Custom Building Tips for Spring Cleaning & Organization

Although Texas has been warm for a while, spring is officially here and 'tis the season for refreshing, cleaning, re-organizing, and building anew! Here are some custom organizational ideas and the handy tips for the yearly check-up:

ORGANIZATIONAL BUILT-INS

For all ages, spring cleaning typically revolves around tidying a closet. The easiest place to hide and stash things that don't need to be seen every day, the closet becomes the result of the mass exodus from the clean laundry pile, accumulating en masse until the clean somehow needs to be washed again.

In an effort to help dissuade the chaos, organizational systems have been designed specifically for the clutter-minded, such as huge wall-to-wall built-ins, additional hanging racks, shoe racks, laundry chutes, drop zones etc. Even, as shown below, a hidden door could be built to match the other closet built ins! Depending on the level of finish, built-ins could match the cabinetry throughout the rest of the home, or sport paint-grade pine constructed by a trim carpenter. 

Custom Wall-to-Wall Cabinetry Built-In:

Built-In Shelving and Hidden Door: 

Additional Top Rack for Closet: 

Laundry Chute and Receiving Cabinet: 

Custom Drop Zone: 

MAINTENANCE:

Directly from our Energy Star Partner website: https://www.energystar.gov/

Follow this checklist to ensure your home is ready for the heat surges ahead!!

Maintenance Checklist:

• Check thermostat settings to ensure the cooling and heating system keeps you comfortable when you are home and saves energy while you are away.

• Tighten all electrical connections and measure voltage and current on motors. Faulty electrical connections can cause unsafe operation of your system and reduce the life of major components.

• Lubricate all moving parts. Parts that lack lubrication cause friction in motors and increases the amount of electricity you use.

• Check and inspect the condensate drain in your central air conditioner, furnace and/or heat pump (when in cooling mode). A plugged drain can cause water damage in the house and affect indoor humidity levels.

• Check controls of the system to ensure proper and safe operation. Check the starting cycle of the equipment to assure the system starts, operates, and shuts off properly.

Cooling Specific:

• Clean evaporator and condenser air conditioning coils. Dirty coils reduce the system's ability to cool your home and cause the system to run longer, increasing energy costs and reducing the life of the equipment.

• Check your central air conditioner's refrigerant level and adjust if necessary. Too much or too little refrigerant will make your system less efficient increasing energy costs and reducing the life of the equipment.

• Clean and adjust blower components to provide proper system airflow for greater comfort levels. Airflow problems can reduce your system's efficiency by up to 15 percent.

Heating Specific:

• Check all gas (or oil) connections, gas pressure, burner combustion and heat exchanger. Improperly operating gas (or oil) connections are a fire hazard and can contribute to health problems. A dirty burner or cracked heat exchanger causes improper burner operation. Either can cause the equipment to operate less safely and efficiently.

Actions To Do Yourself:

• Inspect, clean, or change air filters once a month in your central air conditioner, furnace, and/or heat pump. Your contractor can show you how to do this. A dirty filter can increase energy costs and damage your equipment, leading to early failure.

Maintain your equipment to prevent future problems and unwanted costs. Keep your cooling and heating system at peak performance by having a contractor do annual pre-season check-ups. Contractors get busy once summer and winter come, so it's best to check the cooling system in the spring and the heating system in the fall. To remember, you might plan the check-ups around the time changes in the spring and fall.

© Melanie McGinley Sparks and Kurk Homes, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kurk Homes and Melanie McGinley Sparks with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Universal Design - Creating a Home for a Lifetime

It's not an easy subject to cover. No one ever wants to think about their parents, themselves, or future generations not being physically able to safely enter a bathtub or walk up a few porch steps. With Universal Design, however, that thought process is taken care of for you - with more items you may not have even thought about.

So, what is Universal Design? And who does it benefit? 

Universal Design is a way of strategizing a plan, or modifying a home, to maximize accessibility for any person that may have physical restrictions in the future. This means elderly individuals, as well as someone who may be short-term, physically injured.

Bathrooms are specifically targeted, as they are the primary source of injuries in the home for any age, with over an astonishing 80% of injuries. Listed below are some alterations to make during the design phase that could ensure your home could really be suitable for a lifetime.

SAFETY FEATURES

BATHROOMS:

• Walk-in bathtub options
• Sloped and recessed (no ledge or step) oversized showers
• Additional hardware "grab bars" in showers and commode rooms

THROUGHOUT:

• Additional lighting, especially in transitions between rooms and differing floor heights
• Sloped or ramped porch entry in lieu of steps
• Non-slick flooring on interior as well as sidewalks and patios

CONVENIENCE & COMFORT FEATURES 

BATHROOMS:

• Handheld shower head & built-in shower seat
• Comfort height commodes

THROUGHOUT:

• Open concept living
• 3'0 wide or larger doors, entries, and exterior walkways
• Lowered countertops, outlets, and switches
• Zoned HVAC, multiple thermostats
• Lever hardware instead of round knobs

Here is an example of an open concept plan with comfort and safety features of Universal Design, designed by Kurk Homes. We originally created this plan with the idea of building a secondary structure on a property so that aging or physically challenged loved ones could have the security of being close by, but still maintain independent living. 

Chris McGinley, Kurk Homes President, was the chair of the 50+ housing council for Greater Houston Builders Association, focusing on universal design and "aging in place." He is also pictured above, with our grandparents and the co-founder of Kurk Homes, Mr. Chester Kurk, honored in our July post.


© Melanie McGinley Sparks and Kurk Homes, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Melanie McGinley Sparks and Kurk Homes with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.