Category: Home Maintenance

Four Plumbing Tricks to Stop Leaks Before They Begin

plumbing tricks

Leaking pipes and taps can be frustrating. Although leaks are relatively minor problems in residential plumbing, they can have significant consequences if you’re not careful. Small leaks can quickly become major if left untreated, leading to flooding and expensive water damage. You will also be wasting money and water – neither is ideal.

Based on advice from the professionals at Best Coast Plumbing, we’ve compiled a list of plumbing tricks you can use to stop leaks before they even begin. These include:

  1. Perform Regular Maintenance

One of the keys to ensuring your plumbing system remains in good condition is regular inspection and maintenance. Having a professional plumber review your taps and pipes is a good idea, as they can identify potential problem areas in a flash. Similarly, it would be best to have regular roof cleaning to stop your rain gutters from being ruined.

Alternatively, you can inspect things yourself from time to time, watching out for things like:

  • Corrosion, especially in old metal pipes.
  • Mineral build-up around taps and faucets, which could suggest a prolonged leak, has already begun.
  • Moist areas where water is seeping out without really leaking as such.

It’s usually relatively easy to identify potential problems, and when you do find them, you can contact your plumber and get them fixed before they cause significant issues.

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How to Get Rid of Moss

Get Rid of Moss

If there’s one thing that often drives homeowners batty – especially those who make lawn care a priority – it’s moss. It turns up uninvited, can be tricky and messy to remove, and it can prove hazardous on footpaths and in patio areas.

Moss thrives in moist, shady areas, on rocks, soil, wood, and grass. It has thread-like stems and creates a thick mat of greenery that often gets in the way of the plants you do want to have around. So, once it takes up residence on your property, what can you do to give it its marching orders? Here’s how you can make sure your property is as moss-unfriendly as possible.

Improve Your Lawn’s Drainage

Experienced landscapers will tell you that Moss loves moisture, so don’t give it any. If there is a part of your lawn that attracts moss because it’s quite wet, then improve the drainage. Lawn care must be your priority. Aerate your soil, dig trenches, and divert water away into a different area of your property. The less water you have, the less desirable it is for moss.

Use a Lawn Spreader to Add Lime

By using lime in a lawn spreader, you can increase your soil’s pH level and create more favourable growing conditions for your grass, rather than the moss. Talk to your local gardening or lawn care expert about how to do this properly for best effect.

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Plumbing: Air Quality and Your Health

Plumbing

It’s the air that you breathe

It’s no secret that the quality of air you breathe has an impact on your health. Think pollution and its effects. You are at home more than anywhere else, so the air you breathe at home is super important. Is your air clean or is it like many homes a poorer quality than the air outside?

An expert installation by a plumber of a HVAC system ensures its efficiency is responsible for reduced air leaks and has also eliminated the exchange of air with the outside. This means that odours, chemicals, particles and micro-organisms can build up over time and are trapped inside the home. The filter on your system can keep out larger particles, but it’s not able to truly purify the air inside your home. There are specific air purifiers these days that can bring the natural energy of the sun indoors and keep your air clean to ensure greater well-being.

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Concrete Gravel Boards and Posts

Concrete Gravel Boards

If you don’t know what gravel boards are, they are short panels attached below the fence panels, to keep the fencing from contact with the ground. The gravel boards will prevent mud, moisture, insects and whatever else that can cause the fence to deteriorate, which could mean replacement well before it’s due.

Easy to Install Different Ways

The gravel boards provide flexibility when the height of your fence can vary due to the terrain. For example, if the fence location is sloped, the concrete gravel boards can be partially buried making your fence sit level as a result. Another benefit from using these types of boards means they can retain soil that might naturally run away and be lost from a garden bed. If you have gardens set up at various heights, the gravel boards help to divide off each section.

Wooden Fence Posts or Concrete?

There are pros and cons when it comes to deciding on what type of fence post to use when erecting your fence. Like most things, the ‘get what you pay for’ principle also applies in the case of concrete or timber. It’s the customer’s choice to consider appearance, quality, practicality or price. It gets down to budget or what your idea of saving money over the long term means to you.

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Home Or Office Relocating

Home and Office Relocating

Moving home or office is quite a bit different from moving your household possessions to a new home. Apart from the fact that you will probably need a removalist such as Brilliance Removalists Perth. Moving the home or business can be quite stressful and there are a few tips we can provide to make it a little easier and a little less traumatic.

  1. Planning

That’s a no-brainer. You have to plan everything in your business life and this is no different. There must be a reason you’re moving. Downsizing and need a smaller office? Unexpected growth and need a bigger space?

Part of the planning is to read the contractual details in your new lease very carefully.

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Pros and Cons of a Timber Fence for Business

Timber Fence

There are many different kinds of fencing to be had for both residential and commercial applications. While most fencing contractors can erect a timber fence, they will also mention the pros and cons of having one. However, they are a traditional fence used often, so it may be just what you want. Before making a firm decision, here are some pros and cons.

Pros

Timber from professional timber suppliers can be used to make many different types of fences, not just the usual picket fence. Another attractive option is the post and rail fence, which has two wide rails inserted into holes in the fence posts. Such a fence is not for security or to keep pets and toddlers in. It is to mark the boundary.

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Dealing with Common Carpet Cleaning Predicaments

Carpets are one of the things in the house that naturally tend to become a mess whether we like it or not. From stains, chewing gum, pet poop and pee, candies, to candle wax, according to Brilliance Carpet Cleaning Perth carpet cleaning predicaments are a dime a dozen. But this shouldn’t keep you from keeping your carpets squeaky clean with a few tricks on the sleeve.

  1. Chewing Gum – Things couldn’t be messier when you unknowingly step on chewing gum and accidentally stick it onto your carpet. While getting the sticky glob out may seem impossible at first, a couple of ice cubes can provide an easy solution to your woes. Begin by freezing the gum for about 30 seconds using ice cubes. After it is already frozen, you can use a spoon to lift up the gum. Then cut away the carpet strands that has caught the gum, making sure that you cut away only a small part of carpet.

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8 Reasons to Choose Shade Sails

Shade Sails

Leaving a car out in the rain and sun day and night does nothing for the duco or the interior. It is well-known that cars left in the sun become extremely hot and this has a bad effect on the materials inside the car. Sun and rain will eventually ruin the outside finish of the car as well. What can you do if there’s no garage? Shade Sails from Shade Sails Perth could offer the  protection your car needs.

Some people have no choice but to park their car in the street. They may live in a rental with no garage, or perhaps the block of ground their home is on is too small for a garage. Erecting a garage, car-port or shed can take a lot of time and cost a lot more than your budget allows. Getting the necessary permissions from council often takes months.

Meanwhile your car is outside getting scorched by all that hot weather and at risk of hail as well. So why not choose to have a shade sail instead?

  1. Shade sails are quick and easy to put up. You don’t need council permission, since it is not classed as a construction because there are no foundations needed. You can have your car protected in less than a week depending on what is needed for the installation.
  2. Sails are waterproof if you get the top quality ones that have the fabric coated so it doesn’t let the rain through. Cheaper shade cloth is not waterproof, but it can still be an option if you just want sun protection for your vehicle.

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5 Signs a Power-Point Is Faulty

electricians

While electricity helps us in many ways to achieve and maintain health, according to the Electrician Perth Experts when something goes wrong with it, knowledgeable electricians would be the first to insist it should be fixed by a qualified person – and of course, we know it’s not legal to do it yourself. This includes sparks coming out of the power points. There are several reasons why this may happen.

  1. In some cases when the cord from a device is pulled out of the power point without switching it off first, there will be a spark. This is because there was a load on the power point. In fact, the device should always be switched off where possible, before removing the socket from the wall. Having that spark means the inside of the power point gets hotter and this can wear it out more quickly.
  2. Sparks, smoke or heat coming from a power point are all bad news. It could be shorting out. The power should be switched off at the junction and an electrician called immediately, before a fire breaks out.
  3. There are several ways to tell if a power point is worn out or faulty and needs replacing. One is the switch knob itself is loose or wobbly or it won’t switch on. This means the switch is broken inside and should be replaced.
  4. If the power point is cracked or damaged, it is dangerous. Do not use it at all. Place duct tape over it so no one can try and switch it on, then call the electrician. In no way try and use it or fix it yourself. That is dangerous to your health.
  5. When you plug an appliance into the power point and find it slides halfway out again, or is loose and wobbly, it means there is wear and damage inside it. Do not use it again until it has been replaced.

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Why Maintaining Your Home is Essential

Maintaining-Your-Home

Property maintenance should be something that is done on a regular basis. In fact, it is an essential part of owning a home. Why? People put many years of effort into paying off their home. For many, it is the most valuable asset they will ever own. To leave it without the proper maintenance will quickly devalue it, until it is not even worth what you paid for it.

There are many simple and affordable jobs that need to be done around the home. If they are not done quickly, the problem can escalate over time to become very expensive to fix. For example, a leaking gutter seems trivial, especially when it’s not raining. But when it does rain, that water will not be carried away. Instead, it can splash down over the cladding and wear away the paintwork. Soon the cladding will start to rot. Or the water can run down under the house and damage the foundations, or wear away the soil underneath the driveway so the concrete is not supported and cracks.

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