Now is a great time of year to use your garage to make some extra money, and to declutter your house at the same time! A garage sale is a great way to get rid of your old and unwanted possessions, plus a good sale can make you a nice payday as well. We’re going to give you a quick rundown on how exactly to hold a successful garage sale, with ten basic tips!
How often do you adjust your home thermostat? Many thermostats are outdated eyesores, installed by contractors who are more interested in getting the lowest possible bid than they are in the comfort of their home’s future inhabitants. Also, most homeowners use their thermostat in an inefficient way, and since home temperature control accounts for as much as 10% of total energy usage in the US, even just slightly wasteful habits can mean hundreds of dollars of cost for each household – hundreds of millions, across the country. Tony Fadell is the man behind Nest, the smart thermostat that is designed to solve these problems, and he is more qualified than anyone to create cutting edge technology: before he was prototyping a thermostat in a Palo Alto garage, he was creating the iPod and iPhone at his previous executive position with Apple.
People use their garages for all kinds of things, but consistently we see two uses that stand out as the most common. Many people store things in the garage, and many (although perhaps fewer than you’d expert!) also keep their cars there. For some people, however, they can practice their hobby and keep their cars indoors at the same time. For anyone who collects hot rods or considers themselves a hobbyist mechanic, the thought of leaving their beautiful custom car outside, exposed to the elements, is unthinkable. The garage has always been home to tinkerers and auto experts, but some modern chop shops take this fascination to a whole new level.
Alexander Graham Bell lived from 1847 until 1922, and in those years he had a remarkable life of innovation and advocacy. He is best known for being the first person to patent a practical telephone, one of the greatest innovations to human communication of all time, but in his life Bell also addressed many other areas of interest to him, mostly regarding deafness and elocution. Bell’s legacy shaped human history and his inventions were critical to the continuing progress of technology, but what is commonly forgotten about his work is that he got his start in the garage – or, to be more accurate, the carriage house!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – the most important step a homeowner can take to protecting the contents of their garage is to close the garage door! Although that might sound obvious, everyone can remember a time that they left their garage door open. Maybe, some of you reading this routinely leave your door open. Or maybe, you were doing some yard work in the backyard and left the door open on the front of your home so you could put your tools away. The simple convenience of not having to worry about the door is appealing, but ask yourself if it is worth risking a break in – or worse – and you might reconsider.
How many times a day do you use your garage door? Let’s all admit it: by this point, the magic has worn off. When you take a step back and think about how much easier your door makes your life, you can probably appreciate how revolutionary this innovation was, but any homeowner with a garage door likely takes it for granted. The technology involved might not be as cutting-edge as the iPhone 6S, but it can still amaze people who haven’t seen it before – like this adorable baby.
Lithuania’s Prusu Street is a reminder of a simpler time. The people that live there have no chain stores or restaurant franchises, but they do have garages. Agne Gintalaite visited Prusu Street and wanted to document these garages because they stood out from the culture she was used to in America. The photographs that she took are incredible
There’s just nothing like the feeling of being in a good sports bar. The camaraderie, cheering, and decor combine to make an experience greater than just watching a game. For many, the gameday tradition of visiting their favorite bar, or even just inviting friends over to crowd around the television, is as integral a part of the sport as the actual game. With the preseason ending and Football season quickly approaching, everyone is looking for the best place to watch the games. For Cindy and Bill Buchanan, they never have to look very far. Their garage is possibly the largest collection of Carolina Panthers memorabilia in the world, and they get seventy-five of their friends together to watch the Panther’s away games in it every year.
If you read our previous blog post about R-Value, you probably know that insulating your garage is an important step in keeping your utility bills down and making your garage a pleasant room to be in during the heat of summer or the cold of winter. But if you’re not interested in upgrading to a better insulated garage door, your next best bet might be adding weatherstripping (also called astragal) around your door. We’ll walk you through this simple DIY procedure for sealing the top, sides, and bottom of your door, all of which can be done on a tiny budget.
With the recent storms in and around Charlotte, as well as the tropical storm headed for Florida, it is reasonable for our readers to be concerned about their house’s power. If your home loses power, your garage door opener will also run out of juice, and you might be unable to get your cars out of your garage! If your door is properly maintained, you should be able to open it manually, and we’ll explain how to do so in this article.
Can you imagine life without a garage door opener? Your parents or grandparents lived without them for years, of course, but the modern convenience of pulling up your driveway and seeing the door already opening is a welcome sight. The concept of having to park your car in front of the door, get out into the heat or rain, and manually lift the door isn’t just annoying, it is also a huge safety risk. Your garage door opener is responsible for holding the door closed until your specially coded remote opens it. What you probably don’t know about your opener is that it might be costing you hundreds of dollars a year.
Have you ever tried to do a home improvement job yourself to save some cash? Of course you have! Most homeowners have a little D-I-Y spirit in them and tackling a problem yourself can be convenient and quick. With the rise of Youtube’s How To videos and Pintrest’s step-by-step guides, you can usually find some help for whatever needs doing just by looking around online. There are a couple of areas, however, that no homeowner should try to DIY.