Waterbed Repair and Maintenance Tips

Owning a waterbed requires the occasional waterbed repair once in awhile. In order to keep your bed in good condition, proper maintenance and care should be taken. How do you properly maintain a waterbed?

One of the first things you need to consider is the water level in your mattress. Always remember that the water will be displaced when one person or more uses the bed. Thus, fill the water system of the mattress to just below the level of the surrounding frame and allow some roof for displacement.

When a waterbed has already been filled with water by others, it's always wise to check for air bubbles in the mattress. Just make sure that the air in the mattress is vented out through the valve. A waterbed that is free of air is quiet. So, once in awhile, you need to manually vent out the air from your mattress.

Setting your waterbed's temperature is also important to guarantee a good night's sleep. However, each person has his preference when it comes to temperature. Generally, a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius or the normal body temperature is the most typical setting for most mattresses.

A waterbed may be free from bed bugs and dust mites but the water inside the mattress might not be free from bacteria. Thus, to prevent formation of algae in the water, waterbed owners are advised to add a conditioner in the water at least every six months. The waterbed conditioner will not only purify the water and prevent bacteria, but it will also protect the surface of the vinyl mattress.

Aside from conditioners, it is also necessary to clean the vinyl surface using a special waterbed vinyl cleaner. Most mattresses have removable covers which can be slid off for easier cleaning. Some vinyl cleaners can be wiped directly on the vinyl while other vinyl cleaners need to be added water or moist before application.

If you're a waterbed owner, never forget to ensure that the safety liner of your bed is correctly in place because the safety liner will protect your room in case the water bed leaks. The liner will ensure that if the mattress gets a leak the water displaced will be contained inside the liner. It is wise to examine your waterbed mattress and the safety liner at least twice a year.

When a waterbed leaks, some people would immediately try to drain all the water from the bed. But this is actually a bigger job than repairing the vinyl itself. In case of leaks, the first you need to do is try to find where leak is coming from. Use a towel to dry off the water between the liner and the bed. Remember that the water is trapped between the liner and the mattress but you can dry it off without draining the entire bed.

A waterbed leak will usually come from the sides, top, or corners of the vinyl. Once you've found the leak, place a pillow under the safety liner to lift the mattress so that you can begin with the repair. First, dry off the punctured area and use the waterbed patch kit that is usually included in your package when purchasing the bed. Simply cut a patch of vinyl that is at least 1cm larger than the hole and use the waterbed repair adhesive to put it in place. The glue dries off very quickly and once it's dried, the mattress is ready for use. However, double check that you have completely dried off the leak between the safety line and the mattress as the spilled water will acquire algae and odor.

Get The Home Improvement Ideas From Reality TV!

Many people love doing their own home improvements and there are entire channels such as HGTV, Planet Green, and DIY that are devoted to this subject. There are home improvement reality shows that cover all types of topics, from learning how to clean out the clutter to laying hardwood floors to staging your house for sale.

Many believe the home improvement craze started with the PBS series "This Old House." The show started in 1979 and focused on renovating older houses. The original host was Bob Villa. Since leaving the show in 1989, Villa has written a number of books about home improvement and even has his own line of tools on the Home Shopping Network.

"Trading Spaces" is one of the most popular home improvement reality shows. Although recently canceled, the show saw a run of eight successful seasons. The theme of the show was simple - neighbors would redecorate one room in each other's house. The team had two days (three days in later seasons) and a budget of $1,000 ($2,000 in later seasons) along with the help of a designer to redo the room. The other team was not allowed to enter their home while the renovations were being done and had no say so as to what was changed. Many credit the fun show with sparking a renewed interest in home improvement in the U.S.

HGTV's "24 Hour Design" is another show that concentrates on redoing a single room. However, on this show, the homeowners have some input. In a single day, a crew of a designer, design assistant, and carpenter take $2,000 and make changes to the room in one day.

"Clean House," on the Style Network, offers a different type of home improvement for people - decluttering. Hostess Niecy Nash brings her crew in to help people with the process of letting go of the stuff they don't need. After a huge yard sale, other home improvement professionals give the home new look by matching up to $1,000 of the yard sale proceeds. HGTV's "Mission: Organization" also focuses on decluttering. It shows homeowners how to maximize the space they have through reorganization and redesign.

The DIY network offers a wide variety of home renovation shows including "10 Things You Must Know," "Kitchen Impossible," "Create Your Baby's Nursery," "Creative Wall Coverings," "Desperate Landscapes," and "Home Maintenance." Almost any time of the day or night, a homeowner can turn on the DIY network and find some type of show to help with renovations.

There are plenty of shows for people who are looking to spruce up their homes for sale. "Designed to Sell" gives expert designers a $2,000 budget and use of a professional carpenter to fix up a house with the hopes that it will receive the maximum offer from a buyer. "Sell This House" gives home sellers a unique view into what potential buyers like and don't like about the home. The team videotapes the comments of people looking at the house, and then shows the footage to the homeowners. Normally the house has been on the market for a long time and the homeowner doesn't know why. Tanya and Roger, with the help of the homeowners, start making renovations and staging the home to help it sell. The potential buyers are then brought back in to see what has been changed and their comments are usually much more positive.

Home renovation can often be challenging, but rewarding. Those who want to spruce up their home just for their own enjoyment or to sell their house have no shortage of home improvement shows to guide them through the process.

Now is the Best Time to Self Build Our Home?

Yes! Just because there is a recession and 2009 is proving not be a great one for the housing market it is not all doom and gloom. Like most things you can always find the good or positive in bad or unfortunate situations and today is no different. Did you realise that this is the best time in years to build your own home from scratch. With cheap land and cheap labour and finance for self build available, now is the time to plan and build that dream home you once thought was unattainable.

Grand Designs is proving to be one of the most successful shows on channel four with over 4 millions viewers each week. This means there are millions of us who either just love the show or watch with envy and wish we were building our dream house. Well now is the time to put your dreams into action.

In the past one of the difficulties self builders had was finding land. Any land available would be hard to obtain as the developers in the boom days would be competing for it left right and centre and prices would rocket. But now there is an increasing amount of plots available and even developers are selling off some of their land, some with planning permission in place. According to Liam Bailey who is head of residential research at Knight Frank estate agency land prices are down by 50%. This is why now is a great time to buy land and plan your self build.

While regular mortgages are not so easy to obtain these days, lenders are still keen to finance self builders. Why? Because generally you will end up with up to 35% equity which means up to a 60% mortgage once the build is complete.

Labour is becoming cheaper as most builders are feeling the pinch and have had to reduce prices. The most important part of hiring builders is finding competent companies that have access to all the right trades' people. Finding a building contractor that will take you through the whole build makes the whole project run more smoothly. Plus you want builders and trades people to take pride in their work, the last thing you need is to hire cowboys. So how do you tell a cowboy from a decent builder? Well for one they will be proud of their work and will happily point you in the direction of some of their previous projects. If you're looking through websites, make sure the site shows their name address and phone number, this means they have nothing to hide. It is very important to see examples of their previous work so check for any testimonials pages which should show pictures of past projects.

So if you want to be the next star on Grand Designs, or maybe just want to design and build your not so grand home, then there is nothing to stop, now is definitely the time to do it. Why not build your dream home and be one of the few who actually make some money in these gloomy times of recession.