Jump The Water Fine! Fun in The Sun But Safety First In the Pool

Pool
Pool

There is  nothing more fun or relaxing than jumping in your pool after a hard day of work or playing in the sun.  Home pools are a great place for family fun, swimming, relaxing and gathering with friends. I can’t think of anything more soothing that floating on my back in my own backyard oasis.  Or anything more timeless and endearing that watching my children scream with delight as they splash around in their own personal backyard ocean. But before the fun begins there are some important safety precautions that every pool owner needs to take to make sure that their family is safe when playing in their backyard oasis.  Although water is relaxing, refreshing and a source of good times it can also be very dangerous if you don’t take the right steps to create a safe pool environment.

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Spring Cleaning Isn’t Just for Indoors: The Essentials to Make Your Home Spring Ready On the Outside

There is nothing better than the smell of fresh air and the first flowers peaking their heads out after a long winter. There is something about this wonder that give us more energy and motivation to clean,organize and beautify our homes. Often we focus just on getting rid of the dust and clutter that is accumulated over the long, lazy days of winter, but we should also turn our attention to the outside of our homes. Not only are the aesthetics of your home are an important reflection of who you are, but also cleaning up the outside of your home can prevent you from a bug infestation or damage to your home during the warmer months. Two important areas of yard cleanup that are often overlooked are securing your home against a bug invasion and cleaning out your gutters. Make sure to add these to add these to your Spring Cleaning Check List!A Quick List for Cleaning Your Outside Spaces:

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Could Your Drinking Water be Making You Sick?

water-faucet
water-faucet

You may wonder why you would need to have your water tested.  Especially if it doesn’t taste or smell bad or have any noticeable discoloration or cloudiness.  The fact is that many common contaminants that are found in drinking water do not cause a change that is detectable by smell, taste, or sight.  

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Ants, Beetles, and Termites, Oh My- How to Rid Your House of These Tiny Trespassers

Exterminator
Exterminator

Your home is one of the most sacred and comforting places that you spend time. How comfortable would you be if you knew that there were hundreds or thousands of tiny little terrorists silently invading your home? Wouldn’t you want to know where they are and how to get rid of them? What if these trespassers were not only inhabiting your home, but also destroying it from the studs out? Would this make you want to take immediate action to defend your castle? Of course, it would. Sadly, many of us don’t know that we have these tiny, terrible visitors until it is too late and they have created thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. There are some simple ways that you can prevent these interlopers from destroying your domicile. Following the information here can help you on your way to a pest free environment!What Wood Destroying Organisms (WDOs) Are and Why You Need to Be Weary of Them Wood destroying organisms are those nasty creepy crawlies that are silently eating away at your home. This list includes subterranean termites, dry wood termites, damp wood termites, powder post beetles, carpenter ants, and carpenter bees. Each of these bugs have their own unique way of slowly destroying your home, plank by plank:Facts About WDOs

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Red Flags To Look For When Hiring a General Contractor and The Best Way to Avoid Renovation and Construction Disasters!

At the ripe age of 26 and with a great level of naivete and hubris I embarked on the process of building a home. My then husband and I decided that we would be perfectly capable of being our own general contractor. This I believe now is a clear sign of the hubris of youth! We thought that because we had grown up in the area where we were building and knew a lot of people that we would be able to easily find subcontractors to work on our home build. This assumption turned out to be our downfall and a true life lesson. We ended up hiring friends of the family to paint, the father of one of my high school friend’s father as a finish carpenter and a plumber that came highly recommended by our neighbors. In a perfect world this would have all added up to major savings and the security of knowing the people you were working with. However, this is not a perfect world and in the end we often couldn’t get a hold of my high school friend’s father and after charging us for a ridiculous amount of copper piping the plumber that came so highly recommended disappeared and with him all of the pipe.

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Spring Has Sprung: The Snow is Finally Melting Outside, but What is Happening in Your Attic?

Spring
Spring

There is no better sight after a long New England winter than the first blade of grass growing up out of the last patches of snow in your yard.  We welcome the littlest signs of spring, but with the spring can come a great deal of moisture. You definitely want to make sure that your attic is moisture free come April showers, because any wetness in your attic can cause a lot of stress and costly repairs throughout your house.  There are many possible reasons why your attic may have moisture and many of them may be hidden. Even if your ceiling isn’t leaking and you see no water seeping into your home from above, don’t be fooled into thinking that there are no issues in your attic. Make sure to check for all possible culprits in your attic that could cause damage now or down the road.   You always want to protect yourself from costly repairs and major damage.

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With April Showers Comes Basement Flooding? Why You Need a Good Sump Pump

flooding
flooding

There is no worse feeling than stepping down into your basement and hearing, “swish, swish” under your feet. With New England’s ever quickly changing seasons, mountains or snow melt and furious April showers, it is absolutely essential to have a sump pump in your basement. No one wants to have to deal with the costly repairs and headaches of cleaning up a wet basement. Although there are some houses that will never experience moisture problems, they are the lucky few and far between. So, whether you have lived in your house for 20 years or are just buying a house there are a few things that you should look for that are signs that you need a sump pump:Signs That You Need a Sump Pump

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The Iris’ Are Poking Through the Snow: It’s Time To Get Your Home Ready for Spring!

spring-cleaning
spring-cleaning

I know that there is nothing more exciting than seeing the first iris or daffodil poke through the snow or the first patch of green grass after a long winter covered in snow. The muck and the mud that follow are even welcome because they mean an end to the freezing temperatures, snow shovels and winter winds. Spring is one of the most magical times of year, especially in New England after the long winter’s hibernation. The air seems cleaner, the breeze gentle, the birds come back and sing their melodious song, the grass begins to grow and flowers bloom. In the midst of all of this wonder there is also a lot of work to be done.

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What You Can Do When Jack Frost Comes and Freezes Your Pipes

frozen-pipe
frozen-pipe

There are some misconceptions about frozen pipes.  The leading misconception is that pipes only freeze in cold climates.  In fact, pipes are more likely to freeze in warm climates where houses do not have adequate insulation to protect the pipes.  I found this out the hard way.

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How to Avoid Buying a Money Pit: What to Look for When Buying an Old House

Money-Pit
Money-Pit

One of New England’s greatest assets is its quaint small towns and the beautiful antique and historical homes in these towns.  I grew up in a small New Hampshire town, whose main street was littered with homes that dated back to the 1800’s. The homes ranged from Victorian mansions to saltbox and cape style farm houses, each with its own unique architecture and charm.  In fact, the house that I grew up in was a quaint little white farmhouse that was built in the 1800’s, well at least the original part of the house. Although, this house was full of charm it was also full of issues!

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