How is Black Mold Formed?

 DIY Repairs, Health and Safety, Uncategorized
Dec 252010
 

As soon as someone finds black mold in their home, their first question is “How did that get here?”

What people don’t realize about black mold is that it is everywhere! It will lie undetected for years until the optimum conditions arise. The mold spores have probably been there since the house has been built or they could have drifted in through an open window, it is impossible to know.

The spores are incredibly difficult and time consuming to remove as they are almost invisible. You don’t need to worry about the spores in terms of your health though, they will have no detrimental impact on your health. You do however need to be fully aware of the conditions which cause spores to develop into mold.

Black mold is very robust and only needs two things to thrive, low light levels and moisture; these are most commonly created by abnormal humidity levels and water emergencies in your home. Mold is able to grow on almost any surface if the proper conditions are there. When mould develops it will leave a musky smell, this should be your first indication of the problem and at this stage you need to take action.

High humidity can be caused by many things. Poor ventilation is one thing. Even everyday activities you do will cause moisture to enter your home. Not moping up a water spill or drying clothing inside your home can cause excess moisture to build. These conditions which allow the mold to fester can cause hundreds or thousands of dollars of damage to your house not to mention a ton of work.

Water emergencies are problems that we all have and if left untreated or improperly treated you will more than likely have black mold on your hands. We can classify water emergencies as being leaks, floods, or burst pipes. The sooner you get around to sorting these problems out, the less damage will occur.

Another reason to be wary of black mold is that it can have a very negative effect on your health, triggering asthma.

Without a doubt black mold is something that we need to be aware of so that it can be treated properly before it gets out of hand.

More information about Black Mold and Mildew
Airtech Environmental Systems

What to Look For to Avoid Water Damage in Your Home

 DIY Repairs, Uncategorized
Dec 222010
 

When you build your house or wish to buy a house, it’s a standard operating procedure to make sure that all parts of the home are built to ensure that it is totally free from damage. No matter how much cash or work you put into ensuring that your love ones will be secure when at home, water damage can still occur. People commonly disregard water damage as something that only happens during floods, but that’s not true. There are lots of factors that contribute to water damage, but there are things you can look for to keep your home safe and in tact.

Patches of your roof may wear off from years of being exposed to the heat of the sun and cold weather conditions. Then the water from the rain seeps into the little hole caused by your damaged roof. Clogged gutters can also trigger water to overflow and enter your home. This common particularly throughout the rainy season. Your attic may also be a portal for water which can damage your house, furniture, and wiring/lighting fixtures. Attics with holes for electrical lines and exhaust fans will eventually lead to water damage.

You should check your whole house frequently, particularly if your place is usually visited by a typhoon or if winter season is fast approaching. In the event you can do it your self, then fix the area as soon as possible. In the event that you can’t repair it yourself then call a repair man before the damage begins. There are lots of home repair businesses that you can contact. If you have serious issue in your home it’s important to deal with it before it creates a large amount of damage to your house because this will produce a depreciation in terms of your house’s value.

Having a home free from damage brings you peace of mind. Be vigilant when it comes to the damages that your home may have. It’s important that you maintain a damage free home; it’ll save you cash from repairing the entire house simply because of a easy to solve water leakage.

Closet Door Remodeling Options

 DIY Repairs, Interior Design
Nov 302010
 

The best closet door ideas need not be expensive or hard to find. With just a click of the mouse, you gain access to closet doors in a myriad of styles and designs on the Net. Take your pick among the mirror closet doors, European closet doors, wood closet doors, sliding doors, French doors and many more.

In addition, you can also take your pick from the multiple closet door materials including wood, rice paper, steel, and aluminum. Here are some of my favorite door ideas for your consideration:

Woodfold’s Series 220 Divider Door:

This door is constructed with Vinyl-Lam or hardwood finishes applied on both sides. It can double as a divider and helps conserve heat when placed in places like galley kitchens, family recreation areas, or conference rooms. It comes with color-coordinated, flexible vinyl panel connectors, nylon wheels, sweptwing handle, and magnet catch with strike plate. The aluminum track is available in clear, gold or dark bronze finish. Each panel measures 4 and ¼ inches wide by ¼-inch thickness.

Divided Lite French Doors:

This door features a myriad of glass pieces. The Divided Lite door series is available in three types. The first features wood mullions and beveled glass. The second type uses wood mullions and a standard clear glass while the last type features a grooved glass. If you want to learn more about this door product, visit frenchdoors.net.

Bifold French Doors:

This door can be multifold or bifold, depending on your choice of hardware. Some of the glass choices that come with this door are beveled, ornamental and standard clear. Both clear and beveled glass come in sizes of 1 3/8 inches and 1 3/4 inches. Place your order for this door at frenchdoors.net.

Painted Steel Bi-Pass Mirror Door – Series 101:

This bi-pass mirror door can add a spectacular visual depth to any room by making it look larger and brighter. This door is perfect if you want an economical way to expand your usable space as well as complement your room’s decor. It is easy to install and can create a great impact in any home redecorating project. It fits finish openings of 47 inches by 80.5 inches. Visit thewindowdepot.com for more details.

71inch Contemporary Design 3 Panel Shoji Screen:

This modern screen is designed to incorporate a traditional Japanese style yet built to fit or blend in any modern room setting. It is constructed of solid hardwood, which is thick enough to provide you with long-lasting lastingness. The paper is cotton blend for extra strength. Color choices are natural finish, black, golden oak, and dark walnut. This screen is a steal for only $108.00 at tatamiroom.com.

LTL Home Products Inc.’s 725 Series 36 In. x 80-1/2 In. Unfinished Classic French:

Give your room a European look with this decorative glass bifold door, constructed of pine croft for easy installation. The safety glass design allows light into any room in your house. It comes with 1 3/8 inches styles and rails in clear pine. This door will fit a finished opening height ranging from 80 to 81 inches. Nextag.com offers this door for only $299.00.

You can find additional top door ideas by searching on the Internet or visiting a local retail store. You will be surprised by the multitude of styles and designs to choose from.

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If Your Garage Door is Acting Wonky…

 DIY Repairs, Housing Exteriors
Nov 302010
 

Repairing garage doors seems daunting, but there are some small repairs and fixes that people can do themselves and often overlook. Keeping these in mind could save you money and prevent you from having to call professional garage doorrepair services. Below are some basic tips and suggestions that may aid you in assessing and repairing some common problems with garage doors.

Before Beginning:

Security should be the first thing you consider when investigating you garage door. Sometimes, even the specialists commit errors so it’s important to be extraordinarily careful. The garage doors weigh several kilos and they usually work under great tension. Garage doors can also fly open anytime.

Before you begin make sure your environment is neat with all mud and debris out of the way so as to prevent any accidents. Also, make sure there is a clear path for you to travel to safety in case you have to act quickly and get away from the doors.

Pets, children or anyone who doesn’t need to be in the garage should not be present and should especially not be standing close to the doors.

Check your guarantee:  Before repairing your garage doors, search for the warranty especially if your door is new. You may have coverage for particular parts or for the whole door. The majority of garage doors have one to two years of guarantee that provides coverage for minor repairs resulting from common use.

Now we can get to work:

Simple solutions: Before calling professionals or changing your garage door, it’s best to verify check that the problem is not an overlooked smaller issue that can be easily fixed. A few of the apparent issues are twisted components, springs, unfastened bolts, and foreign objects getting caught up in the machine and blocking the functioning. Generally the garage door repair is extremely simple to perform in one of these cases.  Check the garage doors for wear and tear, rust, frayed electrical cords, worn out pulleys, etc. These things aren’t always complicated to repair.

Spring replacement: The garage doors that are troublesome to open or close and really feel heavier than usual might need new springs. Frequent use of garage doors requires frequent substitution of springs. It is strongly recommended to replace all of the springs at the same time, as this may guarantee even carry and it will additionally prevent potential damages.  Basically, there are two kinds of springs: side mounted and torsion. It can be tricky to replace each the springs so be cautious and if necessary ask for the assistance of an expert.

Electrical issues: Problems with the electronics of garage doors require changing the batteries or code which is used to open the door. For those who face any problem in opening or closing the electric garage doors you will have to examine the motor to see whether it is damaged. Changing the motor by yourself is inexpensive and easy and it’ll allow your garage to run smoothly for many more years.

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Cleaning a Flood Damaged Carpet

 DIY Repairs, Flooring, Professional Cleaning
Nov 202010
 

Why is a flooded carpet a bad thing? Carpets are thick and fibrous, making them the perfect nets for catching dirt, bacteria and other external impurities found in shoes, water and fallen particles. They are made of intricately laced threads which can catch bacteria at the molecular level. A flood can do a lot of damage to carpets, especially since water can act as a carrying agent. Cleaning a  flooded   carpet can take anywhere from hours to weeks, depending on the type of carpet. However, Flooded carpet cleaning companies use vacuums, chemical solutions and brushes to completely restore a carpet as quickly as possible.

Here are some factors that will determine the time it will take to clean a carpet and whether or not it is restorable in the first place:

  1. Complexity of weaves – The simplest carpets can be made of one layer of fabric, while others can involve thousands of interlaying threads to make a full weave. The more complex the weaves, the more avenues there are for particles and dirt to enter. Sometimes these can even be invisible to the naked eye. In these cases flooded carpet cleaning companies will use air-floating machines to thoroughly blow out the particles.
  2. Type of material – Carpets can be made of synthetic materials or even dried animal hide. Organic materials are damaged much more easily than synthetic ones. In the worst cases restoration may not even be possible. The organic materials are also more likely to attract molds, because of the sustainability that they offer for microscopic organisms.
  3. Color – Carpets can have only one color or as much as hundreds of different colors to make an intricate pattern. Water can smudge or completely stain these colors. Colorful carpets will be harder to restore, sometimes needing the help of art restoration companies.
  4. Thickness – Flooded carpet cleaning can take longer with thicker carpets. Water can be absorbed at a much deeper level in these cases, becoming unreachable by vacuums. Because of this, the thickest carpets may need complete rinsing in special chemicals. They may take as long as a few weeks to dry.

Restoring  a carpet takes patience. However, the results can be worth it, especially when you are able to restore a damaged favorite carpet back to its full grandness.

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Choosing the Material You’ll Walk All Over

 DIY Repairs, Flooring
Nov 072010
 

Your home’s flooring should suit your lifestyle. You have to take certain things into account when choosing what flooring will suit your home best (e.g., if you have pets or kids), where it will be installed, and how much wear and tear it’ll endure. The following information will cover some basics on carpet, hardwood and laminated floors that you can use as a guide to work out what type will be the best for your house.

Carpeting – There are a variety of carpeting types including Berber loop with fleck, casual texture, loop cut loop, loop without fleck, patterned, precision cut or uncut and textured Saxony. The common material fibers include nylon, olefin and olefin mixes and polyester. The benefits of using this kind of flooring include that its soft on your feet, you have a great selection of colors from which to choose, it can be placed over just about any existing floor and due to today’s complicated technology in the fibers used the materials have become straightforward to keep clean and maintain.

Hardwood – There are many options when selecting hardwood flooring for your house. You can select from pre-finished or wood plank hardwood from species of wood like walnut, oak, cherry, birch, hickory, mahogany, pecan, red maple, red oak, amendoim and timboran. Each species has its own original look and can range from light coloured to dark coloured. This flooring is constructed from real wood, but there are two types which are solid strips that all come from one tree and multi-ply built hardwood that’s assembled from a few layers of wood. Two major advantages of this type of flooring are it hikes up your home’s value and it’s lovely.

Laminate – Individuals that like the appearance of wood or stone often decide to use laminated flooring for their home. There are two different kinds of installation: click and lock and floating and gluing. The everyday type of this kind of flooring includes planks and tiles that look like natural wood or stone with details you would see in the real thing. The major advantages in installing a built laminated floor include sturdiness, ease of installation, easy to maintain, and it’s stain and scratch resistant. It’s the perfect project for do-it-yourself homeowners since it’s so straightforward to install.

When you are in the market to replace your current floors or you are in the midst of a new construction you have many options for your home’s floors. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Doing your research to become more educated about these flooring options will help you to identify whether you would like carpeting, hardwood or laminate flooring for your home.

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You May Have Leaking Pipes – What To Do

 DIY Repairs
Oct 242010
 

Naturally, all homeowners are eager to make their home look as good as possible, but sometimes certain issues go undetected which can result in damage. One such problem is leaking – if you’re not aware of how to keep your eyes peeled for leak detection I’d like to help you become more aware. It is becoming an increasing problem for homes all across the country.

Some neglect leaking for lengthy periods of time because it is silent and often unnoticeable. So it’s important that you make yourself aware of the ‘ins and outs’ of your home so you are better able to detect any leak. A small leak, once detected, can be resolved quickly, but larger leaks that have been present for some time can cause hefty damage to your property. Water is damaging and that’s why it is important that you’re aware of how to detect small leaks before the become big leaks.

Read on for some top leak detection tips:

• Check all taps – have a look around the home and see if there is any dripping. Even a slight drip can develop into something larger if not properly monitored. As well as checking the taps, always look underneath the sinks and see if there is any dampness there. If there is, you could have a problem.

• Check the valves — by making sure the valves are closed you can be sure to minimize the risk of any leakage.

• Know how old your pipes are – older pipes are much more prone to leaking problems. Perform some very simple leak detection checks to make sure that your home is less likely to suffer with flood damage.

If you suspect that there may be some leaking the best thing is to take an old dry cloth and place it under the area where you suspect the leak. Check the cloth after about 48 hours to see if there is any dampness present. Don’t worry if you do find some leaking – a little bit of leaking can be quickly resolved by a plumber.

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Do it Yourself Water Damage Tips

 DIY Repairs
Oct 232010
 

One of every thousand houses has some type of water damage, and some of those homeowners aren’t even aware of it.  Fortunately, most water damage is a Do-It-Yourself job if you are interested in that. You should need little to no assistance from rental companies and laborers in most cases. Don’t sacrifice the insurance claim deductible and possibly have a policy rate hike or even a cancellation notice forthcoming in the mail!

Most water damage loss claims could have been handled by everyday people.You just need to know how to proceed.  This step by step basic guide informs you of how to go about doing this water damage cleanup yourself.

If the source of the water damage is actually a backed up sewer line or has had fresh water standing for several days, then you should contact a professional water damage restoration service as this type of remediation requires training and skillsets beyond the scope of this article.

If that is not the case, proceed as follows:

Turn off the electricity at your main circuit breaker to any rooms where the floors are wet.

Equipment Rental Outlets:  Water damage equipment can be rented at most rental yards, which can be found online.  Most equipment rental outlets have professional dehumidifiers and carpet blowers that dry out structures/homes. They help local restoration and carpet cleaning companies meet varying demand.

Furniture Removal:  Locate a dry space to place furniture in. Use some type of waterproof material under the legs if wet prior to repositioning.

Unhook the carpet from tack-strips: If your carpet is soaked and many square feet of carpeting is wet the pad needs to be removed to dry the area. Discard the carpet pad.

Remove excess water and dry the carpet:  Use a wet/dry vacuum to remove excess water.Position saw horses to prop up the carpet to allow the placement of carpet blowers to dry the floor and carpet backing. Check each day and rotate carpet blowers into other necessary positions.  Use a dehumidifier for each room that is 12′ x 12′ in size in conjunction with the carpet blowers. Face all carpet blowers with air flow in same direction. Remove the baseboards:  Wet baseboards need to be removed as mold will grow behind them if this is not taken care of.  Drill some 1” holes at the base of walls that appear wet.

By doing the cleanup yourself, you have saved hundreds or thousands of dollars and have reduced any chance of your insurance rates going up.

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Preparing Your Floors For The Winter

 DIY Repairs, Flooring
Oct 162010
 

The end of summer and the start of fall is the ideal time to ready your home’s floors for winter with carpets and new flooring.

This is because not only is it better to do home construction when it is warm outside, but many renovation stores offer great end of the season sales as well. At these sales you can frequently get the supplies you want for home improvement projects like installing new flooring, at a fraction of the price.

The first step in taking advantage of these end of season sales and getting your floors prepared for winter is to choose what kind of flooring the rooms in your house need. For instance, entryways and kitchens need flooring that’s easy to mop up like hardwood or laminate. Family rooms and bedrooms need comfortable rugs or carpets for sitting on. And bathrooms of course need easy to clean tile with rugs to keep those cold winter floors from freezing bare feet!

From there, you’ll have to decide which floors need to be replaced, and which of them just need the protection of a rug. Your bedroom carpets could be new, and just need rugs to protect it from damage. But your entryways may need brand new laminate or hardwood so that mud and water don’t soak into the sub-floor. To save lots of time and money, choose a flooring company that offers everything you will need – hardwood flooring, laminated flooring, carpet, area rugs, and especially the installation supplies you will need.

After you know what floor each room in your house needs, you’ll have to decide if you want to hire somebody, or if you would like to take a do-it-yourself approach. In both cases, you can get the supplies you need at the end of season construction sales, so as to economize. Which route you choose will depend on your comfort level with laying flooring, as well as on your financial position. Doing it personally only saves money if you do not have to hire a professional later on to fix a massive mess!

By getting started early, you’ll have lots of warm weather left to complete your new flooring before fall and winter weather arrives. Then you can enjoy the fun things that winter brings, like sledding and hot cocoa!

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How to Seal Tile Grout in Your Home

 DIY Repairs
Oct 152010
 

How to seal grout is a job I am asked about frequently. Sealer your grout is an important process on any tile job.

Before starting a tiling/grouting project, you must be aware of the time commitment. If you’ve been waiting for over a week to get your shower back into operation you may not be happy to learn you will need to wait another couple days to allow the grout to dry enough to seal it — and if that wasn’t enough, you’ll then you will have to wait for the sealer to dry.

1. Showers need sealer to help keep water and moisture out of the grout. I generally use a new clean sponge, rubber gloves, and apply the sealer liberally all over the floor and up the walls. I wipe up the excess with paper towels, wait 30 minutes, then apply a second coat per application instructions. After 30 minutes add a drop of water and see if the grout repels it. If it does not apply a third coat after about two more hours. Let it set a few minutes then wipe away the excess again until the tile is dry. Please review the application details as they do vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

2. Bathroom floors: If it is a simple tile and we just want to seal the grout you can purchase small bottles of sealer that come with a roller.  Myself, I just use a small foam or regular paint brush as an applicator to do the job because it is much faster. Just pour a small amount into a small cup and apply liberally. Be careful not to step on the floors before they are dry. You could track the sealer onto other floors and this leaves a devastatingly ugly mark.

You will want to apply the sealer twice to ensure good coverage. Bathrooms have lipstick, hair color, cough medicine, tooth paste, and cleaning products that work overtime to discolor your floor and grout. Fight them with two coats!

3. Utility rooms can be a chemical vault especially since they generally contain a washer and dryer. Washers can leak from time to time and getting liquid detergents, bleaches, softeners, and stain removers on the floor is common.

4. In kitchens food, detergent, drinks, sauces, and more find their way onto the floor and into the grout. It’s important to be sure your grout is sealed in the kitchen. If you have a large floor tile, sanded grout is generally required if your grout joints are over an 1/8th inch wide.

A quick note about grout joints: very often the quality of tile may have an important part in the size of the grout joint. It is very easy for two tiles out of the same box to vary in size from 1/16th to an 1/8th of an inch larger or smaller. Tiles with varying sizes need a wider joint to account for the difference in tile sizes.  Additionally, If you want a real tight grout line go with a grout color that blends more with the tile color.

5. Dining rooms for much the same reasons as kitchens need sealer if you use tile as flooring.

If you are using natural stone tile, even if it is granite, you need to seal the entire floor. There are a couple choices here as far as sealer goes. One type of sealer can give your natural stone an attractive “wet look” and another will appear as if nothing was applied when dry.

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