Tausi Insider

Photo : vipman ( Shutterstock ) If you’re contemplating buying a house—or wondering if you will ever be able buy a house—chances are you’re aware that the U.S. housing market is currently in the midst of a wild ride. The pandemic sparked a global housing boom, driving home prices up an eye-popping 42% . Now prices are finally starting to drop a bit...if only because of a punishing increase in interest rates . All of that means buying a traditional home is an expensive option right now. The median price for an existing single family home is currently close to $400,000 , while the median price of new construction is around $450,000 . For many people—even people who thought they were ready just a short time ago—buying a house is impossible right now . There is one option that might make entering the housing market a possibility even if you’ve been priced out of traditional homes, however: Manufactured homes. Most houses are built on-site, with construction crews, equipment, and ma...

Photo : Micha Weber ( Shutterstock ) Air conditioners are life-saving appliances. If you live in an area where the temperatures can soar into the 90s—or higher — you know how crucial it is to have some sort of climate control in your home. Window air conditioner units are terrific because they’re relatively affordable, easy to install, and work very well cooling down small areas. Yes, you sacrifice some light and fresh air, but being able to sleep at night without bathing in your own sweat makes it worth it. But when the cold weather arrives, we face an age-old question: Do you have to take your window AC units out and store them, or can you leave them in place? The answer is pretty straight-forward : If you have a way to store them, you should absolutely remove your window air conditioners for the winter. Here’s why. A window AC unit is not well- insulated If you installed the air conditioner unit yourself , you know how poorly they tend to fit in your windows. The “accordi...

Photo : Shutterstock ( Shutterstock ) Hacks can be great. We’ve had a whole website dedicated to them for over 15 years , after all. But sometimes, they can be ill-advised or even dangerous, whether because they’ll   mess up your toilet or   cause a fire . Sometimes, the best way to do things is the old-fashioned way, and that’s the case with a recent viral tip about keeping condensation off your windows in the winter. Don’t listen to the hack hype on this one. Let’s go over how to really keep your windows clear this season . What is the new viral hack? The hack can be found on, where else, TikTok , It recommends covering the interior of all your windows in dish soap or cleaning solution to keep them free of water droplets all winter . According to Express , this does work—but it comes at a price: Those droplets will go somewhere, and they might end up on porous surfaces around your home . Is it worth trading wet windows for water stains on your walls or, worse, mold? What’s...

Photo : Kitawit Jitaton ( Shutterstock ) Keeping track of interior and exterior home maintenance schedules, landscaping, and emergency contacts for repairs can be overwhelming, especially for new homeowners. Even for experienced owners, help with organization and a centralized place to keep information can be a struggle—and no one wants to be digging in a desk drawer or searching through a file cabinet for a repair history when you need your homeowner’s insurance information for an emergency repair. But creating a well-organized system to keep records and information handy is as simple as starting a maintenance binder. In your binder, you should have sections for indoor, outdoor, and emergency information, keeping track of any work done on your house in each section. If you’re not sure where to get started, begin by taking stock of your household systems. You’ll need sections for HVAC, electrical, appliances, plumbing, roof and gutters, landscaping and garden, and exterior checks ...

Photo : Mike Fig Photo ( Shutterstock ) While dryer sheets are often touted as being versatile odor absorbers, they really only belong in the dryer. It might seem like a simple and cost-effective way to cut down on smells coming from vents in your HVAC, but that’s a bad idea. Some claims have even been made that dryer sheets will extend the life of your air filters, but this is sadly not the case. There are several reasons you shouldn’t be using dryer sheets in any of your HVAC vents. The chemicals in dryer sheets can negatively affect your health According to the National Institute of Health , chemicals used as scent in laundry products can cause asthma attacks and migraines, as well as eye, skin, and throat irritation. Because dryers vent to the outdoors, these scents travel mostly out of the air supply in your home. However, if you’re intentionally circulating them inside, they will be present in higher concentrations. Manufacturers aren’t obligated to reveal the ingredients i...

Photo : Parilov ( Shutterstock ) If you live in an area that gets blessed by snow every winter, you’re probably pretty used to it. But no matter how experienced you are with snow, there’s one aspect of snow removal that most people aren’t prepared for: Your roof. If you’ve ever shoveled snow, you know it can be really heavy; it’s easy to heft a load of heavy, wet snow and then glance at your roof and imagine it quivering under the load. The obvious solution is to take that shovel in your hands and head up onto your roof to clear it off—but that can be very dangerous . So how can you safely clear snow off your roof so you can sleep peacefully and not worry about a collapse? When to worry about snow on the roof First things first—do you actually need to worry about snow on your roof? Sure , snow is heavy stuff—three feet of fresh snow or one foot of packed snow weighs approximately 30 pounds —but you have to remember that most building codes anticipate snow load, and your roof...

Photo : VanoVasaio ( Shutterstock ) Unless something goes wrong, or you’re in the middle of a renovation project, it’s pretty easy to ignore your walls. Sure, they’re integral to the structure and layout of your home, but play more of a supporting role. But when it comes to various home improvement projects like hanging a picture or removing wallpaper, it’s important to know what material your wall is made out of. If you can’t tell simply by looking at it—like if it’s brick or wood—then it’s probably either drywall or plaster. But which one? Here’s how to find out. The differences between drywall and plaster To start with, drywall and plaster are made from different materials . Drywall consists of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper. It comes in lightweight, ready-to-install sheets. Plaster walls are made by nailing strips of wood over wall studs, and then covering them with a mixture of water and either gypsum, cement, or lime in powder form. Walls made of pl...

Photo : Shutterstock ( Shutterstock ) The first apartment I rented as a poor twenty-something had crappy wood floors that were painted brown, a fact I never much thought about until years later, after I bought my first house and had to tear some absolutely heinous green carpet up off our stairs . Underneath I discover pitted, cracked, and downright ugly treads underneath. I remembered those old painted floors, and painted our stairs, and suddenly saw my former landlord’s decisions in a whole new light. For a lot of people, this sounds like sacrilege—the accepted wisdom is that hardwood flooring is beautiful, durable, and should be preserved at all costs. But you know what? Painting those stairs worked, and made me realize that painting wood floors isn’t always crazy. In fact, there are a few reasons why you might consider doing it in your own home. Reasons to paint wood floors There are fundamentally two reasons to paint a wood floor: Aesthetics and for more practical reasons. Le...

Photo : Kitawit Jitaton ( Shutterstock ) Keeping track of interior and exterior home maintenance schedules, landscaping, and emergency contacts for repairs can be overwhelming, especially for new homeowners. Even for experienced owners, help with organization and a centralized place to keep information can be a struggle—and no one wants to be digging in a desk drawer or searching through a file cabinet for a repair history when you need your homeowner’s insurance information for an emergency repair. But creating a well-organized system to keep records and information handy is as simple as starting a maintenance binder. In your binder, you should have sections for indoor, outdoor, and emergency information, keeping track of any work done on your house in each section. If you’re not sure where to get started, begin by taking stock of your household systems. You’ll need sections for HVAC, electrical, appliances, plumbing, roof and gutters, landscaping and garden, and exterior checks ...