makemagazine asked:
The simple process of vibrating a dish of liquid can make for some pretty interesting results – mixing in a bit of cornstarch can be downright freaky. additional infos here: blog.makezine.com audio, video, music & blobs by Collin Cunningham
David Patullo asked:
Are you looking for household tools such as lock and keys, electrical supply or cleaning products? You definitely have to go to a home improvement store. The usual concept for these stores revolves around access to everything that is needed under one roof. Large varieties of products are available in a home improvement store. The usual products here are appliances such as refrigerators and TV, building supplies, doors, flooring, heating and cooling devices plumbing storage and organization tools and windows. They also sell hardware supplies which include hand tools, paint, lawn and garden products; plumbing supplies, house wares and a whole lot more. A home improvement store usually has special departments that include products of a customer’s interest such as fishing tools and supplies, hunting supplies, plant and nursery products, farm and ranch supplies including animal food and pet food and supplies.
These departments sometimes also have swimming pool chemicals, home brewing supplies and canning supplies. The stores can often cater for renovations and improvements through supplying everything you need for home repair and maintenance tools such as hardware tools, electrical supplies and structural materials. The biggest customers of a home improvement store are the Do-It-Yourself buyers. DIY is like building or repairing something, that is, without the help of professionals or experts. DIY has been a great hit with home improvement stores in the past years but has been declining because people now tend to look for someone who can do that for them instead.
Home improvement stores are very common in the United States. In fact, a chain of home improvement stores have been around for a while now. There are four leading suppliers to home improvement stores in the US. These are, Do It Best Corp. which is located at Fort Wayne, Indiana; True Value Company from Chicago Illinois. And the last one is Orgill which is a traditional wholesale organization. Furthermore, there are still a lot of home improvement stores that are still thriving to survive the industry. These numbers however, shows a decline compared to the past. Though it is tough to compete with large chain stores, there are still home improvement stores that are still opening all the time. Moreover, chain stores have continued their expansion. Which drove the growth in market sales.
According to research, sales have been excellent from the previous years up to the present. Though the sales growth had been slowed down because of the global financial crisis, it is not considered as a decline. Companies expect to be back on track soon because the recession is almost over and done with. The industry has big competitors, wherein each and every one of them has big shares of the market. Moreover, it is considered more of a movement than a retail sector. To avoid decline in sales, companies have taken and considered some ways to generate sales. Some stores nowadays allow contractors to rent equipments, tools and delivery trucks. The steps prove to be effective as there had been an increase in sales in the industry.
ashley@shsu asked:
My wedding is coming up in a few months and I am searching for some creative favors for a January 1st wedding. I already have ordered some personalized matches but am having trouble with what else to get. Everything seems to be really expensive even in bulk. Does anybody know any other ideas that are not too expensive? Also, what are some unique diy wedding favors? I am thinking about making some soap, but not really sure.
GREENPOWERSCIENCE asked:
www.greenpowerscience.com This is the basics of tabbing cells together. Tabbing solar cells with tab wire and a flux pen. Evergreen Solar Cells Sun Electronics residential solar panels SOLAR TRAINING SOLAR TEACHING
Rama Krishna asked: If you are planning for home repair and improvement, then you can use some of the unique tips that are so readily available on the internet these days. Home repair and improvement is never an easy task and so tips and ideas from trustworthy resources can help you a lot. These days, shows on home repairs and remodeling of exteriors and interiors have become quite a common place on television and radio. So, you can use some great ideas from these programs too.
A house has different parts and each part has its own importance. Therefore, there are different kinds of repair works for each of these parts and spaces.
Interior improvements can include repairing of the A/C, appliances, electrical and lighting, doors, stairs and floors, walls and ceilings. The interiors comprise rooms, bathrooms and kitchen, plumbing and fixtures, painting, home technology, storage, d
Noah Campbell asked:
It’s about time you start doing a home improvement. But what does that really mean?
Home improvement simply means improving what is already found inside-and in recent cases also outside-your home. Home improvement doesn’t only mean repairing what is damaged; it also includes adding new things to your home.
Beautifying your walls is also a part. You may do so by adding wallpapers to it. Wallpaper is a decorative paper sold in rolls and placed on walls using wallpaper paste. It either comes with a printed design or a blank design, which you can paint on (if you prefer not painting on the wall itself). If you don’t want to buy rolls of wallpaper, you can just simply apply paint on the wall.
Adding carpets to floors also belongs to this category. Carpets are usually used to make the floor more attractive and more comfortable. If you find carpets expensive, you can also settle for floor mats or any other cheaper materials available in the market.
As stated before, fencing your home, adding decks and terraces, setting up a garden and adding extra facilities like swimming pools and outdoor grill-though done outside the house-are still counted as home improvement. They may be found outside the house, but they help improve the way your house feels and looks like.
Repairing broken things inside and outside your home are easily recognized as home improvement. There should also be one thing that you need to consider when doing repairs, and that is to make sure that maintenance is scheduled at either a weekly or monthly basis. Keeping a maintenance schedule saves you of the headache, time and money from doing constant repairs. And make sure as well that the repair done is of good quality.
Feeling like everything’s too tight inside the house? Then it’s time to add more space! Adding space is also part of home improvement, since it improves the way your belongings and other things inside the house are being arranged to make it more comfortable. You can add more space by converting previously unused rooms (like your underground basement or attic) as storage areas, bedrooms, or whatever it is that you have in mind.
Adding safety measures like burglar alarms, or installing energy saving means to cut down the monthly electricity bill expenses also belongs to this category. Installing safety devices improves the way your family can fight against thieves, while energy saving devices improves the way you handle your finances.
When talking about home improvement, perhaps the most important factor to be considered is how your experience living in the house will be improved. It may come with a price, but the results can be priceless.
Emerson Lockwood asked:
Home improvement projects can improve the look and value of your home dramatically. Though in some cases, using a home improvement project as a way to increase the value of your home can actually backfire and cost you money. So how will you be able to tell if the project that you have planned will add to the value of your home or decrease the value of your home?
The first thing that you need to know is the appraised value of your home. You must know the appraisal value, or estimated resale price, of your home before you can determine if a project will increase or decrease the value of your home. Although you may feel that your home is worth a certain amount of money, and that a home improvement will increase the value by X amount of dollars, your feelings will not set the final selling price, the appraisal will.
When completing a home improvement project that you believe will dramatically improve the resale value of your home, you need to consider your neighbors houses. If you have the nicest house in your neighborhood, but you are trying to sell it for twice as much as the appraisal value of other homes in the neighborhood, you will be disappointed.
A general guide is to not try to sell your home for more than 20% of what the surrounding homes will sell for. For simplicity, let us assume that the homes in your neighborhood are appraised at a value of $100,000. This would mean that you could expect to get about $120,000 out of your home if you make selective home improvements.
What this means for you as a homeowner is that you should seriously rethink any home improvement project that would cost more than $20,000 going by our above example. Using the above example, it is easy to see that a $30,000 home improvement project would cause you to lose money in the long run.
Now, if you can make a home improvement that costs very little, but results in a higher resale value, it may be a good idea to pursue that project. Going back to our example, if you can spend $5,000 on a project and this results in your home being appraised at $115,000, then it is a great investment idea.
You also want to consider the appeal that your home improvement project would have to a future owner. For example, swimming pools and hot tubs may be something that you enjoy, but would a potential buyer pay extra for those features? There are some fairly safe projects that you can pursue that other home buyers generally find valuable. Some of these include kitchen remodeling, adding or remodeling a bathroom, adding a new room, landscaping, etc.
Also keep in mind that maintenance projects do not usually result in an increased value for your home. Replacing a broken furnace or hot water heater usually will not improve the value of your home when selling it. These are considered maintenance issues that all homeowners expect the home to have working. Most people would not consider paying full price for a home that does not have these basic features in working order.
The bottom line is that if you are interested in increasing the resale value of your home you need to make smart decisions. Smart decisions on which home improvement projects to tackle can put extra money in your pocket when you sell your house.
hunainmadi asked:
how to make your own 16dbi WLAN antenna that is 6X more powerful than the standard.
July 18th, 2010 in
Tech | tags:
Diy,
Wlan Antenna |
55 Comments
ThreadBanger asked:
Are your white walls closing in on you? Are you moving into a dorm room or have a strict landlord or parental unit? No worries, we have no-nail and no-paint wall solutions for you in this episode. This week, we will make DIY wall decals that are easy, movable and stylish. With a full wall decal guide, and peeks into how other nesters DIY their wall decor.
David Patullo asked:
Once in a while, it becomes necessary to visit a home improvement store. Even the most beautiful wallpapers, in time, become old and faded. Then they become tedious to look at and instead of complementing the beauty of the room, they annoy everyone who comes into it. Likewise, rugs become thinned out by constant treading and by vacuum cleaning. The colors and the designs of floor tiles become rubbed out and the flooring itself may begin to crack and warp. The same maintenance measures are even more important for the garden. Grass grows fast. Trees get bigger every year and decorative plants need to be trimmed in their place in order to keep them in neat and beautiful shape.
Home improvement stores also provide means to doubly secure you against burglars and other intruders. Safety features may need to be built into portions of the house that pose a danger for the kids. Fire systems, anti-burglary devices, security locks, shelters and many other features are needed to make the home as safe a place to stay in as possible
Home improvement stores also allow us have a great deal of comfort in the home. That’s the reason why we need to have good heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, as the need may arise. The same goes for water-proofing the basement or installing sound-proofed walls to maintain the peacefulness for the people living in the house.
Additionally, besides refurbishment and comfort, we need to consider the repairs that need to be made in the house. Sometimes, additional structures are needed in order to add more space inside the home.
Before starting to do some home improvement project, it is advisable to consult with people who know. There are home improvement stores in your neighborhood or on the internet. These have customer support people who are ready to answer you questions and furnish solutions to your problems. In addition, these stores will usually be stocked with a complete line of anything you may need for home improvement.
Before you actually start looking in home improvement stores, it is good to know what you are looking for. There are online web stores that feature customer reviews for the products on their catalogues. If you browse through the customer reviews of a certain product, you need to keep in mind that bad reviews may not necessarily mean that the product is bad. They may simply mean that the quality control department of the manufacturer is not up to whatever they should be doing. The reason why you need to go through product reviews is to find out what you have to be careful about in buying a certain product and to get yourself familiar with the features of each product.
When and if you finally decide to buy, remember, you can start your purchase on the internet but it is always better to check out the real item in the live store before purchasing it. That way you don’t need to worry about replacement for a damaged or wrong-item delivery.
