhoods like Rosslyn, Crystal City, Ballston, Courthouse, and Clarendon all contain a significant population dwelling in condos.  There are a lot of perks to urban condo living; convenience, liberation from driving, utility efficiency, groundskeeping – but if there is something about your space that you don’t find satisfying, it is a whole lot harder to change it when you are confined to a small, box-shaped indoor area.

Fortunately, both architects and interior designers have expended years of creativity and expertise to address that very problem: how to make the most out of small spaces?  The clever little cubicles spread throughout the IKEA showrooms provide an example of the public’s need for small space solutions.  Owning a condo, while it isn’t the same as owning a single-family home complete with deck, driveway, and backyard, should still empower the homeowner to make the changes necessary to make a condo into a dream home.

The first step to creative condo remodeling is to clear your mind about what is actually there (square living room, narrow hallway, two boxy bedrooms), and sit down and think about what you want.  Big, luxurious bathroom?  Earthy hunting cabin?  Airy, upscale balcony with a view and a cocktail bar?  Good!  No matter how ridiculous you think it might seem given the spatial reality of your Northern Virginia condo, it is very important to know what you want.

Next, you need to consider your long-term plans.  Is this condo going to be your home, or is it more like a way station, an investment you made in the (hopefully improving) DC real estate market?  If you intend your condo for resale in the near future, your design goals will be different than they would be for your long-term home.  When condos are sold, they need to be staged in a certain way to make them appeal to the widest possible audience.  Decorating a home for staging requires creating an ambience that is as impersonal as possible, so that potential buyers see themselves living there, not you.  If you would like to come up with a design scheme that maximizes both your enjoyment of the space and its resale value, jot down both what you would like and what you think would create the widest possible appeal, and see if you can come up with a happy medium.

Finally, you need to come up with a design plan.  There are two levels of remodeling that you can undertake in the process of transforming your space.  The first is architectural.  It may seem like a condo’s layout just is the way it is, but in most buildings you can actually alter the interior plan of the condo, changing the position of walls, doors, and sometimes even windows!  If you want that great big bathroom, for example, you can take out part of the bedroom or walk-in closet adjacent and donate that square footage to the cause.

However, due to the limited area, every choice you make will inevitably involve sacrificing something else.  This is where interior design comes in.  With interior design, you can use clever techniques to create the feeling  of what you want, without dramatically altering the floor plan.

Color, for example, can be used to contour a space, making it feel larger or smaller as the case may be.  Put light colors in places you want to look bigger, and dark colors in places you want to stand out.  If you want more light, consider lighting and mirrors, as an alternative to windows.  If you want a hunting lodge, make a faux fireplace out of brick veneer with a little inset gas fire (these come in all sizes), mount a sturdy shelf over it, throw a bearskin on the floor, a gun on the shelf, and mount your favorite buck overtop.  If you want a chic, upscale look, consider hip color combinations: gray, pale blue, bright orange, and chrome accessories, and maximize whatever balcony you do have.

Living in Northern Virginia is exciting and fulfilling, but living in a condo can bring about its own unique challenges.  Be proactive in creating an interior that you really love.  Blue Door Painters is here to help.

 

Sometimes, extreme conservatism can turn into daring.

As a general rule of thumb for design, the more colors you use in a decoration scheme, the bolder or “louder” that design becomes.  And the bolder it gets, the more clever you need to be to keep all the wild colors you choose from clashing with each other.  Also, the more “personal” the scheme becomes – meaning that its effect is unique, impressive, and creative, but may appeal to a smaller set of viewers than a more conservative collection of colors (for this reason, bold color schemes are not usually recommended for staging houses).  For those who want to take the easy road with their design scheme, however, fewer – and more neutral – colors are what the doctor usually orders.

Usually.  True monotonal color schemes are the exception that proves the rule.  A “monotonal” color scheme is one in which only one color is used.  Literally, only one color.  For interiors, that would be the same color for the walls, ceilings, furniture, rug, flooring material, etc.  For exteriors, that would be the same color for the siding, brick, doors, window trim, chimneys, etc.  And where the use of just a few neutral colors with little variation around the color wheel can create a mellow, conservative composition, the use of literally one shade of one color on everything looks daring and wild – and most of the time, rather overwhelming.

That’s because you will almost never find a scene in nature composed of only one color.  When you look closely at a stream bed full of seemingly “gray” pebbles, you’ll find that upon closer inspection, the rocks are a veritable crayon box of different hues; lights and darks, reds and blues, stripes and speckles.  To come upon a scene where there is only one color, no matter how closely you inspect the details, is to come upon a scene that shows off humanity’s control over our environment in a rather startling manner.

Such aggressive monotonality has been a hallmark of certain edgy modern styles.  An all-white living room or an all-red dining room creates a living space that really attracts a lot of notice, and garners a certain amount of respect in some social circles for the bold statement that it makes.  With only one color, the variety of textures and light sources in a space get thrown into high relief, creating a fascinating visual effect.  In some cases, a monotonal color scheme can be made even more vivid by breaking the strict adherence to one color only by adding a bright, splashy accent color.

However, for many of us, a monotonal color scheme does not provide for a very relaxing living space.  The same field of uniform color that is exciting and edgy in a club or restaurant can quickly become grating and irritating when you have to look at it day in and day out.  When you start at the far edge of uniformity, allowing some variety into your color scheme will actually make it more relaxing, less conspicuous, and more conservative.  Taking that first step into variety brings you out of the monotonal color scheme and into the monochromatic scheme, which we will discuss in our next installment in this series.  Stay tuned . . .

 

 

 

Most homeowners think about cleaning their gutters primarily in the fall.  While it certainly makes sense to focus on the fallen leaves and other debris that collect around that time of year, gutters can also use a little TLC in the Spring.  Whatever you didn’t get back in the fall, combined with the runoff from snowstorms and other winter weather events, has created a nice little bed of loam nestled inside your gutter.  As the early spring seeds start to fall, small plants will start to grow in your gutters, creating a little jungle right along the edge of your roof.  While the effect can be kind of charming, the roots from these plants are reaching into cracks in your gutters and roofing, getting ready to erode the metal and loosen shingles, weakening your roof’s drainage system just before it has to hold up to the brunt of the spring rains.

Cleaning gutters isn’t difficult, but it can be tedious and, since ladders are involved, slightly dangerous.  Blue Door Painters can be hired for gutter cleaning if you decide that the task isn’t something you want to bother with, or you can follow our simple tips for safe, effective care and maintenance of these vulnerable areas.

– Only reach as far as you can without tipping your ladder.  Climb all the way down and move your ladder between each section of roof, so that you are not straining; unbalancing the ladder dangerous.

– Wear gloves at all times.  Mold, mildew, and bacteria (not to mention mosquitos and other insects) can easily breed in the perpetually moist environment of a clogged gutter.  Keeping your hands protected will make you both safer and more efficient.

– Bring any tools you might want on a hook on your belt.  While on a ladder, it is good to keep your hands free.  So if there are any small tools you might want to use (like a scoop, or even a bag to put the muck in), bring them attached to you belt, so you can use both hands while going up and down the ladder

– Consider using power tools.  While you have to use extra care in high spaces, tools like a power blower or pressure washer can make the job go much more quickly.

– Clean your gutters before getting other work done.  If you are repainting, staining, or doing any other work on the exterior of your home near or below the roof, it is a good idea to get your gutters cleaned as part of the preparation process.  That way, nothing will leach out of the gutters to impact your new paint job, and you will not have to worry about paint failure due to improper drainage during the wet spring months.

Outdoor Building Materials and How To Coat Them (Part Two)
Blue Door Painters, DC area coatings contractor, discusses the nature of various outdoor building materials – and the coatings that protect them.

My Deck is Made of . . .

. . . Cedar or Redwood
Is your deck naturally a warm, rich, reddish color?  If so, it probably cost more to build than its green-blonde pressure-treated cousins – and it was probably worth it.  Unlike the dry-climate conifers used in SPF and pressure-treated lumber, cedar – specifically, Western Redcedar – and redwood both come from trees grown in damp climates, which have developed natural moisture and rot-resistance.  The heartwood of red cedar, for example (which is the part of the tree that has that beautiful reddish color), is infused with thujaplicin, a combination of related chemicals that have powerful anti fungal and antibacterial properties.  Redwoods offer similar protection.

However, if your deck, fence, or siding is built from cedar or redwood, you need to make sure that it is constructed primarily – if not solely – out of heartwood.  Heartwood is the wood located at the center of the tree, which is not actively engaged in nutrient cycling and metabolism.  The active outer wood, called sapwood, has not developed rot-resistance because it is still protected by the tree’s living defenses.  The larger the tree, the higher the percentage of heartwood – but with old growth forests dwindling and an increasing need to protect these resources, more and more cedar and redwood is harvested from newer growth tree farms.  The percentage of heartwood coming from these younger trees is much lower, leading to wood that has neither the color nor the rot protection that has come to be associated with redwood and cedar.

If your exterior cedar or redwood is largely sapwood, it should be treated with the same care and attention given to SPF or other vulnerable types of wood: either stained and coated with a strong water-repellant sealant, and re-coated regularly, or primed and painted with a solid stain or appropriate wood-protecting exterior paint.  If the wood project is heartwood, then it ought to be regularly stained and treated with water-repellant sealant to ensure that it retains its beautiful warm red tones (which will bleach out without re-staining), and that moisture does not warp or crack the boards.

. . . Composite Wood?
With all of the care and maintenance required for a natural wood deck or fence, the call has gone out to the innovative: can we manufacture a better alternative?  The best answer on the market to date is composite wood.  Created from a mixture of recycled plastic and wood chips or sawdust, composite wood is crafted to look like wood, but to share none of wood’s vulnerabilities.  The plastic in the mixture protects the wood from rot and moisture-induced warping, and because the wood is factory-uniform, its performance is more reliable.  Composite wood is easy to clean, and does not require the same degree of protection as its natural counterparts.  For many, the benefits of composite wood outweigh the extra cost, artificial look, and colder feel of the material.

However, despite being heralded upon its arrival on the market as a “zero-maintenance material”, composite wood is still vulnerable to both mildew and color change if not properly protected.  Due to its density, composite wood projects often develop small, tightly clustered pinpricks of mildew, and the color of the wood pulp included in the mixture will change in the elements just like any other type of wood.  To ward off mildew, the use of a special composite deck sealer is recommended, in conjunction with periodic cleaning with a combination of bleach and water (pressure-washing with a composite wood mildew removing detergent is an ideal method of cleaning).  And staining the deck every five years or so can correct the color change; just make sure you use a stain that is intended for use with composite wood products.

In conclusion, all wood-based outdoor building materials require some TLC, and applying the right coatings at the right time is a critical element of that care.  Being in the know about your deck, fence, or siding, and its specific strengths and vulnerabilities, is the best way to maximize your relationship with your outdoor space.

Outdoor Building Materials and How To Coat Them (Part One)
Blue Door Painters, DC area coatings contractor, discusses the nature of various outdoor building materials – and the coatings that protect them.

My Deck is Made of . . .

. . . “SPF”
Hopefully not.  In the lumber world, ‘SPF’ does not refer to sunscreen: it is an acronym for ‘Spruce-Pine-Fir’, three kinds of lumber used interchangeably by builders for a variety of purposes.  Depending on your region, the exact species of SPF wood will vary (Red Spruce, Jack Pine, and Balsam Fir typical in the west; White Spruce, Englemann Spruce, and Lodgepole Pine in the east, among many others), but all of them share similar characteristics that make them ideal for building.  They all come from softwood conifers that are cheap to grow and harvest, and the finished lumber is reliably strong and workable.

The problem is, this type of lumber is NOT suitable for exposure to the elements.  While buildings framed in SPF hold up perfectly well when the wood is protected by layers of insulation, siding, and drywall, exterior decks or fences constructed with SPF will rot at lightning speed.  The quick-growing SPF conifer species produce lumber with wide, hungry pores which suck in ambient moisture and invite all types of rot, against which the lumber, adapted to a dry climate, has no natural defenses.  Coating this kind of lumber, while it can buy you time, will not halt this deterioration completely.

So the best advice is, don’t build any outdoor construction out of SPF.  If it’s too late, and you already have an SPF deck or fence that you won’t or can’t replace, your only hope is to coat it very aggressively, and re-coat it frequently as part of your routine upkeep.  Consider using a few layers of stain followed by a fully waterproof clear-coat sealant, or select a hardy, weatherproof primer paint followed by a few layers of water-resistant topcoat.  Make sure that all six sides of the wood are coated.  The end grains, where all of the pores are cross-cut and exposed, are the most vulnerable, and it is well worth giving them a few extra layers if you want to hold your own in the battle against the elements.

. . . Pressure – Treated (PT) Lumber
If your deck is made of pressure-treated lumber, then you are in good company; pressure-treated wood has been one of the most popular outdoor building materials since the development of pressure-treatment in the 1940s.  Frustrated with the vulnerability of the otherwise-convenient softwood lumber, Dr. Karl Wolman invented a procedure that drove artificial preservatives – antimicrobial and anti fungal chemicals – deep into the pores of the wood, so that moisture-borne rot could not easily take hold.  The variety of softwood used for pressure treatment varies by your region – Southern Yellow Pine is the most common species used in the Washington, DC area – and the specific chemicals used to protect the wood varies based largely on when your deck was built.  Until 2003, most companies used chromated copper arsenate to pressure-treat their wood, since it was (and remains) the most effective preservative available on the market.  However, CCA’s toxicity to microbes and fungus extends to animals and children, and over the years a great deal of concern was raised over the long-term health effects of exposure to wood treated with CCA.  The chemical has now been discontinued for use with residential lumber, and modern pressure-treated lumber is infused with alternative, less toxic chemicals.

Coating a pressure-treated deck or fence is of the utmost importance, both to extend the life of the wood and to protect against exposure to the preservatives.  If you have an older deck, the EPA recommends applying a penetrating oil-based finish to block human exposure to CCA.  Many companies offer clear preservative coatings that are intended for use on fresh pressure-treated wood; these sealants should be used immediately to guarantee ideal protection.  However, it is essential that you find a product intended for use on fresh pressure-treated wood, and you wait one to two months before applying any further paint or staining.  The reason is that fresh pressure-treated wood has moisture in it from the PT process that takes a while to dry out, and if you coat it while your project is still wet, both the coating and quite possibly the wood itself will be destroyed.  Once you have sealed your fresh PT project and given it adequate time to dry, staining or painting your wood with products intended for use with PT wood will give it the extra protection needed to ensure true longevity.

Stay tuned for the skinny on Redcedar, Redwood, and Composite Decking.

Many things about the winter actually protect your deck from the kind of beating it gets in the summer.  There isn’t the same exposure to the beating sun (in fact, when it snows the deck actually gets a welcome break from the sun altogether), and there isn’t as much human traffic on the deck, which is another leading cause of wear.  Your deck gets to lie dormant for a season, just like the deciduous trees who lose their leaves – a welcome break.  But what does get to your deck in the winter is that very dormancy.  Planters, lawn furniture, grills – they all sit out there unmoving all season long, as the snow and rain comes and goes, creating stains on the deck’s surface.  The extreme cold temperatures, combined with the moisture of snowmelt, can also cause warping or splintering in an unsealed deck, due to the freeze/thaw cycle.

When the earth turns and it starts to get warm, you may start getting the urge to spend time on your deck again.  You might want to pull the tarp off the grill and brush the gunk out of the corners of your deck furniture, and rearrange the planters (and maybe have peek at what’s inside them, now that landscaping season has begun anew).  You also might want to consider pressure-washing your deck, and possibly even re-staining and sealing it in anticipation of spring rains and summer sun.

The difference in a deck before and after a pressure-washing job is vivid.  Unlike any other method of deck cleaning, pressure-washing actually penetrates into the outer layers of the decking, removing contaminants that have entered the wood’s pores.  Since wood is a porous, absorbent substance, cleaning methods that only reach the surface are not going to reach most of the contaminants accumulated over the winter, and are therefore not going to successfully make the deck look cleaner.  A pressure-washer (also known as a power-washer) uses water, and sometimes also a light detergent, forced out of a narrow nozzle at high pressure to penetrate deeply into the wood’s pores.  The mechanical force of the pressure digs into the wood, removing anything lodged there, and the continuous spray of water washes it harmlessly away.  Most pressure washers have adjustable nozzles that allow you to vary both the pressure and the volume of water, so that you can maximize the effect of your power-washer.

Power-washing your deck for the spring is a good way to make it an enticing place to hang out.  You can hire a service like Blue Door Painters to come take care of it for you, or do it yourself, renting a power-washer from a local hardware store or Home Depot.  Once your deck is clean, you might also want to consider staining and sealing it in anticipation of the spring and summer.  Staining and sealing protects the wood of your deck from sun, rain, and even the scuffing of human traffic – all of which, now that you have made it such a great place to hang out, it can expect to look forward to in the coming warm months.  It can also make your deck glow, extending that good-as-new look you get right after your deck is pressure-washed.  A good deck is a strong asset to any exterior; make sure to give yours the love and TLC that it truly deserves.

 

Spring is just around the corner, and you could not be more ready.  You know that the day is approaching (if it hasn’t already come) when you will walk out your door and be greeted by the sight of little purple crocuses peeking up from under the frost.  When that day comes, it is time to contemplate opening your doors and getting ready for the great cleaning and airing out that always comes with the warming of the seasons.  It is also the time to start thinking seriously about redecorating, since with the onset of the warm weather the procedures of redecorating will become more convenient.  It is good to plan your projects early, since you won’t be alone in bringing your focus toward home improvement – as an experienced painting and refinishing contractor in the Washington, DC area, take it from us that spring is a popular season for redecorating.  Here are five tips for how you can get ready for the great spring rush on redecorating.

1. Plan your project early. Late February is the perfect time to get a contract, because you get your project in just before the Spring rush.  If you start early in picking your colors and deciding what kind of paint you want, then you can make the execution of your project maximally efficient.

2. Get rid of clutter in the areas that you want to improve.  If you have been putting off a trip to the dump or recycling facility, now is the time to make that happen.  A cluttered home is hard to work with, both in terms of visioning what you might want for the space, and in terms of actually executing any work you might want to get done.  This goes for exterior projects as well; while it may be too cold to paint for another few weeks, if you get rid of your unwanted junk now, you can focus on the next steps of the project the second the weather allows.

3. Do a self-inspection.  Go through your home, interior and exterior, and search for signs of any paint or other coating failure.  Cracked and peeling paint, mold and mildew, water damage, chalking or impurity leaching, damage to the substrate; make a full list of all the blows your home has taken over the course of the difficult winter, so that you have a comprehensive picture of the work you want done when it come stime to engage a contractor.

4. Envision a Creative Exterior.  Spring is an inspiring time for decoration, since the natural world is becoming more full of light and colors.  Especially for exterior projects, it can be fun to plan landscaping and exterior redecorating projects so that they will come together to create an enchanting outdoor environment right around late April/early May, when you start to really start yearning for an outdoor cookout.  Just keep in mind that your outdoor landscaping will be more vulnerable while your exterior is being worked on, so you might want to consider planting after painting.

5. Watch the weather. While Spring is a warmer time of year than winter, it can also be a wetter time of year.  Water damage can affect both interiors and exteriors, as well as hampering the progress of exterior projects.  Scheduling your remodeling project early, before the rains set in in earnest, can be a good way to stop potential damage in its tracks – and it can also ensure that your work gets done during what can be an extremely volatile season.

Winter storms can be absolutely beautiful.  Overnight, your neighborhood is transformed from a mundane grid of streets lined with houses to an ethereal, inhuman landscape of delicate white and silver.  All the children are outside laughing, and you see more of your neighbors than at any other time (except for maybe the beginning of Spring barbecue season!), as they emerge from their homes to inspect the drifts in their driveways and icicles hanging down off the power lines.

Unfortunately, winter storms can also be one of life’s greatest hassles.  Because at some point, as much as you might want to prolong the moments where you get to play in the snow and sit by the fire drinking cocoa, your regular life’s responsibilities demand you return your attention to them.  Groceries need to be purchased, you need to get back to work, the kids need to be reminded that they need to get their project done because school won’t be closed forever.  And when you do start plugging back in, the snow that initially protected you from having to deal with life’s responsibilities now becomes an extremely tedious obstacle that makes all of those responsibilities infinitely more complicated.

So it’s a good idea to have a plan for dealing with large volumes of snow in place before that snow actually hits.  Thinking about all of the things you’re going to need, and how you plan to get them if the roads are blocked and the power goes out, makes the transition from winter wonderland to real life go much more smoothly.

Blue Door Painters Suggestions for a Winter Weather Plan:

1. Decide where you are going to leave your car, and park it there before the storm hits. Leaving your car on the side of the road makes it harder for the snowplows to get through, and it also makes it so that your car gets buried under a tough, compressed wall of plowed snow.  Park your car in a driveway if you have one, or up on the sidewalk.  If you’re particularly clever, you’ll find a place to park your car on a more major road that is within walking distance of your house, because that road will probably get plowed before yours will.

2. Pick your route through your yard, and prepare to keep it cleared.  Outdoor landscaping features, like decks and patios, should suffer no harm from being covered with snow – but it is important to have a safe, clear route from your door to your sidewalk, and to keep that route clear.  Once you decide on your route, shovel it (and your sidewalk!) regularly as the snow is falling, and treat it with environmentally friendly ice-melting chemicals so that your shoveling job never gets too burdensome, and your route isn’t too slippery.

3. Hire a snow removal company.  Blue Door Painters, as well as many other snow removal companies in the Washington, DC area, can offer you a contract at the beginning of the winter to come by your house and shovel you out whenever there is a major storm.  The benefit of contracting at the beginning of the winter is that you don’t have to wait until a storm actually hits – when your phones might be down, and you without power – to call somebody up.

4. Get your interior ready.  If you lose power, how are you going to stay warm?  How are you going to see at night?  How are you going to communicate with the outside world?  For warmth, whether your solution is a fireplace, a generator, or a whole bunch of blankets, you want to make sure that you are stocked, and you know where everything is, before the storm hits.  For light, you want to make sure that your flashlights have fresh batteries and are handy, and that you know where your candles and lanterns are, so you aren’t fumbling for them in the dark.  And for communication, you should make sure your mobile devices are fully charged before the storm hits, and keep them off when not in use so that you can keep the charge.  It is also sensible to fill your car(s) with gas prior to a storm hitting, as cars can be used both for heat (though make sure the exhaust pipe is clear of snow!) and for power (if you have a car charger), provided they are full of gas.  Finally, hit the grocery store before the crowds do, and focus on things you can make even if the power goes out and you lose the use of your microwave.

5.  Communicate your plans. You want to tell anyone who matters what you plan to do if you’re snowed in; your boss, your lunch date, etc., so that you don’t have to spend a lot of time scrambling around to reach them if the power goes out and correspondence becomes difficult.

Discussion of the Myths and Facts about the Lead Scare from a Washington, DC area contractor

With the warm season fully underway, it is time to seriously consider that remodeling project you have been putting off for the past ten years.  Whether it is a new addition, or simply the revival of an old wing of the house that has begun to deteriorate due to long exposure to moisture and mildew, remodeling is an excellent way to make an old home feel new again.  Of course, remodeling poses challenges, from the stress it puts on your wallet to the compromises you will have to make with your time and space while it is underway.  With all the stress involved, nobody wants the added concern of safety on the table, but remodeling carries some inherent risks that do need to be addressed. Luckily, ensuring the safety of a remodeling project is a relatively straightforward process, if a few key concerns are taken care of.

First, it is important to be aware of all the potential environmental contaminants.  Remodeling disturbs your building’s homeostasis, pulling all the skeletons out of the closet, if you will, of your home’s construction past.  And one of the big boogeymen lurking in the closets of most homes is lead paint.

Lead is a heavy metal that occurs naturally as an ore in the earth’s crust.  In its ore form, it is inert and self-contained, staying out of the air, water, and soil that surround it.  Lead has many useful chemical properties due to the way it reacts (or fails to react) with other substances.  However, since lead never naturally enters the environment, our bodies have evolved no way to process it.  It readily absorbs into our bloodstream, but our bodies can neither use it, nor recognize it as an intruder, similar as it is to other heavy metals that our body finds useful.  Upon exposure to lead, our bodies start to build up internal deposits of the substance, interfering with normal bodily functioning and causing problems ranging from digestive problems to nervous disorders.

If your house was built before 1978, chances are that it is filled with lead.  Lead was a very popular component of paint until the EPA banned the use of lead paint in homes in 1978.  Lead made an extremely powerful pigment, and also contributed features of added stability and durability to the coating mixture.  When the EPA banned its use, paint manufacturers had to struggle to come up with the technology to replace it.  On account of lead’s popularity, most homes built before 1978 contain at least one layer of lead paint.

Luckily, like lead ore in the earth, lead paint cannot harm anyone while it is solidly adhered to the walls or ceiling of a home.  It is only when the paint system starts to fail, leading to the paint chipping or flaking – or when the paint system is disrupted by the procedures of remodeling – that the lead enters the environment in a manner that can become dangerous.  Lead paint chips that are ingested, or lead paint dust that is inhaled, brings lead into the body and renders a person vulnerable to poisoning.

Protecting against lead involves a simple two-step process: first identification, and second, containment.  In the first step, the lead paint risk is assessed based on the age of the building and the presence of lead revealed by some simple chemical tests.  In the second step, plastic draperies, special equipment, and extra procedural precautions are taken to contain all lead residue released by the remodeling process.

While you can do lead-safe remodeling yourself, your best bet is to engage the help of an EPA-certified lead-safe contractor.  Blue Door Painters estimators are certified both to perform basic tests to detect the presence of lead, and to execute lead safe renovation procedures if a threat is detected.