The Great Fuel Debate

Wood is the fragrant but fussy fuel. A well built wood fire in a well designed fireplace is a treat on a cold night, but you need to know a bit more then how to turn up the thermostat.First you need a supply of good hardwood like oak, since softwoods like pine burn too fast and the cresote and pitch in pine smoke will accumulate on the sides of your chimney, possibly created a danger of a chimney fire.

Wood must be hauled, split, stacked, and kept dry, then carried inside on dark and often icy nights. You need to know how to build a proper fire, starting with small kindling wood, newspaper or fluid ( I use a kerosene starter), and you must control the draft via the fireplace damper.

Natural Gas or Propane Heaters and Fireplaces

Electric Fireplaces are really just for occasional heat and atmosphere. They are very nice for a carpeted master bedroom or family room where you want a fireplace, but don’t want the mess of lugging in wood or lugging out ashes.

Wood Pellet Stoves and Heaters

Coal stoves – Coal is cheap here in Pennsylvania, and it burns hotter than wood. However, coal has the same storage and smoke problems as wood, plus there really isn’t any such thing as “clean coal”. A coal furnace puts out black gritty sooty dust that gets into everything.

The Digital Transition and the DVD Format Wars

The digital transition has been scheduled for over a decade. Yet manufacturers still produced analog televisions (that will require a digital-to-analog converter connected between the antenna and tv) as late as 2006.

The FCC delayed the transition originally scheduled for 2006 to 2009 after they realized that the nation wasn’t ready. Stores are now required to put a sticker on analog TVs letting people know about the transition, but that doesn’t help the people who bought a new analog set in the last year or two.

A similar thing may affect the people who bought DVD players in the last few years. While Blu-ray definitely has the upper hand against HD-DVD, HD-DVD has had the ability of delivering interactive features in all of its players from day one, while the Blu-ray manufacturers are still adding interactive features on a piecemeal basis. As a result, the first Blu-ray Disc players can’t access all the features available on newer Blu-ray Disc releases.

Blu-ray has already won the high-def disc format war. Five major studios are now supporting Blu-ray, compared to two for HD DVD. NetFlix already announced that they will only carry Blu-ray for their high defination format, abandoning many millions of their existing customers. And sales figures show that Blu-ray players and disc sales outpace HD DVD sales.

HD DVD players are currently around $150, Blu-ray players around $400 and dual format players are still stuck around $800. Without another major price drop in HD DVD players and/or dual format players the last two studios will have to support Blu-ray as well, and Sony will have won this format war, unlike the VHS – Betamax format war in VCRs twenty years ago.

And just like then, many consumers will shop carefully and still get stuck .

Home Theatre Big Screens for Small Rooms

The flat panel TV is a good solution for people wanting a larger screen size, but not wanting to sacrifice all their living space. Television manufacturers spend millions of dollars each year advertising flat panels, and flat panel TV sales are jumping despite their higher average price versus other types of televisions because they are wall mountable, which makes them a true space-saver. This is especially important for people living in residences with small living areas. A 42″ rear projection TV has a 2.5 foot x 3.5 foot footprint including the stand for the television.

A wall-mounted flat panel television is very cool. However, before embarking on this type of project, ask yourself a few questions:

• Is this something I can really do?
• Where and how do I mount the television?
• Do I want to run cables into the wall or hang them on the wall?
• What type of mounting bracket do I need?

Anyone with an understanding of how to operate a drill, measure accurately, use a balance to level off and follow instructions can install a flat panel TV. But, it is at least a two-person job, and will take more than our magic twenty minute time allotment for small projects.

Plan out the process before drilling any holes. I like to hang a poster or piece of cardboard on the wall in the space for the television, and test the location for a few hours or even a few days first. It is much easier to move two ounces of paper than a hundred pounds of expensive tv ..

What location is best ? For me, it would have to be on a wall at least twice the width of the television because I would want to have room to hang speakers and shelves for media and electronics.

I recommend mounting the television in the center of the wall and at the height at which you will watch from: If you watch TV while sitting on the couch, then the flat panel should be mounted at eye level to the center of the screen from your height sitting straight on the couch. However, this could make the TV seem low when standing next to it so if you were to adjust the television in direction vertically, then adjust up so the bottom of the screen is eye level while sitting and the top is eye level when standing.

Most people will choose to run cables through the wall, but others might not want to start cutting more holes in their walls. Instead, they would have a bunch of wires running up the wall, which is an unacceptable situation for anyone wanting a well-designed entertainment space. Running cables through the wall is also a great disadvantage if you change equipment, because you will have to run a new cable up the wall every time you add a new device to the television. So, how do we hide wires running up a wall?

We can either place an obstacle under the television, which would look odd, or we can cheat the eye with camouflage. I have a friend who had this very problem, and his solution was to create a molding that would be used as a cover for his cables. He painted the molding the same color of his wall, and when placed over the cables it looks like part of the wall. Granted, it’s raised about 2-3 inches off the wall, but it looks very natural. As far as supplies, small strips of wood (a 1×2 for the sides and 1×4 for the face) cut to the length of the TV to the floor should be enough.

All flat panel televisions and mounting brackets should be VESA compliant. This is a standard rule of measurement for wall mount kits. I recommend a wall mount that swivels, tilts or does both. I do not recommend fixed brackets because they are more difficult to manage the back of the television. This is important because not all flat panel sets have convenient inputs, and not all people have little hands

A tilting bracket is nice because it allows a person to change the vertical viewing angle of the television dependent on the position of the viewer. A swiveling bracket allows the user to change the horizontal viewing angle of the television. The choice is up to the individual, but I stress that you find the one that allows for vertical and/or horizontal movement.

Moving out or remodeling ?

Can your parents stay in their homes or will they need to move simply because their home doesn’t meet their needs as they age?

There are thousands of homes built forty or fifty years ago that can be made barrier free with some remodeling work. If the neighborhood is good, and the house is sound.

But housing must be both accessible and affordable for people to stay in it.