Millions of Millennials are finally feeling comfortable transitioning from renter to owner, and their unique needs are having an effect on which properties are most sought after.
Many hauntings are said to be due to unfinished business or a response to a terrible tragedy. For Alice Littlefield, however, her love for her city and her university may have simply extended beyond the date of her death.
Rumors spread like wildfire and, if a dramatic event is interesting enough, some stories can live on for years, even decades. In the early 1900s, Villisca, Iowa was just like any other small town, and the Moores were just like any other family.
If you’ve found the prospect of designing a gallery wall a bit intimidating in the past, now’s the time to reconsider! We’ve taken the liberty of gathering all of the best tried-and-true strategies to design the gallery wall of your dreams.
In today’s Inspector Insights article, we’re going to key in on one of these old school home features that was once ubiquitous between 1880 and the 1940s: knob and tube wiring.
An older home feature that’s seeing some resurgence lately is the transom window, also known as transom lights or the rectangular/semicircular window situated above doors or other traditional windows. These windows were originally designed to feed natural light into homes at a height that still offered privacy, and many opened and closed for increased ventilation. These two innovations were greatly appreciated at the time because homes didn’t have artificial lighting or modern ventilation solutions that we enjoy today. While transom windows are now mostly sought after for their visual appeal, some of their past benefits could make them game changers in the modern home (hint: it’s not as a ventilation solution). More and more, scientists, psychologists, and homeowners alike are realizing the value of natural lighting as people spend more and more time indoors and out of the sun. Let’s discuss some of the impacts natural lighting has on our bodies, and how home designers are working to bring more of the sunshine inside. Why is Natural Lighting so Important?Natural lighting has a powerful impact on humans, their bodies, their minds, their overall health, and even their quality of sleep. This all starts with a nutrient called vitamin D, or
As we enter into the fall, the college football and NFL seasons are finally underway. Practice is over, and the time for speculation and prognostication has ended. Now it’s time for players to make plays, and for all of the hours put in during the offseason to lead to some tangible results. In other words, it’s game time. Success at any level of football ultimately goes back to the playbook: both the team’s knowledge of the plays and whether those plays fit the team’s personnel. The right playbook really can be the difference between just another mediocre season and taking home some hardware, so you can bet that fans everywhere are hoping their teams did their homework heading into this season. In our everyday lives, we usually do not have the benefit of a playbook to help us make our decisions. We don’t have a personalized guide we can follow to file our taxes, no coaches telling us which car to buy, and no scouting report that outlines how we should raise our kids. But when it comes to buying and maintaining a home (shockingly), we sort of do. When purchasing a house, buyers order a home inspection from a
The experience of moving into a new home has an element of excitement and an element of stress. Either way you slice it, a new home is a new adventure. While adults tend to have the maturity to navigate moving with an adequate amount of grace, change is tough on a kid. Inevitably, emotions can run high. Some moves are planned, but others can be more short notice, the result of a career change or a dream home becoming available. Most families try to move during the summer, seeking a smoother transition for school-aged children, but moving during the school year can have its own benefits with the right preparation. If you’re anticipating a major move during this school year, here are a few tips to help your kids through the transition. Mid-Year Moves vs. Summertime SwitchesFirst things first, summer is a clear favorite for homebuyers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best time for kids to get a first impression of their new school or their new neighborhood. Parents that facilitate their kids’ transition to a new home, especially one in a new town or a new state, should prioritize plugging their kids into a new community. Oftentimes,
The human being is known to have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. While many might consider sight to be the most important sense for people in their everyday lives, scientists actually recognize smell as the “strongest sense.” This is because, as writers like Colleen Walsh at the Harvard Gazette acknowledge, smell is the sense that is most linked with emotion and memory. Have you ever smelled a favorite dish and were instantly transported to a memory of your childhood home or a trip to grandma’s house? The phenomena you’re experiencing is your olfactory senses doing what it does best by reaching through your limbic system (with a quick pit-stop by your amygdala and/or hippocampus) and tossing out one of those cozy core memories. Just as we enjoy these trips down memory lane, smells can also remind us of moments we might rather forget, whether from visiting the home of a frequent smoker, or a friend with a few too many cats. Houses can develop odor for many different reasons, so if you’ve found yours smelling a bit off lately, let’s discuss a few of the more common (and often misdiagnosed) causes. #1: Take Out the TrashThe first
If you’ve ever lived in an area that experiences above-average flooding (or just anywhere in the South), odds are you’re very familiar with crawl spaces. A foundation style different from concrete slabs or full basements, crawl spaces are a fairly common feature in homes that allow for easy access to things like plumbing, electrical wiring, and HVAC systems under the home. Their shorter excavation time also makes them a more cost-effective option for new builds. There are many advantages to buying a home with a crawl space, but with each advantage, there’s also a concern homeowners should be aware of. Let’s discuss a few of the most common — and costly — issues you may encounter in that little space under your floorboards. 1. Moisture, Musty Smells, and MoldThe first issue that homes with crawl spaces face is the unaddressed buildup of moisture beneath the home. So-called crawl spaces earn their names due to a very low clearance height, with a majority of these spaces measuring three feet or lower. It’s understandable that homeowners don’t make it a habit of exploring these areas regularly, but a lack of attention anywhere around the home tends to lead to problems down the
Millions of Millennials are finally feeling comfortable transitioning from renter to owner, and their unique needs are having an effect on which properties are most sought after.
Many hauntings are said to be due to unfinished business or a response to a terrible tragedy. For Alice Littlefield, however, her love for her city and her university may have simply extended beyond the date of her death.
Rumors spread like wildfire and, if a dramatic event is interesting enough, some stories can live on for years, even decades. In the early 1900s, Villisca, Iowa was just like any other small town, and the Moores were just like any other family.
If you’ve found the prospect of designing a gallery wall a bit intimidating in the past, now’s the time to reconsider! We’ve taken the liberty of gathering all of the best tried-and-true strategies to design the gallery wall of your dreams.
In today’s Inspector Insights article, we’re going to key in on one of these old school home features that was once ubiquitous between 1880 and the 1940s: knob and tube wiring.
An older home feature that’s seeing some resurgence lately is the transom window, also known as transom lights or the rectangular/semicircular window situated above doors or other traditional windows. These windows were originally designed to feed natural light into homes at a height that still offered privacy, and many opened and closed for increased ventilation. These two innovations were greatly appreciated at the time because homes didn’t have artificial lighting or modern ventilation solutions that we enjoy today. While transom windows are now mostly sought after for their visual appeal, some of their past benefits could make them game changers in the modern home (hint: it’s not as a ventilation solution). More and more, scientists, psychologists, and homeowners alike are realizing the value of natural lighting as people spend more and more time indoors and out of the sun. Let’s discuss some of the impacts natural lighting has on our bodies, and how home designers are working to bring more of the sunshine inside. Why is Natural Lighting so Important?Natural lighting has a powerful impact on humans, their bodies, their minds, their overall health, and even their quality of sleep. This all starts with a nutrient called vitamin D, or
As we enter into the fall, the college football and NFL seasons are finally underway. Practice is over, and the time for speculation and prognostication has ended. Now it’s time for players to make plays, and for all of the hours put in during the offseason to lead to some tangible results. In other words, it’s game time. Success at any level of football ultimately goes back to the playbook: both the team’s knowledge of the plays and whether those plays fit the team’s personnel. The right playbook really can be the difference between just another mediocre season and taking home some hardware, so you can bet that fans everywhere are hoping their teams did their homework heading into this season. In our everyday lives, we usually do not have the benefit of a playbook to help us make our decisions. We don’t have a personalized guide we can follow to file our taxes, no coaches telling us which car to buy, and no scouting report that outlines how we should raise our kids. But when it comes to buying and maintaining a home (shockingly), we sort of do. When purchasing a house, buyers order a home inspection from a
The experience of moving into a new home has an element of excitement and an element of stress. Either way you slice it, a new home is a new adventure. While adults tend to have the maturity to navigate moving with an adequate amount of grace, change is tough on a kid. Inevitably, emotions can run high. Some moves are planned, but others can be more short notice, the result of a career change or a dream home becoming available. Most families try to move during the summer, seeking a smoother transition for school-aged children, but moving during the school year can have its own benefits with the right preparation. If you’re anticipating a major move during this school year, here are a few tips to help your kids through the transition. Mid-Year Moves vs. Summertime SwitchesFirst things first, summer is a clear favorite for homebuyers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best time for kids to get a first impression of their new school or their new neighborhood. Parents that facilitate their kids’ transition to a new home, especially one in a new town or a new state, should prioritize plugging their kids into a new community. Oftentimes,
The human being is known to have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. While many might consider sight to be the most important sense for people in their everyday lives, scientists actually recognize smell as the “strongest sense.” This is because, as writers like Colleen Walsh at the Harvard Gazette acknowledge, smell is the sense that is most linked with emotion and memory. Have you ever smelled a favorite dish and were instantly transported to a memory of your childhood home or a trip to grandma’s house? The phenomena you’re experiencing is your olfactory senses doing what it does best by reaching through your limbic system (with a quick pit-stop by your amygdala and/or hippocampus) and tossing out one of those cozy core memories. Just as we enjoy these trips down memory lane, smells can also remind us of moments we might rather forget, whether from visiting the home of a frequent smoker, or a friend with a few too many cats. Houses can develop odor for many different reasons, so if you’ve found yours smelling a bit off lately, let’s discuss a few of the more common (and often misdiagnosed) causes. #1: Take Out the TrashThe first
If you’ve ever lived in an area that experiences above-average flooding (or just anywhere in the South), odds are you’re very familiar with crawl spaces. A foundation style different from concrete slabs or full basements, crawl spaces are a fairly common feature in homes that allow for easy access to things like plumbing, electrical wiring, and HVAC systems under the home. Their shorter excavation time also makes them a more cost-effective option for new builds. There are many advantages to buying a home with a crawl space, but with each advantage, there’s also a concern homeowners should be aware of. Let’s discuss a few of the most common — and costly — issues you may encounter in that little space under your floorboards. 1. Moisture, Musty Smells, and MoldThe first issue that homes with crawl spaces face is the unaddressed buildup of moisture beneath the home. So-called crawl spaces earn their names due to a very low clearance height, with a majority of these spaces measuring three feet or lower. It’s understandable that homeowners don’t make it a habit of exploring these areas regularly, but a lack of attention anywhere around the home tends to lead to problems down the
