Tailoring Your Furniture to Suit Your Needs

The current media environment seems to ignore the reality of the average person when it comes to interior design: people want a comfortable place that suits their style, period. Doing this on a budget or knowing the best secondhand shops can certainly be factors, but consumers must bear in mind that the principle consideration must be to choose the furniture that you feel makes your house a home. An area of furnishing that is often ignored is, oddly enough, one of the most important; namely, creating a home work environment that lets you get things done. Many people take some work home with them at the end of the day, and an improperly designed workspace can compound the headache of corporate homework. Most visible in the home workplace environment are the pieces we commonly think of as your basic office furniture: chairs, desks, computer space, and so forth. In fact, so many people are accustomed to the dreary furniture at their actual office space; they opt for the same dull, depressing setup for when they’re working from home. This is where all the problems begin. When you’re setting up your home office, you aren’t bound by what your company thinks is the best trade off between comfort and cost, and you certainly aren’t going to be buying factory-direct bulk supplies. Use this opportunity to let your office furnishings complement your home décor and make you feel comfortable while you work. A comfortable chair is the most important purchase you can make for your home office. This is an area of home furnishing that you can truly call your purchase an investment. Always make sure to try a chair out before buying it – most office supply stores will have large areas dedicated to just this purpose. Even if it isn’t the exact style you’re after, it’s always good to have a point of reference when comparing a piece of furniture you’re going to be using so often. Productivity in the home chiefly differs from productivity in the office in this fundamental way: in your home office, it’s all about you. Shop around for deals, pick a chair and a desk that best fits your style of sitting and working, and customize your work environment to yourself, not the other way around. Because everyone’s style is different, there is little more advice to offer on this topic; suffice to say, shop with you in mind. Spend a little more for what you’re most comfortable with, and you won’t regret it. Even less glamorous than office furniture, if such a thing is possible, is storage furniture. Things like lock boxes, filing cabinets, and boxes for all manner of whatever storage you need. Thankfully, these tend to be easier to shop for. Since storage furniture is made to keep things out of sight until you need them, the pieces themselves may often be hidden away as well. For example, a small fireproof safe is an excellent way to protect small valuables or important documents. This is likely to be an item you’ll want to hide, so you can safely sacrifice style for other features that are important to you. If you have a great deal of files that you need organized or ready at a moment’s notice, a filing cabinet is an ideal solution. But here it’s important to bear in mind how you actually intend to use it. If your papers are more along the lines of tax returns, billing statements, and so forth, you may do well to consider a banker’s box to file them away in. Choices like this will help you save money, save floor space, and more closely customize your home to your needs and style. With so many people either working from home or taking work home with them, it is more essential than ever to create a comfortable work environment with your home furnishings. Keep yourself organized with storage tailored to your needs, and make sure that your home office is set up the way you like best. Certainly these pieces won’t become the centerpiece of your home, but they will contribute to your overall happiness and comfort, which is certain to impact how you and others see your home. Indoor furniture is often specialized to particular areas of a house, but knowing how these furnishings – and how you use them – work together with you and your family will reap dividends in making your house a home.

*Robert Crager

DIY Plumbing Guide

How many times has someone asked you “Know a good plumber?” Would you even recognize a good plumber if you fell over one? Most of us give little thought to the health of our home’s plumbing, never mind the maintenance of our pipes, hoses, toilets, sinks, tubs, hot water heaters or garbage disposals until we are in the middle of a crises, like when the engagement ring goes down the garbage disposal or the hot water heater gives way suddenly and floods the basement.

At one time or another, each of us has probably experienced at least one of the following common plumbing problems:

* The toilet in your mother-in-law’s home won’t flush, the bowl won’t fill and you are expected at the dinner table momentarily.

* You are scalded in the shower when your wife flushes the toilet.

* You run out of hot water when showering and finish in a shivering rise of cold water.

* The leaky faucet or the running toilet keeps you up at night.

* You turn on the faucet to the hose expecting the water to come out the end of the hose; instead, the water blasts directly at you from the hose-faucet connection. Whoops, unexpected bath.

* You feel guilty wasting water at the kitchen sink but you run it anyway waiting for it to become hot.

* You try to scrub the tub, but the water takes so long to drain that you are always left with a puddle of grunge at the drain. Yuck!

* Your toilet overflowed while you were away and now you are standing in 2 inches of water.

Plumbing problems and emergencies are no joke, especially when you are in the throes of attempting to resolve one. When you need a plumber, who will you call? How will you know if your plumber is qualified to resolve your issue?

What It Takes To Become a Plumber

In a nutshell, the trade of plumbing involves working with pipes and equipment that are specifically designed to transport and drain water. As simplistic as this definition seems, the trade of plumbing includes a large number of specialties: pipe laying and fitting; HVAC, septic and sprinkler (interior and exterior) installation; and the management of drainage for public works projects (roads, bridges, developments) and utility providers. To further complicate matters, there are specialties within specialties too, each requiring specific training.

Plumbers work in commercial and residential settings and at infrastructure sites like highways and tunnels. They can be self-employed, work within an industry like construction or be hired as a contractor by a plumbing company or a government entity.

Career counselors report that successful candidates for the trade of plumbing typically exhibit high mechanical aptitudes, above average manual dexterity, solid math and problem-solving skills, and an ability to tolerate working in cramped spaces.

You might be surprised to know that plumbers are among the highest paid technicians in the construction industry, a fact that is directly related to the years of education and experience that are required to become a licensed plumber. Plumbers are expected to complete a professional training curriculum in a trade or vocational school, a 4-5 year apprenticeship and in most states, a state licensing exam.

Plumber licensing requirements vary from state to state and some states delineate between levels of plumbing expertise by correlating years of experience with various licensing levels. The most typical licensing levels are: apprentice, journey plumber, and master plumber.

There are two important factors for consumers to consider when hiring a plumber other than making sure that he/she is properly licensed. The first is to determine the plumber’s experience level and the second is to match the plumber’s specialty with the task you want done. For example, there is no point in hiring an expert pipe fitter if what you really need is a general household plumber to unstop a drain.

Protecting Your Plumbing

As much as you may admire your plumber, if you care about saving money there are a number of things that you can do yourself to protect the functioning and longevity of your home’s plumbing systems.

Garbage Disposals

* To clear a jam: Turn off the motor and the water. Find the disposal unit under the sink and insert a ¼ inch Allen wrench into the hole at the bottom of the unit. Move the wrench back and forth until it can be turned in concentric circles. After freeing the moveable parts, use tongs to remove the item that caused the jam and then push the red reset button.

* Always run COLD, not hot, water into the drain from your faucet when using the disposal.

* Avoid overloading the disposal. If you have to dispose of a large amount of food, dispose of it a little at a time.

* Don’t put high fiber foods such as celery, corn husks, artichoke leaves or onion peels into a disposal.

* Coffee grinds should not be dumped into a disposal.

* Eliminate odors caused by food particles in your disposal by running it every time you put anything into it. If odors remain, combine lemon or orange peels with ice cubes and turn your disposal on for a few seconds, then flush with cold water.

* Keep a degreasing product for disposals handy just in case.

Drains

* Children are especially hard on bathroom drains dropping everything from toothpaste caps to bubblegum down them. For this reason, always use screens on all your bathroom sink drains. These screens will keep objects from disappearing down the drain and trap hair and soap chips too. But you must remove the screens every now and then and clean them thoroughly.

* Use a strainer in your kitchen sink to trap debris and keep the disposal orifice covered when it is not in use.

* It is preferable to unclog a drain by mechanical means whenever possible. Chemical drain cleaners should be used sparingly, especially if you have brass, steel, or cast iron pipes which are easily corroded by the chemicals.

* Keep a bottle of vinegar and a box of baking soda near every sink and once a month pour one cup of the baking soda followed by one cup of the vinegar down the drain.

* It is also good idea to pour 2 or 3 gallons of boiling water down shower, tub and kitchen sink drains once a month to loosen grease and flush away trapped particles like hair.

* Pop-up stoppers in sinks and tubs should be removed twice a month and rinsed off.

* If your shower drain clogs and you have already removed and cleaned the trap and poured boiling hot water down it, try using a plunger to see if that will add the extra push needed to unjam the clog. Follow with more hot water before turning to a chemical drain cleaner or if you have a plumber’s snake, first try inserting that into the shower drain to see if it will remove the clog.

* Every bathtub has an overflow drain which also collects debris. Remove the overflow plate on the drain every 3-4 months and pull up on the pop-up assembly. Locate the spring or rocker arm, clean it and replace.

* Your washing machine hose should have a lint trap installed at the drain outlet to prevent lint clogs.

Caring for Faucets and Pipes

* Always repair or replace a leaking faucet immediately because even a slow leak can waste huge amounts of water (as much as 15-20 gallons a day). You may need to replace the faucet altogether or just the dirty or worn seal. An unattended leak can not only ruin floors and cabinets, but if the leak is caused by a worn seal, the faucet itself may become damaged and eventually require replacement.

* Keep an outdoor faucet from freezing by removing the hose from the faucet, closing the shut-off valve to the pipe that leads to the outdoor faucet, and draining the pipe of residual water by turning the faucet on again.

* Indoor frozen pipes can be a real headache and serious damage can result if they break. To prevent freezing, leave cabinet doors under the sink open on very cold days or when you will be absent for long periods to expose the pipes to the heated air in your home.

* Make sure that all pipes are well insulated to protect them from freezing temperatures and wind. This includes pipes in your unheated garage and in your basement. Keep the garage door closed to the outside on very cold days and leave the basement door open to the heated air in the rest of your home. In severe cold weather, faucets can be allowed to trickle slowly into sinks, but this practice should be avoided unless absolutely necessary so as not to waste water. If your pipes do freeze, you may be in for a long wait. Here’s what you should try before calling a plumber:

(1) turn off the main water supply to your home

(2) turn on all your faucets to relieve the pressure that can build up as the ice melts and

(3) try using a hair dryer or heat gun to thaw the pipes. NEVER USE A BLOW TORCH!

Maintaining Hoses

* You should replace the washers in all of your interior hoses twice a year and once a year for exterior hoses. In hard water areas, lime and other compounds can buildup on the inside of washers causing them to leak or squirt.

* Hoses will last longer if you run cold water through them after using hot water.

Plumbing-Related Problems and Resolutions

Water Heater

If your gas or oil-fired water heater frequently runs out of hot water during your shower or bath leaving you shivering and cold, you may need to investigate a larger unit. However, you want to be sure that you don’t buy a size larger than your needs require because keeping large quantities of water hot is an expensive proposition. Before you contact a plumber or HVAC specialist, you may want to estimate the size you think you will need to enable you to compare the prices of units that meet your estimated size requirement and then budget as necessary for a new one. The chart below will help in estimating the size you will need based on the number of gallons of hot water that you will use in an hour when your system is a peak capacity.

Shower -------------------------------------------------------10-15 gal.

Bath ----------------------------------------------------------10-25 gal.

Shaving ------------------------------------------------------------2 gal.

Hair washing ----------------------------------------------------- 4 gal.

Washing hands and face ----------------------------------------2 gal.

Preparing one meal --------------------------------------------- 5 gal.

Dishwasher Load ------------------------------------------- 12-15 gal.

Washing dishes by hand ---------------------------------------- 4 gal.

One load of clothes set on warm wash/cold rinse ----- 10-12 gal.

When thinking about purchasing a new water heater, always look for the ASRAE/EIS energy rating. A rating of 90 or above means it is an energy efficient unit, but if the rating falls below 90, you should consider wrapping your water heater with insulation to prevent heat loss and improve its efficiency. Twice a year you should drain the sediment that accumulates at the bottom of the water heater. This is accomplished by opening the drain valve and draining about 5 gallons into a bucket until the water runs clear.

Checking for Leaks and Your Water Bill

Checking for leaks is an important part of plumbing maintenance and preventing those leaks is vital to your water usage bill. In addition to checking for dripping faucets and leaking water under sinks and around drain pipes, there are three other possibilities: a leaking toilet, an underground leak or another leak inside your home that you are unable to detect.

You can check for leaks in your toilet by adding a few drops of food coloring or several tablespoons of Kool-Aid or instant coffee to the toilet tank. Allow the toilet to sit unflushed for 30 minutes. When you return, look in the toilet bowl. If the formerly clear water has any color from the substance that you put in the tank then it has a leak and probably will need a replacement stopper and valve seat.

If your water bill suddenly takes an unexpected leap and you have ruled out the toilet and other visible leaks as sources, you may have an underground leak or a leak inside your home that you are unable to detect. There are several ways to check for a leak that you cannot see. Turn off the main water valve that serves your home and then check your water meter. If it continues to turn, you may have an underground leak. Alternately, if you plan to be away from your house for a period of time, write down the numbers on your meter before you leave and compare them to the numbers on your meter when you return. If the numbers have changed, there may be a leak somewhere inside your home.

Clogged Toilets

* Children sometimes mistake toilet bowls for personal marinas, floating everything in them from ducks, boats and fish to bars of soap. If the toilet in a bathroom is close to the sink, items like toothbrushes and toothpaste caps can also find their way into toilet bowls. To prevent unwanted doo-dads from clogging your toilet, train your children to put the lid down when they have finished and to use it only for toileting purposes. Never leave a small child unattended in a bathroom.

* If your toilet is clogged try using a plunger first, then a plumber’s snake (if you have one) to unstop it.

* In some cases where there is a low level of water in the toilet bowl, pouring a bucket of water from chest high level into the bowl will force a flush. You should repeat this several times when the water in the bowl returns to a low level.

Shower Scalds and Toilet Flushes

The need for the now infamous shout, “Don’t flush, I’m in the shower!” can be permanently done away with by correcting the pressure drop that accompanies the flush of a toilet. There is a valve at the base of every toilet which adjusts the degree of pressure with which the water runs into the toilet tank. If it is wide open, cold water rushes into the toilet tank nearly as fast as water rushes out of a faucet that is turned to the full on position, robbing the shower of cold water momentarily. There is no need for a toilet tank to be filled at lightening speed so by turning the valve off first, then opening it half a turn, you will no longer be needed to apply burn ointment to shoulders.

Waste Drains

Homeowners often forget about the health of exterior drainage pipes, but these pipes are instrumental in removing waste from your home. If one becomes clogged, your plumbing system may backfill disgorging the waste into your sinks and tubs.

* Keep tree roots away from drainage pipes. If roots become a problem, once a year or more often if necessary, call a professional who will use an electric auger to cut out the roots and clear the pipes. As long as the offending tree is alive, you will probably continue to have problems.

* If you happen to be up on your roof cleaning gutters and downspouts, flush the drain-waste and vent systems too by running you garden hose into them for several minutes at full flow.

Noisy Pipes

If you have ever lived in an old apartment building or home that is heated by radiators, then you have experienced the dubious privilege of hearing the full radiator serenade—such clanging and banking, hissing and squeaking at all decibel levels, the likes of which you will never forget. Very few homes today continue to use radiator heat, but pipes can still bang and squeak even in new homes. These problems are usually caused by loose pipes, water logged air chambers or water pressure that is too high. If the problematic pipes are exposed, you can often anchor them yourself or cushion them with insulation blankets, but other remedies such as anchoring pipes that are concealed inside walls, floors or ceilings may require a professional.

A common pipe noise that you can repair yourself is referred to as a hammer noise, named after the sharp “clunk” sound that is heard when water to an appliance or faucet is shut off quickly (washers are notorious hammerers). The sound is created by the water slamming to a stop in the pipes. The cause of the noise is usually a faulty air chamber, meaning that the length of pipe installed behind an appliance is filled up with water rather than air. To restore the air chamber to cushion the shock of a quick, water shut off:

* Turn the water off at the main shutoff valve.

* Drain the system by opening all faucets and letting them run dry.

* Close the faucets and turn the water on again. The air chambers should fill with air.

If you have restored the air chambers in the faulty pipe and you still hear a hammer noise, you may have water pressure above 80 pounds per square inch (psi). If this is the case, you may want to have a plumber install a pressure-reducing valve which will take care of the problem.

Wasting Water in the Kitchen

If it takes a while to get your water to flow from cold to hot and you hate the idea of wasting water, consider installing an instant hot water heater on your kitchen sink. This will help reduce both water heating costs and your guilt.

Sinks, drains, toilets, pipes—not the stuff of which memories are made, unless of course something goes wrong. But if disaster strikes, you will have more memories than you care to remember. Save yourself the agony and pay attention to those pipes.

by Pat Perkins

Relocation Management Consultants and Services

As your business grows or changes, you will find that it necessary to relocate in order to meet certain demands and requirements. Moving to a new location may seem like a tedious and time-consuming task at first and this is exactly why people put off the decision for so long. Relocation management services allow you to completely sit back and have you entire workplace relocated to a new facility. These type of relocation services allow you to concentrate and focus on your business while leaving the entire relocation up to the experts.

As most people know, one of the most important stage of any business location is the physical transfer or miscellaneous furniture and technology resources and assets. The part of the relocation needs to be handled by individuals who have significant experience in the packing and moving industry. This will insure that none of your organisation's valuable resources are damaged or compromised during the move. Business relocation service providers have a tremendous amount of experience dealing with even the most complicated physical databases and filing systems.

Relocation consultants know exactly what needs to be done in order to insure that your information and records are seamlessly integrated into your new location. This will save you the hassle of worrying about whether your data is safe and secure. Additionally, you will be able to pick up where you left of in terms of accessing the information that you need when you need it. Business relocation services are a godsend when it comes to making sure that your business can grow without having to experience and hiccups along the way.

*Colm Toibin

Funeral Homes and Home Funerals

Funeral homes provide valuable burial and funeral services for many people. They are also known as "funeral parlors" or "mortuaries." The services which they may provide include preparing and holding a wake as well as the actual funeral or cremation. They offer many of these services themselves, but may also serve as a means of making arrangements with other businesses.

It is very common for family members to choose a mortuary based on its proximity to their residence. However, in many areas, it is possible to perform all portions of the funeral at home.

However, there are seven states which require the involvement of a funeral parlor for at home services. These states are Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, and Utah. In these regions the involvement of funeral homes is required for such things as filing the death certificate, transporting the casket, and getting the body released from the hospital. This is required regardless of whether the family desires the involvement of a funeral director and whether or not they can afford it.

It is useful to note that the forty-three other states do not have these limitations on home funeral services.

The argument for necessitating the presence of a mortuary or funeral director in home proceedings is that it enforces oversight. This oversight is intended to verify who has died, of what they have died and also that the corpse was handled with care.

The reality is that either the last attending physician or the local medical examiner is responsible for verifying identity and cause of death for a death certificate. When it comes to cremation or interment, those wishing to break the law will likely not involve a mortuary anyway.

Also, the involvement of funeral homes does not guarantee that a body will be handled correctly. In fact, just as there are the occasional horror stories of a family hiding a death through illegal burial or cremation, there have also been stories of mishandling on the part of a funeral parlor. For instance, in the year 2006 the body of Erwin Jordan was lost by the Notier-Ver Lee-Langeland Funeral Home. It ended up being taken to a landfill with the garbage of Notier-Ver Lee-Langeland and was never recovered.

The Funeral Consumers Alliance is a non-profit group of organizations dedicated to providing the right of consumers to dignified, affordable, and meaningful funeral services. Their arguments against these laws requiring mortician involvement highlight the fact that many families provide at home care for their living elderly or disabled relatives. In this light, it does not make sense that care with matters involving deceased relatives should be a source of suspicion.

A family that manages their own funeral services does the same thing that a funeral director does. This includes filing all the necessary paperwork and bringing the body to either the crematory or cemetery.

Requiring the involvement of a director often encourages unnecessary charges. Some funeral homes operate with higher standards of ethics than others. Many will take advantage of the opportunity to charge a family for their services. U.S. mortuaries are permitted to charge a basic services fee which will generally cost at least $1,200. It may even surpass $3,000. This means that a family who wishes to handle the services entirely on their own may be charged these additional fees regardless of whether they even desire the services covered.

Even when a funeral home has the best of intentions there may be issues. In some situations, a director may be required to be present for the whole funeral from the beginning until its completion. If a family has an elaborate and lengthy funeral for traditional, personal, or religious reasons, the director must be present for this and will need to charge for his or her time.

-Anne Clarke

Finding the Right Plumbing Service

For homeowners, dealing with the plumbing in their home is a frequent task, whether it's a big issue such as a repair, or small such as maintenance. No matter how well your house is maintained, you should have a qualified plumber handle jobs like leaking pipes or clogged drains. They can also be helpful in providing maintenance tips so you don't run into any extra unnecessary plumbing problems.

When it comes to searching for a plumber, most of us are usually in such a hurry to get it fixed that we don't pay much attention to details of the company. If you live in San Francisco or Los Angeles, you will probably come across a number of plumbing services, but not all of them will have the qualities you need. But nobody has time to contact every plumber. Even if we did, how do we differentiate between the quality ones and the average ones?

Hiring any plumber in the book could leave you with more plumbing problems than you bargained for. There is the chance they don't use quality parts so they can cut corners financially, or they maybe they aren't qualified enough to get to the root of the problem, and you end up having to keep calling them to fix the same thing over and over. The first and easiest way to ensure this doesn't happen is to ask around. Referrals from friends, neighbors and family members is a great way to find out how well a plumbers work is and if it's long lasting.

Keep in mind that there is such thing as fast, affordable, quality service. It's just a little harder to find. There are plumbers who live up to that standard and offer 100% customer satisfaction.
You can also find out about the plumber you are looking into by searching for them online. Many customers post their reviews of companies this way. You will get a good feel for the plumbing service you are looking into because both good and bad reviews can be posted.

There is no doubt that many professional and experienced plumbing San Francisco experts are out there. Luckily, once you find the right plumber, you won't have to do this search again next time you have a plumbing issue.

Don't be afraid to call and ask questions. Make sure they are a licensed company and their plumbers are up to date in their training. Ask about how their pricing works. Some places will give you a written estimate before they start the work. Also ask about their specials and make sure there is no hidden agenda where you end up having to pay more.

--Sofia S. Lopez