Do It Yourself Guide to Home Maintenance February

With winter about half over, there are still some items in your home you should take a look at before they cause serious problems and help get you ready for spring. Here are a few things you can do while you are trapped inside your house this February.

Wash your Painted Walls

Walls get dusty and dirty, just like any other surface in your house. Now would be a great time to clean them. It will take about 2 hours and is easy to accomplish.

Everyday dust and grime can dull the colors of your walls. And if you have allergies, dust and grime can also contribute aggravate seasonal allergies. Regular cleanings can keep you feeling healthy while making your walls look as fresh as the day they were painted.

Steps

Remove your curtains, draperies, and wall hangings, so you can clean your walls without harming your decor. Move furniture far enough from the walls to give you room to work. Place a plastic tarp on the floor and then cover it with a drop cloth, to absorb water and provide a less slippery surface. If your wall is very dusty, vacuum the wall with a brush attachment before starting.

Materials

Liquid dish detergent or TSP

Hot water

Buckets

Plastic tarp

Drop cloth

2 large sponges or pole with sponge attachment

3 or 4 terry drying towels

In one bucket, mix a cleaning solution of 2 tablespoons of liquid dish detergent in a gallon of hot water. Fill another bucket with warm water for rinsing. Place the buckets on towels on the drop cloth, to catch drips.

Wearing long rubber gloves to protect your hands the hot water, wash the wall with the soapy water and sponge. Work in manageable sections, from ceiling to floor. Rinse with clear water and a different sponge before the soapy water can dry on the wall. You may also choose to use an extension pole with a sponge attachment.

After you finish each wall, lightly dry it with a towel. Don't press so hard that you remove paint.

Inspect Clothes Dryer Venting

Clogged clothes dryer vents decrease dryer efficiency and force more than one drying cycle which eventually can cause a house fire. Annually, over 12,500 clothes dryer fires occur in residential buildings resulting in 15 deaths and 300 injuries. Failure to clean the vents is the leading factor contributing to clothes dryer fires in residential buildings. (See the U.S. Fire Administration’s official website for more details.) If you can’t move your dryer out to access the vent duct, make sure you have a licensed dryer service professional clean out your entire clothes dryer venting system.

Be cautious when considering installing bypass devices that are used to add heat to the laundry room since they may restrict the airflow and cause lint to become trapped if the venting is not kept clear.

Gutters and Downspouts

Check your downspouts and gutters for any wind related damage. If you have had heavy snow or ice, you should also check that your gutters are not loose. If you have freezing temperatures you may want to make sure that ice has not formed at the bottom of the downspouts blocking the flow of rain water. If this persists, the enter downspout can fill with water during a heavy rain, causing your gutters to overflow. This may damage your eaves and soak attic and wall insulation. Frozen downspouts can also split which will require replacement. You may have to wait until warmer weather before you can attempt any repair, or you may want to hire a qualified roofing contractor to repair them for you.

Check Exhaust Fans

Make sure bathroom and kitchen fans have appropriate capacity. Run your fan during and after you shower and run your vent hood while cooking. This helps to reduce humidity, which over time damages building materials and promotes mold or mildew build up. Only 4 to 6 pints of water are necessary to raise the relative humidity of a 1000 square foot house from 15% to 60%. Sixty percent relative humidity and temperatures over 60 degrees Fahrenheit are the minimum requirements for mold growth.

Some sources of moisture vapor in a house are:

• One person breathing - 1/8 pint per hour

• Washing dinner dishes - 1/2 pint

• One shower bath - 1/2 pint

• Mopping floor of a - 4 1/2 pints

150 sq. ft. kitchen

• Burning 1 lb kerosene - 1 1/2 pints

(Unvented; 6 1/2 lbs of kerosene equals 1 gallon)

• Burning 1 lb methane - 2 1/4 pints

(Unvented)

• Burning 1 lb propane - 1 1/2 pints

(Unvented)

Hot Water Heaters

Carefully drain a gallon of water from your water heater to remove sediment from the tank bottom. Residents typically use more hot water in the colder winter months than during the rest of the year. This increased usage can cause more sediment to accumulate at the bottom of the tank.

Cool Products

If you have a drain that is constantly getting clogged, consider installing this new product, the PermaFLOW clear drain trap. Simply remove your current p-trap located below a kitchen or bathroom sink and replace it with a PermaFLOW which will allow you to easily remove a drain buildup before a clog develops by turning a knob that is attached to a rubber paddle which scrapes the inside of the trap. This in turn eliminates the use of plunging, toxic drain cleaners and expensive service calls. It will also help if you have children who tend to drop items in the sink. I know that never happens in your house. You can get more information at http://www.pfwaterworks.net/index.html

 PermaFlow Trap