fall home improvement 2012

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FALL HOME IMPROVEMENT 2012

Ted Poggi of Prudential, Poggi & Jones Realtors in Kingston had aclient whose home wasn’t selling for the past two years. Suddenlythe client went in, did a little work, and now Poggi is already see-ing more interested buyers. • When it comes to home improve-ment, sometimes the name of the game is selling the house. Im-mediately or eventually. • There are certain things homeownerscan do, he said, to make that sale happen so much more quickly.

“He went in, and he paintedthe walls, put in new floors andlights, new kitchen counters,because they were yellow, andnow it looks like a millionbucks,” Poggi said. “Not onlywill people be more inclined tolook at it, but we’ve been able toraise the price on it.”

One of the biggest things toconsider when readying a homefor sale is the state of the walls.

“A fresh coat of paint alwayshelps when selling a home,” Sal-ly Rothstein, sales services di-rector at Lewith & Freeman Re-al Estate in Kingston, said.“Keeping the color neutral ap-peals to more buyers.”

“The Wells Fargo foreclosuredepartment recommends some-thing called white boxing,where they come in and paint anentire house freshly white or off-white to make a clean palette,”Poggi said.

“Neutral colors invite peopleto more envision their own fur-nishings there,” Ann Marie

Chopick, owner of Bell Real Es-tate in Kingston, said. “Colorslike red, navy and even orange,which I’ve recently seen, tend tomake a prospective buyer lookat it and say ‘Oh, this will nevergo with what I have.’ Somethingneutral also opens a room up,makes it more spacious. Darkcolors make a room look small-er.”

Neutral doesn’t have to meanboring.

“People think neutral andthink beige and white, but evena nice light gray would work,”Christine Kutz, real-estate asso-ciate at J. J. Mantione Appraisaland Realty in Wyoming, said.“You also don’t have to do thehouse all one color. You canmake beige look quite attrac-tive, with contrasting trim col-ors.”

Colored walls might be OK tokeep but in rare instances.

“It’s probably one in 20houses that a homeowner isliving in that’s decorated

nicely, where the colors of therooms are freshly painted andcoordinated with the interiordecor,” Poggi said. “The safe-st thing to do is neutralize thecolors.”

Poggi also recommended re-moving the once-popular trendof wallpaper, saying it’s some-thing most people don’t like tosee.

The next thing to do is lookdown.

“Any type of stained carpet-ing has to go,” Kutz said. “A niceneutral, middle-grade carpetwill do as a replacement.”

Lighting also is a big factor.“I always tell a seller when

they’re showing to have all thelights on in the house so it’s niceand bright,” Kutz said. “Peoplewalking into a bright househave a more positive reaction asopposed to walking into a dun-geon, even though it could be alovely dungeon.”

Sometimes it takes steppingoutside the view of your home

to notice an area that needs tidy-ing.

“I’ve seen it before where aneighboring property will havean effect on the way potentialbuyers see a home,” said BobKopec, vice president of sales atHumford Realty in Wilkes-Barre. “If you’re on good termswith your neighbor I’d suggesttalking to them about taking thegarbage cans to the back or reel-ing up that hose that’s just lay-ing around, getting rid of clut-ter.”

Always try to see things froma buyer’s point of view.

“A vast majority of buyersdon’t want to have to do any-thing with the home initiallyonce it’s theirs,” Poggi said.“They work, they’re busy, and

oftentimes after closing theyhave no money left over for sup-plies like painting.”

First impressions only hap-pen once.

“Keep your landscape up. Cutyour lawn, trim the shrubs,make that initial drive up to thehome a stunning one,” Chopicksaid.

“You have one chance to makea first impression,” Kutz said,“so you want to have the houseput its best foot forward.”

Fix it up and close the dealBy SARA POKORNY

[email protected]

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Go ahead, spill some ketchupon the carpet. Heck, make it aglass of red wine. And then wedare you to leave it there for aweek. The horrors, no? Well, notanymore.

“If you came back to it after aweek and used just water, noteven any chemical cleaner, thatstain would come right out,”Hussein Kazimi, vice president atM. Abraham Flooring on MarketStreet in Wilkes-Barre, said ofMohawk flooring’s newest prod-uct.

SmartStrand is a type of carpetthat Mohawk guarantees is re-sistant to stains and can stand upto “kids, pets, rhinos, and ele-phants,” according to the compa-ny website. All of this, and not abit of comfort is sacrificed.

“It’s pretty much the softestcarpet on the market,” Kazimisaid.

It’s also at a reasonable pricerange, coming in at $3.50 persquare foot installed, with pad-ding.

The carpet is made with Du-

Pont Sorona renewably sourcedpolymer that is built directly intothe fiber during manufacturing,not put on afterward. Therefore,it’ll never wash or wear off.

M. Abraham has plenty of car-peting from which to choose,mainly falling into three catego-ries: plush, a very soft texturethat provides some cushion;frieze, carpet made from twistedfibers; and berber, carpet that islooped and creates a low-nap,perfect for high traffic areas.

A two-type hybrid also gives anextra design edge.

“The mixture of plush and loopcarpeting gives a bit of design,texture,” Kazimi said. “There aremany types that create a wavypattern that’s become popular.”

Though carpeting is an optionwith plenty of choices, Kazimisaid, hardwood flooring is stillthe most popular way to outfit aroom. A hardwood look can be ac-complished through install-it-yourself flooring, which makesthings easier for the ambitioushomeowner.

“The pieces just click togeth-er,” Kazimi said. “It floats.

There’s no adhesives or staplesrequired. You just roll out a padand install the floor on top of it.”

The pieces are engineeredhardwood that Kazimi said ismade up of several pieces of parti-cle board with a top piece of solidveneer.

“A lot of people have radiantheat in homes where there’s a

heated floor, and you can’t putsolid wood on top of a heatedfloor because it’ll cup; you needto keep wood at a certain temper-ature. With the engineered piec-es, the particle board expandsand contracts, but that top piecewon’t.”

This type of floor also is morehelpful with a concrete base,

which won’t allow for stapling ofa solid piece of wood. Instead,these can be glued down.

Recently, porcelain pieces thatlook like wood also have becomea top-notch option.

Daltile provides porcelain piec-es that come in a color range fromvery light wood to black stained.The pieces not only look but feellike wood.

“If you run your hand over ityou can actually feel a wood-grainquality to it,” Kazimi said.

Floor tiles, porcelain or not, al-so are getting an update in theway that they’re laid out.

“You can get, say, four differ-ent-sized tiles in a layout,” Kazi-mi said, pointing to a Daltile dis-play in the store. “This one hastiles in (inches of) 24 by 24, 12 by24, 6 ½ by 6 ½ and 13 by 13.They’re placed in different ways,and that pattern is repeated overand over on the floor.”

No matter what, Kazimi said,flooring is a matter of personaltaste.

“We have a lot of different flooroptions to choose from, and peo-ple come in to look at them all.”

So many new options for what lies beneathBy SARA [email protected]

CLARK VAN ORDEN/THE TIMES LEADER

Flooring choices are endless these days. These porcelain tiles arealmost a hybrid: They take on the look and feel of a wood floor.

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When it became clear that al-lergies would prevent Nancy B.Westfall’s infant daughter fromhaving a rug in her room, the At-lanta-based artist turned insteadto paint, a few stencils and a plan.Westfall used the baby’s bed-

room floor like a canvas, paintingon a diamond-shaped pattern fora custom look you simply can’tachieve with a child’s area rug.Eleven years and another houselater, she remains a fan of bring-ing floors to life with color in-stead of covering them up.“They look pretty refinished,

and they look even better paint-ed,” Westfall says.You don’t have to be a profes-

sional artist likeWestfall to do it,though proponents of paintingthe floor say it does require pa-tience and nerve.Rachel Cannon Lewis, an inte-

rior designer in Baton Rouge,La., encourages clients to consid-er it. Painting a floor, whether it’swoodor concrete, can bemore af-

fordable than tile, carpet or otherfloor coverings, she says.And in homes that date back

more than a century, paintedfloors are more historically accu-rate: Back then, people frequent-ly painted theirwide, plankwoodfloors to protect them fromwarp-ing, Lewis says.

Plus, painting just looks good.“I’m starting to think of the

floor as the sixth wall,” says Le-wis, who considers floors “anoverlooked opportunity to getcreative and introduce color.”(The “fifth wall,” by the way, isthe ceiling).Painting floors yourself can be

a lengthy process, Lewis says.The thin, oil-based paint she rec-ommends requires multiplecoats, with lengthy dry times be-tween each one. Getting fancierby, say, creating a pattern withpaint or a stencil, requires evenmore patience and precision.Even if you hire a professional

painter, however, “You have to bewilling to embrace the idea thatit’s going to be a different solu-tion than what most people tellyou to do,” Lewis says.“There are going to be friends

that come over who don’t get it,and yourmom is not going to getit,” she says. “But I love the noto-riety that comeswithpushing theenvelope and going for it.”Painted floors are not as dura-

ble as some of the alternatives,especially in high-traffic areas,says Sidney Wagner, a Charles-ton, S.C., interior designer.“Over time, even with polyu-

rethane, they will show scratch-es, and the paint will scratch off,”she says. “However, a tip to helpcombat your floors from looking

too shabby is to paint a contrast-ing layer of color underneath. Sowhen that second layer of colorcomes through with the scratch-es, the marred floors will lookplanned with your colorscheme.”Carol Charny, a Larchmont,

N.Y.-based interior designer, sayspainting floors requires a bit ofthrowing caution to the wind.“You can do anything you

want. The world is your oyster,”she says. “You just have to disen-gage from fear.”In the home-interiors shop she

used to own, Charny used blackandwhite paint tomake the floorlook like it was covered with anarea rug, complete with fringe.She warns that the margin for

error grows with the project’scomplexity. “You’re not going topaint an Oriental rug,” she says.On the other hand, the beauty

of using paint is that, if some-thing goes awry, you can cover itup.“You have to relax,” she says.

“It’s only paint.”

Painted floors give a pop of color, patternBy DIANA MARSZALEKFor The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Atlanta artist Nancy B. Westfall painted a whimsical floor in herdaughter’s bedroom.

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People are drawn to a fire,whether they’re roasting marsh-mallows around a campfire insummer or cuddling up near thefireplace in the dead of winter.

And just as you take precau-tions outdoors, there are thingsyou should do to make sure yourfireplaces and chimneys are safe.

Firesbuilt in fireplacesorwoodstoves leave a gummy residue,called creosote, that can stick tothe lining of your chimney. Creo-sote — created by soot, smoke,gases and other particles — isflammable and can be the sourceof a dangerous chimney fire.

Between 2005 and 2008, an av-erage 26,900 fires annually wereblamed on fireplaces, chimneysor chimney connectors, accord-ing to the Consumer ProductSafety Commission.

Experts recommend thatchimneys be inspected each yearby a certified chimney sweep andcleaned if necessary. Cost canrange from $100 to $300 or more.

Cleaning a chimney is not a do-it-yourself project, says Kit Sel-zer, a senior editor at BetterHomes and Gardens. It’s a dirtyjob, and it can be risky, especiallyif you have to climb onto the roof.

Chimney sweeps are trained todetermine whether chimneys arestructurally sound and whether

they need to be cleaned, said Ash-ley Eldridge, education directorfor the Chimney Safety Instituteof America. They also will makesure the chimney is up to code.

Selzer recommends thathomeowners use the institute’swebsite, www.csia.org , to selecta certified chimney sweep. To be-

come certified, a sweep mustpass two tests: one on the inspec-tion process and tools, and theother on the international resi-dential code, as it applies to chim-neys, Eldridge said.

“Each job is different,” saidChristina El-Hage, a certifiedsweep with Pride Clean ChimneySweeps in Bethesda, Md., butthere are some basics.

“We’re looking to make surethe flue is fully safe,” she said.“We’re making sure there are nothird-degree burns of creosote onthe lining.”

Chimney sweeps also check tosee if there are any birds or ani-mals in the chimney, or anythingthat would block the flow ofsmoke. They also check thatthere’s no water coming in.

Cleaning the chimney involvesremoving creosote.

When thinking of chimneys,El-Hage says, many people focuson the one attached to the fire-place. “Yes, they can catch on fire,but we’re not dealing with a dead-ly gas, carbon monoxide,” she

says, as is the case with chimneysleading from furnaces. Whetherthey burn oil or gas, furnacesvent carbon monoxide outside in-to the atmosphere, and thosechimneys, too, need to be in-spected.

You can take steps at home toreduce creosote buildup and therisk of a chimney fire.

Foremost is picking dry woodto burn, Eldridge said. To deter-mine whether wood is sufficient-ly dry, “take two pieces and bangthem together. You get almost aring as an indication its ready. Ifnot, it’s a dull thud,” he said.

Dry wood also will appear grayon the surface and have cracks onthe end.

Don’t throw pizza boxes or oth-er trash in the fireplace because itcauses a thicker smoke, whichlowers the chimney temperature.“The hotter the fire, the betterthe burn,” El Hage said.

While many people use a news-paper to start a fire, she recom-mends a fire log or fire starter in-stead.

First the chimney sweep, then the cozy fireBy CAROLE FELDMANAssociated Press Writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chimney Safety Institute of America certified Chimney SweepJeffery Peterson performs a visual inspection in Sterling, Va.

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7FALL HOME IMPROVEMENT 2012

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Ah, the old-fashionedfireplace.How cozy and ro-

mantic, you mightthink. How warm

and toasty.You’d be partly right.Certainly, those flickering

flames can enhance the ambi-ence of a room, and your spe-cial someone may well be im-pressed when you start theblaze.But you’d be wrong about the

warm and toasty part. A con-ventional wood-burning fire-place on the outside wall ofyour living room actually pullsheat out of your house andsends it up the chimney.To explore other options, we

recently visited Fireplace Gal-lery in Noxen, where you’ll findnot only fireplaces but coalstoves and stokers and such funaccessories as bellows, whichyou can use to blow air onto afire to help it burn.We chatted with owner Dan

Dembowski:Q: What kind of fireplaces

are the most popular?A: “We sell more gas-burning

than anything. It’s a combina-tion of ease and efficiency. Ourunits are decorative fireplaceswhich burn gas. Everything isfurnace rated because it’s doingwork, your furnace doesn’thave to.”Q: Can that reduce your ener-

gy bills?A: “From what we hear from

customer feedback, the gas billgenerally goes down.Q: Which rooms are the most

popular locations for a fire-place?A: “The family room, the

kitchen, a space you use morefrequently.”Q. What are some of the

styles?“There are traditional log

sets, contemporary glassmedia on the burner inside thefireplace, contemporary facedmodels and different doorstyles. We do custom, woodenmantel surrounds with tile ormarble inserts or possiblybrick or stone. It’s all done byFireplace Gallery employees.We don’t subcontract. That’snice for most people; they’reonly dealing with one appoint-

ment.”Q: Domost customers want a

fireplace for their own enjoy-ment, or to improve the resalevalue of their homes?A: “I think most people are

doing it for their own enjoy-ment. Once in a while I hear, ‘Iknow my house is going to sellbetter.’ ”Q. What if you had an old-

fashioned wood-burning fire-place on an outside wall andwanted to make it more effi-cient?A: “There are ways to install

fireplace inserts, which couldbe wood-burning, propane ornatural gas, wood pellets orcoal-burning. It can be done.

You can make it more efficientwithout sending heat up yourchimney.”

Enter a fiery, fashionable new worldBy MARY THERESE [email protected]

FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

This Lehigh coal-stoker stove is one of many models available atThe Fireplace Gallery in Noxen. People put them in any room in thehouse, staffer Bill Nichols said. ‘A lot of them go into bedrooms.’

This Regency fireplace insert is one of many models available atthe Fireplace Gallery in Noxen.

The Fireplace Gallery also of-fers ‘zero-clearance’ gas fire-places, which are used in placeswhere there is no existing fire-place. These metal fireplacesuse multi-layer construction sothey can safely be placed indirect contact (zero clearance)with combustible floors andwalls.

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As of June, Theresa Fiandaca was still coping with herdark, old kitchen. It was cramped, plagued by crackedwood and laid out so awkwardly she could barely ac-cess the corner cabinet.“The one in the corner, I could not use that space

without moving the garbage can and getting on myhands and knees,” said Fiandaca, who is delighted that her old kitchenis just a bad memory.When she retired as postmaster of the Blakeslee Post Office earlier

this year, Fiandaca treated herself to a renovated kitchen, completewith spiffy new cabinets and a granite countertop from Cabinetry &Stone Depot in Wilkes-Barre Township.

A wall has been removed, offering aview of the family room and making thewhole place brighter. The counter andcabinets are laid out efficiently, so shehas plenty of work space as well as roomfor her toaster oven and even a little ster-eo.“Since I retired, I have been really get-

ting into healthy cooking. I used to havejust no room for steaming stuff or cook-ing up vegetables, but now I do,” saidFiandaca, whowhipped up a fragrant ap-plepie lastweekonadayshewasexpect-ing visitors.The avid cook and baker lives just out-

side of Lehighton. So,what led her some40miles north to the Cabinetry& StoneDepot on Mundy Street?“I really did my homework,” she said.

“I got a lot of quotes; one was for$35,000.”UsingCabinetry&Stone, her total for

the new kitchen was less than $13,500,which includes the cost of the plumbershe hired to hook up the sink and installthe dishwasher as well as the electricianwho added recessed lighting. She kepther old floor and stove, while giving thewhole place a new look with the newcountertop, cabinets, backsplash and apretty wall mural.“I’mhere toworkwithyou,”Cabinetry

& Stone owner David Wong said, ex-plaininghecanoffer customersa savingsbecause he has a warehouse full of cabi-nets, counters, sinks and bathroom van-

ities, ready to go.Customerswon’t havedozensanddozens

of styles fromwhich tochoose, but theymaywell find something they really like amongthe burgundy maple, shaker maple, coffeemaple andcinnamonmaple styles available.“We focus on selling maples,” Wong said,

as he led a reporter on a tour of his storagearea. “I have 20,000 cabinets on hand. Theadvantage is lead time. We can install themin a week.“Wehave a crewof six, working six days a After she retired as postmaster of the Blakeslee Post Office, Theresa Fiandac

Barre Township. She loves cooking healthful meals and baking the occasional

KITCMAKE

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

Theresa Fiandaca’s new cabinets boast some attractive details.

Retired postmaster now h

Theresa Fiandaca, who lives just outsideof Lehighton, shows off a drawer that isa handy place to keep her spices.

See KITCHEN, Page 11

By MARY THERESE [email protected]

ROVEMENT 2012SPECIALSECTION,S

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ca treated herself to a new kitchen installed by Cabinetry & Stone Depot in Wilkes-apple pie now that she has more counter space.

CHENEOVER

has her dream cooking space

Cherry wood on the way out!Bamboo and walnut climb in pop-ularity! Lime green a great accent!Those are the kinds of headlines

you might read if you peruse indus-try publications to learn aboutkitchen trends.But, are they accurate for North-

eastern Pennsylvania? After all,this is where you and your neigh-bors might be pondering a way tospruce up your cooking-and-eatingspaces.“You know where we live,” said

Ben Wiernusz, a designer at TopValue Kitchens in Shavertown.“We’re not the high end of fashion.I think that’s kind of an honest takeon it.”So trends might start along one

of the coasts or in the larger citiesand eventually get here, said Wier-nusz, who agrees with the tradepublications that cherry wood is“seeing a little decline, mostly be-cause maple is the wood that getspainted, and paint is still on the up-

swing.“The bigger trends,” he said,

“are to paint colors away fromwhite.”“Gray is nationally being hyped

as the new color-tone range,” he

A pull-out faucet is considered asleek design element in an updatedkitchen.

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Colorful glass kitchen backsplashes are becoming popular along with light-ing underneath the cabinets and stainless-steel appliances.

WHAT’S HOT AND NOTIN THE COOKING SPOT

See TRENDS, Page 11

By MARY THERESE [email protected]

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week.”Fiandaca, for one, can’t say

enough about the crew who in-stalled her kitchen.

“He had some workers whowere unbelievable,” she said.“They had the best work ethicI’ve ever seen.”

“The cabinetswere installed inone day,” she marveled. “Onemore measurement for the coun-ter and the next week the granitewas in. The backsplash tile wasinstalled in one day, and theymade me really happy by install-ing (above the stove) the tile mu-ral I bought.

“All in all, the entire kitchenwas started and finished in twoweeks,” she said, explaining thatwas just in time for a visit fromher three teenage grandchildren.

One of the first things shecooked for themwas a roast. Andthe young visitors pitched in tohelp her make breakfast pan-cakes fromscratch, soalreadyherfamily is helping to create pleas-antmemories in the newkitchen.

“I love it,” she said.

KITCHENContinued from Page 8


Where there used to be a wall in the kitchen there is now an open area with a view of the family room,plus a countertop and bookshelves.

Everything is lighter, bright-er and more cheerful in thenew kitchen, including thenew cabinets.

Theresa Fiandaca said she waspleased with the work done byCabinetry & Stone Depot’screw, including the installationof this tile mural above herstove.

said. “There are lighter graysout there. One of our lineshas something called ‘battle-ship gray.’ There are evensome gray and charcoaly-type stains.”

What about bamboo andwalnut?

Actually, Wiernusz doesn’tsee much demand for walnutin kitchens because it is ahigher-priced wood. Hehasn’t seen much bamboo ei-ther but adds, “I’d like to. It’svery durable.”

As for color, he thinks thepopularity of lime greens andother citrus hues may catchon locally, perhaps in thebacksplash area of a kitchen.

“Backsplash areas tend tobe highly personalized withcolor and texture, things likethat,” he said.

One choice that is undenia-bly popular is more efficientlighting, “especially LEDlighting under the cabinets,”Wiernusz said. “It’s been veryquick to become popular.”

Another is a pull-out fau-cet, as opposed to the old-fashioned, standard, sepa-rate sprayer. “A lot of timesyou didn’t get as good a force(of water pressure) withthat,” he said, estimatingthat eight out of 10 newly in-stalled faucets are pull-outs.

When it comes to utilities,Wiernusz said, people are re-ally “looking for functionali-ty,” often deciding on gascooking surfaces becausethey’re easy to control andelectric ovens becausethey’re more precise.

TRENDSContinued from Page 9

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Somewhere, I’ll bet, there’s alittle kid who resists taking abath.But if you installed amosaicof fish and seahorses above thesoap dish, it might be hard to gethim out of the tub.Or maybe you’re trying to put

more fresh vegetables into yourown diet. A colorful backsplashof ceramic celery, carrots and to-matoes that looks good enoughto eat (courtesy of the Stovaxcompany in England) just mightinspire you to start slicing anddicing the real thing.Those are just a few thoughts

that occurred to me as I strolledthrough the showroom at TileDistributors of America on Mun-dy Street earlier this month, feel-ing somewhat awestruck by themyriad possibilities.Do you like to imagine you’re

standing under a natural water-fall when you’re in the shower?There are wall tiles that suggestthat cascading movement, and –even better, as far as I’m con-

cerned – there are shower floorscomposed of smooth pebbles, soyou can really get the tactile sen-sation of standing in a brook asyou grip your toes around them.Fleur-de-lis, seashells, dia-

mond shapes – I knew they werepart of the world of tile before Ivisited.But, oh, I had no idea that a

three-dimensional turtle or par-rot might appear ready to crawlor fly out of a tile.“People would use those as ac-

cent pieces,” Tile Distributorsstaffer Sandy Giza said, no doubtdeducing from my starry eyesthat I was imagining entire wallsfilled with zoo creatures.The little turtles and other

creatures are made in America,handcrafted by the Seneca com-pany, Giza said.And a look at Seneca’sWeb site

reveals the company uses histor-ic beehive kilns, old glaze recipesandhumanhands to “beat clay in-to wooden molds.”That all sounds charming, as

does the testimony from Epro

Inc. of Westerville, Ohio, whichdeclares, “We are proud of theway we treat the environment byusing clays sourced within 100

miles of our facility.”A trip to the Tile Distributors

showroom will make you realizethepossibilities seemtocontinue

forever.You can make part of your

Freshen up rooms with trendy tilesBy MARY THERESE [email protected]


Feast your eyes on a wall of tiles displayed at Tile Distributors of America on Mundy Street in Wilkes-Barre Township.

See TILE, Page 13

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American Florim • Emil Ceramica • SenecaSummitville • Florida • Wedi • Perma Base • Porcelanosa

Ragno • Akdo • Epro • Original StylesTEC • Mediterranea • Metropol • Casa dolce Casa

Jeffery Court • Oceanside GlassGlazzio Glass Tile • Tiles by Fran

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house look like a Mediterraneanmosaic, install tile with the lookof wood, or use colorful diamondshapes to create the look of a me-dieval heraldryYou can even find tiles – these

are from Epro – adorned with atiny bear and a tiny canoe andlooking as if they’d feel quite athomenear the fireplace in a hunt-ing lodge or man cave.

TILEContinued from Page 12


This Stovax tile of tropical fish swimming in the sea is one of manylikely to capture your imagination when you visit Tile Distributorsof America in Wilkes-Barre Township.

Botany Bay, an Australian tile manufacturer, supplies pebbles forthat natural look and feel.

This eye-catching tile is called‘Lilac.’

Epro tiles accented by a bearand a canoe could add interestto a hunting cabin or man cave. The grapes spilleth over in this distinctive piece from Florida Tiles.

This colorful, three-dimensionaltile from the British companyStovax mimics a basket of fruit.

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Are your windows leaking air? Are they getting more diffi-cult to open? Is the wood frame rotting?Homeowners choose to replace their windows for a va-

riety of reasons, from energy efficiency to aesthetics.“It might be the seals have failed or the wood has rot-

ted,” said Kerry Haglund, senior research fellow at the Center for Sus-tainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota.

Or homeowners might be looking to re-place leaky windows to keep heat or airconditioning in, or theymight want addedUV protection to protect furniture fromfading in the sunlight.No matter what the motivation, new

windowscanbecostly. “They’re tooexpen-sive to think you’re going to get your mon-eybackeither in termsof energy savingsorwhen you’re selling your house,” said KitSelzer, a senior editor for Better Homesand Gardens.Still, new energy-efficient windows can

make your homemore comfortable inwin-ter and summer, and more attractive. Ha-glund recommends choosing the most en-ergy-efficient window you can.The cost for a new window can range

fromhundredsofdollars to$1,000ormore,depending on the frame, style — double-hung or casement, for example — andwhether you choose single, double or tri-ple pane glass. Decorative elements canadd to the price.A casementwindowmight be a good op-

tion inwindy areas, saidGaryPember, vicepresident of marketing for Simonton Win-dows. “As thewind increases, they becomemore efficient because of the way theyseal,” he said.A double-hung that opens only from the

top might be a good choice for someonelooking for increased security, he said.Older homeowners or those who think

they’ll stay in their homes as they agemight want to consider a window theydon’t have to lift.Frames come in wood, vinyl, aluminum

and other materials.Wood frames aremore traditional but re-

quire regular painting.“If you’re wanting something mainte-

nance-free, you can’t get anything betterthan vinyl,” Pember said. There are manyoptions now for vinyl frames, including avariety of colors. You can also get a wood

interior and a vinyl exterior.Selzer said aluminum frames are more

contemporary but also more expensive.Most windows sold today are double

pane, though people in northern climatesmay choose a triple pane, Haglund said.“Single pane is still available in southernclimates, though we don’t recommend it.”Windows must meet an area’s building

energy code, she said.“Windows in the North are optimized to

reduce heat loss in the winter, while win-dows in the South are optimized to reduceheat gain during the summer,” accordingto the government’s Energy Star website.“This explains whywindows that are ener-gy efficient in Florida will not necessarilybe energy efficient in Michigan.”The Energy Star and National Fenestra-

tion Rating Council labels can help you

Is it time fornew windows?

By CAROLE FELDMANAssociated Press Writer

AP PHOTO

In this image taken in 2011 and releasedby Simonton Windows, Mark Clement, aprofessional contractor and host of My-FixItUpLife home improvement radioshow, installs energy-efficient Simonton

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There’s a chill in the air, and the hiss ofheating equipment kicking on is about tobe heard across the land. Have you madesure to do the proper maintenance beforethis cold season comes in completely?Jack Bellas, general manager at C.W.

Schultz and Son Inc. in Wilkes-Barre,breaks it all down.“The biggest and first thing you should

do is to clear out the vent pipe or chimneyson the system,” he said. “Get rid of that de-bris.”Then it’s time to get down to business,

depending on your type of heating system.Bellas broke them down into the three hesees most often: warm air, steam and hot-water furnaces.

Warm airThese furnaces provide warm air that

circulates through ducts leading to certainrooms. Bellas said oil and gas are themostcommon types of warm-air furnaces andan oil furnace needs a bit more servicing.“In those, you need to replace the oil fil-

ter and the fuel nozzle.”A wall-mounted thermostat in an occu-

pied space senses a temperature drop,prompting the system to turn on. The gas

or oil burner will then turn on and run un-til the high-temperature limit is reached.“You need to do a temperature check to

make sure the limit controls are workingcorrectly in order to not overheat the heatexchanger,” Bellas said.

SteamBellas said the most important thing to

consider with a steam system is low-watercutoff. Such a mechanism shuts down theheating systemwhen thewater level dropsbelow a safe condition, preventing an ex-plosion or damage to the system.Steam has two types of water cutoff sys-

tems:Probesare found innewer structuresand floats in older ones.Both need to be taken out and cleaned

every year before the heating season.“The only way to check if these things

areworking properly is to turn the heatingsystem on and drain the water from theboiler,” Bellas said. “If they’reworking cor-rectly, the heating systemwill shut off. If itdrains down a substantial amountwithoutshutting down, it means there’s a problemwith the low-water cutoff system.”Most often mineral content, rust and

oils become concentrated in the boiler,causing buildup. This buildup can preventdetection of the true water level, so Bellas

said it’s a good idea to clean the inside ofthe boiler yearly as well.Rust and sediment also can affect the an-

ti-siphon loop, which should be taken offeach year and cleaned, Bellas said.

Hot water“Just like with the steam system, there

are limits you have to check on a hot-watersystem to make sure it’s working correct-ly,” Bellas said. “These are temperaturelimits vs. the pressure ones.”

Bellas said most systems have at leastone circulator pump, with many havingmultiple. Each of these must be checked.One of the biggest things with a hot wa-

ter heater, Bellas said, is to make sure theburners are clean.“Youwant to check the sections tomake

sure each is clear of debris so the unit candraft correctly through each section and,ultimately, through the chimney. If there’seven one burner that’s not right in the sys-tem, it can cause major problems.”

Check that furnace before Old Man Winter callsBy SARA [email protected]

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fall home improvement 2012

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