Painting My Way Through College

Popular Articles

• Achieving A Victorian Look In Your Bathroom

  The recent bathroom trend has been to go for the modern look; incorporating stylish travertine or granite tiles, with an unusually shaped bathtub and a walk in shower. However, modern bathroom designs don’t suit every property and owners of period buildings have to take a different approach. Victorian themed bathrooms are becoming increasingly popular and are a great way to add a touch of class and individuality to your room. But how can you create such a look?

  An ornamental sink

  Sinks tend to be the focal point of any bathroom and people are naturally drawn to them due to the fact that a mirror is usually hung right above.… Read the rest

• The Truth About Replacing Windows

  I’ve listened to some outrageous claims from window replacement companies. The usual sales tactic is how much return on your investment by replacing your windows you’ll get. The fact of the matter is the new windows could take anywhere from 13 to 20 years to receive your investment back. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers believe the window company’s claims. I hear this myth repeated many times while doing home inspections throughout the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.
  Don’t get me wrong, new windows can be a very good thing, but it miffs me just a bit that a vast amount of dealers in the market try to hype the return to make it sound as if your investment will be recouped in no time at all.… Read the rest

• Top 5 Reasons to Move to Renewable Energy

  With advancements in renewable energy technology, many people are starting to be turned on to its potential. If you’re thinking about going to renewable energy, here are five reasons that you may want to go ahead and make the move to this type of energy.

  1. Saving Money

  One of the reasons that you may want to make the switch to the renewable energy is to save money. In today’s market, regular forms of energy are getting much more expensive by the day. The way things are going, you may end up paying quite a bit more for electricity from the electric company than you would from a renewable source of energy like solar panels.… Read the rest

• Installing a Home Steam Room

  Steam room installation inside of your home is a relatively simple task. You have the option of adding steam to a new building, renovating your existing bathroom or building a new piece of property. Regardless of what method you choose to use, the benefits that accompany relaxation are definitely worth it.

  If the DIY approach doesn’t do it for you there are plenty of bathroom installers such as Ripples in Dublin who can help you with the task.

  Health Benefits Associated with the Installation of a Steam Room

  • Through perspiration, your body will eliminate roughly 30 percent of all its toxin stores.

  … Read the rest

• Hidden Reason to Get a Home Inspection

  Just another example of why you should get a home inspection prior to spending your hard earned money on your dream home. As you can see by the picture, a shoddy repair job would have given a few clues something wasn’t right. As a buyer of a house, what would you have done next?

  Part of my passion as a Dallas and Fort Worth area home inspector is to get to the bottom of little things that others wouldn’t think to observe. My first move was to look at different areas located around this particular area, ie, laundry room, bathroom, etc.… Read the rest

• TLC Hoarders - Are you a hoarder?

  Many Americans are obsessed with their collections. Collectors search the world for the items that they need to complete their collection, often paying thousands or even millions of dollars for that perfect piece. Some collectors search for nostalgic items like action figures, baseball cards or metal lunch boxes while others search for items of great beauty like sculptures and paintings. Others collect coins and other possibly valuable items, searching for the piece that will allow them to retire to a private island in the Caribbean.

  Hoarders, on the other hand, collect everything. Their houses fill to the brim with items that most of us would consider trash because they are unwilling, or unable, to throw anything away.… Read the rest

• Inspecting with a Moisture Meter

  A moisture meter is a device designed to measure the moisture content of various building materials, such as roofing, siding, insulation, drywall, plaster, wood, tile and fiberglass. Structural and safety hazards, such as mold, rot and decay are all potential consequences of elevated moisture levels in these materials. An inspector can use a moisture meter to locate moisture that would not otherwise be apparent.
  Here are a few ways that inspectors may find moisture meters useful:
  •A moisture meter can be used to determine whether a material is moist enough to allow mold to grow. Mold will begin to accumulate on surfaces that contain approximately 20% moisture, although this value varies based on vapor pressure and other factors.… Read the rest

• Top 5 Reasons to Get a Building Inspection Before Buying a Home

  One of the most important things you should do before purchasing a home is to have it checked out by a professional. They will be able to investigate your potential home for termites, mold, water damage and a host of other problems. These building inspections could save you from making one of the biggest financial blunders in your life. The following are the top five reasons it’s a good investment to have a building inspected before you decide to purchase it.

  1. It Allows You Peace of Mind

  A home inspection will help you better understand the condition that your potential home is in and if there are any defects.… Read the rest

• Do You Have Bed Bugs

  When people think about blood sucking insects, they first picture a mosquito or tick. Did you know bed bugs are also blood suckers. The tiny, sneaky insects are spreading so rapidly across the United States that almost no region or area is unbitten, a new survey suggests. The United States has seen a 50-fold increase in bed bug infestations over the last five years, according to the National Pest Management Association. An entomologist told MSNBC, “It’s like the return of the wooly mammoth,” as many of his peers had previously never seen a single bed bug in their careers. The outbreak has affected most parts of North America and Europe, especially in urban areas.… Read the rest

• Sloppy Evaporator Coil Install

  Came across this a/c systems evaporator coil today. It’s amazing how lazy some people are. If you pay a professional to do a job, you expect to get a professional job done. The coil was so off level, condensation was standing on the left side of the pan whenever the a/c was running. Here in Texas, that’s most of the year. After years of this happening, the pan finally rusted through and is now leaking into the secondary pan and beyond to the plenum. The plenum is leaking onto the ceiling and wall of the bedroom below. Now we have a huge mess with water damage and mold.… Read the rest