Chimney Cleaning Services: Chimney Myths You Should Be Aware Of

While chimneys have been around for a long time, they are surrounded by many myths that can confuse you if you aren’t keen. Here are some of the most common myths as given by chimney cleaning services providers:

You can easily clean the chimney by yourself

It’s true you can clean the chimney by yourself if the chimney is small, but if it’s large, you will have a hard time keeping it clean. Proper chimney cleaning requires you to have the necessary training, experience, and tools. This means that if you don’t have any of these, there is no way you are going to properly clean the unit.

Chimney cleaning also comes with its risks. For example, you can easily choke from the creosote and lose your life. Instead of trying to clean the unit by yourself, you should hire a chimney contractor to help you with the cleaning.

Since the contractor has the necessary training, experience, and tools, he/she will clean the chimney fast and give it the looks it deserves.

You don’t need to clean or inspect a rarely used chimney

It’s true that rarely used chimneys aren’t as active as their counterparts that are used daily, but this doesn’t mean that you should ignore it. You should note that even if you aren’t using the chimney, birds, and animals can build nests on the chimney blocking the unit.

What is the result of this? When the chimney is blocked, carbon monoxide and other gases don’t leave the house which puts you and your family at risk.

Do you have a chimney that you barely use? Ask a chimney expert to inspect it and get rid of any birds or animals that might be there.

Chimneys with metal liners don’t need to be maintained

Chimney liners come in handy at increasing the efficiency of the chimney, dealing with the common chimney problems, and extending the life of the chimney. While this is the case, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t inspect or maintain the unit.

Just like any part of your chimney, the chimney liner is susceptible to creosote buildup and other issues that can lead to chimney fires.

For you to ensure that your unit is in top shape all the time, you should hire a chimney professional at least once a year to inspect it for defects it might be having. Also, remember to clean the unit if a lot of creosote has built up in it.

You don’t need to clean the chimney when you are using hardwood

You must have heard that you should burn hardwood for you to reduce the creosote levels in your chimney. It’s true that hardwood tends to burn at higher temperatures; therefore, little creosote is deposited on the walls of the chimney.

If you don’t remove the creosote for a long time, the levels will gradually pile up putting your house at the risk of fire. Regardless of the firewood that you are burning in your chimney, you should always clean it. As mentioned, hire a chimney cleaning professional to help you with the work—avoid trying to clean it by yourself as you won’t do a good job.

For you to reduce the creosote that might have built up in your unit, you should avoid burning softwood. The softwood tends to burn at lower temperatures that lead to the accumulation of creosote in the chimney. The best way of going about it is using hardwood that has been air dried for at least six months.

You don’t need to clean the chimney after buying a new house

If you have bought a house that is completely new you don’t have to worry about cleaning the chimney, but if there were people living in the house before you bought it, you should get worried about its cleaning.

You should only ignore cleaning the chimney if you have proof that it was recently cleaned. If you aren’t sure when the chimney was last cleaned or inspected, hire a chimney sweep Bowie or any other professional to inspect it and clean it if necessary.

Remember, the previous house owners might have gone for a long time without cleaning the chimney putting you and your family at the risk of fire.

Tree Removal Services: Things To Consider When Removing Trees

Are you looking to remove a tree? You need to follow a set of tips for you to do it right. Here are some of the tips to consider as given by tree removal services providers:

Put on the right protective gear

Anything can go wrong when you are cutting a tree. The tree can fall on you, branches might get on you, among many other things. For you to protect yourself from the risk of cutting a tree, you should put on the right safety gear. You should wear a hard hat, a pair of gloves, and hearing protection for your eyes.

Use the right chainsaw

You need a chainsaw to remove the tree of interest but you shouldn’t use just any saw that you come across. As rule of thumb, you should avoid using an old or poorly maintained chainsaw. For you to be safe when cutting the tree, use a properly maintained chainsaw.

In addition to the properly maintained unit being easy to use, it also tends to be much safer to use. You can buy the chainsaw or rent it from your local store. In addition to considering how properly maintained it is, you also should consider its size. The size should depend on the size of the tree. If looking to cut a large tree, go for a large chainsaw and vice versa.

When you are using the chainsaw, be extra cautious as you can easily hurt yourself and other people in the area. Always ensure that you have a firm grip of the machine so that it doesn’t slip off your hands.

Before you start using the chainsaw, you should check whether it has the right tensions in place. It’s common for the chain to stretch and even loosen. Before you start cutting the tree, check whether the saw has the right tension so that you don’t have issues when cutting the tree.

Check the tree you are cutting

Did you know that some people cut the wrong tree? This is because they aren’t keen on their work. Don’t do this. Before you start the process, take time to inspect the tree and ensure that you are cutting the right one.

You should be cautious when you are cutting a rotten tree. Since the tree is already rotten, parts of it can easily fall off and land on you. You should avoid cutting the rotten trees. If you have to cut them, let a professional handle it.

When bringing down the trees, pay attention to the direction at which they fall. Is this the first time you are cutting the tree? You should note that the tree tends to fall away from the cut direction on the “hinge.” While this is the case, you should note that if you saw in one direction and you don’t provide an adequate felling hinge, the tree will fall in any direction that gravity dictates.

As you might have guessed, this would lead to property damage, tree damage, and even injury to you and other people in the vicinity. For you to be safe, you should take your time researching the direction that the tree will fall.

When cutting the tree, cut it with a directional notch that is deeper than 15-20% of the tree’s diameter.

Remember, even with the best planning, things can go wrong. For you to be safe, you should always have an escape plan in place. Have a way in which you can escape in the event the tree doesn’t go where you intended to.

Get rid of tree stumps

Removing a tree isn’t enough—you also need to get rid of stumps that remain. Leaving stumps after removing a tree not only leaves your yard looking ugly, it also leaves your yard infested with insects and even termites.

Stumps are also a safety hazard as people can easily trip on them.

As soon as you have removed the tree, you should work at removing the tree stump. The cool thing is that there are many ways in which you can remove the stumps. You can do the work by yourself or hire tree services Chevy Chase providers to help you out. Just like when removing a tree, take caution when removing the stumps so that you don’t injure yourself.

Listing Agent DC: Tips On How To Prepare Your House For Sale

When you are looking to sell a house, you need to find a listing agent DC for you to sell the house fast. While this is true, you should note that you won’t sell the house if you haven’t taken care of the basics. Before you go ahead and list your house, here are some of the things you should do first:

Fix ugly areas

Every house has areas that might put off potential buyers. You should pay attention to these areas and fix them as soon as possible. is the carpet too old? Get a new one. Are the walls washed up? Paint them.

While it’s recommended that you fix the problematic areas, you should be cautious when doing it. This is because you can easily find yourself spending too much money than you will get after the sale. When making the renovations, ensure that they are as affordable as much as possible.

For example, if the carpet is old, avoid going for the most expensive one in the market. You should find a decent one that will uplift the look and design of the house.

Declutter the house

Less is always more when you are preparing the house for sale. After fixing the ugly areas, go ahead and get rid of anything that doesn’t add much value to the house. This calls for you to do a clean sweep of the windowsills, tables, counters, and other visible areas of the house.

When you get rid of the excess materials, you not only give your house a sense of space, you also make it look neat which is bound to attract the buyers.

One of the major issues with people, when they think about decluttering their homes, is where they will take the excess materials. If the stuff is damaged, you should simply dump it. On the other hand, if the stuff is still in good condition, the best way out is to donate it. You can also pack it up and store it at an area where you will pick it up later.

Get rid of personalized items

It’s common to think that people will like the same things that we like. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. We are unique and want different things. When you are cluttering the house, you should remember to get rid of personal items such as family photos, bold artwork, and any furniture that gives your house an ugly look.

Regardless of how sentimental the items are, you should get rid of them. Remember, no one cares about what you value. For you to attract buyers, you should create a blank canvas where the potential buyers can build on.

Get rid of odors

There is nothing as off-putting as bad smell. Bad smell gives the impression that your house is dirty. It also might mean that the house is infested with animals. You should note that even slight odors can be a deal breaker; therefore, you should ensure that your house is odor free.

It’s common for people to get used to the smell of their houses that they might not notice it. Before you list your house, take time to invite someone to the house so that he/she can try to detect any smells. The smells can be pet smells or any other.

Are the smells pervasive? You will need to undertake deep cleaning. Some people try to mask the smells using candles and deodorizers. Don’t do this as in some cases, the smells are too strong for them. Also, the buyers might visit when there are no candles or deodorizers.

The best way out is to find the source of the smells and fix it.

Fix loose handles

I know, they might seem to be too minor, but you will be shocked by the negative effect they have on your ability to see the house. Are there missing handles in the house? fix them. Do you have a missing lightbulb? You should replace it as soon as possible.

Before you contact a real estate agent DC, you should take care of every bell and whistle. It’s recommended that you think like a buyer. This calls for you wear your buyer glasses and walk around the house. After scanning through, you should ask yourself, “Can I buy this?”

Chimney Cleaning Services: Health Hazards That Come With A Dirty Chimney

If you ask many homeowners, they will tell you the reason they seek chimney cleaning services is that they don’t want to suffer from chimney fires. Did you know dirty chimneys are a health hazard? Here are some of the ways in which you can compromise your health from having a dirty chimney:

Creosote exposure

Creosote is an oily black substance that builds up inside the chimney flue when you go for a long time without cleaning it. Creosote results when there is incomplete wood combustion. In addition to creosote being unsightly to look at, it also has a number of undesirable health effects such as:

Skin irritation: Are you allergic to dust? Chances are that when you come into contact with creosote, you will develop rashes. In severe cases, you might develop skin conditions.

Eye irritation: This goes without saying. When creosote particles are flying all over the house, they are bound to get into your eyes. As you might have guessed, this leads to eye irritation. Sometimes the irritation is grave to the extent of causing burning sensations or chemical burns.

It’s also common to develop high light sensitivity making it hard for you to undertake your daily chores outdoors.

Respiratory problems: If the creosote particles are going to irritate your eyes, chances are that they are also going to irritate your respiratory system. As a result, you are bound to start coughing, among many other things.

Cancer: Did you know that you can get cancer from creosote exposure? Long-term exposure of creosote is bound to cause skin cancer.

Abdominal problems: In severe cases, high creosote levels irritate the kidneys and liver leading to abdominal problems.

Other side effects of creosote are seizures and confusion in some people.

How can you prevent all this from happening? Simple. All you need to do is to clean the chimney at least once a year. You can do it by yourself or hire a professional to help you out.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Plenty of deaths have been reported resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. This makes extremely hazardous. You might be wondering how a dirty chimney leads to carbon monoxide poisoning, right?

When the chimney is dirty, there are materials in the chimney blocking the carbon monoxide from leaving the house. This means that the gas that is meant to go out, stays in. When substantial levels of the gas accumulate, you are bound to experience flu-like symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, headache, and confusion.

Inhaling large quantities of the gas at once has been shown to lead to brain damage, heart problems, and in severe cases, death.

When you hire a chimney cleaning professional, he/she should not only get rid of creosote, he/she should also inspect the insides of the chimney and remove dead birds and other materials that might be stuck there.

Chimney soot inhalation

Just like creosote, chimney soot comes about due to incomplete combustion. It comes about when wood doesn’t burn hot enough. This leads to the formation of black or brown dust sticks inside the chimney.

Failure to remove the soot early enough leads to a number of problems. The first one is lung hazard. Just like creosote, when you inhale large amounts of the soot, you have high chances of irritating the lungs. In some cases, you might cause lung disease.

In addition to this, you stand to suffer from respiratory infections when you are exposed to chimney soot for a long time.

Just like when getting rid of creosote, the only way of getting rid of chimney soot is to clean the chimney. As mentioned above, you can clean it by yourself or hire a professional to help you out.

Histoplasmosis

Histoplasmosis is a respiratory condition that comes about due to the inhalation of bird droppings. When you don’t clean your chimney regularly, chimney swifts, small, brownish birds can easily reside in your chimney. Their droppings bring about histoplasmosis.

When you are suffering from the condition you develop flu-like symptoms. They include: chronic coughs, chest pain, fever, sweats, and lack of appetite.

During chimney cleaning, the chimney sweep Bowie should identify the residence of the chimney swifts and get rid of them.

Transform Your Room Into An Allergy-Free Spot

Everyone will definitely agree that the bedroom is the most loved space in the entire house. It is where you can be yourself the most and do what you love the most. But if your allergist says that your room can be one of the areas where you have potentially acquired your allergies then that news can be mind-boggling. It has been stated enough that having allergies and dealing with it is twice as terrible as taking your medications just to prevent it from getting worst or from attacking you again. It’s the chances when you are at your much-awaited sleep is when you will be experiencing the itching of your nose, sneezing, and the inconvenience of breathing – right within your bedroom.

So, in order to bring back the comfort and restful ambiance back in your room without worrying about allergic reactions to everything that is in your room, here are some of the “must try” advice to create your personal chamber into an allergy-free zone.

CONTAIN YOUR BEDROOM FROM ALLERGIES

These are some no-brainer tips to keep your room from any threats of allergies.

Use only organic and natural cleaning products, because a commercial cleaning solution can also trigger allergies.
Weekly wipe your bed frame with a damp cleaning cloth.
Declutter your room. Fewer items give a lesser place for allergens to hide and stay.
Never place and keep anything under the bed. It’s even harder to clean out the dust and dust mites from under there.
Avoid using fabrics where bags of dust and other allergens love to penetrate, like carpets, drapes, and upholstered furniture.
Decorate your room with allergy-friends plants to filter the air inside your room and clean it.

COMMON ALLERGENS

Dust Mites

The major contributor of allergens around your room is dust mites. They love to stay in comfy soft places to dust, and it blends with the oil that you secrete throughout the day. Since you won’t like to find out more about how gross dust mites can be, here’s how you can ditch dust mites from invading your personal space ever:
- Wrap your mattresses in an allergen cover that can protect it from dust mites that would like to linger in your sheets. These covers are tightly woven that mites will find it hard to get through and if ever they have been residing in mattress long enough, they will find it hard to come out to attack you.
- Use pillows and comforters that are made of an allergen-free material or cover them with a protective cover. So be very particular in covering or removing all your beddings in the room.
- Make a weekly schedule for your bedding cleaning. Use hot water when washing them to kill all the dust mites overstaying in your sheets.
- Carpets are not advisable for allergic people, but if you happen to use one vacuum them as often as possible with a HEPA vacuum that can easily trap mites compared to traditional vacuums.

Pollen

Pollens are experts when it comes to seasonal allergies. Pollens vary depending on the season and time of the year. Your hair and clothes are the favorite spots for pollens so whenever you come out they can still follow you when you get back. Try these tips to get rid of irritating pollens:
- As much as possible get yourself cleaned and dress-changed every time you come home. You can use your separate bathroom to clean yourself and leave your used clothes in a separate hamper for as long as you enter your room in clean clothes.
- Do not bring your outdoor shoes inside your room because, like clothes, pollen does cling to shoes too, so wearing them inside your bedroom will just scatter the allergens everywhere.
- Make it a habit to take a shower before hitting your sack every night. This will wash out the pollen from your skin and hair which you have accumulated the whole day you’re out.
- Close all your bedroom windows. Fresh air is healthy, but it also carries allergens everywhere. Just make use of your fan or AC whenever you’re staying in your room.

Your room is a place where you find solitude and peace, but with allergies that would be quite inconvenient. So, make it an everyday ritual to clean your room to prevent allergens from having a staycation. Otherwise, consult an allergy clinic Germantown to help you stabilize and treat your allergies as your way of helping yourself to totally kick your allergies off your system forever.

Drain Cleaning Services: Tips On How To Maintain Your Sewer Pipes

When you install drain pipes in your home it’s your responsibility to keep them in top shape for you to maintain sanity in the house. To help you out, here are tips on how to maintain your pipes as given by drain cleaning services providers:

Insulate sewer pipes from the outside

Few people do this as they think that the insulation is only necessary on water pipes. If you live in extremely cold places, you should go ahead and insulate your pipes. Sewer pipe insulation prevents the pipes from freezing thus you don’t have to worry about the sewer water freezing in the pipes.

You also don’t have to worry about the pipes exploding and having to replace them, which would be an extra expense on your side.

If you live in cold areas, hire a professional to go around the pipes and insulate them. As rule of thumb, you should use high-quality insulating material that will not only provide high-quality insulation, but also last for a long time.

Make use of strainers

Strainers are units that you place at the opening of the drains in order to keep hair, stones, and other materials from getting into the sewer lines. To maintain sanity in your drains, install a strainer in all the sinks in your home.

Of major importance, pay attention to the bathroom as hair and soap tend to cause clogging. You also should ensure that you install strainers in your kitchen drains.

Watch how you clean the drains

One of the things you should do to keep the units in top shape is to regularly clean them. While many homeowners know they need to clean their systems, most of them don’t know how to clean them properly.

Some use chemical cleaners which give instant results, which is wrong. While the chemicals give fast results, they often tend to damage the sewer pipes especially when you use them a number of times. Did you know the chemicals are also harmful on your skin?

You shouldn’t use chemicals at any time. The best way out is to use enzyme-based cleaners. While they don’t work as fast as their chemical counterparts, they don’t harm the sewer pipes. They also aren’t of any danger to your skin or clothes.

The cleaners contain natural bacteria that work slowly on the clogging materials and in no time they turn them in liquid. There are plenty of enzyme-based cleaners in the market that you can choose from. It’s up to you to choose the right one for your application.

Another highly effective method of cleaning the sewer pipes is pouring hot water down the drains at least once a week or at the end of the working day. The hot water washes down the clogging material, even the smallest leaving your pipes spotless.

Keep oil and grease away

There is nothing that clogs sewer pipes as fast as grease and oils. When you are pouring them in the sewer pipes, they are liquid but when they hit the cold drain pipes, they immediately turn solid. When you keep pouring the grease and oil in the sewer pipes, there is more accumulation of the oils and eventually, the sewer pipes clog.

For you to prevent your sewer pipes from clogging you should ensure that no oils or grease that ends up in the sewer pipes. You can do this by installing a grease trap in your home (if you produce a lot of grease).

You also should consider having a separate container where you put the grease. Once the container is full, throw it away or empty it.

Repair faulty pipes

Sewer pipes are bound to develop a wide range of problems. One of the most common ones is leaking. When homeowners notice their pipes leaking, most of them ignore it as they deem the problem to be minor. While it might be minor, you should note that it tends to lead to major issues.

When you notice your sewer pipes leaking, you should work at fixing them as soon as possible. You can do the work by yourself or hire sewer cleaning companies Manhattan to help you out.

Stay Motivated In Your Own Office Space

So finally after going through all your resources about home office renovation styles you’ve finally come to your final home addition design and the result was remarkable. Having your own productive space feels like a new venture and the inspiration just keeps on flowing. Because everything around looks new and is something you’ve been wanting to have, you keep telling yourself “ I love my job” like it’s your daily mantra. However, there will come a time where everything around you seems so “un-synced” like one day work was great and then the next day it’s like everything went screwed. There are things around you that are already beyond your control, especially at work. And the more you think about how bad things are, the more unfocused you become and it will eventually affect everything else around you – even the non-work-related ones.

Now, all you have to do is to get back on track and just tell yourself “I got this” – even this phrase is so hard to uphold. But there are ways for you to get back to your senses and continue the game. Although regaining back your motivation is somewhat fleeting, you have to find that lost motivation until you can finally tell yourself “I can do this”.

Here are some tips that you can try.

WIN BACK MOTIVATION

Don’t treat it as HARD WORK

Let’s face it, work is not always easy. It never was and that’s the fact. But the reason why others seem to take their jobs so flawlessly is that they do not treat it as one. They see it as an opportunity that will lead them to where they wanted to be. Now, if you think of your work as something that gives you frustration, challenges, and stress, you will never be motivated. But if you have a goal and that job is what you need to achieve it try to view it as your career puzzle rather than a tough grind, perhaps the drive you need will easily come by.

Consider “Baby Step” GOALS

Dealing with work, especially big projects are undoubtedly scary. As you foresee all the possible loopholes rather than the promising progress it will really stress you. Instead, work on your project slowly and patiently, like baby steps. Take one step at a time until you see the improvement starting with smaller goals. You see dividing your work into smaller targets make it easier to accomplish and the outcome is truly worth it. Sometimes, motivation can be found in your personal office space, you just have to look for it.

Don’t waste your time on things that DON’T MATTER

Now that you have your own office space at home it is very important that you keep a track of your daily activities, especially the things related to your job. But sometimes making your to-do list unconsciously allows you to list the things that “least” require your attention. Cross them out so you know where to focus more. It is easier to motivate yourself if you have a specific activity that is much meaningful and important to you. Invest your time wisely.

Know when to STOP AND REST

The human body’s energy fades too, just like everything else around you. Normal office hours are only from 8 to 5, Monday to Friday. Establishments and business offices have their respective closing times. Even the 24/7 convenient stores shut down their operation for certain reasons, it may not be often, but they give their stores a break too. Do you see the point here? As much as you wanted to keep your battery going just to finish all your tasks, you have to give yourself a break. You must know when to stop and rest. Pushing yourself too much is one of the reasons you are losing your drive and focus. You have to disconnect from the demands of your job and recharge – unwind. At least it will refresh your emotional and mental energy that will give you the urge to continue your work. Do not wait for yourself to be burnt out, set a down time for yourself so you will not lose that fire in you.

You owe yourself a CREDIT

Big payoffs deserve a treat, but small wins deserve a celebration too. Another secret to being motivated is to acknowledge the little accomplishments that you’ve unlocked, why? Because it means you are on the right track and you are almost reaching your goals little by little.

It is truly an achievement to finally have your dream home office, thanks to the home remodeling architects DC who have made everything possible. Besides staying focused on your career and work can sometimes start with how motivating your area in which you already have.

Chimney Cleaning Services: Steps To Follow When Cleaning A Chimney Wood Stove

A wood stove provides your home with warmth and coziness especially during the cold months of the year. Since you use wood in the unit, creosote and soot tend to build up fast inside it which puts your property at the risk of fire.

For you to keep your family safe, you need to undertake regular chimney cleaning. You can do the cleaning by yourself or hire chimney cleaning services providers to help you out. For you to properly clean the unit, you need to follow a set of steps. These steps include:

Ensure it’s cold

Remember that you will be elbows deep in ashes when you are cleaning the unit. Since you don’t want to get burned, you should ensure that the stove is cold enough before you start the work. For you to tell whether the unit is ripe for cleaning, you only need to touch it. You should be able to touch the unit with your bare hands and not get burned at all.

Clean the firebox

The firebox is one of the most important parts of the stove thus you should pay a lot of attention to it. The firebox is the part of the wood stove where you load the wood for you to have the fire.

For you to clean it you need an ash bucket then using a shovel from the fire set, scoop all of the old ashes. You should remove as much of the ash as possible.

The best way of telling that you have properly cleaned the unit is cleaning it until you see the brick inside the stove. During the cleaning, remember to inspect the condition of the stove. Are there loose bricks? Are the bricks cracked? You need to take a look at this. If you notice any problem, fix it as soon as possible.

Pay attention to the ash box

The ash box is located at the bottom of the wood stove. The ash box is simply a little slide out drawer that catches the overflow of ashes from the wood box. The unit gives the ashes a place to go to cool off.

Just like other parts of the wood stove, you need to clean the ash box. This is to give room for more ash that the unit might be producing. The cool thing is that it’s easy to clean the box as all you need to do is to pull the drawer and dump the contents.

Clean the outdoor unit

You shouldn’t only focus on the insides of the wood stove. You also need to think about the outside of the unit. Since the outdoor unit is on the roof, you will need a ladder to clean it. Plenty of accidents have been reported as people are getting on the roof; therefore, you should be cautious when doing it.

The best way of going about it is having someone to hold the ladder for you. For you to clean the outdoor unit you need to pull off the cap, then, using a wire chimney brush, get rid of all the soot on the insides of the unit. By doing this you will get rid of all the creosote that might have built up inside the unit.

The broken up creosote gets into the chimney stove where you can clean it or let it burn.

Pay attention to the spark box vent

Does your chimney have an attached spark box? You should clean it. The function of the spark box is to keep the fire sparks from flying up through the chimney and landing on the roof thus putting your house at the risk of catching fire.

Due to the regular use of wood, it’s common for the spark box to clog up with creosote when you go for a long time without cleaning it. The best way of cleaning it is using a chimney wire brush and rub it on the outside.

When you do this you will break up any residues that might be clogging up the vent holes. Chimney repair experts report that when the vent holes are clear, fire is able to draw air better thus the fire burns better with little or no smoke. As a consequence, little soot is deposited thus you don’t have to regularly hire a chimney sweep Columbia MD to help you with the cleaning.