Hello, my father is 49 and is always tinkering in the garden or working around the house fixing things. He also fixes my ford escort 97 for me and has saved me thousands of dollars on repairs. He won’t accept any money for it even to my insistance. I know he is having some money issues right now so I would like to get him something useful. Also, he babysits for me whenever I need him Im an only child. HaHa I work as a pediatric nurse and am attending school so he babysits for me when I can’t find a sitter just so I can work on my bachelors. He really is a great guy. His clothes are all hand me downs and he just keeps fixing up old things to where they look new again. I was thinking maybe a gift certificate? Any ideas where?
homeimprovement (he owns nothing new)
clothes (again nothing new)
I am clueless
One idea I had was a computer. He doesnt want or own one but is required now to learn for his job and someone gave hime thier old one with no cd or dvd just floppy?!? LOL Would it be appropriate to get him a new computer? If its too expensive he wont take it.
Thanks sorry so long.
Also, I know I put this in the wrong section but I just wanted a guy’s point of view, not a bunch of housewives. So, what would you really like as a thank you / birthday gift from your daughter?

an air compressor so he can use pnematic tools about $200.
Get something like 150 PSI @ 15 to 30 CFM (cubic feet per minute) because you want to have continios air pressure when you you are at losening the bolts. Get a set of rachet like air gun. Sears is always having a good sale.

Going to get my home appraised soon. It’s a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom two story house with no basement and a two car garage. I was wondering what kind of upgrades or additions could I to do add the most value to my home. I’m planning on adding central air. Aside from that what will add the most value for the least amount of work or cost.

When you say you are planning to add ‘central air’, I hope you mean air conditioning and NOT warm air central heating, that is notorious for causing chest infections and chesty coughs as it recycles bacteria pumping hot air around the house, better off going for conventional radiators or underfloor heating depending on size of rooms to be heated (check with proffessional fitters).
As you have a double garage, that would be good scope for adding another bedroom(s), it wouldn’t be as cheap an addition as say a conservatory, but always more desirable for future value, whereas a conservatory won’t add much value as house prices are going to be more appraised on their practical size rather than luxury features in the future. Well applied budget decorating and paint in the right places to create a blank canvas for proposed buyers (magnolia or pure brilliant white) to create light and airiness will maintain the value of your house, and make the garden as big as you can by ejecting unneccessary stuff from it and again creating more space with plain, simple layouts.

Do i include any existing, untouched, parts of the home in the estimate of sq metres for costing purposes ? What is an average price per square metre ? The home is a wooden free-standing cottage built of wood in inner-west sydney

multiply length by width of said structure..that is your square meters… this is called "floor space they not wall space….if you want wall space..you measure each wall(usally 4 walls will be same measurement) heighth X length is the formula….total all walls if it is wall area you need…then add them together..the cost per sm..well that totally depends on what you are going to do with it..differnet paint finishes, floorings, tile etc..good luck

We are building a web-site and I would like to know what you guys think about the most important thing in the web-site.

What is the most important thing you would tell your customers about your home-renovation business? What makes you stand out from the crowd? Since they can hire anybody, why should they hire you? Those are the kinds of questions that your website must answer. A friend of mine once told me any website should answer three questions: Can you help me with my problem? How can I contact you? and How much will it cost? You should also include (with permission) some before and after pictures of homes you have renovated.(along with testimonials) This will give customers a good idea of your capabilities. If you would like to discuss this at more length, please contact me.

I am a very avid fan of Chihuly’s work. I have a skylight and would like to install about 6 or 7 medium to large glass colored flowers into it- very similar to the work that Chihuly did for the Bellagio. I understand that it is expensive and even more difficult to have it done in a timely matter. Does anyone know any quality glass artists who do similar work?

Peter Greenwood

My wife and I want to completely renovate two bathrooms in a home we are purchasing. There are just too many local choices to choose from. Are there any nationwide chains out there? In particular, ones that offer financing?

Nationwide chains hire local contractors to do the work. You are paying a "middleman" fee for using them.

Hi, just wondering if anyone knows of any Home Repair Grants…..i would love to fix my mobile home to make it more air tight…..im spending to much money on heating bills and i have kids to think of, so if you can help me please let me know. I would like to fix my roof windows and other things to make it warmer. Thanks
thanks, ive done that already and they will come out but im looking for something where they can help me with the roof and bottom insulation

some states have a home weatherization programs to help low income house holds weather proff their homes check with your local department of human services office and they can get you the number you need

I want to hire a Contractor for my next home improvement project from my local area? where i find the best resources, can anybody help out?

Instead of searching for contractors, through conventional methods such as yellow pages and asking friends etc, you can now directly find them online by signing up at free of cost. Home owners can post their projects at free of cost. Looking at the projects Local contractors will bid on them.

We are moving into a new place this year and are working on one floor at a time. The top floor is almost finished, the walk out basement needs a lot of work. My husband is only home for 2 wks out of the month so he can’t do it all himself. Here comes the questions!

How hard is it to install laminate flooring? I’d like to do it at the very least in the master bedroom and maybe in the kids rooms too. I’ve been told its super easy. If I remember right it interlocks and I need a foam underlayment. What else is needed? How hard is this for a newbie to do? It’s a totally square or rectangular room with nothing to cut around.

We need to put the walls up inside of the basement still and my husband wanted to do paneling because it’s faster. I hate paneling! I want to sheetrock the whole thing. He doesn’t want to take the time to tape and texture the whole thing (it’s just not his favorite thing to do). So again, as a newbie, how hard can this be?? Just the tape and texture part of things. Time isn’t an issue for me.

All good advice is greatly appreciated!!

Please and thank you!

Laminate is easy once you get an idea on how to do it. All you ll need is a table saw, hammer,possible jig saw.. Read up on it a bit and get a gf who also wants to try it and you ll learn together.. Make it a girls day or two.. 1st 2/3 rows are the most challenging but once you have it started it s a breeze.If it s like you say and a basic room snap all the short ends together for a row including the end cuts and w/ 2 people you can snap a whole row in at once.Pick up a tapping block which comes w/ a tapping bar , it ll come in handy to tap the row in place.. You ll know when it goes together..Tapping block kit 15/20$ and it ll last for years, I ve had mine for years and easily install 100 000 s/f w/ it ..GL

Learn how long to run your automatic sprinkler system from a home repair professional in this free online DIY home improvement video.

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