Posts Tagged ‘Home Services’

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New Year, New Home!

January 25th, 2012

The beginning of a new year is usually taken a symbol of new beginnings, and maybe 2012 can be a year of new beginnings for your home. We all have our to- do lists and if you haven’t done much to make that list shrink odds are it is just getting bigger. These problems are not going to solve themselves, and we need to be honest when it comes to our limits as amateur handymen and women. Take a moment to assess your list or sit down and compile one if you haven’t done so already. Don’t just look at what you think you can handle, consider everything that goes into a job before you ever take it on. Over reaching could increase the cost of the repair and hiring a handyman pro may be a better option.

Consider This Before Tackling a Repair:

  • Time: Many of the jobs on your list will take more than a day to complete, especially if you have no experience with the repair. Many of us only have a couple days on the weekends to work with when it comes to finding time for these repairs, and if you don’t have the time, you need to accept that you are never going to get these jobs done on your own. The pros will be able to check many of those repairs off your list in one day!
  • Tools: Another aspect of performing repairs in the home is the supplies that are needed to complete the job. Many of us don’t have power tools, painting supplies, and other basic tools of the trade, and renting or buying them could make doing the repair on your own pointless. Consider all of your costs before taking on a job by yourself. » Read more: New Year, New Home!

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Posted in Contractors, Home Improvements, Home Repairs, Home Services, Plumbing

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Redesigning Your Dining Room for the Holidays

December 21st, 2011

Odds are this holiday season is going to greatly increase the use of your home’s formal dining room. That room that only sees action at one time during the year is going to need to look its best and if you live in an older home, that old dining room is probably in a less than presentable state. Let’s drag that room into the 21st century with a few updates that will truly impress your guests. From minor changes to bigger remodeling projects, you can make a variety of changes to the space that will not only make it more beautiful but also more functional for the future.

Updating Your Dining Room

  • Modernized Fixtures: Outdated light fixtures are the number one giveaway in an outdated dining room. This is can be a very simple upgrade if you know what you are doing. This is one of those upgrades that will require extra care. The last thing you want is for that fixture to come tumbling down in the middle of your turkey dinner.
  • Wood Flooring: Changing the flooring in your dining room may seem intimidating, but pull up that raggedy carpet and you may be surprised by what you find. We have seen homes with beautiful hardwood floors hidden beneath hideous carpets. If you aren’t lucky enough to have hardwood floors beneath your carpet, you can install laminate floors in a weekend with a little elbow grease and a good set of instructions. » Read more: Redesigning Your Dining Room for the Holidays

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Posted in Home Improvements, Home Services, Remodeling

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Mounting Your New Flat Screen: Safety Concerns

December 14th, 2011

The hottest Christmas gift the past few years has been the flat screen TV. If you have not yet upgraded, you and your family are in the minority because these high tech televisions are not going away any time soon. If anything, they are just going to keep getting bigger and more popular. Whether you get one as a present or you invest in the upgrade on your own, our biggest concern when it comes to that television is safety. If you have small children in the home, the flat screen is a bigger hazard than you may have initially thought.

The Safety of Small Children

Flat screen televisions are very insecurely balanced upon their stands. One tip forwards or backwards could send that TV falling off an entertainment center and onto whomever may lie below. Small children love to climb on furniture and one moment of distraction could lead to a disaster in your home should your child decide to use the television for support. This is an accident that has been growing in frequency over the past few years, and falling televisions have cause very serious injuries and even death. » Read more: Mounting Your New Flat Screen: Safety Concerns

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Posted in Home Improvements, Home Repairs, Home Services, Information, Safty

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Prevent Problematic Plumbing

December 5th, 2011

You would think that most homeowners know what they can and cannot put down the drains in their home, but you would be surprised by the crazy things we have found clogging pipes. Even if you have a garbage disposal attached to your sink, there are still certain items that should never be forced down a drain, and doing so could cause a costly plumbing repair. The holiday season usually means big business for plumbers across the United States. With all of the turkey, grease, and potato skins, it is no wonder so many homeowners find themselves with a backed up sink during this season, but it can all be prevented with a few proactive steps.

Watch What Goes Down the Disposal!

  • Bones: Turkey bone, chicken wings, ribs, and any other animal bone that may be left over after a delicious meal need to make its way into the garbage can and not your garbage disposal.
  • Pasta and Rice: Putting pasta or rice down your garbage disposal has got to be the easiest way to impact your sink. We have pulled out full sections of piping that are literally packed with noodles that had expanded and backed up the sink. The homeowners assumed the garbage disposal could chop them up into small enough pieces but even small pieces of pasta swell with exposed to water. » Read more: Prevent Problematic Plumbing

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Posted in Home Repairs, Home Services, Plumbing

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Wrong Duct Work for Your Dryer Vent

November 2nd, 2011

Many homeowners think that their home is basically fire proof because they have taken some basic fire prevention precautions. You have the furnace cleaned out yearly, blow out candles, and use space heaters properly. You may even have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers all throughout the home, but if you haven’t checked your dryer vent, all of those protective measures could quit literally go up in flames. The dryer vent is the duct work that your clothes dryer uses to exhaust combustion fumes to the outdoors. Most homeowners don’t even know that they have this line of duct work in their home, but neglecting it could cause a major home disaster.

Accordion Duct work and Your Dryer Vent

Accordion duct work consists of some sort of material like plastic or aluminum that is coiled to form a long tube. It is flexible and can be easily installed, but it should never be used to vent a dryer. This type of duct work is usually safely used for add on duct work in the HVAC system, but there are two reasons why it should not be used to vent combustion gasses from your dryer.

  1. Friction: The coiled design of this type of duct work encourages lint to become lodged within the duct. Overtime this can be what creates a buildup of lint within the vent. Lint is extremely flammable and a simple spark of static can set your dryer ablaze. » Read more: Wrong Duct Work for Your Dryer Vent

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Posted in Consumer Protection, Duct Cleaning, Home Services, Maintenace, Safty

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Improving Rain Gutter Performance

August 17th, 2011

Fall is a beautiful season, and it is just around the corner. As summer nears its end, proactive homeowners across this great country are considering the necessary maintenance that will have to be done before winter does arrive. When it comes to fall, leaves, although they may be pretty when they change colors, can create a huge mess in our yards. We can rake the lawn and pick them out of bushes, but there is one spot in the exterior of your home that you must not forget to clean out once the leaves have fallen. It’s your gutters, and clogged gutters can cause major problems for the exterior of your home. Now is the time to protect your gutter from the mess that these next few months are sure to bring and you could prevent these problems for years to come.

Why Do My Gutters Need to be Cleaned?

The purpose of having rain gutters on the home is to carry rain water as far away from the home’s foundation as possible. Without them, water would run off the roof and collect in large amounts at the base of the home. Over time this leads to erosion of the foundation and flooding. » Read more: Improving Rain Gutter Performance

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Posted in Home Improvements, Home Services, Maintenace

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Air Conditioners that Dim the Lights

April 27th, 2011

What should you do if your lights dim when your AC kicks on? PANIC? No, it’s not that bad. Dimming lights, however, do mean there is a problem that must be fixed as soon as possible. If the only time the lights dim is when the air conditioner turns on, you may want to shut the unit down until you have the problem taken care of. Dimming lights usually indicates that there is a bad connection in the system or a component that is starting to burn out.

HVAC Pros

There is a long list of possible causes for this problem, and most of them, unfortunately, the home owner can’t check. The ones you can check include: checking fuses and replacing any that seem weathered, and clearing any debris from both the inside and outside of the air conditioner. If both of these areas are clear, call an HVAC company to have a look at your unit. » Read more: Air Conditioners that Dim the Lights

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Consumer Protection, Home Repairs, Safty

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Speed Up Your Spring Cleaning

March 23rd, 2011

Take a moment to step outside your home. Walk to the curb and turn around. What do you see? Do you see a roof, driveway, and walkway coated in grim and dirt? How about the back yard? Is the deck or patio a new shade of disgusting? Winter is a long and terrible season for the outside of your home. Every surface takes a beating from the snow, sleet, salt, and dirt. Stains from oil spills often litter the driveway, and you may even have mold growth eating away at your roof and gutters. Spring cleaning is the time of year that we clean up messes like these, but finding the time to dedicate to the outdoors may be a difficult task in itself. Where do you start? What tools do you need, and is this even a project you can do on your own? Unless you are experiences with a power washer, you may want to leave this task to the pros. » Read more: Speed Up Your Spring Cleaning

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Posted in Home Improvements, Home Services, Maintenace

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Leave Some Painting for the Pros

March 15th, 2011

Painting your home is often a job that many “do it yourself-ers” take on without help from a professional, and with the right advice, nearly any homeowner can successfully take on this project. However, not all walls are as easy to paint as you may initially think, and trying to paint these on your own could lead to a messy and tedious disaster in your home. Textured walls and ceilings as well as those that are wallpapered are defiantly much harder to paint than drywall, and professional help should be sought out to complete these home improvement projects.

Textured Walls and Ceilings

Stucco and “popcorn” walls and ceilings are just two types of textures that can be a pain to paint if you don’t know what you are doing. The countless crevices and delicate texture materials could take days to paint properly, and even then the results are not guaranteed to be what you expected. » Read more: Leave Some Painting for the Pros

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Posted in Contractors, Home Improvements, Home Services

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5 Minor Renovations to Upgrade Your Home

February 3rd, 2011

Many homeowners would love to remodel certain areas of their home, but simply do not have the money to do so. Depending on the difficulty of the project and the contractor you enlist for help, a standard kitchen or bathroom remodel can cost upwards from $25,000! Most of us don’t have that kind of money to spend on our homes, but that doesn’t mean we have to settle for what we already have. There are many budget-friendly renovations that homeowners can do on their own to bring new life into outdated rooms. Here are 5 minor renovations that make a major difference:

  • Refinishing Cabinets and Painting Doors: The cabinets in your kitchen or bathrooms can often be refinished easily, especially if they are made of wood or plywood. A fresh coat of paint can make even the oldest cabinets look like new without the cost of replacement. Painting the front door of the home creates an attractive new color can create a much needed focal point to an overall boring or outdated landscape. » Read more: 5 Minor Renovations to Upgrade Your Home

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Posted in Home Services, Money Saving, Remodeling, Value

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