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Tips for First Time Home Buyers

December 29, 2023   Matt

Tips for First Time Home Buyers

Buying a home for the first time is very exciting – no more renting, you are now paying and investing in yourself by paying your mortgage. However, through all the excitement of a mortgage and buying a new home, it’s easy to get carried away and to forget some important things you should be looking for. It would be awful if your first home buying experience turned out badly and you bought a house that was a money pit because you didn’t take a few moments to look at all the aspects.

One of the key things first time home buyers should do is look into home warranties. A home warranty works similarly to warranties that you have on your vehicle or your appliances. You wouldn’t buy a new car or an appliance without a warranty, so why would you make the biggest purchase of your life and not get a warranty? Home warranties cover a variety of major repairs that may happen after you purchase the house. Home warranties are available for both new homes and older homes.

Either the buyer or seller can purchase a home warranty. If the seller has purchased the home warranty, it’s because they are trying to secure their pricing on the home and sell their home faster. As a buyer, you would purchase a home warranty as a safe guard against any major reparations that need to be done to the home that you couldn’t see, or tell, when you purchased the house.

Regardless of who purchased the home warranty, it is important to look at the coverage that is offered by the company. Coverage varies from company to company and state to state. When you talk to a home warranty agent, or look at the sellers’ policy, be sure to ask what is and is not covered on your home warranty specifically.

Most home warranties will cover:

  • Air conditioning system
  • Built in dishwasher
  • Built in microwave
  • Built in trash compactor
  • Ceiling fans
  • Central heating unit
  • Duct work
  • Electrical systems
  • Garbage disposal unit
  • Plumbing systems
  • Refrigerator
  • The oven or range
  • Washer and dryer
  • Water heater

Most of everything else is not covered. This includes:

  • Outdoor sprinkler systems
  • Outdoor water systems
  • Faucet repairs (unless otherwise stated in the policy)
  • Spas (you can request/add this coverage in some cases)
  • Pools (you can request/add this coverage in some cases)
  • Hot tubs (you can request/add this coverage in some cases)
  • Permit fees
  • Hauling away debris
  • Hauling away old appliances

It’s also important to find out when a request would be denied. There are plenty of reasons why a home warranty would be considered void, including:

  • Improper maintenance
  • Improper installation
  • Code violations
  • Unusual wear and tear

It is a good idea, when you buy your first home, that you have an inspection done on the house to ensure that it is properly up to the building codes and that there are no code violations and that the major systems and appliances in the house are properly installed and that they’ve been properly maintained.

Buying a home can be so exciting that you may jump at the first house that meets your needs and your budget – many people have been there. It’s always a good idea to take a step back from the situation and really look at the house – is this where you want to live for at least the next three to five years? Is it what you hoped it would be? Are there other homes that you are considering?

In some cases, having a home warranty can make or break the decision to purchase your first home. Most often, first time home buyers aren’t entirely up on what they are taking on – there’s no landlord to call if the pipes burst – that’s for you to handle. No heat? No hot water? You have to pay to replace and fix those items. These items cost up to thousands of dollars – do you have the money to fix and replace these major items, such as the electrical system, major appliance, hot water heater or furnace if they should stop working? This is why it’s always a good idea, especially for first time home buyers, to purchase a home warranty to protect them from the sometimes incredible expense that is associated with owning your own home. When you look for a home warranty, be sure to ask lots of questions and get a few quotes so you can compare the coverage on the home warranties and the rates that you will be charged.

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Plumbing Advice That Anyone Should Have In Their Knowledge Arsenal

December 27, 2023   Matt

Plumbing Advice That Anyone Should Have In Their Knowledge Arsenal

This article has some of the best tips and tricks available to you concerning plumbing. You can check elsewhere if you want; however, in order to make the most out of your time, we suggest that you take a few minutes to check out the expert advice provided here.

When dealing with a clogged drain and no snake is available, use a hanger to clear the clog. By straightening the hanger and bending a small hook at the end, you can create a long enough tool for most drains. Slide the hangar in as deep as possible and poke in and out repeatedly till the clog is cleared.

In the winter months, if you live somewhere where temperatures fall below freezing, leave your faucets on a little bit to let a thin stream of water through. This will help prevent the pipes from freezing, which could be a major problem for you and all the pipes in your home.

If your drain in any device is taking longer to drain water, then you may need to have your pipes professionally cleaned depending on the severity of the circumstances. Before you do this, there are several different products you can try. However, some of them are professional strength and all products should be used with caution.

Don’t start any do-it-yourself plumbing project without having a plan in place. You need to know beforehand exactly what you are getting yourself into. Know what kind of space you are working with and what lines are which. Getting a clear picture early on will make your plumbing project go a lot smoother!

One way to avoid a common plumbing problem is to make sure never to flush anything but human waste and toilet paper down a toilet. Other things made of paper like tissues, paper towels, and the like do not dissolve the same way toilet paper does and can get stuck.

Every now and then, you should pour a large bucket of water down your basement floor drain. This will help to keep the trap seal full and prevent certain gases from coming up into your home. Also, be sure that you have your floor drain checked by a professional every few years.

If you ever put food down the garbage disposer after a meal, make sure that you run cold water for about 15 seconds to help drain the excess debris. This will help in flushing out the excess particles down your drain, which otherwise, can build up and cause a clog, eventually.

Insulate all of the pipes in your home that run along an exterior wall to prevent them from freezing. This step is not going to cost you a lot of money, but it is going to save you quite a bit of damage by preventing pipe freezes. It is easy and cheap to do and should be done as soon as possible.

In conclusion, not all advice should be taken seriously. Be sure to be careful who you take advice from especially when it is something that could lead to much frustration in the future. This article hopefully provided all of the details that you need to know about plumbing.

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Do Your Own Plumbing With These Tips

December 25, 2023   Matt

Do Your Own Plumbing With These Tips

Simple plumbing issues can not only hurt the image of your home but they can destroy your wallet. Simple things from clogged drains, to more advanced leaks can be incredibly destructive. Don’t fret however! With a few essential tips for the do it yourself home plumber, you will be ready to take care of any issue.

You can remove unsightly mineral buildup from your shower head by soaking it in vinegar overnight. This loosens the deposits, and in the morning you only need to wipe off the residue with a rag. If your shower head is high up an not removable, place vinegar in a plastic bag, slip the bag over the shower head and hold in place with a twist tie.

If one of your pipes is leaking, you can fix it easily. Drain the water from the pipe by shutting off your main valve and open the closest faucets to drain the remaining water. Clean up the pipe from corrosion with sand paper and apply soldering flux. Heat the pipe with a torch and apply new solder. Repeat until the leak stops.

If you have a water pressure or fill problem throughout the whole house, do not panic. It could be the simplest of solutions. Sometimes the city flushes their systems, breaking up debris and sending it to homes. This requires cleaning drains effectively and strainers in order to resolve the problem.

Use a hairdryer to thaw frozen pipes, after you shut off the water to the house. A hairdryer will gently heat the pipe and thaw the ice without causing significant damage to the pipe. Shutting off the water first means that if the pipe is broken, there will be no rush of water into the house.

If your sewer is backed up, there are things you can do to troubleshoot and clean, including renting equipment like a main line cable. However, often times this does not fully take care of the problem. A professional needs to assess the issue then, using a camera method, and thoroughly cleaning the main line.

When looking for a new toilet, you may want to consider getting a pressure assisted toilet. These kinds of toilets deliver water directly to a jet in the bottom of the toilet. This jet is very powerful and helps to remove waste quicker and more efficiently than other toilets do.

If you plan on doing any work on your walls, from putting in a nail to hang a picture to literally tearing it down, you’ll need to know where your pipes are. Smashing a hammer through drywall only to find you’ve also dislodged a pipe and created a flood is not a great way to start a project!

Plumbing can be an advanced, highly technical profession where more often than not, you need an experts help. However, sometimes that is not the case and there are some simple do it yourself home fixes. If you take a little time to read about them you will find some of the most common plumbing problems are able to be handled by the common man.

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Is Landscape Fabric Even Necessary In Landscaping?

December 24, 2023   Matt

Is Landscape Fabric Even Necessary In Landscaping?

Landscaping fabrics are by no means an answer to a no maintenance landscape. I know a lot of folks are under the impression that they can simply buy it, place it, cover it, and forget it. Forever.

First. There is no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. In many instances landscape fabric can make your life a lot easier. However, there is an upside and a downside to using it. And as with most everything else, proper installation and maintenance is required if you intend to use it.

Landscape fabrics have their applications. They aren’t necessary in all applications but might be preferred in regards to the type of groundcover you use.

Our company uses weed barrier in 95% of the designs we create. It’s the nature of our business as we use decorative rock as the preferred groundcover around here. When using rock for groundcover and path work, it’s necessary to have a separator between the soil and groundcover. Otherwise, you’ll have mud rocks by the first rain storm.

In theory you should be able to use almost anything as a separator. I’ve seen do it yourselfers use anything from plastics to newspapers and cardboard boxes to old carpet remnants. Of course, as a professional, I can’t use or even suggest something like this to my clients. You’re on your own there.

Now personally, on any given project, I would much rather do away with fabrics altogether. I prefer to create living soil planting areas that are mulched and tended rather than being covered and forgotten. However, some areas are simply too large to apply this method and some folks just outright prefer to cover an area with decorative rock.

Both mulched living beds and rock beds underlain with fabric will require some work to keep them beautiful. Neither is maintenance free. As long as there is wind, rain dirt, and blown in seed, there will be something for you to do in your yard.

When we create a design using landscaping fabric and rock, I make the client aware of a few things. 1) There will be blown in seed and dirt. 2) Something will have to be done about it to keep it from accumulating. I assure them that with the quality of fabric we use, nothing will grow in from the bottom. However, we have no control of what blows in on the top.

Spraying the unwanted weeds with herbicide will take care of the weed problem. However, this does nothing for the dirt, leaf, and plant particles that are hiding under your rocks. And if you allow these to accumulate, they’ll continue to accumulate and you will never get rid of them. So periodic maintenance is required even if you do use landscaping fabric.

Periodically using a blower on your bedding areas will slow down the accumulation of dirt and in some cases eliminate it altogether. How easy and thorough this is depends a lot on the type and size of rock you use.

Small pea gravel accumulates and holds onto dirt, and is harder to clean than rock of a 1 ½” + nature. Not only does it hold onto dirt but has a tendency to be blown all around when being cleaned with a blower. Pea gravel works well for paths, walkways, and smaller areas but I don’t recommend it for covering larger areas.

As far as using landscape fabric under bark and mulch covered beds? In many cases this can actually be easier to take care of than living beds or rock covered areas as it can easily be picked up and replaced every few years. This will keep your landscape always looking new without having to blow dirt or mulch beds.

Remember. There’s no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. Landscape fabrics can make things easier in many applications but like everything else, they require a little bit of keeping up. No, they aren’t necessary in all landscaping applications. However, I believe you’ll find them to be your best choice for many groundcover applications.

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Tips And Tricks For All Your Plumbing Needs 3

December 22, 2023   Matt

Tips And Tricks For All Your Plumbing Needs

Fixing your own plumbing can be a difficult and intimidating thing to try. There are so many things to know, and it seems like it could be easy to accidentally break something and make the problem worse. However, taking care of common plumbing problems can be easy with the proper knowledge. Read on for some practical tips on solving and avoiding plumbing issues.

When you wash your hands, be sure that you have not left any soap on the faucet handles. What people do not know is that leaving soap on these fixtures can cause fixtures to corrode. Just take two seconds after you are done washing your hands to remove excess soap from the handles.

To prevent the most common kitchen sink clogs, avoid putting any sort of solid foods down your drain. Many foods, such as eggs and vegetable and fruit waste actually harden with exposure to cold water and over time can form clogs that are next to impossible to remove without professional help.

Make sure to never leave any flammable liquids near your water heater. Certain liquids like gasoline, solvents, or adhesives are flammable, and if left too close to the water heater, can ignite. If you have to have these liquids in your basement, place it far away from your water heater.

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.

Do not put stringy or fibrous items into your garbage disposal. Substances like banana peels, gristle, or celery may not completely break down in the disposal, and may clog your pipes instead of flowing out of the waste lines as they are supposed to. When in doubt, do not try to dispose of something that may not break down completely.

To prevent the pipes from freezing, it is advisable to seal off air vents, cracks and access doors. In order to keep the heat in and the cold out, you can try using insulation or caulk. In the event a leak occurs, make it a point to remind everyone where the master circuit breaker is so it can be shut off immediately.

When replacing any PVC type pipes in your home, make sure you buy the correct PVC for the job. PVC comes in several different sizes and grades as well as for different temperature applications. If the water going through the pipes is headed for the kitchen or bathroom, or is for laundry or gardening usage, it must be labeled as “Potable.”

As you can see, solving plumbing problems isn’t so hard when you know what you’re doing, or if you have the right advice. When you are well-informed it can save you agreat deal of money. Make a note of what you’ve learned in this article and see how easy it is either to fix your own plumbing problems, or at the very least, ensure that you get a good service from a professional.

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Breathe Easy With Tips On How To Control Asthma (3)

December 20, 2023   Matt

Breathe Easy With Tips On How To Control Asthma

What is asthma? Asthma is when the bronchi of the lungs spasm as a result of triggers. These spasms can cause inflammation and overproduction of mucous, making it hard to breathe. Asthma is a frightening condition, but you can take back your body with maintenance. This article will outline some hints to help you on your way to managing this chronic condition.

You might think that using a fan will help you breathe better. If you do not dust your house properly, using a fan will cause the air to carry dust particles. This may cause you to experience difficulties breathing. You should always dust your house before you use a fan.

If you suffer asthma attacks when in a certain place, like a building or car, it may be that you’re allergic to something found in that area like mold, pollen, dust mites, or other allergens. You should always get an allergy test done by a doctor to determine what allergies you have.

Regularly inspect your property for any signs of mold. It is best to get this done professionally as the pros can check in places that you won’t be able to access easily. Mold can be an indication that there is damp in the home. Mold can lead to serious respiratory infections to both the elderly and young. Its spores can easily cause an asthma attack to occur, so it should be eradicated at the earliest sign.

Add onions to your daily diet. Onions contain a chemical called diphenyl-thiosulfate, which has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-asthmatic effects. Eating more onions can reduce your need for pharmaceutical interventions in order to treat your asthma symptoms, by increasing your body’s natural ability to reduce inflammation in your lungs.

Be careful of taking common medications if you have asthma. Many can trigger an asthma attack. Among these are things like aspirin, beta-blockers, ibuprofen, various migraine medications, cold medications and more. Always consult with your doctor before taking any over-the-counter medication. In fact, you should see your doctor about any medical questions to be sure you are taking proper care of yourself.

Buy cleaning products that are labeled as environmentally-friendly. This will not cost you more, and they are just as efficient as chemical products. These green products will reduce the risk of asthma attacks and allow you to keep your house clean at the same time. Look for non-toxic cleaning products.

People that have asthma are often known to have allergies that can trigger your symptoms. Make sure you know what you are allergic to so that you can learn to stay away from the things that can hurt you. An allergist is the best one to give you a broad allergy test.

As you can see, asthma does not have to rule your life. Living well with asthma only requires that you keep stock of your symptoms and a close working relationship with your medical professional. With medication and lifestyle changes, you can reclaim your life from asthma and enjoy renewed freedom!

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