Home Maintenance, Fire Safety, Garden Chores, New
Issues.
Home
Maintenance for winter months
The two most important issues to deal with during
the coldest months of the year is insulation,
and moisture control. They are the biggest drain
on our pocket during the winter. Not enough insulation
and you lose heat, and the furnace operates longer
and works harder, resulting in more maintenance
of the system.
Moisture problems can be a leaking roof, a
bad gutter system, or a damp wet basement. All
of these failures will cost you money and add
to the overall deterioration of your home. Water
and cold air are a bad combination in the winter
for our homes and creates an unhealthy enviornment
for its inhabitants.
Attic insulation should be R-30 for exterior
walls. Use R-19 if you are insulating a crawl
space.Also,be sure to use a moisture barrier.
Stay at least 3 inches away from light fixtures,
exhaust fan motors and vents. Do not compress
insulation, this makes it less effective. When
installing insulation, wear protective clothes,
saftey glasses, and inhaler protection.
Moisture control is more specialized. Unless
you have a lot of free time and higher then
average mechanical skills , leave this job to
a professional. Basement waterproofing requires
a multitude of skills to be effective. If you
are not afraid of heights, and have a long ladder,
you may wish to clean or install new gutters.
Roofing is best left to professionals
Find
out more....
Quick
Links...
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Happy Holidays
This completes our first year of offering
homeowners a free subscription service to
our preventive maintainence newsletter.
The response has been spectacular, resulting
in many compliments and new word of mouth
subscribers. We have our original core of
subscribers to thank for that.
As we enter our second year we ask for
any suggestions to include in future issues.
If you wish to make a contribution to an
upcoming issue, let us hear from you. All
email addresses are kept confidential.You
will never get spam from us. Four times
a year you will get a quarterly preventive
maintenance newsletter to help maintain
your most expensive acquisition, your home.
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Safety Issues for Winter
Tragically this is the time of year many lives
are lost due to carelessness. In most cases
children are the victims. The combination
of lights, candles and dry vegetation, coupled
with carelessness or fatigue is the cause
of these tragedies. What measures can we take
to avoid turning a happy occasion into a sad
one. .
First thing on the list is to practice
the home fire drill once again with all
occupants of the home. Go to your local
fire house and get the full treatment, the
kids will love this and it will have more
of an impact on them. Be sure to call ahead
and make arrangements. Show everyone where
the fire extinguisher is and how and when
to operate. Have a place outside the home
for everyone to meet and count noses. DO
NOT GO BACK IN THE HOUSE, let the firemen
do their job.
Use extension cords wisely, do not overload
them, they will get hot and create a dangerous
situation. Keep all trees and garlands watered
and away from electrical devices. Turn off
lights or pull the plugs before going to
bed. Make sure smoke detectors are operating
properly. Check that escape routes you have
practiced for your fire drill are clear
of debris. Dispose of boxes and paper as
soon as possible. Take this stuff outside
of the house, it is fuel for a fire. If
you choose to use candles, snuff them before
bedtime, and check them again. Never leave
a candle burning if you are leaving the
house.DO not let children light or extinguish
candles. Keep candles away from any vegetation,
curtains or positions near a vent or fan.
Do not let tragedy spoil your holiday
for a lifetime. Avoid being a statistic,
be aware, be carefull, stay alert.
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Gardening Chores
If you live anywhere in the USA that is not
in a 9 or a 10 zone, planting is not an option.
But there are other duties to attend to. Clean
up tools, look at seed catalogs, poke at the
soil and think about what you will plant in
the spring. Look under the tree for that new
tiller. Mostly enjoy the anticipation of an
early spring planting season. But if you are
getting antsy, here are some suggestions.
Compost Pile? Got one? If not get started.
Did you know that something as simple as
coffee grounds supply a 4-1-3 fertilizer
rating? They can be applied directly to
the soil now, before planting season starts.
Couple this item with potato peels, banana
skins, shrimp shells, and shredded leaf
debris. Let it cook for a few weeks and
now your talking compost. My grandfather
used to tell the tale of leaving a shovel
stuck in the compost pile one year, and
in the spring the handle had sprouted small
branches with leaves? It could happen!
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Wood heat safety
With the widespread use of wood and pellet
stoves, some thought should be given to the
apparatus that carries the gases, soot and
ash away. As a result of the energy crisis
in 1973, wood burning stoves became popular
as an alternate form of heat. Most of us where
not aquainted with the mechanics of solid
fueled heaters, and some safety issues were
ignored. Remember there is a fire inside your
house, and even though it is a controlled
fire, there is still an element of danger.
Here are some precautions to be concerned
about if you are burning solid fuel.
Without a covering over the opening of
the firebox burning logs can roll outand
flames and sparks may spew about. Other
dangers include hot ashes placed in combustible
containers, creosote burning in the chimney,and
sparks flying from the smoke stack. Asphyxiation
can cause death as a result of a malfunctioning
exhaust system connected to a firebox.
Hire a professional to clean and inspect
your chimney. Be aware of combustiable articles
close to the firebox. Practice fire safety.
Click on the firebox icon for more information
from woodheat.org
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New format and design of our newsletter.
You may have noticed a new design in this
issue of our preventive maintenance newsletter.
This is a result of our former supplier being
replaced with a more efficient system, giving
us more options, and a better presentation
of our articles. We will feature more pictures,
links, and contributing experts that were
just not possible using the old first generation
system.
We offer this quarterly maintenance update
to subscribers only. We do not belong to
any emailing list. The only folks that get
this newsletter are the ones that subscribe.
We will never offer your email addresses
to anyone, so please feel free to forward
a copy to your friends and neighbors.
We have initiated new "building" websites
across the country. Look for them soon.
www.buildingdallas.com and www.buildingdenver.com
are up and running with more planned for
the future. This will give your home service
providers a place to be listed to offer
their services at the local level.
The American Contracting Exchange family
wishes to extend our heartfelt wishes for
a wonderful new year filled with happiness,
success, and health. We will continue to
offer good advice that will be helpful in
maintaining your home,reminders to practice
safety in the home,present new products
and home service providers in your area,
and continue a positive relationship with
all of our subscribers. Here's to a wonderful
2004! See you in the Spring! George Waldhauser
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