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Ask The Pro Newsletter
-DoubleDave's Pizzaworks *COUPON*
-Bringing the Theater Experience Home
-Reduce the Heat In Your Home
-Mowing the St Augustine Lawn
-Education - Is It Worth the Money?
-Do I Really Need Title Insurance When I Purchase a New Property?
-Outdoor Decorating made Beautiful with Sunbrella Fabrics!
Volume 2, Edition 5
The Ask The Pro Newsletter is your outlet for pre-qualified contractors, tips from professionals, and
instruction on how to find safe contractors. The Ask The Pro Newsletter is loaded with information to
keep you up to date in what to look for when hiring professionals today.
For more information on how to find qualified contractors, weekly tips from Ace Hardware, and weekly
information from qualified professionals listen to the Ask The Pro Radio Show Saturdays from 11 AM - 12
PM central on CNN 650. For more information about the Ask The Pro Radio Show click here to visit our
website!
If you are not currently a subscriber to The Ask The Pro Newsletter but would like to receive the email on
a monthly basis, you can subscribe here.
Thank you for your interest in the Ask The Pro Radio Show.
Jim Klauck
Host, Ask The Pro Radio Show
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Sound By Design
David Dutton
Bringing the Theater Experience Home
One of the hottest must haves in home improvement is a home theater. Unlike most other home
improvement projects that are undertaken to improve the efficiency of a home or add resale value, home
theaters are usually added purely for personal entertainment.
A home theater is specially designed to create a movie theater like atmosphere with various visual and
audio entertainment systems all coming together for your enjoyment of movies, television and music in
the comfort and convenience your own home.
Components of a Home Theater
A home theater system consists of two basic components, audio and video and is usually made up of a
LCD TV, a DVD player and an audio system that allows you to capture the quality of high quality surround
sound. But a home theater system is more than just a giant television and stereo sound speakers. It's a
system that combines a high quality TV monitor, surround-sound audio components (including a
receiver or amplifier/pre-amp combination), multiple speakers, some type of program delivery system
(satellite system or cable), and other optional components such as DVD players, IPOD, etc.
Planning Your Own Home Theater
If you're planning on adding a home theater to your living space it's important to familiarize yourself with
the various components before you go out and spend a lot of money. Putting together a system is not
always easy for a novice do-it-yourselfer and if your system is very elaborate, it's a good idea to work with
a home theater installer to make sure you have the right components for your space and that they are all
installed properly.
Probably one of the most important considerations in designing your home theater is the space where it
will be installed. The size of the room will play a big part in the size of the TV or projector you purchase as
well as how many options you might want to add. Of course there are a number of other things you'll
need to take into consideration when planning your home theater such as lighting, seating and whether
you plan on having your home theater components free standing or built in. Built-ins can involve some
fairly major construction since it can include cutting into existing walls and ceil spaces to add wiring and
speakers.
______________________________________________________________________
Adept Solar Screens
Liz Hale
Reduce the Heat In Your Home
It’s that time of year when the temperature is rising and so is the heat in your home. Here are some
helpful tips to reduce the heat in your home.
Ceiling Fan: This one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-
hungry fan costs less than $10 a month to use if you keep it on for 12 hours a day.
Solar Screens: By blocking up to 90% of the sun's heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more
efficiently and reduce you utility bill up to 30%.
Internal Heat: The most common sources of internal heat gain are; appliances, electronic devices,
computers and light bulbs if you put your hand to a 100 watt bulb you can't even touch it because they are
so hot.
The new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) are an amazing thing you can touch them and not burn
your hand. That is a lot of heat that is not being produced. Be aware from where the heat is coming.
Plants: Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in
the shade uses less electricity.
Roof & Walls: Paint your roof white - If you've got a flat roof, paint it with a specially formulated reflective
paint or just paint it white. The reflective effect will help to keep the rooms under the flat roof much cooler.
If you have a roof just above your rooms, it is obvious that your rooms will become just like furnaces
during the daytime. So, to reduce the temperature of the rooms, you need to pour cold water on your roof
floor after the sunset. A lot of water will be required. This is a very good process of reducing the
temperature of the rooms.
Doors: Check the insulation around doors and windows. Make it a point to replace this strip each
summer and winter before extreme temperatures cause air to sneak in around the door.
Pool: reset your pool pump to run during off-peak hours of the day
Cooking: Consider baking dishes in the morning when outside temperatures are low. You can always
reheat them in the evening using a microwave, which gives off very little heat compared to a traditional
oven. If your power company charges an hourly rate for kilowatt use you may also enjoy some savings by
not using appliances during peak times (traditionally mid to late afternoon).
Attic: Consider installing an attic fan or vent. The Attic Breeze is a solar powered attic fan that used no
electricity. If you have ever been in an attic in the hottest part of summer you already know what a hot box
they become. I remember laying some plywood in our attic early one summer to make some storage
space and I just about passed out. Consider installing a vent to pull that hot air off your ceiling.
For more information on energy saving tips please contact Liz hale at Adept solar Screens 713-373-9521.
________________________________________________________________________________
Dream Landscape Design, Inc.
Melinda Sperl
Mowing the St Augustine Lawn
I frequently tell my customers to set their mower on the highest setting yet when I return I find that they
have lowered it “just the first time”. This is an old farmer’s tale that you have two lower the mower the
first mow per year to get the thatch out and it is just not true. The fact is, even lowering their mower by
one notch on St Augustine grass can set their lawn up for a host of problems.
To the homeowner the shorter grass may look denser and cleaner but only for a short period of time. In
reality, they are creating a lawn that is susceptible to disease, pests and the environment. The lawn will
need to be watered more frequently, fertilized several times over the season and will be more
susceptible to brown patch, chinch bugs and the dreaded Take All Patch.
Research has shown that the root length is directly related to the blade length in St. Augustine grass. So,
by lowering the blade mowing height, you have grass that has shorter roots requiring more frequent
watering. It is also less tolerant of the heat and cold creating a stressed lawn. Insects are more
attracted to a stressed lawn which increases the likelihood of cinch bug infestation.
Mowing at the highest level your mower will go or have your maintenance crew raise the level of their
mowers will give you the healthiest lawn and will save you money by not having to treat the diseases
sure to come in the summer.
Melinda Sperl is a Horticulturalist and the owner of Dream Landscape Design, Inc. You can reach
Melinda at Melinda@dreamlandscapedesign.com or www.dreamlandscapedesign.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Clean As A Whistle Inc
Howard Patridge
Education – Is It Worth the Money?
Cleaning has historically been viewed as a commodity - a menial task that anyone can do. Long before
sophisticated textiles and complex built indoor environments were created, cleaning may have been a
simple, easy task, but that is no longer the case.
Complex flooring systems, sensitive fabrics, and new age soiling conditions have created a need for
advanced education in the cleaning industry. Unfortunately, many cleaners (and consumers) have not
understood this concept. We still see the ads for $6.95 per room for carpet cleaning and sofa cleaning
for $45.00. The cleaner puts the ads out, never intending on cleaning for those prices, and the
consuming public gets the idea that cleaning should be cheap.
These so called “cleaning” companies also happen to be the ones that don’t educate themselves or
their employees. The result is that carpets and fabrics are being ruined every day by uneducated,
uninformed, and sometimes downright unscrupulous carpet cleaners.
They are facing soiling conditions that they have never seen or heard of due to a lack of education. Or
worse, they create a situation on a carpet or fabric that they have no idea how to fix. Some examples
would be that they leave sticky residues in the carpet that causes the carpet or fabric to re-soil rapidly or
discolor.
Top-notch education is readily available in our industry. There is no excuse for cleaners not to educate
themselves (and provide useful education to their clients). Part of the problem is since they have fallen
into the trap of viewing cleaning as a commodity themselves, they can’t afford to educate themselves.
Education is expensive, but the result of not getting the knowledge necessary is much more costly.
Our company invests a great deal in education. Not only do we spend thousands of dollars per year on
education, we are heavily involved in our industry making us well connected with our industry leaders.
This way, if a unique situation arises in the field, we have experts that we can call on, therefore bringing
the cutting edge of cleaning technology to you.
Our industry provides courses in carpet cleaning, repair, fabric cleaning, marble and tile cleaning, area
rug cleaning, customer service, marketing, management, and other related courses.
Many of the organizations offer certification programs that involve testing and ethics requirements. There
are trade publications, web-sites, bulletin boards and a variety of opportunities to stay plugged in.
We attend every course we can in order to bring you the very best. Many of these courses require travel
across the U.S. and can therefore be quite costly. We believe however, as fiber technology changes and
as floor coverings become more complex, proper education is becoming even more important.
The bottom line is that you have a tremendous investment in your textiles and flooring systems and it is
our duty to know how to best care for them. Understanding cleaning technology at the highest level helps
to reduce cleaning residues and creates a healthier indoor environment by eliminating invisible germs
and bacteria. It also empowers the cleaner to remove more soil, therefore creating a longer lasting fabric
or floor.
Clean As A Whistle Inc
713-784-4648
CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 --->
-Bringing the Theater Experience Home
-Reduce the Heat In Your Home
-Mowing the St Augustine Lawn
-Education - Is It Worth the Money?
-Do I Really Need Title Insurance When I Purchase a New Property?
-Outdoor Decorating made Beautiful with Sunbrella Fabrics!
Volume 2, Edition 5
The Ask The Pro Newsletter is your outlet for pre-qualified contractors, tips from professionals, and
instruction on how to find safe contractors. The Ask The Pro Newsletter is loaded with information to
keep you up to date in what to look for when hiring professionals today.
For more information on how to find qualified contractors, weekly tips from Ace Hardware, and weekly
information from qualified professionals listen to the Ask The Pro Radio Show Saturdays from 11 AM - 12
PM central on CNN 650. For more information about the Ask The Pro Radio Show click here to visit our
website!
If you are not currently a subscriber to The Ask The Pro Newsletter but would like to receive the email on
a monthly basis, you can subscribe here.
Thank you for your interest in the Ask The Pro Radio Show.
Jim Klauck
Host, Ask The Pro Radio Show
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Sound By Design
David Dutton
Bringing the Theater Experience Home
One of the hottest must haves in home improvement is a home theater. Unlike most other home
improvement projects that are undertaken to improve the efficiency of a home or add resale value, home
theaters are usually added purely for personal entertainment.
A home theater is specially designed to create a movie theater like atmosphere with various visual and
audio entertainment systems all coming together for your enjoyment of movies, television and music in
the comfort and convenience your own home.
Components of a Home Theater
A home theater system consists of two basic components, audio and video and is usually made up of a
LCD TV, a DVD player and an audio system that allows you to capture the quality of high quality surround
sound. But a home theater system is more than just a giant television and stereo sound speakers. It's a
system that combines a high quality TV monitor, surround-sound audio components (including a
receiver or amplifier/pre-amp combination), multiple speakers, some type of program delivery system
(satellite system or cable), and other optional components such as DVD players, IPOD, etc.
Planning Your Own Home Theater
If you're planning on adding a home theater to your living space it's important to familiarize yourself with
the various components before you go out and spend a lot of money. Putting together a system is not
always easy for a novice do-it-yourselfer and if your system is very elaborate, it's a good idea to work with
a home theater installer to make sure you have the right components for your space and that they are all
installed properly.
Probably one of the most important considerations in designing your home theater is the space where it
will be installed. The size of the room will play a big part in the size of the TV or projector you purchase as
well as how many options you might want to add. Of course there are a number of other things you'll
need to take into consideration when planning your home theater such as lighting, seating and whether
you plan on having your home theater components free standing or built in. Built-ins can involve some
fairly major construction since it can include cutting into existing walls and ceil spaces to add wiring and
speakers.
______________________________________________________________________
Adept Solar Screens
Liz Hale
Reduce the Heat In Your Home
It’s that time of year when the temperature is rising and so is the heat in your home. Here are some
helpful tips to reduce the heat in your home.
Ceiling Fan: This one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler, and even the most power-
hungry fan costs less than $10 a month to use if you keep it on for 12 hours a day.
Solar Screens: By blocking up to 90% of the sun's heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more
efficiently and reduce you utility bill up to 30%.
Internal Heat: The most common sources of internal heat gain are; appliances, electronic devices,
computers and light bulbs if you put your hand to a 100 watt bulb you can't even touch it because they are
so hot.
The new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) are an amazing thing you can touch them and not burn
your hand. That is a lot of heat that is not being produced. Be aware from where the heat is coming.
Plants: Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units, but not block the airflow. A unit operating in
the shade uses less electricity.
Roof & Walls: Paint your roof white - If you've got a flat roof, paint it with a specially formulated reflective
paint or just paint it white. The reflective effect will help to keep the rooms under the flat roof much cooler.
If you have a roof just above your rooms, it is obvious that your rooms will become just like furnaces
during the daytime. So, to reduce the temperature of the rooms, you need to pour cold water on your roof
floor after the sunset. A lot of water will be required. This is a very good process of reducing the
temperature of the rooms.
Doors: Check the insulation around doors and windows. Make it a point to replace this strip each
summer and winter before extreme temperatures cause air to sneak in around the door.
Pool: reset your pool pump to run during off-peak hours of the day
Cooking: Consider baking dishes in the morning when outside temperatures are low. You can always
reheat them in the evening using a microwave, which gives off very little heat compared to a traditional
oven. If your power company charges an hourly rate for kilowatt use you may also enjoy some savings by
not using appliances during peak times (traditionally mid to late afternoon).
Attic: Consider installing an attic fan or vent. The Attic Breeze is a solar powered attic fan that used no
electricity. If you have ever been in an attic in the hottest part of summer you already know what a hot box
they become. I remember laying some plywood in our attic early one summer to make some storage
space and I just about passed out. Consider installing a vent to pull that hot air off your ceiling.
For more information on energy saving tips please contact Liz hale at Adept solar Screens 713-373-9521.
________________________________________________________________________________
Dream Landscape Design, Inc.
Melinda Sperl
Mowing the St Augustine Lawn
I frequently tell my customers to set their mower on the highest setting yet when I return I find that they
have lowered it “just the first time”. This is an old farmer’s tale that you have two lower the mower the
first mow per year to get the thatch out and it is just not true. The fact is, even lowering their mower by
one notch on St Augustine grass can set their lawn up for a host of problems.
To the homeowner the shorter grass may look denser and cleaner but only for a short period of time. In
reality, they are creating a lawn that is susceptible to disease, pests and the environment. The lawn will
need to be watered more frequently, fertilized several times over the season and will be more
susceptible to brown patch, chinch bugs and the dreaded Take All Patch.
Research has shown that the root length is directly related to the blade length in St. Augustine grass. So,
by lowering the blade mowing height, you have grass that has shorter roots requiring more frequent
watering. It is also less tolerant of the heat and cold creating a stressed lawn. Insects are more
attracted to a stressed lawn which increases the likelihood of cinch bug infestation.
Mowing at the highest level your mower will go or have your maintenance crew raise the level of their
mowers will give you the healthiest lawn and will save you money by not having to treat the diseases
sure to come in the summer.
Melinda Sperl is a Horticulturalist and the owner of Dream Landscape Design, Inc. You can reach
Melinda at Melinda@dreamlandscapedesign.com or www.dreamlandscapedesign.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Clean As A Whistle Inc
Howard Patridge
Education – Is It Worth the Money?
Cleaning has historically been viewed as a commodity - a menial task that anyone can do. Long before
sophisticated textiles and complex built indoor environments were created, cleaning may have been a
simple, easy task, but that is no longer the case.
Complex flooring systems, sensitive fabrics, and new age soiling conditions have created a need for
advanced education in the cleaning industry. Unfortunately, many cleaners (and consumers) have not
understood this concept. We still see the ads for $6.95 per room for carpet cleaning and sofa cleaning
for $45.00. The cleaner puts the ads out, never intending on cleaning for those prices, and the
consuming public gets the idea that cleaning should be cheap.
These so called “cleaning” companies also happen to be the ones that don’t educate themselves or
their employees. The result is that carpets and fabrics are being ruined every day by uneducated,
uninformed, and sometimes downright unscrupulous carpet cleaners.
They are facing soiling conditions that they have never seen or heard of due to a lack of education. Or
worse, they create a situation on a carpet or fabric that they have no idea how to fix. Some examples
would be that they leave sticky residues in the carpet that causes the carpet or fabric to re-soil rapidly or
discolor.
Top-notch education is readily available in our industry. There is no excuse for cleaners not to educate
themselves (and provide useful education to their clients). Part of the problem is since they have fallen
into the trap of viewing cleaning as a commodity themselves, they can’t afford to educate themselves.
Education is expensive, but the result of not getting the knowledge necessary is much more costly.
Our company invests a great deal in education. Not only do we spend thousands of dollars per year on
education, we are heavily involved in our industry making us well connected with our industry leaders.
This way, if a unique situation arises in the field, we have experts that we can call on, therefore bringing
the cutting edge of cleaning technology to you.
Our industry provides courses in carpet cleaning, repair, fabric cleaning, marble and tile cleaning, area
rug cleaning, customer service, marketing, management, and other related courses.
Many of the organizations offer certification programs that involve testing and ethics requirements. There
are trade publications, web-sites, bulletin boards and a variety of opportunities to stay plugged in.
We attend every course we can in order to bring you the very best. Many of these courses require travel
across the U.S. and can therefore be quite costly. We believe however, as fiber technology changes and
as floor coverings become more complex, proper education is becoming even more important.
The bottom line is that you have a tremendous investment in your textiles and flooring systems and it is
our duty to know how to best care for them. Understanding cleaning technology at the highest level helps
to reduce cleaning residues and creates a healthier indoor environment by eliminating invisible germs
and bacteria. It also empowers the cleaner to remove more soil, therefore creating a longer lasting fabric
or floor.
Clean As A Whistle Inc
713-784-4648
CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 --->
DoubleDave's Pizzaworks Bob Sudkamp *COUPON* Are you looking for a spot for your next team party, birthday party or group event? DoubleDave's Pizzaworks, located at 1660 South Mason (corner of Highland Knolls), can be your event location. Our party room can accommodate a large group of people. We have a wide assortment of games for the kids to play while enjoying our specialty pizzas like our Veggie, Buffalo Chicken, The Works, Barbecue Chicken and our Meateaters along with our famous Peproni rolls, Stromboli an assortment of desserts and a our Texas sized salad bar. DoubleDave's offers dine in, pick up, delivery and can cater your next event. Give us a try! We can be reached at 281-391-3283. *Bring this add in for $1 off your next order. |
Check A Pro Radio Show Check A Pro Radio is sponsored by CHECK A PRO. Learn more at www.checkapro.com.