Home Improvement Partner

There are few things more heartbreaking than the damage caused by a house fire. The first thing a homeowner should do after a fire is call his or her insurance company to see if he or she is covered for fire. The second thing is to call in a professional cleaner to do the clean-up.

Casper Bemis, of Sterling Quality Cleaners in Keene, N.H., a cleaning company that specializes in disaster restoration, offers a few suggestions for homeowners about cleaning up after a house fire. “Mostly, what people should do is nothing. A typical homeowner should not try to clean up after a fire themselves. They don’t have the proper tools, methods or skills to do the job,” said Bemis.

Bemis said that homeowners, perhaps trying to save money, who attempt to clean walls, ceilings, or other “non-washable” surfaces, tend to make the problem worse by smearing.

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“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Or so the saying goes. I have no trouble with the first part; it’s that early to rise line that always gets the better of me. I’ve never been one to get up with the first buzz of my alarm clock. In college I was one of those sad sacks who crawled into her 8am class wearing pajamas and carrying a huge travel mug of coffee. But I am now even more convinced that getting up early is a habit worth forming, and what’s more, here’s how I can finally train myself to do it:

5×5 is five days of Top 5′s from the MoCo archives, all in a unifying theme. This edition: People’s choice! A collection of your most Liked over the last few months, a category a day… Day 3: Architecture.

1. Beached House by BKK Architects

Playing with time and space, Beached House employs irregularly folded spaces – “volumetric origami” – to suggest a structure that has evolved over time.

2. The Pierre by Olson Kundig Architect

Providing vault-like protection, The Pierre is wedged in rock on an island off the coast of the US northwest, secure home to an art collector and collections.

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A good, competitive game of bocce ball or croquet isn’t child’s play so why rely on sets made for children. “Sadly, much of the basic equipment needed to play the simplest games of yore have devolved into toys. Investing in quality gear is the easiest way to elevate a pointless pastime into something approaching an actual sport,” said the Wall Street Journal in Savoring Summer. What the Journal fails to mention is that you also need a quality lawn.

You don’t have to don your summer whites to play croquet, bocce ball or badminton but it is a nice way to dress up an outing. You should also learn the rules of the game

• In croquet, players advance through the course by hitting balls with a mallet, scoring a point for each wicket and stake made in the correct order and direction. The winne

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FORT WORTH, Texas — True story. The first words my now-19-year-old son read out loud were “garage” and “sale.” Spying the sign ahead, he knew, as did I, that those words held promise of a treasure yet to be found for mere pennies on the dollar.

Today, garage sales are my brand of recycling-meets-profit margin. If my kids outgrow something, or if an item has outlived its purpose, I put it aside to include in my next sale. Planning is key to a successful sale. Here’s how to do it.

MANAGE CITY RULES AND NEIGHBORS

It is important to research and secure the permits required by local government. Check your city’s website for details.

Because most municipalities restrict the number of signs you can post, an ad in a local paper is money well spent.

It is also a good idea to notify your neighbors of the impending sale. A

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