Month: May 2020

Those of us that live in the South know that staying comfortable in the heat and humidity can make your electric bill skyrocket. But staying cool in the summer doesn’t have to equal shelling out lots of money and wasting electricity. Read on to learn some important tips to keep your air conditioning costs down all through the summer.

Windows Are Key

During the summer when air conditioning becomes a necessity, you may only think about your windows to make sure they are shut. But windows can be the key to saving money in the long term when it comes to air conditioning costs.

If your home has windows that haven’t been upgraded, installing new energy-efficient windows can dramatically help to keep your house cooler for less.

Making sure that your windows are properly sealed also helps. If your windows are insufficiently sealed they can leak air, making your air conditioning system work harder.

Sunbeams coming directly through the window can heat up a room as much as 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep heat and sun out of your rooms, especially rooms whose windows are east-facing in the morning and west-facing in the late afternoon, by using blackout curtains. These curtains made with white linings reflect the sun’s rays away from the room’s interior and can reduce solar heat gain by up to 33 percent.

Invest in Upgrades

While upgrades to the equipment in your home may mean more costs upfront, they will save you money in the long run. Upgrading to a programmable thermostat can easily decrease your air conditioning bill by up to 10 percent if you use it to set your A/C as high as you can comfortably go and program it to increase the temperature while you are not at home or asleep. Setting your thermostat to 78°F instead of 72°F  can save up to 18 percent of your summer air conditioning costs.

If you are able, upgrading your air conditioning unit might save you the most money. Modernizing your air conditioning unit can be an expensive immediate solution that can save you a ton of money in the long run. Since cooling your air in the summer can easily account for up to 50 percent of your summer energy bill, installing an energy efficient unit can lower this cost dramatically. Newer air conditioners can also increase the quality of the air inside your home while doing a better job of controlling your home’s humidity levels.

Circulate The Air

Using fans in your house to circulate air can make you feel six or seven degrees cooler due to the wind-chill effect. While fans do not actually cool the air, they do blow air around making easier for the sweat to evaporate from your skin. Since we eliminate body heat by sweating (even when it isn’t noticeable to you), the more evaporation, the cooler you feel. The great thing about fans is that since they don’t cool the room, you can turn them off as soon as you leave any area, saving you money on electricity. Portable fans can be an inexpensive way to keep your cooling costs down. Ceiling fans also help circulate cool air from your air conditioner which can allow you to raise your thermostat by as much as four degrees.

Enjoy the Outdoors

Another important way to keep your air conditioning costs down is to make sure that you don’t heat up the interior of your home during peak heat hours. This can be tough as temperatures typically reach their height in the afternoon when it is time to cook dinner. One of the best ways to keep costs down is to cook dinner using your microwave, serve dishes that don’t require heat, or make use of your deck or patio by grilling your dinner outdoors.

Spending warm summer nights grilling dinner and eating it out on your patio requires some maintenance and love. Luckily, Ned Stevens can help you with your summer preparation needs and deck care needs. Ned Stevens provides soft wash services that clean your deck so you can have amazing summer dinners with your family outside and help keep air conditioning costs down.

Get $25 Off Your First Gutter Cleaning!

This post first appeared on https://nedstevens.com

Gutters are arguably one of the most important tools that a house can have to keep its integrity. Without them, water has nowhere to drain but down. Down the sides of the structure, seeping in where it can, and over time, just as the Colorado River wore away the Grand Canyon, water running down the side of a building can cause deterioration of siding, wood casings, and even cement where it causes…

Source

This post first appeared on https://gutterpros.com/

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Controlling and directing all of your home’s rain gutter system runoff can be quite a challenge. Your installer must be meticulous in planning and constructing a system that completely surrounds the sloped portion of your roof. Then, he must route these gutters to their respective downspouts. But if the rainwater winds up pooling in a flowerbed, puddling on your lawn or splashing near your foundation, all of that painstaking effort will be wasted.

There is one solution that maybe you haven’t considered: sending the runoff underground.

How a French Drain Helps Control Runoff

An effective rain gutter system combined with an underground drainage system can guide water away from your foundation (where it can do substantial damage) and disperse it back into the soil gradually and easily. Say goodbye to pools, puddles and standing water.

The most common way to get runoff away from your lawn and underneath your yard is by constructing a French drain. A French drain is actually a network of pipes laid in trenches dug beneath the ground through which water runoff can flow. This structure can be attached to your downspouts and will work seamlessly with your existing gutters.

Building a French Drain

The first step in building a French drain is to map out where the trenches must be dug and where the pipe’s termination point will be (preferably an alley, curb or storm drain). These trenches should not cross any electrical, telephone, cable or plumbing lines. Also, the pipes must be placed so that the water runs downhill — away from your home. This may require re-sloping the ground in certain places.

When your yard is “shovel-ready,” your contractor will dig the trenches about eight to 12 inches deep and wide. He might have to take out more dirt in some areas in order to maintain a downhill slope. Then he will cover the bottom surfaces of the trenches with rocks, gravel or shells (and perhaps even some permeable landscape fabric).

Next, he will place lengths of rigid PVC pipe into the trenches. The pipe must be perforated on the bottom to allow the water to drain into the surrounding soil. He will connect your downspouts to the pipe ends so that the rainwater cannot leak as it passes from your gutters to the underground pipe. After all the pipe has been laid, he will cover it with another layer of gravel, shells or rocks before replacing the dirt.

Voila! Your runoff should now flow along your desired path: down the roof, over the gutter caps, into the gutters, through the downspout and into the underground pipe, where it will flow away from your house and out of sight. 

Contact Us for a Free Estimate

If you want a gutter protection system to save yourself from dealing with the unpleasant task of cleaning out your gutters, look to the Gutter Helmet® system. Give us a call at (800) 824-3772 with any questions and we can connect you with Gutter Helmet dealers near you.

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Whether you’re installing rain gutters on a new home or replacing your old gutters with ones that are more attractive and effective, you need to consider what’s best for you and your home before making a final decision. Here, Gutter Helmet shares a guide that discusses important questions to ask before buying new gutters.

How much rain does my area receive?

It’s important to know how much water your gutter system needs to be able to handle. You can determine this by finding out the average rainfall in your area and calculating the square footage of your roof. This will tell you the surface area the gutters will have to drain and, therefore, the volume of water they’ll be subjected to. The more water, the bigger the gutters and downspouts need to be. Gutters are available in widths of five, six and seven inches. Each inch adds to the cost, so do the math carefully.

Should I go with sectional or seamless gutters?

Gutter installation is performed using one of two specific methods. First of all, sectional gutters are put together and mounted in sections. Sectional gutters are inexpensive since you can buy the material and install them yourself. There is a trade-off, however: more sections mean more chances for leakage to occur and more points at which the gutters could break. Seamless gutters, on the other hand, are constructed of one continuous piece of material. This means they’re less likely to leak or break, but keep in mind they do need to be installed by a contractor with a specialized machine.

Which material should I use?

Once you decide which method you’ll be using, you can start looking at materials. Starting with the least expensive, these include plastic, vinyl, galvanized steel, aluminum, stainless steel and copper. Each material has its benefits and drawbacks. For example, while galvanized steel is cheap and strong, it will eventually rust. Copper, on the other hand, will never rust and is an eye-catching addition to your home’s exterior, but it’s also somewhat more expensive to install. In addition, vinyl won’t work in every environment because it becomes brittle in cold temperatures.

What are the local building codes?

Once you’ve chosen your preferred style and material, it’s important to become familiar with local and state building codes, which are very clear on what’s required for your gutters to pass inspection. Certain historical structures may require copper gutters, for instance. Always check to make sure that the gutters you choose meet all legal requirements.

Request a Free Estimate Today

The best thing you can do for your home is to choose the most durable gutter material you can afford, in the heaviest gauge possible. To learn more about the best gutter systems and Gutter Helmet’s exceptional gutter protection service, give Gutter Helmet a call at (800) 824-3772 or submit our online form.

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While many households throw everything in the trash, those that are more environmentally conscious often sort their waste into three categories: trash, recycling and compost. Recycling and composting are great activities for reclaiming materials that can be transitioned back into the production chain. Most homeowners don’t realize that up to 30% of household waste can be recycled into compost. Compost breaks down into soil that’s full of organic matter and beneficial nutrients which can then be applied to gardens and lawns to help plants better retain moisture, air and nutrients.

What Not to Compost

Despite its benefits, there are certain materials and organic substances that aren’t appropriate for composting, as they either attract pests, break down too slowly or hamper plant growth. As such, avoid adding the following to your compost pile.

• Bread. While it may seem fairly innocuous, bread as well as noodles can attract unwanted pests. 
• Dairy products. While dairy products such as yogurt, milk and cheese break down readily enough, they’re also a magnet for pests. Plus, they don’t add much nutritional value to the soil. 
• Meat scraps and bones. Not surprisingly, fish, meat, bones and animal fat attract pests, and in the meantime take a very long time to decompose. 
• Colored paper. Due to the vivid ink found in colored and glossy magazine papers,  which often contain heavy metals and other toxic substances, you should avoid putting them in the compost bin. Regular newspaper is fine, though it does break down fairly slowly. 
• Treated wood and sawdust. Both sawdust and treated wood contain chemicals that will make your compost toxic. 
• Diseased plants. Don’t add perennial weeds or diseased plants to your compost pile, because you don’t want them to resprout or spread seeds to areas of your yard where you don’t want them. 
• Pet droppings. While waste from animals like chickens, cows and horses is acceptable for compost, don’t compost droppings from carnivorous pets like cats and dogs because they can contain parasites.

If you’re a gardener, we’ve got good news for you: when you install a gutter shield like Gutter Helmet® on your gutters, there will be more leaves available for you to put in your compost pile because they’ll no longer be clogging up your gutters! We have a proven gutter protection system you can rely on that’s even more effective than systems such as Leaf Relief, Raindrop and Gutter Topper®. To find out more from the best gutter guard installer in your area, give Gutter Helmet a call at (800) 824-3778.

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