HomeOwners Shy Away From Ladders

Hanging holiday lights? Try hiring an installer: Decorating for holidays can be joyous, but when you're on ladders stringing lights it can also be dangerous. So is it worth the risk? Or should you hire a professional? 7 On Your Side has some tips to help you make that decision.

According to the Consumer Product safety Commission, 13,000 people fell off a ladder while decorating for the holidays last year and ended up in the emergency room. Professional holiday lighting installer Jay Nelson is often called for just that reason. "I've gone to a lot of clients' houses where the wife will say that the husband is either not allowed on the roof or has fallen off the roof for the last time," says Nelson.

Rudy Contratii sets up an elaborate display each year at his house in Fairfax and never even knew there are professional installers. "I have no fear of a ladder," says Contratti. "Actually I look forward, the higher you go, the better you are." Many electricians and contractors have added this as a side business during the winter's inevitably slow season. After the holidays, Nelson returns to his mainstay: garden lighting, gutter cleaning and window washing. "We've seen a lot of increase in the last few years," says Nelson. "We've been pretty steady at an 20 percent growth every year for the last three years."

Contractors generally charge between $200 and $500 for stringing basic lights. They will set up the lights and return after the new year to take them down. Nelson's company brings the works -- lights, timers, extension cords and more. Angie Hicks from Angie's List has some tips about choosing the right installer:

• Make sure the company is qualified: Check that the decorator is insured to protect against any falls or accidents, otherwise it falls back on the homeowner.
• Ask about costs: Do the installers charge by the square foot or by the hour? Are you required to purchase the company's lights and decorations?
• Check rules and regulations: If you belong to a homeowner's association, ask what decorations are allowed to be added to your home's exterior.
• Ask about maintenance: If a bulb or timer goes out, do they have staff available to return to your home and fix or repair the decorations?

Also, when you're weighing it all out don't forget that a trip to the emergency room can cost a lot more than hiring a pro to string your lights.

Window Film Installation & Cricket Proof Glass

Window film much improved: Want to lower the summer temperature of your home and your utility bills at the same time? Try reflective window film. That's right, window film! In most homes, windows are responsible for the greatest amount of heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. One way to improve this condition is to window replacement with insulated double- or triple-pane windows. However, if you can’t afford to make the change now, consider an alternative that can help. Independent consumer tests have shown that reflective window film can deflect up to 79 percent of the sun's heat and glare in hot weather and keep up to 19 percent of inside heat from escaping in cold weather. And many reflective films also eliminate as much as 96 percent of the sun's ultraviolet rays – a major cause of carpet, drapery and furniture fading.

Reflective window film consists of a thin layer of polyester sheeting. It comes with a high-pressure acrylic adhesive designed for a long-lasting bond. Many films contain either aluminum or copper particles that give them high a highly reflective quality. They come in a variety of thicknesses, colors and shades. These variations influence the amount of visible and ultraviolet light transmitted as well as the percentage of solar energy rejected. Window film has improved. Where it once was easily scratched, modern materials resist scratching and fading, and last much longer.

Proper installation is a keys to lasting quality. Applying this window film looks easy. However, better warranties are generally offered when the product is professionally installed. In our opinion the added cost of a professional installation is well worth it. We offer the following do-it-yourself installation tips:

• Since the film will be applied to the interior of the window, start by cleaning the glass thoroughly.
• Use a single-edged razor blade to remove any paint or other particles from the surface.
• Clean the window until it glistens. Window film will not stick to a dirty piece of glass.
• Once the surface is clean, cut a piece of window film about two inches larger (overall) than the size of the window.
• Next, mix one teaspoon of liquid dish detergent with one quart of water in a spray bottle. Soak the inside surface of the window with the soapy solution.
• Peel back the liner paper to expose the window film adhesive. A helper will make this step much easier.
• Drench the adhesive side of the film by spraying it with the soapy solution. It's a good idea to have a drop cloth and towel handy to keep the mess to a minimum.
• Place the adhesive side of the drenched window film against the wet window, and using your hands begin to smooth the film against the surface of the glass (outward from the center), eliminating wrinkles and bubbles.
• Spray the surface of the film facing you with the soapy solution.
• Once the surface is wet, use a rubber squeegee and continue to smooth the window film.
• Finally, using a straight edge and razor knife trim the film where it meets the window frame.

Cricket star tests glass at The Point: Lancashire all-rounder Steven Croft has been bating a cricket ball against a panel of glass to show the double-glazed units, being used for The Point development at Old Trafford, will not smash. When it was initially announced that the front of The Point, the new conference and events facility at Old Trafford cricket ground, would be made completely of glass, some questioned whether a large glass front could survive speeding cricket balls. However, the manufacturers of the glass, M Price, were confident that Croft would inflict no damage and were proved right.

Peter Ash, sales manager for The Point, said: "Because of the nature of what happens on the pitch, it was key for M Price, BDP and Morgan Ashurst to work closely together to ensure the challenges of this complex project were addressed from design to completion." "The catering staff are now reassured that flying cricket balls won't mean them having to pad up prior to commencing their silver service duties!"

Around 100 double-glazed units have been used on The Point weighing a total of 21 tons. The Point venue is a £12m development and is part of the first phase of the redevelopment of the Old Trafford cricket ground. The North West Development Agency has invested £2.65m to fund the upgrade of the cricketing facilities, which is due to be fully constructed by July this year. The development is part of an overall £85m development of the local area including plans for a new Tesco store, which was given approval by Trafford Council's planning committee last Thursday.

Installing Christmas Lights as a Window Cleaning Add-On

A Greener Charlottesville - Holiday Lighting with a Green Twist: As the holidays get closer more and more people are firing up the Christmas lights but they are also raising the electric bill. Putting up the Christmas lights around your house is often times a fun family tradition but can also bring on some holiday headaches. A local company is making the process easier and with a green twist. Jim Harshaw, owner of Albemarle Window Cleaning says, "LEDs have sort of come to be the new thing in Christmas lighting and five years ago they were more or less unheard of in Christmas lights." LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes were first invented in the early 1900s but have gained big popularity in the past few decades because of there use in telephones, calculators, and TVs. Now the LED technology is making holiday lighting more energy efficient. "The roof line lighting, that we're doing on a house like this, uses one thirty second of the power." A traditional incandescent mini bulb, the kind that you usually see on a Christmas tree, uses about a half a watt per bulb. LED holiday lights only use 4 hundredths of a watt per bulb.
Not only do the LEDs use less energy but they last much longer. "The incandescents that we use are professional grade, or for instance the ones that you can buy at Walmart are usually about a 1500 hour bulb for the incandescents. The LEDs are around 100,000 hours they say." Albemarle Window Cleaning designs and installs outdoor holiday lighting for homes and businesses across Central Virginia. But this year they have started uses high efficiency LEDs and offering a carbon off-set. Harshaw says, "Someone brought to my attention all of these Christmas lights we install, and we've done probably about a hundred homes over the past 2 or 3 years, and that's a lot of lights and that's a lot of energy." At the end of the year Albemarle Window Cleaning will buy all of the carbon off sets for the lights they use, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the holiday season. If your looking to invest in some LED Christmas lights know that they do cost more up front but are well worth the investment, both for your wallet and for the environment. Video here.

Christmas Decor, the United States largest professional holiday decorating firm is spearheading the effort to spread the use of LED (light emitting diodes) lights with its 375 locations in 48 states.

One guy has a business that tells you everything you need to know in order to make over $15,000 in your first year hanging Christmas Lights. He also has a number of different websites to go through; Christmas Light Kit, Missionary Money & Christmas Cash.

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This display (below) was the work of Carson Williams, a Mason, Ohio, electrical engineer who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that controlled the 16,000 Christmas lights in his annual holiday lighting spectacular (from Christmas 2004). His 2005 display includes over 25,000 lights that he spent nearly two months and $10,000 to hook up. So that the Williams' neighbors aren't disturbed by constant noise, viewers driving by the house are informed by signs to tune in to a signal broadcast over a low-power FM radio station to hear the musical accompaniment. The rough quality of the video has led some viewers to believe it was put together in stop-action form from still photographs, but that is an artifact of the high compression used in the clip circulated via e-mail. Mr. Williams has posted instructions for recreating his "Wizard in Winter" sequencing, and another of his choreographed Christmas light music. Carson's Christmas display proved so popular that it was featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial in December 2005. But so many people had been flocking to see it that it caused a traffic jam in his subdivision. There was a car accident in the subdivision and the police couldn't get to the scene because of the congestion. So he decided to shut it down.

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