Understanding the Importance of Making Repairs to Your Roof

A good roofing structure helps to keep your family and your belongings safe and protected from the weather elements. As a result, homeowners need to set aside resources to address roof wear and tear because ignoring small leaks and loose shackles can prove costly in the long run. Read on to discover the benefits of undertaking regular roof repair and maintenance.

Prevents Moisture Damage

Moisture is the main culprit of roof damage in many modern homes. Roof leakage takes a while to manifest and may go undetected for extended periods. Over time, the moisture soaks your roof's insulation system leading to saturation, creating dark patches on your ceiling and walls. What follows is a compromise of thermal resistance because wet roofs have poor heat retention properties. Roofing experts recommend conducting a thorough roof inspection at least twice a year and after extreme weather conditions like storms and heavy rains. Regular repairs fix leaks and loose shackles, ensuring your roof is in excellent condition to handle most kinds of moisture stress.

Improves Roof Drainage

Modern homes integrate roofing and drainage systems to collect and store rainwater for later use. Sometimes, heavy rain may be accompanied by leaves and debris, which can clog your roof's drainage. When ignored, this issue can lead to severe mold formation, roof corrosion, and rotting, thus necessitating complete roof replacement, which is costly. Regular roof maintenance helps to improve roof drainage and reduces losses arising from roof rot and moisture damage.

Timely Repairs Save You Money

Plenty of roof replacements happen prematurely because many homeowners rarely inspect their roofs after installation. A regular inspection by a professional roofing contractor is crucial in detecting minor problems that could potentially escalate into severe roof damage. Timely roof repairs not only increase your roof's useful life but cost significantly less than a roof overhaul.

Preserves Your Roof's Beauty and Appeal

A faded and worn-out roof is an eyesore and can be an embarrassment to the homeowner. Regular maintenance that involves repainting and fixing leaks helps to preserve your roof's natural looks and appeal. Furthermore, most roofing warranties recommend regular roof inspections to preserve the appeal and functionality of roofing structures.

Roofs are not indestructible and will eventually fail at some point. The secret to prolonging your roof's useful life is fixing minor issues before they escalate into bigger problems. 

The Many Ways We Waste Water At Home

Few things feel as good as spending some time under a hot shower.

Unfortunately, showering for as long as we like is one of the top ways we use—and waste—water at home.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an average family uses close to 40 gallons per day for showers. That translates to 1.2 trillion gallons of water used by Americans annually just for showering, a staggering figure by any standard.

Sadly, water wastage at home doesn’t just happen when we take a shower.

Many people have this habit of letting the water run when brushing their teeth or shaving when they could easily turn the faucet off to conserve water.

Others overfill their bathtubs when they could simply fill them with the right amount of water for their bathing needs.

We also waste water when we run dishwashers and washing machines for less than full loads. Keep in mind that both appliances use the same amount of water whether you’re washing a full load or a single plate, or a pair of shorts.

However, the worst way we’re wasting water at home is something that happens without our knowledge.

The EPA says household plumbing leaks waste one trillion gallons of water every year.

If you think you’re wasting water this way, you need to do some leak detection work to stem the bleeding. Check out the infographic below to know the signs that you have a plumbing leak at home.

The 7 Step Guide to Winterizing Your Lawn

With the foliage transforming from vibrant green to fiery orange and yellow, it’s safe to say that fall is in full effect. As the seasons go through their routine changes, those changes can transform the look of your lawn. Some of those shifts can be for the better, some for the worse.

Once the temperatures drop, you’ll notice how, just like the leaves, your lawn begins to transform. A lush landscape is prone to drying and wilting with shifts in air quality and inclement weather during the cooler seasons. But the good news is that this seven-step guide to winterizing your lawn can help lessen the damage come springtime.

Test pH Levels

Before the prep work, test the levels of the soil in your garden and lawn. Neutral pH levels indicate a healthy area that may remain abundant over time. If your levels are slightly off, you can add lime products to treat acidic patches or sulfur treatments to handle alkaline spots.

Clean Things Up

Starting off the winterizing process by performing routine maintenance on your landscape means removing unsightly weeds, caring for trees and shrubbery, and cutting the grass down to a workable level.

Apply Fertilizer

Prioritize using a specific fertilizer for winterizing lawns, as these formulas contain a higher potassium content. Winter fertilizer will also strengthen plants under stress by supplying additional nutrients.

Let the Lawn Breathe

Aerating the lawn will allow water, air, and other beneficial nutrients to seep down to the roots. One of the easiest ways to do this is through the use of spike aerators. These “sandals” will poke holes into the soil of high-traffic landscapes.

Dispense Grass Seed

Next, apply the grass seed of your choice onto your prepped lawn. The optimal time to foster new grass growth is during the day when the temperature is a comfortable 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover the Plant Beds

Insulate flower beds during the cooler seasons by adding mulch onto topsoil. You can also repot smaller plants and bring them indoors to help them survive.

Remove Additional Debris and Branches

Removing leaves and branches isn’t the most entertaining task, but it’s vital to your lawn’s health. Did you know that raking can remove the layer of dead grass that affects the landscape?

Get in the Winter Mindset

Lastly, go over all of your hard work to ensure that you didn’t miss anything. You’ll want to put all of your outdoor features to bed before settling indoors for the season.

This seven-step guide to winterizing your lawn prepares it for the harsher seasons to shield your landscape during weather shifts. They say the best time to treat the terrace is during the fall, so it won’t hurt to get started.

Home Decorating Trends That Are Making a Comeback

Everything excellent comes back into vogue at some point, so if you missed these furniture and décor ideas the first time around, here is your opportunity.

Every generation thinks of itself as the master of fads that they believe are unique and novel, but are actually reincarnations of what their parents enjoyed as teenagers. It occurs all the time in fashion design, and because we all shop for and buy new items on a regular basis, we all have a pretty clear notion when a style is making a comeback.

Turns out, this trend-cycling phenomenon also occurs in the worlds of home décor and interior design, but it's less evident, and the trends tend to last longer than they do in the fashion world. Take, for example, mid-century modern design.

With environmental issues becoming a hot subject in the media these days, demand for sustainable furniture and design is on the rise. Promoting responsible environmental behavior within the house has progressed beyond discussions of chemicals and food, and also includes items, materials, and paintings. While the industry investigates new manufacturing processes and encourages recycling, the Millennial generation's rising interest in antique furniture and décor is paving the way.

It's been gaining in popularity for at least ten years, and it's now grown so common that it's effectively set the standard for modern design. While parts of mid-century design may be far from being obsolete in the eyes of the general public, the design community is ready to move on. But, by moving on, we mean returning to a bygone era—after all, everything wonderful comes full circle, right? The following trends are primed to make a comeback, so now is their chance to shine.

Here's how to make each one work in your house.

Art Deco Furniture

Because mid-century modern's clean lines and minimalist approach to furniture design and décor were originally a direct response to the art deco movement that came before it, it seems logical that revivals of these two styles would follow one another, even if the sequence has shifted. Art deco is known for its decoration, which includes geometric patterns, symmetry, and old-school glitz. Shell-shaped velvet accent chairs and chaises, as well as wood items embellished with Greek key, triangular, or zig-zag designs, are making a comeback in this Gatsby-era style.

Bamboo, rattan, and wicker

If you ask any porch-dwelling Southerner, wicker and rattan have never gone out of style, but in their natural wood color, combined with bamboo, they're making a comeback, harkening back to the Tiki days of the 1960s and 1970s. Rattan, wicker, and bamboo are weaving their way into bar stools, headboards, and storage pieces like chests or side tables, all of which add a little coastal-casual charm, thanks to the overall boho aesthetic that's popular these days, but in more traditional spaces, rattan, wicker, and bamboo are weaving their way into bar stools, headboards, and storage pieces like chests or side tables, all of which add a little coastal-casual charm.

Appliances from the past

Stainless steel appliances have been the hallmark of a high-end, renovated kitchen for numerous years—the sleeker and more contemporary, the better. Retro appliance designs are making a comeback, whether it's a bright 1950s-era refrigerator or a recreation of an ancient wood-burning stove. Retro appliances may be a fun, quirky addition to your kitchen, or a magnificent feature that adds beauty and historic value to your house like any heritage item, thanks to current technology.

Hues from the 1970s

We're all ready for a little color after years of white and gray environments dominating Pinterest and home design magazines alike. Some of the colors that are dominating the 2019 landscape come straight out of your living room from the 1970s. Avocado green, orange, tans and browns, and mustard yellow, the most popular of them. In hindsight, we should avoid going all-in with the entire 1970s palette, but the earthy tones are lovely complements to neutrals or even pastels.

Accents in Chrome

If you haven't picked up on it yet, many of these new home décor trends are a reaction to an overabundance of another hot trend at the moment. The following is an excellent example: For some years, brass has been the metal of choice, appearing in everything from lamp fixtures to cabinet hardware to chair legs. However, too much of a good thing may tire people out, so instead of gleaming gold, we'll be seeing gleaming silver, a.k.a. chrome. Chrome furniture and décor can harken back to the 1950s or to the art deco era, when chrome and steel were the dominant metals in furniture design.

Patterns in Geometry

The Ancient Greeks and Moroccans both employed dramatic geometric patterns in their architectural and interior designs, and as this design style advanced, the 1900s saw angular structures and patterns in many shapes. Such designs are also associated with the Art Deco era, which began in the 1920s and is said to have originated in Paris following World War I. Sleeker, bolder, curved or geometric lines replaced the swirls and floral motifs of Art Nouveau here. Right now, the design is huge, combining classic strong aesthetics with a sharpness that seems both fun and elegant.

Brutalist Style

Brutalist architecture dates from just after World War II. The term "brutalism" comes from the French word "raw," and it refers to the use of raw materials such as concrete and steel in housing and government structures. By the 1970s, brutalist design had made its way into the house, with industrial metallics and furniture emulating concrete's rough surface. It now provides as a counterpoint to Mid-Century Modern, with an unfinished aspect.