Home & Garden - Mar. 2015

www.valcomnews.com • Spring 2015A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers

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Home & Garden • Spring 2015 • A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers • To advertise, call 916-429-9901 • www.valcomnews.comA-2

www.valcomnews.com • To advertise, call 916-429-9901 • A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers • Spring 2015 • Home & Garden A-�

(StatePoint) Before you decide on a home improvement project, it’s a good idea to learn which ones will help raise your house’s value and recoup the most money when you decide to sell.

From replacing your front door to adding a deck, there are many midrange improvements that won’t cost a bundle but will deliver great bang for your buck. It’s not about spending the most money; it’s about improvements that best hold their value.

The experts at “Remodeling” magazine recently released their 28th annual Cost vs. Value Report, comparing construc-tion costs with resale value for 36 of the most popular home improvement projects. When it came to midrange projects, the report found homeowners recouped the highest percentage of costs on these five improvements: steel entry door replace-ment, installation of manufactured stone veneer on home exteriors, garage door re-placements, vinyl siding replacement, and wooden deck additions.

“Making your home stand out from oth-ers on your block and others on the mar-ket is achievable if you plan wisely when it comes to remodeling projects,” says Phil Wengerd, Vice President of Market Strategies at ProVia, a leading building products manufacturer. “ This year’s sta-tistics indicate that moderately priced ex-terior projects can significantly enhance home resale values.”

This year’s analysis of top midrange home improvement projects provided definite direction for homeowners:

• Steel Entry Door Replacement: The 20-Gauge Steel Entry Door has consistently delivered the best return on investment for resale, holding the top spot in the mid-range product category since its debut in this report in 2009/2010. The steel entry door is the only project that, on a national basis, more than pays back its investment, typically recouping 101.8 percent. At Pro-Via, for example, the company’s Legacy Steel Entry Doors are a consistent top sales performer.

• Manufactured Stone Veneer: A new project on this year’s report is the instal-lation of manufactured stone veneer on home exteriors. This category zoomed to the top of the midrange list, grabbing sec-ond place with a 92.2 percent cost-value return. Increased product demand for Heritage Stone is a reflection of this trend, observed by Wengerd and others.

• Garage Door Replacement: The instal-lation of new four-section garage doors on galvanized steel tracks proved to be a valu-able project with homeowners recouping 88.4 percent of their costs.

• Vinyl Siding Replacement: Replacing a home’s vinyl siding was one of a handful

of projects that jumped up the list for re-couping improvement costs. So not only can new vinyl siding beautify a home, it can keep it weatherproof and enhance its resale value.

• Deck Addition: Adding a wooden deck can do more than provide a place to en-joy the great outdoors. When it comes time to sell, you should be able to pocket

more than 80 percent of the cost for this improvement.

More resources on home improvement projects, along with information on en-try doors, vinyl siding and manufactured stone veneer, can be found at www.provia-products.com/cvv.

Before you dip into your wallet, learn which home improvements will best hold their value while enhancing curb appeal.

Five Top Home Improvements that Raise Your House’s Resale Value


www.valcomnews.com • To advertise, call 916-429-9901 • A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers • Spring 2015 • Home & Garden A-5


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(StatePoint) This spring season, help pro-mote a healthy ecosystem by learning to iden-tify and control damaging plants and insects in your yard.

Information about common invasive species and backyard invaders is now being offered by Responsible Industry for a Sound Environ-ment (RISE):

Invasive PlantsInvasive weeds can out-compete native spe-

cies, changing the local ecosystem. Many varieties, first introduced as flora to plant in gardens, can be confused with similar, native varieties. Here are two common damaging ones to watch out for:

• Purple Loosestrife, native to Europe and Asia, is found in most states. One plant can produce more than two million seeds annually.

• Native to China, the Tree-of-Heaven was widely planted as an ornamental plant for many years and is often confused with other trees having similar leaves, such as black wal-nut, butternut, and most sumac.

Invasive InsectsInvasive insects can also have a severe neg-

ative impact on native species by out-com-peting them for food and resources. Many also cause and carry disease and prey on native species. Two common ones to look out for include:• Emerald Ash Borer, native to Asia, is promi-nently found across the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeastern United States. The larvae do the most damage, killing ash trees by feed-ing on the inner bark.

• Zebra Mussel, native to lakes in southern Russia, is found in hundreds of waterways throughout the United States. The species commonly clog water intakes, damage boats, and can cause cuts and scrapes if they grow on rocks, swim rafts, and ladders.

Backyard PestsDid you know native plants and insects can

cause damage too?• Ticks can transmit Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Left un-treated, Lyme disease infects the joints, heart, and nervous system. After time spent outdoors, check for ticks, especially in and around your ears, inside your belly button,

behind your knees, around your waist, on your scalp, and in your hair.• Mosquitoes can carry West Nile Virus. While most people may show few symptoms, 20 percent of people develop a fever along with headaches, body aches, joint pains, vom-iting, diarrhea or rash, according to the Cen-ters for Disease Control and Prevention.

Follow the “five Ds” to protect yourself: Drain standing water; Stay indoors at Dusk and Dawn; Dress in long-sleeves and pants; and use DEET-based mosquito repellent.• Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac can lurk in backyards. Almost 85 percent of people develop a rash when they come into contact with these weeds.

Control poisonous weeds long-term by carefully digging out the plants while wearing waterproof gloves or treating with a pesticide.

Defend your local ecosystem by identify-ing exotic plants in your garden or yard. Spot invasive weeds and insects in your area? Let your county extension office know, which may have a monitoring and management program in place.

For more lawn and garden tips, visit www.DebugTheMyths.com.

By being aware of invasive species and other pests in your area, you can help support na-tive species and a healthy ecosystem in your own backyard and neighborhood.

Create a Healthy Ecosystem in Your Own Yard

(c) Ruud Morijn - Fotolia.comInvasive weeds, such as the Purple Loosestrife, can out-compete native species.

www.valcomnews.com • To advertise, call 916-429-9901 • A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers • Spring 2015 • Home & Garden A-�

(StatePoint) Being a good neighbor means more than being friendly to the humans across the street, it also means being friendly to the animals in your yard. Making your yard a safe place for local wildlife should be a top lawn care priority.

With that in mind, here are some tips for creating a healthy habitat for local critters.

Be a Valuable Rest Stop

Stock your garden with small native spe-cies of trees, shrubs and flowers to give wildlife needed nourishment, as well as cover from predators.

A source of water can also be a great re-source for visiting fauna. Whether it’s a pond or a bird bath, be sure this zone is well-main-tained so you don’t inadvertently create a haven for unwanted species. In the warmer months when mosquitoes are most active, you should change the bird bath water even more often.

Promote SafetyA bird feeder in your backyard, full of

water and seeds, will be the perfect invita-tion for beautiful migrating and local birds to stop by.

Just be sure your property is safe for birds. Unfortunately, birds don’t see

clear glass. As a result, millions of birds die every year by striking glass. Don’t let your sliding glass doors or other win-dows become a death trap for birds.

To protect birds, apply special decals that reflect ultraviolet sunlight. For ex-ample, those from WindowAlert have the appearance of frosted glass, but glow like a stoplight for birds, so you don’t have to compromise your own view out your window. The brand also makes a high-tech liquid called Win-dowAlert UV Liquid, which should be applied between decals.

“Wildlife can beautify your garden and be a sign that your yard is healthy‚“ says Spencer Schock, founder of Window-

Alert. ‚“But birds and other wildlife need food, shelter, and safety.”Get out the binoculars! With a few

small actions, you can make your yard or garden a wildlife refuge.

Is Your Yard Wildlife-Friendly?

Home & Garden • Spring 2015 • A special advertising publication of Valley Community Newspapers • To advertise, call 916-429-9901 • www.valcomnews.comA-�

(StatePoint) Want to set your home apart? You can add character and beauty to your home by learning more about your house’s architectural style and adding design elements to complement the look.

“With the right knowledge, it’s easy to transform any room of your home as well as the exterior,” says Niki Decker, senior product and marketing manager with Fypon, which creates synthetic millwork products.

The experts at Fypon are offering some tips and guidelines to achieve an authentic, coordinated look throughout your home — inside and out.• Proportions matter. If you’re going to be adding shutters to your exterior, do a bit of math. The width of shutters used in pairs on a window should be half the width of the window, and should be the same height as the window.• The higher the ceiling, the taller the baseboard should be. Additionally, the height of your baseboard moulding should always be larger than the casing, which is the frame around a door or window.• Make a room feel taller by placing a chair rail — the mould-ing used to prevent the backs of chairs from rubbing against the wall — one-third of the way up from the floor. Chair rails should be 1/2 or one inch narrower than casings.• If you have a classic Georgian style home, characterized by strict symmetry and a centered and paneled front door, cap the front door panel with an elaborate crown supported by decorative pillars.• Enhance your Victorian style home with ornamental spindlework on the porches and patterned shingles on the roof. Offset the complexity with simple surrounds for windows.• For country style cottages, consider clapboard shingles for siding, or wood shake for siding and roofing, and wide white trim or shutters around windows.• Complete the look and feel of your Mediterranean-style home, rich with such decorative accents as round columns, tile

and stone, by planting lush gardens and installing an ornate fountain.• Maintain a traditional look with innovative, updated build-ing material that lasts longer and with less upkeep. For exam-ple, polyurethane pieces are a lightweight alternative to wood. The pieces are easy to install and resist insects, moisture and weather conditions. Manufacturers like Fypon, which creates thousands of millwork pieces, offer products that come both textured and smooth. A new line of Classic Woodgrain deco-

rative millwork offers a refined woodgrain texture suitable for staining or painting, and complements home styles such as Arts & Crafts and Mediterranean.

To learn more about enhancing your home’s architectural style, you can download Fypon’s free Style Guide at www.fy-pon.com/literature/catalog.asp.

Don’t just update your house haphazardly. Do a bit of re-search so you can complement your home’s architectural style authentically and with sophisticated flair.

Tips to Add Design Appeal to Your Home


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(StatePoint) Planting a garden from scratch can sound like a daunting task, es-pecially for those who are new to the hobby. But with the right knowledge, you can plan a successful, fruitful green space and expect to have a great harvest.

One way to get a head start on your garden is to start your seedlings indoors and then transplant them later into an outdoor garden. This time-tested technique can save you hun-dreds of dollars annually, as young plants at a nursery can be pricey. Here are some tips and tricks to make the most of this method:• Don’t start your indoor plants too soon. They can grow in about four weeks or less if you use a high-quality garden starter. Check seed pack-ages to learn when to plant outdoors in your area, and then start them indoors one month earlier to your transplanting date outdoors.

• Consider using a seed-starting system that takes some of the gardening guesswork out

of the equation. For example, the Aerogarden Seed Starting system allows you to start up to 66 seedlings indoors with no dirt or mess, nurturing seeds with optimal amounts of wa-ter and nutrients for reliable germination and healthy growth.

• Add new nutrients to the seedlings every two weeks and keep the water at full level. Feeding your plants more than the recom-mended amount will not make them grow faster. In fact, it could hurt the plants.

• Before transplanting, seedlings need to be hardened off. Skipping this step will almost certainly result in some or all of your plants dying. Hardening off seedlings eases their transition to the outdoors, where they will be exposed to the elements. The process in-volves gradually exposing plants to the out-doors, protecting them from full sunlight, temperature variations and wind.

• Don’t let sprouts get too big before transplanting them outdoors. Ideally they should be about 4-6 inches tall. If possi-ble, wait to plant your seedlings on a cool, cloudy day. If your seedlings get too large before weather will allow transplanting outdoors, transplant them into small pots with high quality potting soil. Keep fully watered in a sunny space until weather permits transplanting outdoors.

• After transplanting seedlings outdoors, be sure to water them daily for the first

two weeks, especially if the weather is dry and sunny.

• Save and reuse your seed starter tray for the next season. Once the spring plants have been transplanted outdoors, you will be free to get a head start on your summer crop.

More tips to start your own seedlings can be found at www.Aerogarden.com.For true green thumb bragging rights, grow your garden from scratch. Just be sure you know the tricks of the trade.

How to Plant Your Garden from Scratch


(StatePoint) The spring cleaning season is a great time to take a closer look at some of the potentially harmful chemicals pres-ent in your home — and to seek out healthier alternatives.

In recent years, homeowners have started asking better ques-tions about what pollutants are lurking around nearly every corner — from building materials to the paint on the walls down to the backing on carpeting. While it’s neither realistic nor necessary to remove every toxin from a home, there are a few common sources that can be addressed easily.

“The good news is, you don’t have to be a chemist to understand what products and materials are safe to have in your home,” says Anne Hicks Harney, architect and Director of Sustainability at architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross and member of the Ameri-can Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Materials Knowledge Work-ing Group. ‚“You can arm yourself with the knowledge needed to make smarter choices for you and your family.”

Harney offers a few tips to help reduce or eliminate common toxins in the home:

Go NaturalWhenever possible, use natural or water-based materials and

cleaning agents. Also, be aware of:• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCS): From paint to compos-ite wood, VOCs are found in many products and are responsible for that tell-tale chemical ‚ “smell.” When it comes to paint, “Low VOC” or “No VOC” are your best options and are easy to find.

• Flame Retardants and Petrochemicals: Commonly found in such foam products as couch cushions and insulation, these are a bit more challenging to avoid. The risk is that these chemicals are known to accumulate over time in the human body. Looking for an alternative? Try a natural fiber such as down in your upholstery.

• Plastic Additives: Plastics are beneficial in a number of household materials but their use should be limited when possible. Search for a carpet with a polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free backing or try wool, a natural alternative. For tile or sheet flooring, avoid vinyl products and consider linoleum or cork and rubber options instead.

Ventilate Your HomeIt’s good to open your windows every now and then to get the

air circulating into your home and any chemical smells out.¬† If you can’t open your windows due to outdoor allergies or poor outdoor air quality, indoor plants constantly regenerate air and provide a pretty alternative.

Take to the WebManufacturers and professional organizations are be-

coming more transparent about educating consumers. Check out resources like the AIA Materials webpage or

http://architectfinder.aia.org to learn more about sus-tainable products and to find professionals who can as-sist your efforts.

Don’t Know? Don’t BuyAs a general rule of thumb, if you don’t know and understand

what a product contains, don’t put it inside your house. Take advantage of the wealth of information now available at your fingertips to make safer choices.

During this spring cleaning season, take the time to protect your family by removing harmful pollutants from your home.

Is Your Home Hurting You? Reducing Pollutants and Chemicals at Home

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Home & Garden - Mar. 2015