Decorating with Table FountainsWritten by Johann Erickson
With unlimited possibilities available, table top fountains can add understated beauty or grandeur to any room in your house. Fountains are a worthy investment even for those who hesitate to spend money on aesthetics. Beyond eye-catching appeal, you'll find that fountains have practical health benefits.
Cascading water reduces stress by bringing a sense of tranquility into a room as it engages senses—sight, sound, and even smell. Research has shown that moving water can improve air quality by cleansing room of dust particles and working as a humidifier. Fountains also do following:
- Table Top Fountains soothe soul with natural outdoor sounds.
- Table Top Fountains offer a visually appealing focal point to a family room or home work space.
- Table Top Fountains filter sounds like computer noise, a refrigerator hum, or next room telephone conversations.
- Table Top Fountains provide aromatherapy when candlelight is included in design.
Options include table fountains, floor fountains and wall water fountains. You can find a table top fountain to compliment your current decorative choices. Far more interesting than a table lamp and more appealing than a decorative candle holder, these conveniently sized fountains eliminate mundane. Easy to set up and even easier to maintain, space saving compact designs come in layered slate, granite sculpture, handcrafted wood, or any other material you desire.
| | REPLACING YOUR OLD WOOD DOUBLE HUNG WINDOWSWritten by John Rocco
REPLACING YOUR OLD WOOD DOUBLE HUNG WINDOWS Let's say you're tired of those old wood windows, and you decide it's time to upgrade to vinyl replacement windows. You get 2 or 3 contractors to come out and give you an estimate. After they leave, you can't believe windows can cost so much. I mean, having to get financing to replace your windows just doesn't seem right. Let me explain to you why windows are so expensive. You have to pay salary of salesman who comes over to give you your "free" estimate. Then, you have to pay salary of installers. Finally, you have to pay owner of company. In some cases there is a broker who acts as a middleman, and he or she gets a cut too. No wonder you need financing! Now, imagine if you already knew how to shop for windows, how to measure for new windows, how to remove old windows, and how to install new windows. You just eliminated everybody except owner. All of a sudden you can afford to replace your windows without taking out a loan! The next few articles are going to cover this process. This article is going to discuss proper way to measure for your double hung replacement windows. It's important to properly measure for your windows. If you order them too small, you're going to end up having to improvise in order to get them to work. Even if you do get them to work, you're probably going to have problems. And if you order them too big, you're really in trouble. Chances are you will be ordering more windows. So, measuring is very important. Fortunately, it's also very simple. We are dealing with old double hung wood windows here, so if that doesn't apply to you, don't worry. Future articles will discuss other types of windows. In case of wood sash windows, you want to measure width first, and height second. When you go shopping for windows, always give dimensions as WIDTH X HEIGHT. To measure your width, you want to pull a tape measure from top right corner to top left corner. Measure in that 1 1/2" pocket that window frame slides in. Measure to sixteenth of an inch. Do same thing at about midway point,right above where window locks. Then, raise bottom sash and take same measurement at bottom. If you can't raise window for whatever reason, go outside and measure from there. You will have to remove screen though. The majority of time all three of those measurements will be same. If they're not same, use SMALLEST measurement. Now subtract 1/4" from that measurement. This is your width for new window. The height is a bit tricky. If your window sill outside slopes downward for water drainage, you have to make sure that you measure from HIGHEST Point of sill. You want to measure from top right corner to bottom right corner. Put your tape at top where upper sash closes. If bottom has a 5/8" high inside wood sill piece to prevent water from coming inside, you need to raise bottom sash and run tape past 5/8" sill and down to high point of sloped sill. Do this in middle and on left. Once again, take smallest measurement, but this time deduct 3/16". This is your height. If you order your windows using these dimensions,they will fit right in, and leave just enough room to adjust if needed. The final step is to measure depth of pocket where both sashes slide. By depth, i mean from point outside where top sash rests against outside wood stop to point inside where inside sash rests against inside stop. This measurement should be between 3 1/4"- 3 1/2". The reason you need to know this dimension is because not all replacement windows have a 3 1/4" depth frame. You want a replacement window that's going to fit right into existing pocket of wood frame. If you purchase a window with a 2 5/8" frame depth, you're going to have approximately 3/4" to fill. That means buying new wood stops for inside of house that are 3/4" wider than existing stops. Get 3 1/4" frames and save yourself a lot of extra work. Now, if you're on a really tight budget, lower grade windows will be 2 5/8" frame, and you will have to get wider trim. But that's something you should weigh in your mind, whether money saved on lesser grade window is worth extra expense and time of installing new stops around inside of all your windows.
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