The decision to go solar can be exciting because you know your investment will eventually pay off. But what does it involve? We know that only some people are conversant with solar power and solar systems. Hence, we provide this step-by-step guide to help you delve into the solar energy world with confidence.

Seek Advice

There’s no reason to do everything alone. Instead, schedule a consultation with solar advisors to discuss your goals and needs. Here are vital things to address during the consultation:

• Your unique situations
• Your questions about going solar
• The installation process and options
• A quote for the solar system installation
• Incentives that might be available to you for going solar

It’s vital to choose a qualified and licensed solar installer to get reliable advice, quality work, and peace of mind.

Decide Whether to Get a Solar Loan or Buy Your System

Buying a solar system has the following benefits:

• It maximizes energy savings since the system pays for itself over time, saving you money.
• You avoid paying the ever-increasing energy costs to the local utility company.
• You may receive tax incentives to help you cover the investment, depending on your eligibility status.

Getting a solar loan has the following advantages:

• A solar loan can finance the entire installation.
• You may get interest-free financing, making the transition to solar energy faster and easier.
• Some governments provide grants to encourage residents to transit to renewable energy seamlessly. Some households get loans of up to $40,000 with 0% interest for a term of up to 10 years.

Design Your Solar System

Once you decide to go solar, ensure you have a solar energy consultant and a project manager. These will help you design your solar system depending on the following:

• Your roof type
• Your specification for an efficient and custom solar system.
• A system design that will maximize your solar energy output and savings
• The necessary permits and inspections

Designing a solar system with the help of experts ensures it’s tailored to your specific energy needs. You ensure the system is aesthetically pleasing while meeting your expectations.

Solar System Installation

Once you approve the system design, you can schedule the installation appointment with your project manager. Choose a day and time that suits your schedule. Here’s what to expect during the installation:

• The solar installation experts will bring all the necessary materials.
• The solar installers will have the necessary safety gear, including scaffolding and ladders.
• The experts will install all components using the best practices and adhering to the local building codes and the manufacturer’s specifications.
• The installers will connect and test everything.

Final Inspection

After the installation, the experts will perform a final inspection to ensure everything is working correctly. Moreover, they will answer all your questions and guide you to use and maintain your system for optimal performance. Additionally, they will always be available and ready to serve you if you need help servicing, maintaining, or repairing your system.

Going solar can be straightforward and exciting if you plan and work with qualified solar installers. Follow this guide to transition to renewable energy, enjoy more independence, and financial savings.

When it comes to cleaning the windows in your home, you can go one of two routes. One, you learn to do it yourself and two, you hire a professional window cleaner to clean them for you. Cleaning your windows can be a quickly learned skill, keeping them clean however is the hard part. With children, pets and other environmental factors, it can be a chore on its own maintaining the cleanliness of your windows. To receive the most out of your own attempts at cleaning your glass, we’ve asked the owner of a window cleaning service at Window Cleaners Winnipeg for some helpful homeowner advice. I will point out that this advice is for the average homeowner who chooses to clean them on their own instead of hiring a professional. The ladder will be a different and more skilled method of cleaning possibly requiring different equipment.

First off, choose a day when the sun isn’t as prominent. Sometimes the cloudier it is, the better because the sun produces hotter temperatures and when it is too hot it can be difficult to clean glass due to the solution, soap and water drying very quickly. If you are not a professional and are skilled in cleaning windows fast and efficiently, it is best to clean them on a cloudy, cooler day to avoid this.

If left unattended, your windows and frames can attract a lot of dust, dirt and webs. Begin by cleaning off the frames, tracks and glass using a soft brush or broom to remove any excess dirt and dust. This will lesson the amount of dirt to be cleaned off through the methods applied later. Screens can also be cleaned at this time, take them off and scrub them with a window cleaning mop or cloth removing all the dirt and grime, place them somewhere to dry while you clean the windows. By the time you are finished the screens will be dry enough to put back on.

Choosing the right cleaning solution is as easy as purchasing a quality product or creating your own by mixing some water, vinegar and a small amount of rubbing alcohol. Mix them together and pour them into a spray bottle. If you choose for whatever reason to clean your exterior windows in the winter when temperatures are below freezing, you can use some water and windshield washer fluid. Spray a generous amount of solution on the glass based on how much dirt there is and the condition of the windows. Wipe the glass to ensure all dirt and grime is removed, if there are things that won’t come off you can try using a scraper, but be sure that the glass is still wet if you use it otherwise you can damage the glass.

When wiping off the solution, microfibre cloths work great as they are very absorbent and remove any excess dirt or smears left behind from the initial cleaning. Another option to use is a surgical towel, they are also quite absorbent and very durable. These towels will do a quality job of removing dirt and water from the glass.

If you are not skilled in the profession of window cleaning, using a squeegee can work against you. This is a tool that window cleaners use to clean windows optimally. But for the average homeowner it may not be the best choice. It can cause a terrible unnecessary mess when used improperly. Unless you have it in your budget to pay for window cleaning twice per year, which is the recommend frequency, cleaning them on your own with a spray solution and some quality towels will suffice.

Regular carpet cleaning is not taken seriously by most homeowners. However, it’s very important to keep your carpet clean. Basically, cleaning carpets regularly doesn’t mean vacuuming them every week. It implies proper cleaning that removes dirt and grime that tends to build up on carpets over time. Here are the major reasons to clean carpet regularly.

Great Look – Regularly cleaned carpets look great most of the time. A cleaned carpet looks and feels better. A well-maintained, nice carpet shows that you are proud of your home and you are a clean person. Generally, every carpet gets stains and spots over time. But, regularly cleaned carpets hold off inevitable stains for a longer period. What’s more, a clean carpet has a significant impact on the people that live in a home.

Healthy Living – Carpet cleaning is not just about asthma prevention. It helps your overall health. That’s because carpets trap contaminants that lead to breeding and growth of allergens in a home. Cleaning carpets on regular basis improves air quality in a living space. Essentially, when you clean carpets you remove airborne pollutants, dust mites, and bedbugs that hide in carpets.

Extend the Lifespan of Your Carpet – Regular vacuuming helps but grime and dirt sinks deeper into the fibers of the carpet. And once there, cleaning them is not easy. Unfortunately, they give carpets a discolored and old look. Regular cleaning enables you to remove this grime and dirt. This enables carpets to last longer without losing their amazing look.

Odor Elimination – Insects, urine, dust, and other pollutants that find their way into a carpet produce a foul odor. Their presence increases the possibility of organisms like fungi and bacteria thriving in the carpet. Bad odor alone signifies an unhealthy environment. However, you can eliminate this oder with regular carpet cleaning. That’s because cleaning your carpet on regular basis makes them uninhabitable for harmful organisms.

It’s important to ensure that your carpet is cleaned regularly by experienced professionals. That way, it will last longer and serve you better. Thus, regular carpet cleaning will enable you to get maximum returns from your investment.

These tips have been provided by a professional Home Inspector who has seen his fair share of rugged old and worn out carpets which can cause harm to a home’s environment. It may be a good idea to follow a professional’s opinion and guidance to long lasting carpets.

The surest way of keeping your drains clean is being careful about the items that go into them. Coffee grounds, soap scum, hair, and cooking grease are the major enemies of your drains. Therefore, do everything possible to ensure that these items do not find their way into your drains. But, how do you do this?

Here are simple ways to keep your drains clean:

• Save all cooking grease in a used milk or coffee container then dispose it off instead of running it down the drains.
• Make sure that all coffee grounds in your home are thrown away in garbage or added to the mulch pie.
• Use drain-gate or screen to cover the opening of the drain. This will minimize soap scum and hair problems. Your local plumber store has the right fixture for your home drains. Therefore, make sure that you select a fixture that addresses your needs properly. Most screens and filters are easy to fit in place.

Unclog the Drains

If your drains become clogged, don’t panic. Instead, try to unclog them by running hot water through them. Simply pour hot water into the sink and give it time to flow. Hot water will make oils and grease that may be causing the clog run down the drains. In fact, any time you notice slow flow of water down the drains, run hot water through them. This will prevent build up of oils and grease on the interior surface of your drains.

If hot water doesn’t work, pour vinegar or baking soda into your sinks and drain it. Let it flow down the drains for 30 minutes before running hot water down through them. Vinegar is a great drain cleaner. That’s because it has acetic acid. This is an organic solvent that removes the organic build up in the pipes. Baking soda on the other hand is a great cleaning agent. It absorbs foul odors thereby leaving your drains with a better smell.

If none of these works, enlist a professional drain cleaning service. Nevertheless, if you follow this guide, keeping your drains clean won’t be a challenge.

Have you been neglecting a small roof leak or postponing its repair? Then you need to have it fixed immediately to avoid bigger problems. A leaking roof can be annoying. However, it is easy to ignore the leak especially if it is small. Nevertheless, neglecting a small roof leak has consequences that you should be wary of.

Extensive Structural Damage

If you don’t have a small roof leak fixed early, it will lead to an extensive structural damage on your property. During a storm, water can get into your property and move quickly to other parts where it will cause extensive damage. When there is a leak in the roof, the structure and the underlayment of the roof are continuously exposed to damage by water. Rot can occur and weaken the integrity of your roof. The damage might not be limited to the roof only. In fact, it can spread to your home’s interior. For instance, the leaking water can stain walls and ceilings as well as the drywall. This will create unsightly views in your home and necessitate costly interior home repairs.

Safety and Health Risks

A small roof leak can make the interior of your home unhealthy. That’s because a wet roof leads to moisture seepage into the attic. This can lead to mold growth if it is not fixed early. Eventually, the mold in the attic will cause allergic reactions, respiratory infections and coughs among your family members. Additionally, if the seeping water comes into contact with exposed electric cables, it can cause fire in your home.

Expensive Repairs

If you don’t get a small roof leak fixed now, you could end up with a hefty home repair bill. A small leak can be repaired with a simple patch of a hole or replacement of a flashing section. However, if you ignore the leak, it can cause extensive damage that will cost you more to fix. For instance, the roof insulation or decking may have to be torn up if it is decaying or soggy. That means you will part with a huge amount of money because you will pay for labor and materials.

Utility Costs

Ignoring a small roof leak can hurt your finances in numerous ways. For instance, if your insulation becomes waterlogged, it won’t protect your property from the extreme exterior temperatures. Without proper insulation, your home will lose heat significantly especially during winter. This will increase your monthly utility bills.

Get a Roof Leak Fixed Now!

Clearly, a small roof leak can lead to numerous problems, some of which you may not imagine at first. That’s why you should have the leak fixed immediately no matter how small it seems. It’s also important to ensure that your property is inspected to ensure that the exact location of the leak is identified. This ensures that you get a lasting solution to the roof leak problem.

A roofing company we recently interviewed said; “the biggest issue we have is customers wait too long to fix their roof, the longer they wait, the more expensive it is to fix”. For more tips and insights, simply visit their website, www.medicinehatroofing.com.

Don’t let that small roof leak lead to a bigger problem when expert help is easily accessible. Get it fixed now to avoid unnecessary inconveniences and risks while saving money!

It is important to know how to correctly clean your gas stove. Before any operation of cleaning and maintenance you must disconnect the appliance from the electrical network. When the appliance is not being used, it is advisable to keep the gas tap closed. Every now and then you need to check to make sure that the flexible tube that connects the gas line or the gas cylinder to the appliance is in perfect condition. Eventually you will have to substitute it if it shows signs of wearing or damage. The periodical lubrication of the gas taps must be done only by a specialist. If a tap becomes stiff, do not force it. Rather contact your local gas service centre to assist you with repairing this. Remember to never use cleaning products with a chlorine or acidic base.

While we always worry about maintaining our cars, our lawns, our furniture, we tend to forgot about our house hold appliances. Then one day when they stop working, we throw them out and go and buy new ones. It is not only very costly to buy a new appliance; it is also a tad bit inconvenient as one gets accustomed to the way an appliance works. The solution to this is regular maintenance of all of your household appliances. This means that you need appliance repair after regular intervals.

Appliance repair varies from appliance to appliance, and so does the amount of time required between each repair. Let’s start with refrigerator repair. It is wise to get you refrigerator checked by a professional at least twice a year. You should get it checked and any damaged big or small needs to be fixed, once at the beginning of summer and once when summer ends. When the weather is hot, the refrigerator needs to work more to keep your eatables cold and fresh, which adds a strain on it machinery. Refrigerator repair during the start of the summer is to check if it is ready to take on extra work and at the end of the summer to fix damages done by the extra load.

Washer repair isn’t dependent on seasonality, so once a year visit from a professional repairs team is more than enough. The most common complaint received regarding washers is a faulty timer. So make sure you get the timer checked during your washer repair. Just like the refrigerator, AC’s need to be checked for repairs both before and after the summer season. AC repair before the summer makes sure it’s ready to fight the heat and the repair after summer checks against any damaged caused by the long summer.

While getting appliance repair done is important, it is a big hassle to look for the perfect repair team. Luckily now there are many appliance repair companies with their own websites, which help you to make an appointment with the relevant appliance team and have them visit your home. So if you are a homeowner you can very easily log onto the World Wide Web and order a repair job for your appliances without having to leave your home.

Eavestrough and rain gutter maintenance is one of the crucial investments that a homeowner should always remember. That’s because eavestrough and gutters forms an important part of any building. To serve their purpose effectively, eavestrough and rain gutters must be kept clean and in proper condition.

The foundation of your house will serve you longer if eavestrough and gutters are properly maintained after installation. That’s because they will keep rainwater from damaging the foundation of your house. Without proper and regular maintenance, gutters will be clogged. Eventually, water will find its way into places where it shouldn’t go. These include the fascia board, windows, doors, and walls which can suffer serious damage. You roof can also roof if water accumulates up there when gutters are clogged. That’s why optimal eavestrough and rain gutter maintenance matters.

Advantages of Eavestrough & Rain Gutter Maintenance

Proper eavestrough and gutter maintenance enhances their durability. Leaves, sticks, dirt, and debris from that accumulate in the gutters and eavestrough hinders the free flow of rainwater. Clogging of rain gutters leads to water accumulation and ice dam formation. This leads to sagging of gutters or cracking which causes leaking. This can be prevented with proper gutter maintenance.

When the gutters are cleaned on regular basis, there is good flow of rainwater from the roof, through the downspouts, to the designated collection or disposal point. Without clogging or sagging, your gutters will remain strong and effective longer.

Maintaining Eavestrough and Gutters

Maintaining your eavestrough and gutters may seem like a simple task. However, it is not that easy. In fact, some people have fallen off the ladders and sustained serious injuries trying to clean gutters. That’s why you should think twice before you decide to perform regular eavestrough and gutter maintenance without professional assistance.

Essentially, it is advisable that you engage services of a professional gutter cleaning company to perform this task on your behalf. But, how do you find the best company to perform your eavestrough and gutter maintenance?

Here are some of the tips to help you choose the best eavestrough and gutter Maintenance Company:

• Conduct online research to know what different companies offer.
• Confirm that the company has workers’ insurance to ensure that you won’t be held liable for injuries that may occur while its employees maintain your gutters.
• Consider the fees charged by the company to get a quality service at the most reasonable price.
• Look for a company with trained technicians that have been providing gutter maintenance services for years.
• Ask the company to provide references and contact them to learn about their experience with the company.
• Choose a company that has technicians that specialize in eavestrough and gutter maintenance.
• Read and understand the contract before you append your signature on it.

There are many companies that claim to offer the best eavestrough and gutter maintenance services. Take time to identify a company that has a proven track record of providing superior eavestrough and gutter services.

This article was brought to you by Winnipeg Eavestrough. You can visit their website here at www.winnipegeavestroughcleaning.com for more information.

Summer can be one of the toughest times of the year for lawns, especially when we live in one of the warmer climates. While Summer is a time of thriving for many lawns, likewise it is also a time for less well looked after turf to suffer many different problems that can lead to stress and poor health. With a few simple lawn care practices we should be able to greatly improve all lawns as they navigate their way through the warmest months of the year. Best Practice Lawn Watering-Watering is of course the most important aspect of turf health in Summer. Correct lawn watering practices will enable a lawn to send down roots much deeper into the soil profile, past the evaporation level of the very top of the soil, which as a result will make our turf more heat and drought tolerant. We can slowly train our turf to create a deep root system by only ever watering the lawn once it’s showing signs of leaf wilt, and then giving the lawn a deep drink of water at that time. This is an easy method to grow a deep root system for all turf.

Fertilize Lawns In The Spring

A home lawn which is healthy before Summer arrives is a far better solution to achieve a healthy Summer lawn, than if we were to wait until Summer arrives and then trying to create a healthy lawn. The same is true of Winter lawn care. Fertilization of turf should be done prior to the onset of the two harshest seasons, Summer and Winter. So we want to be sure we have fertilized with a high quality fertilizer prior to the onset of Summer so that the lawn is in its peak health as the heat arrives.

The Importance Of Correct Summer Lawn Mowing-Loss of moisture in soils is responsible for the majority of turf problems in the Summer. As already discussed, we can greatly improve this situation by watering correctly to promote deep root growth, but we can also help the soil further by reducing the amount of water lost through evaporation in the Summer sun.

While a strong healthy lawn growing in full sunlight can be cut short, for most lawns which are less than perfect, their greatest health benefit in Summer can come about by increasing the lawn mowing height. This increase in the length of the lawn leaf then shades and insulates the soil against further moisture loss, resulting in less heat stress for the lawn. This same principle of insulating the soil against moisture loss can be further added upon by mulch mowing the lawn. Whereby the lawn cuttings are recycled back into the lawn, rather than being collected and thrown away. Recycling lawn clippings not only insulates the lawn soil against moisture loss, but they are an incredible source of nutrients to feed back to the lawn instead of relying on the expense and hassle of having to use so many lawn fertilizers.

Lawn Weed And Pest Control-Some treatments for lawn pests and weeds can be harsh on the lawn, especially those that are applied by the homeowner and not by a turf professional. Avoid treating for weeds or pests using chemical pesticides on the hottest days of Summer, instead wait for milder days to do any such spraying, or better yet, try to treat for pests and weeds in Spring, before Summer arrives.