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4 Reasons All Families Should Invest in Home Maintenance Plans

November 26, 2018 by Samantha 1 Comment

Your household has many appliances and other amenities that are important to your day-to-day life. Unfortunately, these useful household features can and do break. Repairs can be inconvenient and expensive. A home maintenance plan just might be the solution to your household repair problems.

General Home Warranty

Image via Flickr by okchomeseller

Home warranties are most often offered during the sale of a house. They are meant to serve as an incentive to attract more buyers at higher offer prices. Home warranties are useful not only for new home buyers but also for existing homeowners. Although home warranty inclusions will vary among different policies, some cover all basic household appliances, such as washer, dryer, dishwasher, and oven. There are also home warranties that cover specific systems, such as plumbing and electrical systems.

If you think a home warranty might be right for your household, make sure you consider all your options. Evaluate the age of your appliances versus the cost of the warranty. Consider the process of claiming a repair. Some warranty companies require that you pay out of pocket and then reimburse you, while others cover the repair up front.

HVAC Maintenance Plan
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Filed Under: home Tagged With: check in

How to renovate your bathroom on a budget

November 7, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

According to Household Quotes, replacing a bathroom can cost anywhere from £2,500 to over £6,000 to complete. With such a high price tag on a total renovation, here are some creative alternatives to update your bathroom without breaking the bank.

Shabby chic or just plain shabby?

Take a look at your bathroom as it is and decide what does and does not work. Replacing units for the sake of having a completely new bathroom is simply a waste of money and it can quickly mean that you’ll break your budget.

That outdated avocado bath-tub might be considered ‘retro’ by adding a few pops of colour to the room and those dull off-white tiles could be transformed with a lick of high-quality paint. When you’re working on a tight budget, it always pays to “refurbish” rather than replace wherever you can.

Shop around for everything (and we mean ‘everything’)

If certain pieces simply have to go, consider replacing individual items rather than going for a totally new suite. This can lower your total bill dramatically while making your bathroom look completely new.

Homebuilding and Renovating list the average price for individual bathroom installations as follows:
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Filed Under: home Tagged With: check in, DIY

Roto Rooter for Your Clogged Drains

October 24, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

It is very annoying and can be time consuming when your sink or drains begin to back up. Never at a convenient time (although, really, when is there a good time), our good friend Murphy always makes sure that it’s when you are in a rush or have company. Sometimes, though, a quick fix can be had.

We recently tried Roto-Rooter on one of our clogs, and I can tell you that this is not a staged photo. For real. Our bathroom sink has been super annoying, backing up regularly. Not much has helped it, and we’ve tried pretty much everything. Sometimes, you just need something to get the water moving in a pinch.

These are the kinds of situations you will be glad you have Roto-Rooter on hand. Just follow the directions on the Roto-Rooter bottle, and pour half the bottle down the drain. After it cleared, we flushed hot water down the drain as the directions stated. The clog disappeared, and the water moved down the drain as it should.

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: DIY, home, house, Roto Rooter

For Kids: Renovation Ideas Perfect for Your Basement

October 9, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

photo via extraspace.com

Kids need their own space too. They need a safe and comfortable place where they can play, goof around, and generally just have fun. You don’t have to look far that place. In fact, you don’t even have to go one step away from your front door. Your home has just the right space to turn into a special kids zone—the basement.

Yes, behind the damp, dreary atmosphere lies the potential to be a fun, comfortable place where the kids can freely and safely play to their heart’s’ content, without disturbing the neighbors. So for your next home improvement project, try these basement renovation ideas that are perfect for kids.

Get Rid of the Moisture Problem

Before anything else, you must first address the moisture problem in the basement. Most basements have damp environments due to the pipes and mechanisms located in the room. Plus, basements are underground, so there’s moisture coming from the soil and not enough ventilation to let them all out.

It isn’t healthy to be exposed to such environments, especially for developing kids. Dampness encourages the growth of molds, which puts people at risk of certain health effects, upper respiratory tract symptoms, coughing, and wheezing. Moreover, the moisture-rich environment itself is unhealthy for people.

As such, your first step for renovating the basement should be resolving the moisture problem. There several ways this can be done. You have to find the sources of the wetness and remove them then you can install insulation and waterproofing to get rid of the problem for good (or at least for a long, long time). When they moisture problem is done and dealt with, you can then move on to turning the basement to the space you want.

Make a Family Room

Spending quality time with the kids is crucial for building a closer relationship with them and for their development. But you don’t have to go far or spend a lot of money to have fun with the little squirts. Bonding time can be spent indoors, in your very own basement family room.

The basement family room can be an extension of your living room, except with better soundproofing. You can add in a big TV or projector, surround sound system, video game consoles, board games, and even a popcorn-making machine. The family can gather there watch movies, play all kinds of games, and be as loud as they want.

Build an Extra Bedroom

An extra bedroom is always useful when you have kids around. Kids need to be taught how to be independent and sleep by themselves. This allows parents to have peace and quiet at night and recharge for the next day.
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Filed Under: home Tagged With: check in, design, home

6 Things To Remember When You’re Furnishing A Bedroom

October 7, 2018 by Have Sippy Will Travel Leave a Comment

Your bedroom is the last thing you see when you go to sleep and the first thing you see when you wake up. That’s why it’s important that you decorate and furnish it nicely. If you wake up in a bedroom that you aren’t comfortable in, you’ll start the day off in a bad mood. A bad bedroom can have a serious impact on your sleep as well which causes you all sorts of problems. There are a lot of rules that you have to follow when you’re decorating a bedroom like staying away from any bold patterns or over the top colors that might be too stimulating. Furnishing a bedroom is tricky and if you get it wrong, you’ll end up wasting space and creating a cramped room that you can’t sleep properly in. But it doesn’t have to be as hard as you think to furnish your bedroom properly, you just need to consider these things.

Start With The Bed

If you buy all of your furniture at once, you might find that you can’t fit everything in or some of the pieces don’t look right in the room, at which point it’s already too late and you’ve wasted a load of money. This is especially important if you’re moving house and you’re trying to buy furniture before you’ve actually moved into the house. The bed is the most important piece of furniture in the room because it’s a focal point and it takes up the majority of the space. That means you need to build the rest of the room around the bed. When you start furnishing, buy the bed first. Then you can start to think about what other pieces of furniture will work well with it.

When you’re buying your bed, you need to consider a couple of things. Firstly, be careful with the size. It’s tempting to buy a huge king sized bed but if it only just fits in the room and you don’t have any space for other furniture, you’re going to end up with a cramped bedroom with no storage and hardly any floor space around the bed. Don’t just buy the biggest bed you can fit in there, think about how much space you’ll have around the bed once its in.

Once you’ve found a bed, you need to get a mattress for it. Mattresses can get quite expensive and you might decide to save yourself a bit of money by getting a cheap one. But cheap mattresses are cheap for a reason; you’ll end up with a bad back and you’ll never get a good night’s sleep. It’s better to spend a bit more money on a decent one so you don’t have to replace it in a couple of years.
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Clogged Drain? Try Roto Rooter

June 30, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

What do you do when you have a clogged sink or bathtub? It’s super annoying, and it causes serious issues in the house. How are you supposed to do anything when your sink isn’t working right? And it always happens when you are having company, am I right?

We recently tried Roto-Rooter on one of our clogs, and I can tell you that this is not a staged photo. For real.

Our sink has been super annoying, clogging up on the regular. Not much has helped it, and we’ve tried pretty much everything. Sometimes, you just need something to get it moving in a pinch.

We followed the directions on the Roto-Rooter bottle, and pured half the bottle down the drain. After it cleared, we poured hot water down the drain as the directions stated. It did indeed keep it clog free for quite some time.

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Filed Under: home, review Tagged With: Roto Rooter

How to Clean a Garden Umbrella

June 1, 2018 by Samantha 1 Comment

Garden umbrellas can be quite convenient in offering that well-sought shade in the garden. They ensure that you enjoy the warmth of the sun without necessarily getting a sunburn. Not only are they convenient in providing shade in a garden setting the can also be used to provide shade in outdoor patios. Some even say that they are a fashion statement to complete the outdoors décor. The charcoal gray patio umbrellas are particularly a favorite when it comes to making statements.

This means that the Umbrella needs to be kept looking pretty and tidy. For this regular cleaning is essential. So the question begs, how do I clean my Outdoor umbrella without damaging it?

For starters, it is advisable that you clean your garden umbrella regularly. The recommended span between each clean is at least once monthly. However, umbrellas that are placed under trees or shrubs may require cleaning more often because of the dirt and debris that accumulates from the trees.

So, to begin the cleaning process, it is important to note that the canopy and the umbrella stand or base and frame need to be cleaned differently.

Cleaning the Umbrella Canopy

For non-removable fabric umbrella canopies, move the canopy from the sun into a shaded area so as to prevent the soap from drying up before you complete cleaning it.

Begin by taking the canopy and laying it on a protective surface
Then dust off or vacuuming any loose dirt on the canopy. Avoid using a hard bristle brush as this pushes the dirt deeper into the fabric.
Next, pour in a quarter cup of laundry detergent into a gallon of luke-warm water.

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: check in, cleaning

Four Safety Tips to Follow before Leaving the House

May 25, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

away from home

You want to always leave the house with a sense of peace knowing everything is in order even when you are away. Whether you’re off to work or embarking on a summer adventure to a faraway island, check this list of four safety tips before you step out of your home:

Make Sure You Have Your Keys

Your house keys are probably one of the most misplaced items you own. You don’t want to get locked out of your own home, so it’s best that you double-check that you got your keys with you at all times. A simple hack for making sure you do not forget your house keys is to keep them in one dedicated spot, like a decorative tray or bowl set in a place that’s accessible to you. Make it a habit to toss your key into this designated corner as soon as you get home so you’ll always know where to find it. Also this trick makes it easy for you to grab your keys and go when you’re rushing out the door. If worst case scenario comes that you really can’t remember where you last placed your keys, calling a locksmith or using some nifty lock picking tools will be your friend.

Turn Off the Plumbing

This tip will depend on how long you are staying out of the house and if you have any household appliances that require your plumbing system to be constantly turned on like automatic sprinklers. Otherwise if you are going out of town for a couple of days then you should turn off the main shut-off valve of your home’s plumbing because, among other things, water pressure could unexpectedly surge while you’re gone. You want to keep your water bill under control while you are gone. This will also ensure your different toilet fixtures from your sink to your high quality macerating toilet to be in tiptop condition when you get back. If you will be gone for a few months, request a friend or house-sitter to turn on the water at least once a month to prevent plumbing fixtures from drying up or cracking.
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