We were recently down in a client’s basement reviewing some heating and electrical issues for an Attic project. We were stunned to find that the boiler’s flue pipe (the pipe that runs between the boiler and the chimney) had disintegrated and was on the floor. There was six feet of missing pipe. The flue gas (carbon monoxide) was going into the house. Fortunately for the home owner, most of the flue gas was still making its way up the chimney. It is a miracle that no one in the house died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The customer also didn’t have a carbon monoxide detector in his basement.
This is a good reason to have your furnace or boiler serviced every year.Proper maintenance will prolong the life of your furnace or boiler and hopefully issues like we encounteredwill get taken care of before they become serious.
CHICAGO – Sydney, a creative pre-teen from Wilmette, loves to hang out with her sister and her friends to talk or play video games.Diagnosed with Langerhan’s Cell Histiocytosis, a rare blood disorder, Sydney wished to have a fabulous room where she can relax and have fun with her friends and family.The Make-A-Wish Foundation, with help from local businesses and volunteers, is granting Sydneys wish and will present unveil her completed room at the end of January.
Sydney dreamed of a room designed by celebrity designer Nate Berkus.Make-A-Wish arranged for Sydney to meet Berkus to discuss concepts for her dream room over the summer.Then, the Foundation worked throughout the fall and early winter with local businesses to execute the plan created by Berkus. With generous donations from Andy OnCall® Chicago and North Shore owner Tom Daly, Joan Dotoli, a designer with Walter E. Smithe, and donations of goods and services from other local businesses, the room was recently completed.The result is a fresh, elegant look with just enough whimsy to suit Sydney’s personality.
Hystocytois is a rare blood disorder where an overabundance of white blood cells begins attacking health bones and tissue. Because of her condition, Sydney has gone through many treatments including chemotherapy and steroids. She tires more easily than other girls her age, but that hasn’t stopped her from expressing her creativity for a cause.Sydney makes custom necklaces out of unique rocks and donates the proceeds to help find a cure for her disease.
[Quote from wish granter on something special about Sydney and/or the wish experience]
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is able to grant wishes through the generous contributions of individual, community and corporate donors who provide financial support, in-kind gifts of goods and services and volunteer their time and talents.Since 1985 the Foundation has granted more than 9,000 wishes and continues its mission to share the power of a wish® with children living with life-threatening medical conditions across Illinois.For more information or to find out how you can help call contact us at 312.602.WISH or visit www.wishes.org.
It’s December in Chicagoland, and time for a last minute look at things that need to be done before winter:
1) Make Sure Your Furnace is Good to Go
Call an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace.
Stock up on furnace filters and change them monthly.
Consider switching out your thermostat for a programmable thermostat.
Remove all flammable material from the area surrounding your furnace.
2) Get the Fireplace Ready
If the chimney hasn’t been cleaned for a while, call a chimney sweep to remove soot and creosote.
Make sure you have a supply of firewood stored in a dry place away from the exterior of your home.
Inspect the fireplace damper for proper opening and closing.
Check the mortar between bricks and tuckpoint, if necessary.
3) Check the Exterior, Doors and Windows
Inspect exterior for crevice cracks and exposed entry points around pipes; seal them.
Make sure the weather stripping around doors is in good condition.
Replace cracked glass in windows and, if you end up replacing the entire window, prime and paint exposed wood.
4) Check Roof, Gutters & Downspouts
Have your roof inspected to check for bad shingles or flashing.
Clean out the gutters, making sure that downspouts are clear.
Make sure that your downspouts to direct water away from the home.
5) Service Weather-Specific Equipment
Drain gas from lawnmowers.
Service or tune-up snow blowers.
Replace worn rakes and snow shovels.
Clean, dry and store summer gardening equipment.
Sharpen ice choppers and buy bags of ice-melt / sand.
6) Check Foundations
Rake away all debris and edible vegetation from the foundation.
Seal up entry points to keep small animals from crawling under the house.
Tuck-point or seal foundation cracks. Mice can slip through space as thin as a dime.
7) Install Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Some cities require a smoke detector in every room.
Buy extra smoke detector batteries and change them when daylight savings ends.
Install a carbon monoxide detector near your furnace and / or water heater.
Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they work.
Buy a fire extinguisher or replace an extinguisher older than 10 years.
Prevent Plumbing Freezes
Locate your water main in the event you need to shut it off in an emergency.
Drain all garden hoses, coil them and store indoors or in a shed.
Turn off the valves for your exterior garden hose faucets.
If you go on vacation, leave the heat on, set to at least 55 degrees.
9) Prepare Landscaping & Outdoor Surfaces
Trim trees if branches hang too close to the house or electrical wires.
Plant spring flower bulbs and lift bulbs that cannot winter.
Move sensitive potted plants indoors or to a sheltered area.
10) Prepare an Emergency Kit for Power Outages
Flashlight plus extra batteries
Indoor candles and matches.
Battery-powered radio.
Extra bottled water and non-perishable food supplies (including pet food, if you have a pet), blankets and a first-aid kit in a dry and easy-to-access location.
The July issue of Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) is filled with information on top appliances and simple makeover ideas. If you are planning a kitchen makeover I recommend picking up a copy.
In the issue they make an interesting point about low ball bids. They noted that the “low ball contractor” will have to make up for the low bid somehow or might walk off the job when they find that they aren’t making any money on the job. We have actually stepped in to demo and redo two projects this week where a low ball bid was accepted and the contractor walked away from the job.
Consumer Reports readers who went with a low ball bid ended up spending $1,500 extra on a kitchen and $1,000 on a bathroom remodel. They recommend that you get several bids and determine what the “normal” cost of your project is and make sure that your contract spells out the open-ended items such as the products supplied or the allowances.
Andy OnCall generally treats material as a pass through. You pay what we pay. There are no open ended allowances. You know what the labor charge is for a specific scope of work. Our labor charge only changes if the scope of work does.
I recommend that you review the tab Your Consumer Rights on our website.
Painting is one of the most common home improvement jobs that homeowners choose to do themselves. While it may take you a more time than a professional, if you don’t mind hard work, you can refresh the look of your house and protect the surface of your home’s siding and trim from harmful weather damage.
Here are the basics:·Watch the long-term weather forecast, and if it’s bad, don’t paint - even if it means you have to wait a few weeks. There is no sense in spending money on paint only to watch it all wash down the storm gutter. ·Surface Preparation will make or break your paint job. If the surface isn’t clean, dry, and free of debris, then your new paint won’t stick. It won’t matter if you buy the most expensive paint with the best guarantee if you don’t prepare your house for painting. Use a heavy scraper and remove all loose flakes of paint. Take a wire brush and scrub off any old cobwebs on siding and use it to break loose the mildew that tends to grow on the shady side of your house. Rent or borrow a pressure washer and remove all of the dirt from the foundation. ·Use the same paint that is currently on the house. Paint sticks best to itself. If you can’t find a partial can from the original product, make sure that you know if the paint already on your house is latex or oil based. Do not put one over the other. If you do, it can peel off in sheets in a very short amount of time. Rub a sheet of sandpaper over an inconspicuous place on the house. If the paint begins to roll up into little balls on your sandpaper, then it’s latex. If it gets dusty and chalky, then it’s oil-based. ·Use a brush on siding and a roller on brick or stucco. On a house with horizontal siding, a big 4″ brush is the way to go. It allows you to work paint into all of the crevices and creates a much more even coat than a roller would. It also allows you to work up underneath the bottom edge of the siding. For stucco or brick, roll the surface. Get a roller head with a thick nap like 3/4″ to 1″. This will allow the head to hold a lot of paint and will also allow it to work a little better into the natural pits that occur in rough surfaces. You will always need to use a brush on any trim work. A 2″ angle brush works well for window and door trim. ·Use high quality drop cloths. If you think cleaning paint from carpet is no fun, try wire-brushing it off of a sidewalk. This is a step in the painting process where even a beginner can do like a pro. ·Know how to clean up. Take the time to read all your labels before you start and make sure that you have the necessary cleaning supplies before you begin. If you don’t, you probably won’t clean your tools at all. A brush or roller that is left sitting around for a few hours full of paint will be tomorrow’s trash.
Belt and Suspenders: Maintain two copies of your home insurance records: One copy should be stored at home in an easy to locate place. The other should be stored in your safe deposit box. These records should include your insurance policy, and the phone numbers for your agent or insurance company for reporting claims, as well as an inventory (photographs are great to supplement this). If you need to evacuate your home, you should take insurance records stored at home with you. If for some reason, your records at home are damaged or lost, you’ll be thankful for the copy in the safe deposit box.
The summer season generally means hot days, but there are ways in which we can stay cool and make our lives a little more energy efficient. Try these tips for an energy smart season! · Maintain room temperature at 77 degrees F. This is a comfortable temperature while lessening AC running time and operating costs.· When outdoor temperatures drop below 77 degrees F, shut off your air conditioner and open the windows.·Use a box fan, ceiling fan, or fan in a room to further circulate cooled air.·Purchase the most energy efficient air conditioner possible within your price range.·Avoid setting the air conditioner at a colder setting than normal when it is first turned on. This will not cool the room faster. It will only cool to a lower temperature than required wasting energy and money.·Schedule heat generating activities such as doing laundry and baking for the coolest part of the day.·Cook using a microwave oven, small appliance, or outdoor barbeque.·Close your drapes during the hottest part of the day to block out the sun.· Surround your home with a green belt – trees and shrubs that offer shade in the summer, but gives way to allowing the sun to heat in the winter after the leaves have fallen.
Summertime is here meaning it is playtime outside.But this is also the season for many unintentional injuries in the home.The Home Safety Council dedicates the month of June – Home Safety Month – to educate and empower both families and businesses to take actions that will make homes safe.
Standard summertime maintenance & safety suggestions:·Install grab bars in the tub and shower.
·Install bright lights over stairs and steps and on landings.
·Install handrails on both sides of the stairs and steps.
·Use a ladder for climbing instead of a stool or furniture.
·Use baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, if babies or toddlers live in or visit your home.
·Lock poisons, cleaners, medications and all dangerous items in a place where children and pets can’t reach them.
·Install carbon monoxide detectors near sleeping areas.
·Build a shed with a lock for storing your lawn equipment, gasoline, pesticides, and pool and/or spa chemicals.
·Install a fence around your pool and/or spa with a locking gate.
·Keep your hot water at or below 120 degrees F to prevent burns.
·Make sure smoke alarms are working or even install fire sprinklers if building a new home.
·Cover the ground under playground equipment with a thick layer (9 – 12 inches) of mulch, wood chips, or other safety material.
• This is a great time to take a look at the insulation in your attic.
• Every year at this time, we see ads about attic insulation. Fact: Insulating your attic can keep your house warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer and save energy. Also a fact: Not every house needs more insulation.
• So how do you know if your house needs more insulation?
• The quick way to see if you need more is to look across the span of your attic. If your insulation is just level with or below your joists, you should add more. If you cannot see any of the floor joists because the insulation is well above them, you probably have enough and adding more probably won’t be cost-effective.
• A little bit about insulation:
o Insulation effectiveness is measured by R-Value. The higher the R-Value, the better the performance of the insulation. Insulation in your attic should be R-38 or higher.
o Your insulation should be 10 to 14 inches thick, depending on insulation type.
o When adding additional insulation, you do not have to use the same type of insulation that currently exists in your attic. You can add loose fill on top of fiberglass, and vice-versa. If you use fiberglass over loose fill, make sure the fiberglass has no paper or foil backing; it needs to be “unfaced.”
Tighten hinges and fasteners on your doors, drawers, cabinetry and furniture. Keeping joints and hinges tight can prevent structural damage, will help drawers and doors close better and keeps your furniture from squeaking when used.
Prevent Plumbing Freezes