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Home Improvement Blog - On the Level is a home remodeling & repair blog to keep you informed on the products and trends that we see in the field.
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Feel even better about your next vacation. |
...That big businesses can think green, too. It takes more than saving the planet one home or office at a time; we must band together and demand change. Now even resort companies are stepping up to the plate and finally building to meet the demands of an educated consumer who cares about the planet. Starwood Vacation Ownership is building a 390 luxury villa resort in Maui that will be LEED certified. Hopefully, this is just the start of building more properties that utilize green building ideas.
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Photo courtesy of Aslu. |
A vexing problem with the foreclosure wave sweeping the nation is abandoned swimming pools are becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can carry deadly diseases. Now many towns in foreclosure epicenters such as Florida, Arizona and California are turning to a novel solution—stocking the pools with fish known as "mosquito fish" that eat the larvae. The fish can eat up to 500 larvae a month and save the town the expense of repeated spraying of toxic pesticides. The solution is not without its critics. The fish breed are known to harass the California red-legged frog, a threatened species, so towns should be wary not to transfer the fish from swimming pools to local ponds. But many applaud the application of an environmentally sound solution.
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Everyone loves lady bugs except when they invade your home by the thousands. A friend of mine recently had a lady bug infestation and dug up this page for ways to manage it. The best plan is to stop them before they get in by sealing all cracks and potential entry points, particularly spaces around doors, windows and siding. But if the bugs are already in your home, poisons are of limited value and your best bet is to use a vacuum. Lady bugs are not killed when they are vacuumed up so the page recommends changing the bag often. An alternative method involves putting a nylon stocking over the hose and securing with a rubber band. As the bugs are captured, you can discard the nylon and replace with another one. Clever! Read how to eliminate the top five summertime pests here.
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The majority of household cleaning products are not known for being very environmentally friendly. In fact, they usually contain some pretty volatile and acidic compounds. Three new cleaning products called Perfect Planet Cleaners are setting a new trend and are even certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Program. The three products are a natural all-purpose cleaner, a floor cleaner and a floor polish and all feature plant-derived cleaning agents that are biodegradable, non-toxic and non-hazardous.
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If you were offered $1 million for your modest two-bedroom home, would you take it? If you were Edith Macefield of Ballard, Wash., you would stubbornly refuse even as concrete walls completely surrounded three sides of her home. Macefield passed away June 22 at the age of 86 but not before she won a legion of supporters in her blue-collar neighborhood. It's unclear what will happen to the property as she had no living relatives but Barry Martin, senior superintendent on the construction project that engulfed her home, said, "Eventually it will all go to progress."
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You may remember the recent scare about trace amounts of mercury in CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), those energy-saving wonder lightbulbs. While the mercury is not a danger in household use, it can be a problem when thousands of the CFLs are improperly discarded and put into a landfill. But now Home Depot has started a recycling program for these bulbs. It will now take back CFLs at all of its 1,973 stores nationwide. Previously, customers had to seek out local hazardous waste programs or smaller retail stores for recycling, leading to a two percent recycling rate. Both Home Depot and Wal-Mart are heavily promoting CFLs, which are 10 times as energy-efficient as conventional bulbs.
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SkeeterVac® mosquito exterminator. Photo courtesy of Blue Rhino. |
There is nothing more annoying than a bunch of bloodthirsty mosquitoes roaming around your backyard. The army of them that joined my family’s July 4th celebration was far too much to fend off with a small bottle of bug spray. We desperately needed some added protection. I now know that Blue Rhino’s SkeeterVac could have really helped us avoid our backyard bug problems. This device traps biting insects by acting as a false host site. Evidently, mosquitoes are attracted to humans and pets by the CO2, moisture and heat from our breath and by body odor. The SkeeterVac emits a scented CO2 lure that represents a potential host site to a mosquito. (The amount of lure that is emitted can be adjusted manually). Once the bugs land on the device, they are captured on a sticky trap or by a vacuum fan. There, they quickly dehydrate and die, never to bother you or your family again.
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