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A backyard isn’t the same as it used to be – a place to grill, where kids play ball, or just an extra spot to mow. Now the trend is to make the backyard an outdoor retreat or an extension to the house. The Home Remodelers Group® can help transform your outdoors into a beautiful year round sunroom, a deck for entertaining or even an outdoor kitchen.

As reported in the May 2006 Consumer Reports, designing and furnishing an outdoor room is the second most likely home-remodeling project to do. Specifically, approximately 1.2 million U.S. households will install a fully functional outdoor kitchen, according to a study by the industry research company inquiry.

In 2004, Better Homes and Gardens magazine received survey responses from nearly 60,000 Americans describing home improvement projects and future home-building aspirations. Better Homes and Gardens found that people want indoor/outdoor livability, technological innovations, flexibility for family needs and a kitchen-centric focus. (REMODELING Magazine, September 1, 2005)

Homeowners are seeking ways to make the outdoors a functional part of the living area. To accomplish that, the barriers between outdoors and indoors, such as walls and solid doors, are going away. As cited in “A Simple Way to Increase Outdoor Living Space” at HGPgal.com, for homeowners looking to add to their living space, improve their lifestyle and increase the resale value of their home, the perfect solution is to extend living areas outdoors through the addition of decks, patios, outdoor kitchens and entertainment areas.

“The line between the house and the outdoor space continues to disintegrate,” says Julie D. Taylor, author of Outdoor Rooms. “Many designers are using the same, or similar, materials both on the interior and exterior to extend the house to the outdoors. It breaks down the barrier and gives a feeling of a larger house.”

Alternatively, instead of thinking of the barriers disintegrating, another solution is effective indoor-outdoor connections. These connections can include French doors opening up onto a porch, or the addition of a window to expose a lovely view. Indoor-outdoor connections can be as simple as adding a mudroom between the garage and the home, or more complex, such as an outdoor entertainment area placed just outside the doors of a home’s main gathering space. Adding visual connections to the outdoors, such as through the addition of glass doors or enlarging a window, adds value to your home by making its interior space appear larger than it actually is. (“Connect Inside of Your House with the Beauty Outdoors,” Ann Robinson, Deseret News, April 2005)

To create the outdoor living space that you want, start by determining your budget and your desires.

Consumer Reports provides some tips about what to consider for building room extensions or outdoor entertainment areas:

* Determine how you will use your space

* Consider location

* Be sure to weatherproof

* Incorporate lighting and heat

* Consider safety

No matter what extension you decide to make, it will undoubtedly add value to your home. As cited by Ann Robinson in Deseret News, “Exterior living space adds usable square footage to your home without costing you the $120-plus per square foot you’d spend for the construction of an addition.”

The Home Remodelers Group® can work with you to determine your indoor-outdoor remodeling desires. We have many gorgous sunroom plans and other renovating features available on our website at www.homeremodelersgroup.com. So, if you need a new area to relax and enjoy reading your favorite book, a place to create a new home gym, a place to add a spa to create your own special oasis, or an area for entertaining family and friends, a new sunroom, deck, or outdoor kitchen may be the perfect solution. We can help bring the outdoors in or take your family out in a comfortable and relaxing setting.

For more information visit: http://www.homeremodelersgroup.com/?source=articles

For people who have hobby playing gambling, casino certainly is a place often visited. Are you including Fan gambling? Well, you certainly do not deny that when you play gambling, you should go to a gambling casino to be able to play comfortably. And indeed, by going to the casino, you can easily play many casino games you like. If you like slot machines, you can easily play in the casino. If you like to play blackjack, you can play it with ease in the casino. However, now, with the sophistication of the Internet, you do not have to worry if you can not come to the casino. You can come to an online casino to play casino games you like.

The fire alarm wakes you in the middle of the night (you do have one installed in your home, don’t you?).  You have three sleeping children in their upstairs bedrooms. Do you know what to do? Do you have an evacuation plan and have you educated your children as to what to in case of fire?

One hundred sixty two minutes ago, someone just died in a house fire. Thirty-two minutes ago, someone was injured in a house fire.  In 2007, there were 214,000 fires that resulted in 2,895 deaths and 14,000 injuries. Most people die from smoke inhalation or toxic fumes during a house fire. Some of the causes of house fires are cooking (the number one cause), heaters, candles, arson, smoking, children playing with matches and fireplaces. Fires are estimated to cost society an unbelievable 165 billion dollars a year.  Switzerland has the lowest rate of deaths by fire, and the United States has the highest.

The people who are at risk the most are the elderly, children, the poor, African and Native Americans, people living in rural areas or substandard housing or manufactured homes, and please – don’t forget about your pets.

However, there is some good news. These numbers have been on the decline in recent years due to fire education, installation of fire alarms, sprinkler systems, fire code standards, better construction materials, better fire fighter equipment and higher training standards for firemen.

Some precautions you can implement to minimize the risk of a house fire are check your furnace every year, keep all flammable materials away from the furnace, use extreme caution when using a space heater. You can have your fireplace chimney cleaned and use a screen to prevent sparks from igniting rugs, furniture or anything in the room, keep the lint screen free from lint in your dryer and make sure the dryer vent is outside your home. Don’t overload outlets with power strips, if possible try not to use extension cords as they can overheat easily (and never use one that is damaged or frayed), keep the television away from the wall to prevent overheating, do not smoke when you are in bed, tired, or have been drinking.  Keep matches away from children and never leave them alone when there is a fire in the fireplace or a space heater in the room. And always have a watchful eye when you burn a candle, never leaving one burning while you are sleeping. Place your candles on a surface made particularly for candles.  Since cooking is the number one cause of house fires, never leave a pan unattended on the stove – not even for a minute!

It is good to have on hand a fire extinguisher (and know how to use it), install smoke detectors on every floor, especially near the bedroom, kitchen and laundry room, checking the batteries every year, especially if you live in an apartment that doesn’t have a sprinkler system. And the latest form of protection is to have smoke hoods for everyone in the house which will provide a way to breath safely in the event of a house on fire as the smoke is the most common reason for death in a house fire.

In a matter of moments, you can lose everything or those you love. Time is the most precious thing if there is a house fire. Don’t waste it by being unprepared or uneducated. Start today and take the steps needed to protect you and your loved ones.