These photos got me to thinking about homeowner’s insurance and coverage for nature’s angry outbursts. Thanks to Pamela Stevens of TopTen Reviews, I have the skinny for you.

Ugly outcome when the earth roars

Photo by USGS

In 1971, a magnitude 6.7 quake threw me out of bed, across the room, and dropped a bookcase on me. We were luckier than many in the San Fernando Valley. Stevens writes that if you have private homeowner’s insurance, you can add earthquake endorsements. If you live in California, the California Earthquake Authority offers coverage.

Twister assister

Photo by Richmond Times-Dispatch

Even if you live where this is a common sight, you can buy tornado coverage as part of your homeowner’s policy. Make sure you get repair coverage for hail, which typically shows up at the same time to hammer dings into even the best vinyl siding.

Surf’s up

Photo by Freak Waves

Don’t assume your homeowner’s insurance will cover damage from flooding. Stevens says you must secure a policy purchased through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Crispy creamed

Photo by Premier Choice Restoration

You can get fire damage endorsements throughout the country – unless you live in a high-risk area or a long way from the nearest fire station. Stevens says insurance companies can refuse you coverage. To find out if you live in a high-risk zone, check with The National Interagency Fire Center.

DOH!

Photo by Indy Media

Sad to say, most insurers will not offer coverage for radiation damage if you live near a nuclear power plant. Perhaps you should consider using lead when evaluating replacement windows.

Now, many lighthouses have fallen into disrepair and the lights staffed throughout American history by the Coast Guard are crumbling into the sea. In 2000, Congress enacted the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, putting some 200 American lighthouses up for adoption.

Lighthouse conversions are still a romantic notion, but the need to repair or retrofit many of the unique buildings in disuse has limited the transfer so far to only 76 of the lights. Most are made into residential conversions.

Lighthouse conversion, make offer

Photo-by-Daily-Caller

The Frankfort North Breakwater Lighthouse is a great buy for those who love doing laundry naturally and for its winding staircase. It comes with a great vista of Lake Michigan. You may want to order a new set of storm windows.

Amazing house exteriors on Lake Superior

Photo by Michigan Light House

Built in 1896, the Big Bay Light Point, a seven-bedroom complex on 33 acres in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was turned into a bed and breakfast in the 1980s. It originally cost $25,000 to construct the light and compound. While not part of the Coast Guard surplus, it is for private sale now with a $999k asking price. Pretty sweet spot, isn’t it?

Light housekeeping required

Photo by NJ Star Ledger

For those who prefer the Jersey Shore, the Romer Shoal Light Station is located just north of Sandy Hook. Be warned: it needs some work. The tower is said to be rusting and the windows are broken. You should fit the place with thermal windows before you move in. Under  the Coast Guard terms, the lighthouse is “made available at no cost to eligible entities defined as Federal agencies, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, or community development organizations for educational, park, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes.“ Read more about it at Lighthouse Friends.

And honey, I’ll leave a light on for you.

You’re lucky if you live in a residential conclave where there are homeowners’ association decorating caveats. Not everyone does, however. If you find yourself stuck next to a neighbor who believes that painting their home like a bilious gallbladder is a tasteful thing, you may be really stuck. In this market moving is not so easy.

Hello Kitty, goodbye sanity

Photo by House Logic

In 1960, Shintaro Tsuji created the now-legendary Hello, Kitty line of plastic purses. Today, there are 22,000 products lines in this motif. Let us hope that this is the only such home. I’m not recommending arson, but I’d certainly understand the impulse,

Purple rain, ugly residential pain

Photo by Country Joy Crafts

Several manufacturers make plum colored vinyl siding colors, but you’ve got to get out the buckets and  brushes to create something like this. It reminds me of the artificial color used in grape Popsicles. As I recall, the hue stayed on your tongue for the entire summer.

The sum-of-all-fears motif

Photo by Handiman Club

This theme combines all the elements of a metal roof patina, distressed shutter effects and contrasting flesh-tone paint. Unfortunately, they should never have been combined. Witness the tragic characteristics of a do-it-yourself exterior painting effort done while under the influence.

A bad idea executed to perfection

Photo by Recentering El Pueblo

I love the cottage and pueblo look you find in Arizona and California. I do not like the look that says, “Help, we’re trapped inside by creatures that eat brain cells.”  An appropriate façade for Solano Prison is not necessary an apt exterior for residential Santa Ana. If you can find a door bell, for heaven’s sake don’t ring it!

What is it about Victorian architecture, anyway? Well-kept or restored Vicks are a delight. There’s one overlooking the sea where I live that always takes my breath away. And it’s green, too, with well-matched energy efficient replacement windows and a new copper roof.  Nonetheless, an unkempt old house is enough to scare the pants off of me to this day.

How to terrify, Pt. 1

Photo by Austin Home Restorations

According to the folks at Austin Home Restorations, a scary house has to be old and large, have neglected house exteriors and a spooky background story.

Salem architecture

Photo by The Mirror Up to Nature

Not all spooky homes are Victorians. I’ve never been to Massachusetts, but I can see that some parts of Salem are haunted to this day. The exteriors of this place recall the Amityville home where those gruesome murders took place. Come on, people! Painting an old house isn’t all that difficult.

Bewitchingly apt

Photo by Andrew's Blog

This New Jersey home in Freehold was used for the exteriors in the production of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Add a dark night with clouds streaming across the face of the moon, mix with a dash of moaning hounds, and finish it off with a wind-blown creaking gate. Brrr!

Green center of horror

Photo by The Green ABC's Blog

Indiana’s April Brewster Smythe posted this blog photo to promote the Green Center Haunted School House. Just a few miles from Churubusco, Green Center is located at the intersection of CR 300S and CR 300E in Noble County, just in case you want to walk by some creepy evening.

The ugliest fence

Photo by Rick's Fencing

There are lots of contenders but few winners. Oregon’s Rick’s Fencing chose this Corvallis fence as the worst of the year in its annual contest. If good fences make good neighbors, avoid living next door to this place. The homeowner (mercifully unnamed here) won “100 feet of free fencing materials” from Rick’s.

Arresting door of the year

Photo by New Jersey.com

Ohio police officer Michael Cleary submitted this photo to New Jersey.com’s annual ugly door contest. One voter remarked: “I expect that door to open and Liberace to be standing there.” Since Liberace passed in 1987, I reckon he would easily look better than the door. If this photo isn’t enough to induce vomiting, watch five minutes of any movie with Ashton Kutcher.

Tackiest lamp of the year

Photo by Find Great Stuff

A Tennessee woman created this lamp for a single Gatlinburg man in the hopes of keeping him warm on winter nights. I’d prefer setting a bonfire on the sofa and singing “Tenting Tonight”  to my ferret.

Fixer-urper

Photo by Milwaukee Rennaisance

The wood may still be salvageable underneath the siding in this most-foul of outdoor treatments. I’d recommend running a jackhammer across the surface and then dynamiting the rest of the place.

Worst carpet of the decade

Photo by Las Vegas Carpets

Earlier this year, I ran a retrospective of ugly carpets from Vegas. This is what you call a “throw rug”; you roll it up and throw it in the dumpster.

Here’s to a New Year luxuriant in décor and dazzling with fine taste. But I doubt it!

They say that the thicker your vinyl siding product, the greater its ability to withstand the forces of nature. But unless you have a Kevlar shroud around your house exteriors, there are times when the environment wins.

Dear sir, that’s an ugly wound you have

Photo by Airpark Collision Center

If hail stones can make the rear window of a Beemer look like it’s been through the country roads outside Feyzābād, imagine what it does to thin siding. The hail dented the hood and trunk of Margusity’s car, but have a gander what it did to the exteriors:

The environment strikes back

Photo by AccuWeather

Driven by wind, the hailstones that slammed into Margusity’s siding also ripped off half a shutter on the house and peppered an entry door at the home across the street. Read more about it at AccuWeather.

Meteorological madness

Photo by KNIA Radio

A month before the storm stippled Pine Grove Mills, a similar hail storm raced at 60 miles per hour through central Iowa, turning this vinyl siding effort into unpalatable Swiss cheese. The wind was strong enough to whistle through the open door residential garage and blow down two walls. You come home to damage like this, pour yourself a tall adult beverage. While you’re awaiting a call back from the insurance company, you can always read Margusity’s blog.

Putting a new face on home exteriors

Photo by Denver Siding Solutions

Your vinyl siding may be insured against these projectiles, but read the terms carefully. Often the provisions are for just the damaged face of siding to be replaced. After a few years, your siding color will have faded. Now you’re looking at un-matched colors around your house. The answer? Paint your siding with high-grade acrylic latex paint to match the new panels.

Man-cave or kitchen?

Photo by Remodeling Your Kitchen

In this case, the kitchen cabinets weren’t even swapped out. Certainly a cabinet refacing effort was in order if you were going all dark. The “after” kitchen looks just a little dreary to me.

Backsplash for the design challenged

Photo by Susan Jablon Mosaics

Susan Jacobs Mosaics does attractive tile work, but I’m not convinced the backsplash here does more than upset my equilibrium. It looks like your television screen when the satellite goes out. I would count this project among some of the obvious remodeling mistakes I’ve seen on the web.

Before & after success

Photo by Singer Construction

Singer Construction nailed the dismount on this kitchen makeover. Before the company got its hands on it, this kitchen looked like the inoculation center at my veterinarian’s office. The company, located in California’s Orange County, says it can complete a kitchen remodel in seven days. Wonder how long this one took them.

Do-it-yourselfer Triumph

Photo by That Really Frosts Me

Blogger Kerri earns the right to crow following this make-over she completed on this nauseating kitchen in her Texas home. She and her husband re-hung the cabinets and added crown molding. Read more about the project at her blog, That Really Frosts Me.

Amazing Grace

Photo by Design Sponge

Grace Bonney has captured some clever makeovers at her Design Sponge blog. Have a gander. I trust her. The site announces that it won’t accept free samples, products or compensation for its editorial efforts.

Cool paint for the bedroom, kitchen or just about anywhere

Photo by Style Files

Benjamin Moore, Rust-Oleum, and Blick Art Materials are the leading American producers of blackboard paint. In The Netherlands, Flexa offers an extensive line of colors. Look for specialist latex paint that cleans up easily with water and will take both liquid chalk markers and chalk sticks. There’s even a variety of metallic chalkboard paint that will allow you to stick magnetic objects to your wall (say your teenager’s nose ring).

Choosing chalkboard paint for your design

Photo by Remodelista

Abacus Construction has a great online roundup on chalkboard paints and manufacturers. The paint goes on easily with metal, wood, sheet-rock tile and glass. It goes on with a roller, brush, or spray can (for application in small areas).

Paint as an entertaining kitchen tool

Photo by Style Files

Have trouble remembering recipes? Apply a rectangle of chalkboard paint over the stove to jot down ingredients or cooking times.  You can even employ swatches of chalkboard paint as a decorative accent in a room where you can draw your own flowers or color splotches. See more examples at Style Files.

Color me happy!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll remember the builders that re-created The Simpson’s house in Nevada. Naturally, I was captivated by the success of the National Geographic Channel when it replicated the home from the movie Up! and launched it into the air with 300 weather balloons of dazzling colors.

Hollywood’s designs go airborne

Photo by Disney/Pixar

It took an entire tank of helium to fill each of the eight-foot tall weather balloons for the National Geographic effort. The replica of the yellow Up! house was only 16-feet wide x 18-feet tall. It was shuttled to a private airport outside of Los Angeles for flight testing, The National Geographic house took to the skies and rose to over 10,000 feet. You can view the project over at Youtube.

Making it real

Photo by Design Concept Ideas

While it won’t get off the ground, this genuine UP! replica built to precise scale is ready for occupancy in Herriman, Utah. The 2800 square-foot-home comes complete with weather vane. Exterior colors tastefully reflect the animated feature’s pastel purple, olive, blue and pink. You can view additional photos at Design Concept Ideas.

If I could move the house to my home town, I’d be proud to call it home!

Photo by Pixar

Originally slated for today, the chat has been rescheduled for next Thursday, June 30, at 10 a.m. Pacific time/1 p.m. Eastern time.

VinylSidingZone will join with other home improvement experts in participating with Vila in a discussion of renovations, siding, stains, paints and other exterior options. The chat can give you a great insight on house exteriors and you can connect with home improvement guru Vila in real time.

Again, you can participate by going to http://twitter.com/#!/bobvila and http://twitter.com/#!/vinylsidingzone and select the +Follow” buttons on each site.

Twitter fans, use the chat hashtag:  #GetReadyThurs.

A Vila tweet is a serious treat!