Home Depot is ubiquitous. They have quite a few stores near where I live and work, so I’ve probably been inside four of their big box stores within the past year—five if you count their EXPO design center. Generally, each store carries a broad range of building supplies. I rarely find that they don’t have an item I need in stock. So, I’ve never really had the need to stop into Lowe’s, until recently.

I was looking for an exterior fluorescent lamp—the cheaper the better. And, I couldn’t find one at Home Depot. So, I popped into Lowe’s and wow! At least in terms of exterior lighting, they had a wider selection than Home Depot. They also had someone physically manning a station in the lighting section. No searching down each aisle looking for someone with an orange apron. This was the real deal.

The other thing I noticed was the check registers. They had a lot of check registers open. At Home Depot, I’ve usually seen 1 manned register open along with four self-serve registers. More than once, I’ve been stuck waiting a long time in line. No three’s a crowd. No opening a new register. I really don’t understand this. When you have someone already in line, ready to hand over their money, why hassle them? If I have to wait in a long time, I occasionally will just leave and come back during an off hour to complete my purchase.

I’ll still be going back on Home Depot just because their locations are more convenient. Can’t wait until Lowe’s builds out more stores to give Home Depot a run for their money. Competition is always good for the consumer, and Home Depot has been unchallenged for quite some time now.

Google Planimeter really needs a better name. Had no idea what a planimeter was until I looked it up. Anyways, obscure name aside, the Google Planimeter lets you guesstimate the size of a lot, block, or other bounded area of land. Using the Google Maps API, Google Planimeter lets you mark some coordinates on a map with the familiar Google Maps interface. So, you can alternate between map, satellite and hybrid view, just like on the Google website itself.

When you click on the map, the Google Planimeter display a flag. Set three flags, and the Google Planimeter calculates the area between the three coordinates. As you set additional flags, the Google Planimeter recalculates the area each time.

Of course, you’re not going to get the same degree of accuracy as when you hire a surveyor. But, for a quick and dirty estimate, this is the place to go. The real fun begins when in satellite or hybrid view. You can guesstimate the square footage of people’s houses, pools, basketball courts with this tool. Works better where Google has provided high magnification maps.

No one. A year after California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards became effective, take a look at the selection of fluorescent lights available at Home Depot and Lowes. Even if you wanted to buy a fluorescent light, there’s almost no selection to pick from. I think the folks in Sacramento are well-meaning, but maybe letting people use screw-in compact fluorescents in their remodels is the best interim solution to the energy problem.

Here’s something else to ponder. The California Integrated Waste Management Board says that all fluorescent lamps and tubes should be recycled or disposed as HAZARDOUS WASTE because of their mercury content. And, how many people are actually recycling their fluorescent lights? Ah, the esteemed state agency has the answer to this question as well. In 2001, 15,555,556 fluorescent lamps were sold in California, and only 0.21% of these lamps were recycled.

I’m guessing that people may not realize that fluorescent lights cannot be disposed of with their regular trash. Also, if you don’t offer curbside recycling of fluorescent lights, then don’t expect people to recycle them. Seems really short sighted in my mind to require people to use lighting products containing hazardous wastes, but not coming up with a more compelling disposal solution. This may well end up being a replay of the MTBE scandal where to “spare the air,” additives in the the gasoline sold then turned around and poisoned the groundwater. All that mercury going into the landfills will probably have a similar effect down the line.

If you are planning to remodel a kitchen or bath, or build a new house, you should read the 2005 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards:

• during the design stage when you are working with an architect, and
• again during the construction stage before you head out to the lighting store to pick your lighting fixtures.

Here’s all you need to know: “The most dramatic change since the previous Standards is that high efficacy luminaires are required for almost all rooms in residential buildings.” In other words, if you are installing something other than fluorescent lighting (and using screw-in compact fluorescents doesn’t count), California imposes all these additional requirements—some easier to satisfy than others.

In real estate, the three most important things are location, location and location.

When remodeling or rebuilding a house, the three most important things are to measure, measure and measure. When you receive your initial blueprints, compare the measurements to your current living space to get a frame of reference as to how large your new bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms will be. Things look larger on paper when your imagination is unencumbered by reality. Only when the walls have been erected do you pause and think: hmmm, that surely looked larger on paper!

Before you finalize your plans, measure again. Unless you are using custom-made cabinets, know that kitchen and bathroom cabinets usually come in 3-inch increments. So, if windows or other items need to be centered, make sure they will center with your cabinets, else will you be wasting an inch or two here and there using fillers.

Finally, plans inevitably change throughout construction. You might even switch vendors mid-stream. If you decide to change your cabinets or items based on the recommendation of a new interior designer, measure again to make sure the new plan fits in with what has already been done. Else, you’ll be getting very familiar with the change order.

One great tool to help you measure it the Leica Disto A3, a laser distance meter. Costs a lot more than the standard tape measure, but when you have a lot of measurements to take, it saves a lot of time. Press a couple buttons and you can take all the measurements for your closet space. The tape measure is still handier for short distances, but when you’re measuring long distances by yourself, you don’t have to worry about the tape measure being straight or folding or any of that other nonsense. As an added convenience, it switches easily between inches and feet-inches. Not sure why, but some vendors want their measurements in inches and others in feet-inches.

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What should you install on your bath / shower walls?  Don’t search for the one correct answer because it doesn’t exist.  You’ll probably get a different answer depending on who you ask. Here are some popular choices:

• Granite.  If you walk into any showroom, you’ll probably see granite installed on the shower / bathtub walls, either in slab or tile form.  Granite is a great stone to use and is very durable.
• Marble.  Marble tile is a popular choice for shower / bathtub walls.  A bit higher maintenance than granite.  Definitely needs to be sealed.  If you don’t understand why, ask for a sample and smear some lotion, toothpaste and other wonderful items commonly found in your bathroom, and watch it stain.
• Porcelain Tile.  The plus is that you don’t have to seal porcelain tile and it comes in a wide variety of colors.  The downside is that if it chips, it won’t react like natural stone.  The color of porcelain tile is only skin deep.  That’s why you also have to buy trim pieces for porcelain tile.  With granite or marble, you can cut a piece of stone and polish the edge.  Doesn’t work the same way with porcelain tile.
• Cultured Marble.  One large slab with few grout lines for mildew to grab hold.  But, the surface is not impenetrable and will deteriorate if you allow water to sit, like if you have a cultured marble soap dish.

You may have seen the ads encouraging food shoppers to buy local.  And, that makes a lot of sense.  Buying local supports neighborhood farms and gets you access to fresher food.  Or, at least food that wasn’t trucked across state lines or flown in from overseas.

Well, the same rule applies when hiring an architect.  Hiring local gets you access to an experienced professional who is familiar with the local planning process and local building restrictions.  Find an architect who has designed for your city multiple times.  This way you can benefit from their experience and get your building plans approved quickly instead of being stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of rejections and revisions.