Archives: Home Improvement

Are Carbon Credits A Good Idea?

By Todd Fratzel on Green Building

The recent Green movement in this country has been nice to see. I think the skyrocketing fuel costs have finally struck a nerve with folks and we’re starting to evaluate the choices we make on a daily basis. One of the interesting topics that I’ve been reading about lately is the sale and exchange of…

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Should you be your own general contractor?

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings

Should you be your own general contractor next time you do a major construction project around the house? Will being your own general contractor save you money? Will being your own general contractor save you time? Will being your own general contractor get you the best products for less money? These are questions I hear…

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$6,000 Kitchen Remodel Project Is Amazing

By Todd Fratzel on Home Improvement Cost Savings

The fine folks at This Old House asked me to share quite the kitchen remodeling success story with you. A young couple with children recently remodeled their 1970’s style kitchen into a beautiful new kitchen on a $6,000 budget! They were able to accomplish the amazing kitchen remodel by finding great deals on Craigslist and…

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Septic System Maintenance

By Todd Fratzel on Maintanence, Plumbing

Here in New Hampshire septic systems are the primary way of treating domestic waste water. In rural areas that don’t have municipal sewer systems a septic system is the best way to treat waste water. I designed our new septic system for the new home we just built and my wife often asks me questions…

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Oil Vs Propane For Heating

By Todd Fratzel on Air Conditioning

Oil Vs Propane This year I wrote about comparing the cost of heating with oil versus heating with propane. The two posts that I wrote, Heating – Propane Vs Oil and Oil Vs Propane Fuel Calculator have been read more than any other posts I’ve written. So I thought it would be interesting to mention…

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Wooden Swing Set is Finished

By Todd Fratzel on Product Reviews

Tonight I finally finished assembling the wooden swing set we bought for the kids. I can’t say enough good things about the quality of this set and the relative ease of construction. Don’t get ease confused with time consuming however! Our 3 yr old son is totally in love with this swing set. This set…

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Seamless Aluminum Gutters

By Todd Fratzel on Landscaping

Last week I had seamless aluminum gutters installed on the garage. When the house was first built I had them installed on the main house but I skipped on the garage to save some money. The reason I decided to put them on the garage was really two fold. The first was to keep the…

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Titanium Hammer Debate

By Todd Fratzel on Power Tools

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more carpenters using Titanium hammers like the one shown in this picture. Now my first reaction to this is are you kidding me, these things cost $200 and are about 45% lighter than steel. Now call me crazy but last time I checked force is equal to mass times…

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