When it comes to curb appeal, you have the chance to turn your house into something truly spectacular and striking. With a bit of attention to detail and planning, you can transform an ordinary, blasé exterior into a product that will be the talk of the town. If you want to improve your curb appeal, here are a few must-try suggestions that will give you the visual boost that you want.

Light It Up

Exterior lighting can be so much more than a way to illuminate your home. It can add both an element of visual intrigue and additional safety with the right choice. While you can choose an exterior light fixture that only focuses on function, there are more visually appealing options for your exterior lighting Winter Park. Give yourself something truly beautiful and up the ante with your design game.

Brighten up Your Exterior

While neutrals are typically unoffensive colors that match just about anything, they add little to your home’s visual intrigue when used in large quantities. If you are used to relying on neutral colors, step out of the banality and add some color. Whether you repaint your exterior, introduce a bright door or add pops of color with flowers and greenery, make sure that your home’s exterior is anything but boring.

Bring in Help

Many homeowners make the mistake of trying to manage all of their home’s maintenance themselves. While you can do this if you have the time, don’t be afraid to outsource this and bring in someone to help you improve your curb appeal. Whether you bring in a professional painting service, landscaping services or a designer to help you bring your vision to light, there are plenty of professionals that can lighten the load of your design dreams.

With your curb appeal, there are a vast number of options available to improve your overall look and feel. Don’t limit yourself to boring and unappealing when you can take charge of your curb appeal and transform your home’s exterior into something extraordinary.…

Most people are looking for ways to bring home more money. Before you decide that the only means to increase your available cash is to take on more work, consider that cost-saving solutions could be right under your nose inside your home. Check out these three tips to keep a little more of your wages in your wallet at the end of the month.

Replace Insulation

HVAC systems have to work overtime when they’re fighting against the elements. Whether you want to keep out sweltering heat or frigid gusts of wind, quality insulation is essential. Many folks find that batt insulation in Pittsburgh is a quick and straightforward solution to lower their energy spending. What you pay for the install will rapidly come back to you through a smaller power bill.

Change Old Lighting

Not all methods of shrinking energy expenses require professional assistance. Pick up a few bucks by swapping your old bulbs for smart light bulbs. Instead of leaving lights on because you’re too tired to get up and hit the switch, you’ll be able to turn them off with a smartphone or tablet. Many offer a dimming feature. That will provide further savings since you don’t always have to display lights at maximum brightness. You’re also extending the life of the bulbs.

Lower Your Hot Water Temperature

If the water in your house can reach levels near scalding, you’ve just stumbled on another hot tip. Head to your water heater, and adjust the temperature down a notch or two. Over the coming months, you’ll watch the numbers on your invoice go down.

Money spent on unused electricity unnecessarily lightens your checkbook. This is to say nothing about how it affects the environment. Taking a few steps like the ones above will leave you with some extra disposable funds, and who wouldn’t like that?…

There are three words that strike fear into the hearts of anyone involved in metal roofs… Cut Edge Corrosion, which, if left untreated, will lead to the exposed metal surface corroding and eventually perforating.

This is the opinion that’s most popular among roof sealant manufacturers.

Simply put, sealing the overlaps between metal roofing sheets will stop water from spreading between them.

It is often argued that a sealant prevents condensation from the cold roof from being released. This will help to prevent corrosion. Let’s look at an example of an old roof where two sheets of metal have been coated and sealed.

As you can see there is visible rust. However, it stops at the place where the seal was applied. This shows that the metal sheets are not being cooled by condensation.

What happens if the metal roof is coated but not sealed?

You can make it worse if you just coat the roof. Any movement between roof sheets on a roof with a coating only can cause cracks in the roof’s coating. Capillary action can cause water ingress and corrosion. Rainwater can also contain pollutants that will accelerate the process.

The treatment of cut-edge corrosion with the Right Sealant

Sealing under the roof overlap is only possible if the sealant used is high-quality. There are many ways to seal your lap, including using tapes or mastics. You can also embed a fleece or glass in a liquid. It is important to choose one that is easy to use and effective.

Lap sealing is often ineffective due to the weakness and flexibility of silicone mastics and tapes that lift at the profile corners, allowing water ingress and retention.

Sealant Application

It is possible for the product to not be installed according to the specification. This could lead to a smaller amount of sealant or insufficient coating. The product wouldn’t have the strength to withstand the roof sheet overlap movement.

Similarly, if too much sealant is used, you’ll end up with significant costly implications, which was explored in one of our recent articles .

This is a great example of the expression, “A product is only good if it’s installed properly.”

Conclusion

Seal or not seal? That is the question.

There are many factors to consider before you make a decision. As you will see, it is not a straightforward yes/no answer.

For you to remember…

You must select the correct product to seal sheets that overlap before applying coating. Also, ensure that your applicators have sufficient training.

This post was written by Ted Williams! Ted is the owner of A Old Time Roofing which is the premier Clearwater Roofing Contractor! Ted is a Master Elite Weather Stopper GAF Roofing Contractor, a double award winner of Best Steep-Slope Contractor from GAF and achiever of Master Elite Consumer Protection Excellence from GAF. He has been serving the Pinellas County area since 1978.  Old Time Roofing has a tradition of quality workmanship, servicing residential and commercial properties.…

Galvanized steel has been a popular choice for home plumbing lines for many years. But steel is prone to corrosion and rust, so after several decades, pipes within a home will need to be replaced completely. Copper was the preferred material due to its durability and resistance to corrosion. Copper piping is now used in many homes across Florida and throughout the United States.

If you live in Florida, you might be able to get your water from reverse osmosis plants. While there are many benefits to drinking water that is clean, clear and free of mineral inclusions, there are also some drawbacks. Desalination and reverse osmosis water can cause corrosion to copper pipes, which could lead to eventual leaking.

Why R/O Water Corrodes Copper

Copper is supposed to be resistant to corrosion. But what could make it suddenly so vulnerable to falling apart? What happens to water during reverse-osmosis is the answer. Because of the salts and other substances found in water, south Florida’s water is naturally slightly alkaline. Alkaline water is less likely than corroded metal. The salts and other substances that provide alkalinity can be removed and water becomes more acidic. This makes it more likely to corrode and absorb other substances.

Reverse osmosis systems use the same water you would find in a municipal supply network to reduce the alkalinity. This makes it more aggressive on your plumbing, and can slowly eat away at copper lines in your house. You’ll see the effects of this over time in small plumbing leaks and pipe bursts.

Copper Pipe Corrosion: Solutions

What can you do if your house is supplied with water by a massive reverse osmosis plant? You don’t want to worry about your water quality. However, it is impossible to switch water providers or cancel this service unless you are able to move to another service area. There are several options.

You might first consider installing a Calcite filter on your main water supply. Calcite filters are basically blocks of calcium carbonate. They gradually dissolve, increasing the pH and making your water less aggressive to your plumbing lines. This may sound absurd as it would reverse all the hard work that was put into purifying the water. Calcite is not harmful and can be found in water all over the country. However, it can make water taste strange to some people. This means that you might want to filter the water once more to preserve the original taste.

You can also get rid of copper pipes and replace them with plastic ones that are completely free from corrosion. These plastic lines are extremely resistant to corrosion and can last for many decades. They are also extremely affordable. Although copper prices have risen over the years, these plastic plumbing lines are extremely affordable. They only cost a few cents per ft. and are very easy to install.

This post was written by Joey Denick. Joey is the Owner and Operator of Clog Kings. At Clog Kings, LLC, we …

When you own a home, the list of repairs and maintenance items can seem like it’s never getting shorter. Because of this, you might be tempted to push some things to the side to worry about another time. While some things, such as updating the caulking around the sink or running a cleaner through the washing machine, can be pushed back a few weeks, there are others that you will want to address as quickly as possible. Here are some repairs that you should never push off completing.

Foundation Issues

It’s virtually inevitable that your home is going to have some kind of issue with its foundation at some point in time.  However, the longer you wait to address the issues, the worse they can become.

If you notice that a once level floor has started to slope down, you could have an issue of settling or sinking into the ground. A foundation repair service can lift and level the home in very little time, saving it from any additional problems.

Water Leaking

When water leaks, it doesn’t just leak out of a pipe and stay in that local area. It spreads as far as it can and can cause an immense amount of damage in a short time. Even something as simple as a leaky sink that isn’t addressed quickly could mean that you have to replace the entire countertop.

Whether it’s an issue with a sink or a water line that has sprung a leak, immediately turn the water off to the issue item. This prevents any further leaking from happening until you can adequately address the situation.

Electrical Problems

Electrical problems are often caused by old, frayed wires. The wires can come loose and stop the switch or outlet from working, but the electricity is still flowing through the wires. Then, the wires slowly fall over time and can touch metal or other exposed wires, and a fire can start. When you first notice that your outlets or switches aren’t working, immediately call an electrician to come and take a look.…