The Charlotte Observer Home & Garden News

Rainwater.

In its first full year of operation, Barfield's new company, Lifewater, installs rain-harvesting systems that can irrigate the landscape, wash cars and even flush toilets. His company works with residential and commercial customers and also can install wetlands, waterfalls, streams and ponds.

Barfield, a 1989 Central Cabarrus High School graduate, wants to offer alternatives as Cabarrus and other Carolinas communities face restrictions on when and how they can use water.

“The collection of rainwater off rooftops allows us to collect a precious resource,” Barfield said. “You can use this for landscape irrigation, for laundry – it's super-soft for clothes.”

“This is simply an ancient practice of water conservation, and all we're doing is marrying it to today's technology,” he said.

Barfield, who lives in Concord with his wife, Lisa, and three children, had worked for 20 years in landscaping and turf and golf course care.

His “aha!” moment came as the 2007 drought unfolded. He was working for Lake Norman Pool and Spa, and because of water restrictions, they couldn't fill pools.

“When you have a rain harvesting system on site … it's guilt-free,” he said.

Lifewater has been working around the Charlotte region, including at Aimee Hite's home near Freedom Park in Charlotte.

Hite had been using 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of water a month just for irrigation, she said.

“We had a lot of leaks,” Hite said of her irrigation system.

On her property, Barfield installed two 5,000-gallon water storage tanks. They fill with water collected from several gutters. He also overhauled her inefficient irrigation system.

Greg Bové of Concord has talked with Barfield about installing a filtering system.

On his own, Bové bought one rain barrel for irrigating his lawn and shrubbery, and he hopes to get another by fall. If Barfield installs a filtering system, the Bové family can use rainwater for other uses inside the house.

Bové said he got interested in harvesting rain after visiting Bermuda, which collects rain coming off roofs, takes the water below ground, filters it and pumps it back out.

“Some countries depend strictly on rainwater for all the household water,” he said. After the Bermuda trip, “I got interested and said, ‘We really ought to be doing things like this ourselves.'”

The cost of a rainwater collection system can range from $1,500 up, Barfield said. He can make irrigation systems more efficient by using moisture probes that sense how dry the ground is, so the system runs only when needed.

“I'm all about the green,” said Hite, the Charlotte customer. “It's the right thing to do.

“Water is becoming the next oil,” she said. “With water being so expensive, and climate change and drought … I think it's going to get worse.”

As electric rates and security concerns are increasing, many people who hadn't tried solar-powered lights in many years are giving them a second look. In the past, the solar-powered lights were dim and provided only a few hours of light even when it was bright and sunny during the daytime hours.

There have been significant improvements in the lighting performance, styling and overall quality.

If you tried solar-powered light years ago, you will be surprised at how bright the new ones are. Instead of using mini-incandescent light bulbs, the best ones now use LEDs (light emitting diodes). This is one of the most energy efficient lighting sources available today. In addition to efficiency, these lighting devices have a life of 50,000 hours or more.

Another significant improvement has been in the efficiency of the mini-solar panels built into the top of the light fixture. They are less expensive and much more effective at converting the sun's light into electricity to charge batteries during the day.

Battery technology has also evolved, so they are more efficient and hold more charge. Older solar-powered lights, and some less expensive ones today, used rechargeable NiCd (nickel cadmium) batteries. Now the light fixtures use NiMH (nickel metal hydride) batteries. They are the same size, but work much better.

Solar-powered lights sense when the sun goes down and they switch on automatically. After a bright, sunny day, you should be able to get eight hours of light from one.

For some applications, such as marking a path or sidewalk, the brightness is not important.

If you would like a bright light sometimes, but need only a dimmer light for a longer period other times, Intermatic offers a new two-LED solar-powered light

For more light in a specific area or where there is not good access to the direct sun during the daytime, consider installing a three-floodlight kit with a remote solar panel. It can be mounted in the sun and is connected with long wires to the floodlights. Each floodlight has three bright LEDs, and there are three batteries in the solar panel housing.

The following companies offer solar-powered yard lights: Brinkmann, www.brinkmann.net; Desa/Heath Zenith, www.desaint.com; Hampton Bay, www.hamptonbay.com; Intermatic, www.intermatic.com; and Sun-Mate, www.sun-mate.com.

The unfinished work is a major bill designed to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners heading for foreclosure, pull new buyers back into the real estate arena, and permanently raise conventional and FHA loan limits in high-cost markets.

The Senate is on the verge of passing its bill, as early as next week. The House has passed a version. Final legislation could go to the White House this month. Though President Bush has threatened to veto it, analysts say strong bipartisan support plus elections this fall make it unlikely he'd actually do so.

What's in the bill and what could it mean to you?

Thinking about buying a first home?

The legislation offers federal tax credits up to $8,000 per couple – $4,000 per single – for qualified purchasers. There's no cap on the total number of buyers to be assisted, plus the definition of “first-time buyer” is more generous than a literal reading would suggest. This provision alone could provide a significant stimulus and bring thousands back into the real estate market.

Saddled with a debt-laden home heading for foreclosure?

The legislation may offer a way out if your lender agrees to participate. Even if you're behind on payments and your mortgage balance exceeds your property's value, you could end up with a new, affordable FHA fixed-rate loan.

Searching for a home in a high-cost market? The bill is certain to provide higher limits than the $417,000 cutoff for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that prevailed before the economic stimulus package's temporary increase of up to $729,500, set to expire at the end of this year.

The odds are the new maximum will be below $700,000 – the Senate bill calls for $625,000 for Fannie, Freddie and the FHA. The final compromise should be high enough to help buyers in California, New England and the mid-Atlantic states who could be forced to pay higher interest rates for jumbo loans.

The new credit program would dangle tax savings in front of almost anyone considering a first house, or buying a house after not owning one for at least three years. Tax credits are more valuable than deductions because they are dollar-for-dollar reductions off whatever you'd otherwise owe.

The credit comes with some noteworthy limitations. You've got to pay the credit back to the IRS over an extended period – up to 15 years following the tax year of the purchase. If you sell the house or convert it to another use, such as a second home or investment property, you've got to repay the credit.

There's also an income restriction of $75,000 for singles, $150,000 for married joint filers. Beyond those limits, the maximum allowable credit would phase down in increments. The credit program covers purchases between April 9 and April 1, 2009.

The portion of the legislation that deals with financially distressed homeowners would help an estimated 400,000 borrowers. It is restricted to owners who cannot afford their loans and have a mortgage debt-to-income ratio above 31 percent. The owner of the mortgage – either a lender or bond investor – must agree to reduce the balance of the principal to 85 percent of the market value – to write off a significant chunk of what's owed.

If these and other conditions are met – including borrowers agreeing to split any appreciation with the government – they may qualify for a new fixed-rate 30-year FHA loan they can more easily afford.

If you inherit the property, you'll probably be able to turn around and sell it immediately without paying any taxes. That's because you'll inherit this property at the then-current market value on the day of your friend's death. If you turn around and sell it, you'll be selling it for what is considered the new cost basis for the property, and so would not pay any federal income taxes on the sale.

If your friend's estate is larger than the current amount he can pass down tax-free, the estate would pay any taxes owed.

Saving for a house

Q. I'm saving for a down payment on a new house and my goal is to save $24,000 within the next two years. Where is the best place to keep that money?

Unfortunately, there is no great place for short-term cash at the moment. If you shop around, you can find some Internet banks that are offering savings rates of 2 to 4 percent in money market accounts. To start your search for these, check out BankRate.com. But be sure to read the fine print. Some of these Internet banks require minimums to get their advertised rates, and there may be other sticking points as well.

Some mutual fund companies have accounts that you can set up and can deposit those funds into the account without paying brokerage fees or trading fees.

Terminating contract

Q: I am a buyer and signed a purchase contract for a 4-year-old house. The inspection was done and a structural issue (bowing crack in the plaster wall) was found in the basement. It can be fixed/cured, but I want to terminate the contract. The seller is not willing to terminate the contract, as he is willing to fix this issue and the house is still habitable. My attorney thinks it will not be possible to get out of the contract if the seller is willing to fix the issue. Can I still terminate the contract ? I have already given two deposits for a total of $26,000..

What does your contract say? Does it say you can cancel if the seller refuses to fix an issue and get your money back? Or, does it say that if the inspector finds something and the seller fixes it and you decide not to close on the purchase, you lose your earnest money?

It's all about how the contract is written. Since you have an attorney, you should sit down and discuss with him why he thinks you cannot cancel the deal and get your cash back if the seller refuses to fix a structural problem with the house.

You should also consider the seller disclosure laws in the state in which you are located. In some states, if you find a significant issue that was not disclosed in the seller disclosure report and the seller knew about the issue, you would have reason to terminate the contract and get your money back.

Unfortunately, in other circumstances, if the seller disclosure laws don't give you the right to terminate the deal and the seller fixes the problem, you might have the obligation to buy the home.

One additional thought. If the seller fixes the problem, you might have the right to make sure that the problem is truly fixed and is fixed to the reasonable standards of the industry.

If the seller tries to make a low-cost repair to the home, you may have the right to say that the problem hasn't truly been fixed since the repair does not meet the customary repair standards for your type of issue.

You might want to investigate further to determine how the problem should be repaired and then see what solution the seller is offering.

If the seller offers to make the repairs in the same manner as you have found to be reasonable, your contract might require you to buy the home or lose your deposit.

Unbusted bulbs. Of no use to anyone. I feel badly for them. That's my first haiku, the Japanese poem of brevity. OK, before I wax eloquent about the curlicues, how indeed can the old bulbs be disposed of or recycled? A needy country will have no truck with a super-inefficient bulb that consumes power prodigiously. Besides, the bulbs may not fit in a foreign socket, or may not be compatible with foreign power systems. Shirley, my friend and colleague, suggested including bulbs in church pantry programs. Anyone needing food from a church pantry is unlikely to spend money for any kind of lightbulb, she said.

Letting them burn until they fail is wasteful, of course. I don't think recyclers will accept them, whether they work or not. One more thought: Break them up and throw away the neck and filament, and save the glass; most glass is crushed anyway, so why not the bulb glass, if the coating inside is safe? I have no other theories.

About the curlicues: There are some fluorescents that are encased in bulbs, and they are cumbersome and ugly. I heard one pontificator say the curlicues are ugly. But to me they are the ultimate in good design: form follows function and they are beautiful. Well, if not beautiful, whimsical. More than that, I have knocked off at least $30 each month from my electric bill as I add more and more curlicues to my house.

Finally, what about disposing of the mercury-holding curlicues when they blow in the future? We'll tackle that when the time comes, with another haiku.

Algae on deck

Q. I have two decks made of WeatherBest (like Trex), a combination of ground-up plastic bags and ground-up wood. They look OK except the steps are all green with algae. How can I get rid of the algae and keep it off?

You could try a solution of one part bleach and three parts water, plus scrubbing, to remove the algae. Then try this: Treat it with ArmorAll, the product normally used to shine auto tires and dashboards. Won't hurt. And here is something new for mold that I just heard of, and it might work for algae. It is called Moldex Disinfectant and Moldex Protectant. These are non-bleach products that will remove mold (and it is hoped, algae), and protect the surface from water. Sold in Ace hardware stores and other outlets.

Woodpecker cure

John Pespisa of Bedford called to tell us he has for years been plagued by woodpeckers pecking holes in his siding and wood trim. ”Even hanging shiny pie plates from the eaves did not work. Then I got the idea of feeding, not fighting them. I bought suet blocks and hung them from a 10-foot iron pole in the yard. They loved the stuff, and left the house alone. They will not eat seeds, but love the suet.”

The flow of electricity is metered to be at a constant and even amount of current. Disruptions, such as surges, cause fluctuations to the electrical current that can instantly damage sensitive electrical components, based on the amount of extra voltage. Surges cause highs and lows in the amount of current by entering the electrical highway in your home – electrical wiring, television cable and/or telephone lines. Voltage surges are sometimes referred to as spikes.

“The momentary spike of electrical voltage can harm both high- and low-voltage pool equipment,” says Ken Vierk of Sunsational Pool Systems in Orlando. High-voltage equipment includes the pool-pump motor, the spa air blower, heat pumps, pool and spa lights, and fiber-optic illuminators. Low-voltage power runs automation-control panels, displays and actuator valves.

For a fraction of the replacement cost, homeowners can purchase surge-protection devices to guard against spikes.

The voltage surge-protector box is wired into the power line feeding the pool equipment. The protector unit senses the surge and disrupts the extra electricity, sending the spikes offline, and to neutral or ground wire to be safely absorbed by the ground.

Surge-protection devices for your pool equipment should be installed by a licensed, trained and insured electrical contractor. Warning: This is not a do-it-yourself job since high-voltage electricity is involved. Most systems protecting pool equipment could be priced at less than $750, depending on the amount and type of equipment, and your local service rates.

Although surge-protection devices can greatly reduce the effects of spikes on your pool equipment, no surge protection can guard against direct lightning hits that will immediately destroy the equipment and could even cause a household fire.

Developed around 1920, the neighborhood is a designated historic district that offers a great view of the city's skyline.

In addition to the historic district, Wesley Heights also is home to newer developments such as Lela Court and Walnut Hill, which have drawn young professionals. Other developments, such as Skybridge Terrace, Wesley View and Celadon, are also being built.

Diverse residents

Brick bungalows and large oak trees line the streets. It's a friendly neighborhood where people walk dogs, push babies in strollers and wave from their porches.

“I think the existing residents are outgoing and the new people want to connect as well,” says Melanie Mullen, head of the neighborhood association's social committee.

Many residents enjoy the diversity that comes from the blend of older longtime residents and newcomers, often young families or young professionals.

The Irwin Creek and Stewart Creek greenways connect bikers, runners and walkers to parks and uptown, and there are plans to extend both greenways.

Residents also look forward to the proposed streetcar, to be finished in 2018, which would stop in Wesley Heights.

Less expensive, more room

For young homeowners, Wesley Heights offered a way to buy near the center city at a more affordable price than other nearby neighborhoods such as Dilworth and Plaza Midwood.

“It was dumb for me to buy a condo uptown once I saw how much more space I could get moving three-quarters of a mile away,” says Walnut Hill resident Jerry Tejchma. Booming Wesley Heights also offered a good investment. The average home value in Wesley Heights was $56,000 in 2000 and rose to $92,000 in 2004, according to Charlotte's Quality of Life study. In 2006, that number jumped to $159,000. Now, residents say, some homes sell for up to half a million dollars.

Safety, crime

In recent months, car break-ins and home burglaries have been a problem in Wesley Heights, said Chris Rogers, who heads the crime committee. Prompted by the increase in crime, the committee has been working with police to identify problem spots in the neighborhood, such as vacant houses.

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2. Search for your event. If it's not already in the calendar database, click "Add an Event."

3. Log in using your charlotte.com username.

4. Fill in the event form. Choose the Home & Garden category.

That's it. Your event should appear on charlotte.com one business day later.

I cannot tell you that you will conquer weeds. It just takes persistence. The weed population is huge, and they spread by various means, including roots that weed-killers failed to eradicate.

You'll always have to face some weeds; the goals are to keep the numbers as low as possible and to use a minimum amount of herbicide.

There are two basic kinds of weeds: annual, which spread by seeds from flowers that are allowed to develop, and perennial weeds, which spread by seeds and roots.

With annual weeds, such as chickweed, you must get the plant out, by digging or herbicide, before it sets seeds and produces a new generation that will sprout sooner or later.

With perennial weeds, you must dig them up or use a herbicide that kills roots as well as the stems and leaves. And it sometimes takes more than one application.

What you are seeing is probably a combination of warm-weather perennial weeds and fresh crops of annual weeds.

I once had a large bed of ivy, since removed, and it's now planted in shrubs and perennials. A pine tree produces a nice layer of fresh needles every year and weed control has been minimal. But I keep a close watch for young weeds that are easy to pull up, especially after a rainfall.

Landscape fabric, which allows rainfall to move through, could help you keep the weeds under control. You can cut holes to set out shrubs and trees. However, weed seeds can still blow in and erupt in the mulch. The battle goes on.

Oops, forgot fertilizer

Q. The spring has gotten away from me, and I just realized that I never fertilized my camellias and rhododendrons. Is it too late now?

A. Yes. Plus, it's not necessary. If those plants look good, they should be fine. The more important thing is to keep the plants watered through the summer. Good, organic soil, excellent drainage and two inches of pine needle mulch are the essentials for these plants. Too much fertilizer is far worse than too little.

Growing vegetables in pots – www.charlotte.com. Click on “Today's Bloggers.”

A bow or bay window is sometimes called the “poor man's sunroom.” A nice bow or bay window can actually provide some of the benefits of a sunroom at a lower cost. Even though it costs less than adding a small sunroom, installing an efficient bow or bay window is not inexpensive.

No matter what type of window, bow or bay, you install in place of the old picture window, it will be more efficient and reduce your utility bills. You should be able to recover most of the cost because it will increase your home's resale value.

A bow window is made of four or more windows. Five windows is a common configuration. More windows create a more circular appearance that many people find attractive. Often, only the two end windows can be opened, but you can order them so they all open.

Bay windows are made from just three windows. The two angled side windows usually can be opened and are angled at either 30 or 45 degrees. The fixed center window is similar to a smaller picture window. A 45-degree bay window extends out farther from the house wall and provides more space for plants or a bench seat.

There is not a significant difference in the energy efficiency or durability of a bow or bay window. I suppose a bay window may be slightly more efficient because there are fewer joints and seams to be sealed between the window frames. Wherever there is frame material and supporting lumber in the wall, there is less room for insulation.

Unless you are handy with tools, it is better to purchase an entire unit designed as a bow or bay window. This may cost a more than assembling one from individual windows, but it will likely be stronger and more airtight.

As with any window style, the glass is the heart of the window. Select the most energy efficient glass your budget will allow even if you have to cut back on the styling or trim options. Because a bow or bay window protrudes from the wall, it is ideal for natural ventilation. Select a casement window for each end because they catch breezes well.

Also look for a window that has insulation, often foam, in the seatboard. Your plants will also appreciate it.

The following companies offer bow and bay windows: Champion Windows, www.championwindow.com; Fibertec, www.fibertec.com; Peachtree, www.peachtreedoor.com; Thermal Industries, www.thermalindustries.com; and Weathershield Windows, www.weathershield.com.

Q. I treated my wood deck with a sealer last fall to protect it from the weather. This spring, the sealer is peeling off all the horizontal surfaces. What did I do wrong, and how can I fix it? - Dave D.

Your problem is not uncommon, particularly when a heavy surface sealer is used. The most likely cause of the peeling is that you did not adequately clean the deck surface and you used a sealer that coats the surface instead of penetrating it.

Use a pressure washer to clean off the peeling sealer. Use a decking cleaner, such as an oxygen-based bleachcleaner, to further clean the surface. Treat it with a penetrating sealer such as Saver Systems epoxy sealer.