Tag: home

home improvement

7 Signs You Have a Plumbing Emergency ( & Who to Call)

Plumbing emergencies can cause major headaches and property damage if you don’t know what to do about them, but they’re not too difficult to handle if you know what you’re doing and can get the right help. According to Home Advisor the average cost for a plumber is $175 to $480. A small price to prevent tens of thousands of dollars in damages if something major happens. To make sure your plumbing stays in good shape for years to come, you’ll want to call in the professionals when you start experiencing any of these seven signs that you have a plumbing emergency on your hands.

Luckily, we’ll always have a West Hartford emergency plumber on-call to deal with these plumbing emergencies. All information in this article is provided by our experts at West Hartford Plumbers.

1.   Is It Leaking?

If your pipes are leaking, call a plumber right away. A leaking pipe can cause serious damage to your home and personal belongings if left unchecked for too long. Not only that, but water leaks can cause mold or mildew growth inside your walls or ceilings, causing health issues over time. If you see any signs of flooding—even very small amounts—have a professional handle it right away.

2.   Has Water Pressure Decreased?

Run your water at full blast in several locations around your home, including in kitchens and bathrooms. If you notice any areas where pressure is lower than normal, contact a plumber right away. This might mean that you have larger issues with leaking pipes or small cracks in your plumbing system that will need to be taken care of quickly before more extensive damage occurs.

Not all plumbing issues are emergencies, but water pressure that is significantly lower than normal should be taken care of quickly. If you notice areas where your pressure is low, let a professional plumber know right away.

3.   Is There Water Behind Walls/Ceilings?

If you notice water coming through your ceiling, you’re likely dealing with one of two issues: cracked or damaged pipes or leaking fixtures.

If water is coming from your ceiling, it’s time to call a plumber. More often than not, a cracked or damaged pipe is behind these leaks and if you continue to ignore them, they will only get worse. Fixing them as soon as possible could prevent structural damage and long-term water damage in your home.

If you smell sewer gas or notice wet spots on your floors or ceilings, your sewer line might be leaking sewage into your walls or ceilings. This is a very serious problem and one that should not be ignored. Sewer leaks can damage your home’s foundation and can cause mold to form in just hours—that’s why it’s critical that you get them taken care of as soon as possible.

4.   Has Water Discolored?

One of the most common indicators that you may have an issue with your plumbing is that your water has turned brown or yellow. Don’t ignore discolored water coming from … Read More...

tips for home

6 Benefits of Regularly Pressure Washing Your Home’s Exterior

If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve probably never pressure washed your home’s exterior. But once you do, you’ll wonder why you waited so long! In fact, having your home pressure washed regularly can be incredibly beneficial for many reasons, including looking new again, increasing curb appeal and making it easier to clean the inside of your home as well! Here are six of the main benefits to regularly pressure washing your home’s exterior.

This information was put together by our pressure washing Southington team! We’re proud of the work we do and are happy to share our expertise with homeowners. Trust Southington Power Washers to get the job done right.

Get Rid of Mold & Mildew

Mold and mildew can build up on homes if they aren’t cleaned regularly. Black mold can even cause health issues in some people. A professional pressure-washing service uses water and a strong cleaning solution to remove these fungal spots—and protect your family’s health at the same time.

If you don’t have mold and mildew now, pressure-washing your home on a regular basis can also help prevent mildew and mold growth under siding—or even growing inside walls that have moist air getting into them. You could be saving yourself some expensive remodeling in years to come by cleaning up while it’s still easy!

Clean Up Stains & Spots

Stains and spots are a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Maybe it’s because you don’t want to be one of those people who never seems to be able to keep up with outdoor maintenance, or maybe it stems from fears that stains and spots might point out other imperfections in your home. Either way, good news: They can go away easily with professional pressure washing services.

These services can take care of spots and stains for you, keeping your home looking fresh. If you have hard-to-remove stains on your driveway or patio, professional pressure washing companies will be able to remove them, leaving behind a surface that looks clean and new.

Pressure washing services are an important part of overall exterior home maintenance. Professionals can handle staining and scum removal on surfaces like wood decking, concrete walkways, and stone patios without damaging these surfaces with heat or harsh chemicals.

Prevent Further Damage

Preventing mold and mildew is essential to extending your home’s lifespan. Mold spores can be found on practically any surface that has been exposed to moisture, including wood, brick, siding, shingles and even windows. Oftentimes, homeowners overlook cleaning their windows because they think that it won’t cause as much damage as other parts of their house. This couldn’t be further from the truth! The buildup of grime on windows can grow mold quickly once left untreated.

By keeping your home clean, you not only prevent mildew from growing, but you also keep dirt and grime from collecting on other parts of your home. Dirt buildup on shingles and other surfaces can eventually lead to discoloration or peeling paint if it isn’t treated early enough. Having your home … Read More...

housing tips

5 Tips for Segregating Your Waste at Home

Why Is Waste Sorting Important When Recycling? | Greentumble

Waste segregation is an action so important, that an effective practice of it would not only be realized to be beneficial to the occupants of the home in question, but would also be advantageous to environmental health.

Where waste is not segregated as it should, it may result in a poor disposal of certain wastes, which would reach the landfill and contribute to the pollution of air and water.

On UK.collected.reviews, many have shared their experiences with waste segregation, and what role the solar panels, one of the green energy providers, play in the correct disposal of wastes.

Below are five factors instrumental to the segregation, which aids in the correct disposal of waste at home:

Separate Bags, for Separate Waste:

There are certain types of wastes that are of a dry nature, just as there are the ones that are of a wet nature. If a proper segregation is to be had, these wastes must be ‘stored’ properly. Plastic and glass materials should be disposed of in a dry bag. Clothes are of a dry nature, as well as shoes and food containers. Where these are made clean, they may be recycled, or given to organisations that collect them, thus reducing the wastes that get to the dump site.

Compost the Wet Waste:

Kitchen waste like vegetables, fruit peels, egg shells, fish insides and scales, cooked food, would qualify as wet waste, and it is best that these types of waste are composed. There are different processes by which wet waste may be composed, and when done properly, rich compost will be had, and it can either be used at home, or sold as manure.

Store the Hazardous wastes separately:

Cleaning agents, paints, insecticides, and other combustible and flammable materials would qualify as hazardous and what is best done to them is that they are properly disposed of. This may be by keeping the materials in their original packaging before disposing of them, donating them, or dropping them off to specific facilities that cater to hazardous materials.

Dry before you Dispose:

Before these wastes are put in a bag, it is necessary that they are properly dried. The cake and pizza boxes are dry waste, and they should be cleaned and dried before being disposed of. Where they are bottles that contain a sauce or flavoring, they must be washed clean and dried before getting added to the bag of dry waste.

Dispose Properly:

Where it is an item that may not fall under the category to be donated or composed and would simply be thrown away, the disposal of such item should be done properly. Broken furniture, glass, sanitary wares, or simply debris should be stored properly till they are ready to be picked up.

The amount of waste generated at home is a lot, and it is for this reason important that it is disposed properly because when it isn’t, the wastes would prove hazardous to the environment, which would in turn negatively affect … Read More...

home renovation

5 Sources to Explore for a Home Renovation Loan

A loan requested for the purpose of home refurbishment allows homeowners access to money to repair their houses. This loan for rehabilitation can take the form of mortgages or personal loans. You will have to provide documentation that the money was expended on the house or paid to the builder, depending on the terms of the loan you get.

Renovation loans measure how much a home owner will repay using the estimated amount of a house after a refurbishment instead of the present valuation. If you are sure the renovation either reduces your long-term expense or raises the value of your land, you should only consider borrowing to renovate your house.

Any renovation will increase the value of your property by more than you spent on renovations. Home-building loans are included in the mid-range program. Visit Collected.Reviews to Learn more about getting a loan.

So, here are 5 sources you can explore:

1.     Flagstar

Flagstar offers banking and credit services. The creditors can pick and choose adjustable mortgages from traditional or government-backed loans, such as FHA, VA and US Department of Agriculture loans. Home equity loans and credit lines are other options.

2.     Avant

This online lender for “mid-size income borrowers” provides no inexpensive loan alternative for home renovations with APRs beginning at 9.95 per cent and an administrative fee of up to 4.75 per cent. Yet Avant is much more appealing by comparing the terms and conditions with those proposed by others.

3.     Upstart

Upstart has a specific lending strategy that can help borrowers apply for a cheaper loan, especially credit-free borrowers. The lending site, founded by a group of former staff at Google, has developed an application mechanism that takes into account, not only your credit, but also other factors and what kind of rate you apply for. Upstart’s estimated home renovation loan is $11,700. Unfortunately, Upstart loans may have an origination fee of up to 8%, and this fee would be charged immediately before you collect the funds. The $10,000 credit could amount up to $800 for the origination charge.

4.     Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo provides various means of financing projects for home renovation, including unsecured personal loans. You won’t need to place any leverage, such as the equity of your house, to access finance when you want an unsecured loan. Wells Fargo is a brick and mortar bank with thousands of branches across the United States which will cater to customers who want to speak with an individual about funding opportunities.Present Wells Fargo consumers can protect their loans at a cheaper cost. You will earn a 0.25% discount from your interest rate if you have a qualified Wells Fargo checking bank account, which you can use for automated payments. The APR of the lender on an unsecured personal loan begins at 5.74% and origination or prepayment costs are not to be paid.

5.     Navy Federal Credit Union

More than 9 million military service members in each state are … Read More...

building tips

Why You should Test Your Businesses’ Fire Alarm System

6 Important Reasons to Test Your Business' Fire Alarm System

You don’t want to lose your assets and properties to a conflagration due to negligence so testing our fire alarm system is a great idea. To start with testing and ensuring every system is functioning properly and optimally on a regular basis is a good tip. So, installing fire alarm systems from a professional and reputable company implies the system will always be properly tested and maintained so it functions on the advent of a fire outbreak.

Regular inspection from licensed professionals might seem like overkill but you don’t want to have an emergency and your fire alarm systems are down. This would cause you to spend more money than you would have if the right thing was done. You can look up more information on this topic from ReviewsBird.com as they provide a different perspective on this issue.

Benefits that accrue from testing and inspecting your business fire alarm system

Fire alarm systems are preventive measures but business insurance on fire-related challenges may also be important as things can get dirty and out of hand.

Regular testing can save your business money

That sounds counterintuitive but most property insurance companies offer discounts if the business provides proof of inspection of the fire alarm system. If your business fire alarm system stops working on the occasion of a fire outbreak, the business could be liable to lawsuits due to injuries suffered by employees or customers.

Regular testing can save lives

If regular inspection of the fire alarm systems is done, in the occasion of a fire outbreak the fire alarm system would be triggered, therefore ensuring people safely evacuated from the environment forestalling any occurrence of injuries or death.

Regular testing and inspection are required by insurance companies

Insurance companies would not pay for damages incurred by the business if they fail to provide proof that the fire alarm systems were regularly tested before the occurrence of the fire incident. Insurance companies require documented evidence the fire alarm system was functioning optimally at the time of the fire outbreak.

State and local laws require testing

State and local counties have different legislation when it comes to testing and inspection of fire alarm systems. The defaulter may pay huge sums if found wanting.

Regular testing and inspection forestall nuisance alarms

When a fire alarm system is faulty it triggers when there is no fire outbreak, so properly testing and inspecting fire alarm systems are required to prevent alarms from coming on when nothing is happening. Nuisance alarms can also lead to business being charged by the fire department due to false alarm.

Regular inspection and testing lower legal costs

If you need to protect your business from a lawsuit then you’ve got to ensure your fire alarm system is properly tested so, at the onset of an emergency, the system should allow everyone to exit the property safely.

It is in the best interest of business owners to ensure they entrust their business safety to reputable fire alarm companies … Read More...