Expert Advice on Home Improvement

These LED surface mounted accent lights are available in battery powered or wired versions, and are great for mounting under cabinets or for accent lighting. LED bulbs stay cool to the touch and use half of the electricity of regular bulbs. They’re easy to install and can last up to 20 years. LED Accent lights from Hampton Bay are available at The Home Depot stores. Watch this video.

Portable generators are a great way to provide power during outages, but there are some important safety considerations, including carbon monoxide poisoning and electrical overloads that can damage appliances. Watch this video.

Installing a whole house backup generator on your home is a great way to power appliances in the case of a power outage due to severe weather. Watch this video to find out more about whole house generators. Watch this video.

When installing recessed lighting in an existing ceiling, a hole is cut in the ceiling that exactly fits the profile of a special remodeling can to keep from damaging the surrounding drywall. Watch this video.

Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (or CFLs) cost a little more than regular bulbs, but they use only a fourth as much energy and last 10 times as long. They’re now available in shapes and sizes to fit most light fixtures. Watch this video.

Recessed light fixtures can be used for general lighting, accenting a focal point in a room, or illuminating a specific path such as a hall. Find out how to to install recessed lighting in your home. Watch this video.

Central vacuum systems are a convenient way to keep your home clean, since you don’t have to carry a heavy vacuum cleaner around the house. The air is expelled outside, which can prevent dust and other allergens from recirculating around your home. Watch this video.

It’s important to install safeguards on electrical outlets to keep inquisitive children from shocking themselves. While the most inexpensive method is to cover the outlet with plastic plug covers, they can be hard to remove. A more costly, but easier to use, alternative is to install these Tamper Resistant Outlets from Leviton. Watch this video.

Replacing a dated light fixture with a beautiful ceiling medallion and chandelier is a great way to improve the look of a room. Adding a dimmer switch is a perfect way to control the level of lighting when entertaining. Watch this video.

Before the drywall can be installed, all the plumbing and wiring in the walls must be run. Everything from electrical and phone lines to cable and speaker wires need to be roughed in and routed to the proper locations. Watch this video.

With the cost of energy on the rise, producing electricity from the sun is looking more promising than ever. But while sunlight is free, producing electricity from photovoltaic cells is still quite expensive, costing from $30,000 to $40,000 to convert an existing home to a solar powered one. Until solar cells become more affordable, there are other solar options worth considering, including solar landscape lighting and solar hot water heaters. Watch this video.

Home automation systems can be used to control everything from heating and cooling to lighting and music. Z-Wave technology uses a two-way wireless system to reliably transmit signals from a controller to the device. Watch this video.

It’s easy to make a mistake when measuring and marking the location of electrical outlets on drywall. To prevent this from happening, coat the edge of the outlet box with brightly colored lipstick. Position the sheet of wallboard in place, and push it firmly up against the outlet box. Watch this video.

While skylights are a great way to bring more natural light into your home, they can be hard to install, result in unwanted heat buildup, and are prone to leaking. ODL Tubular Skylights solve these problems by using a small diameter round lens on the roof to gather sunlight and shine it down a reflective metal tube to an diffuser mounted on the ceiling. Watch this video.

If you’re tired of constantly untangling and tripping over your extension cord, try turning a 5-gallon plastic bucket into this handy cord caddy. To use, place the bucket near an electrical outlet and plug the end of the cord that extend through the hole into the outlet. It’s a good idea to spread the cord out during use to keep it from overheating. Watch this video.

Danny revisits a couple of NuTone products used during Today’s Addition. The NuTone video answering system helps bridge the distance from the addition in the back of the house to the front door. The system uses a Cat5 cable to relay video from a small doorbell camera back to a LCD display in the master bedroom. Above the breakfast bar, a NuTone recessed light performs two functions. It provides a cone of light and with a flip of a switch it removes humidity and odor as an exhaust fan. The exhaust function is completely housed inside of the lighting unit. Watch this video.

Danny talks to an automated lighting expert about wireless remote controlled lighting. These systems can let you set lighting to time, mood, or control it from the car. Watch this video.

From high-tech gadgets to simple changes, Danny takes a look at some new ways to make your home green whether during new construction or a remodel. Automated irrigation systems, solar paneled roofs, and programmable thermostats are just a few of the green additions seen here. Watch this video.

Power or voltage surges are very short periods of high voltage that happen in the blink of an eye. An extremely high voltage surge can damage major appliance motors and totally destroy sensitive electronic equipment. Watch this video.

One way to maximize the storage space you have in your basement or garage is to look overhead. In this case we were looking for storage space to accommodate different sized clamps. Watch this video.

More and more tools these days are cordless, but from time to time you still need to plug a tool in. That usually leads to an extension cord strung across the garage or workshop floor which in turn leads to someone inevitably tripping over it. Watch this video.

One way to easily layout screws for keyhole slots on the back of power strips (or anything else) is to lay a sheet of paper over the holes and sketch back and forth with a pencil. The holes will show up in relief. Now use the paper as a template for installing the screws and they will be spaced perfectly. Watch this video.