The best way to cut your heating bill is often to make sure all the windows and doors of your home are properly caulked, sealed, and weatherstripped, instead of going shopping for a fancy new solar water heater. Blowing in a few extra inches of insulation in your attic can very easily save you more money over the next ten years than installing a solar installation that can cost from $5,000-$10,000, and the net effect on the environment is much the same (especially if you use cellulose or other “green” attic insulation).

Once you’ve got your basic home in tip-top shape, then it’s time to turn to appliances and solar installations, as far as being as energy efficient as possible. But make sure you’ve tackled all the small improvements first, as that’s often where you’ll get the biggest return on investment of your home improvement dollars.

As far as a place to turn to find the best mortgage rates and other loan products, we recommend Personal Home Loan Mortgages. The site is simple and clean and easy to navigate, and provides you with mortgage rates for a wide range of loan products, including 30 and 15 year mortgages, home equity loans, and debt consolidation products. Mortgage providers from around the US are included in their database, so it’s quick and easy to get rates from local lenders no matter where you live.

In addition to mortgage rates, the site also provides a wealth of other information including instructional articles about shopping for the best mortgage product for your particular needs, info about how the mortgage process works in generals, and other helpful tools like a mortgage calculator to see just what your monthly mortgage payment would be for various products.

Everlastinghardwood.com’s Ipe stock comes from South America and is selected from suppliers that practice responsible and sustainable forestry practices as far as the trees that are harvested, meeting all of the guidelines of the International Tropical Timber Organization. Everlastinghardwoods’ product lines includes Ipe and Jatoba residential hardwood flooring, Ipe decking materials, and a wide range of Ipe patio furniture, including benches, lounge chairs, patio tables and chairs, and coffee and side tables.

If you’re looking for the best deals on Ipe decking or furniture, look no further. Everlastinghardwoods.com has a huge stock of inventory and is ready and waiting to supply you with the durable, long-lasting Ipe products that you’ve been searching for.

Sling patio furniture includes chairs, bar stools, and chaise lounges, and often feature hand-sewn fabrics is a multitude of hues and colors and material choices, with options available to suit tastes of all shapes and sizes.

Empire Carpet features include:

• Convenient Shop-at-Home Service
  • We bring samples right to your home
  • Appointments are set to fit your schedule
• Low Warehouse-Direct Prices
  • We have no retail outlets and pass the savings on to you
• Next Day Installation
  • Carpet, Flooring, and Window Treatments NEXT DAY
  • Bath & Shower Liners NEXT DAY
• No payments for one year
  

Here’s how their process works, from beginning to end, taken directly from their website:

How it works:

• Make an appointment for a free, no obligation in-home estimate.
• On the day of your appointment a friendly, professional Empire Today Representative will arrive at your home to show you samples, allow you to match the samples with your existing décor, measure and give you a fully installed price to give your home a new look. He/She will discuss our no-payment, no-interest credit options and also schedule your installation which could even be next day!
• On the day of your installation, our experienced professional installers, who handle every job with care, will arrive at your home. After the installation is complete, they will review the job with you to make sure you’re completely satisfied and give you a customer care package that includes the care and service information you may need in the future.
• Within the next 2 weeks, an Empire Representative will contact you to make sure you’re completely satisfied
• We’re always available to help. Our Information Center is just a click away. Or, you can contact us by phone at 800-588-2300.

All in all, Empire Today is an excellent choice for your home improvement needs, as not only do they offer a wide variety of flooring, window treatment, and bath and shower liners, as well as the professional staff to ensure that its products are promptly and professionally installed.

One interesting aspect of Empire Today is that with a successful history of more than four decades of serving happy customers (and with the cool powers of the Internet), you can see videos of some of their past TV commercials from over the years:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD8dl88PG8U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZHT38AbmsA&feature=related[/youtube]

Telescope patio furniture is available in a variety of collections and categories, including:

Wicker
Cast Aluminum
Cushion
Sling
Strap
Telaweave & Folding
Beach Chairs
Director Chairs
Umbrellas & Bases

Popular collections of Telescope patio furniture include Key Biscane, St. Lucia, Bella Luca, Chesapeake, Cape May, Aruba, and Oceanside. Its patio furniture and accessories are available in a wide range of finishes and colors, and are available at dealers throughout the United States and Canada.

Telescope patio furniture is a great choice for patio furniture no matter what your taste, as they offer a range of selections from the sleek and modern to contemporary and casual, as well as more ornate, formal choices.  

Its patent-pending gate opener utilizes an integrated mounting post and power actuator that located inside the rotating support post itself, allowing for not only a simpler, more efficient design (the gate operator is smaller as the force needed to open and close the gate is minimal and constant throughout the range of motion) but a more elegant solution as well, with no bulky boxes or visible mechanical linkages.

Videos of the armless gate opener in action can be found here: http://www.turnstylegates.com/pages/Videos.html

Bog gardens are characterized by areas of permanently wet, saturated soil, and are almost always informal gardens, often with large, giant plants. They typically look much “wilder” in nature, especially when placed alongside more traditional gardens.  While you usually can’t let bog gardens truly grow wild, as some pruning and landscaping is necessary, they do provide a chance to let some plants stretch their legs, and can be used to give an impression of greater size and space in your garden area.

No matter how small the pool, if you provide a area of clear water for a week or two in the lush summer months, it’s next to impossible to not be on your way to a thriving wildlife pool, as algae and bugs take root, followed by larger and larger invertebrates, dragonflies, birds, and even hedgehogs, foxes, and possums.

A rich layer of soil over the bottom of your liner will greatly speed the process, as well as providing an island or edging that creates basking spots for frogs and toads. Allowing easy access and exit to the pond can also help it flourish, especially for amphibians that don’t spend the entire time in the water.

Planting marginals and other grasses and sedges can also give your wildlife pond a shot in the arm, as water and a steady food source will go a long way towards attracting all sorts of life that is the backbone of your pond.

That said, the goal is to create a natural feel and look, so don’t endlessly obsess over the positioning and arrangement of every single stone or element. When nature creates rock pools and ponds, the process is necessarily haphazard and random, so don’t feel too constrained when selecting and placing materials.

Take special care with your choice of edging, as good planning can eliminate a lot of unsightly problems later on. If your pool or pond is small and in a sunny area, be prepared for the water level to drop rapidly in warm sumemr months, which may cause the liner to be exposed if you haven’t prepared for this. The same holds true for water features that supply solely on natural rainfall and water, as the water level can fluctuate dramatically thoughout the seasons.

As far as materials for constructing a rock pool or pond, the sky is the limit, as limestone, slate, granite, sandstone, and washed boulders and cobbles all are great choices,  and can be incorporated into a variety of designs in many different ways.