In A Nutshell Remodeling Los Angeles

A driveway without solar is dead space. Novel Remodeling believes the simplest solution is the best. So if you have a driveway, make something of it with a Solar CarPort installation. Do Something With Your Driveway All a carport does on its own is protect your vehicle from the sun. Integrate solar paneling directly with the structure to transform it into a solar roof, that equipped with a charging station, becomes a self sustained energy source for your vehicle. Be Smart About Your Solar Energy, Not Ugly In an attempt to catch solar energy, many households sacrifice their yards to install an unfortunate looking garden of solar panels to their landscape. Unlike ground mounted solar panels, carports don’t require you to isolate valuable land just for the sake of generating energy. Take a look at Whole Foods. They have over 325 kilowatts of solar paneling above their massive parking lot in their largest New York location. It’s just smart business. Why choose to leave spa...

Summer Home Remodeling Projects Summer is the season for a home improvement project, and I’m not just talking about changing the room the TV is in. Now is the time to invest in a proper upgrade to your home that changes the way you live in it. We’ve selected the best in money saving, energy efficiency, or just plain good-looking projects to invest yourself in this season. Central A/C Window mounted air conditioning installation is a notorious crime against your home’s energy. Unless you’re prepared to play a game of musical chairs, turning your A/C on and off as soon as you step in and out of each and every room, you’re going to be wasting a ton of electricity. This summer, install a central A/C in your home.  Not only is this a straight win to your home’s quality of life, it’s an incredible investment to your pocket. No longer will an inefficient A/C run away with your energy because a fine tuned central unit assures you only use what you need. Keep in min...

Switching to Solar In Thousand Oaks, solar power is taking the fight against big energy companies like Southern California Edison that has them scrambling for business. So much energy is being channeled through solar that electrical plants which run 24/7 for Los Angeles are at risk of being completely shut down. We at Novel Remodeling love clean energy, but we want to warn you of changes in the solar industry that are going to cause problems for those who choose solar installation after July 1, 2017 in onset of NEM 2.0. Let’s talk about what the current rule is. What is NEM 1.0 When you apply for solar you’re asking to be a part of the grid, which means that the solar energy your panels accumulate goes into a big pool of energy that gets shared throughout the grid. So, at night when the sun’s down, you are given a credit of the excess energy you generated throughout the day and are able to use that energy when the sun’s down. Notice how NEM 1.0 works in your fav...

Los Angeles makes it hard on green lawns for their landscaping. It’s not grass’s fault that it swallows up 9% of California’s water usage, a thirsty luxury to maintain. In a drought, that number might seem a little unreasonable, especially in the summer when grass browns in an instant and soaks up your water bill while still managing to work up your allergies. Maybe it’s time for a replacement. Consider the succulent. You’ve noticed them before - planted in anything from teacups to old shoes. It’s a competition to the bottom to find the tiniest place these fat little plants can burrow their roots in. But what if I told you that succulents were being held down? That you need to unleash the succulent into your next landscaping project. Landscapers in Los Angeles are stepping up their game with these plants. Too vibrant to deny, a succulent makes the most out of your garden. But they’re more than just pretty. Succulents have ...

As great as solar sounds (and is) for the future, there are some questions you need to ask yourself before joining the grid. Is there financial assistance available? Los Angeles has a habit of being an early adopter of green technologies. While they offer financial assistance for a plethora of solar technologies, solar rooftop installation isn’t one of them. While this is a raw deal for homeowners looking to make the switch, this allows for you to look a contractor that holds the most generous solar estimate. Novel Remodeling offers up to one thousand dollars in rebates, which in many cases is nearly 10% off the entire project. What kind of permits do I need? This is one of the most important questions. Laws surrounding permits can be very difficult to untangle in their specificity. The last thing you want to do is spend hours in the federal details of California, making decisions that ultimately cost more money and waste more time. Having a cont...

At seventeen I was going to own a warehouse. In the building I wanted as my own, ten thousand square feet, I was kept in a small corner running my t shirt business. This was my only means of income and I got used to sleeping on the floor, only sleeping when my body absolutely needed it to assure ends met. I felt it was temporary. Every month I would mail a check out to the owner for the eventual and hopeful ownership of the warehouse. There was never a missed dime or date when it came down to it because any inch of a mistake would mean the building wasn’t mine. To this day I have never read a contract so thoroughly. While I didn’t particularly trust the owner, he didn’t seem like a cheat. I was wrong about that. The day of the final payment arrived. I called and called but no one answered. I drove out   to knock on his door and still nothing. By now he had absolutely gotten the check. That evening my nerves struck up at the idea that the owner had made off wit...

I started researching this entry to find THE BEST air conditioner in Los Angeles for my readers. Unlucky for me, I soon realized that’s not the question to ask. A/Cs are a strange wild west of manipulated scores, unrealistic criteria, and measurements that just don’t mean a thing. Lucky for you, I put in the legwork for some clear cut answers. Air Conditioning Brands Don’t Matter You ask me what the best blender is and I’ll research the finest strawberry to smoothie machine you’ve ever seen. I did that with double-hung windows. But ask what the best central air conditioner is, and I’ll say that’s not the question you should be asking. Here are a few brands you’re perfectly fine to choose from: Goodman Trane American Standard Rheem Ruud Bryant The technology behind air conditioners is not rocket science. Essentially, you have an evaporator, a condensing unit, and a fan. You can only spice up those parts so much. There are bigger ques...