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Tile Installation Tips
To get your money’s worth, and a job that looks good and lasts, here are tips on tiling—from finding a good contractor to checking the finishing details.
Tips on Choosing Tiles
Whether you need to cover a kitchen backsplash, redo the floor in your powder room, or pick finishes and materials for an entire house, tile is a big part of many remodeling projects. But walk into a tile showroom or home improvement store, and you may be overwhelmed with options. Cement or porcelain? White or off-white subway tiles? Glass tiles etched and painted with songbirds or a marble mosaic that looks straight out of Pompeii?
How to Find a Good Plumber
Plumbing is seldom exciting. It works fine for years, faithfully filling, flowing, and flushing. But when a pipe leaks water through your kitchen ceiling, the excitement may become more than you can stand.
How to Deal with Your Plumber
With any company you choose, dealing wisely with the plumber nets better work and saves you money. Whether you need a remodeling job or repairs, if possible, get a written price quote before work begins.
Plumbing Dos and Don’ts
Following these rules will help reduce the seriousness and frequency of plumbing problems.
Buying Kitchen Cabinets
Are you ready for a kitchen makeover? Here's advice on how to get the kitchen you crave for the least amount of hassle and money. We provide tips and ratings to help you plan your space, find the right designers, suppliers, and contractors, and get good prices.
Trends in Cabinets & Countertops
Since you’ll probably redo your kitchen only every 10 to 20 years, you’ll want to select finishes and fixtures that you love. But also make sure they fit current, up-and-coming, and long-term cabinet and countertop trends.
Countertop Intelligence
While granite is still popular, the most popular kitchen countertops are quartz, which looks like stone but is actually a mashup of minerals and resins and usually colored with patterns that mimic granite or marble. No matter what type of material you select, you can save plenty by shopping for the best price.
Should You Hire a Painter or Do It Yourself?
A good painting contractor will produce better results than most DIYers—and finish faster. But because they don't have to pay for their own labor, lots of homeowners grab rollers and brushes. Before taking the painting plunge, consider the following.
How to Choose Paint
Eggshell. Latex. Semi-gloss. Oil. There are so many vocabulary words surrounding types of house paint, you might think you need a dictionary. Consider this our primer on figuring out what’s in the can and where to use it.
Swatch Your Step: How to Pick Paint Colors
Visit any paint store, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the rainbow coalition of colors—most paint manufacturers produce hues by the thousands, not dozens. So how do you choose?
Best Places to Buy Carpet
You’ll want to do your shopping at stores where you can get good advice, good selection, quality installation services, and honest business practices—at reasonable prices.
