Autumn Maintenance Tips

Home Exterior

• Regularly clean gutters and downspouts. Make sure all drainage areas are unblocked by leaves and debris. Consider installing gutter guards to make the job a lot easier.
• Use a screwdriver to probe the wood trim around windows, doors, railings and decks. Use caulk to fill the holes or completely replace the wood.
• Lower humidity and cooler (not yet cold) temperatures make fall a good time to paint the exterior of your home.
• Inspect your roof, or hire a licensed professional to examine your roof for wear and tear. If the shingles are curling, buckling or crackling, replace them. If you have a lot of damage, it's time to replace the entire roof. Also, check the flashing around skylights, pipes and chimneys. If you have any leaks or gaps, heavy snow and ice will find its way in.
• To prevent exterior water pipes from bursting when the weather gets below freezing, turn off the valves to the exterior hose bibs. Run the water until the pipes are empty. Make sure all the water is drained from the pipes, if not; the water can freeze up and damage the pipes.

Keeping Warm

• Have your wood-burning fireplace inspected, cleaned and repaired to prevent chimney fires and carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Wrap water pipes that run along exterior walls with heating tape. It will save energy and prevent them from freezing.
• Clean and replace filters in your furnace or heating system. Contact a licensed heating contractor to inspect and service your gas heater or furnace to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Your local utility company will often provide this service for free.
• If you use a hot water system for heating, drain the expansion tank, check the water pressure, and bleed your radiators.
• Check the attic to make sure the insulation is installed properly. The vapor barrier on insulation should face down toward the living space. If it is installed incorrectly (with the vapor barrier facing up) then the insulation will trap moisture causing possible water problems. Cut slits in the vapor barrier to allow moisture to escape. To install attic insulation, unroll the insulation with the paper side out. Install small pieces of insulation between the joists on the attic floor. Be careful not to step between the joists.

Doors and Windows

The change in temperature and humidity and normal wear and tear can cause window seals to crack and shrink. Check your windows and doors inside and out for leaks and drafts. Caulk cracks or install weather stripping around windows and doors, including the garage door. Replace screens with storm windows and clean them if needed.

Gardens

• Fall is the perfect time to divide or move perennials. Remove dead annuals and mulch hardy perennials. Annuals typically die when temperatures drop below freezing. But perennials often appear as though they too have bitten the bullet. That's because their top growth dies back, although in most cases the root ball is hardy enough to survive even extreme temperatures, especially if it's covered with a layer of mulch.
• The best time to mulch perennials is after the first hard freeze. Just make sure you don't cover the crown or center of the plant, because that can lead to rot.
• Clean garden tools before storing for the winter.
• Trim dead branches out the trees to prevent them from coming down and causing damage in a winter storm.

• Lawn Care

  • Rake up the thick layers of leaves that settle on lawn surfaces. Large leaves in particular, especially when they get wet, can compact to the point where they suffocate the grass below and lead to all kinds of insect and disease problems. So it's a good idea to routinely rake or blow them off the lawn or, better yet, use a mulching mower to shred them into fine pieces.
  • Put the raked leaves in the compost pile or use as a mulch. Whatever you do, don't waste fallen leaves because they're an excellent source of nutrients and organic matter. You can also add them to flower beds to put a winter blanket on your garden.
  • Fall is a good time to aerate your lawn; it will allow moisture and nutrients to get into the roots. When you're done, spread fertilizer then grass seed.
  • This will be the ideal time to sow cool-season grasses such as fescue and rye - it will give them the opportunity to germinate and develop a good root system before freezing temperatures arrive. It's also the right time to fertilize turf grasses, preferably with slow-release, all-natural fertilizer. When given adequate nutrients, turf grasses have the ability to store food in the form of carbohydrates during the winter months. That will mean a better-looking lawn come spring.

  Attic Pest Control

  • Pests love attics because they are full of nice warm insulation for nesting, and they offer easy access to the rest of the house. With gable vents that lead into the attic it is a good idea to install a screen behind them to keep those critters out.
  • Even after closing off those entryways, pests can still find a way in. The first place to check for any unwanted guests is under the kitchen cupboards and appliances.

  Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors

• Each fall, check carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms and put in fresh batteries. These are very important detectors to have in a home. A smoke alarm can save lives in a house fire. A carbon monoxide detector can also save lives if a home has oil or gas-burning appliances, like a furnace or water heater.
• Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless byproduct of burning oil or natural gas, and it can be deadly. For just a few dollars, a carbon monoxide detector will sound an alarm if the levels get too high.
• Always install carbon monoxide detectors according to manufacturer's instructions. Generally they should be installed near each potential source of carbon monoxide, and within ear shot of the living and sleeping areas.

•  For help with all of your Home Projects Orlando Handyman

Garage Safety and Storage Tips

For many Americans, garages are the most well worn entryway to their homes.  Besides the daily family traffic, the garage is also a place where we risk safety by mixing things together for storage that would never be found in the same place anywhere else in our home.  Toys and toxins are a dangerous combination but check any garage and you are likely to see just that:  toys, bikes, and balls stored within inches of insecticides, turpentine and gasoline.
It should be no surprise, then, that these same spaces can be the source of many injuries.  Here are the main sources of garage dangers and what you need to know to make your garage safe:
DANGEROUS DOORS - The overhead door is most likely the largest and heaviest door in your home.  It is also the cause of three types of injuries:

• Crushing - According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4 children a year are crushed by garage doors.  These doors, powered by automatic openers, come down and simply don't stop.  While garage door openers have been required to have automatic reversing mechanisms since 1982, these mechanisms can wear out or fail if not properly maintained.  To be safe, test your door's ability to reverse by placing a 2x4 under the door.  When the door hits the wood, it should reverse and go back up.  If it doesn't, replace it.  Also, if your opener is more than 5 years old, it is also a good idea to replace it.  Garage door openers are an important piece of safety equipment and it's just not worth taking a chance with an old one.
• Pinching - Most garage doors are made of 4-large, horizontal, panels on hinges.  Unfortunately, these door sections can pinch children's fingers and cause severe injuries.  The solution is a pinch-free door design, which effectively pushes a child's fingers out of the way as the door closes.
• Flying Springs - Most garage doors are powered by very large, heavy, springs that provide the extra strength to lift the door.  The problem is that eventually, these springs WILL break.  When this happens, they'll fly off the door and across the room, potentially injuring anyone in their path.  The solution is a simple do-it-yourself safety trick.  When the door is in the closed position, thread a wire (picture hanging wire works well) inside the extended spring and secure it to the eyelet at each end.  With the wire in place, a broken spring will have no where to fly except safely back on the wire itself.

UNSAFE STORAGE - Playthings and poisons are a bad combination.  To keep your family safe, be sure to store dangerous chemicals out of the reach of children, or better yet, in a locked cabinet.  Also, be sure to keep chemicals in their original container with the labels in good condition.  Never purchase chemicals in quantities more than you will use in a reasonable period of time.  While it might make sense to buy a case of canned vegetables at the local supermarket warehouse, having to store leftovers from a 6-pack of ant poison isn't worth the risk.
Storing combustibles like gasoline, propane and kerosene is also something that needs careful planning.  These fuels must be stored in containers designed especially for them.  Gasoline cans, for example, have special vents to avoid the dangerous build up of combustible fumes.  Storing gas in anything else is an explosion waiting to happen.
Finally, common, everyday products like ladders and lawn tools can be unsafe if not stored correctly.  Ladders, for example should always be stored in a horizontal position so that children can not climb on them and tumble over.  Rakes, hedge trimmers and shovels left on the garage floor or leaning against a wall can easily fall under foot and cause injuries.  To be safe, use wall space and get as many of your tools off the floor as possible.
ELECTRICAL SAFETY - Electricity and water don't mix but this dangerous combination can easily happen in a garage.  To be safe, all garage circuits should be protected with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter).  While regular circuit breakers are designed to prevent wires from overheating and causing a fire, a GFCI breaker is specifically designed to prevent shocks. A GFCI can be installed at an outlet or in the main circuit breaker panel and works to prevent a shock.
Secondly, most garages are not properly lit.  Fluorescent lamps tend to dim in colder weather and most garages simply don't have enough fixtures to help you see your way clear of storage and other hazards.  To avoid trouble, make sure that all garage outlets are protected by GFCI's and add additional lights as needed to see your way to safety.
SAFE STRUCTURES - Building codes require that garages be constructed to protect the rest of the home from fire damage should they become engaged in flame.  For the most part this is accomplished by what is known as the fire wall, a wall-assembly constructed to keep fire at bay by the use of fire resistant drywall and other similar tactics.  Unfortunately, older homes may not have a firewall and even modern homes may have had their firewalls rendered ineffective.  For example, in an effort to make use of every available space, many families install an attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage.  Unfortunately, doing so creates a hole in the fire wall and a short cut for fire to take out your entire home.  To ensure safety, make sure all walls and ceilings between your garage and your house are constructed with at least 5/8ths inch thick drywall and that any attic stairs are covered with sheet metal for fire resistance.
Finally, make sure your garage has a fire extinguisher rated A-B-C.   This means the extinguisher can handle all types of fires, including fires from wood and paper, electrical and gasoline or grease.
GREASY RAGS MUST GO - Old towels or t-shirts might make convenient rags to have in a garage, but when they become soiled with grease, oil, gasoline or any other flammable materials, they must be tossed.  These rags are nothing more than kindling that, with the right ignition source, can become the fireball that destroys your house.
Never try and wash rags like these.  The petroleum will leach into your washing machine and leave your next load of laundry smelling like yesterday's lawn mowing session.  Also, placing any rag that has contained a flammable substance into a hot dryer is extremely dangerous. Rags are cheap.  Always toss them and find new ones for your next project.
Garage safety is not hard to achieve.  The key is to get storage organized so that unsafe situations never have the chance to develop. For help with your projects