green technologies are makingcentral air more economical and energy efficient than everbefore. today, we're educating consumerson the mortgage lending process by bringing potential buyerstogether with a lending expert. living on the sunny side oflife, we check out how sun rooms add a wonderful new space to anyhome. this is the show all about youand your space. your home and surroundings.we are designing spaces. (music).think about what it would be
like during the hot and humidmonths of summer without air conditioning.yeah, you know what, i don't even want to think about that.but, i do want to think green when it comes to heating andcooling our homes. i'm sure you do too.there are so many improved and green technologies when it comesto central heating and air conditioning, that are energyefficient and more cost effective than ever before.so, designing spaces decided to come to this beautiful home tocheck one out.
joining me today, is jim withamana, and gino with service america, an amana dealer.guys, welcome to the show. thanks.jim, last time you were here, we were talking about differentsystems, but this time, let's talk a little bit about energyefficiency. yeah, we do everything we canthese days to build energy efficiency into every system wemake. it's a lot different than 10years ago, even five years ago. really?customers are far more tuned
into energy efficiency and theywant to put something in their house that's going to keep themcomfortable, and also have reasonable utility bills sothey're not paying through the nose, you know, just to keepthemselves comfortable in their house.yeah, absolutely. when did amana start makingheating and cooling units? amana has been around forgenerations, and that's a big advantage because that's one ofthe reasons why amana units have some of the best warranties inthe industry.
hmm, and where are they made?they are made here in the united states.everything is assembled here in the united states in one of fourplants that we have here, so you know, we do everything we can tokeep production right here in the states.perfect. we like hearing that.we purchased this house approximately a year ago andwhen they did the inspection, they told us that the airconditioning was coming up on 15 years.so, we figured it was time to
replace it.we chose amana because of the benefits that they offer, onebeing access with your smart phone to the controller.the lifetime unit replacement, and obviously the higher seerwhich is more cost effective for us.and gino, tell us a little bit about the newer units.well, the newer units are much more efficient.obviously. the seer ratings, which is theactual efficiency rating, is higher, and the new units runvariable fans, which increase
the humidification, and lowerelectric bills. i have to ask you.my neighbor has an air conditioning unit that is soloud, so is that something that's changed with the newerunits? yes, definitely.i have a card for your neighbor. i was going to say, can we gotalk to my neighbor? okay, perfect.you know, something else i've heard a lot about is theprogrammable thermostat. is that something we should lookinto?
oh, it comes standard on a lotof different pieces of equipment.you know, it allows that home owner to go ahead and set up aschedule on their thermostat, and they usually do it when theyfirst get the system, or their new thermostat, and it allowsthem to go ahead and set that up so that even if they're nothome, they know that that system is going to be running ina set back mode, so they're not heating or cooling the home whenthey're not there. perfect.extra stuff on that, today, a
lot of the products that we sellhave remote access, so that means that you can go throughyour phone or pc, and remotely adjust the equipment, even ifyou're in another country. you can get it and makeadjustments to the operational characteristics of the system.you can also have fun with that if your husband or wife is homeand you can just change it on your phone while they're there.there's a limited amount of amusement there.yeah. i like it.humidity control is very
important here, so we're lookingforward to that on the new humana system.what about the maintenance on the newer systems?is that something we need to know about?well, maintenance should be done always, on any airconditioning system, at the beginning of the cooling season,closer to the coast, twice a year, but generally, yes, everyyear maintenance should be done on the system.okay. now, what if someone's watchingand they have an older unit.
so, what is something that theyshould look out for so they know when it's about to die?first thing is your electric bills, and the decrease incooling. okay.a lot of times, people look at their system and they say "oh,it's working fine" and they really don't know that it is orit isn't, and they should call a service technician and have themcome and evaluate it. okay.generally, 10 years is about the life span of a system, so werecommend at that point, you
should start looking at asystem. so, right around the 10 yearmark. absolutely.a lot of times you'll get abnormal noises too, with eitherthe outdoor or indoor piece of equipment, just things that youdidn't hear before, and it's always a good idea, especiallybefore you get into the middle of the summer, or the middle ofthe heating season. get somebody out there and takecare of it, so you don't have any unwanted shutdowns in themiddle of the heat or the cold
outside.don't ignore any unusual sound that you hear.exactly. okay, perfect.guys thank you so much for being here and really giving us suchgreat advice. we really appreciate it.thank you. thank you.well, if you've missed any of what we covered here today, weare going to have a link to amana on our website atdesigningspaces.tv and you can also find us on facebook andtwitter.
thanks for joining us today.we'll see you soon. bye.(music). this episode of designing spacesis brought to you by amana heating and cooling systems.for many, owning a home is still the american dream.it's especially thrilling for first time home buyers, butunderstanding how mortgages work, and knowing the rightquestions to ask, and the pitfalls to avoid can be adaunting task for first timers. well, on this edition ofdesigning spaces, we're going to
meet a young couple that istrying to navigate this treacherous landscape and we'llbe providing them with some much needed help from a reliableexpert. hi, i'm debbie marie.joining me today is jennifer and luke.hi guys. how ya doing?i am sure you have so many questions for our expert today,don't you? yeah, we really do.we need a lot of help because we need to know exactly what to do,so we don't make any costly
mistakes.plus, there's so much to think about.absolutely. well, we invited gino mcewin andhe is from north american savings bank, here today toanswer all of your questions and also guide you as first timehome buyers. awesome, we really appreciateit. of course.sound good? sounds good.let's go meet him. he's inside.let's go.
(music).gino, meet jennifer and luke. they're very excited about theprospects of being first time home owners, but they're alsonervous at the same time, because there's a lot they don'tknow, and i'm sure they're not alone.sure, absolutely not. the home buying experience isdefinitely complicated, as there's a lot of moving parts,so finding a professional to help walk you through thosebasic steps is very important, absolutely.so, where do we get started?
how much do we put down?the first step is finding a reputable lending institutionthat will just take care of you, that you can trust, thatcommunicates well. once you find that, the downpayment is really going to depend upon your budget.what kind of loan options do we have and how do we evaluate thedifferences? well, the biggest difference isgoing to be what's your budget that you planned out, and howcan we fit the best product to meet your budget.so, once we find your down
payment option that you guyshave set aside, we're going to match that with the specificpayment options. so, we might recommend fha, orwe might recommend a conventional loan, depending onyour specific needs. then, once we have those twooptions down, we're going to go through the basic steps on whatthe payment breakdown would be for you.now, you said fha. i've heard that before, but canyou explain a little bit more, what they are?sure.
an fha loan is really designedfor a lower down payment option, so it's a governement backedloan, so if you wanted to put down as little as 3.5%, say on ahome like this, you know that you would be able to budget forx, and if you decided that you have a little bit more downpayment and you wanted to do a conventional loan, you wouldhave a 5% or more, we'd go down the conventional path.what are some of the upfront costs involved with mortgagesnow? you know, there's really noupfront cost.
again, if you're dealing with areputable bank, we're going to take your application online.we're going to walk you through the basic steps, and we're notgoing to ask you to pay anything to do that.we'll go as far as even pre-approving you without anyupfront costs, so you can get pre-approved in the first 15 or20 minute phone call, or if you did an online application,that's very very quick, and you're not going to have toworry about paying anything up front.that's great.
good to know.great advice. now let's say, the house thatthey choose is a fixer-upper. how many home improvementsshould they do, and what kind, to add value to their home whenthey're looking to sell it. well, home improvements are kindof a gray area when it comes to different people who are lookingto buy a home, and what do they fix and what don't they fix?our recommendations, if you're looking to increase the value ofyour property is going to be adding structures, like adetatched garage, or if you add
square feet to the property,making it bigger, that actually will help the value much morethan say upgrading something. upgrading the floors or newwindows, or new appliances. that wouldn't have as big animpact on the value, even though the selling points might bethere for a realtor. so, that's good to know, sothat you're not wasting money when you're looking to sell it.absolutely. oh i need to paint the house.sure. so, tell us a little about northamerican savings bank, and why a
first time home buyer shouldcome to you for a loan. sure, well north americansavings bank has been in business for almost 90 years.we were founded in 1927. so, that longevity speaks foritself. as a bank, we can lend in all 50states, so whether you're buying here in florida, whether you'rebuying in a different state, we can help every home owner thatis looking to purchase a home, and we have every productavailable so we can lend fha, conventional lending.we have va options for veterans.
we have specialty products suchas reverse mortgages, or ira lending options if you'relooking for an investment property, so with that type ofproduct that we have to offer, as well as being able to applywith a simple phone call or online application, we bring alot of value and benefit to the table.you cover everything. absolutely.so, what do you think? did gino give you enoughvalueable information to make a confident decision?yeah, i feel much better about
making this decision.definitely, thank you very much for your time.thank you. wonderful.that's what we were looking for. gino, thank you so much forbeing here and giving us such great advice.we really appreciate it. my pleasure.thank you for your time. well, if you've missed any ofwhat we've covered here today, just head over to our website,at designingspaces.tv and just look for the nasb video.we'll also have a link to north
american savings bank on ourwebsite. thanks for joining us and we'llsee you soon. bye-bye.(music). outdoor living, it's a lifestylechoice many of us enjoy. so, today, on designing spaces,we have solutions on how to experience outdoor living yearround. what better place to talk aboutthat than in this beautiful home, in the suburbs of st.louis missouri? i'd like to introduce you to thehomeowner, karen, and peggy
kory of sunspace sunrooms.peggy, tell us a little about this space we're in right now.well, this is a sunspace three season room, with the weathermaster windows, which offers the ultimate in flexibility, so ifit's beautiful outside like it is today, you can open up thewindow and enjoy the fresh breezeand the air, but if it's raining or snowy, or get a really windyday, we can simply close up the window and enjoy the room aboutnine months or more out of the year.this space is so beautiful.
karen, i can really see youspending a lot of time in here, relaxing or even entertaining.tell us what motivated you to add a sunroom.my brother had a sunroom and we really enjoyed it, and thoughtwe'd like to have one for our own home.now, peggy, let's say some of our viewers are interested inadding a sunroom. what do they need to know?well, for example, with karen, we were able to customize it.she wanted a nice cathedral ceiling.she wanted it to look like her
home.she was able to choose how big she wanted her windows, how thefront is open, in terms of the view, and ultimately, she canalso put a heating or cooling unit our here if she wants toincrese the amount of usage on cold and extreme days.well, my favorite thing about this room is the view.it feels so open and airy. we really like it too.at sunspace, we have many products to preserve the view,including glass railings. also, try and make it easy forthe homeowner, so we provide
maintenance free products, sothey don't have to do a lot of cleaning or painting orstaining. was so nice meeting the both ofyou, and i know you're going to love spending time in thissunroom, but i hear that sunspace has lots of other newand innovative products, so i'm going to go say hi to larryand find out more about that, and let you ladies get back todecorating. thank you.thank you so much. how about these pillows overhere?
i think that would look great.put the candles right here. yeah, that looks good.larry, so many of our viewers are searching for ways to enjoyoutdoor living, especially in places where it's cold most ofthe year. what are some other products weshould know about? well, at sunspace, we reallylike to say that we've got you covered from the ground up.we start with our pre-fabricated, pre-insulatedfloor system that's designed for a sunroom to be installeddirectly upon.
we do manufacturer an aluminumdecking system that is water tight and maintainance free.of course, we have our railing systems, both in a picket and ina glass, and we now have the all view railing that doesn't have atop or a bottom rail. it's just glass that expandsbetween the posts. we do manufacture a full line ofsunrooms, starting at a screen room, going all the way upthrough the weather master 3-season room, to an all seasonroom, as well. we do offer them with aninsultated roof system that is
designed for structure, but alsogives the benefit of insulation. we do manufacture an acrylicroof as well, that is designed to let the light in but blockthe heat, and for those people that are really trying tocontrol their heat, we manufacture a solar shade systemthat you still have your view, but it's designed to block thesun and the heat gain that comes through the windows.are most of these products available for renovations, aswell as new structures? they are.in fact, the weather master
window that we use in theweather master sunroom is basically our main staple forgoing into existing porches and enclosing them, turning thescreen porch into a three season room, or enclosing underneathan existing deck. well, larry, these designs arebeautiful. thanks so much for sharing themwith us on designing spaces. well, thank you for having me.to see this portion of designing spaces again, visitdesigningspaces.tv (music).
it's a big honey-do list, butit's gotta be done. that's right.you know we'll do one project at a time, and we'll take our time.diy home improvements. we don't have all the tools weneed to do this. i have an idea. come on.do it yourselfers often hit a brick wall when it comes tochoosing the tools and equipment they'll need to complete aproject. renting is the way to go.you get the tools you need, when you need it, and it makes doingit yourself a cost effective
alternative to a contractor.a trip to sunbelt rentals can answer your equipment needs.hi, good morning. michelle.tom. hey, i'm steve.good to meet you. we want to create a patio with agazebo. we've got the plans for thegazebo, but we don't have the tools we need to build it.i think we can help you with that.let me show you around. awesome.great.
now the location that we want toput this patio, there's an existing slab there, but it'sall messed up, broken up, and stuff.is there something we can use to get that out of there?absolutely. we've gas some gas concretecutting saws that we can rent you.cut the slab into smaller pieces, and get it out of yourway. now, with the gas though, do wehave to do a special mixture of gas and oil?you do.
we'll go ahead and give you atank of pre-mixed fuel so you don't have to worry about mixingit yourself. oh, wonderful!so now, we want to paint our house, but i'm worried about howlong it's going to take. this is the tool for your job.it's our airless paint sprayer. is it gas or electric?this is our electric model. okay, now...dumb question. where does the paint go?it's real simple. you lift it up, you put yourbucket under the suction nozzle,
and you're ready to go.oh. beats a paint brush.yes. now, when were setting theposts for the gazebo, do you have a level or something thatwe can use to keep things straight?absolutely. we've got laser levels, whichwill help you keep everything level and plumb.awesome. and rent one of these to chop upall the wood and stuff? this is our portable table saw,but for your project, i
recommended you use one of ourcircular saws. come on, i'll show it to you.with more than 500 locations, in 44 states and western canada,sunbelt rentals is one of the largest equipment companies innorth america. with a diverse product mix, doit yourselfers can complete projects, by selecting the rightequipment confidently and safely.here's the circular saw i mentioned to you.ahh, nice. now what is this knob for?that knob is to angle the
blade so you can make anglecuts. we're going to have fun withthis. this is going to be great.you guys mentioned you'd be breaking up that concrete slabin your back yard. these are the chipping hammersthat will help you finish up your work.we've got our stand up models and we've got one on a cart ifyou've got a bigger area you want to get done.and so, i would even be able to handle this?yes mam.
i'm excited honey.it looks good on you. i like the green with the redhair. so, we're painting the house,building a new gazebo, and laying a concrete slab for a newpatio in the back yard. yes.i'm excited. i think we can do thisourselves. i think it's going to be great.i really feel like we're going to get some stuff done now.you know, at first i thought we were being a bit ambitious, butthanks to sunbelt rentals, we
can do this.for more information, visit sunbeltrentals.com to find alocation near you. to see this portion of designingspaces again, visit designingspaces.tv, where you'llalso find a link to the sunbelt rentals website.(music). making a space you can callhome, living the lifestyle you desire.it's what we are all about. we are designing spaces.for more inforamtion about anything on today's show, or tofind out how to be part of the
show, log on todesigningspaces.tv you can visit these websites to learn moreabout the participants on this edition of designing spaces.(music).