Handyman News
... Get Ready for Cold Weather
November 16, 2006
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Welcome to the first issue of Handyman News. We'll share information about maintaining your home, plus great ideas to enhance your living space. Articles will reflect actual work done by My Handyman, address questions asked by you, our customers, and provide information of general interest to home owners in New England. We appreciate your business and hope to provide insight into effective ways to protect your home.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
...From the team at My Handyman of Southern NH

Winter is fast approaching. You can save money by taking care of routine maintenance projects now. Our fall checklist can help you minimize accidents around your home, reduce home heating costs and contain the cost of repairs due to water damage, through timely prevention before hidden structural damage occurs.

  • Storm doors/windows: Attractive storm doors enhance your home's charm, protect your main door and are energy efficient. You can also add storm windows or upgrade to energy efficient (dual pane) windows. My Handyman has built custom storm windows for several customers who want to protect their 3-season rooms.
  • Insulation to to Save Heating $$: Only 20% of homes built prior to 1980 are well insulated. You can reduce heating costs by adding insulation (recommended r-values) to attics, exterior walls and ceilings in unfinished basements. In attics, make sure the ventilation is adequate to move warm air outside to avoid ice dams on the roof.
  • Insulation to Avoid Frozen Pipes: Wrap exposed pipes with plastic foam sleeves, wool felt, or fiber glass pipe jackets, to hold heat in and reduce the risk of freezing. We have worked with a number of home owners who also needed us to remove the siding to access bathroom pipes where builders omitted insulation in the outside walls.
  • Storm damage repairs: Strong winds and heavy rains have wreaked havoc across southern NH. Hidden water damage may get worse over the winter so complete exterior repairs as soon as possible. We've done a lot of the following repairs:
    ... Replacing missing roof shingles
    ... Repairing, or adding where missing, flashing around the chimney
    ... Redoing flashing over doors/windows and where stairs/decks are attached to the house
    ... Replacing older skylights that are starting to leak
    ... Replacing vent pipes where leaks are suspected
    ... Repairing small foundation cracks.
    Only when the source of water damage has been addressed, should you take care of the interior damage, i.e. repairs to sheet rock.
  • Replace rotted wood: Siding, soffitts, fascia, window sills and thresholds are common exterior surfaces that are prone to damage. We're now recommending the use of composites like Azek that won't rot (no wood content) so yearly maintenance is not required. By addressing problems early, you'll minimize damage to the underlying structure of your home.
  • Gutters and downspouts: Cleaning gutters is a common maintenance project. Our technicians will also secure loose gutters and optionally, we can install Gutter Stuff to reduce the frequency of gutter cleanings. Rain water that isn't diverted away from your home can lead to wet basements or foundation problems.
  • Weather sealing and caulking: You can minimize drafts with weatherstripping and adding insulation/caulking around drafty windows/doors. Close all foundation vents and caulk around pipes where they enter your house. Shut off water to outside faucets and cover them with insulating jackets, or replace them with frost free spigots.
  • Exterior safety: Minimize the risk of falling by making sure exterior handrails are secure. You may even want to add new handrails to assist older visitors who are finding stairs more difficult to navigate. Check stairs too, as we're seeing concrete steps damaged by rock salt that causes concrete to crack and crumble. Change bulbs in outdoor light fixtures now to make sure they'll stay lit through the winter.
  • Inside safety and maintenance: Replace the batteries in your smoke detectors. Install carbon monoxide detectors that sense the odorless and colorless gas that comes from improperly burning fireplaces, stoves etc. Drain your hot water heater a few inches to remove minerals that collect at the bottom. The anode rod inside the tank, should be replaced every few years depending on water quality. This rod attracts minerals that would otherwise corrode and ultimately destroy the water heater tank.
  • Appliance maintenance: Dryer vents should be cleaned each year as overheated clothes dryers can cause fires per the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Washing machine hoses are under constant pressure so they should be changed periodically. It's also a good idea to install a shut off valve behind the washing machine so you can turn the water off when you're away from home for more than a few days.
taunton organizing
In each newsletter we'll address customer questions. Please send your questions to Tina at My Handyman and we'll publish information on the most frequently asked questions and/or projects. If you need an answer right away, don't hesitate to call us (numbers above, left) and we'll do our best to help you get the information or help you need.

I'm always looking for opportunities to learn what's important to my customers. At a recent event, I talked with quite a few homeowners and learned that many are planning bigger projects like remodeling a bathroom, building a mudroom, designing a fireplace mantel with adjoining bookcases and some special spaces for kids.

Every successful project starts with good planning. I often tell homeowners it's cheaper to make mistakes on paper than to build, tear down and rebuild. There is a wonderful series of books, the Taunton Idea Books that provide hundreds of photographs to illustrate the wide range of designs and materials available for projects, both inside and outside your home. You should start any project by identifying what your functional requirements are, followed by the wish list of "nice to have." Then comes the difficult task of prioritizing because you can't have everything. Once you've finalized the list, these books also provide easy to understand illustrations to simplify the technical decisions associated with a given project, i.e. kitchen countertop edging and backsplash profiles.

Finally, you should consider the resale value of your project. By doing some research up front, you can determine if you're spending wisely (expect to recover 90% or more of your project cost) or should consider scaling back. A recent article, Home Renovations That Pay Off When It Comes Time to Sell provides a nice overview on this subject and lists some projects that have a good payback and others that don't.
Tina Gleisner's Photo
Home ownership should be fun. If I can provide a cure for homeowner headaches, my customers will enjoy their homes more. Through this newsletter, I want to help homeowners learn the unique personalities of their home, i.e. one side of a house will sustain more weather damage so it needs to be painted more frequently than the other sides. You will then be able to plan for routine maintenance and avoid unnecessary repairs.

I started My Handyman of Southern NH because I wanted to get more involved in the community where I live. Since opening in 2003, we have supported many community organizations. This newsletter offers me a unique opportunity to share the knowledge I'm gaining in the construction industry. I hope you enjoy reading my articles and welcome your feedback.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Tina Gleisner, President
My Handyman of Southern NH

phone: Bedford 472-2247, Derry 432-5906, Exeter 773-5904 or Portsmouth 433-5905
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