Here are the top 5 homeowner repair tips from 2020

One thing we love to do at the end of the year at Rosie on the House is to look back to our website analytics to see what has interested homeowners the most. What we found this year is that in spite of the crazy year 2020 has been, people are just as interested in home improvement as ever before. As many have changed their work-flow and/ or school-flow to spend all or most of their time at home, the things that need fixing, improving and updating, are grabbing their attention more than ever.

The most viewed blogs included information on difficult and unique plants in Arizona, ways to update your home and how to cool off your garage in the summer. Other most searched topics included, roof repair, critter control, when to replace an air conditioning unit and how to care for stucco.

As always, we focus on topics that are particularly important to Arizona homeowners. As our partners, employees, and regular listeners know that’s because we’ve always specialized in being “every Arizona homeowner’s best friend.” This week we revisit the five most popular blogs from 2020.

1. Plants: Out of Control

Not long ago, we told you about plants that are tough to grow in Arizona. But there are also plants that seem to love Arizona, grow easily and maybe grow too well. Then, when you decide to get rid of them, it’s hard to make them go away. Be wary of Arizona plants that can take over your yard

2. The Toughest Stuff To Grow In Arizona

Over the years we’ve found that there are several unique plants that many Arizona residents really yearn to have in their yards despite the fact that the odds of success are stacked against them. Again and again these gardeners call our “Rosie on the House” radio program asking if they can grow them or asking why they died.

Jay Harper, Master Gardener and a regular expert on the gardening hour of our broadcast, gave us his list of the six most popular finicky plants and explained why they generally fail to thrive in the Arizona desert.

3. All About Saguaros

Nothing says you’re in Arizona better than those silhouettes of saguaros set against a red sky at sunset. After all, the National Park Service says, saguaros mostly grow in the Sonoran Desert. That means that almost all the wild ones grow in Arizona and some smaller areas of Mexico and California.

Often on “Rosie on the House,” we get questions from homeowners who have saguaros in their yards or want to plant a saguaro. Here are seven things you may want to know about them as well.

4. 5 Must Do Fixes In Your Aging House

When you moved into your house 10 years ago, you promised yourself you’d update the place. But like most homeowners, the longer you live there, the less you notice the 40-year-old light fixtures, the wallpaper from the 1970s, and the sunken living room.

Even if you feel comfortable in your current home, when it comes time to sell, you could have some big problems. Here are five fixes you may have to make and some suggestions on how they can be repaired. But do them now so you can enjoy the improvements before you sell your home.

5. How Can I Cool Off My Garage This Summer?

It may be one of the most irritating things about our long, hot summers: You have a super-hot garage you hardly use in June, July and August, except as a parking space for your car. Homeowners ask us all the time how they can cool off that garage so that it can be used as a workshop or place to tinker on cars or as a man cave or woman cave or a place to keep pets or an area where you can work out in peace.

For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert for 35 years, Rosie Romero is the host of the Rosie on the House radio program from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays on KTAR-FM (92.3) in Phoenix, 9 to 11 a.m. on KAFF-AM (930) in Flagstaff, and 10 to 11 a.m. on KNST-AM (790) in Tucson.