We’ve all heard the benefits of solar power: reduced energy bills (some states and provinces even allow you to generate power and sell it back to the grid or offer grants to homeowners), less demand on already stressed city power grids, it’s a form of renewable energy. Solar power seems so, well, perfect—if only I knew it were right for my house. Then I’d get on it right away. I would, really!

Well, this let’s-put-it-off excuse is no longer valid thanks to website Roofray. Using Google satellite data and information provided by the National Renewable Energy Labs, Roofray allows you to determine what type of solar-based system is optimal for your home before slapping down money on an actual system.

It’s pretty simple: enter your address and up pops a satellite image of your home’s rooftop. Next, using the Roofray tool, draw solar arrays and slope and, voilà—power per square foot and total peak power come up, in chart form, along with more metrics including projected performance, financial analysis, average monthly utility bill (after solar is added), total cost summary and—key, really—estimated time until the solar array is paid off.

Of course, these are all estimates, so take your calculations in stride. Also, don’t just try one size; play around with different-sized arrays and placement. Then, take what you’ve discovered, talk to some experts in your area and start earning cash - and helping conserve resources - thanks to that brilliant ball in the sky.

It’s an exciting day at the Home Renovation Guide - our Photoshare section is up and running! We’ve been working on this tool for a while, and think that it is not only a lot of fun, but potentially really useful too.

So what is this wonderful tool, you can’t help wonder? Well, PhotoShare gives users the ability to create a photo album of any room in their home. The albums are separated out into categories (bedroom, living room, outdoor spaces, etc.), giving you the chance to show off everything from the paint job you’ve just completed in the bathroom to the 8-month, whole house remodel that you can’t believe is finally finished. It’s a great opportunity to put up an album to share with friends and family, with a place to describe what you’ve done and how you did it.

Not to mention the other homeowners who will enjoy getting a glimpse of your handiwork (or that of your contractors). Coming soon to PhotoShare are comments, which will allow anyone to ask questions or offer suggestions about your project, using the online environment as the perfect sounding board for your ideas!

Check out PhotoShare today, and let us know what you think!

In the world of self-help, it doesn’t get much bigger than Oprah. The media maven has the incredibly ability of taking just about any topic and making it seem fixable, from the mundane to the most inane. The Home Renovation Guide has its own stable of experts to answer your home improvement queries, but now Oprah wants to hear from you too! On Thursday, Ty Pennington, he of Trading Spaces and Extreme Makeover fame, will be on the show, answering the questions of viewers like you. In the words of one of Oprah’s production assistants:

“Do you have a home improvement question that only Ty Pennington can answer for you? Are you in the middle of a home design project and need Ty’s help to finish it? Do you have a great do-it-yourself idea that you want Ty to know about? Do you have a home improvement creation that you want to show off to Ty? Well, we have great news for you! Ty Pennington is coming to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to help you solve all your home design dilemmas! If you are a HUGE Ty Pennington fan and have a question just for him, we want to know! If you’re interested and have questions/ideas/anything for Ty, please click here to submit your information!”

It sounds like a golden opportunity for home predicaments if there ever was one - Oprah, Ty Pennington and your queries. Be sure to submit your story today to make it into the Thursday taping of the show (the episode will air at a later date). And now, I just have to grab those countertop samples I’ve been debating about for my bathroom …

Dear Reader: how many houses do you own?

I know, silly question. For those lucky enough to be homeowners, the answer is usually one, with perhaps a summer cottage or chalet added to the tally. For the super-rich or those who rent out properties, the number can climb up a few more notches.

And then there’s Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. When asked how many houses he owns, McCain—who paraded an everyman, town hall–style, let’s get back to basics campaign—couldn’t produce an answer. Two? Five? Ten? He wasn’t sure. Granted, he’s getting old, but surely his wife, Cindy, should know. “I’ll have my staff get [back] to you,” he said.

Can you imagine being so rich you can’t remember how many houses you own? Of course, a political gaffe such as this produces offspring only possibly in the YouTube, digitalized era.

This wouldn’t be so funny if it weren’t for the Rupublican party’s recent attack advertisement dealing with the U.S. housing crisis; in the ad, an announcer says, “Barack Obama knows a lot about housing problems. One of his ‘biggest fund-raisers’ helped him buy his million-dollar mansion.”

So, for the record, Obama owns one house, a hefty $1.5 million mansion; and McCain owns (at press time) 10 houses worth about $13.8 million, just slightly less than the net worth of his prime time gaffe.

[ed: McCain's spokesman claims four houses, along with "investment properties and stuff." And check out the pictures here to see his Arizona abode.]

Even though it’s been nearly a decade since I sat in a classroom, the fall season—the quickly approaching fall season, I should add—always makes me yearn for new projects, whether it’s taking a course or ripping apart a kitchen. After summer’s laissez-faire attitude (boat drinks, anyone?), there’s a feeling of “let’s get serious” in the air.

For many of us, this let’s-get-serious mood stems from an anticipation of snow. There are only so many home reno projects you can do once winter hits, and since fall is more moderate than Hades-heated July and August, it’s a great time to do one or two more outdoor projects, especially those tasks that can’t wait till next spring.

While crawling the web, I came across an article featuring HGTV handyman Steve Watson, host of Don’t Sweat It. In the article, Steve outlines the Top 5 things every homeowner needs to do before winter. Luckily, none of these jobs take more than a day to do. Here are his tips:

Leaky Roof: if you’ve got a leak, do not wait for winter before tackling the problem. Find the source of the leak by watching where it comes in during a rainstorm. Then, once the source is located, climb onto the roof and fix the spot; or, better still, hire a pro to do it for you. Because you’ve done the initial sourcing, the fix shouldn’t take long.

Clean the Gutters: unless you want to create an ice dam in winter, now is the perfect time to clean out your gutters so that the icy runoff has somewhere to run into. Of course, if your house is situated near trees that lose leaves come fall, you should save this job till late fall so that you can remove any littered leaves that can clog up your gutters. Also, don’t forget to check the downspouts. Or, as with the leaky roof, just get someone else to clean the gutters.

Check Window Seals: if you’ve opened up your windows in the summer, chances are there’s dirt and debris along the seal, which means the windows won’t properly seal in the winter and you’ll lose efficiency. But by simply cleaning the seals (and replacing any damaged spots) you’ll keep in the heat all winter long.

Winterize Your Pipes: take a peak under your house or in your basement for any pipes that need insulating or that require new insulation. Measure the length and then wrap it with pipe insulation. So simple, and yet such a pain to do in cold weather. Do it now.

Check the Deck: You’ve stored away the patio furniture, now do a quick once-over of the deck. Did you forget to treat it this summer? Do it now by giving the deck a solid clean (using a power-washer if you’ve got one) and then apply a coat of water-sealant. Done and done. You’re officially serious.

Last week I wrote about Elizabeth Turnbull’s experiment in green homebuilding on the Yale University campus, her tiny abode sharply contrasting the behemoth student dorms typical to most college campuses. Well, as it turns out, Turnbull isn’t the only one interested in small homes.

Taking a cue from coffee cups and Smurf Village, a Japanese designer-builder is marketing small, Styrofoam prefab houses that look like mammoth mushrooms. Each house is made from 100 per cent expanded polystyrene foam, which, unlike wood and metal, does not rust, rot or attract bugs. Oh, and each home can be assembled in a few hours—not bad for homeowners on the go.

While you likely won’t see these domed domiciles in your community anytime soon, polystyrene foam is becoming a popular building material in regular-looking homes.

Polystyrene foam is an excellent insulation material, which is why green-minded builders are turning to insulated concrete forms (ICFs, as they’re commonly known) for exterior foundations. The forms look like pieces of foam that come when you buy a fridge or TV, but when put together and filled with concrete, the forms provide a strong, rot-resistant, energy-efficient insulating base for exterior walls and foundations.

There are many ICF brands for foam insulation, some more suitable depending on the application. And while it tends to be slightly more expensive to build with, ICFs provide long-term savings when it comes to heating and cooling and rot-resistance.

Thinking outside the box. I know, we’re all sick of this tired, old cliché, but Yale University graduate student Elizabeth Turnbull really did think outside of the box—in this case, the box being your typical dormitory or ghetto-ized student housing unit.

Estimating her housing costs for the year at $14,000, Turnbull brainstormed on more creative ways to live and spend that money. Her insightful solution: build her own house. After all, Turnbull’s major, Forestry and Environmental Studies, emphasizes shrinking carbon footprints and waste, and what could be greener than building a tiny, transportable house?

The new home is eight feet by 18 feet, built atop a flatbed trailer. Features include a small sleeping loft, a study room, kitchen and bathroom, plus some storage and (apparently) a designated “living room.” Seems a little cramped, but a neat idea.

Ever the idealist, Turnbull has installed solar panels to power up her cellphone and computer—free, off-the-grid power—and heat the house with propane. More ecological features include a recycled (and recyclable) aluminum roof, sailboat sails for ceilings (brilliant idea!), a composting toilet and salvaged fixtures and finishes for a total cost of $8,000.

While not the first to conceive and build a tiny, portable house—she was inspired by California builder Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.—she is certainly the youngest (age 26) and likely the first college student to do take such a green approach to living expenses.

Kids these days.

Sure, the housing market has slowed down, but at least we can look forward to more home renovation TV programs focusing on fixing up flipping.

Shows such as TLC’s The Real Estate Pros (that follows agents as they do their jobs), Date My House (that follows the process of prepping a house for sale) and Flip That House (that follows those who buy to sell) have seen record-high ratings. These shows have been so influential that they’ve pushed the network to create a prime time, Saturday night line-up called House Calls, which features My First Home, for buyers ready to take the plunge from rent to mortgage, and  Trading Spaces, the classic “what will my neighbor do to my home?” program. Canadian fixture Holmes on Homes is also part of the line-up, featuring heavyweight contractor Mike Holmes and his tireless mantra: buyer beware.

According to The New York Times, ratings on HGTV and TLC have shown that viewers tuning into home reno shows have climbed significantly in accordance with the plunging housing market. Why? I suppose it’s because homebuyers and sellers need any edge they can find, so tuning in certainly can’t hurt.

Actually, why not think about participating as well? After all, everyone deserves some fame, so here’s your chance to shine in the spotlight. If you’re looking to renovate, getting yourself on TV can often mean at least a bit of help with the products and services. With the increase in shows, surely producers are in need of new couples—gay, straight, dysfunctional, living in a dreamland; all are welcome—to strut their stuff on film.

While traveling through London a few weeks ago, my wife and I were able to cut costs by staying with friends. Since buying their place a year ago, our friends were keen to show off the home’s special features, including a bright garden lined with dark brown, antiquated railway ties. Nice touch.

But it was the parts of the house I couldn’t see that I was most interested in: the second floor. You see, in London, at least, owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean owning the whole house; co-ownership is common, especially as house prices climb, pushing potential buyers outside of the market. Live downtown? Would love to, if only I could afford to buy and not just rent; plus, the houses are just too big. Solution: shared ownership.

In North America, where this type of co-ownership isn’t as common, sharing a house usually means finding a buying partner and then retrofitting the place, either vertically (dividing the house in half from basement to attic) or horizontally, with one owner taking the bottom and one taking the top. In most cases, the two units will not be defined legally as separate dwellings, so the house title and the mortgage will be singular. In other words, unlike the U.K., where a single floor—a flat—can be defined as a dwelling, and carry its own mortgage and title, North Americans must choose their partners wisely or risk mortgage-payment fiascos and other shared-property problems related to renos and repairs.

Still, risk acknowledged, shared ownership can be a smart move so long as you’re prepared to do some extra planning and, let’s face it, live with other people. Because even if you build separate entrances, you’re still sharing space, so make it formal by writing up a set of rules and protocol for things like emergency repairs, large-scale fixes (what happens when the roof needs an update in a few years?), and, most importantly, what to do if one person wants out of the agreement. Like any investment, co-ownership carries risk and reward.

While visiting the U.K. a few weeks ago, I was struck by two things: the sheer amount of people on every street corner—something like 12 million in London alone—and the number of cyclists. While hardly reaching Dutch levels, Londoners are increasingly mounting bikes in effort to curb traveling time and costs, reduce carbon emissions and, of course, work off the seemingly endless pints and fish and chips.

But here’s the rub: if you live in a big city, chances are you’re working with limited storage space, so simply locking up your bike in a shed isn’t an option, and leaving it locked to a fence makes it vulnerable to rust and theft. So what are the options for indoor storage—options that don’t clash too much with the décor? After all, city living is meant to be a mix of style and substance.

Luckily, there are more options these days than the simple-but-ugly large S-hook mounted into the ceiling. The Art of Storage is one of many retailers now selling innovative storage units, including designs specifically made for interiors, both freestanding and attached to a wall.

Longtime cycling retailer Delta also offers cool storage solutions, including this one with a built-in shelf for bike accessories.

Those with a DIY sensibility can build their own system, made as pretty or utilitarian as you wish. The beauty of these systems is that they don’t have to be confined to bike usage — tuck away seasonal clothes, perhaps some luggage, or make your own book storage system.