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Basement Renovation
A finished basement can be a great place where you can entertain your family and friends by putting in a recreation room which includes a pool table, ping pong table, pinball machine, and/or dartboard.
Before a basement renovation you should:
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Choosing The Right Garage Door
A garage is home to your personal automobiles and usually a large selection of sporting goods and tools. Therefore in order to keep these possessions safe the right choice of garage door is vital.
A garage door is one of the most important...
Lake Havasu Real Estate
Lake Havasu real estate is a hot commodity. With surrounding attractions such as the London Bridge, English Village, Mohave Desert, and Lake Havasu, it's no wonder that the place has become a popular place to live. When tourists decide to turn the...
Protection Against People With Evil Intentions Towards You
Imagine having a new colleague who seems so nice that you feel suspicious about her motives. To be on the safe side, you decided to test her by inviting her to your house for tea. She started sneezing the moment she entered your house. Before tea,...
Rebuilding After Katrina: Smart Energy Choices
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Energy efficiency has been part of the American lexicon since 1978 when the Energy Policy Act was first enacted. Since then, energy efficient homes and increased use of renewable energy resources have become the norm in...
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Protect Your Home: Evaluate Your Existing Chimney Caps
While you are cleaning leaves out of your home’s gutters, dealing with Christmas lights, or adjusting a satellite dish, don’t forget to check on your chimney caps while you are up on the roof. Chimney caps are those mesh-sided enclosures (most often made of stainless steel, copper, or galvanized steel) atop your chimney to prevent water, animals, bird droppings, and leaves from getting into your home. A once-a-year evaluation of your chimney caps’ condition can be well worth your time for protecting your house. Here are four things you can easily assess 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.
Source: www.isnare.com
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