Hiring An Home Improvement Trade Online

by: Kris Koonar

Have you ever tried to hire any type of construction trade over the last 5 years? If so you know that it’s next to impossible unless you are some billionaire developer with his own T.V. show. The simple fact is that trades are just like any other business and follow the money. There is nothing wrong with the trades trying to please their biggest customer or taking care of customers that they expect will continue to build once the housing boom is over. In fact if you want a major non-essential renovation on your home, you may want to consider waiting until the housing boom slows down.

Very simply all reputable housing trades want to earn the most amount of money they can while the housing boom lasts. Again nothing wrong with this. Ask yourself what you would do in their shoes? or their boots.

What if you need housework done now?

Here are some quick money saving tips

1. Consider hiring a general contractor vs. doing it yourself. The idea is that a general contractor will have a full time loyal crew working for him. Often he is able to pay his crew less in return for steady work. So by hiring a contractor its often cheaper that trying to hire the trades yourself individually.

2. Pair your needs up with a friend and offer the trade both jobs. DO NOT, I repeat do not insult the trade with an offer like “if you do a good job on my house I will recommend you to many others”. When I first started in business I believed this empty promise and never end getting one lead from anyone who said this. Now as a seasoned business person I would just answer that for every new paying customer they bring me I will deduct X amount off their bill.

3. Due Diligence—there are lots of way to find new contractors and trades. Try looking online or searching a home improvement directory

About The Author

Kris Koonar is President of Crack Marketing leading a team of Internet Marketing Consultants with over 5 years of experience and 100's of projects. He is also writer of an Internet Marketing Course called "The Website MBA"

crackmarketing.com

Kris can be contacted at 1.877.270.7170 or kris@crackmarketing.com

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com

Find Out Why Stainmaster Carpet Is Your Best Choice

by: John Murray

If you are in the market for new carpet chances are you have plenty of questions about which manufacturers are best, which carpets have the best warranties, what to look for when buying carpet, and the list goes on. Of course there are several excellent carpet manufacturers but one that really stands out is Stainmaster Carpet. Find out why Stainmaster carpet is your best choice.

Stainmaster carpet offers it all. Exceptional service and a first class product with plenty of styles to choose from, and a superb warranty.

Stainmaster is known as an industry leader when it comes to innovation and carpet fashions. They've got hundreds of colors and styles to choose from. They're very proud of their latest member to the family the Tactesse nylon fiber line which is even more luxurious than wool.

Stainmaster is very proud of the carpet construction which is second to none. They use bulked continuous filament which means that the yarn is formed from continuous strands of nylon which is textured to create a fuller rug as well as provide curled fiber as well as straight.

Each carpet fiber is then wrapped to provide a tighter twist and a more resilient carpet. It also resists crushing from footprints, matting, and texture change.

After the fiber is twisted it is then treated with a heat system to lock the twist into place. This means your carpet is less likely to snag and unravel or crush from heavy traffic.

After the fiber has been heat treated it is thread onto large carpet needles and then stitched to the backing. How dense the carpet becomes is determined by the amount of yarn that is used.

It is then saturated in a liquid dye solution followed by a solution that sets the color, then it is dried. Finally it is saturated with the stain guard solution and it is once again dried. Finally it is coated with Stainmaster's unique Teflon® solution. The end result is a carpet that's gorgeous, able to repel stains, and dirt, and will last a long time.

Stainmaster Carpet offers a variety of styles. The Cultured Beauty Line is their most popular line offering a warranty that guarantees it won't wear more than 10% in ten years during normal home use. It also has been engineered to retain its texture and not flatten down. The stain guard guarantees against most household type stains for a seven year period and it's also guaranteed to not change color due to soil for a seven year period. It even has an anti static warranty.

Some of the most popular carpet styles in the cultured beauty line are beach comber, birch bark, champagne bubbles, chenille white, and ice crystal. In their vibrant colors there is earth violet, crab apple, faded denim, nocturne, ocean reef, confetti pink, and a host of other choices.

Four very other popular styles are the 352 Rhett, 353 Scarlet, 358 Romeo, and 359 Juliet all with the Teflon solution, the wear warranty, stain and soil warranty. These four lines are rich and plush providing a full bodied carpet in a wide range of fashionable colors. Durable and beautiful all in one!

Carpet is a big investment so be sure you check out Stainmaster Carpet and see what they can offer you!

About The Author

John Murray makes it easy to go through the carpet buying process and provides tips to keep your carpet lasting long. To learn more and receive your free mini-course visit: http://www.carpets-guide.com.

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com

Save Money and Buy Wholesale Carpet

by: John Murray

If you are in the market for some new carpets you are probably already aware of how costly that can be. There are many ways you can get better pricing for your carpet such as buying remnants or flawed carpet. But why not save money and buy wholesale carpet? Yes even you as a consumer can buy wholesale carpet.

Many people hear the word wholesale and believe they must be a business, dealer, or high volume purchaser to get wholesale pricing. That's simply not true. There are various types of wholesale carpet plans around. You just need to find the one that works for your situation.

Carpet Wholesale Distributors have low overhead and great buying potential. You'll not find any store fronts here, just a basic large warehouse, lots of concrete, and lots of carpet. This type of carpet wholesaler is in business to supply carpet to carpet retailers. They may also deal with large corporate clients that buy large volumes of carpets. For instance developers of condos, home builders, or commercial office builders. There pricing is competitive and their goal is for there to be enough room for the retailer to add their mark up and still be competitive. They are quick to deliver their product.

Wholesale carpet retailers are open to the general public. Yes this means you! You can safe a substantial amount by buying your carpet from wholesale carpet retailers. Besides the savings there are other benefits like quick delivery and installation. You'll save both time and money.

There are a couple of reasons why these retailers can offer carpets at wholesale pricing while other retailers cannot. They have massive buying power so they order large volume and obtain the maximum discounts from the supplier.

You'll not find fancy show rooms, snazzy lighting, or any other cosmetic perks. What you'll find is a big concrete warehouse with rolls and rolls of carpet. This reduces their overhead dramatically

Most of these operations are looking to move volume at a reduced price so they are willing to work on a much smaller profit margin.

They purchase seconds and thirds meaning they have imperfections. These imperfections can be small or large. They might be a dye lot that was off, snags or runs, or a host of other items.

When buying from a wholesale carpet retailer you'll want to find out the answers to these questions.

Make sure you understand the warranty and whether any warranty claims will be dealt with at the wholesaler level or whether you'll need to deal with the manufacturer of the carpet.

You'll also want to know if the carpet you are buying are seconds, Normally too small to notice but you'll need to make sure. The last thing you need is a nice long line of missed looping that runs right through the center of the carpet. Just be sure to have a really good look if you are buying seconds. You'll also want to find out if the manufacturers warranty is still valid.

Remember if a deal sounds to good to be true, 99.9% of the time it is. So if the price is just to good find out what's wrong with the product before you jump the gun and spend your money on an unsatisfactory product.

Make sure you get your pricing with underlay and installation. No sense in getting cheap carpet if they soak it to you on the underlay or install. So be sure to get a full package price.

Buying wholesale carpet can save you a ton of money. So if you don't care if there's a fancy show room, and you don't need someone to hold your hand while you pick out your carpet, and you just care about basic service this is a doable option. So remember save money and buy wholesale carpet! Think of all the money you'll have left for other home decor projects.

About The Author

John Murray makes it easy to go through the carpet buying process and provides tips to keep your carpet lasting long. To learn more and receive your free mini-course visit: http://www.carpets-guide.com.

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com

Find The Top 8 Carpet Extractors

by: John Murray

Carpet extractors are an excellent method of basic economical in depth carpet cleaning. Carpet extractors will clean your entire carpet, remove spots and stains, keep high traffic areas clean, and they'll even clean your upholstery and drapery. Here are the top 8 carpet extractors.
1. Dirtdevil Featherlight Carpet Extractor

The dirtdevel featherlight is a lightweight and very portable carpet extractor. Comes with a 5 brush nozzle system which will gently clean your carpets and the powerful vacuum will dry the carpets quickly. It has a 1 gallon reservoir for your cleaning solution, and a nice wide nozzle.
2. AX9 Carpet Extractor

The AX9 is designed to clean almost any surface no matter how tough the access it will get into those tight crevices. That's because it comes with a complete set of accessories to make the job easy. It provides total dryness with only one sweep. Complete with an ergonomic handle that makes moving it around more comfortable.
3. EAG 1400

The EAG 1400 is a commercial size carpet extractor that will clean up your commercial or home space. Built much like a wet/dry vac it has a dual two stage vacuum motor that provides maximum power. It has a 12 gallon solution tank as well as a 12 gallon recovery tank. The 8 large castor rear wheels, and 3 front castors make it easy to maneuver. It has a 25 foot cord so will reach and a 15 foot vacuum hose.
4. Admiral 8

The Admiral 8 comes with an ergonomic and adjustable handle with finger tip controls for operation. This no hose design makes it easy to fill and empty. It can also be purchased with the hard floor cleaning kit.
5. Ext 311 Extractor

The Ext 311 has a nice compact carpet extractor that pulls soil from the carpet effectively. The 2 stage vacuum motor, 10 foot hose, and a 9 inch and 10 inch heavy duty tool will clean any carpet easily. It has an 11 gallon solution tank and recover bucket can be removed to empty. Easy to roll along on the 2 inch casters.

6. The Speedster Carpet Extractor

The Speedster comes with 100 PSI solution pump and dual two stage vacuum motors that have a 150 degree water lift. The large rear wheels and grip handle makes this extractor easy to maneuver and move around.

7. Clean NB 48 Carpet Extractor

The NB 48 is complete with heat to dry up behind you. This commercial carpet extractor is one of the best sellers for professionals. 10 foot wand, 20 foot hose.

8. Harding 1408 Carpet Extractor

The Harding 1408 has a forward reverse brush action which gets down deep and takes less time to clean. It has an 8 gallon solution and recovery bladder as well as two sets of spray nozzles which work independently, and a 14 inch shoe. All lines are built inside so there are no outside lines. Comes complete with 40 foot chord.

These are 8 top carpet extractors but there are many many other excellent products on the market. The carpet extractor you choose will depend on how much carpet you have to clean, and how often. The one thing that has been proven over and over is that carpet extractors will extend the life of your carpets and keep them looking fresh and new.

About The Author

John Murray makes it easy to go through the carpet buying process and provides tips to keep your carpet lasting long. To learn more and receive your free mini-course visit: http://www.carpets-guide.com.

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com

How To Clean Your Throw Rugs

by: John Murray

Throw rugs are a handy way to cover wear, spruce up a room, or add warmth and comfort to hardwood floors. They are affordable and easy to find and you can choose from all types of patterns, designs, colors, and materials. Here's how to clean your throw rugs and keep them looking fresh and new.

Throw rugs are very easy to care for. They require no special treatment or attention, unless of course you've purchased wool rugs or the manufacturers instructions give you specific directions for cleaning.

1. Vacuum

The single easiest way to keep your rugs looking fresh and new and extend their life is to vacuum them on a regular basis. Vacuuming pulls dirt away so it cannot get pushed deep into the fiber and wear the rug.

2. Check Tag

Read the tag for any special washing instructions. If you find none you can assume that our instructions will work.

3. Pretreat

If your throw rug has any stains pretreat it with any of the laundry stain removers or pretreatments available. Apply as you would with any other item. Then let soak for a few hours so that it can penetrate deep into the fiber.

4. Wash

Toss it in the washing machine in cold water. Use a mild laundry detergent and be sure it does not have any bleaching agents. These could fade the color of your rug. Even the bleach free ones can be harsh on some fabrics and are not recommended for your throw rugs if you want to keep the new looking. If your rug is too large for your washer locate a laundry mat that has the commercial size washers then take it there to wash.

5. Hang to Dry

Never throw your throw rug in the dryer. Always hang to dry. Hanging over the shower door works great as any water left in the material will drip into the shower. You can also hang over any other style of door, or lay flat to dry. If you lay flat to dry be sure to flip and move regularly otherwise the water will be wicked into the surface and it will take forever to dry.

6. Brush

Not only do you have to brush your pets, now you have to brush your rugs. Once your throw rug is dry take a comb or brush and gently work it through the rug brushing against it's natural grain so it becomes full again.

A quick search online will reveal there are thousands of throw rug choices out there. You can also buy throw rugs at local carpet dealers. Stores like Walmart or Target offer some great prices on these style of rugs so be sure to check them out too!

Throw rugs are the perfect way to add to your home decor. As you can see from how to clean your throw rugs process they are not difficult to maintain. There also great because normally they are of a small to medium size so you can mix it up every now and then and rearrange them in your home.

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com