| Tips
When to Replace Common Household Items
Yahoo Finance! cited SmartMoney.com's Kelli B. Grant's article about when and why to replace Common Household Items. "Nothing lasts forever. That said, many items are less obvious than the spoiled milk in your fridge — there's no expiration date or other obvious signs they have outlived their use. So how long should you let your stuff linger before replacing it? Kelli talked to the experts and nailed down a "best by" date for, well, just about everything."
Homecare Made Easy—from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
If you are looking for well researched and unbiased professional advice concerning your home, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) publishes a monthly e-Newsletter filled with practical tips and helpful advice, providing current and topical information relating to a wide variety of home ownership interests. This month's newsletter contains articles on correcting moisture and odour problems, easy steps to maintaining your Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV), ice dams or condensation causing roof problems in your home and a CMHC clean air guide. You can subscribe to the English version by going here.
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U.S. Department of Energy Guide to Energy-Efficient Windows, Doors and Skylights
Energy-efficient windows, doors and skylights—also known as fenestration—can help lower a home's heating, cooling and lighting costs. Learn about their energy performance ratings and how to maximize their energy efficiency in your home:
• Exterior Doors: Select energy-efficient doors or improve the energy efficiency of existing ones.
• Skylights: Select energy-efficient skylights.
• Windows: Select energy-efficient windows or improve the energy efficiency of existing ones.
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Springtime Signals Home Improvement Season
(ARA) Homeowners have high hopes, but lack time and money. With warmer weather just around the corner, homeowners are dusting off their home improvement to-do lists and finding that a large number of projects fell through the cracks in 2006. A recent homeowner survey showed that 61% of respondents didn’t get around to all the home improvements they had planned for 2006; many neglected their home exterior and outdoor space the most. Although 60% of the homeowners surveyed said they would like to spend more time relaxing outdoors, more than half said they don’t have time to tackle a big project. In addition, the homeowners’ survey conducted by the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA) indicated that 41% of homeowners anticipated a home renovation would be too expensive. You can register and see the full article here.
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News
Recalls and Product Safety News
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products. You can find information on over 4,000 product recalls and recall alerts up to and including February 2007 using the various searches on their page found here.
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Fast Facts
• Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women.
• Reindeer enjoy eating bananas.
• By current calculations the center of a super massive black hole would be the size of a spec of dust. But that spec of dust would weigh 3 million times more than our sun.
• When you sneeze your breath is expelled at more than 100 miles an hour.
• When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot at a millionth of a second!
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