Chandelier lifts

It's a major pain to change the light bulbs on a chandelier. So I was thinking about getting a motorized chandelier lift to lower the chandelier to floor level, change the bulbs, or clean the thing, and then hoist it back up. But searching around, I got sticker shock! Those things cost around $1000, just as much as the chandelier does!!! I would never pay that much.

Then I got to thinking: I dont need a fancy motorized one, with a switch at the bottom of the foyer. Why not get a simple, manual lift, that you can crank up/down yourself, from up in the attic? Something like that must exist, and it must be much much cheaper, right?

Well I can't find one anywhere. Please leave me a comment if you do.

OK, so they make all kinds of lifts and chain hoists for mechanical equipment. Stuff that can lift a half ton, and it only costs like $139. Can't someone adapt something like this for chandeliers?

southern-tool.com hoist


GardenWeb Post

Door Handlesets, Knobs, Levers

In order to save money, i've been searching the internet, ebay, craigslist, etc for bargains.

The best bang for the buck I have found on door knobs was on eBay - The Lockset Discounters.

I bought this handleset for my front door, for $37.07 including shipping and tax.

Kwikset Arlington Antique Brass Smartkey Handle+sgl-DB
Model number: 98001-122
Collection: Arlington
Function: Handleset + Sgl Cyl Deadbolt
Finish: Antique Brass
Latch: Round Corner Adjustable
Strike: Round Corner
Packaging: Clear-Pack
New/Used: New

It says the deadbolt meets Grade 1 security standards ANSI/BHMA A156.2, whatever that means.

I searched the internet and could not find this item for less than about $77.

I will most likely buy my interior door levers there also.

James Hardie ColorPlus - Westchester NY area

It is almost impossible to pick out a siding color from one those ridiculously small sample displays at a lumber yard. How are you going to know how its is going to look on the house you will be living in for years to come? So the sales rep at Croton Home Center gave me a list of houses that he has sold James Hardie ColorPlus siding to. My wife and I drove around to all of them multiple times to figure out what we like best. To tell you the truth we wanted a simple medium tan color. But Hardie doesn't have that. The have a goldish tan, and a greenish tan, and greyish tan, but not what we wanted. So we settle for Monterey Beige, which is nice, but really more grey than we wanted.

I have created a Google User Map of houses in the Westchester NY area that have James Hardie ColorPlus installed. Maybe this will help someone else who is going through the same thing as us.

Westchester NY map of James Hardie Color­Plus Fiber Cement Siding

Also there is a photo album of these houses here:

Siding - James Hardie ColorPlus - Fiber Cement Board - Sample Houses

James Hardie Siding

I have been thinking about siding for a long time now. I would rather not do vinyl, and am pretty sure I am going one step up, to fiber cement board siding. The most popular of which is the James Hardie brand. I dont want to pay $6000 to paint it, so I am going to go with the pre-painted stuff. It is 16% more expensive than the primed stuff ($7.10 vs $6.10 per 6 1/4" x 12' board), well worth it. I think a good quality vinyl siding would work out to about $4.50 for that same size.

But the trim will cost much more for Hardie than vinyl, depending what you get, probably triple the vinyl trim cost.

I am also trying to come up with decent links to Hardie fiber cement jobs. Here is what I found so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SicamousDevelopments/RavensCroftSalmonArm#

http://picasaweb.google.com/chander.ganesan/NewHouseJan52008#

http://picasaweb.google.com/sgulick1/OurNewHouse5Interior#

http://picasaweb.google.com/ncc77777/OtterSlideLoop2#

http://picasaweb.google.com/chitojared/FishFoodBank#

http://picasaweb.google.com/chughesconstruction/EscapeBeachside10#

http://picasaweb.google.com/gulfcoastsiding/HardieBoard#

Hopefuly your house won't look like this one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JollyRoberts/SigmanWindowsSidingAtlantaGA#