By Arrol Gellner
Over time, the field of home improvement has given rise to a lot of misconceptions. Some stem from advertising hogwash; others are simply old wives tales. Herewith are a few gems of disinformation that richly deserve to be ignored:
European appliances are superior to American ones. Considering that most of the modern appliances the world now takes for granted -- including the automatic clothes washer, clothes dryer, dishwasher, and microwave oven -- were pioneered by American manufacturers, it takes a lot of chutzpah for the Europeans to claim that their products are superior. It takes even more guts to demand -- and receive -- the astronomical prices which European appliance makers demand. I'm not saying that these guys don't make fine products; only that, compared with American brands, their cost is absurdly out of proportion to their quality. You could buy at least five standard-quality American dishwashers for the price of one popular European brand. Is it really five times better?
Replacing your single-pane windows is the best way to improve your home's energy efficiency. A whole industry has sprung up around window replacement, and more power to them -- we should do all we can to save energy. Yet windows are responsible for only a modest percentage of a home's heat loss, and there are a number of cheaper and more effective energy saving measures that ought to be explored first. At the top of the list is attic insulation, which is minimal in many houses and entirely lacking in others. If you poke your head in the attic and don't see at least nine inches of insulation, your house is probably sending a good part of your energy dollars into space. Fix that problem first. You should also make sure you have adequate duct insulation and a furnace with an up-to-date efficiency rating -- nowadays, around 90 percent is great. Only after addressing all these relatively simple fixes should you take the more drastic step of replacing your windows.
Asphalt shingles are a good replacement for wood shakes. Roofers and shingle manufacturers alike love to push "architectural" composition shingles that imitate wood, but the fact is they're in no way the equal of genuine shake, having neither shake's texture nor its ability to patinate. Hence, compo shingles are a bad choice for home styles, such as the California Rancher, whose shaggy roofs are an integral part of their character. If fire resistance is paramount, there are a number of fireproof cementitious shakes that'll repay their higher initial cost with a longer life and better looks.
The future is in plastics. In a word: baloney. Plastics have earned the public's trust in a number of areas -- most notably in laminated countertops and waste piping -- but they've failed dismally in many others. Exterior plastic products such as gutters and downspouts, fencing, and tree grates have so far proven themselves unworthy as building materials. So, in too many cases, have powder-coated plastic finishes. Regardless of their manufacturers' claims or good intentions, these products often fail long before the materials they're meant to replace.
The jury is still out on vinyl windows, the one plastic building material with the most potential repercussions. My only comment: When I see some examples that have survived twenty years in a hot western exposure, I'll be the first to buy them.
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