Landscape
Plant a tree. Carefully positioned trees can save up to 25% of the energy a typical household uses for cooling Consider water use when replacing the irrigation system—native plants are well adapted to the amount of water your community usually gets and will cut down on overall watering needs.
Replace outdoor floodlights with compact-fluorescent versions—they’re just as bright and use 1/4 the energy.
Replace low-wattage halogen landscape bulbs with LED versions. They cut energy use by over 80% and can last for 10 years or more.
Install motion sensors on any nonessential lights. New versions just screw right into your existing light socket. A typical 100-watt floodlight, used six hours per day, can consume up to $40 of electricity a year.
Consider solar-powered outdoor lighting for walks, paths and more.
Pool and Spa
Consider a time clock that will give you day-to-day, automatic control over your filter’s and heater’s hours of operation.Consider replacing your old pump. Pools
are commonly equipped with larger pumps than needed. Replacing an oversized pool
pump—even one in good working order— with a smaller, energy-efficient pump is an
investment that usually pays for itself in just two to four years.
Go solar as solar pool heating systems are especially effective during the summer months and can back up a regular pool heater in the spring and the fall. A solar pool heating system can be a significant investment, so make sure the savings have a payback time of less than, or equal to, the useful life of the equipment.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Celebrate Earth Day 2011
Celebrate Earth Day with These Natural Air Freshener Alternatives
Commercial air fresheners don’t remove odors, they just mask them—and coat your nasal passages in the process, which diminish- your sense of smell. If you have a stubborn odor lingering in your home, try one of these natural air freshening alternatives instead:
● Place small bowls of baking soda in bathrooms, kitchens and hall closets
● Grind lemon or orange peels in the garbage disposal
● Simmer cinnamon or cloves in a few inches of water on the stovetop
● Open your windows to keep the air circulating and to prevent odors from lingering
Victoria Wells/broker associate
Bradley Real Estate
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-710-4090
Commercial air fresheners don’t remove odors, they just mask them—and coat your nasal passages in the process, which diminish- your sense of smell. If you have a stubborn odor lingering in your home, try one of these natural air freshening alternatives instead:
● Place small bowls of baking soda in bathrooms, kitchens and hall closets
● Grind lemon or orange peels in the garbage disposal
● Simmer cinnamon or cloves in a few inches of water on the stovetop
● Open your windows to keep the air circulating and to prevent odors from lingering
Victoria Wells/broker associate
Bradley Real Estate
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-710-4090
Spring Home Checkup
April showers may bring May flowers, but they can also bring leaky basements, moldy walls and costly cleanup.
Regular maintenance on the outside of your home could save you thousands of dollars. Jeff Sciaudone, Director of Engineering for the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) says, “You can take a few hours to do a Spring maintenance check—or you can wait for a storm to come along and show you where your home’s weaknesses are.”
IBHS recommends taking the following steps:
● Make sure gutters are clean and stable. This ensures proper drainage and lessens the chance they will become flying debris in high wind.
● While you’re there, examine fascia or soffit boards. If they are rotting or soft, they may allow rain into your attic or atop interior walls.
● Make sure downspouts are sloping away from the house and carrying water at least five feet away from foundation walls.
● Lawn sprinkler heads should not spray the walls of the house. This moisture can lead to unwanted growths, wall failure, and other destructive moisture problems.
● Examine your roof carefully, looking for worn, curled or missing shingles.
● If you can’t inspect your roof easily, your attic is the next best place to check for problems. Look for moisture or surface discoloration—and do this every time you go into the attic. The earlier you find a roofing problem, the better.
● Examine window and door flashing, seals or weather-stripping. If sealants around those openings are no longer pliable and continuous, reseal and caulk them.
● When planning home improvements, consider products and techniques that will increase your home’s disaster resistance. Choose roofing materials, for example, that are rated for wind, fire and impact- resistance.
Source: Institute for Business and Home Safety. IBHS is a national nonprofit initiative of the insurance industry to reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, economic losses and human suffering caused by natural disasters.
http://www.weather.com/outdoors/home-improvement/home-tips/ spring-checkup_2010-08-24
Regular maintenance on the outside of your home could save you thousands of dollars. Jeff Sciaudone, Director of Engineering for the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) says, “You can take a few hours to do a Spring maintenance check—or you can wait for a storm to come along and show you where your home’s weaknesses are.”
IBHS recommends taking the following steps:
● Make sure gutters are clean and stable. This ensures proper drainage and lessens the chance they will become flying debris in high wind.
● While you’re there, examine fascia or soffit boards. If they are rotting or soft, they may allow rain into your attic or atop interior walls.
● Make sure downspouts are sloping away from the house and carrying water at least five feet away from foundation walls.
● Lawn sprinkler heads should not spray the walls of the house. This moisture can lead to unwanted growths, wall failure, and other destructive moisture problems.
● Examine your roof carefully, looking for worn, curled or missing shingles.
● If you can’t inspect your roof easily, your attic is the next best place to check for problems. Look for moisture or surface discoloration—and do this every time you go into the attic. The earlier you find a roofing problem, the better.
● Examine window and door flashing, seals or weather-stripping. If sealants around those openings are no longer pliable and continuous, reseal and caulk them.
● When planning home improvements, consider products and techniques that will increase your home’s disaster resistance. Choose roofing materials, for example, that are rated for wind, fire and impact- resistance.
Source: Institute for Business and Home Safety. IBHS is a national nonprofit initiative of the insurance industry to reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, economic losses and human suffering caused by natural disasters.
http://www.weather.com/outdoors/home-improvement/home-tips/ spring-checkup_2010-08-24
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