Green Home Improvements | Home Improvement Tips

Troy-Bilt has always been a well-known brand when it comes to lawn mowers, but this year they’ve come out with a new line of lawn mowers that feature their new “TriAction Cutting System™” which is a collection of improvements designed to cut grass and mulch grass better than other mowers.

The Troy-Bilt TB230: One of a new line of TriAction Lawn Mowers

A month or so ago Troy-Bilt contacted me after noticing how often I used my Troy-Bilt chipper vac and asked if I would like to review one of their new walk-behind mowers with this TriAction Cutting System™. In exchange for a fair review, I was given my choice of a Troy-Bilt mower and I went with the model that Popular Mechanics picked as one of their most popular lawn mowers: the Troy-Bilt TriAction TB230. It was also the most affordable mower of their picks. What follows is my review of the Troy-Bilt TriAction TB230, the good and the bad.

Lawnmower Details

The new Troy-Bilt TB230 is getting a lot of attention because it offers a good mix of popular lawn mower features and details that are often found on higher-end walk-behind mowers but it still retails for under $300.

Here are the specs and details:

• ReadyStart Choke System that requires no priming
• Self-propelled front wheel drive
• Variable speed squeeze grip with tighten/loosen adjustment
• Safety squeeze operated blade control bar
• 3-position handle adjustment
• 21″ steel mulching mower deck
• Deck wash valve for easy clean-up
• 3 discharge options: mulch, side or rear bag
• 1.86-bushel grass catcher bag with wide mouth empty
• Side discharge chute
• 8″ front wheels, 11″ rear wheels
• 6 position deck heigh adjustment, single lever for each wheel set
• 190cc* Briggs & Stratton engine
• Features the Troy-Bilt TriAction Cutting System™ (see below)
• Retail price: $289
• Availability – Lowes stores or website or the Troy-Bilt website

A word on pricing: When you consider that Troy-Bilt is a well-established brand name and when you realize that your mower will most likely last your 10 years or more, you begin to realize that $30 a year is a small price to pay for all the features you get in the TB230. In fact, the $289 price tag puts it squarely in the middle of the price range for self-propelled mowers from known brands and when you compare features the TB230 has many of the same features that are found in most mowers that are $50 to $100 more than it.

If you’re looking for a deal on a Troy-Bilt mower you may want to keep an eye out for coupons from Lowes over the next few weeks. This is about the time they normally publish those $10 off $50 or more and $50 off $250 or more coupons in their newsletters and the Sunday papers. Getting a Troy-Bilt TB230 for $239 would be a heck of a deal!

Another nice option: Troy-Bilt offers financing through its website on some of its lawn mowers and other eqipment.

Connect the handle, add oil and gas and start it up!

Unboxing The Lawn Mower

Before I could test it, of course, I had to get it out of the box. I received this new lawn mower from Troy-Bilt in pretty much the same way I received my Troy-Bilt Chipper Vac a couple years ago: I had it shipped right to my door. The mower in the box weighs over 70 pounds so plan appropriately if you’re going to pick it up from a store. The nice part is that the sturdy box has side handles so it can be lifted easily and the mower comes almost completely assembled.

I was up and running in about 15 minutes, but that could have been less if I wasn’t taking so many photos. I opened the box, set aside the mower bag and instructions and then just moved four bolts to assemble the handle. I have to admit that the fire-engine red of the mower really looks great. I remember being just as excited by the color when I opened the box for my chipper vac. Troy-Bilt uses a solid, rich, pleasing red color on all their equipment and it’s really attractive to the eye.

Upon assembling the handle I came across another nice feature that you don’t realize is important until you don’t have it: the mower handle assembly has three different pitch angles possible, so if you’re a little tall or a little short you can adjust the handle to your liking. My old mower didn’t have this and I always felt as though I had to slouch just an inch or so to really get the handle to the right height for me. After rolling the mower right out of it’s box I just had to put in motor oil (provided), position the pull cord and gas it up. With all those things out of the way I took a few more photos I was pretty much ready to go. There was no priming needed.

It started on the first pull! Yep, right out of the box!

One of the reasons I went with the TB230 over any other TriAction motor was the use of a Briggs & Stratton engine. I’ve always had good luck with their engines starting and running well for years on end, so I decided I’d stick with what worked for me. There is one Troy-Bilt TriAction mower that comes with a Honda engine if that’s you’re thing.

Now that I knew it ran I took it for a quick test walk around the yard. The self-propelled mower moved pretty quickly and the variable speed handle worked pretty much as you would expect: pull it back to move faster, let it go to slow down. The blade control handle was easy to hold down and when I released it the mower stopped immediately. The handle is a metal bar with no rubber grip or padding of any kind, so I could see where it might get hot if it were left out in the sun while you went in for lunch, but it otherwise felt pretty comfortable for my lawn mower’s maiden voyage.

The Lawn Mowing Test

So now it was time for a good old-fashioned lawn mowing test. I was purposely letting the grass in part of my backyard grow high as part of a test to see if it was healthy to let grass go to seed, so I had an area that was ripe for cutting. The grass was high, though not too thick, so I figured it would be good for testing the mulching capabilities.

First, I took my current mower on a run through the high grass, up one direction and back in another. My current mower is a mulching mower, only a couple of years old and was originally bought for about $275, which is in the same price range as the Troy-Bilt TriAction TB230. It has a new blade and I’ve maintained my lawn mower fairly consistently over the years. It was able to cut the grass well, but it left some tall blades here and there and after only two passes I already had a little layer of cut grass blades forming a floating blanket over my lawn. Overall, the results weren’t bad, but if I did my entire lawn with my existing mower I was clearly going to have to rake up the clippings.

I chose another spot about 2 feet away from the first path where the grass was an identical height and thickness and took the self-propelled Troy-Bilt up the line and then back down. I immediately noticed a couple things:

First, the walking with it was much smoother than with my older mower. I had both mowers set for the highest setting, but the TB230 has larger back wheels which seemed to make quite a difference.

Second, the front rake guard really was sort of guiding the taller grass right into a channel as I drove over it. My grass wasn’t particularly trampled or wet, but it did seem to make a little bit of a difference.

The real proof, though, was taking a look at the path after I had gone over it. There was, quite literally, no trace of grass clippings on my lawn. So no clippings, no clumps, no little paths or trails of grass. None!

It was almost as if the grass was cut and pulverized into powder. I later went ahead and mowed a much larger section and found the same to be true: even with tall and sometimes thick grass, I very rarely had any clumps or layers of grass that needed to be raked or spread out. It was almost scary!

Even more telling was what my wife said when she saw the back yard after being cut: “Oh, so you raked, too?”

Yes, the cutting and mulching ability of this mower was that good.

I’m not sure if there were no grass clumps because of the S-blade or the rake guard or the design of the deck, but Troy-Bilt’s claim that this mower design cut grass “better” really seems to hold true. The area of lawn that I cut was much more evenly cut and simply looked like it was a much more level and “clean” surface. My grass was all fairly dry and it’s still early in the season, but I’m optimistic about how it will mow when the grass is thicker and a little damper after a week of summer rain.

It’s difficult to actually describe the subtle differences you can have in cut grass and, as I learned, it’s even more difficult to actually photograph them. Instead I’ll just link to two hi-res images if you really want to try to see for yourself: the first image is the path my old mower left, the second image is the path that the Troy-Bilt TriAction lawn mower left.

Now let’s look at the details of some of the key features!

The TriAction Cutting System

The TriAction Cutting System™ is, as the name suggests, three different improvements to the traditional lawn mower design. The whole idea is cut grass more evenly, mulch it into smaller pieces when it’s being cut, and disburse it in a less haphazard pattern than a traditional mower. The three aspects of the TriAction Cutting System™ are:

1. Front Rake Guard: The front nose of the mower is fitted with a plastic “rake” of a sort which Troy-Bilt claims will help guide your grass into a more upright position your mower moves over it. The purpose of this is simple: if your grass is standing up straight then the cut should be more even. When you actually see the rake it doesn’t look like much more than a bunch of plastic teeth sticking down. Did it help guide the grass into an upright position? That’s hard to say, though I could see where it might help separate grass that is damp and tangled to some extent.

2. S-Blade: The blades used in TriAction cutting mowers are not conventional straight mower blades with a slight twist. Instead, the profile of the blade actually looks a little bit like an “S” supposedly will create more air circulation and lift which means the grass blades have a greater chance of being cut multiple times and being mulched more finely as they move around under the mower. I was actually pretty impressed by the mulching capability of the Troy-Bilt mower and I have a feeling this new blade design has a lot to do with it.

You can see all three features of the Troy-Bilt TriAction Cutting System™ here. I’ve also include a hi-res photo of the TriAction Cutting System™.

3. Symmetrical Deck: Troy-Bilt has made the mower deck out of stamped metal in a symmetrical circle so that a stronger vacuum can be made in the mower housing. This shape works with the S-blade to improve air circulation and discharge the grass a little more easily. This is not a new concept. A lot of lawn mowers have circular blade housings, but a lot don’t. Many lawnmower blade housings are “mostly” symmetrical but that symmetry is broken with the grass discharge area off the side or back. That being said, this symmetrical deck combined with the S-Blade might be what adds to the real cutting and mulching power of this mower.

You can’t argue with the results: this lawn mower really does cut and mulch grass remarkably well.

Based on my experience, the Troy-Bilt TB230 is one darn fine self-propelled mower and is possibly the best lawn mower currently available at its price.

Overall Operation

The Troy-Bilt TB230 was easy to use, easy to start and especially easy to set up and get going. The throttle was adjusted well for me so when I squeezed the handle the front-wheel drive mower pulled forward just as I expected. It had a nice range of speed and go up to a quick walk if I really wanted to go that fast. The blade keeps spinning even when the mower isn’t pulling itself forward, so you can easily pull and push the mower manually if that’s your thing or you need to back out of a corner.

The front-wheel drive worked well and the larger back tires did seem to make the whole mower run a little smoother and it seemed pretty easy to push around. There is some weight to it, but nothing more than what you’d expect of a lawn mower. Rear-wheel drive might give a little more pushing power, but the front-wheel drive made turning pretty easy.

Bagging and Discharge

Yes, the bag is small, but it held a fair amount of grass and it filled completely up before needing to be emptied. I attribute this to both the mulching power of the TB230 and the wide mouth of the bag. It was actually pretty easy to empty as well. Just pop it off and dump. Very little shaking was really needed in my few test runs with the bag. The side discharge worked pretty much as expected. I almost always just mulch my grass right into the lawn (for ease and environmental reasons) so I didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about collecting grass.

Deck Wash Valve

A lot of expensive mowers now have a little hose valve on their mower decks. The idea is that you can clean out the underside of your mower by screwing or clicking your garden hose into the valve, turning on the water and then running your mower blade for a few minutes. You’re then supposed to turn off the water, turn off your mower, detach the hose and then run your mower for another few minutes to make sure everything is dry.

The whole deck washing process was relatively quick and painless. I was expecting water to go splashing everywhere, but it was mostly contained to right under the mower. I flipped the mower over after drying it, expecting to see bright red paint was shining in the sun, but it looked pretty much like it had before I washed it: stained with the green from grass clippings and a few random tufts of grass here and there. My mower deck was clean, but not spotless by any means. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I still think I’ll be scraping old grass bits out from my mower deck every now and then.

Minor Issues

Some reviewers have complained about the various plastic parts being used on this mower instead of metal, but I actually prefer the durable plastics they use these days. The mower is maneuverable, sturdy and the plastic parts can always be replaced if you somehow managed to break something.

I did have a small issue with the way the grass clippings were collecting on the back top of the mower deck when I was mulching my grass. As I mowed I noticed a few bits of cut grass (powder, almost!) blowing through a small area where the back discharge door hinges were attached. It wasn’t much, but after mowing my full backyard I had a good two handfuls of tiny grass clippings collected on the back deck.

Overall Impression

When comparing the number of features for the money, the Troy-Bilt TB230 can’t be beat. It’s simply the best lawn mower available if you want a self-propelled mower that’s under $300 and has lots of options and mulching power.

Go ahead and look around at your various home improvement stores and lawn and garden centers and do some comparison shopping for yourself: almost all of the Troy-Bilt mowers, especially the self-propelled TriAction models, are competitively priced and offer more flexibility than most other makes and models of lawn mowers. I’ve been impressed with the quality and usefulness of my Troy-Bilt chipper vac for years, and I’m looking forward to being just as impressed by this new line of Troy-Bilt lawn mowers as well!

There’s a long running debate in lawn and garden circles about whether you should ever let the grass in your lawn go to seed or whether you should always cut it before it gets to that point.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “To go to seed or not to go to seed?… That is the question!”

My grass is going to seed…

While most of us cut our grass fairly regularly before the top of the grass blades can flower and start to form seeds, there are some people who believe that actually letting your grass grow long enough to go to seed is actually a good idea for some lawns.

Generally, lawn experts tend to be against letting grass go to seed, but the theory that a lawn that goes to seed will grow more from one year to the next is at least intriguing. For most plants in your garden if you just let the plants grow and drop fruits or vegetables full of seed from one year to the next you’ll typically find more of the same plants growing next year. And, really, that’s how grass normally takes over a field: it grows, drops seeds and grows some more, right?

While all this makes sense to me, there are some good arguments about why mowing your lawn before your grass goes to seed might actually be a better idea. When you read the opinions of the lawn experts they usually advance a number of reasons why your grass should not be allowed to go to seed. Among those reasons:

Weeds: By not cutting your grass regularly you could also be allowing weeds to grow up and get a foothold in places where they may not normally get a chance to normally take root.

Seeds Aren’t Everything: Not all grasses expand entirely by dropping seeds. Many grass types spread their roots outwards to grow as well. Some grass grows like bamboo (which is a grass itself), extending out runners (rhizomes below ground and stolons above ground) to establish new grass and spread themselves. Along this same line, some experts say that mowing your lawn actually strengthens the grass and encourages it to spread more.

Your Grass Needs To Eat: Grass, like any other plant, does need to use a considerable amount of energy to create flowers and seeds. Some experts claim that the process of making seeds is so taxing that it actually removes nutrients from the soil and makes the entire lawn less healthy.

Ugly: Okay, let’s admit it… A yard filled with grass that’s six inches high and going to seed looks more like a forgotten field than a suburban lawn. Even if you explain to your neighbors that you’re just trying to get some free grass seed, they may not be real excited about living next to “the house with the overgrown lawn.”

The 1/3 Cut Rule: Every explanation of how to mow a lawn tells you that cutting your grass higher is better for the health of the lawn. Another part of this rule is to not cut too much of the height of the grass off in any one mowing. The general rule is to never cut off more than 1/3 (33%) of the height of the grass at one time because it can stress the grass and make it less healthy. So if your grass is nine inches high, you should only cut off 1/3 (3 inches) in any single mowing session. A week later you can mow it down a little lower if you want. Yes, it’s sometimes difficult to cut your grass that high (your mower deck height will often dictate this).

Seeds May Not Germinate: Some experts claim that if you let your grass go to seed you won’t actually be able to plant the new seed that’s produced. Why? Because the story goes that the grass seed companies have designed their grass so that the seeds that are produced by their grass will never fully mature or germinate. This seems a little far-fetched until you realize how seeds for commercial food crops are managed and how much money there is in a field of grass. In theory I could just harvest up all the grass seed and keep making my own grass without ever buying another bag of seed. I’m not sure what to believe about this claim.

Those are the reasons why it might not be a good idea to let my grass go to seed, while there’s only one reason I can really think of for doing it: free grass seed falling to the ground means my grass might get thicker and grow more. Maybe. I’m only slightly obsessed with my lawn, but I’m willing to let my backyard go uncut for a while longer in the name of science.

So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to cut the grass in my front lawn because, hey, I’ve got neighbors and it’s looking shabby. For my back yard, however, I’m going to pick a section of lawn that was planted with my fast grass planting method and it grow so that it goes to seed. Then I’m going to try to collect the seed when it’s mature enough and about to drop on its own. Once collected I’ll see if I can plant it and get it to germinate, probably in a similar way to how I showed it was easy to grow grass on a brick.

Update #1 – It’s now about a three weeks later and I’ve found one of the major problems in letting your grass go to seed: it takes a long time. My grass flowered about four weeks ago and I’m still waiting for real seeds. I have lots and lots of little tiny grass florets. But that’s about all I have. They’re still green, not brown, and still very soft and moist flowers… I’ve crushed them and rolled them in my hands and there’s nothing that’s really able to be planted there yet.

This sort of makes sense. There aren’t many plants that go to seed many times during one season, and it would appear that the grass in my back yard is no different. So, this experiment may very well be over before it begins if my grass doesn’t actually go to seed.

Update

I’ve been waiting about eight weeks now for an area of my back yard grass to go to seed. In the past week or so that has begun happening. All the grass in my test area is well over a foot tall and some is pushing two feet tall. I have several different types of grass in my lawn and some of the taller and thicker grass did actually flower and then make grass seed which makes it look like wheat. My experiment has taken longer than I originally expected due to the length of time it took for my grass samples to actually mature enough and go to seed. So, obviously, one of the most common question people have about grass is:

“How long does it take grass to go to seed”

And the answer is: it depends! It largely seems to depend upon the grass type, the weather, the general climate and a number of other growing factors, though you can expect most grass to go to seed in six to 10 weeks, depending upon the time of year. I live in New Jersey (Growing Zone 6) and my grass didn’t really start growing until mid-to-late April, and it didn’t really get to the point where it was going to seed until the last week of June. We have not had much rain, which could have sped up the process a little bit.

I found three general “types” of grasses that have gone to seed in the overgrown area of my back yard. No, I’m not entirely sure if they are Fescue, Rye, Bermuda or something else. I took a small sampling of all three types, laid them next to each other and numbered them for this experiment. Grass #1 doesn’t really seem to have seeds, but it does have flowers. If it does have seeds then they are simply too small for me to easily find. Grass #2 and Grass #3 clearly have seeds that are ready to fall right off the stem.

Next, I took some of those seeds from each grass type and planted them in potting soil with a little water. I numbered the cups and I’m monitoring them for grass growth. I only started this experiment on June 29th, so I suspect it will be a week or two before I see anything at all. I don’t expect a lot of grass to grow, but if I get a few blades of each, then I’ll know that the grass in my back yard can be allowed to go to seed and it would be a way of growing new grass without paying for more seed.

Even at this point, I’ve learned something: it takes a lot of patience to let your grass go to seed in your lawn on the off chance that it will actually produce more grass. I could see this being useful if you had a field and you decided to let your grass go to seed at the end of a season, but doing this in the middle of the summer just makes your lawn look ugly.

Update – August 18 – Results of Whether or Not You Should Let Your Grass Go To Seed

Okay, It’s been about a month and a half since I first tried growing grass seed that I’d “harvested” from my lawn. It’s been a busy summer for me (a new baby!) and it’s also been a rough summer for growing things (grass and drought conditions don’t mix). I was unfortunately not able to get photos of the results before a brief wind storm blew my experiment right off my steps and scattered them all over the ground. That’s just how science works, I guess.

Results
Only Cup #3 had any grass growing in it at all, and even that was sparse at best. The other two cups just never produced as much as a single blade of grass, which again leads me to believe that lawn grass may not actually be designed to be fertile enough to produce viable seeds for replanting.

Conclusion
Really, this was an enormous amount of work and waiting just to see if I could produce a few extra blades of grass. While it may be worthwhile to let your natural grass go to seed in a large wild field or meadow, it definitely isn’t worthwhile for the typical homeowner who has an acre or less of lawn. If you really want to fill in parts of your lawn then you should either try a product like Scotts EZ Seed (which can indeed grow on a brick) or use a cheap and easy method for planting grass that I’ve detailed before.

My favorite home improvement show on TV is now Holmes on Homes featuring the likable, knowledgeable and photogenic Canadian contractor and home expert Mike Holmes. The show Holmes on Homes has been playing in Canada for a couple years and could be found on cable in the United States here and there, but HGTV just picked up a new season of Holmes on Homes and is featuring his shows prominently in their Sunday night line-up.

Mike Holmes Make It Right

Mike Holmes is now a mass media home improvement powerhouse with a newspaper column, several different television shows and specials, DVDs, books, a magazine and even some construction work clothing.

A typical episode of Holmes on Homes starts out with a desperate homeowner who was usually wronged by a home improvement or remodeling contractor. Some of the jobs are done poorly, some left incomplete and some are just done completely wrong. Sometimes a simple problem like a small leak quickly balloons into a total room demolition as Mike Holmes and his crew follow one problem to another.

After taking a good look at the job done by another contractor Mike Holmes usually sits down and explains some of the problems and then bashes the contractor for leaving the homeowner in the lurch or cutting corners or simply not doing the job the right way. The contractors in question are never actually named because, according to Mike, the show is “not about finger pointing.” That being said, the show will also sometimes feature legal experts who explain what recourse a homeowners have to get their money back or have things corrected.

Then comes the demolition part. Mike and his crew come in usually end up ripping out all of the previous contractor’s work. During the demolition Mike and his crew poke around for further problems and then explain what’s wrong and what’s right about the previous contractor’s job. Mike does give credit where credit is due and does point out the good things a contractor might do as well.

Holmes on Homes: Holmes for the Holidays

After fully accessing the project Mike and his crew get together and the rest of the show details how to really do the job correctly. So if it’s a botched bathroom job you’ll see Mike and his team gut the bathroom and then upgrade all the plumbing, install top of the line bathroom fixtures and finish it all off with professional tile work. Some episodes start out with a sort of “mystery” such as a leak that can’t be diagnosed or a structural problem that doesn’t makes much sense. Eventually, of course, Mike figures out the problem and then corrects through in the rest of the show.

The last part of Holmes on Homes is the “reveal” in which Mike brings in the homeowners to show them the completed project, which is usually complete with the requisite ooo’s and ahhh’s. It’s also the first time the audience gets to see all the work that was done while Mike explains exactly why the job was done that way.

The Holmes on Homes episodes are mostly formulaic but within that formulas there’s a lot of different interplay and personality. Each job is unique and it’s often interesting to see what unexpected challenges the crew finds.

Holmes on Homes is not a show in which the typical do-it-yourselfer will learn any details of how to actually complete a job. Instead, this will give you the “big picture” of all the work involved in a major renovation and it shows what can go wrong when homeowners blindly put their faith in contractors. Mike usually spends a fair bit of time warning people about the dangers of using shoddy contractors, but it really doesn’t always seem to be the fault of the homeowners who often have checked references and done everything in their power to get the job done correctly.

Who Pays For The Work on Holmes on Homes?

Mike often comes into a home to fix a few small problems but quickly finds lots and lots of larger issues to correct. He’s famous for essentially gutting a room and starting from scratch, which leads people to ask about who actually pays for all the materials and construction work you see in Holmes on Homes, especially when these people have often just spent thousands of dollars on the original contractor’s job. Generally, the labor of Mike and the entire Holmes on Homes crew is paid for by his television production company, but new materials are often bought by the homeowner. That being said, the materials used are often bought “at a deep discount” and in at least one case a supplier came in and said he was going to donate it all to the show because he felt bad for the homeowners.

Mike Holmes Criticism

There aren’t too many people jumping up to say bad things about Mike Holmes. He seems to be every bit as nice and genial as he is on TV, but insiders say he does tend to play things up for the camera. If anything, Mike Holmes seems to be guilty of “over-correcting” problems sometimes. Along those same lines he’s been accused of confusing “his own code” with the actual building code. In several episodes he has actually complained about the “minimum code” and then gone ahead and fixed something above and beyond what was actually required. Mike’s a perfectionist and I have to wonder if he’s really all that easy to work for.

Mike has been known to rant about how the Do-It-Yourself show he was working on was giving people the idea that they could do anything, but that professional contractors were often needed to fix the mistakes of amateurs. There is, of course, a fair bit of truth to that. As a guy who does a lot of DIY home improvement, I can honestly say that one of the best things you can learn is your own limits. If you’re uncomfortable doing something or not sure about attempting a job that could cause some real damage or hurt yourself, then hire a professional. No amount of money is worth getting hurt or putting yourself in a dangerous situation.

Mike has also received some criticism from animal rights advocates for attending a stampede and he reportedly had to take media sensitivity class early in his television career in order to clean up some of his salty language.

If you watch enough episodes of Holmes on Homes you begin to believe that all contractors are bad (except Mike Holmes, of course) and that you’d be crazy to ever have anyone other than him work on your own house. That’s not the case, of course, but since every show revolves around a home contractor or home builder doing something wrong you do begin to get a bit paranoid about exactly whom you can trust.

People who have seen the work done by Holmes on Homes firsthand have good things to say. They say that his work is professional, he does try to keep cleanliness and the homeowner’s schedule and family life in mind and he generally sticks to their wishes. It’s actually fun to watch him deal with a design decision that he doesn’t agree with. He won’t outright say something is ugly but he’ll say things like, “Well, I wasn’t sure about that color but it works, I think…”

Mike Holmes Crew and Cast

Mike’s crew changes slightly from season to season with different people coming in and others dropping out. Almost all of the crew members are qualified trade men and women who are either specialists such as plumbers and electricians or have construction and trade experience. Some crew and cast members regularly have conversations with Mike on camera, while some are mostly just seen in the background and labor montage shots. Some of the more recognizable current crew members:

Damon Bennett – Mike’s right hand man and senior contractor. Damon is often the guy who Mike first shares his ideas for the room with.

Shawn Morren – He served as Mike’s senior contractor during the first five seasons and often has a mischievous look in his eye. In one episode he mentions he was late for work because he was attending his pregnant wife’s ultrasound appointment. Shawn’s younger brother Micah Morren also appeared in some episodes of Holmes on Homes.

Adam Belanger – Another senior contractor who isn’t seen as much and seems to have a mischievous side to him. He’s also close to Mike, though in a different way than Damon. His wife is none other than Amanda Holmes, Mike Holmes’ daughter.

Mike Holmes Jr. – Yes, that tall lanky guy with the short blond hair is none other than Mike Holmes’ youngest child and son.

Carl Pavlovic – Carl is usually the go to guy for tile and drywall work, so he’ll often appear more in the later part of the show. Carl often plays up the humor which makes him fun to watch on TV at times.

Corin “Pinky” Ames – She is not just a pretty blond woman hired to make the guys happy. She was an intern who was hired on-air during season 5 and is a graduate of the Women In Skilled Trades (WIST) program.

Kate Campbell – Also a graduate of the Women In Trade Skills (WIST) program, Kate was the second woman to join the Holmes on Homes crew.

Mike Holmes Biography

Mike Holmes born in Canada on August 3, 1963, has home improvement contracting his his blood and started his own construction company at the tender age of 19. At age 6 Mike started apprenticing under his father (who has passed away) in the building, electrical and plumbing trades. His father, a “jack of all trades” in his words used to tell him to do things right the first time. Mike has taken his father’s advice to heart. The phrase “Make It Right” has become a mantra that he repeats in almost all his projects and tries to employ in everything he does. And, yes, Mike has that phrase, “Make It Right” tattooed on his right bicep, right above a tattoo of a bulldog. He supposedly has the nickname of “Holmesy” but he’s a pretty big guy, so I’m not sure you’d want to call him that to his face!

Mike got started in TV when he was hired to do some work for the Just Ask John Eakes home improvement show. Mike Holmes had an idea for a new show in which he would take his crew into homes that had construction and remodeling problems and make them right. His first show went on the air in 2003, but it wasn’t until he teamed up with Michael Quast and Pete Kettlewell that his entire show and the “brand” of Mike Holmes took off.

In 2006 Mike Holmes launched The Holmes Foundation which is a charitable institution which helps train young men and women in the skilled trades. In 2008 the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) gave Mike Holmes an Honorary Doctorate of Technology. In addition to keeping busy with various speaking engagement, publications and working with other building organizations he is working on a new environmentally friendly and completely sustainable housing project known as Wind Walk.

Because Mike is pretty easy on the eyes a lot of women want to know: Is Mike Holmes married? Mike Holmes does not seem to have a wife at the moment. He’s a divorced dad of three, but has reportedly been in a steady relationship with girlfriend Anna Zappia for a number of years.

Mike Holmes Family

As for the other members of his family, he has three children. Mike Holmes’ children are all in their 20′s and have all appeared on his show at one time or another. He has two daughters and a son. They are:

Amanda Holmes – His oldest daughter. She is married to Adam Belanger on Mike’s crew.

Sherry Holmes- His middle daughter. She was first seen on the New Orleans special and has appeared as a regular part of his crew.

Mike Holmes Jr. – His youngest child and only son. Mike Jr. has been seen on the show for several years and is now a regular part of the crew. In one episode Mike Holmes surprises his son on his birthday by giving him a new truck.

Mike also has an uncle, Bill Bell (known as Uncle Billy), who works as a truck driver and general equipment manager on the show. He’s the oldest regular crew member and often plays the role of father figure to the other younger cast and crew members.

Mike has new show called Holmes Inspection which examines bad homes inspections. Mike Holmes has made lots of guest appearances on various shows in Canada and the United States and many people remember him as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Overall, Holmes on Homes is fun to watch for several reasons, though they all have to do with Mike Holmes himself. The show’s informative and Mike Holmes proves that he knows his stuff. He finds things most other contractors wouldn’t find, he points out the errors of other contractor’s but he explains himself in such a way that you can’t help but learn a little something in the process. Mike is a natural in front of the camera with his gentle but firm demeanor, big biceps and muscle shirt. He plays the role of a superhero who arrives in the nick of time to help desperate homeowners with their homes.

New episodes of Holmes on Homes can be seen in the United States on HGTV on Sunday nights. You can also check out the Make It Right Production company to read more about what Mike Holmes is up to now.

If you have any sort of forced air system in your home, including a central air conditioner or forced hot air heat, then you almost certainly also have an air filter in that system that needs to be changed fairly regularly. There are actually lots of regular things you should do to maintain your air conditioner, but changing the filters when they are dirty is probably one of the most important.

You can see the clean air filter and the dirty air filter which was only used for three months. I order my replacement filters online.

Most filters are pretty simple in design: they let air flow through them while they filter back (or stop) most dust and dirt particles from being blown back out of your vents. A central AC or forced air heating system actually sucks air and dust in through return vents (these are usually larger vents that are found high up on walls) and then filters the air, cools or heats the air, and then blows it back out through your floor or wall vents at just the right temperature.

If that filter gets blocked up with dirt and dust then the whole system has to work harder just to push the air through that filter and into the rest of your home. A dirty $10 air filter can actually be responsible for destroying a $2,500 air conditioner. If you don’t change the filter regularly in your home then you run the risk of actually burning out your entire system.

Think of this example: Have you ever been using a vacuum cleaner hose when you suddenly hit a large piece of paper or a curtain? The whole piece of paper gets stuck on the hose, pretty much stopping most of the air flowing into your vacuum. And when that happens your vacuum cleaner probably gets much louder as the motor inside works much harder to getting enough air. When that happens your vacuum is also using more electricity. If you let it go long enough you’ll more than likely burn out your vacuum cleaner motor or at least break a few belts. The same can happen with your home’s air system.

Every home heating and cooling system is a little different, but these are the general steps you’ll need to follow to replace the filter in your system:

1. Turn off the Heat or Air Conditioner: You’ll probably want to make sure your heating or cooling system is off before you go poking around in your basement, attic or crawl space. Don’t worry, it generally doesn’t take long to replace an air filter, so your home won’t be without heat or cooling for very long. You can simply turn your system off at the thermostat if you wish, though you may also want to turn things off at the breaker if you want to be extra careful.

You can replace most whole house air filters by sliding out the old filter and sliding in the new one.

2. Remove the Old Air Filter: The air filter compartment is usually located near the main furnace or air conditioner inside the house. Sometimes the filter is located inside the blower unit and sometimes it is located outside of it. Sometimes the compartment is labeled and it usually has a latch system to keep it closed tight.

3. Check the Air Filter: Once you’ve located where the air filter is you’ll want to double-check it for a couple things. First, make sure that it’s the right size and has a snug fit in the compartment or tray that’s meant to hold it in place. A loose fit will allow dusty air to blow around it and back into your home. Second, you may want to take a note of the size just so you can order more. I personally order four air filters once a year online. Ordering air filters through Amazon.com works out to be a little cheaper for me than buying them from a big hardware store, even with the shipping costs. And I don’t have to worry about running out (unless I forget to order them next year). Lastly, you’ll want to take note of how dirty your old house air filter is. If it’s positively covered in grey dust and fuzz then that means you might need to change your air filter more often.

4. Install the New Air Filter: Hopefully you have a new correct sized air filter ready to go. You just slide that in, but you’ll want to watch to make sure the filter is going in the proper way. Filters are designed for air to flow in one side and out the other. The filters I order have little arrows on them, but some aren’t so clear. You’ll want to face the “air flows out” side facing towards the heating or cooling element of your system. Again, make sure that it fits in snug so no air can flow around the filter.

You may also want to take a pen or marker and just put today’s date on the edge of the filter that faces out. That will remind you of when the filter was last changed.

5. Close and Test: Now you can close the air filter compartment or furnace back up and turn on the breaker and thermostat. Give your system a few minutes to start up and everything should now be working well. You may want to listen closely to your heat or air conditioning for a few minutes just to make sure everything is working well. It should not be any louder or working any harder than before.

Most manufacturers recommend that you change or replace your house air filter four times a year, though you may want to do it more if you live in a dusty area or you’re having any sort of major renovation or construction done to your home. Only replacing the air filter twice a year or every six months is almost never enough from my experience.

Some people replace their air filters more often during the summer time and less often in the spring and fall. I generally stick with the four times a year method and my filters are usually dirty, but not completely covered. As long as you regularly replace your whole house filter you should really never have to use any sort of duct cleaning service unless you’ve had major construction or remodeling done to your home.

It’s not difficult to change your home’s air filter and it’s one of those quick jobs that can literally leave you and your family breathing easier (sorry, couldn’t resist!).