Home Improvements for the Holidays for Under $100

With the holidays just around the corner, you might be thinking about ways to spruce up your home before guests come calling. Since it’s such a busy and expensive time of year, I’ve decided to put together a list of small improvements you can tackle in an hour or less for under $100. Let’s get started:

Front Door Facelift - Make a great first impression by giving your front door some holiday flair. A festive wreath, some planters adorned with mini Christmas trees, or some holly garland can go a long way in greeting your guests.

Light a Path - With people coming and going, it’s always a good idea to make sure your driveway and entryway are well lit to avoid slips and falls. I love solar powered lights which don’t add to the electricity bill and will keep the path properly and safely illuminated.

Set and Forget Fireplace - Everyone loves the glow of a fire, but not every homeowner wants to deal with keeping it up while entertaining guests. Replace the logs with a candelabra to give your living room an inviting glow without the maintenance.

Sparkling Floors - Give hardwood floors a holiday shine with a floor refresher. No one has time to refinish this time of year, but a simple water-based formula will fill in scratches and make hardwood look like new. Best of all, the product goes on with a microfiber mop and takes just an hour to dry.

Carpet Clean-up - If you have old stains in the carpet, now is the time to get rid of them. In a spray bottle, mix a teaspoon of concentrated cleaner such as OxyClean with two cups of water and cover with a damp rag. Use a medium heat iron to steam out the stains, but keep a close eye to avoid burning the carpet.

A Citrusy Sink - With the holidays approaching, the last thing you want is a stinky garbage disposal. Give it a quick freshen up by dropping a few white vinegar ice cubes and some citrus peels down the chute and leave it running for about a minute. This will clear up any old food particles and leave it smelling fresh.

Freshen Up After Fido - If you have a pet, chances are you’ve become used to the smell, but your guests may not be so comfortable. Give Fido’s bed, the carpets, or the furniture a liberal sprinkling of baking soda before vacuuming to get rid of both pet hair and odor.

Nicks and Nuts - Has your wood dining table seen better days? Believe it or not, you can use a shelled walnut to remove those unsightly scratches. Just rub the nut gently around the blemish and follow with a buffing wax to make it shine.

These are just a few of my favorite fixes, but I’d love to hear from you! What little home improvements do you want to tackle for the holidays? Share your ideas by sending me an email or connect with me on Facebook at facebook.com/odonnellbros.

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, call O’Donnell Bros. Inc. at (860) 589-5155 or visit http://www.odonnellbros.com. Advice is for guidance only.

What To Do With Icicles in the Attic

This week I visited a homeowner who called me after he went up into his attic early one morning to get his Christmas decorations and he was shocked to find tiny icicles hanging from the rafters!  As the cold begins to set in, I suspect that many people in our area will start to see the same problem, so let’s dive right into the cause and the solution.

It might be hard to believe that icicles can form inside the house, but in many older homes that lack proper insulation and ventilation, the attic can become a magnet for condensation, which will freeze when it gets cold enough and the moisture has nowhere to go.

We all know that heat rises, and when we heat our homes in the winter, a lot of that warm air moves up through our ceilings and into the attic, rising all the way up to where it should be able to pass through the vents to the outside. However, if those vents aren’t working properly, the condensation and air have nowhere to go, so it collects on any cold surface below the dew point and turns into frost. After a while, this frost builds up to form icicles. The more moisture that builds up in the attic, the worse the problem will become. As temperatures rise and that ice and frost start to melt, it can saturate your insulation with water, causing mold and mildew problems as well as potential leaks in your ceiling. What’s worse is this isn’t even just a winter problem. Condensation build up can cause issues in your attic all year long.

So how do you stop the condensation from forming? Your first move is to look for sources that are pushing excess warm air into the attic. If you have a whole house fan, it’s a wise move to cover it as the louvers will be letting your valuable heat escape. Bathroom fans are another sure bet for letting air through and they will cause major condensation issues if they are blowing into the attic instead of venting directly outside. Finally, make sure your folding stairway is covered over with an insulated box or weather stripping to avoid losing that extra heat.

While sealing off places that allow excess heat to get into the attic is a great idea, the one thing you never want to do is seal off your attic vents. Attic ventilation is a system which includes intake vents in the soffit and exhaust vents at the roof’s ridge. If these vents get sealed or blocked, there is nowhere for the condensation to go, so it gets trapped and can easily manifest into a leak. Believe it or not, the average family of four generates two gallons of water vapor each day from cooking, cleaning, showering, laundry, and breathing. If that water is left sitting in the attic, you’re going to have a problem.

With colder temperatures settling in, now is a great time to take a look up in your attic to see if you have any frost or icicles culminating in your home. Next week I’ll tell you more about how to properly ventilate and insulate an attic to make sure your property isn’t prone to leaks and other condensation-based damage in the future.  

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions for Bob to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, call O’Donnell Bros. Inc. at (860) 589-5155 or visit www.odonnellbros.com. Advice is for guidance only.

Which Christmas Tree is Best For My Family?

With so many beautiful Christmas trees to choose from, it can be hard to pick a style and species to suit a family’s home and unique needs. You might not know that some trees are better for kids while others are great for people with allergies. Yet other varieties are good for certain types of heat and can withstand warmer, dryer temperatures for longer. So without further ado, here is my list of the top trees that you’ll find at your local farm or stand and some of the key differences to help you find your perfect match.

Balsam Fir

One of the most popular picks for Christmas is a balsam fir, which is loved for its sturdy needles, bright green color, strong scent, and beautiful shape. Because of its popularity, the balsam fir also one of the more affordable options of all the different tree types. You can’t go wrong with this classic, which grows strong and lasts long. Plus, like most firs, it’s hypoallergenic too.

White Pine

This is another popularity contest winner but for a much different reason than the balsam. White pines are loved by families for their super soft texture and touchable needles. They can grow very large and they are also inexpensive, which makes them the choice tree for many families with young children. One thing to note about this species is that those soft needles grow from delicate branches, so only go this route if you have lightweight ornaments.

Douglas Fir

Though called a fir, the Douglas is actually a species all its own. While grown mainly in the Northwest region of the United States, this tree is popular all over the country because it’s tough enough to withstand early cutting and lots of traveling. The needles are soft with a sweet fragrance and the shape is conical, making it easy and fun to decorate without too much precision.

Blue Spruce

The color of this tree makes it the hero of any holiday decor. Those beautiful bluish needles are easy to fall in love with, but decorator beware - those babies are sharp! If you have a good set of gloves, they will be well worth using to get this tree in place. But once it’s decorated, you can rest easy as pets tend to keep their distance.

Concolor Fir

The concolor is a favorite in our house because it has all the wonderful characteristics of the fir species - great shape, good color, strong branches, and long needles. The difference is the smell. Unlike most Christmas trees, this variety offers a beautiful citrus scent, keeping the house bright and fresh smelling through the holidays.

What type of tree does your family favor? Is there one I have missed that makes its way into your house year after year? I’d love to hear from you - shoot me a message on Facebook at facebook.com/odonnellbros.

Bob O’Donnell is the owner of O’Donnell Bros. Inc., a Bristol-based home improvement company established in 1975. Email your questions to info@odonnellbros.com with the subject line “Ask the Pro.” All questions may be considered for publication. To contact Bob for your remodeling needs, call O’Donnell Bros. Inc. at (860) 589-5155 or visit http://www.odonnellbros.com. Advice is for guidance only.