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May 4, 2019

5 Important Questions to Ask Your Plumber Before Hiring

What you should know before hiring someone to perform services in your home

You need the expert help of a professional problem with any complicated plumbing fixture defect. From clogged drains and sewers to leaky faucets and backflow of wastewater, an expert plumber is the only solution on offer. However, there are a few key questions that you need to ask your expert before hiring him.

We have compiled a list of 5 important questions for you to ask your plumber to ensure you get deal for your buck. Plumbing is a difficult and tricky job, and since the workers will be working inside your property, it is important that you make your decision regarding Sewer line repair Virginia Beach only after favorable reviews from previous employers of the service.

So let’s have a look at the questions

Are they licensed?

This is the big one. A license holder ensures that the service and the workers are legal, trained workers and insured. Never miss out on the point of the valid certification for your expert plumber. Always ask first and make sure that you review at the very least three plumbers with respect to licensing and quotations.

What is the total cost?

Most of the professional services offer free estimates, but you should ideally get it in writing. A visual check is essential for an accurate quote so be wary of services who want to do this over the phone. Some estimates might look good on paper, but the cost goes up with the requirement of materials and fixtures.

Is it an hourly rate or flat rate?

You need to make sure of the payment policy for the plumbing service you are thinking about employing. There are two structures at work, the flat rate, and the hourly rate. The second one might be unfavorable for some as the longer the work continues, the higher you have to pay. So make sure you know the details to avoid unwelcome surprises later on.

When is the payment due?

You need to ask the plumber when he expects to get paid. The payment protocols are different for various services and plumbers. If your expert is asking for the full payment before the job, you should be walking away. Most plumbers use a system of “milestone” which means paying off a certain percentage once a significant part of the work has been completed. Some will use the “number of day” system and ask to be paid after a certain number of days at the job. Always ask your questions before investing in a service.

Who will be doing the work?

When you are going for a professional plumbing service chances are they will have a number of plumbers at their service. There will be a fleet of experts and work laborers working with the service. You need to ask about the plumber and workers who will be working at your property and about their experience, levels of professional courtesy and punctuality. If you do not feel comfortable with the personnel and they don’t not match up to your standards or the service cannot provide the details, you should keep looking.

Always invest in thorough research before investing in plumbing service. This will help you save time and money in the long run.
Related:
Professionals Every Homeowner Should Have Listed in Their Contacts
Are You Ready For The Plumbing Emergency?
Checklist for Having a Smooth Home Renovation Process
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March 26, 2019

Pressure Washer Uses: 10 Ways to Use a Pressure Washer

A pressure washer can be used for way more than just cleaning your car. We look at some practical as well as some unusual pressure washer uses.

You’ve got a list of things to get done around the house and you’re behind schedule yet again. Does this happen to you way too often?

Part of running a household involves thinking of new ways to get things done. When you can streamline a troublesome chore, life is much easier.

A pressure washer is a great tool to keep on hand. However, many people don’t use them to their full potential. The truth is, there are a ton of ways you can harness the power of water.

To help you get the most out of this great tool, we’re going over ten pressure washer uses you may not have thought of.

Outdoor Furniture

It doesn’t take long for your deck or patio furniture to take on dirt and grime. The last thing you want to do is try to tackle this cleaning job with a wet rag.

Instead, use a pressure washer to cut through the buildup without having to use too much elbow grease. You can use it for vinyl, wood, or plastic outdoor furniture.

If you’ve repainted your furniture, make sure you use a lower pressure to ensure the paint doesn’t come off. This is called soft washing. Check out these differences between soft and regular pressure washing.

Wooden Fences

Is your white picket fence not looking so white anymore? Use your pressure washer to remove the dirt that inevitably builds up over time.

If you have a large yard, you may need to get a hose extension so you can reach all sections of your fence. This is a small investment when you think about the alternative, which is scrubbing your fence by hand.

You can also use your washer to clean metal fencing, trellises, or lawn ornaments. Make sure to adjust the pressure if you’re cleaning delicate items.

Deck and Patio Surfaces

If you like to entertain guests with backyard BBQs, you want your outdoor setup looking nice. Unfortunately, decks and patios are hard to keep clean.

These outdoor surfaces are prone to muddy footprints, dead leaves, and other debris. Plus, when it rains, you’re left with a huge mess if water from the yard flows onto your deck or patio.

A pressure washer is by far the best tool for this cleaning job. You can blast away mud, dirt, and leaves in a matter of minutes.

Children’s Outdoor Toys

If you have children, there’s a good chance that toys are all over your yard. Because these items are for outside use doesn’t mean you should neglect cleaning them from time to time.

A pressure washer is great for removing dried mud from kid’s bicycles, scooters, or skateboards. Make sure to use lower pressure so you don’t remove paint or stickers.

Then, turn up the pressure and clean swing sets, monkey bars, or trampolines. If your children are old enough, assign them this cleaning task. There’s a good chance they’ll find the process fun.

Garbage Receptacles

If you don’t clean your trash bins on a regular basis, they’ll start to emit a funky odor. This can attract bugs, which no homeowner wants to deal with.

A pressure washer provides an easy solution. Add a little detergent to an empty garbage bin and spray away. Any debris or buildup that’s stuck to the side or bottom will come off right away.

Don’t forget about your outdoor, curbside receptacles. These accumulate grime very quickly so make sure you wash them out from time to time to avoid foul odors.

Gardening Tools

If you do a lot of gardening around your house, you need to keep your tools in good shape. This means cleaning them from time to time.

Instead of cleaning each tool by hand, spray them down with high-pressure water. You won’t hurt them and they’ll get squeaky clean in seconds.

In addition to small tools, use your washer on larger items like wheelbarrows, buckets, and wagons. Anything that won’t sustain water damage will benefit from the occasional spray.

Speaking of gardening, if you need to water your flower bed, set your pressure washer to low and start spraying. You can cover a large area and won’t damage your plants as long as you angle the washer up.

Grills

What gets dirtier than a grill? If BBQs are a big part of your summer, you’ll need to clean your grill from time to time.

If you have a basic charcoal grill, use your pressure washer to remove heavy buildup from the grate. You can also spray out the bottom and get it looking brand new.

Remember to dry your grill directly after cleaning to avoid rusting.

Getting Stuff Out of a Tree

Yes, you read that correctly. A pressure washer is a great tool for removing objects from trees.

We’re primarily talking about balls or other children’s toys. If you can’t reach them with a broom, a pressure sprayer can get to them.

You could also remove dead branches that have fallen but get caught in the tree.

Home Exterior

There’s a good chance the outside of your house could use a wash. It’ll surprise you how much better your home will look.

You can use a pressure washer on any material, including brick, siding, or wood. Turn up the pressure to cut through all the dirt and grime.

It’s important to keep the gutters on your home free of debris. While you’re cleaning your home, go ahead and use your washer to spray out the gutters. You’ll need to buy an extension to reach them, but it’s well worth the cost.

Unwanted Pests

If you’re dealing with a pest problem around the outside of your home, a pressure washer is a great alternative to insecticides. The great thing about this approach is it allows you to keep your distance while eliminating the problem.

Things like wasp’s nests, anthills, and spider webs are no match for a pressure hose. Plus, if you get rid of them once, there’s a good chance they won’t return.

Take Advantage of These Pressure Washer Uses

Maintaining the outside of your home is just as important as taking care of the inside. There’s no reason not to make the process as easy as you can.

Keep this list of pressure washer uses handy when starting your spring and summer chores. It’ll make life much less stressful.

Check out more articles on gardening topics and outdoor maintenance.

Maintenance Articles:
Low Maintenance Yet Beautiful Gardens
Seasonal Maintenance of Your Heating and Airconditioning Units

March 5, 2019

Five Awesome Facts About Your Tap Water Filter

Tap water can be full of nastiness: germs, algae, rust, ancient dirt, and chlorine galore. Even if it has no distinct color, you may want to give it some thought and TLC – you do live off it, after all!

More and more households are choosing to filter their water and for good reason. If you ever wanted to learn how your water filter actually works, you can read up on that at this web page. Meanwhile, here are five nifty facts about your tap water filter that you may not have known.

It is more cost-effective than buying bottled water.

Bottled water comes in all shapes and packaging, from huge gallons, through multi-bottle packs, to single-serve disposable bottles. You can even get it in dozens of different flavors! Factoring in all of the available varieties, when you compare what people spend on bottled water vs. the average cost of tap water, it turns out that bottled water is about three hundred times more expensive. Let that soak in (pun intended). You spend three hundred times more money on the exact same amount of water.

Now, you might argue that installing a water filtration system in a whole settlement is more of an expense, but it actually only adds around $0.02 cost per pint of water, so it is still far more cost-effective – and there is no need to worry about the shelf life of all those fancifully flavorful additions.

It is way more sustainable.

Caring for the environment is important! Even if you throw your water bottle in the correct bin, the chances of it getting recycled are actually fairly slim. If you look at the statistics for the United States alone, about 62% of this plastic ends up in landfills instead of recycling centers, and it is not much better in the rest of the world, either.

Moreover, for each liter of water, three liters are used to manufacture and clean the bottle. The bottling process is also a major contributor to the glass house effect – its average carbon dioxide emission measures in millions of tons on an annual level. Your home water filter helps you combat both the gas emission, wasted water, and the rate of bottles that wind up in landfills.

Your filtered water is actually cleaner than bottled!

Nowadays everybody already knows about BPA (aka Bisphenol-A), a carbon-based substance linked to cancer. But bottled water contains a lot more junk than that, believe it or not. It contains several contaminants that are outright harmful, such as certain kinds of plastic byproducts, fertilizer, and even medical waste, all of which slowly but steadily seep into the water that you bought to drink. That sounds super appetizing, doesn’t it? In fact, if you were to run a liter of store-bought water through a filter you can monitor, we would bet you a muffin that you would be shocked at all the dirt.

It is easy to use and maintain.

Let’s step away from the city waterways for a second. Consider the typical household solutions: point-of-use filters that you mount on your faucet, and pitcher filters. These remove the filth from your water by means of carbon filters, which are easily removable (pro tip: replace them every couple of months). There are also “countertop” filtering systems that you can purchase, and their filters last significantly longer. Usually, you would need to replace them once a year. They also often employ more complex systems, filtering your water in several steps, removing pesticides, industrial waste etc. over the course of a few filtration stages.

It makes your water tastier than the bottled variety.

Yes, we said “tastier”; you read that right. Even though we know, in principle, that water is odorless and tasteless, in practice, all of the nasty stuff we listed above does give it a taste – we are just desensitized to it, so we fail to register it at all. Bottled water is especially guilty of this “aroma”, having that sharp, harsh, ugly taste of plastic that has been standing in hot sunlight for a while (no matter where the bottle was stored before purchase). No wonder that filtered water tastes way fresher!

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Related:
Is Your Drinking Water Safe?
Do You Use A Water Purification System In Your Home
Ways in Which Your Choice of Water Filter Factors into Creating a Green Home

October 25, 2018

6 Place You Can Buy Colorful Eco Bags From

Do you always end up spending extra on carrier bags every time you go shopping? Every plastic carrier bag you pay for is costly for both you and the environment. The environmental impact of plastic is akin to a horror story. By saving money on carrier bags, you can save the environment as well. You can buy printed eco bags instead of plastic ones. The printed fabric bags last longer than plastic bags and can be reused. You can buy printed eco bags of various designs to match your everyday looks. Before you can flaunt your green habits by using an eco-friendly bag, you need to buy them.

Online Stores

The first place you can look for when looking to buy printed eco bags is online. You can find generic printed fabric bags on websites like Amazon. Different sized bags with different prints can be ordered from these online shopping sites. If you want something that looks less generic, then you can look for hand painted options. Many Instagram artists might be selling their artwork printed onto fabric bags. On Etsy, you can find hand painted as well as printed reusable fabric bags.

Custom Printed Items Shops

If you have any specific print in mind, then you can get that printed on fabric bags. There are printing shops both online and off that specialize in printing designs on items. At such shops, you can get everything from hats to mugs printed. After you find a shop, you can give them the image you want to be printed. Usually, the shops will have fabric bags, but their options might be a little limited.

Grocery Shops

Many grocery shop owners are opting to run a greengrocery shop. Hence, many grocery shops only stock reusable fabric bags instead of plastic ones. If you are not picky about the design of the bag, then you can save money by buying a cheap fabric bag from your grocery shop. You may not find fabric bags at every grocery shop. Big grocery chains tend to stock fabric bags.

Book Shops

Just like grocery shops, bookshops also tend to sell fabric bags. Bookshop fabric bags tend to be better designed than the ones that you might find at a grocery shop. You can choose to buy printed eco bags from bookshops even if you do not buy a book.

Flea Market

Flea markets have many handicraft shops. You can find printed or hand painted tote bags at flea markets. There may even be pop up shops where artists paint caricatures onto fabric bags. Browsing through your local flea market can help you find a customized or unique fabric bag that suits your wants.

DIY

If you are unable to buy printed eco bags that tickles your fancy, then you can make one at home. You can take an old T-shirt and make a cloth bag. After you make the bag, you can unleash your artistic side and paint it however you want. By recycling an old T-shirt to make a bag, you will be reducing your carbon footprint even more.

Try to find the perfect eco-friendly fabric bag or go ahead and make your own.

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you make a purchase using an affiliate link.

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