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Fresnel/Shutterstock In a society of information at our fingertips, many people have become more enthralled with true crime, hauntings, murders, etc., leading to the rise of Diedinhouse.com, a website that for a minimal fee can give you all the details you want to know about your home, not just deaths, but also meth activity, fire incidents, sex registry information and more. Other than utilizing this website, how can you find out if someone died in your home?...

Drainage is a vital and often overlooked aspect of constructing a successful retaining wall. Walls play many roles in landscape design: They create privacy, prevention erosion by keeping soil in place and often provide a place to grow plants. A good retaining wall should do all these things well. So what is the purpose of retaining wall drainage? There are various benefits and purposes, including: Controlling the amount and rate of water entering and exiting a property....

Concern about vinyl shower curtains ramped up in 2008 when a study published by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice found polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic shower curtains contained volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phthalates, organotins and metals. The study found that PVC shower curtains can release as many as 108 VOCs, which can cause developmental problems and organ issues. Some of the VOCs lingered in the air after 28 days....

Let’s face it. Sometimes our front and backyards get away from us. Instead of being pleasant places for us to spend our free time, they become unmanageable, impractical or a lost cause. Maybe it’s because our ambitions exceeded our skill set or budget. Maybe we made a crucial error in our initial planning and now there’s no going back. Or maybe we landscaped for the Pacific Northwest, but we live in the Southwest desert....

You gotta like a mulch that never breaks down or needs replenishing. And, with a smooth, sometimes even polished finish, river rocks add handsome texture to a bed. No wonder river rock flower beds are so popular among homeowners. Here are some how-to tips on using river rock effectively in your yard. Pair With the Right Plants River rocks drain quickly, so they’re perfect for succulents, cacti and other plants that don’t like moisture around their stems....

If the coronavirus taught us anything, it’s the importance of clean air, though many homeowners understood this well before the first lockdown orders. Indoor air is full of contaminants — mold spores, bacteria and other pathogens. That’s in addition to lead paint particles and pet dander that might be floating around some homes. HEPA filtration is an important defense against indoor air pollution. It’s long been used to control allergens that trigger sneezing, coughing and watering eyes....

The Most Common Causes of Cars Overheating Engines can overheat for many reasons. Usually, the cooling system has a problem releasing heat generated by the engine to the outside air. Hot coolant flowing through the radiator should be cooled as air from the cooling fan(s), or normal driving, passes over the radiator. On This Page If your car overheats once, it’ll do it again. An engine overheating can affect drivability and air conditioner efficiency....

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire in your wood-burning fireplace are wonderful until your heating bill arrives. Then you discover heat from your furnace goes up the chimney along with heat from the wood. Is there a way to increase the heat from your fireplace to lower your fuel costs? Yes! Here are nine ways from Leroy Hite, CEO and founder of Cutting Edge Firewood in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Burn Good Wood Often, what passes as firewood has been in a pile for years, rotting and growing mushrooms....

License plate stickers are expensive, and thieves know it. Depending on which state you live in, new license plate tags can cost hundreds of dollars to replace, not to mention the annoyance of going back to the DMV and standing in line for new ones. Thankfully, there’s a trick that will help keep your vehicle tags safe from thieves. First, remove any old stickers from your license plate. Do not stack new stickers on top of the existing one — this method will not work otherwise....

This question came up during a conversation that I was having with another home inspector during the last ASHI chapter meeting. We know that the covers for electrical boxes need to be accessible, but what if the box is located in an attic? Is it acceptable to bury the box in insulation? I said I’d research this info and get back to him, but I thought this might also make for a good, short blog post topic....

Tired of watching your dog’s anxiety levels creep higher every time you drive them to the groomers? There’s an easy workaround — learning how to groom your dog yourself. It will take time and practice, but you can do it as long as you have the proper tools at your disposal. Here’s a look at some of the tools and products pet owners need to become fully-fledged DIY dog groomers....

After Alice Parker received the first central air heating system patent in 1919, it didn’t take long for other home heating innovations to appear. The first coal-fired wall furnace, designed to minimize cost and necessary floor space, appeared around 1935. Recessed into the wall, the device pushed warm air through ducts to different parts of the home via a small motorized fan. Wall furnaces grew more popular by the 1950s because they provided a space-saving alternative to cast iron radiators, full-sized standard furnaces and electric baseboard heaters....

Mounting curtain rods can be a real hassle. Driving screws into wood trim or drywall and keeping the brackets properly aligned while standing precariously on a ladder is hard enough, but sometimes you also have to install wall anchors to hold the screws. Then there’s the cleanup after you’re done, which is admittedly minimal but still something a busy person doesn’t have time for. What if you could just stick curtain rod holders to the wall and avoid screws, screw anchors and drywall dust altogether?...

Need to draw a perfect circle but lack a round object the exact size to trace? Well, before turning your house upside down in search of the perfectly-sized bowl, go into your toolbox and grab your tape measure. TikTok user @trugshop posted this viral tape measure hack which helps you easily draw a perfect circle. And it’s so simple it’s almost impossible to get wrong. First, drill a screw on a piece of wood where the center of the circle will be, then measure and mark the radius you want for the circle....

Having creepy crawly critters lurk in your home is never a good thing. One of the most common? Definitely ants. It seems like an ant knows the exact moment a crumb comes tumbling down from your sandwich and hits the floor, and next thing you know, an army of them are marching in. But how do they know that crumb is there? Not sure if you have carpenter ants or termites?...

How often should you remove and replace mulch? The short answer is rarely. But you may need to replenish organic mulches because they break down over time. And you may need to remove non-organic mulches like stones, marble chips or lava rock to landscape or excavate — or because your dog is eating your mulch. But actually raking up mulch and replacing it for any other reason? Not necessary. That said, you may need to replenish or reinvigorate organic mulches from time to time....

Like water pipes, your septic system can freeze. Here are some tips to avoid the damage cold weather can cause. Meet The Expert: Sara Heger is an instructor and researcher in the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program at the University of Minnesota. She offered these suggestions to prevent a frozen septic system: Use it. Without hot water going through the septic system, it’s susceptible to freezing. That can damage the tank, piping, the filter and its housing, and can cause waste to back up into the house....

Shutterstock/ Rob Hyrons Wages for U.S. construction workers now outpace the private sector average Construction workers are seeing larger paychecks these days. According to an analysis from the Associated General Contractors of America, average hourly earnings in construction—a measure of all wages and salaries—increased 3.2 percent over the year to $30.73. That figure was 10.1 percent higher than the private-sector average of $27.90. ManpowerGroup North America also reported a marked increase in the number of companies transferring workers to permanent contracts, especially in food service, construction and financial services....

Last Friday, two Cabinet members and several White House officials met with housing industry leaders to discuss the supply-chain issues affecting homebuilding and the U.S. housing supply. Senior executives from various sectors across the homebuilding industry attended the virtual meeting, including builders, lumber companies, realtors, loggers and labor unions. “Participants discussed core challenges across the housing supply chain, and helped Administration leaders collect additional input to inform the Administration’s near- and medium-term efforts to further strengthen housing supply,” said the White House’s official statement on the meeting....

Space-Saving Tips for Dorm Life Spacious isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of the typical college dorm room. But you’ve got to fit all your stuff in there somehow. These dorm room organization tips help transform even the most cramped college dorm room into the well-ordered space of your dreams. Think Vertically The trick to organizing any small space is to think vertically. You can’t change the footprint of your room, but you can employ tall organization systems for maximum use of your available square footage....