Home Improvement With Natural Surroundings

Who does not love to spend moments in the lap of nature? Won't it be great if nature comes inside your home and you can take a seat there whenever you wish? You can actually make this happen. A slight make over makes your patio a place of tranquility and serenity where you can rest.

Perhaps you tried different home improvement ideas, but never thought about the patio or the courtyard. These are the spaces in your home where you can confine the nature indeed. With retractable awnings you can connect to the outer world and make your patio a great place in reality. With a properly designed patio you can still feel the pleasure of outdoors when you are at home.

Some benefits of using Retractable Awnings:

Retractable awnings bring you a series of advantages. That is why retractable awnings have started to gain popularity all over the United States. Unlike fixed canopies, you can fold and unfold retractable patio awnings as per your convenience. You can put a shade over your patio in the daytime and remove the hood in the evening when it is soothingly cool outside.

Thus your retractable awnings let you create the atmosphere that you cherish. Just pull the shade when the sun is high and have a chat with your friends there. The heat does not matter anymore. And once the sun sets, you can unfold the screen to let the cold breeze pass around and comfort you. Hence your patio awning helps you create an outdoor ambiance with enough protection and privacy.

Different types of fabrications and weaving mechanisms make your retractable patio awnings suitable for the theme of your home. You can always choose your sun control screens based on the place where they are going to be installed. If you are going to install the screen to cover your patio, consider the patio accessories too while selecting the pattern of the retractable patio awning. Be careful while picking the color from the swatch. It is better not to choose a dark color so that heat and sunlight are refracted by the canopy and you get double protection from heat and sunlight.

You can also talk to retractable awning manufacturer whether or not you can get screens tailored for your needs. Awning manufacturers often work together with architects and interior decorators to prepare the most appropriate awning that adds to the beauty of your home.

Tips for Patio Awnings installation:

People use patio awnings for sun control, to keep the place cool and protect it from rain. Hence the awning should be installed in a fashion that prevents sunlight. The direction of sunlight does not remain same all the year; so talk to your awning company about the finest placement of the awning.

The awning should be installed angularly so that it can work as an umbrella during rainy seasons. The degree of inclination also matters. Consult an expert to know about the right angular measurement of your patio.

What else you need apart from Patio Awnings:

Once you have made the roof think about the patio furniture and accessories too. These things are essential as they complement your patio awning. Thoughtful selection of plants and planters, proper arrangement of furniture, placing antiques, keeping an aquarium and many other patio accessories make your courtyard look more natural.

Protection Of Roofs From Ice Damming

Well, here it is winter and lots of snow in the Midwest. The ice damming is now becoming a big problem as roofs are covered in heavy blankets of snow. Some would say, this is just a picture perfect look for the Christmas holidays upon us, even the pretty icicles that are hanging down. Looks nice, but highly dangerous and destructive for you and your house. When to much snow is on the roof it becomes very heavy. This may be too heavy for the roof supports and cause possible breaking of these supports.

Now, ice damming can lead to water damage on the inside and outside walls of a house. When the outside temperatures rise the snow melts and goes towards the gutters and mounds the ice and starts creeping up the roof. Many houses through the years have put in ice and dam shields to protect their homes from ice damming. Those that do not have this can still have this ice melt and get into their homes walls. When the water gets into the walls it leads to damp dry wall or the break down the dry wall all together. This then can lead to excessive moisture in the walls and structure from the ice damming. We now know how destructive ice damming can be.

The ice damming comes from air flow in the attic areas of a home. Many times not enough insulation in the attic area allows heat to escape into this area and warms the roof causing the snow above to melt when it shouldn't. You will see that many roofing professionals will tell you this a leading cause of ice damming. One way to help eliminate and control ice damming is to make sure you add a needed layer of insulation. You will see how this will help and also help your heating costs in the long run. The added insulation does not allow large amounts of heat to escape, therefore not heating the roof causes the snow to melt at a much slower rate. You might think, well is it not good to get the heavy snow off the roof by melting it faster? No, as the water hits the gutter area it cools and then becomes ice. The ice can then mound and creek up the roof line getting under the roof covering and then into the attic and walls.

The pitch of a roof can slow the ice damming also by not allowing the snow to stay on the roof. Even houses with low roofs can have less snow on it, but this is where people need to help their house and the ice damming. People need to hire people to remove the snow or buy roof rakes, which are a modified snow shovel for your roof and do it yourself. You need to get the snow 2-4 feet up from the gutter. This process will help to slow or eliminate the ice damming.

Some houses that have done the above and have a low pitch roof, may add roof and gutter heaters. These systems don't allow the water to freeze again and then it runs off the way it should. This way not allowing the water to refreeze causing an ice dam.

These tips should get you and you ice damming in the right direction. If you are in the Midwest, greater Milwaukee area, drop me an e-mail and maybe I can help you with your individual problems on your house. Even if your not in this area, feel free to leave me an e-mail and I will try to help you also.