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Autumn is a great season to prepare your home for cooler weather while checking off a few once-a-year maintenance projects at the same time.

 

By the way, if you or anyone you know has a real estate need, please contact us today. We'll always provide first-class service!

Are You Ready for Fall?
Home Maintenance and Safety Tips

Believe it or not, some ducting materials commonly used for dryer transition vent tubes can catch fire very easily.  The transition vent leads from the dryer to the wall, and the most frequently seen offenders are plastic and 'flexible aluminum' (actually foil) tubing.  The video below shows you why it's so important to make sure your dryer vent tube is not made of these materials.

Dryer vent tube fire safety test.

 
What's better?  Rigid or semi-rigid, UL-listed aluminum ducting is much safer.

Newer product:  DryerFlex appears to offer the best of both worlds, being both very flexible and extremely fire resistant.  You can read a home inspector's rave review here, or find a service provider who carries it on the DryerFlex website.

Note:  The terms 'UL-listed' and 'fire-resistant' do not necessarily mean a material is safe to use with a clothes dryer.




Each year thousands of house fires in the U.S. are caused by clogged dryer vents.  Most people know they should clean out their vents at least annually (actually doing so is another matter, obviously :), but did you know that lint can also accumulate deep inside your clothes dryer?

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to deep clean a clothes dryer, including removing the back panel to clean the interior.  There's also a highly-rated rotary dryer vent cleaning system on Amazon that might work well for a DIY project; however, just note that it requires a drill.

It's because the positive and negative terminals on a 9-volt battery are very close to each other, and a piece of metal such as a small paper clip, steel wool, or aluminum foil that comes into contact with them can short the terminals and create a heating event that sparks a fire.

It's easy to let this task slide, but furnace filters need to be cleaned or replaced regularly, and the furnace should be cleaned and serviced at least once a year.

It's a good idea to also clean out fireplaces, and have flues cleaned and checked for creosote build-up or debris that could start a chimney fire.

Clean out gutters and downspouts in order to prevent water from backing up and spilling onto the ground too near the building foundation.  Even in homes that are built on a slab it's important to make sure that all downspouts discharge water away from the foundation.

Halloween is one of the top five dates for house fires started by lit candles.  The other dates are the three days leading up to and including Christmas, and New Year's Eve.

Links that Make Life Easier 

This video of ocean expert Valerie Taylor's friendship with a moray eel is amazing no matter what kind of explanation one might find for it - see for yourself.  (Just a word of caution: don't try this at home. :)

Click here or on the image to watch the video on the family-friendly Flixxy website.

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