Materials selection is very important to hardscape design. Different materials allude to different states of mind and contribute individual aesthetic elements unique unto themselves. The feeling we get from a brick walkway is not going to be the same as the feeling we get from a concrete sidewalk. Depending on the theme of both home architecture and the surrounding landscape, hardscape materials will ultimately be chosen that will unify the home with the landscape in such a fashion as to clearly establish a corresponding theme between the two. Wood may be chosen to create a simple, traditional sensibility in even the most meticulously constructed of outdoor rooms. Concrete patios may be built chosen to establish the stark contrasts that predominate contemporary design. Stone work ranging from cut stone to limestone and tile can be used to create any number of thematic connotations ranging from a formal Old World entryway to a wilderness façade around a natural swimming pool.

Drainage is another important aspect of all hardscape design projects. Any structure built in a front yard or back yard creates a potential dam for rainwater, so there must be a mechanism of some sort built into the design of the structure that will prevent it from encroaching on the structure or collecting at its base.
The design of the hardscape needs to accomplish this at a functional value and simultaneously uphold the aesthetic. This requires hiding drain inlets and building custom decorative drain grates that conceal their purpose behind the ornamental. In other cases, it may be necessary to pitch drains so that there are fewer drain inlets. In cases where it simply will not work to have any visible drain built into the hardscape itself, (such as we see in certain patios, walkways, and motor courts), then the structure must be designed with a very subtle slope that causes water to runoff without creating uneven paving in the process.

Hardscape design also includes seat walls, retaining wall, columns, and curbs. These structures are designed either as a component of irrigation systems, or as barriers against water encroachment from areas outside of the landscape proper. Again, constructing these elements must be done very skillfully with an eye for balance, integration, and harmony always trained on both the individual forms and the overall unity they create upon completion of the project. This is why hardscape design often proves to be the most expensive aspect of landscaping, which is one reason why it needs to be done correctly by professional, experienced landscaping architects or designers. Attempting to take any shortcuts in this area almost guarantees that the project will have to be done all over again. If done wrong, it will often be the next generation that fixes it.

Related posts:

1. French Landscape Design
2. Garden Paving Slabs; A Great Way To Hardscape Your Landscape
3. Using Patterned Concrete as a Design Element

Even if you will to do the task yourself, you still need to plan everything from day one. Careful planning results to a well-designed landscape that will surely bring pleasure to your family and will increase the value of your property. Remember: it isn’t just about placing trees and plants around your home. It is rather an art involving conscious organization of your outdoor space to make it not just pleasing to the eyes but a truly enjoyable place to stay in.

Set your goals

An American like you will surely spend big bucks for their home and building landscaping. To avoid putting much of that money to waste, you should set a goal and focus on realizing that. Also, you must understand not just how but why you landscape. Among the main goals of landscaping are:

• To develop and organize the area around your home for maximum use and human satisfaction

• To create a harmonious visual relationship between your house and the yard.

• To minimize landscape maintenance to a more practical level.

Create a Landscape Design

So you goal has been set. The next thing you must do is to create the landscape design you want for your yard. This process can be way too easy if you have landscaping software. Nevertheless, you can use a piece of paper and colored pencils to begin sketching and designing your landscape. Here’s how:

• Create a simple, scaled drawing of the site. Sketch its utilities, walks, and driveways and note where paved surfaces are. Then, point out the areas where flower beds, patios, vegetable garden and play areas will be situated.

• By drawing arrows, indicate sun angles as well as prevailing winds for winter and summer. Make sure to circle the place in your yard that need wind protection or shade.

• Highlight areas where landscaping height or width is restricted. Also, emphasize the place where drainage is poor and the areas with standing water. Note also the trees and shrubs already existing in your yard.

While sketching your landscape design, consider the needs and habits of your family. Make a design that best satisfies not just their needs but their hearts’ desire. Discuss with your family the things they want to incorporate and prioritize the most important aspects.

Survey available Materials

Once you’ve come up with a fascinating design, what you need to do next is to review the materials needed and find out how much the whole project will cost. List down the price of all the materials you need to complete the project. These include benches, plants, rocks, the bricks and many more. Also, include in your computation the labor cost. When you already know how much you need to spend for your home landscaping, you can now decide when to push through with the project.

Those are the basic steps involved in every landscaping planning. So if you want a home that’s beautiful in and out, give it a good interior design matched with an attractive landscape. And in every landscaping project bear in mind that proper planning is the key.

Related posts:

1. Planning Your Landscape
2. Front Yard Landscaping Lessons – the First Step
3. Paver Stone for Gorgeous Landscaping

They may be likely to have work done on their house in order to compete with everyone else trying to sell their house. Having work done on your house prior to putting it on the market used be thought of kind of as an investment that you would hope to recover some of the money, but now you need that new kitchen just to sell your house regardless.

If you are going to trust a general contractor and the crew needed install new cabinets for the kitchen or anything when you are not home, there are ways to investigate a person’s credibility by obtaining their court records. Even if you have the luxury to be present while the work is done, it’s a good idea to know as much as possible about any stranger in your home.

The Better Business Bureau May Not Have Records for Small Companies

In addition to looking them up with the Better Business Bureau, if you are dealing with a small company that may not have that much visibility, it may be necessary to have a background check of their financial records.

In fact, the BBB warns that right now central Kentucky travel workers offering to do things like driveway paving and concrete sealing at very low prices are in fact charging an arm and leg for unskilled work.

Fraudulent crime is on the rise in many cities across the county which is a product of the recession. Desperate times lead some to desperate measures that people would ordinarily have never considered.

Protect Your Home and Family from Untold Danger–3 Things to Avoid from Contractors

Pay attention to signs that the contractor you have chosen is on the up and up. There are some warning signs to look out for when choosing a contractor.

# 1  Avoid choosing a contractor that gives a hasty estimate
# 2  Avoid choosing a contractor that asks for upfront payment
# 3 Avoid choosing a contractor that will not present a written guarantee you have both agreed to

How to Find Municipal Court Records

To obtain a copy of criminal records personally, you can go to the municipal court house for your city or county. They should be able to pull up the information you are looking for.

You want to make sure you have as much personal information as possible about the individual before doing your search. It’s possible that the records you are looking for could be being held in judge’s chambers or elsewhere. This may take a few days, but as soon as the records are available to the municipal court, they will be at your disposal as well .

If you aren’t feeling up to the research it takes to pick up the records, try going online.  When you need the information right away, you can obtain the same information online using a reputable source. Learn how to find municipal records quickly and easily.  Either way, do your research before you sign the contract!

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2. Professional Paving Contractors Burnaby
3. How much is my house worth?

Aggregate rocks are used many ways, including in flowerbeds, as ground cover, and for paving walkways. This rock trim can be integrated as a decorative concrete topping, and are a designer’s best friend for versatility. It is a green, eco-friendly product that requires little care, and virtually no water or tedious maintenance. Using aggregate rock for landscaping is a cost effective alternative to wood mulching that requires care and replacement. Rock is permanent, and can be used above ground and around ponds with pond safe rock materials. Decorative aggregate rock is purchased in small quantities by the bag, or in bulk for large quantities.

With the many exciting choices of decorative aggregate rock on the market, landscapers can design whatever look they want, from desert to high-mountain, valley or riverbed. They can use the colorful materials to enhance natural surroundings, or create a “happy place” that is totally different from the local geography. In some areas that are very arid, green aggregate rock is used instead of hard to grow grass. There is less maintenance, and rocks do not die off in bad or dry weather. A commonly used decorative aggregate rock is the familiar white marble chips that people put next to their homes, along walkways, and in flowerbeds. Red or black lava rocks bring drama to the landscape, and river rock is used for driveways and paths.

Color is important to design, and rocks have all the colors of nature, from pink and gray, to gold and sand colors. Crushed river rock and oversize river rock find their way into yards and gardens in every locality. Sizes of aggregate rock vary from pea gravel to large rocks. The landscaper knows how to install the rock properly, so it will not wash out or become easily displaced.

The top ten decorative aggregate rock selections include: pink and gray slate, white marble, river rock, red and black lava, green, golden, and colored stones, river rock, sand pebble, Spanish tile, limestone chips, and granite. Add color, enhance design, and create a wonderland with affordable decorative aggregate rock.

When considering a landscaping project get ideas, talk to people with landscape experience and visit websites of local landscapers. This will help you learn what ideas are in your budget; remember to include monthly maintenance costs when creating your landscape. Aggregate rock is usually a very affordable way to decorate your landscape and keep monthly maintenance costs low. Also, the amount of labor needed to keep your rocks looking good is minimal on a monthly basis and there is no ‘out of season’ for rocks. That’s not to say rocks require zero maintenance, but by consulting with someone with experience you can learn which rocks will fill your needs.

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1. Decorative Aggregates for Gardens and Driveways
2. Creativity With Decorative Concrete
3. Garden Paving: Enhance Your Home And Landscape

An investor I know used to buy run-down houses, fix them up and sell them for a profit. He was always looking for new ways to buy for less or add more value to a home. In a competitive market with many investors looking at the same properties he had to take creative real estate investing very seriously to find the opportunities.

One project that I helped him with was a bi-level home with two bedrooms. Like many homes of this type, the lower level was unfinished, a basement of sorts, but with larger windows than you normally get on a basement. Other investors had passed on the property because there wasn’t enough profit to be made cleaning it up and reselling it. My friend saw the potential of that lower level.

He chose a corner with a window and had two walls built. An outlet, a ten-by-ten-foot piece of carpeting, and a door completed the bedroom. Total cost: $1,500 or so (this was more than fifteen years ago). Now it was a three bedroom home. He made repairs and improved the landscaping, but that bedroom alone probably added $10,000 to the value of the house. Few investors at the time were thinking about adding bedrooms to homes, because they assumed that doing so was a $10,000 project. They didn’t notice that the corners of basements already had two walls, a floor and ceiling – most of a bedroom.

This same investor met his match with a small house that had no place to park a car. When he bought the property he assumed the city would approve paving what little front yard there was. They refused. Between the house and the neighbors fence there was about six feet of space. My friend tried to buy five feet of the neighbors property (promising to pay the cost of moving the fence as well) to create enough space for a narrow driveway. The neighbor refused. A home without a place to park in a town where it was illegal to park on the street at night was a tough sell. He managed to make a couple thousand dollars anyhow after cleaning up the house and wholesaling it to another investor.

The other investor found the solution. A month later I rode by and saw that he had actually removed the living room wall and moved it in four feet. Higher up it angled back out to the roof line. Sure enough, there was a car parked in the space created below. I’m not sure what the engineering challenges or costs were for this, but I do know that he sold the home for more than twice what he paid. That’s a great example of creative real estate investing.

Creativity At Every Step

Many books and articles on creative real estate investing focus on financing. That does seem to be the biggest challenge for many investors, but don’t limit your creativity to how to borrow. As the examples above show, you can also get creative in adding value to the investments you make. In fact, look for creative alternatives at every step.

For example, to save money selling a small piece of land, I skipped using a real estate agent in favor of just offering good terms. I got a higher price in that way too. And then I closed the deal sitting with the buyers in a restaurant (not recommended these days), to save the cost of a closing company.

A friend bought a home and soon after sold half the trees on it (they were too thick for his tastes) to a lumber company for several thousand dollars. It looked the same to me afterwards. It made me wonder if there were some opportunities around to buy land, sell the resources (another local sold the gravel that made up a hill on his land), and then sell the land for as much or more as the original purchase price.

To find properties you might train your kids to screen listings online for you. To help finance deals you might buy a smaller home to free up equity for investment. Offers can include services or things other than money as part of the down payment. Property uses can be changed to increase value (making a duplex into a single-family home sometimes makes it more valuable – or vice-versa). Creative real estate investing is definitely not limited to finding new financing options.

Related posts:

1. Do It Yourself Real Estate Appraisal
2. What Is My House Worth?
3. How much is my house worth?

The first thing to realize is that you may have to spend money to make money.  You might as well overcome that one early, because once you get that out of the way, you’re ready to make some real changes.  Lucky for you, not all of the changes you might need to make will be big money.

For instance, if your house has vinyl siding, a power wash would be a great thing to consider.  With just a mixture of bleach and water and a heavy sprayer, you can make your house look imminently more presentable on the outside.  If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can hire someone for around $150 or so to do it for you.

While we’re talking about the outside of the house, look at the awnings and other little things that help to frame the house to see if they can be cleaned or need to be replaced.  Also, think about trimming bushes that are around the house, and possibly doing a little something with the lawn, such as keeping it cut.  Think about having the driveway resealed, which can be done for around $100 in most places.  If you have a major paving job, I probably wouldn’t do that, but I would fill in any holes or breaks in the pavement where weeds and grass are pushing up.

The most crucial place in the house to clean up is the area where people are coming in.  It sets the tone for how the rest of the house tour will go.  Try not to have too many distracting things in the area, such as plants or fish tanks; you’re trying to present the house, not your ideas.  Make sure the area is clean, and paint if necessary.

If other rooms are right off the entrance, make sure they’re all presentable also.  Many people don’t think of their own light fixtures, but potential buyers will, so don’t forget to think about that.  Check the floors, and if there are rips in the rug, you might have to replace it or have it fixed in some way.  Of course, if you have to clean and paint those rooms also, do it.

In our last post, we talked about things you might need to do to make sure the initial presentation of your home gives the best impression about it.  Here are some more ideas for other places within your home that you might want to think about addressing.

The kitchen is one of the most important focal points in the entire house.  This is where food will be prepared, and where someone will probably be spending a lot of time.  So, you want to make sure it looks as good as possible.  You’ll want to either replace what you have on the floor or clean it up as much as possible.  You’ll want to either repaint or change the cabinets in some fashion.  Actually, doing both, either painting and staining the cabinets, then replacing the handles with something fancy, could make a world of difference.  If you change the handles or knobs on the cabinets, you’ll have to do the same for every other drawer or cabinet in the kitchen if it looks anything like your main cabinets.

If your kitchen has windows, think about changing the window treatment, even if that’s something that won’t be staying.  Make sure the oven is clean, since it’s probably staying, and remove most of your refrigerator magnets, even if the fridge is going with you.  Definitely paint the walls and wallpaper, making them sort of bland and clean looking, especially if you’ve given the kitchen your special touches that include a lot of colors.  What you like might turn off a potential buyer.  This means removing any broken appliances, or any that you might use, but don’t look quite so new anymore.

The other important room is the bathroom.  This is where you might have to pay a bit more money or use more elbow grease.  The same things that applied to the kitchen cabinets apply here.  You’ll definitely want to change the flooring, but that shouldn’t cost much.  The bathtub needs to be cleaned, and if there’s any mold or mildew, you’re going to have to get rid of it, which could be a lot of work.  Also, think about replacing the toilet, or at least the toilet seat.  And the walls will need to be addressed, possibly painted.  And please, make sure all vents are cleaned, since they stand out much more in the bathroom because it’s a more enclosed space.  Pay attention to scents, if you smell anything, potential buyers will smell it also.

The touches you make might be big or they may be small, but all are important if you want to maximize the amount of money you might be offered on your home.

Related posts:

1. Buying an Old Home To Sell or Rent
2. Quality Home Improvements from the Outside In
3. 11 Quick and Easy Home Improvements To Help Get Your Home Ready For Sale

If the subsoil is gravel or sand based, make sure you check the house drains which, if leaky, can remove the finer, smaller particles from the subsoil and increase the risk of settlement. Cracks, even small ones, in the external walls of the side of house nearest the trees is one sign that settlement of the house may already have occurred.

Many older houses do not have damp proof courses, but if there is one fitted to the house, make sure that it is two brick courses above garden paths or driveways surrounding the house. Leaking roofs, gutters or downpipes can cause bricks to absorb water. Signs of this dampness include green algae growing on a exterior wall, or wallpaper that won’t stay pasted onto an interior wall, which may also have black mould growing on it.

It is essential in order to prevent water finding an alternative path from the ground into the house walls, that paving or paths are never built higher than the line of the DPC. Also check that rubbish or soil is not piled up against walls. A moisture meter may help in determining the amount of damp that has penetrated the inner walls of the house.

Examine as much of the roof as you can reasonably obtain access to. The majority of flat roofs will inevitably leak. Rainwater entering the house from a leaky flat roof may gather for some time, causing wet rot in roof timbers without staining the ceiling.

Windows and doors are easier to check than roofs. Although many older houses owe much of their appeal and charm to non standard building methods, you still want doors and windows to fit properly and floors to be reasonably level.

This article is only intended as a basic general summary and you should always seek professional advice where necessary.

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1. Presentation in Trying To Sell Your Home
2. 11 Quick and Easy Home Improvements To Help Get Your Home Ready For Sale
3. 7 Important Things to Know While Buying Travertine and Natural Stone Pavers

In this segment we’re going to explore two more profit drains – quality and payment terms.  Sound a little mundane?  You’ll be surprised at the savings you can generate.

Quality

I’m sure that most of you are expecting me to talk about lack of quality.  After all, it’s poor quality that costs you money in rework, callbacks or fixes.  All of these terms describe the effort associated with redoing the original work so that it satisfies the customer.  There’s no question that this is a profit drain, but it’s not our focus today.  We’re going to explore the cost of providing quality.

I know that it seems strange to think of quality as a potential profit drain, but here’s an insight I got from a printer.  He asked “Dale, when a customer walks through my door which do you think he’s more likely to buy, a good print job or a great print job?”  “A great print job!” I replied.  He smiled one of those Gotcha! smiles and said “Most people can’t tell the difference between a good print job and great print job, yet the cost is dramatically higher for a great print job.”

His message was clear; he didn’t sell many great print jobs because his customers couldn’t see the difference between good and great.  How often do we increase the quality of our offerings without checking to see whether the customer values the additional quality?  How often do we look at quality as a way to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, all the while assuming that the customers will pay more for the additional quality?  As our printer so astutely noted, customers aren’t always willing to pay for higher quality.  The solution seems simple, don’t add quality unless the customer is willing to pay for it, but what happens when your employees provide quality greater than the contract requires?

A concrete contractor client experienced that problem.  One of his finishers was a perfectionist.  He did beautiful work, but he wanted to apply the same level of quality to a cul de sac street that he would to a patio, sidewalk or driveway in a custom home.  Custom homeowners are willing to pay for higher quality (aesthetic appeal), land developers aren’t.  My client experienced lower profit margins on street paving jobs involving this finisher.  How do you deal with this problem?

The first thought that comes to mind is simply to let the guy go.  Certainly that’s an option and it may be the best option if all of your work is street work.  He simply isn’t suited to the type of work you do.

If you do both street work and custom work as my client does, a better alternative is to limit his involvement to those jobs requiring the level of quality he likes to provide.  In other words, use him only on custom work jobs where the customer is willing to pay for higher quality.  If you can’t keep him busy full time, direct some of your marketing efforts to acquiring more custom business.  The profit margins are typically very good on custom work.  Match your employee’s penchant for quality with the customer’s desire for quality and you’ll profit handsomely.

If you want to avoid having quality become a profit drain, use this two-prong approach:

Make sure your customer is willing to pay for more quality before you begin a quality improvement initiative. Monitor your employees performance to assure they aren’t providing more quality than the contract requires.

Now, let’s turn our attention to payment terms – not yours, your vendors.

Payment Terms

What’s your attitude toward your vendors’/subcontractors’ payment terms?  Do you abide by them religiously?  Do you allow yourself a little extra time, possibly a week or two?  Or do you take as much time as you like?  The choice you make can have a dramatic impact on your bottom line.  How much?  To answer that question I’m going to ask you to switch roles and become the vendor/subcontractor so that you can use your cost structure to quantify these costs for your firm.

Let’s assume that you have three customers.  They’re all paying the same price and they all have agreed to the same 30-day payment terms.  One pays on time, the second pays about two weeks late, the third pays at about 75 days.  Obviously, the one that pays on time is your most profitable customer.  The other two are successively less profitable.

Let’s further assume that all three call with an urgent request, but you can only accommodate one of them.  Who’s going to get their request granted?  The one that pays on time, right?  The others will either wait for your availability or devote time and energy to trying to find another source to satisfy their needs.  What are these options going to cost them?  If they decide to wait for you here are some of the costs might they incur:

Down time Productivity losses associated with shifting personnel from one job to another (and back again when you become available) Penalties for late delivery

This brief list will help you quantify some of the costs you incur when you have to wait on your vendor/subcontractor.  Costs that you are more likely to incur if you consistently ignore their payment terms.

If your vendors/subcontractors choose to find another source rather than waiting for you, the costs they’ll incur include:

Purchasing’s time spent trying to find another source that’s available Risk of callbacks (rework) caused by inexperience with your production standards/processes Higher prices (you’ll charge extra to accommodate the quick turnaround they request)

Again, these are the same costs you’d incur if your vendor/subcontractor put your request off because you’re not paying on time.

There is one more cost you are likely to face as a result of your penchant for paying late – higher prices.  If you have a customer who typically pays around 75 days when your terms are 30 days, aren’t you going to build an interest factor into your future pricing?  You bet you will.  How expensive can that be?  Here’s an example that will help answer this question.

Again, I’m going to ask you to change roles and become the vendor/subcontractor.  A customer who does $300,000 worth of business with you each year typically pays you at 75 days rather than the 30 days you require.  The current interest rate is 9% on a line of credit loan (I know that rates are much lower now, abnormally so, that’s why I’ve chosen a more traditional rate).  How are you going to adjust your pricing to this customer to compensate you for his late payments?  Here’s the method I’ve seen used most often in my 13 years of consulting work.

Take the 9% interest rate and divide by 12 months to arrive at a monthly interest rate of .75%.  Next you multiply that rate times the number of months he’s late.  In this case the customer is 45 days, a month and a half, late.  At this point many people round up to two months.  Why?  The math is easier and you cushion yourself against even slower payments in the future.

Continuing with the math, you’re going to raise his prices 1.5%, .75% times two months, right?  Not likely!  There’s something about quoting price increases with fractions in them that sounds a little weak.  Do you really believe you’re only worth 1.5% more?  Why not 2% more?  Of course you’re worth 2%.  2% it is!  You can see how this whole methodology lends itself to rounding up.  You rounded from 45 days to 2 months.  Now, you’ve rounded the price from 1.5% to 2%.

Most customers won’t change vendors/subcontractors for a 2% increase.  Why?  They’re afraid of the learning curve and its attendant mistakes as well as the uncertainty regarding the new vendor’s/subcontractor’s dependability.  Voila!  You have your price increase. Now, let’s compare the cost to your customer of borrowing the money to pay you on time vs. the 2% price increase he’s accepted.

Borrowing vs. Price increase

Original sales volume – $300,000

9% interest for 45 days (75 –30) –  $3,329

2% price increase – $6,000

The price increase costs 80% more than the interest.  That’s without considering the waiting costs mentioned above (down time, productivity losses, penalties) or the costs of acquiring a new vendor/subcontractor (purchasing’s time, more callbacks/rework, higher pricing for a quick turnaround time.  As you can see, ignoring your vendors’/subcontractors’ payments terms can be a serious drain on your profits.

Now, I’m not saying that your payment must be there on the exact day it’s due to avoid these costs.  Most vendors/subcontractors consider a payment within 5 days of their terms (35 days on a 30-day term) to be timely.  If you consistently pay within 5 days of the terms, you’ll be a valued customer.  One whose requests are given high priority and whose price increases do not include interest factors.

If you want to increase profits without adding resources – make sure you get paid for the quality you provide and pay your vendors/subcontractors within 5 days of their terms.

Copyright © 2002, Dale Furtwengler, all rights reserved

Related posts:

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Here are some important features that you should look for while choosing a Miami storage unit for your requirements.

Upkeep

* Dry conditions are essential to preserve your belongings. Look for a space that has a properly engineered underground drainage system that does not retain water. It is crucial that surface water should be efficiently drained to catch basins which in turn are linked to underground culverts. 
* Gabled roofs score over flat roofs as a slope drains water quickly. Look whether the ceilings are insulated to prevent condensation.
* The storage unit infrastructure should preferably have door tracks and seals to limit accumulation of dust. Asphalt paving also helps in keeping the driving surface dust free.

Security

* A good Miami storage unit will have a proper security system in place. Computer controlled gate access and 24-hour video camera monitoring are minimum requirements in a modern self storage unit. A proper fire protection system is also essential.

Lighting

* A well lit Miami storage unit, both interiors and exteriors, will inspire confidence in customers. A well lit storage unit should have good building lighting fixtures operating from dusk to dawn. The driveway should be well lit too.
Some Useful Storage Tips

Once you have chosen a Miami storage unit, it is important to pack and store your belongings in a proper way to maximize the use of rented space. Here are some useful pointers.

* Refrigerator should be thoroughly clean and dry. It is preferable to keep the door slightly ajar.
* It is a good idea to pack books flat to protect them from getting bent. Place the boxes on pallets and not directly on the concrete floor.
* Bedding and clothing are best stored in wardrobe style cardboard cartons. Many storage facilities sell such type of cartons. If hanging cartons are not available, clothes should be folded carefully and stored in dresser drawers.
* Mirrors and screens should be placed on edges and not flat.
* The metal parts of bicycles should be wiped with a cloth containing a few drops of machine oil to prevent rust.
* Storing furniture properly is of vital importance. Place a plastic sheet or corrugated cardboard mat on the floor and place the sofas and mattresses on it. It is advisable to store the furniture items in a semi knock down condition or dissembled condition if possible. If the chairs are lightweight they can be stacked on tables or stacked seat to seat. Cover your furniture with a thin cloth for dust protection.

Storage Mart provides exhaustive data on self storage facilities in United States. For someone who wants to be familiar with what to look for in storage units, Storage Mart has useful information on different sized units, rates and also some helpful storage tips.

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Have your rug cleaned only when it really needs it. For rugs in some areas this will mean a yearly cleaning. Rugs in other areas can go several years and more without needing professional cleaning.

To judge how dirty a rug is, try one of these methods:

Pick up a corner of the rug and while holding it, kick the back of the rug sharply. If a cloud of dirt flies out of the pile, the rug is dirty and needs cleaning. NOTE: some dust and wool fibers are normal!

Kneel down on the rug and rub the pile vigorously with your hand in a short arc for 5 to 10 seconds. Look at your fingers and palm: if your hand is dirty, the rug needs cleaning.

With the pile facing UP fold part of the rug back upon itself so that the pile opens along a line of knots. Look down into the base of the pile at the foundation of the rug. If the warp and weft look dirty, there is dirt deep in the pile where a home vacuum cleaner cannot reach it. The rug needs cleaning.

Clean It Yourself

It’s easy to clean small rugs yourself. The process is best done in a utility room or garage (on a clean floor) or outside on a clean driveway or paved walk on a nice, sunny day:

Vacuum both sides well.

Shampoo the rug with cool water and mild liquid soap or rug shampoo (don’t use strong detergents, ammonia water or sudsy ammonia water). TEST FOR COLOR RUN IN A SMALL AREA FIRST. Use a soft, long haired brush or a firm, non-shedding sponge. Brush the pile firmly with linear motions in the direction of the nap: don’t scrub too vigorously. Wet the nap thoroughly with the soapy water.

Wash fringes with the same soap solution. Use a laundry brush and brush repeatedly away from the pile.

Rinse thoroughly with running water.

Squeeze out excess water–a rubber window squeegee works well. Squeegee the pile repeatedly in the direction of the nap until no more water is forced out.

Lay flat to dry. When the nap feels dry, turn the rug over; the back is probably still damp. DRY THOROUGHLY.

If the pile feels a bit stiff when dry, brush gently or lightly vacuum.

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