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Stucco is an amazing exterior and interior finish and has been used in construction for centuries for good reason. Stucco comes in a variety of finishes, textures and colors. Installed properly by the right people, it is a cost effective and durable finish that should last, with proper maintenance, for the life of your home. Does your stucco need repairs or do you just want to give your home a new look?
Older homes may already be finished in Stucco but often homeowners choose to “update” the look of their home by having a more “current” texture installed over the existing texture. Perhaps your home is an older style, block or wood sided home. Updating with a stucco finish can add value and a new, more current look.
Colored and synthetic stucco finishes can eliminate the need to:
- Repaint your home as the color is built into the finish
- Save you valuable time and money searching for and hiring another contractor to paint your home
In these tough economic times, more and more people are choosing to stay in their current home, maximizing it to the fullest by updating and sprucing it up. It just makes good economic sense.
Repair and maintenance of existing stucco is often overlooked but is extremely vital to ensuring your stucco finish endures.
Stucco, being a cement product, will develop:
- “Hairline” cracks
- Holes in the finish occurring from external sources
Both of these should be repaired in a timely manner and in a proper fashion to save expensive repair costs down the road.
Repair of stucco and the “blending” of textures into the surrounding finish is an art and should be done correctly by professionals the first time, saving you the expense and hassle of a return trip to fix an unsightly “bad repair”.
Article submitted by: Associated Finishes, Inc.
Associated Finishes, Inc., over 45 years of experience call us today at: 602-889-9720 or visit the website at: : http://www.tofixit.com/phoenix/index.php/stucco-new-repair-associated-finishes/
Ensuring that it is done correctly the first time saves you, the homeowner, time and money.
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Because we live in the Sonoran Desert, we do not have plentiful supply of fresh water and must use water wisely. An easy and affordable solution to our limited water supply is to landscape with decorative rock and boulders. In doing so, homeowners can lower the total cost of ownership, minimize their carbon footprint and cut down significantly on the maintenance required for yard upkeep. It is believed that an average Arizona homeowner can save up to $1500 or 500,000 gallons of water each spring and summer by transitioning to a waterless yard. While flowering plants and lush lawns are considered the highlight of many landscapes, it is important to remember that other topography materials are available which add to the beauty and function of a front or backyard without the costly water consumption. In addition, using decorative rock and boulders is a fun easy way to add a splash of color to your landscape.
Thinking about removing your grass and considering decorative rock as your primary ground cover? Are you in a quandary about how much crushed granite to purchase?
As a general rule, your layer of top dressing should be 2-3 inches thick. This will help to reduce water evaporation and weed growth and provide consistent coverage with less chance of developing bare spots in the future. First measure the total area of your yard to be covered with granite by taking the length and width of the area. Typically one ton of granite covers about 120 square feet; this is not always the case but you call us to get a tonnage quote, especially if you have an odd shaped area.
Before you get started, here are a few tips for choosing the best decorative rock.
- What overall effect are you trying to achieve
- Match the color of your house
- Provide a bit of contrast
- Natural look
- More stylized look
- Blend with a common neighborhood landscape theme or something different
- Top dressing with decorative rock is a lot like painting your home
- Colors and textures may look different when they cover a large surface area
- Varying light conditions
- Consider your maintenance style
- Some types of crushed granite are easier to rake and contour than others
- Certain kinds and colors of decorative rock can easily minimize the appearance of plant litter
Once you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, visit a rock yard and collect samples of crushed granite, different types of decorative rock, boulders and materials to take home for comparison purposes later. Last but not least, apply them in a real landscape situation before making your final selection.
Article submitted by: All Rock Supply, Inc. a second generation family-owned and operated landscape rock supply company providing quality landscape products at competitive prices.
Call us today at: 602-456-8234 or visit their website at: http://www.tofixit.com/phoenix/index.php/decorative-gravel-rock-supply/
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The pool industry is a difficult place to find answers these days. It seems like everyone knows a little bit about their pool but when a problem arises they go to the professionals for answers and confusion sets in. You can ask ten “pool pros’” the same question and you might get ten completely different answers. Well that can happen because they are not pool pros at all; they know just enough to be dangerous costing the pool owner hundreds in the long run. What should you be looking for? Who are the pool pros?
Arizona is one of those markets where, if you have a truck and a pole, shazzamm, you are a pool pro. There are very little regulations concerning the pool industry and very little training in the trade. Your pool is actually an expensive piece of equipment that has been created through a CAD program using math. What is the CAD program? For those who don’t know what a CAD program is; CAD is a software program that engineers and architects use when designing items that use hydraulics and load. The program will calculate the size of pipe and distance to figure what size pump needs to be installed to drive the correct amount of water efficiently and what size filter to handle the volume of water being treated. Well the correct answer is leaving your pool alone. Do not reinvent the wheel; let the CAD program do the work for you. If you currently have a 1 hp pump and the pump is down, replace it with the same product, in this case, a 1 hp pump. Another example, if you have a in floor cleaning system (pop-ups) and it breaks , don’t let someone talk you in to buying a suction cleaner to plug into you skimmer because the “pool guy” thinks your current system is a piece of junk. In this case all you have created is more problems. By installing a suction cleaner into you system, you are not getting the correct flow through the filter not allowing you to turn the water at the right rate (crucial for turning the water) and you have added more pressure cutting your pumps life in half. This can be a costly investment later down the road.
There might be variations in water chemistry on what brand of chemicals to use but the fundamentals are the same. Keeping the pH and alkalinity properly adjusted is essential for swimming pools. By keeping up on the pool chemistry, you will insure:
- The sanitizer being used is going to be the most effective
- The pool surface will have a nice long life
- The equipment is not corroded with TDS (total dissolved solids) build up
- Most importantly so you and your family have a safe enjoyable experience
Not every body of water is the same and you don’t necessarily have the same answer to treat them all the same however, the fundamentals are the same.
Depending on the foliage and the water supply will determine what kind of special chemicals to use:
- Algaecides
- Phosphate removers
- Calcium removers
- Shock, etc
Article submitted by: Azul Pool & Spa Services.
Call them today at 602-507-4270 so they can share their knowledge with you to maximize your swimming pools enjoyment and hopefully save you money in the long run by getting the correct advice or visit: http://www.tofixit.com/phoenix/index.php/pool-cleaning/.
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OK. You are ready to clean the screens on your home. You want yours to look like your neighbor’s. Grab a flat head and Phillips screwdriver and remove all the screens. One is for turning screws and one for careful prying. The black tabs on the bug screens indicate the way in which you want to push the screens. Push the opposite way of the tabs so that they come free of the tracks they sit in. Sunscreens are easy to remove and are self-explanatory. Separate them so that you can recall where they go and no more than three high, stacking them on a hard flat surface. Read on to learn how and what the pros recommend making this a much easier task.
You will need the following items:
- Broom
- Tide with bleach alternative
- A stack of clean hand towels
Mix one cap-full of Tide to four gallons of water. Start with the first stack of three screens: scrubbing the top screen. Stacking them saves on the amount of mix needed to do all the screens. You will need to scrub the sunscreens more vigorously. Scrub, flip and repeat on each screen. When a single bug screen is done, lightly tap the bug screen on the ground to remove excess soap. Lean the bug screen on a fence and snap a towel against the bug screen flicking the soap away. Then use a dry towel to polish both sides of the bug screen. To remove the soap and dirt from a sunscreen you will need to be more persuasive with a garden hose and nozzle. Set the nozzle on fan. Most important is to remember that both types of screens do not like a lot of pressure against the screens themselves. Any excessive pushing against the screens will result in sagginess. Let the screens dry thoroughly and hang. But, if all that seems daunting 5 Star Window Care would be happy to do the laborious task for you contact them at 602-889-9708 or visit the website at: http://www.tofixit.com/phoenix/index.php/window-washing/.
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When your A/C is working in the car it is great. However, when it starts blowing that warm air or quits working and it is hot outside, the cause can be difficult to pinpoint. The smallest of leaks can cause the air to work for a short period of time and then go out again. This can be very frustrating to you and your mechanic.
A great deal of the time the culprit is an issue with the Freon gas, which can’t be seen and is odorless. The air-conditioning system is in the engine system and even runs into the dashboard inside of your car, which entails a lot of connections, and/or fittings where a small leak can result.
However, there is hope. There is a tool that indicates when the refrigerant is in the air by creating an audible beeping sound. It beeps louder and quicker when it is placed near a leaking source.
Some of the problems with this tool are:
- Freon may already be low to get a proper reading
- Moving the prove too fast over a small leak
- Leak detector needs time to really sample the air
Find an expert knowing that the job will be tested thoroughly and fixed right the first time. Call 602-863-4948 or visit the website at: http://www.tofixit.com/phoenix/index.php/auto-ac-repair/.
Be sure to visit the Coupon/Promotion section for this newsletter to view special discount offer.
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