Onward Manufacturing Co. is recalling about 4,800 Broil King gas grills because the bottom of the cook box that contains the burners can melt or crack as a result of a grease fire. The gas grills were sold nationwide from February 2006 through April 2008 for between $450 and $700. This recall includes the Signet, Sovereign and Sovereign XL series gas grills and involves model numbers starting with 986. Consumers should stop using the grill immediately and contact Onward Manufacturing at 1-866-7455 for a free repair kit.
Well, we are sending a shout out to all handymen and women. If you know how to wear a tool belt, put on a pair of safety goggles and perhaps hammer a nail, we have got some exciting news for you. GotCast.com is doing a nationwide search to cast a handyperson for Carter Oosterhouse’s show “Carter Can.” You could be an on-air personality for Oosterhouse’s construction team, helping create miracles on a small budget. A little know-how, a dash of creativity and some imagination could land you on this show, which features small-scale renovations (2-day maximum) that transform rooms into a big “wow.” Are you the next Ty? I am thinking about auditioning for this myself. If only my body weren’t built for radio. Good luck.
Living in the Northeast, I can tell you from experience that shoveling snow is one of the most arduous tasks you will ever have to complete. Now, a company called I-Shovel is looking to automate this chore with a Jetson-style robot. Its patent-pending technology allows the robot to detect snow accumulation and determine the perimeter of the area to be shoveled. Once it determines the area has received enough snow, the bot goes to work. While only in the prototype stage, it looks promising from the video. The makers believe it will be affordable and hope to get a production model out later this year, hopefully just in time for next winter.
Electrolux recently teamed up with Kelly Ripa, supermom and co-host of Live with Regis and Kelly, to launch its new line of appliances. I was fortunate enough to see them in person at the Kitchen and Bath Show in Chicago last month. You can almost feel as if you were there by checking out their Virtual Kitchen tour. Fabulous!
And if you're like me and fall in love with what you see, you can have a chance to win one of 10 kitchen suites by logging on and playing "Kelly's Bags." As an added bonus, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for everyone who registers. Their goal is to raise more than $500,000 over the next two years. Hurry! The contest ends May 18, 2008.
Way back in 2006 I wrote about an enterprising Australian converting his old television into a working aquarium. Now there's a web page documenting how to tackle this project. Amazing what the Internet makes possible. Considering there are two televisions for every citizen in America, there are a lot of potential aquariums out there, which can potentially save a lot of space in our nation's landfills. This is a great example of reuse and recycling, so have at it do-it-yourselfers!
With checks already in the mail, you may be wondering how you are going to spend (or save) the tax rebate that is part of the government's economic stimulus plan. According to a survey conducted by building products manufacturer Johns Manville and reported on the Building Online web site, 24 percent of U.S. homeowners are "considering using" the money they will receive as part of the federal economic stimulus package to upgrade or improve their homes. One in five said they would "definitely use" their rebate money for a home improvement project. Respondents had definite ideas on what those projects would be. Here's how they said they'd spend the rebate: "household upgrades, including landscaping (23 percent) or an upgrade of the bathroom (13 percent) or kitchen (12 percent); improving their homes' energy efficiency, including adding attic insulation (9 percent), caulking or sealing (4 percent), or installing energy efficient light bulbs (4 percent); or painting a room (10 percent)." How will you spend your rebate?
Every organization is calling May their own. No sooner had I finished writing an entry about May being National Home Improvement Month, now I have another group calling it Safe Digging Month. Call 811 is the national phone number homeowners and contractors should call before beginning their digging projects. Digging safe is a serious business; it is estimated a utility line is unintentionally hit every minute in the U.S. These unintentional hits often result in injury, service outages, repairs and big penalty fines. Utility lines are typically buried only a few inches underground, so even shallow digging projects may be affected. No matter what the size of your digging project, be sure to call 811 before you start. Calling the 811 phone number from anywhere in the country routes your call to your local One Call Center. From there, operators ask the location of your digging job and forward your call to the appropriate utility companies. The utility companies can then send a professional locater to your site to mark lines. Hitting a utility line is something you never want to experience, so be sure to call 811 before starting any digging project.
