eFloorplan

(NAPSI)-If you're dreading your next painting project, you may want to brush up on just how much easier the whole process has become.

Here are just a few ways painting has changed:

• Deciding how a color will look in a room is no longer hit or miss. Many paint manufacturers offer Web sites where you can upload a photo of your room and see how it will look painted a certain shade.

• If that still doesn't convince you, many paint manufacturers offer sample-size paints so you can splash some on the wall and see if you like the color as much at dinner as you do at breakfast.

• The paint itself has so improved--with truer colors and quicker drying times. For example, Benjamin Moore recently introduced Aura, which won Popular Science magazine's 2007 Best of What's New Award.

San Diego, CA (PRWeb) April 17, 2007 -- Home improvement is becoming a popular hobby for women, according to a study conducted by Yankalovich Partners. A shocking 37 percent of women said they would rather work on a home improvement project than hit the malls, while 28 percent said they'd rather work on their home than cook.

Are you looking for reliable home contractors to remodel your bathroom or kitchen? Or are you looking a competent family handyman to solve your small problems around the house? Whatever the size of the project in your home, home contractors are the most skilled, proficient and practical. Or at least that’s how they should be. Look out for those who want to rip you off, especially if you are going to make major changes in your home. Thousands of families are known to have been fooled by fake home contractors. The good news is that there are ways of exposing them.

1950. Levitt & Sons opened up a glass-enclosed sales office on the 23rd. Across the street from the Hempstead Turnpike/Division Avenue intersection, the facility also featured two 1950 fully-furnished Ranch model houses courtesy of Macy's Department Stores. Thousands of future residents visited this office and got their first peek of Levittown life.

1950. Division Avenue High School opened on the 5th to accommodate the rapidly growing number of Baby Boom students whose families had recently moved into the new Levitt & Sons Development.

Want to learn more about Levittown history? Since 1988 the Levittown Historical Society has been dedicated to preserving the legacy of William J. Levitt, the world-famous suburban town he and his family founded for homecoming GI's (and its "sister cities" throughout the globe), and the rural communities of Island Trees and Jerusalem that preceded it. To this end, the Society maintains a museum at the Levittown Memorial Education Center, manages educational programs under the auspices of the Levittown School District, and participates in various community events. For more information call 735-9060.

Levittown Family: An early Levittown Family and their home.The story of Levittown New York begins with the story of the Hempstead Plains, sixty thousand acres of flat, treeless grasslands that was once considered the largest prairie in the eastern United States. It was here, in 1644, that a group of English colonists established Hempstead, the first permanent settlement in what later became Nassau County. Subsequently, through various grants and land deals, Hempstead was divided into territories, one of which became known as Island Trees, likely because it contained a tall group of pine trees that, from a distance, resembled an island unto itself.

A floor plan, the arrangement of spaces, and features and applied finishes may be individually or collectively important in defining the historic character of the building and the purpose for which it was constructed. Thus, their identification, retention, protection, and repair should be given prime consideration in every preservation project. Caution should be exercised in developing plans that would radically change character-defining spaces or that would obscure, damage or destroy interior features or finishes.

While the exterior of a building may be its most prominent visible aspect, or its "public face," its interior can be even more important in conveying the building's history and development over time. Rehabilitation within the context of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation calls for the preservation of exterior and interior portions or features of the building that are significant to its historic, architectural and cultural values.

Before getting into the standards for rehabilitation, you should understand how the terms preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction are used by the Department of the Interior, author of the standards.

These definitions come from the National Park Service Web site, and are based on the Department of the Interior Standards and Guidelines for Historic Preservation.

The Definitions:

Preservation places a premium on retaining all historic fabric through conservation, maintenance and repair. It reflects a building's continuum over time, through successive occupancies, and the respectful changes and alterations that are made.

Most wood-frame houses built in the latter half of the 20th century use a platform-framing system. But many earlier stick-framed houses use the "balloon" system.

The main difference between platform and balloon framing is at the floor lines. The balloon wall studs extend from the sill of the first floor all the way to the top plate or end rafter of the second floor. The platform-framed wall, on the other hand, is complete for each floor.

In balloon framing, both the wall studs and the floor joists rest on a sill anchored to the foundation. The studs and joists typically are toe-nailed to the still with eight-penny nails and nailed to each other with at least three ten-penny nails.

Our house has two bathrooms but neither one of them has an exhaust fan. Is it worth the trouble and the expense to install them?

In a word, yes. And you’ll know why if you’ve ever renovated an old bathroom and found mold and dry rot where you were expecting sound wood.

As originally built, many old houses were only slightly less drafty than their adjoining barns or carriage houses. They often they had little or nothing in the way of insulation. But at least moisture in the air dissipated easily.

Today, of course, our houses are tighter and better insulated – and most of us enjoy such luxuries as showers in our indoor bathrooms. These improvements make our homes more livable. But they also make our houses more susceptible to trapped moisture in wall and ceiling cavities.

Old floors often have too much bounce for tile. Here's how to correct this problem.

Unless you buy salvaged tile, the floor probably won’t look old. But ceramic tile is very tough and easy-to-clean so your kids can spill all the juice they want without damaging the floor. And there’s so much variety with tile that getting it to blend with an adjacent wood floor should not be difficult.

Another option is Mexican Saltillo tile, which are unglazed pavers made from clay. They’re not as durable as ceramic tile but they have a warm, rustic look. (Yes, I know, they’re really meant for a Southwestern adobe, not a four-square in Vermont. Yet they have a pleasantly rustic look no matter where you live!)