Now that there is a break in the pounding levied on many areas in the East last week, gardeners can now think about what they need to do now to save or protect plants, trees, and shrubs from any damage from the storm.

Here are some tips for protection from snow and ice that may still be present in your yard:

* For trees with broken or damaged branches: use a good handsaw for larger trees and thicker branches to make clean cuts on branches that may be damaged or broken in order to facilitate healing and re-growth and to minimize disease.

* For small plants and shrubs, remove snow from plants that are holding a large amount of snow to lessen the possibility that when the snow becomes compacted and ice-hard that it will place pressure on the branches and possibly may cause them to snap and break.

* Minimize any use of salt in the garden as salt may damage or even poison plants and can degrade soil structure. Nonsaline products are available at home and garden centers. As an alternative for sidewalks and driveways use sand in these areas which provides good traction over the snow.

Remember to dress warm and drink lots of water while outside in the cold. Thanks to the Philadelphia Inquirer for many of the gardening tips above.

We feel for those of you digging out from under a mountain of snow from the storms that hit the East Coast last week. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat performance of the storms and residents have more time to “dig out” from what came through last week. Here from The Washington Post are a few tips that might help lessen the pain of removing the snow from driveways, sidewalks, and front porches.

* Dress warm and wear a hat to prevent heat loss along with boots with good tread

* If you are out of shape or overweight, go at a slow pace to reduce the risk of heart attack

* Shovel small loads and bend your knees and keep your back as straight as possible so you are lifting the snow with your legs

* Drink plenty of water while shoveling – do not drink any alcohol

* Take frequent breaks

Interesting little side note: I just heard on the news that some areas of New York have laws in place that snow needs to be removed from the front of buildings within four hours of the end of a snow storm. Washington DC’s law apparently allows for 8 hours. Failure to do so can result in the building owner being cited by the city for failure to clear a path for folks to pass by. Pretty tight rules if you ask me – what if you are at work when the snow fall ends?

We would love to hear more from our east coast friends about the hi’s and low’s of getting the snow out and away from your home or building once the last snow ends. Good luck everyone and be safe in the cold weather.

We had a call from a client the other day asking us about our new Solana Glass Mosaic Tile Blends in 1” x 1” in the Latte color. The customer asked about the colors found in the Latte blend and whether they would match well with a particular color in the project they had been planning. While it is hard for us to tell over the phone about matching colors we were able to offer some thoughts about the Latte glass mosaic tile blend.

The Latte blend is a combination of three very neutral colors that are a nice match for many different color combinations of fabrics, paint colors, lighting and faucet fixtures, and furniture. Our Solana glass mosaic tile blends come mesh mounted as almost all mosaics do and the Latte color would be a fine compliment to Oak, Cherry or dark Maple cabinets.

Our Solana glass mosaic tile blends are meant for kitchen backsplashes, showers, tub surrounds or swimming pools or spas. Order a sample of the Latte color today and we know you will be pleased with the beautiful colors in what is one of our favorite blends.

An article that recently appeared in REALTOR magazine noted that 242 of the 299 largest US Housing markets are selling for prices that bankers and lenders feel are less than fair market value. This conclusion is based on a comparison of median home prices, local interest rates, population densities, and income, plus historic premiums or discounts.

The 10 most under valued areas according to the study are:

1. Las Vegas - 41.4%
2. Vero Beach, FL - 39.8%
3. Merced, CA - 37.7%
4. Cape Coral, FL - 36.8%
5. Hourna, LA - 34.6%
6. Port St. Lucie, FL -33.3%
7. Warren, MI – 32.3%
8. Vallejo, CA - 31.9%
9. Modesto, CA - 31.8%
10. Stockton, CA - 31.8%

It seems like the housing market still has a long way to go. Given the numbers from the recent study, there is still “stress” in markets across the country as opposed to being concentrated in a select few unlucky markets. While we are not economists in any way, we would love to see the jobs numbers improve which in our view is the first step towards stabilizing the housing market. Lets see how the year progresses.

We have been getting a lot of questions lately about how to install our un-glazed Hexagon Porcelain tiles so we thought we would cover some of the basic installation tips right here in our Blog.

When installing any un-glazed tile the installer must first consider the fact that he or she needs to protect the surface of the tile from exposure to any of the installation materials that may come in contact with the tile surface during the installation process. Because of this, the surface of any un-glazed tiles must be sealed prior to installation to guard against any installation products ruining the surface.

If the installer is confident that no mortar will get on the surface of the tiles during installation then the surface protection step can be completed after installing the tiles with the adhesive. If there is any possibility of the mortar making it’s way on to the tiles then it is best to seal the tiles prior to installing them with adhesive and of course prior to grouting.

When installing our porcelain Hexagon tiles we recommend laying the material out on the floor and running a coat of clear, penetrating sealer made for ceramic tile grout over the tiles using a roller brush and making sure that the sealer goes on even and consistent. Let the sealer dry on the Hexagon tiles before proceeding to the next step in your installation.

Making cuts to the porcelain Hexagon tiles can best be achieved using Tile Nippers designed for use with porcelain tiles. The Hexagon tiles are NOT designed to be cut on a wet saw because the water on the saw will dissolve the mesh after continuous exposure to water.

Follow these tips for an error free installation and please send us any photos of your new Hexagon tile floor once your job is done.

Our new Solana Glass Mosaic Tile Blends in 1” x 1” have been a hit so far with our customers and we appreciate all of the support. We find that our clients play with the different color combinations available and come up with some fantastic uses for these glass mosaic tiles that we never would have thought of.

The Cabernet color we are finding works well in a number of scenarios and we thought we would offer some suggestions to help in any remodeling project planning. For those looking to add glass mosaic tiles where darker cabinets might be involved, for example lets say a rich mahogany color or a dark walnut, the cabernet blends color would be a nice kitchen backsplash color in a kitchen that has a lot of light. The darker color in the cabernet blends coordinates well with brushed nickel or bronze fixtures and lighting accessories.

For those with lighter cabinets the cabernet would be a nice choice in kitchens containing an accent wall or fixtures in a dark charcoal, steel grey, or maroon color. The cabernet in these scenarios would coordinate well with the colors mentioned and would also add color in the form of the wine and maroon color that is featured prominently in this blend.

Give our staff a call anytime if you have any questions about any of our products and how they might fit in with your remodeling plans.

We received a letter last week from Oxmoor House of Birmingham, Alabama as a result last month of their recall of just under 1 million home improvement books published between January 1975 through December 2009. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is behind the recall and said it was necessary even though no incidents have been reported as a result of the information in the books.

Seems the books contain errors in technical diagrams and wiring instructions that may cause people to be shocked or may cause a fire hazard. You would think that more than a few folks at Oxmoor House would have read these books a few times over the years and found the errors a long time ago. On second thought, I don’t grab my wiring books off the shelf when I am looking for something to do so I can see why no one read through them much after all of these years.

If you have any of these books, Oxmoor will provide a full refund according to their letter and you can contact them at 866 696-7602.

Last week we talked about a product we stumbled upon for installing tile without using mortar. Well now it seems that everybody is on the bandwagon and there is another product called SimpleMat available at Home Depot that claims to do the same thing.

According to the SimpleMat website, “SimpleMat is a double sided, adhesive mat specifically designed for bonding tile to countertops or backsplashes. The back of the mat has a flat adhesive which bonds to the backsplash wall or countertop. The front side has a raised adhesive which bonds to tile or stone. SimpleMat replaces traditional thin-set mortar or mastic adhesive.”

Again, if the product works as advertised then this is a great product for the homeowner and do-it-yourselfer. You will still need to grout any project where SimpleMat is used but tiling a backsplash or countertop will be in the realm of possibility for many more folks with a product, or shall we say, products like this on the market.

We are happy to be able to introduce our newest line of glass mosaic tile products as coordinating 1” x 1” blends that match our Solana 3” x 6” Glass Subway tiles. Our new Solana Glass Mosaic tile blends come in a 1” x 1” size, they are mesh mounted for easy installation by the Do-it-Yourselfer or the professional alike and they are in stock today for shipment right to your door.

There are six blends colors available and four of the blends colors – Meadow, Smooth Grey, Sand Dune, and Blue Lagoon coordinate colors with our Solana 3 x 6 glass subway tiles. So now, customers of ours for example who are installing our glass subway tiles in their showers can integrate our Solana 1” x 1” glass mosaic tile blends in a shower shampoo niche or as an accent stripe along the back and or side walls of the shower.

Customers installing a kitchen backsplash can also create an accent stripe as needed or use the Solana 1” x 1” tiles as “corner cut outs” when an accent piece is desired in larger backsplash areas.

And for the glass mosaic tile blends colors such as Latte and Cabernet that were not made to coordinate with our Solana 3 x 6 glass subway tiles these colors are very rich and beautiful to stand on their own. Consider using the Latte color as a design accent with our Bamboo 3 x 6 Chestnut color tile for a glass mosaic tile accent with Bamboo subway tiles. The cool part of these new glass mosaic tiles is that there is no limit to the possible design combinations using tiles right from our own product portfolio.

While we love the bond strength and the security that comes with knowing that tile has been placed on the wall with mortar, there might be a new product on the market that short circuits the tile installation process and allows wall tile jobs to be completed in just one day.

Bondera TileMatSet comes essentially as double sided tape on a 12-inch wide roll with the double sided sheet of adhesive placed between two pieces of clear plastic. The material has to be cut to fit the wall you are tiling and generally can be done by most DIY’ers.

The nice thing is that once your tile is up on the wall grouting can be done immediately and walla!, most any wall tile project can be completed in one day. Have a look at the manufacturer’s website where there are some interesting videos on using the product.