Semper Solaris offers a variety of roof and solar services like solar panel installation and cleaning. In this review, the This Old House Reviews team dives into Semper Solaris services, pricing, and customer service.

Semper Solaris offers solar installation to help customers save money on energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint through sustainable energy solutions. As a veteran-owned company committed to hiring professionals with a shared sense of integrity and responsibility, Semper Solaris offers comprehensive customer service that supports customers through the life of their system. Read our review of Semper Solaris services, discounts, warranties, and products to decide if they’re the best solar provider for you and your home.

To see solar pricing and available incentives in your area, fill out this simple form.

Is Semper Solaris Worth It?

Semper Solaris offers California residents comprehensive solar solutions with a variety of discounts for new customers. Their online ticketing system and daily phone support help streamline the customer experience, making them a smart solar provider for those looking for responsive customer service.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of Semper Solaris below.

Wondering about those moth-like flies hanging around your drains? Drain flies may be common, but they’re also easy to get rid of if you get ahead of the game.

Home drains are a prime spot for stagnant water or bacteria to accumulate, especially if the sink or drain sits unused. If you’ve suddenly noticed an abundance of very small, moth-like creatures hanging around your sinks, showers, or bathtub, you may have drain flies. These very common pests can reproduce in just 48 hours, making it easy to find yourself with an infestation in little time.

Unlike some other pest infestations, understanding how to get rid of drain flies can be quick and simple. With a little diligence, you can stop them in their tracks with basic products or pantry items around the house and create a plan to stop them in the future. In this guide, we’ll answer all your questions about how to get rid of drain flies and who to call if you need the guidance of a professional pest control company.

Our top recommendation for your pest control needs is Terminix, a company with PhD-level entomologists and over 90 years of experience in the industry. But, to make sure you get the best plan for your home, you should also check out top pest control company Orkin.

Get a quote from both top-rated companies:

From smooth and seamed to deeply embossed, and in a range of colors, there’s a metal-roofing profile to suit virtually every architectural style.

Though expensive, a metal roof will last half a century or more. Considering investing in a metal roof but don’t know where to begin? Read this guide to learn more about the styles and finishes to choose from.

Metal Roof Styles

Standing Seam

Its crisp lines, formed where panel edges interlock, complement a wide variety of houses, from traditional to modern. Hidden clips hold panels in place and let the metal move.

Similar to shown: Universal Standing Seam in Silverstone, from $2.75 per square foot; Green American Home

Slate

With subtle color variations and “split” edges, these painted steel panels offer the look of slate without the weight. Each 50-by-12-inch panel, embossed to suggest six separate slates, installs much faster than the real stuff.

I’m going to just come right out and say it, our back porch has been neglected. Sure, I purchased some chairs a couple years back, but that’s about it. The last few years have not been kind to said rocking chairs and they are in pretty sad condition. If I am being completely honest, I just haven’t been very motivated. Living in Florida has made me hesitant to give this area a facelift. I didn’t want all my hard work to be destroyed by the Florida heat. Have you ever experienced this fear too? Well, I am happy to report that I have found the answer. The best thing you can do to protect your wood projects is by staining and sealing, and Olympic Stain has just the products you need to do this all in one step!

So let’s get started. Remember those chairs I mentioned? Well, I was actually about to throw in the towel and give up hope on them. I have power washed and sealed these chairs (not with Olympic Stain) multiple times only to find them looking old and cruddy in just a few weeks. It was so frustrating! That song and dance was getting old, so I thought I would try a different approach.

Step 1: Clean Surfaces

In the past, power washing and sanding these chairs took me several days to complete. It was an arduous task and I was not willing to do it again. After a little bit of research and reading reviews, I found something that looked promising. Olympic has a product (Deck Cleaner) specifically made for cleaning outdoor wood projects in preparation to be stained and sealed. Heck, I had tried everything else might as well, right?

Best decision ever! It was the easiest 15-minute project ever. All I needed was a gallon of Olympic Deck Cleaner (about $10) and a plastic spray bottle. If you are doing a large area I would recommend using a 1-Gallon Pump Sprayer. After reading the directions carefully and following the safety precautions, I started spritzing down my first chair. That’s it, you heard that right. All you have to do is spray it on and wait 5-10 minutes. Boom, done.

I set a timer for ten minutes and watched a miracle happen. All of the sun damage and mildew infested grain vanished. No need to scrub, it was just gone! Once the ten minutes was up, I grabbed the garden hose and thoroughly rinsed the chair down.

Hello everyone! My name is Tyson Moore, and I’m excited to show you how my wife and I weatherproofed two porch swings using Olympic products from The Home Depot!

I recently built our family a brand-new cedar porch swing. As I was preparing for weatherproofing, I looked across the yard and noticed that my neighbor’s porch swing was in rough condition. My wife and I decided that it would also be a fun project to bring our neighbor’s old swing back to life!

Gather Your Supplies

First, we headed to our local Home Depot to gather the supplies we needed. We decided to finish both swings using different  Olympic products. For our swing, we chose #1-rated Olympic Maximum Clear Waterproofing Sealer. For my neighbor’s old swing, we picked up Olympic Premium Deck Cleaner and the Olympic Elite Transparent Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One in the color Kona. We also picked up a pump sprayer, a drop cloth, a couple of good exterior paint brushes, and mineral spirits for clean up.

Using Olympic Maximum Clear on the New Swing

The entire process was simple. First, we laid out a drop cloth. Then, we set the swing on top of a couple of saw horses. Once the wood was clean and dry, we flipped it over to apply the finish to the back.

Olympic Maximum is a clear, durable, waterproofing sealer that offers protection against water damage and UV rays. It’s rated #1 among clear wood sealers and stains. It’s a clear sealer with a slight tint. Use it on any exterior wood like decks, fences, and siding. Apply it anywhere you want to protect against the weather while also bringing out the natural beauty of the wood.

Why we wanted to stain or seal our fence

We had our fence replaced this spring—one of the best things we’ve done at this house! It was previously a dented, mossy, slatted chain link with mismatched cedar gate area. And it wasn’t tall enough or fully sight-obscuring once we had all the ivy and extra vegetation around it removed. We replaced it with a standard cedar fence. It’s common in this area but definitely shows age after lots of Pacific Northwest rain. We definitely wanted to stain or seal it somehow. After research, we learned it’s best to do this 6-8 weeks after installing the fence so the boards can dry out and cure.

Products and Applications

Research on products and application methods followed. The Home Depot carries #1 rated Olympic stains with both weather-ready application and long-lasting durability. We wanted a clear product to protect the fence from aging rather than add color, so we chose the Olympic Maximum Clear  Waterproofing Sealant. #1-rated three years in a row among clear wood sealer stains per independent consumer study.

It protects against water damage, UV wear, scuffs, and mildew stains. It also provides 4 years of protection on fences & siding (3 years on decks). Our fence was a big investment so of course we want to take care of it and protect it from weather and aging. It gives me peace of mind that we are set for 4 years! Olympic also offers the #1 rated solid stain, Olympic Elite Solid, if you want to add some color to your fence or deck.

We’re just barely into full-on summer here in Oregon which means we have random rain here and there. The Olympic Maximum Clear Exterior Waterproofing Sealant allows for weather-ready application. So, you can clean and stain the same day even after rain. You only need 8 hours of dry weather after application. You can even apply in weather as cold as 35 degrees!

We also decided to use a professional scale paint sprayer. I’ll share with you the all of the prep materials and safety equipment we used below!

With more people home, we are enjoying more aspects of our home. We actually have time to sit outside and enjoy our space. My neighbor loves being outdoors and spending time on her deck. Unfortunately, her deck needed a little TLC. That’s why I’m so grateful to be able to partner with The Home Depot and Olympic Stains to assist my neighbor during these challenging times.

Some of the rails had water damage and the deck floor was discolored and faded. She and I were talking about it one day and she asked me if I could help her give new life to her deck. Well, of course I can! It’s kind of my thing, you know?

Originally, she thought she just wanted to go with a clear sheen that would seal the deck and extend its life for a few more summers. However, once we got into the project and had to replace old and rotten boards it became apparent that a solid stain would be more appealing.

Here’s how we stained my neighbor’s deck. Prior to starting a deck project like washing and staining a deck, you want to check the weather to ensure all of your efforts won’t get rained on.

1. Prep the Surface

Before you can do anything it is extremely important to prepare the deck surface before you do anything. This is probably the most important step because if you bypass this step all your effort will be in vain. Your stain may not adhere to the deck and could chip and peel. Start by securing any loose boards and screw in place any raised deck screws. I’m working with an older deck that was constructed with nails. So in this case I’m removing any raised nails and replacing them with deck screws.

After seven years of use, this outdoor cedar wood furniture was past due for a new look. The unfinished wood meant that stains and dirt could not be easily cleaned. It was water stained and had faded more in some areas than others. This furniture was the perfect candidate to try out the #1 rated Olympic Elite Solid Stain.

Let’s get started!

First Things First: Choosing a Color!

With color chart in hand, we narrowed our choices down to two colors. We found a great resource, a color visualizer on the Olympic website. With it we were able to take a look at both colors side by side to see how they looked against the existing porch carpet.

With the visualizer, we were able to “see” how the color would look on the wood furniture. The online representation actually turned out to be really accurate! Time to place an order at The Home Depot!

Besides the stain in the color, Chestnut Brown, we bought high quality paint brushes, small paint trays, Olympic Deck Cleaner, and sandpaper. We already had the paint sticks, can opener, sandpaper holder, and drop cloths we needed.

Summertime is the perfect time to give your deck some love! I recently decided to refresh my grandparents’ weathered deck in their backyard with #1-rated Olympic Elite Solid Stain to give them a cute and practical outdoor space to hang out on while stuck at home. This project took me a few days to complete (luckily, the weather held out) and made a huge impact in their backyard.

Here’s the before:

Here’s the after:

Not bad for a long weekend of work. Ready to see how I did it? Let’s get started!

Step 1

First step in any deck project is to clear the deck and inspect the boards to see if any need to be repaired or replaced.

Step 2

Once the boards were inspected (I luckily didn’t have to replace any), I knocked down any loose or lifted nails using a hammer.

Step 3

Next, I cleaned off the deck using a thick bristle brush.

The best pest control companies in Austin offer decades of experience and expertise and plans that cover a wide roster of common household pests, like Orkin, Terminix, and Rentokil.

Austin, Texas, is a great place to spend time outside almost all year long. Summers are sunny and bright, and winters are mild at worst. However, Austin is known to be humid, which, in combination with temperate weather, can make it very attractive to pests like mosquitoes. There are ways to try to combat pest invasions on your own, but for more efficient, knowledge-driven pest control solutions, you may consider hiring a professional pest control company.

But keep in mind that not all pest control companies are equal in terms of services offered, quality, reputation, and more. The best pest control companies offer decades of experience, highly trained specialists, and top-of-the-line products and equipment. This Old House Reviews Team believes that Orkin, Terminix, and Rentokil’s division Presto-X offer the best pest control services in Austin, guarding homes against everything from ants to termites and bed bugs.

To get a free quote from Orkin, call 877-871-4752, or fill out this form. If you’d like a quote from Terminix, you can reach them at 866-569-4035, or at this form. Rentokil’s division Presto-X services Austin, and can be reached for a free quote at 844-334-1157.

Why You Should Hire Pest Control in Austin

Central Texas is a playground for wasps, ants, roaches, and rodents. With so many pest threats on the horizon, it can be difficult to prevent and eliminate them all. Different pests require different treatment methods, so even if you successfully eradicate your roach problem, your kitchen may still be overrun with ants. Hiring a professional pest control company means you can rely on your specialists’ expertise in all areas of pest control you may need.

If you’re struggling to get rid of your mice problem, you can tackle the infestation with traps and bait stations, or leave it in the hands of experienced professionals.

If you’ve heard scurrying under your furniture and scratching in your walls, or you’ve seen chew marks on your cereal box or droppings in the corners, you may have a mice infestation on your hands. This can be serious, since mice can introduce fleas and lice, contaminate food, damage furniture and books, and create fire hazards by chewing through electrical wiring. You can try to get rid of these pests on your own using mechanical traps and baits, but that can be pretty difficult. That’s where professional pest control companies come in.

This Old House Reviews Team recommends Orkin, Terminix, and Rentokil to eradicate the mice in your house. These professionals use combinations of mechanical traps and chemical baits that are effective but may be dangerous to use—baits that you shouldn’t try to use by yourself. To get a quote from Orkin, call 877-871-4752, or fill out this form. If you’d like a quote from Terminix, you can reach them at 866-569-4035, or at this form. For a free quote from Rentokil, call 844-334-1157.

Identifying Mice

If you want to eliminate the mice, you’ll need the right size trap—a rat trap may not do you much good. Looking at their body shape and size will help you tell them apart. Young rats’ heads are larger compared to their bodies, while adult mice have proportionally smaller heads. Both types of rodents chew on wood, but rats leave larger bite marks.

There are three different types of mice that tend to make nests in homes: the house mouse, deer mouse, and white-footed mouse. They have slightly different behavioral patterns, so you may need to implement an alternative treatment for them.

The best lawn care companies in Tampa offer a variety of services, widespread availability, and decades of experience. TruGreen, Weed Man, and Lawn Doctor are the best in the business in Tampa.

Homeowners in Tampa, Florida have sunny weather all year-round. It makes the city the great place to spend time outdoors enjoying your lawn. However, the summers get very hot, which can harm even the hardiest warm weather grasses. For the healthiest Tampa lawn possible, Floridians should consider hiring a professional lawn care company.

This Old House Reviews Team believes TruGreen is the best option for lawn care in Tampa, with multiple comprehensive plans, a variety of a la carte services, and decades of experience and expertise. Weed Man and Lawn Doctor are two other alternatives in the area.

Why You Should Hire Professional Lawn Care in Tampa

Like all regions, Florida has unique concerns when it comes to lawn care. In Tampa, sandy soil is common, which makes growing grass more difficult. Add humidity to that equation, and lawn care takes a lot of work.

Taking care of a Tampa lawn means knowing when and how often to fertilize, how to fight weeds, and how to prevent pests like chinch bugs and mosquitoes, which are a big problem with Florida humidity. Professional lawn care companies have the equipment and products to keep your lawn lush and healthy.

Believe it or not, struggling St. Augustine grass can be revived. Here are the steps to get it green again—and how to prevent it from suffering in the first place.

St. Augustine grass is one of the most popular grasses along the Gulf Coast, known for its rich blue-green grass blades and high tolerance to heat, humidity, and salt. But no turfgrass fares well without proper care and maintenance. If you don’t look after your St. Augustine grass lawn properly, it may turn brown, patchy, and thin. Luckily, there are some ways to revive St. Augustine grass.

This Old House will walk you through the process, from proper watering techniques to improving soil quality. Remember that hiring a professional lawn care company is the most efficient way to maintain and care for your lawn. The This Old House Reviews Team recommends TruGreen, a nationwide company with five annual plans, a la carte options, and a satisfaction guarantee. To get a free quote, 888-535-3193 or fill out this easy form.

Can I Bring Back Dead St. Augustine Grass?

If your St. Augustine grass is truly dead, there is no reviving it. To get a healthy lawn, you’ll need to start from scratch—rake up what remains and apply new seeds.

However, it’s possible your lawn can merely look dead for several weeks, when in fact it’s still living. Depending on the cause, you can revive these St. Augustine lawns.

Looking to add an element of design to your living room or entryway? A leaning ladder bookcase can easily be built for a third of the price you’d pay to buy one at the store. Follow these easy steps to learn how to DIY a ladder shelf. 

A ladder bookcase is a great addition to any room. Best of all, you can easily build your own for a third of the price you’d pay at the store.

Steps for Building a DIY Leaning Ladder Bookcase

Follow the directions below to learn how to build a DIY ladder bookcase.

1. Cut the 1 x 2 Parts to Size

The sides are made up of a back 1x2 leg with two square cut ends, an angled front leg mitered at parallel 9-degree angles, and crosspieces that set horizontally at the height of each shelf with one square cut end and one mitered end meet the angle of the front leg.

While I provided measurements for all of the crosspieces in my cut list below, I recommend cutting the top and bottom crosspieces to length, attaching them between the legs, and then cutting the remaining crosspieces to fit to ensure perfect joints.

Well, hey there neighbor! Jen Woodhouse here and I am so excited to share my DIY Dutch Door featuring the new Schlage Encode Smart Door Lock! Isn’t this Dutch door the most inviting thing ever? It makes me want to wear an apron and bake pies all day just so I can let them cool on the ledge! I mean, I don’t even own an apron, but now I’m going to have to get one! And guess what… this DIY Dutch Door is not a hard project, it’s surprisingly easy to do! Read on to see how I did it.

What is a Dutch Door?

A Dutch door is sometimes called a half-door or a stable door and basically, it’s a door that’s divided horizontally so that each part operates independently of each other. It can also be latched together so that it works like a traditional door. Dutch doors have been around since the 17th century and primarily served to let the fresh air and sunlight in, while keeping the farm animals that were usually milling about, out of the house. It’s such a charming old-world architectural detail. I love being able to watch my kiddos play in the yard and have my neighbors stop by to say hello – I just love it so much!

Buy vs. DIY

We recently built my detached workshop and I knew I wanted a Dutch door for it; however, store-bought, ready-made Dutch doors are ridiculously expensive. The ones I found online were around $1,500. No, thank you. I picked up a solid wood exterior door from The Home Depot for a little over $200 – just another reason why I love DIY!

A hollow core door doesn’t work as well for this project because when you cut it in half, you’ll have to fill that hollow space somehow. It’s still possible, but not ideal, especially for an exterior door, so if you can, try to use a solid door.

Standard doors typically have 3 hinges total, so if you’re converting an existing door to a Dutch door, you’ll need to add one more hinge so that both the top and bottom parts of the door are well-supported. Each part should have 2 hinges total.

After living in our house for 10 years with a career change halfway through that requires me to be in the kitchen all day long, we finally bit the bullet and decided to renovate. The dark cherry cabinets that closed the space in from the rooms on either side of the kitchen had to go. To get the open feel and additional light that was number one on my priority list, a major structural wall had to come down. It was a major undertaking (and if I never see another microwave meal again, it will be too soon), but many months later the space is exactly as I envisioned it: bright, light and airy. It’s the perfect balance between function and aesthetic.

Before

The kitchen is located in the center of the house. The only window above the sink faces east. The dark cherry cabinets and the wall separating it from the southern exposure of the formal dining room (to the right in this picture) was a very dark space. On a rainy day, it would almost be pitch black in the kitchen in mid-afternoon!

The “must-have” list was a long one. I figured if we were going to do this renovation and spend all this money, it was going to be exactly what I wanted. But in the end, there were really just four things that carried the most importance:

Remove Wall Separating Dining Room

The removal of that wall was no easy feat. It was a major structural component of the house. It also involved not only support beams where it originally stood (hidden in a shiplap clad soffit), but also another support beam and structural pole in the basement below to properly distribute the load. That part required cutting through our concrete slab foundation, resulting in quite a mess!

Almost half of the renovation time was dedicated to this important task. While the demo only took one day, the progress seemed at a standstill for weeks as all the “boring” structural work took place.

Spring is one of my favorite seasons because it’s a great time to address any roof damage that came with the fall and winter, and clean those often-neglected gutters and downspouts.

You can make sure the air conditioner will work when temperatures skyrocket and take steps to prevent your clothes dryer from catching on fire.

And you can transform a blank backyard to colorful flowerbed landscapes that will make home look and feel more like ‘home sweet home.’

It’s possible to do these things, and more, to improve your home and enhance your life. But first, you need to have a plan. And for that, read on!

Clean The Roof And Check For Damage

Regular roof maintenance is the most important maintenance tasks you can do around the home, since the roof protects you and everything inside your home. You should keep your roof clean, clear and in good shape, as small problems today can lead to much bigger ones in the future.

Experiencing new things is something we love to do as the Never Have I Ever Guys (or NHIE Guys for short)! Our latest adventure has been moving to our new house! One of the coolest parts of the move to our new house has been figuring out the amazing brands that would make our new house our home. Cue The Home Depot. One of the first things we needed to take care of was appliances. We had LG appliances in our last house, and we absolutely LOVED them, so it was a no-brainer that we would go the LG route in this house, too! Our goal in this house was to make it more of a smart home.

A Smart App for a Smart Fridge

We partnered with The Home Depot to hook us up with some goodies for the kitchen – first, the fridge. We opted for this sleek LG French Door Smart Refrigerator! We love having smart devices to make some of our everyday tasks a little easier, and this fridge is great for that! Also, we downloaded the LG SmartThinQ app on our phone for added support. If you leave the door open for too long, it will not only beep from the fridge, but you can set a notification to be sent to your phone, too. Energy-efficient, and it keeps food lasting longer.

The fridge also works with Google Home Assistant for a feature called Ice Plus. When we know we will be having a party, we can tell our Google Home Mini to make extra ice! How cool is that?

The Perfect Fit

When we were shopping for fridges, we didn’t realize the difference between counter depth and standard depth refrigerators. With the help of an associate at our local Home Depot, we learned that counter depth fridges are a bit more narrow than standard, making them a great fit for running flush with the counter. With this in mind, we decided counter depth would be best fitting for our space. We are so glad we went that way because it fits nice and snug in its spot.

We love having an open floor plan in our house, which is great for our lifestyle and entertaining. It also means our appliances are always on display. We have noticed, luckily enough, that this fridge runs really quietly, making it great for our space. After some research, we learned that our fridge has an air pump that makes it run more quietly. It’s an innovation that we never thought we needed, but when you are watching TV in the living room (we’ve all been there), it’s nice to not hear the fridge running in the background.