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Often times the design of bathrooms are not given much consideration. Many people focus on the décor of the bathroom, while neglecting the functional design. Of course, depending on the type of bathroom you’re building, you will need to keep different factors in mind. This article will consider the design factors for three different types of bathrooms.

Master bathrooms
The design and functionality of master bathrooms vary widely. Some are relatively basic, while others have a whirlpool or other features. Some are even divided into multiple rooms! You just have to decide what features you want yours to have!

Commercial restrooms
When designing commercial bathrooms, two major factors to consider are privacy and sanitation. Privacy is usually solved one of two ways - for single stall restrooms, a lock on the door; for multi stall restrooms, locks on the stall doors. That way it’s easy to tell which stalls are in use.

As far as sanitation is concerned, one feature that will help a lot is tile floors and walls, and a drain in the floor. That way, you can just bleach and hose down the entire bathroom on a regular basis. Any feature that will make sanitation easier or simpler should be given consideration.

Of course, durability should be a given in commercial bathrooms. People will treat fixtures roughly, so they should be built to withstand the abuse.

Kids’ bathrooms
If you’re designing a bathroom for your kids, the main factors you probably want to consider are safety and durability.

With safety in mind, you should consider to as much as possible use non slip surfaces. Also, kids WILL spill water in the bathroom, so try to design the bathroom in such a way that spilled water will not cause damage or a safety hazard.

Durability is pretty obvious, for the most part - minimize glass and other delicate decorations and fixtures.

Visit www.wdbathrooms.co.uk - your supply house for great bathrooms!

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Your house doesn’t have enough storage space, bathrooms, or counter space! Not too mention your kitchen is old, small and poorly ventilated. Now you are trying to decide between remodeling your current home to address some of these needs and buying a new bigger home. This is a question many homeowners find themselves trying to answer. There are a few key factors to consider as you try to decide what will be best for you and your family.

First think about the location of your current home. Do you like this area? Do you have kids in local schools? Is there a low crime rate? If you like your current location, then you need to determine if you are able to buy a new bigger home in this same neighborhood or would you be forced to buy in a different less desirable area? If you can’t afford a bigger home in your current area and you want to stay local, then you should consider remodeling/adding more square footage on to your current home.

Another factor to consider when deciding between remodeling and buying a new home is the disruption caused by remodeling. If you are remodeling your kitchen this means you will be without a fully functioning kitchen for a couple of weeks. Even if you are not working in a key area like the kitchen you can still expect disruption from any remodeling project. Construction materials, dust, noise, and additional trash will be sure to accompany any remodeling project. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea then maybe you should buy a new house and leave the messy, inconvenient remodeling to someone else.

Finances obviously need to be taken into account when making such a large decision. If you don’t have the cash on hand then you might want to tap into your home’s equity. When remodeling you can leverage the equity you have in your home to pay for the upgrades. If don’t have a strong equity position in your current home you might be better off selling you home and buying a bigger home for a similar price in a less desirable neighborhood.

When thinking about adding more square footage to your existing home you need to consult your local zoning laws. In some areas you might not be able to add-on due to zoning laws so be sure to do your research before starting construction.

All of these factors need to be considered before making a decision on whether it makes more sense to remodel your current home or buy a new home. The home is often our largest investment so when making decision about remodeling or buying a different house it is important to consider all factors.

This article was written by Gregg Hicks of http://www.reliableremodeler.com which provides Internet-based home improvement information and services. Offering homeowners a simple, quick, and free way to access, qualified home improvement remodeling contractors.

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Nearly every log home is a custom design, whether you are altering a stock plan or starting from scratch. By their very nature, custom floor plans open up a large number of untested challenges - especially if you are trying to design the house yourself. With almost all log home manufacturers, an in-house architect will take your design and turn it into a set of drawings that conform to their building system. Your home will be structurally sound. However, don’t necessary expect them to point out every inconvenience or snafu in your design. This is a hands-on business, and in the end, your house design is on you… and you’ll have to live with it. Here are a few pointers I can suggest to make your design more efficient.

MECHANICALS: Open floor plans are the essence of the modern log home. They make a home feel larger, and keep the cook from feeling isolated. However, if you have a second floor you need to consider how you are going to get the plumbing, the electric and the ductwork (both supply and return) to the upstairs rooms. You won’t be using the exterior walls for that, so you need to create enough interior walls downstairs to fit all the mechanicals. Each object in all likelihood will take its own space between the 2×4s. Even if you use radiant-floor heating, you’ll need ductwork for the air conditioning. There are some systems that use high-pressure ductwork much smaller in diameter than conventional ducts, so there are other possibilities if you are pressed for space. But the best solution is to think ahead. If you’re tempted to use an interior full-log wall (or none at all), you may be sacrificing an opportunity to get more ductwork upstairs.

PLUMBING: The wisest floor plans are the ones that try to keep the bathrooms together (either back-to-back or one directly above the other) and the shortest runs on the plumbing. This can’t always be done, but when placing the upstairs bathroom, try to line it up with an interior downstairs wall. This way the plumbing doesn’t have to snake all over the place.

CLOSETS: I would venture to guess that log homes are usually notoriously short on closet space. I know my home is. First of all, it would be a terrible waste to put a closet against an exterior log wall. Why hide your beautiful logs? And because we try to keep the square footage down to a minimum, it almost seems a crime to waste precious space on closets. However, there’s more than one reason to include them. Not only do we seem to collect more stuff as we get older, but by law in several states the closet determines whether a room is a bedroom or an office. This could affect the resale (or refinancing) of your house. Here is a suggestion: put two closets side-by-side on the wall separating two rooms; the closets may not be huge, but it doesn’t change the shape of the rooms. Try to include a coat closet near your front door.

WINDOWS: As I’m sure you’ve already read many times, you can’t have too many windows in a log home. The wood sucks up the light like a sponge. If you have a large empty wall, the insertion of a window near the peak not only lets in more light, it adds character. Some people add windows along either side of a shed dormer. In my case, I had to move the roof line to increase the size of my bedroom window, because by code it needed to be 6′ square for egress. In any upstairs bedroom you’ll need your windows to be large enough to climb out in case of fire. Also remember that too many direct-set windows will decrease the amount of air flow to your upstairs. In my house I added an awning (a small hinged window) to the bottom of stationery windows in my dormers. This helped let air in, but even so the rooms can be stuffy. A ceiling fan helps, but ultimately I may need to add a skylight to create a draft.

KITCHEN VENT: One of the more difficult decisions we made concerned how to vent the range hood. If you don’t want your stove to be on an exterior wall, you are going to have an interesting puzzle. Will you run the exhaust duct between the floor joists to the exterior? Will the run be so long you’ll have to add another fan? I gave in and moved my stove to the exterior wall, but then we had to cut a hole in the logs for the vent. Horrors! How do you hide that? My builder built a little cedar box around the hole and we were lucky enough to have a porch roof underneath, so you can’t see it from every direction. Still, this ugly vent is on the front of the house, and had I thought of it, I may have moved the kitchen to the back of the house.

CRAWL SPACE vs. BASEMENT: There are many reasons to opt for a crawl space rather than a basement - none of them particularly comfortable. Aside from the obvious disadvantages of a crawl space, there are a few things we didn’t think of. I, in my blissful ignorance, didn’t give any thought to the ugly electrical panel. Of course, I knew we’d have meters and a panel, but I didn’t think of where they were going. What I didn’t know was that by code, we couldn’t put the panel in the crawl space. Since we don’t have a garage, the electrical panel was installed in one of our rooms on the log wall. Isn’t that lovely? Another disadvantage of the crawl space: you’ll need a short water heater if that’s where it is going, and you may need to purchase a horizontal-mount furnace. Because our water quality was poor, we had to install a purification system. This 54″ unit must be mounted upright, and our crawl space is 48″ tall. We had to punch a hole through the concrete floor to make room for the unit.

GUTTERS: Yes, you want to get the water away from your log home at all costs. There can be challenges; we have an alpine-style home with a vaulted ceiling. However, the roof comes to a deep V on the corners that create a magnificent rain chute. This is not necessarily wonderful when it dumps onto your deck! Because of the generous overhang that comes with a log home, the end of that V projects far from the walls and doesn’t make a logical angle from which to hang a downspout. On one corner I satisfied myself with an old-fashioned rain barrel, and on the deck side we had to divert the water to the pergola we built against the house, and ran a gutter along the edge of the pergola.

OVERHANGS: You should have at least a 1′ foot and preferably a 2′ overhang to protect your logs. This overhang needs to be taken into consideration when designing your roof line. If you have overlapping angles, make sure you are not creating a water trap or a snow trap. There are times your overhang might bump into another angle of the roof. You may actually have to raise part of the roof a little to make clearance.

DOOR SWINGS: This can be one of the most annoying errors you can make and not catch until too late. Think of what your door is covering when opened all the way. Is it covering another doorway? Will two doors bang together? If you are in a tight space, will it open all the way at all? When we installed our bathroom vanity, we didn’t think about the door swing until the plumbing was already hooked up. The door cleared the vanity by one whole inch; it could have been worse. You can compensate by swinging the other way (before it’s already hung, or your hinges will be on the wrong side). Or, in the design phase you can use a narrower door. Or get a smaller vanity.

ELECTRICAL: The electrical and plumbing layout will not come from your log home architectural drawings. The manufacturer is not concerned about where you put your outlets. Once the plans are firmed up, the time will come for you to sit down with the electrician and mark exactly where you want your outlets, switches and light fixtures. Local code will determine the minimum distance between outlets, but anyone will tell you to put in more than you need; eventually you will probably use them anyway. Even if you don’t need it, put your cable and telephone into every room; it’s so much easier and cheaper to do it up front. Also remember, you can’t ever have too many lights in a log home. Plan ahead for those fixtures - especially the ones in the ceiling. They will not be pretty to add later on.

DEAD SPACE: If you are building a huge log home, you’ve got so much space it doesn’t really matter. But for most of the rest of us, every inch counts. There are some approaches that might maximize your floor space. First of all, do you really need hallways? Some space-saving designs arrange the rooms so they all open into a small hallway. I prefer none at all. Also, consider that every closet door creates dead space. If you can arrange your floor plan so that closet door swings into a place which is already dead (for instance, another closet door or a foyer), you might open up the room a bit. Does your loft serve a purpose or is it merely an open hallway from room to room? Can you put a piece of furniture on it? If not, perhaps it would serve to give it an angle and make your “open to below” space a little smaller.

Hopefully I’ve helped a little bit. I learned many of these tips the hard way, and I’m sure there are plenty more I haven’t bumped into yet. After all, a custom home is one giant learning curve.

Mercedes Hayes is a Hiawatha Log Home dealer and also a Realtor in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She designed her own log home which was featured in the 2004 Floor Plan Guide of Log Home Living magazine. You can learn more about log homes by visiting http://www.JerseyLogHomes.com.

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If you have two siblings sharing a bedroom, there are a couple of easy appraoches to decorating a space that both will enjoy.

The first approach to decorating for siblings sharing a bedroom is to makeover the room in one theme that both can agree on.

The second apprach is to employ two separate decorating themes within the room to keep them both happy and feeling like they have individual spaces that they can call their own.

Here are some ideas that you can use to help satify both siblings, no matter which of the above approaches wins out.

Single theme decorating for siblings sharing a bedroom

Of course, this is the ideal. When siblings agree on the same decorating theme, or don’t mind having similar bedding, there are two great ways you can furnish the room. You can either choose to purchase them a bunk bed, or two twin beds. You can them dress up the beds with similar or matching bedding. Some excellent bedding choices can be found at www.homevision.com. One of the easiest, and least costly, techniques for selecting bedding is to go with “Primary Solids Reversible and Fitted Comforters”. You can always use little accessories to accentuate a particlur theme.

To further pull together the theme for siblings sharing a bedroom, you can select wallpaper in a theme that your children will enjoy. Or, you can borrow from one of the colors in the bedding and paint the walls a solid color shade. But certainly wallpaper will add more personality to the room and make capturing the theme much easier. If wallpaper, or perhaps even a simple wallpaper border, appeals to you, then check out www.decoratetoday.com. You’ll find lots of different choices for just about every taste and theme.

After the walls and bedding are addressed, you’ll want to think about the remaining furiture. Matching furniture is always a good and safe way to go. But why not throw in some fun furniture like a funky table and chair set, bean bag chairs, etc.

Dual (two) theme decorating for siblings sharing a bedroom

To keep both siblings happy, the easiest thing to do is just split the room in half. If you can, try to get them to agree on as many of the big components as you can. For example, maybe they don’t mind the walls being the same color throughout the room. But, if that doesn’t work, don’t sweat it. Here’s what you can do to keep the peace.

You can paint one half of the room a solid color one child likes, and paint the other half of the room a different but complimenatary color that the other child likes. And if you purchase two twin trundle beds, the kids will feel as if they have more of their own space. Plus, trundle beds will provide extra storage space for each child to store their personal items.

For other furniture items, it’s okay to mix and match. But if the siblings have similar personal items, be sure to label the items with their names so that there won’t be any bickering about who owns what.

Finally, some other furnishings you may want to include in the sibling’s bedroom are:

* Lamps
* Window treatments
* Clocks
* Throw pillows
* Area rug(s)
* Wall hooks
* Wall art (posters)
* Shelving
* Toy box bench
* Waste bin

These are just a few of the ways you can keep siblings sharing a bedroom happy. Just be a little creative, ensure that each has his or her own personal space, and everything should work out fine. Happy decorating!

Michael Holland is the creator of the Web sites Kids Rooms and Crafts and Home Decorating Made Easy. His sites offer lots of FREE home decorating tips and ideas.

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Hand-scraped and Distressed hardwood floors are becoming a popular choice in today’s upscale homes and commercial buildings. These floors are a newer trend but are rooted in history. Before today’s modern sanding methods, floors were hand scraped on site to make the floors flat. Today’s hand scraping is done to add texture, richness and uniqueness.

Distressed hardwood flooring is done by machine or by hand. In an effort to reduce high labor costs, manufacturers have created machine-made distressed/scraped looking floors. These are cheaper imitations of the real thing. The problem with machine distressing is repetition of the pattern. As you look across the floor you see the same pattern repeating across the floor. This lacks a natural feel to the floor.

True hand scraped is exactly that - done by hand. When properly done this method creates a truly unique floor. These floors differ greatly in the amount of the texture added to the floor and the skill of the person scraping the floor.

Some manufacturers are just denting, scooping, or roughing the floor. Others are sanding the floor unevenly to create a worn look. Still others are scraping the entire surface of the flooring creating the most unique hand made look. Some product lines allow the customer to choose between heavy, medium and light scraping. True artisans can create a reclaimed look complete with wormholes, splits and other naturally occurring character markings.

The labor used in hand scraping varies greatly. Some floor installers simply have their crew scrape the floor after it is installed in the home. Results vary widely based on the skill of the person or persons doing the scraping. Lack of control and expertise can lead to disastrous results. Scraping is a plant environment is also varied. Some are using illegal immigrants for the scraping labor; one company uses the federal prison system, smartly not advertised as such. Yet another uses Pennsylvania Amish craftsman to create their Amish Hand-Scraped collection.

Some homeowners are buying scraped floors unfinished and applying the finish on site, but most are choosing prefinished. These floors require special methods to prepare the floor for finishing. Regular on site sanding can destroy the texture of the floor that the customer is paying for. The most expensive lines are being finished by hand sometimes referred to as “hand rubbed”. Most of the prefinished floors are excellent and create convenience and speed of installation for the contractor and homeowner alike.

One of the great benefits of a prefinished floor is the ability of each plank to move independently with the changes of humidity in the home. On site finishing bonds the finish between planks requiring the finish to split as the floor contracts at dry humidity levels. These cracks rarely create a problem and are natural in hardwood floors, they are less noticeable in prefinished microbevelled floors.

Scraped floors that have darker finished tend to show the scraping more than natural finished floors. This is due to the finish pooling in the scrapes causing shadows drawing your attention to the character in the floor. Most hardwood flooring manufacturers have web sites showing the consumer what the floors look like. Many have displays at dealers near your home so you can actually see and touch what you are buying.

Hand scraped floors are not cheap. They are for those looking for a truly unique look. The cheaper machine made distressed hardwood floors material can retail around $10 per square foot. You will pay $15 and up per square foot for hand scraped. With most things in life, the real thing is hard to imitate and most people know a fake when they see it. A true hand scraped floor will give a unique, warm, rich look to your home and will be an absolute guaranteed conversation piece with your friends and guests.

About The Author

Doug Bolton is the owner of Homerwood Hardwood Flooring, located in the heart of the Pennsylvania hardwood region - Titusville PA. You can learn more by visiting their website at http://www.homerwood.com.

dbolton@homerwood.com

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With all of its sunny days, going solar makes sense if you live in Arizona. Even better, one utility company will give you rebates for installing solar panels on your home.

How To Get A Rebate for Going Solar In Arizona

In 2001, the Sun Share Program was created by Tucson Electric Power. The goal was to promote the use of solar panels and platforms as an alternative to simply sucking energy off the grid of the utility company. The initial program only offered rebates on small solar energy platforms, but was amended in 2004 to create incentives for larger systems.

Currently, Tucson Electric Power offers three rebate options on the Sun Share program. With two of the options, you can use any old panel system as long as it is approved by the utility, while a third option exists in which you purchase the solar platform from Tucson Electric Power. Let’s take a close look.

With the first option, creatively called Option 1, Tucson Electric will provide a rebate of $2,000 per kW of verified alternating current output for photovoltaic systems. You must have an inverter flipping the energy from direct current to alternating current. Said inverters come with most systems.

With the second rebate option, Option 2, you can receive a $2,000 discount on a 1-kW alternating current output photovoltaic kit. Put another way, Tucson Electric will sell you the solar panel systems and give you a rebate on the cost. The kit includes panels, an inverter, and everything you need to convert sunlight into power.

With Option 3, those of you who have direct current solar panels can benefit. The rebate amount is $2,400 per kilowatt-hour of direct current produced and you must have your own system. If you’re going with direct current, the utility is pretty demanding so make sure you contact it to get the full story regarding the rebate.

To qualify for any of the above options, you have to meet some basic parameters. First, you have to be a customer of Tucson Electric. Second, the solar platform must meet the requirements of Tucson Electric. Three, you have to agree to let Tucson Electric inspect your system at least once a year. All and all, these stipulations are hardly a heavy burden.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more articles on solar power and renewable energy.

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Water is a key ingredient in a healthy diet and lifestyle. There are many health benefits of drinking water. It helps flush impurities and toxins out of our systems. It aids in the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. In fact, nearly every system in our bodies relies on water for proper functioning. But what if your water is unhealthy?

In past decades, concerns about tap water and its impact on overall health led some people to turn to bottled drinking water instead. In those days, there were few choices. You could pay to have a company deliver large bulky plastic bottles of water for the water cooler. Or you could purchase gallon jugs of distilled or “drinking water” at the grocery store.

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of different bottled waters available, with big distributors such as Coke and Pepsi jumping on the bandwagon. But are bottled drinking waters like Coke’s Dasani brand, Pepsi’s Aquafina, or Wal-Mart’s store brand really any healthier than your tap water? Or would you be better off with a drinking water filtration system?

As we’ve learned more about the water we drink, the technology behind drinking water filters and purification systems has improved dramatically. There are filters to remove impurities, chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria and most every contaminant you can think of. With the right size and filter combination for your specific home, your water can be exceptionally pure and healthy.

Cost Comparison

Drinking water filtration systems have also become more affordable and easy to use. Although the initial cost of a whole house system usually runs several hundred dollars, that cost is often less than $100 each year if spread out over the life of the system.

There may be additional expenses to replace carbon filters, membranes in reverse osmosis drinking water filtration system, or lamps in an ultraviolet light water treatment device. These expenses can add another $100 or so to the annual costs of operating drinking water filters and purification systems.

While some people may hesitate to spend two or three hundred dollars each year for clean, safe drinking water, they are probably paying more for bottled drinking water. Calculations show that at a price of $1 to $4 per gallon, bottled or delivered water costs an average of $400 each year, especially if you purchase individual bottles. And that doesn’t take into consideration the gas needed to drive to the store or the environmental impact of all the empty plastic bottles.

Health Aspects

Many people who choose bottled drinking water understand that it is more expensive, but are willing to pay the extra money because they feel bottled water is safer and healthier than filtered drinking water. After all, bottled water is often marketed as “natural spring water” or “pure glacier water.”

In reality, few bottled waters come from natural springs, and most of them use municipal tap water. The companies are able to get away with this false marketing because the regulations and standards for bottle drinking water are less stringent than those for residential drinking sources.

Bottled water quality is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while drinking water systems are typically regulated by State regulations or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This doesn’t mean that the FDA isn’t doing their job. It’s just that the rules for bottled water only require it to be as good as tap water, not better.

In addition, the FDA regulations only apply to bottled drinking water that is transported across state lines. If a company sells their bottled drinking water in the same state where it was bottled, the federal regulations don’t apply. The result is that many bottled waters are not any healthier than filtered water, and in fact some are less pure.

This was demonstrated in a study conducted in 1999 by the Natural Resources Defense Council. They tested over 100 brands of bottled drinking water and found that about 1/3 of the waters contained contamination in the form of chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. The study also found that up to 40% of bottled drinking waters come from a city water system.

How To Tell If Your Water Is Healthy

So how do you tell if the water you’re drinking is healthy? With tap water, it’s relatively easy. If you water comes from a municipal source, the suppliers are required by law to provide annual water quality reports. If you have a well, you can have an authorized lab test your water. It may cost $100 or more, but it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind. Or you can purchase a kit and test it yourself, although the results are not as conclusive or reliable.

When it comes to bottled drinking water, it can be more difficult to know what you’re getting. Start by checking the label or the bottle cap. Some may tell you that the water comes from a municipal source or “community water system,” which means tap water.

If the label doesn’t give any information, you can call the bottler and ask. But don’t be surprised if you get the run around and are transferred to several different departments. Some states have a bottled water program that tracks bottled drinking water and can tell you the origin of the source water as well as other information.

Safe and healthy drinking water has become big business. Thousands of companies are vying for your hard earned cash, and some are not always honest about what their products offer. The initial investment for a home drinking water filtration system can seem expensive at first, but over time, it is usually less expensive than bottled drinking water. And with a water filter, you at least know where the water you drink came from and how it was treated.

Before going out and spending your hard earned money for bottled drinking water that may be no better than your own tap water, it’s a good idea to do some research. You’re likely to decide that a drinking water filtration system and/or purifier is the healthier choice and provides the best value as well.

About the Author:
C.J. Gustafson is a successful writer for Water-Filters-N-Purifiers.com, providing consumer information on

water purification systems such as whole house and

under sink water filters. She found out about comparing the

health benefits of drinking water years ago when she learned that the
bottled water she was buying came from a municipal system in a nearby city.

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Scour the Internet, and you’ll find a number of intriguing appliances for sale. For instance, you can invest in everything from a power-washer to a quesadilla maker. While some homeowners love to purchase the latest high-tech gadget, others are quite reluctant to buy appliances, preferring to spend their money on video games, CDs, DVDs, and other modern conveniences.

One of the most interesting home appliances to come along is the Roombathe housecleaning robot. The robot began its journey to the production line at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Artificial Intelligence lab. Later, a company called iRobot began production of this ingenious machine. The Roomba was developed to vacuum your house when you’re busy doing something else.

In order to develop the Roomba, its inventors had to learn the physics of how dust collects and circulates. Since vacuum cleaners use significant amounts of electricity, the inventors had to come up with a low-power vacuum that would run on rechargeable batteries. The Roomba’s designers even spent a night in a Target store in order to study how industrial cleaners function.

Ultimately, it took a dozen years to create the Roomba, which has the advantage of being quite compactit’s only five pounds, 10 ounces and 13.5 inches wide. The vacuum covers the floor in spirals, then follows the rug along a room’s walls. When it has completed its mission, it ceases operation, beeps, then turns itself off.

There are numerous reasons to buy a Roomba. For instance, it may be the perfect cleaning appliance for an individual who is handicapped or elderly and doesn’t have the strength necessary to push a regular vacuum cleaner. It can also be a wonderful mother’s helper, saving time for busy mothers who would rather spend time reading to their toddlers than vacuuming the living room. At $199, the Roomba is also quite reasonably-pricedit may not cost anymore than a regular vacuum cleaner.

Another good reason to invest in a Roomba is because it appears to be the appliance of the future. A number of leading vacuum manufacturers are considering producing their own versions. Hoover, Electrolux, and Dyson are all working on their own vacuuming robots. As a result, in the year ahead, chances are you’ll have little difficulty getting one of your Roomba’s parts replaced, since the machine will be commonplace. If you like the idea of being at the head of the pack when it comes to home appliances, the Roomba may be perfect for you.

However, you should be aware of the fact that, while the Roomba is efficient, it is not a flawless piece of machinery. Because of the way it is shaped, it cannot really fit into corners, and it can also become lodged underneath a sofa. Also, you have to make sure that you clear the floor of any large objects before you commission the Roomba to start its routine. Still, despite some minor flaws, the Roomba is well worth the investment. With the time you save cleaning, you can devote yourself to the home improvement projects that really matter to you.

Donna Somerkin specializes in vacuums and remote control vacuums

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