A friend of mine asked me to write an article on the subject of green roof gardens the other day. She writes on gardening as I write on home improvement and sometimes we collaborate. It’s a good thing. It sounded interesting so I started digging into research.

I already knew something about the structural needs; when I worked at the Marriott hotel in the Houston Medical Center, we had a good sized indoor swimming pool on the fourth floor. It was supported by massive aluminum I-beams.

And imagine, it was right over the ballroom (third floor). Yikes! One night the graveyard shift engineer was making his rounds and saw that the jacuzzi was empty. He turned on the water to fill it up. What he didn’t realize was that the jets were removed for maintenance.

Long story short - he continued on his rounds. By the time he came back to check, there were about 200 gallons of water on the ballroom floor and the acoustical drop ceiling was ruined. Ouch!

Green roof gardens have similar structural requirements because of the weight load of the dirt. Traditionally, you had to have a flat roof to put one of these babies in. No longer; entrepreneurs have engineered modular systems that allow installation on sloped roofs.

Am I going to do one on my house? Nah; too much work, and I already have a garden on the ground. But if I was building a new home, you bet!

What an awesome idea. (I wish I had of thought of it.) It seems like I’ve been on a remodel-on-a-shoestring-budget lately.

This post is no different. I first heard of installing tile tattoos about a year ago. Basically, they’re just static-cling decals. The cool thing is that you can use them to dress up ceramic tiles when you just don’t have the time or budget for a complete kitchen or bathroom remodeling project.

And you can always just pull them off and relocate them to another area.

Where would I use them? Either on the bathroom shower surround or on the kitchen backsplash. I know they’re marketed for tile, but I bet you could just as easily do a design on Formica.

Aren’t those Fathead football wall stickers basically the same thing? When I first saw them on TV, I thought, “WTF! Who’s going to buy one of those?”

But I guess they’re doing OK since I say a display of them the other day when I was at Academy Sporting Goods to buy a battery for my fishing kayak.

Anyway, gotta run! Today is the kid’s birthday and if I don’t hurry out to buy her a gift (another X Box controller, shhh!), my life won’t be pretty for the next few days!

Are you inspired? Visit my interior projects page for more remodeling ideas.

My last post was on energy-efficient windows and how they can save you money. Great idea, but as I pointed out, that’s an expensive process.

Fortunately, there are a number of other methods to tweak your home to enjoy lower utility bills. It’s easy to do methodically following this lists of energy-saving home improvements. And this is one of two best times of the year to address some of these things, as we go from winter to summer.


Why is this so important? Energy costs are more likely to increase than decrease for all of us. Where do you live? Where I live, I have to live by the energy dictates of President Obama.

That’s where it gets sticky. It’s still unclear what he will do with energy policy. While campaigning, he said he was against nuclear power and even clean coal. He was unclear on natural gas.

But he’s already flip-flopped on other things so these issues are open to speculation. Personally, I would like to see the Picken’s plan go into effect. That’s natural gas, baby, and we’ve got a lot of it.

Either way, it’s critical to do all the little things to our homes to reduce spending. Things like tuning up weather stripping, installing ceiling fans, adding insulation, and converting over to compact fluorescent bulbs. You can do these small things yourself or hire a handyman. I always suggest using  Angie’s List. to find a reputable one.

Please visit my site for more energy conservation ideas.

The window in my living room looks out on the back yard. It’s a big window. Actually, it’s three butted up to each other. My issue is that it’s contractor grade, and so, not that bug on energy efficiency. So I would really like to replace it with something a bit beefier, say, krypton or argon-filled with a low-e coating.

The window frames make a big difference too - more than I thought. Mine are aluminum which is good for maintenance but bad for energy. Heat and cold goes right through it. High thermal conductance is what the energy gurus call it.

The problem? They’re too dang expensive. Quite the conundrum. Upgrading would save money through lower utility bills, but I don’t have the cash in pocket just now to do the deed. Perhaps I should ask Obama for a window bailout.

That might work. I should send up a trial balloon. Makes sense; if I use less energy, I make less of a carbon footprint. What a green point of view. Think he’d go for it? Nah. Sigh.

I could always go for some solar window film. A bit of research informed me that it hinders heat transference, both going out in the winter and coming in during the summer. Not too shabby.

It also minimizes UV rays, which must be a good thing or they never would have incorporated it into my contact lenses and sunglasses.

Sunglasses. Now, that’s an interesting topic. They’re not only functional, people also use them to make a fashion statement. For some reason only known to eyeball fashionistas, the current trend seems to be towards big frames. Big white frames. Windows to the world.

But I do not mock. I paid over $100 for mine (tortise shell, NOT white) but they’re well worth it. Yep, they’re made by Costa Del Mar and they’re just right for a day of kayak fishing out on the bay. Which is what I should be doing now.

I hope you found this post interesting. I invite to read more of my fascinating writing

A friend sent me a pretty cool tip in an email the other day. Nobody likes a burglary or home break-in, right? Not everyone has a security system though. The tip? When you’re home, just keep your car keys close at hand. If some bad guy is rustling around outside, just punch the panic button on your key chain.

Of course, that doesn’t do you any good if you’re not home. In that case, you do need a home security system. This might include Brinks Security or some other remotely-monitored service. This might score you a better rate on your homeowner or renter’s insurance.

Another approach is to install surveillance cameras. These can be indoor or outdoors. If set up properly, you can monitor the action (or lack thereof) remotely via the Internet. Hooking it up to a recording device can prove invaluable if it comes down to criminal prosecution.

A couple of years ago, I was on the jury for a murder trial in Galveston. The prosecution used security camera recordings from a convenience store and the local Walmart to establish a time line leading up to the crime. It even captured them jacking some CDs! So yes, this technology works.

The bottom line is: protect yourself; the police do a good job, but remember, they can’t prevent residential break-ins. They can only be the first responders.

Did this post give you a warm, fuzzy sense of security? Check out my other electrical and appliance articles.

So… I’ve got this new Eagle Cuda 168 fishfinder for my kayak. Now all I have to do is install it. Not a problem. Technically, these things are sonars. Fancy, eh? Just call me Admiral Kelly Smith.

Since it’s designed for a conventional boat, installation on a fishing kayak is a different animal. Luckily, there’s a lot of personal stories out there on the net on how others solved the various issues. This is a prime DIY job if ever there was one.

And this job is just as easy as rigging a kayak anchor trolley.

First, the transponder. This is mounted inside the yak, secured to the inside bottom hull with marine grade silicone. The key here is to ensure there’s no air bubbles in the glob of silicone. Bubbles will throw off the data displayed on the screen.

Next, the battery. The only real requirement is to supply 10 to 17 V DC. Some people solve this by using one rechageable 12V battery and a waterproof case. Others use a series of batteries (like they’re stacked in a flashlight) and enclose it in a PVC tube.

I’m still engineering how I’ll set mine up but as soon as I put it all together, I’ll post an article with pics at ICanFixUpMyHome.com. Feel free to surf on over there to read other remodeling and construction articles.

I spent some time planting in my raised bed garden yesterday. Already had some corn, peas, and some lemon basil in so I put in some tomatoes.

Now I’ve planted tomatoes in the past but I’ve only really had success with cherry tomatoes. This time I did some research. Soil is the first thing to consider. From listening to Randy Lemmon (garden guru) on the radio I’ve learned to go heavy with the rose soil.

Next, not all vegetable species are created equal. Certain varieties do better in any given location. For my location along the sunny gulf coast, I bought Carnival and Better Bush, both determinate.

Say what? Yes, that’s something else I learned: the terms determinate and indeterminate. Don’t you just love counter-intuitive words? In a nutshell, determinate tomato plants only reach a given height, four feet is a good bet, and produce fruit within a short period of time.

Indeterminate ones, on the other hand, grow larger, need staking, and bear fruit for a longer period of time.

Will I save much money by growing my own vegetables? Probably not this year, give what I’ve shelled out for building the raised bed. Cinder blocks, soil, and mulch. This year, I do it for homegrown organic flavor. Next year, I save money!

Did you enjoy this post? Visit my site for home renovation and repair articles.

I’ve really been wondering about a curious thing lately. As many of you know, in addition to my own site, icanfixupmyhome.com, I’ve also been the home repair and renovation topic writer over at Suite101.com for just under two years.

So as you can imagine, there’s quite a bit of content up at both sites. From day one, the article I get more hits on than any other at S101 is about installing laminate flooring. Not surprising since it’s such a popular building material. It does have some advantages over hardwood.

Since about 90% of all traffic comes from Google, you would think that by ratio (since the two sites have different Google Pageranks), laminate content would score pretty high on my personal site as well. Not so.

In fact, on my site, my article on cutting and installing baseboard is king. Odd. Not that I’m complaining. I just find it interesting and also complementary. After all, the two topics are closely related. Eh? Baseboard isn’t even what it once was. You can still get it in pine or something more exotic, but it’s also increasingly available in repurposed green materials. Go figure.

A lot of building materials are now made from recycled or repurposed things. Remember when only trendy restaurants took apart barns and old gas stations to decorate with? And distressed denim blue jeans cost twice as much as “new” looking ones?

But I, for one, am glad to have the green movement finally make sense instead of only being about some nutball chaining himself to a tree. Sure, there’s still a lunatic fringe out there but at least most of it makes sense. I wonder what’s next…

I hope you found this post interesting. Visit my site for more free green building articles.

The answer to this question can boil down to a simple yes or no, but what might motivate you to go one way or the other? I do everything myself, partly because I enjoy it but here’s a few more reasons:

• I have the time to do it. As a self-employed freelance writer, I can pretty much make my own schedule.
• I don’t want to contribute to the illegal alien problem. No politicians will address the issue, not the Bush administration, and certainly not Obama or any of his cronies. The whole extended Houston area is a “sanctuary city” and very few lawn care service employees speak English.
• I’m cheap; uh, I mean thrifty. That’s still a virtue, right?

But if hiring a landscaping or lawn care company is for you, I recommend Angie’s List: Ratings, reviews and sometimes revenge. See what local homeowners say about the service companies they hire. Join now.
Last summer when my lawnmower finally gave up the ghost, I bought myself a Brill Razorcut reel lawnmower. You know, the kind with no motor? It works just as well and drinks no gasoline. And it’s quiet.

Recently I put in an organic raised bed garden and I can’t wait to get some homegrown tomatoes. I’m also going to put in more basil than I did last year. I just didn’t harvest enough to make as much pesto as I wanted. I wonder why fresh basil is so expensive in the store? it’s easy to grow.

In fact, I started some from seed a few weeks ago and I need to get them in the ground today. The 10 day forecast tells me that the temperature isn’t going to colder at night than 55 degrees F.

Since the weather has warmed up, I planted the tulips I gave my wife for out 15th anniversary. They’re just starting to bloom today. Purple ones.

And now that I think of it, I think I’ll wander outside and see if any more asparagus has come up…

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The Perpetual Remodel Syndrome. That was the title of a weekly feature article I used to write for AOL until they unceremoniously dumped our group, the DIY bloggers. Ah well, life goes on as scheduled.

But the title remains true around my house. My current project is to finish a built-in medicine cabinet and install the baseboard to complete a bathroom remodel project. It really looks pretty good other than those finishing touches.

Next, I need to install my new fishfinder (sonar) on my fishing kayak. OK, so it’s not technically a remodeling project, but it will take a bit of creativity. I’ve looked online at how some others have done theirs and that might help a bit.

I’ve already done a few mods to the boat, like rigging an anchor trolley. Maybe I could turn this into a series of articles: Pimp my Yak.

Seriously, I do have more work to do on the house. I’m making some custom transitions out of oak to install where two different tile floors come together. l’ve done one and it came out nice; now there’s only two left to do.

Basically, I’m just taking an oak 1″ X 4″ and ripping it down to the proper width. Then I use a jig to bevel the top two edges on the table saw. Finally, I finish them with 3 coats of tung oil and use Liquid Nails project adhesive to glue them down.

And then on to the next project…
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I hope you found this blog interesting and that it inspires some DIY in you! For more remodeling information and inspiration check out my main site, ICanFixUpMyHome.com.