“Today’s Homeowner” host Danny Lipford and Paul Williams, Cync’s Vice President of Experiences & Professionally Installed Lighting
In this special episode of the Today’s Homeowner Podcast, I’m talking with Paul Williams, Vice President of Experiences and Professionally Installed Lighting at Cync by General Electric Lighting.
Smart home technology has made life at home more efficient — and safe, for that matter! And what homeowner doesn’t want their house to be secure and provide peace of mind at all times?
Cync has a wide array of smart home innovations that do just that. Listen to learn all about them!
Full Color Direct Connect Smart Bulbs
These aren’t your ordinary light bulbs — and they’re not even like a typical smart bulb. That’s because they have a library of more than 16 million color options!
It’s fun to add color to a room for celebrations, holidays or just to make any space cozy. And that’s easier to do now more than ever since you can control the bulb’s color output from any Wi-Fi connected mobile device.
Additionally, these bulbs can do a white-light balance across 2,000 kelvin to 7,000 kelvin. This means the bulb can mimic sunlight!
Indoor Smart Camera
Monitoring your home’s interior is just as important as keeping an eye on the structure from outside. And Cync takes the safety and uniqueness of having an indoor camera to another level.
This smart camera has a lens cover that you can slide up or down to cover the camera — and protect your privacy. In the camera, the mechanics behind it will shut the lens and microphone on or off at your discretion.
You can also store recordings on an SD card, the cloud, on the camera itself or not at all!
Smart Motion Sensor
Cync’s motion sensors are an essential part of home automation. When you walk into a room, the lights will turn on and when you leave the room, the lights will turn off — that’s convenience!
Smart motion sensors also are great for folks who make late-night, half-asleep trips to the bathroom.
Blinded by the usual white light? No problem — you can program the sensor to dim the light at your preferred percentage.
Want to Learn More?
Go to gelighting.com and choose the Smart Home tab. There you can find all of the awesome smart safety products we mentioned and more.
Listen to this special-edition Today’s Homeowner Podcast for more home improvement tips!
In this special episode of the Today’s Homeowner Podcast, I’m talking with Brittany Lapidus, Product Manager at Shurtape Technologies, LLC. Shurtape makes all of Duck Brand’s products, which include home weatherization solutions.
Weatherization simply refers to preparing your home for extreme temperature changes that could affect its energy efficiency. All of these tasks are easy and inexpensive to do, making them do-it-yourself friendly.
Listen to learn about Duck Brand’s wide array of options to seal your home’s “envelope” and keep out the cold!
Prevent cold air from sneaking under your door with a Duck Brand door sweep.
Check for Drafts
When you’re looking for sources of air leaks, start with your entry door. Inspect its frame and bottom, which are the most common culprits of drafts.
Can’t tell if cold air is sneaking in? Take a flashlight and walk around your home’s exterior at night. Then, shine the flashlight around your window and door frames — if light can shine through, air can sneak into your home.
And that’s a problem, regardless of the season.
A hose faucet protector, like this one, can help prevent pipes from freezing.
Protect Hose Bibs
Your garden hose’s bib, or faucet, needs protection during harsh winter weather. Otherwise, low temperatures could cause the fixture to freeze.
The solution is Duck Brand’s Faucet Cover, which you simply place around the outdoor faucet’s spout and tighten into position for cold-weather protection.
An attic tent, or stairway cover, can keep warm air from living spaces out of the attic.
Insulating the Attic Stairway
Many homeowners never think about how living spaces can lose heat through gaps around the attic opening.
Duck Brand’s Attic Stairway Cover keeps heat from escaping up through your pull-down attic stairs, blocking drafts and retaining room temperature.
This product is lightweight, easy to install, position, and even re-position in case you need to enter the attic during the winter.
Insulate your windows with Duck Brand’s Roll-On kits to efficiently prevent drafts.
Insulating Windows
Insulating your windows prevents indoor heat loss and regulates the glass’ surface temperature.
Duck Brand’s Roll-On Window Insulation Kit creates a barrier between an inefficient window that lets in outside air and your home’s living space. During the winter, this simple barrier makes your home energy efficient.
Weatherizing your home helps save you money on your energy bills!
Weatherizing Your Home
Weatherizing your home doesn’t have to be done all at once. Tackle each project one step at a time at your own pace — soon, you’ll have a more comfortable, energy-efficient home, regardless of what the weather is like outside.
Best of all, you don’t have to tackle this project every year. Duck Brand products last for many years. Just follow the product’s instructions and prepare the surfaces well for a successful, long-lasting installation.
Want to Learn More?
Go to duckbrand.com and choose the Project Selector. There you’ll find the right product for your needs and places you can buy Duck Brand Weatherization products.
Listen to this special-edition Today’s Homeowner Podcast for more home improvement tips!
Metal is one of the best materials to choose from when you need a new roof.
In this special episode of the Today’s Homeowner Podcast, I’m talking with Renee Ramey, Executive Director of the Metal Roofing Alliance.
We’re talking about the 10 most common myths when it comes to metal roofs. Get ready for some surprising information!
The Metal Roofing Alliance is a nonprofit trade association that helps homeowners make educated roofing decisions and connects them with expert metal roofing professionals.
Like Renee says, “We’re all about spreading awareness and making sure that people have the right information!”
1. Style and Color Options are Limited
When many people think of metal roofing, they envision a classic barn metal roof — which is one option, but there are many others.
Metal roofing can look like any other material out there, like shake, tile, asphalt or shingles. As far as colors go, there are thousands of color options out there to fit your home or aesthetic!
2. They’re Not Energy-Efficient
Because of the make and the coatings, it’s completely possible to have a ‘cool metal roof.’
This means that the coatings on the metal roof itself help emit heat and keep your home cooler in warm climates. And you’ll save money on your energy bill this way!
3. They Won’t Withstand Extreme Weather
Metal roofs actually test well against hurricane-type winds and are resistant to fire embers.
They also remain solid against hail and snow, which proves they are built tough and will last long!
4. They’re Not Sustainable
Metal is a recyclable product and a lot of the roofs today are made of recyclable material. Not only is recycling utilized in making the roofs, the roof can be 100% recycled at the end of its life. We love an earth-friendly product!
5. They’re Noisy
If quality metal roof systems are installed correctly, they can actually be quieter than other roofing systems!
6. They’re More Expensive Than Other Materials
As mentioned, metal roofing comes in a variety of colors and styles and the price range can vary. The price of one quality metal roof is equivalent to two or three asphalt roofs and it will probably last many decades longer than its counterpart.
Down the road, this adds up and a metal roof becomes the cheaper option!
7. They’re Too Shiny
A quality metal roof comes in a variety of glosses and finishes. Shininess is mitigated by the color and gloss you pick for your roof!
8. They’re Too Heavy
MRA has data that dispels this myth. They are more light in weight compared to other products out there.
9. They’re Likely to Get Struck by Lightning
If lightning does strike your metal roof, the hit of the lightning will mitigate it in a manner so it will not reach anyone or anything.
It also has the highest — class A — rating against catching on fire.
10. Difficult to Install Solar Panels or Solar Systems
Metal roofing is the best platform for solar. Solar Systems outlast the life of an asphalt roof so there’s a risk of dismantling the system.
The metal roof should outlast the life span of the solar system and there are clamps for this very purpose. Even more, the clamps do not require you to puncture the surface in order to have a solar system on your roof!
Want More?
If you’re ready to upgrade to a metal roof, or just want more questions answered when it comes to a metal roof, check out metalroofing.com.
Listen to this special-edition Today’s Homeowner Podcast for more home improvement tips!
Metal is one of the best materials to choose from when you need a new roof.
In this special episode of the Today’s Homeowner Podcast, I’m talking with Renee Ramey, Executive Director of the Metal Roofing Alliance.
We’re talking about the 10 most common myths when it comes to metal roofs. Get ready for some surprising information!
The Metal Roofing Alliance is a nonprofit trade association that helps homeowners make educated roofing decisions and connects them with expert metal roofing professionals.
Like Renee says, “We’re all about spreading awareness and making sure that people have the right information!”
1. Style and Color Options are Limited
When many people think of metal roofing, they envision a classic barn metal roof — which is one option, but there are many others.
Metal roofing can look like any other material out there, like shake, tile, asphalt or shingles. As far as colors go, there are thousands of color options out there to fit your home or aesthetic!
2. They’re Not Energy-Efficient
Because of the make and the coatings, it’s completely possible to have a ‘cool metal roof.’
This means that the coatings on the metal roof itself help emit heat and keep your home cooler in warm climates. And you’ll save money on your energy bill this way!
3. They Won’t Withstand Extreme Weather
Metal roofs actually test well against hurricane-type winds and are resistant to fire embers.
They also remain solid against hail and snow, which proves they are built tough and will last long!
4. They’re Not Sustainable
Metal is a recyclable product and a lot of the roofs today are made of recyclable material. Not only is recycling utilized in making the roofs, the roof can be 100% recycled at the end of its life. We love an earth-friendly product!
5. They’re Noisy
If quality metal roof systems are installed correctly, they can actually be quieter than other roofing systems!
6. They’re More Expensive Than Other Materials
As mentioned, metal roofing comes in a variety of colors and styles and the price range can vary. The price of one quality metal roof is equivalent to two or three asphalt roofs and it will probably last many decades longer than its counterpart.
Down the road, this adds up and a metal roof becomes the cheaper option!
7. They’re Too Shiny
A quality metal roof comes in a variety of glosses and finishes. Shininess is mitigated by the color and gloss you pick for your roof!
8. They’re Too Heavy
MRA has data that dispels this myth. They are more light in weight compared to other products out there.
9. They’re Likely to Get Struck by Lightning
If lightning does strike your metal roof, the hit of the lightning will mitigate it in a manner so it will not reach anyone or anything.
It also has the highest — class A — rating against catching on fire.
10. Difficult to Install Solar Panels or Solar Systems
Metal roofing is the best platform for solar. Solar Systems outlast the life of an asphalt roof so there’s a risk of dismantling the system.
The metal roof should outlast the life span of the solar system and there are clamps for this very purpose. Even more, the clamps do not require you to puncture the surface in order to have a solar system on your roof!
Want More?
If you’re ready to upgrade to a metal roof, or just want more questions answered when it comes to a metal roof, check out metalroofing.com.
Listen to this special-edition Today’s Homeowner Podcast for more home improvement tips!
In this episode, we’re helping first-time homeowner Dawn Nelson, who’s in over her head with her kitchen renovation.
Dawn wanted to take down one wall that separated her three main living areas, the dining room, kitchen and living room. But then realized she removed all the drywall on a load-bearing wall.
Before, Dawn’s kitchen was dull and just didn’t fit her style.
A contractor helped her fix that mistake, but then she realized that removing the wall also exposed a small patch of old flooring.
We’re going to pick up where the contractor left off, and make this place look great!
Removing a wall and cabinet revealed a patch of flooring that the previous homeowners worked around — and it’s an eyesore that Dawn wants covered up, asap. No problem!
Fill In Ceramic Tile Flooring
Dawn was lucky because the previous homeowner left just enough ceramic tiles to fill this eyesore of vinyl flooring.
The project won’t be difficult because vinyl flooring is the perfect subfloor. That means we don’t have to remove it; we can just install tiles right over the old flooring.
But first, we need to remove some of the ceramic tiles surrounding the hole. They were cut around a cabinet that used to be on the vinyl flooring.
The new tile in Dawn’s kitchen makes the space more cohesive!
The over-the-range microwave is ready to be installed, but there’s just one problem: it needs to be properly vented to the outside. We will create an access hole to make that happen.
Install Microwave
An over-the-range microwave has been purchased, but it needs to be installed, and more importantly, it needs to be properly vented to the outside. Otherwise, OTR microwaves just recirculate the air in the kitchen, which isn’t healthy.
I drill through the wall to create an access hole for the venting. Then I take a sledgehammer to the home’s exterior to complete that hole.
With the path for the vent clear, Bear and I lift the microwave into its new home and trim off the vent on the outside. I also add a little paint to that vent so it blends right in.
The new microwave is complementary to the rest of Dawn’s appliances.
