Home & Auto Maintenance Archives - Page 12 of 36

fireplace, Home & Auto Maintenance, Safety Gear

Smoke Detectors – What You Don’t Know Could Kill You

Okay, now that I have your attention, did you know that approximately every three hours, a home fire death occurs somewhere in our nation. And 66 % of those occur in homes without working smoke alarms or detectors?* The most common reason those detectors weren’t working? Worn out or removed battery.

Photo from CreativeCommons.org – courtesy of WickedChimp

I’m sure you have heard that you need to replace your detector batteries every time you change your clocks (Spring and Fall or every 6 months.) Are you good about doing that ? If not, I hope you will now. At the very least decide on a date to change your smoke detector batteries annually.

What about when you are vacationing? Do you test the smoke detectors in your rental house? Testing the detectors takes all of a few minutes to press the “Test” button on each detector and wait for the alarm to sound.

Don’t rely on the vacation homeowner to check the alarms. There is always a chance that renters could have removed a low battery from a detector. Several years ago there was a horrible fire a few blocks away from the beach house we usually rent. Seven young students died in the fire. It was never determined whether the smoke detectors were working or not, but one of the survivors didn’t remember hearing any go off. Don’t let yourself become a statistic.

What type of smoke detector should you buy? Read more

February 26, 2016/5 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Home & Auto Maintenance

How to Patch Holes in Drywall

How to Patch a Hole in Drywall | Pretty Handy Girl

Nothing ruins the look of a well maintained house like a hole in the drywall. Whether it be an angry child throwing a temper tantrum or a careless mover. Patching the hole is an easy task, but it requires several steps to get a perfect result.

Ready to learn? Here’s How to Patch Holes in Drywall:

Most home improvement stores sell a variety of wall patch kits. The one I used is the Snap 2 Size Wall Patch (affiliate link).

Materials:
(contains affiliate links)

Wall Patch Kit
Joint Compound
Drywall Taping knife (6″ or wider)
Utility Knife
6-in-1 Painter’s tool
Sand paper

Instructions:

Find the size metal patch (from the kit) that best fits your hole. Ideally you want 1/4 – 1/2″ larger than the hole.

Bend and snap off any excess.

Hold the metal patch over the hole and gently score the drywall around the patch. Read more

February 8, 2016/3 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

cleaning, Decor Adventures, Home & Auto Maintenance

How to Clean a Humidifier

Winter is such a dry season, and the appropriate time to keep the air quality inside of your home healthy with moisture. This can be easily done with a humidifier. During the coldest days of winter it seems like our humidifier is constantly running. All that use can put a lot wear on it, but it’s easy to take care of your humidifier in just a few steps.

Here is How to Clean a Humidifier:

Materials:
(contains affiliate links)

Humidifier
New filter (find your’s on Amazon)
Sponge
Water
Vinegar
Rag

Before you clean your humidifier, consult with the instruction manual that came with it. If you can’t find the manual, do a search online. Usually companies have links to instructions on how to clean their appliances.

Instructions

1. First, unplug your humidifier. Take it apart and empty the water container. Separate the pieces and discard the old filter.

2. You’ll see the parts that need attention. They build up with residue that needs washing. Make a spray with water and vinegar (or just pour vinegar into the base of the humidifier). Use a wet sponge to wipe down the base.

How Energy Efficient is Your Water Heater?

Let’s talk more about energy efficiency today. Did you know that your water heater can be one of the biggest energy hogs?

It’s true! That conventional storage tank water heater works all day to keep your water hot. If the thermostat senses the temperature dip below the set temperature, it turns on to heat the water again. This goes on all day and night regardless if you are home or not. And until recently, water heaters had very little insulation. This meant that cold air in your garage or crawlspace would wreak havoc on the water heater making it work that much harder to keep that tank of water hot. It makes sense that this is one of the least efficient systems in your home.

New government guidelines have been established to require all conventional water heaters (tank storage style) to be more energy efficient. To achieve these higher standards, newer tanks have built in insulation. Sounds great, right? Not entirely. If you are replacing your old water heater with a new one, the same gallon capacity water heater takes up more space and may not fit in the same spot. This means you may have to purchase a new water heater that doesn’t hold as many gallons. This is a real problem if you have a crawl space water heater. It’s a good idea to plan ahead and replace your water heater before it dies. Your new water heater may even pay for itself by being more energy efficient than your old one.

What’s a homeowner to do? Well, first and foremost you need to determine if it’s time to replace your current water heater. Take this simple few question quiz to help you determine if you need to think about replacing your water heater. Go ahead, I’ll wait right here. Read more

November 23, 2015/8 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Decor Adventures, Home & Auto Maintenance, Home Maintenance, Landscaping

How to Winterize Your Rain Barrel

Hello friends. It’s Jessica, from Decor Adventures with some easy tips to get your home ready for the cooler months ahead. I’ll show you how to winterize your rain barrel, which goes perfectly with Brittany’s recent guides on ways you can keep your home warm this winter and how to protect pipes from freezing.

Rain barrels have been growing in popularity and are now a common way to save money on water use for your landscaping. They are also great for corralling water way from certain areas of your property. If you have been looking for a rain barrel, check the local environmental non-profit organizations in your area. They often sell them at a discount.

Now that winter is approaching, those barrels must get properly put away so they can last for many years to come. We’ve been using our barrel for five years to collect water from the 1-car garage and help water the garden all summer long.

Here are a few tips on how to winterize your rain barrel:

Connection of a rain barrel to the gutters of a building can be via a few methods:

Gutter diverter – an attachment you can connect to a downspout to easily close off the water supply to the barrel and return it to a straight downspout once you aren’t using the barrel over the winter or when it gets full.
Flexible gutter – connects the downspout from the gutters on the garage to the rain barrel. These are also called flex-a-spout or vinyl elbow at the home improvement store and are very handy for diverting water in a non-straight path.