In the hierarchy of bathroom staples, the humble bath mat doesn’t grab the same attention as a cozy towel. But it’s the first place your feet go after a shower. A bathmat makes it more comfortable to dry off, keeps water from damaging the floor and prevents you from slipping.
When buying a bath mat, look for something absorbent that quickly dries your feet when you step out of the shower. The mat should also dry relatively quickly to keep mold and bacteria at bay. A good non-slip surface is essential, preventing the mat from sliding out underneath wet feet.
Finally, don’t overlook washability and durability. A bath mat can be one of the dirtiest surfaces in your home, so you need to keep it clean. And a good bath mat should stand up to repeated washings.
Wooden bath mats can give your bathroom a nice look, but they require special care. You can’t throw them in the washing machine, of course, but you should be able to wipe them down with a spray cleaner. You’ll also need to dry the water that pools underneath the mat, unless there’s a central drain in your bathroom.
You don’t have to go to a fancy, expensive resort to get the spa treatment. With a few small additions and alterations, you can transform an ordinary bathroom into a retreat.
Showers
Without a doubt, remodeling your shower can give your bathroom the spa look. It’s also one of the most expensive parts of your bathroom to remodel. However, there are ways to improve your shower without spending a fortune.
Replacing old, outdated shower curtains with a glass panel will instantly change the look of the room. The glass will make the room feel bigger and more upscale. Glass panels can range anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to more than $1,000, so there’s flexibility with how extravagantly you want to go.
Another option: Switch out the showerhead. A rain shower head provides a much more luxurious look and improves your shower experience. Some shower heads cost as little as $20 but still offer that same high quality as the more expensive alternatives.
Bathtubs
A full tub replacement is a big financial decision, but opting for a modern clawfoot tub will go a long way toward achieving that spa look. A new clawfoot tub costs between $500 and $1,500. Budget more for labor if you don’t plan to DIY.
A new bathroom vanity can make a huge difference. For a spa look, consider a wall-mounted vanity with a vessel sink. You can purchase one, like this option on Wayfair, or DIY a bathroom vanity.
Mirrors
Go outside of the norm with your bathroom mirror. A mirror with LED lights or one that’s a non-traditional shape can be a focal point of your bathroom. So get creative and pick something that fits with the rest of your room’s spa vibe.
Products
You might not even need to buy anything new to get a simple spa feel; you have some of these products in your home. Candles, magazines and low lighting are all great ways to set the mood for a relaxing spa experience. Feel free to add bath bombs or whatever else you like to take it whole other level.
Many homeowners think their HVAC system uniformly blankets their entire house with cool or warm air as needed. That’s not the case. Any forced-air system involves multiple individual elements and controls. And if those elements get out of alignment, it can spike your energy bills and make your home less comfortable. Air balancing can help.
What Is Air Balancing?
Air balancing means adjusting an HVAC system so every room in the house receives the right amount of conditioned air (hot or cold, depending on the season) to be as comfortable as possible. All residential HVAC systems should be balanced when installed. It’s not unusual for them to need adjusting from time to time.
In a perfect world, if you set your thermostat to 72 F, every room in the home should be warmed or cooled to 72 F. Unfortunately, that’s not always true! Many homeowners find that getting one floor the right temperature leaves other floors too hot or too cold. Sometimes, individual rooms never seem to match the temperature of the rest of the house.
How To Know if Your Home Needs Air Balancing
A properly balanced forced-air HVAC system creates a pleasant living environment and runs more efficiently than an unbalanced one. Here are four signs that you need air balancing:
Individual vents that struggle to feed air, even with the vent damper open;
Temperature swings of more than two degrees between floors.
Is Air Balancing DIYable?
There are two basic types of air balancing. The first is adjusting the dampers, a simple DIY fix any homeowner can make. The second involves a robust series of tests and adjustments best left to a pro.
DIY Air Balancing How-To
Basic DIY air balancing requires adjusting dampers in individual rooms and on the duct lines of your HVAC system.
In individual rooms: Most residential supply vents have a small metal lever that directs one or more metal diverter fins. Closing that diverter allows less air into that room while forcing more air into other parts of the house.
On duct lines: Depending how your HVAC system was installed, one or more supply ducts may have a damper built into them. These dampers are controlled by simple levers on the outside of the duct, which open or close a metal disk inside of the supply line. Turning the lever so that the disk is flat allows maximum airflow to the room or rooms supplied by that line. Turning it so that the disc is upright blocks the airflow to those rooms.
Many homeowners adjust and balance their dampers at the start of summer and winter, especially in parts of the country that see large seasonal temperature swings. If you find yourself fine-tuning the dampers each season, keep things simple by writing “summer” and “winter” on the appropriate side of the supply duct. That reduces air balancing to simply turning the damper levers to match.
How To Get Your Air Balanced by a Pro
Air balancing done by a pro takes a more quantitative and holistic approach to air distribution throughout an HVAC system. A pro will examine the system and conduct tests and measurements to determine what can be done to optimize the air balance for your home.
Their solution may involve the same damper adjustments as the DIY fix. But they may also involve technical work such as adjusting fan speed, replacing supply lines with larger or smaller ductwork, installing dampers where none currently exist, or even suggesting a change in the HVAC unit itself.
There are two types of professional air balancing. A “comfort balance” is akin to the DIY air balancing, but with more attention to elements such as the blower fan. An even more involved approach features a full air diagnostic and balance. Organizations such as the National Comfort Institute (NCI) have developed a standardized process, and some HVAC professionals offer NCI-certified balancing services.
Because it’s involved, a professional air balance doesn’t come cheap. While the final price will vary, the most frequently quoted numbers range between $75 to $100 per opening. That puts the cost to diagnose and balance a typical single family home between $750 and $2,000, depending on the number of vents in each room and ease of access to the HVAC lines.
Improving indoor air quality is a hot topic these days. Whether you’re concerned about smoke from wildfires or how to keep your family safe from allergens and viruses floating in the atmosphere, air ionizers may provide a breath of fresh air.
An air ionizer uses an innovative technology in which negatively charged ions are expelled into the air. The ions attach themselves to small particles moving through the room. Once bonded, the contaminants get so heavy they fall to the floor or stick to surfaces. Then they can be wiped or vacuumed away.
“The benefit of using ionizers vs. HEPA air filters,” says Michael Clark, founder of Pulled.com, “is that they can attack finer particles, all the way down to 0.1 microns.”
These are the factors to consider when buying an air ionizer:
Does it meet recommended Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for that sized room?
What is its noise level?
Does it feature any smart technology?
Does it emit zero or only trace amounts of ozone?
How much does it cost?
Some ionizers have fans, while others come with UV lights or filters. With all this in mind, here’s a list of air ionizers to help you achieve better air.
When you’re ordering soil in bulk, getting the right amount is crucial. One or two bags of potting soil should be fine for a small number of flower pots,. But a new raised garden bed or a similar landscaping project will take a lot more than a few bags of Miracle Gro.
You might be wondering, “How much soil do I need?” Unlike the bulk section at the grocery store, ordering soil is not about weight. The answer is all about volume.
Measuring and Estimating Soil Volume
Soil is sold by cubit feet and yards, not pounds or ounces. Joe Raboine, director of residential hardscapes at Belgard describes one cubic yard as a 3-ft. x 3-ft. x 3-ft cube.
Most of the time, you won’t be working with a perfect cubic yard. To estimate soil volume for any area, all you need is a tape measure.
“The basic formula is simple: Length x Width x Height = Volume,” says Michael Dean, co-founder of Pool Research. Then divide the number of cubic feet by 27. So one cubic yard = 27 cubic feet = 1,728 cubic inches.
How To Estimate Soil Volume: Two Examples
Let’s start with a larger example from Raboine, for a 40-foot by 50-foot yard that requires six inches of soil. First, he says, calculate the volume at a depth of one foot. “To convert to six-inch depth, simply divide in half,” he says.
Dimensions
Cubic Feet
Cubic Yards
40 feet long x 50 feet wide x 1 foot deep
1,000
37
40 feet long x 50 feet wide x 6 inches deep
500
18.5
Here’s a smaller example: For this raised garden bed, with dimensions of 84 inches long x 36 inches wide x 28.25 inches deep, there are two ways to run the formula. Raboine first finds the number of cubic inches, then divides down to cubic yards.
Dimensions
Cubic Inches
Cubic Feet
Cubic Yards
84 inches long x 36 inches wide x 28.25 inches deep
85,428
49.4
1.8
Dean first converts the initial dimensions from inches to feet, then runs the formula.
Dimensions
Cubic Feet
Cubic Yards
7 feet long x 3 feet wide x 2.3 feet deep
48.3
1.8
The numbers have been rounded to the nearest tenth.
Finally, these examples are for estimating a simple rectangle. For an L-shaped raised garden bed or other unique area, divide it into rectangles or squares and find the volume of each.
Soil Calculator Tools
If math isn’t your thing, there are even easier ways to find how much soil you need. Plenty of free soil calculators can be found online. Some soil and landscape retailers build calculators into their websites.
Dean recommends the Omni Calculator. You type in your dimensions in centimeters, inches, feet or several other units of measurement. It will also give you a cost estimate if you enter a price per unit.
Soil can settle over time, so you may need to add more after a year or two. This is where bags from the garden center again come in handy. A bag of garden soil from The Home Depot is usually between one and two cubic feet.
Mulching isn’t only important in the spring. There are plenty of reasons to apply mulch in other seasons, including the winter.
Why Mulch in the Winter?
Winter mulching is a critical tool for gardeners to protect plants against frigid conditions. Soil under the mulch doesn’t freeze, and that allows the plants to absorb more water.
“By putting mulch down at this time, you will help stabilize the temperature of the soil right around freezing,” wrote Gillman, an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Minnesota.
“Applying mulch too soon may delay freezing and encourage heaving and thawing. Applying it too late may cause the roots of plants to experience temperatures below that which they can handle.”
What Can You Use to Mulch in the Winter?
“Great mulches for winter include bark chips, shredded bark, straw, evergreen boughs and other loose, coarse-textured organic materials,” according to OregonLive.
How much you use is more important than what you use. Perry suggests applying a two- or three-inch layer.
Removing Winter Mulch
Know when to remove winter mulch depends on the climate of your region and the start and end frost dates. However, there are some telltale signs.
“When the air is warmer and the threat of severe cold is behind you, this is the perfect time to remove that mulch from your perennials. Leaving the winter blanket in place is likely to smother them or encourage the growth of harmful mold — removing the mulch will allow your perennials to grow and thrive.”
After surviving Hurricane Ida’s 150-mile-per-hour winds and historic rainfall, people in Louisiana and Mississippi faced electrical failures as well as food and fuel shortages. The hurricane also pummeled the New York City metro area, causing tornadoes and flash flooding that shut down the world’s largest public transit system.
Renters and owners in different regions faced the same problem: How do you clean up after so much water?
It’s daunting to see signs of flooding in your home, like active water on the floor or water stains up the walls. The clean-up process begins by accepting your landscape has changed and knowing it can be fixed. Start with these tips to help you clean up following a flood from a hurricane or other natural disaster, no matter where you live.
Safety note: After a flood, if standing water remains in your home, turn off the electricity and gas before doing anything else.
The EPA also recommends long pants, sleeves and gloves to avoid touching mold. Wear rubber boots to help avoid shocks and keep your feet dry. If you have asthma, allergies or other breathing problems, it’s important to discuss your clean-up plans with your doctors.
Remove the Water
After flooding, it’s important to remove as much of the water as possible as quickly as possible while still remaining safe.
You can use a bucket or other container to carry water out. When there’s only a small amount left, a wet/dry shop vacuum cleaner is helpful. Shovel out mud and debris while it’s wet or it will create a crust in your home.
Because a home needs to dry from the inside out, you may also need to tear down wet drywall or plaster. Remove wall coverings like paneling and wallpaper, as well as insulation, up to at least the highest visible water line. All should be removed up to the highest point the water reached, so be sure to check for any signs of rise beyond that line, too.
Toss and Sanitize
If something sat in flood waters and can’t be cleaned, it’s got to go. Flood waters can bring in contaminated sewer water, and items that sat in water for longer than 48 hours can produce mold. This typically means things like books or other soft surfaces that can’t be sanitized.
Contamination is another worry. Put furniture, rugs, carpets or anything that possibly came in contact with sewer water in plastic bags, not just directly in a trash can or on the sidewalk.
Take photos of things before your throw them away, for insurance purposes and your peace of mind.
Avoid sweeping because it can turn up dust. Instead, spray down areas. Then wipe up the dust with a cloth, or use a shop vac.
Use Fans
Flooding can also contaminate the air in your house or apartment, bringing germs, bugs or other pests into your home.
During the clean-up process, run your kitchen and bathroom fans and ventilators to keep the air moving and discourage mold growth. Mount box fans in the windows and set them to blow air out to help extract dirt, dust and mold spores. Depending on your level of flooding, you might need professional cleaning help.
Moisture absorbers like DampRid help draw out the moisture and odors in rooms and smaller areas where air isn’t easily circulated. DampRid moisture absorbers can be placed anywhere around the house. Just keep them away from children and pets.
Get Help (and Keep Your Receipts)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approves tax-free assistance and grants that do not need to be repaid for disaster-related expenses.
When announcing more than $17 million in aid after Hurricane Sally tore through Alabama in 2020, FEMA recommended keeping receipts for reimbursement for disaster-related expenses for at least three years. Reimbursable expenses include professional cleaners and home repairs.
One last thing: When flood damage is more than one DIYer can handle, it’s OK to admit it and ask for help.
