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Giving a Store and Maintain your Business Tools and Equipment with Self Storage
For the small business owner, particularly for businesses which require access to tools and heavy equipment, self storage can be a real boon.
If you're a landscaper, carpenter, plumber, or electrician, you need easy access to the tools of your...
"Home Security Systems Do Not Discriminate In Katrina Aftermath!"
Only a few weeks ago, most people never gave much thought about having a security system for their home or business. But, after the looting and violence during and after Hurricane Katrina, sales have grown tremendously. Electronic Home and...
Pump Up The Value Of Your Rehab Real Estate Investment
There are two legal ways to increase your wealth.
1. Keep more of what you have (e.g., tax strategies, rehab efficiencies, cost savings)
2. Add value to something (e.g., a real estate investment, stocks, bonds)
Let's focus on adding value to...
The Final Walk Through
So you've bought a house. The paperwork is signed and in order, and all that remains is your final walk through. Wait! Your job isn't over.
The final walk through can be a crucial step in the home-buying process. While it's true that home...
Wall Safes: The Safest Walls On Earth
With the increasing crime rates these days, it is best that you find ways to protect your belongings whenever you are indoor or outdoors. But the most important thing you have to protect is your home, especially if you and your household members are...
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Checklist: Do I Need to Replace My Chimney Cap?
As you are cleaning leaves out of your home’s gutters, dealing with Christmas lights, or adjusting a satellite dish, don’t forget to evaluate your chimney caps while you’re on the roof. Chimney caps are those mesh-sided enclosures (usually made of stainless steel, copper, or galvanized steel) atop your chimney to prevent water, animals, bird droppings, and leaves from entering your home. A once-a-year assessment of your chimney caps’ condition can be well worth your time for protecting your house. Here are four things you can easily check on your chimney caps:
1.Are the chimney caps there?
If there have been high winds in your area, your chimney caps may have blown off. Properly secured chimney caps withstand most high winds, but exceptional winds can do damage, including blowing chimney caps off.
2.Are the chimney caps securely attached?
Time, wild animals, or high winds can degrade the security of your chimney caps’ attachment to your flues or chimneys. You can retighten screws or reapply a sealant if your chimney caps are no longer securely attached.
3.Are the chimney caps rusting through?
Galvanized steel chimney caps generally last about three to five years before they become too rusted to serve their purposes. In salt water environments, galvanized chimney caps corrode even more
quickly. Stainless steel and copper chimney caps usually have lifetime warranties, so they are good replacement choices for those who don’t want to be replacing their chimney caps every few years.
4.Are the sides of your chimney caps clogged?
The mesh or screen sides of your chimney caps may get clogged with leaves or other detritus forced into the mesh by very high winds. More frequently, chimney caps’ mesh can get clogged with soot and creosote, especially if you are using unseasoned, green firewood. This clogging is most common in chimney caps designed with smaller mesh holes for use in wildfire prone areas. If the mesh sides of your chimney caps are clogged, your fireplace’s or woodstove’s draft will be reduced, leading to poor performance or even to a chimney fire.
When you head up to the roof, take along a metal tape measure, paper, and pencil. In case you find you need new chimney caps, you will have the tools at hand to measure your flues or chimney crown for their replacement chimney caps.
About the Author
Susan Penney appreciates simple ways to make our homes renewing spaces for our families. She invites you to visit http://www.fireplacemall.com for fireplace accessories to serve your fire-less or your fire-filled fireplace.
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