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Low cost way to lower your electric bill in the summer

July 25th, 2011

Tyler Texas AC RepairIn older houses your attic and doorways are the first place to start to help in lowering your electric bill in the summer.

It really does not cost much to make a significant impact on your electric bill by insulating the attic, duct work, and putting seals on doorways and windows.

In older houses you usually have lower ceilings in the house which ads to the effect when you insulate your attic. It does not take as much air conditioning to cool your house when your ceilings are only 8 feet high.

To begin your cost reduction task go to Home Depot, Lowe’s or any local hardware store and get some weather stripping for doors and windows.

There are also strips that can be attached at the bottom of a doorway that stick on and drag the ground. Ask for the lower strips as well, they take about 30 seconds to put on.

For most people you will be able to glue and or nail the weather stripping on yourself. I personally did a combination of nailing and gluing. Be sure to use the very small tack nails so you don’t effect the structural components of your windows and doors.

Now for the attic you can get blow in insulation from most hardware stores and it comes with a blow in machine. The problem is that if you call the top 3 insulation companies in Tyler TX you will be able to get a cheaper price for insulation and installation than the cost of purchasing the materials at either large hardware store.

It simply makes no sense to insulate your attic yourself when the professionals can do it cheaper than it will cost you to buy the materials.

In older houses sometimes the duct work has not been wrapped in insulation. Also the duct work very well may have no mastic paint sealing the cracks at each connection of duct work.

When it comes to mastic seals and insulating the duct work you are talking about a lot of time up in the attic to do this. This is one of the more costly aspects to attic and ac conditioning insulation.

For those who want to do this yourself it is as simple as getting a paint brush, mastic, and duct insulation. You will also need a cutting blade to cut the insulation.

I recommend getting a licensed ac repair company in Tyler Texas to do the duct work insulating as they can knock it out quick and you don’t have to deal with being in your attic for extended periods of time.

We recommend calling Aire Serv of Tyler Texas for any duct work insulation work you need done. When contacting a Tyler TX ac repair company be sure to get a few quotes and go with the company willing to give you referrals and examples of the work they have done.

If you perform all of these low cost energy efficiency steps in your house you could lower your summer electric bill by $100 a month depending on how bad your ac cooling is leaking in your house.

Stonebridge Air Conditioning in Tyer TX

Maddox Air Conditioning

Ace Hardware Store in Tyler Texas

January 8th, 2010

A hardware store is just a hardware store. The people at Ace Hardware would have you believe that their store is more packed full of hardware than any of the other competing businesses, or that their prices are lower, or even that their hardware is of superior quality. The truth is that you could, most likely, find all of the same equipment for the same prices at the Home Depot. This is not necessarily a negative similarity; the theme of hardware doesn’t support a lot of variety. Although in Ace’s defense they do have a formidable paint selection. Ace Hardware also has a little more open space than most hardware stores; it has a breezy expansive center isle with plenty of room to drag your new sundry items, or roller skate down.

Where Ace really stands out is its service, the sales peoples really know how to simply make sure your needs are taken care of. After all basic service is much more than you can ask from Lowe’s or Home Depot’s customer assistance placebo buttons. I have not yet been able to test the employee’s hardware expertise, but they did clear my lawn furniture obstacle course in very good time.

Ace Ritter in Tyler Texas will unfortunately be closing down this year as Lowe’s and Home Depot have proven to be too much competitin for them. I would run by there and see if their smokers are on sale. Ace Ritter has some remarkable meat smokers that are electric and burn small wood pellets. The meat never burns and the amount of electricity needed to ignite the wood pellets is minimal. These smokers are one of the best niche items Ace Ritter sales and since they are going out of business I would look for these to be marked down. Don’s TV and Appliances also sells this brand of meat smoker so if you wanted to price shop you could check out the two stores.

If you enjoy shopping at Ace Hardware you can still find one in the Flint Gresham area at Kirkpatricks Ace Hardware.

Hardware Stores in Tyler

October 15th, 2009

Anyone who has ever owned a project house understands the importance of having a local hardware store with knowledgeable employees who can dispense helpful advice. In Tyler we have two main “do it yourself” stores for all your ‘round the house and garden projects. They are of course Lowes and the Home Depot. People often assume the two national stores are essentially the same, but this is really not correct. Both in terms of their product and their target customers, the stores actually have some real differences.

The Home Depot

On the surface it’s hard to imagine that this store could be without anything needed by the home repair expert. However, the store really caters to the wants and needs of its more design oriented customers. The store stocks larger items that tend to effect the look and feel of a house, but when it comes to smaller essential items that make the things work, that make bigger, prettier things work, you may find yourself looking elsewhere.

My main beef with THD is the lack of competent customer assistance. Once while shopping in the giant store, my brother and his wife approached an employee to ask for assistance. They were told that the employee wished he could help them, but didn’t know where to find the item they were looking for, and unfortunately he didn’t know how to use a computer, (I’m not making this up, I promise). They were then treated to a ten minute rant about how the gentleman had once owned a computer, but didn’t like or understand it, so he gave it away. I realize this is an unusual example and there are things about the store I actually like, the home and garden section for example. My two year old little boy enjoys looking at the many mowers on display, (for someone who obsessed with mowers this is Six Flags). When it comes to big ticket items THD has an excellent selection, but the serious contractor or even DYI person however will probably end up making another stop.

Lowes

Lowes is Home Depot’s biggest competitor. It is large enough to carry many of the same high profile, attention grabbing products, but it also carries more of the smaller items with more specific uses. Lowes is less about marketing than its counterpart, and more about function. I do have one criticism of the Tyler Lowes, (at least the South Broadway location). The store often seems a little “Walmarty,” or at least “West Loop Walmarty.” For those who have yet to visit the West Loop Walmart, I’m referring to the store’s legendary reputation for sloppiness. I find that the South Broadway Lowes occasionally seems a bit disorderly as well. So if I had to choose between the two stores I would choose the latter in most cases. It seems to me to be a more practical store.

McCoy’s

I also wanted to mention one of my favorite hardware stores. McCoy’s is sometimes a bit more expensive than its larger rivals; however they do a lot more with a smaller building, (don’t forget they also have a lumber yard). McCoy’s is a real hardware store. They don’t have an appliance department, but they do have all the little parts you need to fix or install an appliance. As someone who is at best a home repair novice, and mind you, this may not be fair to novices, I can appreciate their helpful knowledgeable staff.
All of these stores carry many of the same items. If you know what you’re looking for they tend to be pretty similar. If on the other hand you require assistance with your project consider a more specialized store. Ultimately a bit of self education will save you a lot of frustration no matter where you shop.

Ace Ritter

This is a hardware and Tyler Texas home remodeling store that is also a co-op. One of the best things I have found in there lately has been these barbecue smokers that use compact wood pellets to smoke your meat. You can cook meat in these things but it will take atleast 45 min to fully cook your meat. The positive thing to using one of these smokers is the fact that you can’t burn your meat and you are not eating constantly eating cancer causing carcinogens like you would when using a gas or charcoal grill. I am all for gas and charcoal powered barbecue grills but if you are having cook outs every week at your house sometimes it’s worth the investment in going a little healthier. Ace Ritter also has your typical hardware supplies that you would find at Lowes and Home Depot but they carry unique things like the smoker that you can’t find anywhere else. Ace Ritter is also known as Ritter at Home and has only been in Tyler for a few years. For a new and unique experience visiting a hardware store be sure to stop by Ace for a change.