Information about basement and crawl space environments, moisture control, and creating healthier homes

Weatherizing your home can help you save money and keep your family out of the cold during the chilly winter months. Every winter it seems that home improvement organizations release another list of ways to winterize your home that you may just ignore, but now more than ever it’s something you should consider doing. With the cost of energy and fuel on the rise, it’s important to do everything you can to be prepared now before disaster strikes your home and bank account.

Winterizing your home can be time consuming, but it is worth the effort. Start now and you can avoid a slew of weather-related problems. Make sure you have a snow shovel, sand and rock salt handy for outside your house, but also look through your home and see if the interior is winter ready as well.

Winter Check List

The Tulsa World writes that you should have your furnace serviced early so problems don’t arise when you need your heater. You should also close off your crawl space so that cold drafts aren’t able to penetrate your house, and check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. By cleaning out leaves and debris from drainage areas around your roof you’ll lower the chances of ice dams or other types of blockage that can cause problems. Disconnect your hose from the outdoor faucet as well to keep the hose from freezing.

Home Depot recommends these tips for preparing your home for the winter in a cost-effective manner:

• Caulk around your windows and doors to eliminate drafts.
• Use expanding foam insulation around spigots and other entry points to your house.
• Close the flue on your fireplace when you’re not using it.
• Check the weather stripping under your doors and garage doors to make sure it isn’t worn.
• Make sure that your attic insulation meets the R-value for your area.
• Close off heat vents in rooms that aren’t used on a daily basis.

Check out the rest of this article here: http://www.basementsystems.com/press/view.php?id=130

A local Connecticut home inspection company is using Basement Systems basement waterproofing and crawl space science to train Real Estate agents.

Inquiring Eye Home Inspections, located in Trumbull, CT are basement and crawl space specialists that help homeowners to not only find problems in new homes, but to assist them in making their homes healthier and more energy efficient.

The training helps Real Estate agents to learn to address damp and wet basements, and musty crawl spaces. Instead of leaving homeowners to deal with these situations on their own, Inquiring Eye Home Inspections helps them to understand the problems and solutions that basement and crawl space environments hold.

Relia-Serve Corp., a new member of the Basement Systems family, opens its new facility on October 20.

So although the housing market is down 7.7% in prices and 19.3% in sales from last year, according to the National Association of Realtors on their Web site in an article dated Sept. 9, 2008, Basement Systems Inc. is growing rapidly in its home improvement industry.

Innovation in both products and services is spearheading this growth with expansion into three new companies – Total Basement Finishing Inc., Foundation Supportworks Inc., and Relia-Serve Corporation. Built upon the 21 year-old basement waterproofing dealer network, these industries address home improvement, remodeling, and general contractors, leading the innovations in their respective markets. Read more

Dust mites are tiny insects invisible to the naked eye.  They’re everywhere: mattresses, pillows, carpets, upholstered furniture, bedcovers, clothes, stuffed toys, fabric and fabric-covered items.  They feed on our dead skin cells and can bring on allergies in humans.  So, how can you fight that which you cannot see?

It’s impossible to get rid of all dust mites for good, but the Environmental Protection Agency has a few tips to help you at least have a fighting chance against these microscopic monsters.  Read more

Sometimes making a deal with a basement contractor can feel like making a deal with the devil. Will he hold up his end of the bargain? What kind of horrible consequences await you once you shake his hand? There are a number of tips you can use that will help make your experience with a basement contractor a helpful one rather than a stressful one.

Ask the Expert columnist Tim Carter suggests that you set up a timely and fair payment plan. Also, get everything in writing and keep records so you can reference it later if you need to. Read more