Author Archives: SLS

Checklist: Preventing slips & falls inside & outside your home

help-ive-fallenWow, that picture sure does bring back some memories & even a few chuckles at some of the antics that the commercial garnered. While the jokes or the over the top re-enactments might be funny (to most some) the reason that the company was founded & still continues to thrive today isn’t. 121,113 is the
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Tagged | 3 Comments

Going Off Grid in the 21st Century: Water Filtration

water-filterLately in our going off the grid series we have been focusing on water where we have covered everything from pumping & storing the water, to rain water harvesting & we even looked into greywater systems. This has brought us to one of the most important points we need to remember and that is that
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Posted in Green Building / Sustainable Common Sense Building & Remodeling | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Deep Energy Retrofits, Historical Properties, and the Conversation

1879-alabama-renovation-doneRecently a group of us started an interesting conversation on Deep Energy Retrofits (DER) & Historical Homes that spanned Twitter, blogs, and a whole host of other social media platforms with a ton of useful links. While the terms holy war, invaders, and boxing match came out of it, so did some great questions &
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Posted in General Articles | Tagged | 24 Comments

20 reminders for a healthy and safe home

hud-logoOne of our favorite mantras is a healthy home is a safe & well maintained home. Codes were written and our constantly being updated to ensure health & safety of all occupants. Numerous organizations, government groups, and others are constantly pushing safety. My goodness, one can’t turn around without seeing some sort of warning label
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Posted in Goverment Programs, Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Tagged | 11 Comments

Going Off Grid in the 21st Century: Rain Water Storage Tanks

plastic-rainwaterIn our last few articles, we have covered all the aspects from harvesting the rain water to pre filtering it and delivering it to the tank. This leads us to another important aspect which is where are we going to store it? Is one tank better than another, what are the options, should I just
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Posted in Green Building / Sustainable Common Sense Building & Remodeling | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Hitting the Road: Vacation / Camping Checklist & RV Toolkit

camping-trip-roadWith summertime fast approaching, many just can’t wait to hit the roads & go on vacation. When we first started out it was packing up the vehicle & sleeping in tents at a campground or staying at a hotel. As we started getting just a tad older & the family grew (6 kids & a
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Posted in General Articles | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Deep Energy Retrofit’s – The Conversation

1879-alabama-renovation-beforeWell seeing I started a small mess on Twitter… Earlier this week, I caught some of the conversation between the players listed below, regarding DER or Deep Energy Retrofits and “Historic” homes. After piecing together as much as I could, I mentioned that maybe we should all cover our takes on it via our respective
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Posted in General Articles | Tagged | 41 Comments

Composite & Vinyl Decking – 10 common enemies to avoid

NADRA National Deck Safety MonthWhile we love building wood decks, many customers are opting to go with composites & vinyl decking materials due to the reduced maintenance that is involved. There are a few items that we stress / i.e. bust a few common myths like there is no such thing as a no-maintenance product. The next big item
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Posted in Decks, Patios, & Outdoor Living Solutions | Tagged | 6 Comments

Alabama Energy & Residential Code

alabamaThe speculation is now at an end, after two years of deliberations & countless meetings; as of March 12th the Alabama Energy and Residential Codes (AERC) Board voted to adopt a statewide building & energy code called the AERC which will go into effect October 1st, 2011. This was officially announced by Jim Byard Jr.
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Posted in Green Building / Sustainable Common Sense Building & Remodeling | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Let’s Blog Off: COOKIES!!!

macaroonYou know when I saw the topic of this week’s Let’s Blog Off was on cookies I couldn’t help but laugh & wonder if the Cookie Monster managed to sneak in & post this topic… After that nice little laugh and thinking that I didn’t really have anything to add to the topic (much less
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Posted in General Articles | Tagged | 20 Comments
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