Monthly Archives: October 2022

Gas Fire Place – Do You Really Need One?

October 11, 2022   Matt

Gas Fire Place – Do You Really Need One?

Efficient operations of a ventless gas fireplace can be expected only by regular maintenance of a fireplace. You should have a certified chimney sweep inspect and clean the chimney as and when necessary. It is a good idea to learn how to inspect it on your own as well and keep checks at regular intervals. The chimney should be checked at least once a year or after approximately eighty fires. A chimney brush can be used to keep the chimney free from creosote build-up.

There is a good amount of precautionary measures which should be taken during the inspection and cleaning process of a fireplace. Make sure that all ventless gas fireplace fittings are tightened securely and completely extinguish the fire before cleaning. Make sure the chimney is cold along its length.

Glass doors may produce tough stains from flames and heat. These stains can be cleaned by using a glass cleaner available at ventless gas fireplace stores. In order to shine brass fireplace utensils and fittings, Worcestershire sauce and a toothbrush may be used. The firebox is the area where the logs burn. It should be cleaned at least once a week during the months in which it is being used most. It is a good idea to leave an inch of ash while cleaning as it acts as insulation for the coal to heat up faster and easily retains the heat.

An exterior slate hearth can be made to shine by washing, drying and coating it with lemon oil while exterior brick hearths can be cleaned by making use of a brick cleaner available at a ventless gas fireplace shop. A chimney cap should be used to prevent damage due to water, nesting of birds and carbon monoxide entering the house.

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What You Should Do If You’re In Need Of Plumbing (3)

October 10, 2022   Matt

What You Should Do If You’re In Need Of Plumbing

This is the best place for plumbing tips. You could look far and wide but you will not find tips as well written and clear as what you will find here. Use this article today if you want to know all that you should know about plumbing and your home.

Make sure overflow holes are cleaned out. This can help to prevent any water damage. Overflow holes are a way to stop water from overflowing if a sink is left on by accident. If the overflow hole is clogged it will not be able to do its job.

Don’t overlook the hair dryer trick for frozen pipes. If you have external pipes that are exposed, a simple hair dryer will get them back into working order. Make sure that you do not attempt it if there is pooling water in the area. Space heaters are useful for frozen pipes that are in the walls.

To avoid sediment buildup, drain gallons of water from your water heater to flush any corrosion. This will help your heater to run more efficiently therefore saving you regular energy costs. Make sure to read your heater’s instructions before attempting this, and do this periodically to make sure that your heater is running as well as it can.

Be sure that you shut off your drain lines and outside faucets when the weather gets colder. Cold weather, snow, and ice can cause these lines to freeze up, which can cause damage to them. If you can, try to have these shut off before the first frost of the year.

Make sure that the temperature of your home’s water heater is not above 120F. On older water heaters, be sure it is not above medium settings. When temperatures get higher than 120, scalding can occur. Also, having the settings above 120F, tends to use more energy than lower temperatures do.

If you have drains in your house that have not been used for a long period of time, pour one gallon of water through them to keep them functional. Furthermore, this will have the added benefit of reducing any odors from entering your house from lack of use during the year.

Avoid using harsh chemicals to clear clogged drains by purchasing a hand-held manual auger. A drain auger is a one-time purchase as opposed to purchasing a new bottle every time a drain is clogged. This is especially helpful for people who deal with clogged drains often, such as people with long hair or kids who like to drop things down the drain.

One of the things that you can do to maximize the security of your home is to seal all of the cracks in your outdoor faucets. Even a tiny crack can intensify as the season progresses and lead to serious problems down the road. Reduce drips and leaks for optimal protection.

In conclusion, plumbing is a skill that you should know about – plain and simple. It is something that you will always be able to use and you may be able to save yourself a lot of money and frustration in the future. Hopefully this article was beneficial to you.

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Tips On How To Handle Any Plumbing Situation

October 08, 2022   Matt

Tips On How To Handle Any Plumbing Situation

Ready to begin with your own plumbing jobs? Do you know where to start or how to begin? Do you know what equipment and techniques will work for your next task? Well, the tips that are listed below may be the very ones that you need.

Make sure everyone that lives in your house knows where to find and use the main water shut off valve in case there is a burst pipe emergency. This is especially important if you live in an area where your pipes may freeze. Take a moment to show your family members where the valve is and how to properly shut it off.

Don’t shrug off that trickle coming from your toilet as a small problem. Even the tiniest leak can be quite expensive in the long run as you end up wasting potentially hundreds of gallons of water. See if you can find the root of the leak, or seek out professional advice, and keep your toilet running efficiently.

Before starting a plumbing project be sure to know your pipes. Each pipe has a different use and every municipality has different codes for what pipes can be used for. Making a mistake in this area can be very costly, if you are forced to remove all the pipes from the work you have just completed.

If you are losing water through the fill valve and into the basin of your toilet, check to see if the problem is the valve itself or if it is just the result of the tank ball being improperly adjusted. Both issues are easy to fix, and finding and fixing it yourself will save you both money and headaches down the road.

If you have issues with the plumbing making a hammering sound when you turn it off, check your water pressure. Any time your water pressure is above 80 PSI, you will hear extra water noise. This can be easily solved by the installation of a pressure-reducing valve, which can be done by most homeowners.

If your plumbing is making strange noises you may have lost something called your “air cushion”. To turn this back on, you’re going to need to turn off your main water supply. Run all faucets in your house and then turn back on your main water supply. This should make everything sound better again.

When you are working with plumbing, you also need to have some basic skills in other areas. This is especially true of electrical problems, as the two systems often overlap. This doesn’t mean that you need to solve the problems, but that you understand what the problems could be.

If you are the kind of person who travels a great deal, then remember that different countries may have very different kinds of plumbing systems available. If you are not sure of how things work in the region where you experience problems, then you should either do research or avoid fixing the problem yourself.

Fair enough, you’re not going to become an expert overnight – but there are surely one or two pieces of advice here that you can use. Every job that you do yourself is one less job that you have to pay someone else to do!

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Time Management Tips to Keep a Smooth-Running Household

October 06, 2022   Matt

Time Management Tips to Keep a Smooth-Running Household

Ten Time Management Tips to Keep a Smooth-Running Household

Remember when your mom always told you to stay organized and you would have more time? Of course you do. How often have you misplaced something and thought if you don’t find it you would fall apart? If you find yourself still losing items it’s time to stop!

Stop putting yourself through useless hours of frustration and emotional outburst. Get organized and stay that way. Look how much easier life can be if you do. Your household will run so much smoother, and everyone from husband to the smallest tike in the house will not be waiting for misplaced items to be found.

Look at some of these useful household tips to help your life run much smoother and more efficiently.

Remember what mother said, and use your common sense. Schedule more time for things that you’re going to do around the house. It doesn’t matter if it’s vacuuming; block more time out to do it. If you hear yourself saying it shouldn’t take any more time than a certain amount of time to do something then re-think that statement. You know in your heart it often does, so learn to deal with blocking time.

Once you’ve decided to do something, keep doing it until you’re done. That doesn’t mean running your self into exhaustion. Taking a break is permissible, but don’t get off on another tangent until you complete what you’re doing. Complete it!

Use time by applying it to your advantage and use it proficiently. For example, when you’re unexpectedly interrupted by a noisy chatty neighbor, or a well meaning but lonely friend, it’s okay to tell them you’re busy. Go ahead and continue to do little things that take up the minutes of the day such as pick up toys, clothes or whatever else you were doing when interrupted. If they love you and care they understand.

Use the house cleaning one-week principal. Give your home a deep cleaning at least once a week. Getting the grime out every week or two weeks will keep the kitchen sink from building up with grime around the edges until you would have to sand blast it to get it clean. This wastes time. It’s not healthy either.

Keep lots of lists. Don’t depend on remembering everything, you can’t. By keeping you’re to-do list everyday, you won’t have your phone cut off right in the middle of a very important business call or more importantly an emergency. Keep your paper work up daily; even if that means just straightening it back into its organized pile.

If possible use the principle of lets get it done in one stop idea. Instead of wasting time and going here or there everyday, it is best to plan all outings to do at one time. For instance, go to pay a bill, pay as many as possible, then stop by the oil changing place, then before you go home, get groceries. On average, and depending on if you live around a larger traffic area, you’ll spend 15 minutes each way driving somewhere, that’s a lot of time to be wasting everyday. It’s not fuel efficient either.

Get rid of junky clutter in your house and garage. Have you heard people say that everyone has a junk drawer or a junk area in their house or apartment? Do you have one? That’s doesn’t need to be. If you’ve got junk, get rid of it. Let go of the painting that hasn’t hung on the wall for twenty years, unless of course it’s a family heirloom. If it doesn’t fit, get rid of it. If it’s beyond repair take it to the garbage heap.

Take the time to buy or make your own proper storage containers. If you’re still cramped after cleaning out, consider saving for a storage building, either rented or for your own yard.

Enlist the help of others and encourage them to help you rid of the clutter. You might have to do some real cajoling for the younger members of the family, that still want to keep a broken toy. Be persistent, but gentle with them. Ask them to donate used but well kept toys and clothing.

Prioritizing every day is what really needs to be done. If the clutter bothers you excessively or is not healthy then get rid of it

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Plumbing Information That Can Save You Money! (4)

October 05, 2022   Matt

Plumbing Information That Can Save You Money!

Doing your own plumbing repairs can have many benefits. You can save money by not having to call a plumber and pay for their labor. You can also gain a sense of accomplishment by learning new skills and completing tasks yourself.In this article you will find a few ideas that you could find to be very handy.

Look at your hot water heater and make sure that the temperature is not higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is, it could cause you to get burned or it could reduce the unit’s energy consumption. If you determine that the temperature is too high, adjust immediately to avoid any of these things from happening.

Do not ignore a slow flushing toilet. This is usually a sign that something is wrong. It can also cause backups and overflows. The most common causes of a slow flushing toilet are sediment build up, tank malfunctions, or partial clogs. You should periodically check for these problems.

If the hot water heater in your house is over ten years old, you should look at replacing it. Hot water heaters are very susceptible to corrosion on the bottom. This can lead to leaking and flooding whatever room it is in. Then not only will you have to replace it, but you’ll have to fix any damage caused by the leak.

You need to winter-proof your house. You have to make sure you switch of the master circuit breaker or the shut-off valve before you leave your house. Since one small hole or congested water can quickly freeze and cause pipes to break and expand, you need to drain and open all outdoor and household water lines.

To avoid plumbing disasters in your kitchen, never place hard-to-grind, stringy, fibrous waste, such as poultry skins, banana peels, carrots, celery, or cantaloupe pulp, into the garbage disposer. The disposer can’t sufficiently grind these food products and they will clog your sink drain. You should also run cold water down the drain for about 15 seconds before and after using the garbage disposer to flush the waste down the main drain.

If you absolutely need to contact a plumber, be careful with the professional that you pick. Like mechanics, plumbers are experts in their particular field, and they may try to convince you to do a job or service that is completely unnecessary given your problem. Try to find one who has gotten good reviews, especially when it comes to honesty.

If you need to get a new toilet, be sure you go with a trustworthy brand. Cheap toilets are more likely to break down easily and you will end up having to buy a new one. If you are unsure of which brands are good, ask the salesperson in a home improvement store.

There is no doubt that many of the common maintenance and repair jobs that need doing on your plumbing are things that you are well capable of. You just need to adopt a cautious and methodical approach. Don’t rush anything or take chances and you’ll be fine. And, if you’re a husband, you can score major brownie points with your wife!

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Plumbing Tips You Should Definitely Check Out 2

October 03, 2022   Matt

Plumbing Tips You Should Definitely Check Out

Clogged drains are a problem for several people, as substances like food particles, hair, and other blockage can make a sink or toilet overflow. With a little prevention and purchasing a product like Dran-O, you can try plumbing by yourself. Read this article for some tips on how to do plumbing yourself.

During the week, hair and soap can build up in your drains and can cause serious clogs. Make sure that you have strainers in each of your drains to help catch this debris so that it does not become an issue. This will help to keep your water flowing efficiently.

Periodically check your pipes for leaks and cracks. These can be forgotten, since pipes are usually hidden away, but checking for leaks and cracks can help you identify a small problem before a big problem occurs. You may have to enlist the help of a family member to turn on and off the water stream as you are checking.

When dealing with a plumbing issue that is outside the home, understand that all of it is not yours to repair. The city is responsible for part of this plumbing so don’t do repairs on it unless it is yours. If the work is done improperly, you can be held liable for any damages.

If you are going to work on valves, you should look for a cutaway diagram of the type of valve you have. This will help you understand how the valve works, and how you can put it back together if you have to take it apart to find the problem.

If you are thinking about becoming a plumber yourself, then you should first try to start out as an apprentice. If you can find a good mentor then you will learn a great deal more from watching and assisting him than you possibly could learn by working on projects alone.

If you have infrequently used drains in your house, you should pour water into them on a regular basis. This water will fill the trap and will prevent odors from entering the house. If you have slow floor drains, you should snake them to ensure they are capable of carrying water away quickly in the event of a flood.

Before starting any plumbing project on your own be sure to do a great deal of research. There are many resources available to assist you in understanding your plumbing system and help you to avoid many common mistakes made by do-it-yourself novices. Reading about other people’s mistakes can make the difference of saving or losing money.

If your toilet is slow to flush, add some white vinegar to the overflow tube. White vinegar helps the water from your tank to flow quickly, which will make the toilet flush faster. It is recommended that you use about a quart of the vinegar and let it stay there for at least an hour before flushing.

Hiring a plumber can be an expensive endeavor, and it may be unnecessary. Simple problems like clogged drains can be fixed at home without hiring a professional. Remember the tips in this article if you are having trouble with a sink or toilet overflowing or you need to clear a drain.

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