Maybe you aren’t the kind of person who keeps a strict family budget or regularly balances a checkbook. But if you plan to risk your savings on a half-million-dollar new home, it’s time to start acting more like an accountant. You need to develop a budget and stick to it closely. If you borrow money […]
How Resilient Is Your Home?
Rolling blackouts in California and utility outages in flood-ravaged regions have focused renewed attention on resilient architecture, designing homes that bounce back from major storms and operate independently. Could you still live in your house if the power went out and gas wasn’t available? It’s an increasingly vital issue to contemplate, one addressed in my […]
How to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse
We’ve probably all felt buyer’s remorse at some point in our lives. Sometimes, we wish we’d spent a little more to get the stereo systems of our dreams or a tailored dress that fits perfectly. And sometimes, we wish we’d spent a lot less. A five-year commitment to a $450 monthly payment for a German […]
10 Tricks of the Design Trade
You may not notice them when first glancing at a house design, but designers often employ tricks of the trade to make their homes look larger, live better, and go together more economically. The touches could be as subtle as a raised vanity that allows you to run tile to the wall in case you […]
How Windows Perform in Hurricanes
The United States gets hit by roughly the same number of hurricanes each year. But they are growing in intensity, thanks to higher level of moisture in the lower atmosphere. In 2017, two Category 4 hurricanes struck U.S. shores. The next year, Michael made landfall along the Gulf of Mexico with Category 5 force with […]
How to Pick the Right Builder
The most important decision you make when building a new home is selecting your builder. Nothing can make or break the home-building experience like the builder you choose. Some people spend years in their new house cursing a builder who cut corners or cost them a fortune by failing to do things right the first […]
How To Reduce Your Phantom Power Consumption
When your TV, computer, cellphone charger, and other appliances are plugged in, they are quietly using electricity. The federal government estimates that phantom power consumption accounts for 5 to 10 percent of residential energy use, costing the average household $100 per year. Because I test most the products in the exhibit at home, my “useless” […]
Reviewing Major Home Automation Protocols
Major Home Automation Protocols This is another question that gets asked a lot at the Life-Changing Products Exhibit: What’s the difference between the major home automation protocols? Here’s a quick rundown of the major technologies and how they work. Wi-Fi. Many new gadgets to hit the market rely on your home Wi-Fi network. They typically […]
A Quick Look at the Major Home Automation Protocols
Products in the Life-Changing Products Exhibit use a variety of automation protocols. Here’s a look at the most popular ones and how they differ
Simple Tactics to Protect Your Online Identity
Here are some tools that you can use to protect your online identity