Outdoor Makeovers: Remodeling & Repairing

The About.com Reader's Choice Awards 2012 Best Pool and Patio category honors the year's top pool and patio products, brands and manufacturers, as nominated and chosen by our readers. This is the first year that the Pool and Patio category has joined the Readers' Choice Awards. This year's Best Pool and Patio category seeks to honor the Best...

It may start out as simply repairing a crack in the concrete or re-tiling a pool, but becomes a huge project that tends to snowball. Lee Wallender, About.com's Guide to Home Renovations, provides seven points to consider before embarking on a renovation project.

Ready to vote for the company that designs and manufactures what you consider to be the Best Outdoor Lighting? The About.com Reader's Choice Awards 2012 Best Pool and Patio category honors the year's top pool and patio products, brands and manufacturers, as nominated and chosen by our readers. This is the second year that the Pool and Patio...

Many things about home renovation are flexible. You can always change wall colors or nudge a wall another six inches. But one thing is certain: you need money. Not a single nail gets hammered into place without money. Lee Wallender, About.com's Guide to Home Renovations, covers the pros and cons of financing your project through savings, HELOCs, credit cards and other sources.

Recovery in home improvement spending for 2011 has been forecast by experts at Harvard University's Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies. The home improvement activity appears to be shifting from simple repairs and energy retrofits to broader remodels and upgrades. This means that the backyard swimming pool or...

Be realistic when it comes to New Year's resolutions. The more challenging, costly, or outrageous the goal, the less likely you are going to achieve it, setting yourself up for failure. View these resolutions as an opportunity for a fresh start -- any time of the year. Do one, two, or all -- it's up to you.

Do it yourself...or not? You could literally spend months pondering whether to save money by doing the project yourself or...to break into the piggybank and hire a pro. Not an easy decision. Lee Wallender, About.com's Guide to Home Renovation, reveals key questions to ask yourself before tackling a potential DIY project.

Your old swimming pool shouldn't be a lost cause. A pool contractor or landscape architect can help you realize the potential of what can be done with your existing pool. Some of the options: water features, mosaics and retiling, decking, and fencing.

Despite the popularity of composite decking, not everyone wants to go that way. Many potential deck owners simply like the look and feel of real wood. Others build wood decks for traditional reasons -- because their fathers, and their fathers before them used real wood. Often it's less expensive, especially in regions where trees are grown for...

After spending $500-$900 on heating his backyard pool during the spring and summer, a New York homeowner opts to have a solar heating unit installed. He estimates the cost of the unit will pay for itself in about a season and a half. From <i>The New York Times.</i>

Shorea is a tropical hardwood that is used for many of the same purposes as teak, including garden furniture. Like teak and other hardwoods, shorea is resistant to damage from insects, fungus and moisture decay. Learn more about this increasingly popular and desirable wood.

That gross green stuff on your concrete patio is probably moss, mold or mildew. Find out how to remove it and keep it from coming back

A new generation of 'Dogtown'-style skateboarders - aided by internet searches and Google's aerial maps - are using abandoned backyard swimming pools as makeshift skate parks.

Electricity and water can be a dangerous combination. If your pool lights seem to have gone out, turn off the pool light switch and the power at your home's main circuit breaker. If it trips immediately, you have a short circuit and will need to hire an electrician to take over.

Join home repair expert Henry Harrison as he helps a swimming pool owner remove steel anchor brackets set in a concrete pool deck. In this easy-to-understand step-by-step guide, you'll get a list of tools, along with reading about what to do and seeing what it's supposed to look like along the way.