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The Dos and Don’ts of Maintaining Your Chimney
One crucial part of your home is your chimney. Unfortunately, they are also one of the most ignored parts of the house. Professionals recommend that you hire a technician to check your chimney every year before you start using it again during the winter season.
It might appear easy to go years without maintaining your chimney. Unfortunately, doing so will only increase your risks for house fires.
If you want to maintain your chimney, there are a couple of dos and don’ts that you should keep in mind. If you want to make your life easier, you can always rely on a masonry Tyler TX contractor for help.
Do Clean the Ashes
Another important step in preventing house fires is to always wipe out the ashes from your chimney before lighting another fire. After they’ve cooled, simply brushing or sweeping them up should be enough. Always keep in mind that hot coals can last up to 3 days.
Do Maintain Your Chimney Liner
The inside of your chimney is bordered by the flue or chimney liner, which runs the length of it. The stove pipe is connected to it. Its goal is to transport the smoke up the chimney rather than discharging it all at once.
If you start a fire when the chimney liner is obstructed, you risk a house fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. Creosote can clog the liner, which you can’t see if you look at the fireplace from the outside.
This is why it’s crucial to keep your chimney in good working order. Your chimney technician will use a special brush called a polypropylene bristle brush to sweep the liner clean of creosote, soot, and other debris.
Don’t Uncap Your Chimney
Whenever there aren’t any bricks or fire block to keep the hot air from the chimney from entering the fireplace, it is referred to as an uncapped chimney. Fire blocks are required because they aid in the reduction of heat loss. If you take them out, your chimney may fill with chilly air during the colder months.
Use a wire-mesh cap to cover the top of your chimney. Animals, insects, water, and other debris will not be able to enter your home. The damper is additionally protected from water penetration and corrosion within the chimney by the cap.
Remember to check the cap on a regular basis. When your cap rusts or splits due to bad weather or creosote buildup, it’s time to replace it.
Don’t Ignore Cracks
Smoke is vented away from your property using chimneys. If the foundation has cracks, smoke and combustion products may not be able to vent and may pile up in the fissures, posing a fire hazard.
Keep an eye out for cracks in your chimney whenever and whenever they appear. They are the most typical cause of problems with masonry chimneys. They’re most commonly seen in the crown, although they can also be found in the brick, fireplace, or mortar.
If you don’t address them now, you can end up needing to replace your whole chimney later.
Questions to Ask a Fence Contractor
Are you planning to install a fence on your property? If so, you are doing the right thing. A fence can provide a lot of benefits for your property. This includes adding security, safety, privacy, and improving its value.
However, you want to ensure that you hire a professional fence contractor to guarantee you get a high-quality fence. So, how do you hire the right contractor for the job? All you need to do is to ask them questions.
Here are several questions to ask when hiring a fence service Bryan TX company.
Do You Have a Warranty?
Inquire about the type of warranties they provide on their fences. Your new fence should come with at least a year’s worth of warranty coverage. This assures that if something bad happens with the fence, the contractor is responsible for repairing it.
What Payment Methods Do You Accept?
Learn how the fence company takes money. Will they accept a check or a credit card as payment? Is it true that they provide their own funding? This gives you time to arrange how you’ll pay for the service.
Do You Have References?
Request references from previous customers who are happy with their services. Reading reviews might help you learn more about the history of their customer service.
Will You Call the Utilities?
Before the fence constructor digs fence poles in your yard, make sure to call your utilities. This includes water, power, phone, cable, and internet. Inquire with the fence company if they can assist you with this.
Will You Handle Permits?
Putting up a fence on your property necessitates the acquisition of permissions, which can be time-consuming. Inquire with the fence contractor about the permissions required for fence projects. It’s best to hire a contractor who will help you handle the permits to make your life easier.
What’s the Timeline of the Project?
Inquire about how long it will take to start the project and how long it would take to complete it. A busy fence contractor may take some time to schedule your project, so you’ll need to know what you should expect in terms of the timeline so you can plan properly.
What Kind of Fence Do You Work With?
Before you start designing a project, find out what kinds of fences they create. You’re wasting your time if you desire something they don’t have. You don’t want a fence contractor to experiment with something new on your property, either.
How Long Have You Been in the Industry?
Inquire about the length of time the fence company has been in operation. Before hiring someone, seek a few years of experience. Experts recommend you hire a contractor with at least 5 years of experience.
Do You Have Insurance?
Always verify that any contractor operating on your home is fully insured, including general liability and workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation protects you if an employee is hurt while working for you. Liability insurance covers any possible property damage.
You should not work with a fence contractor that does not have insurance.
Common Myths About Winter Fence Installation
When you think about outdoor renovation projects, you probably don’t think of doing them during the winter season. Of course, nobody likes to do work outside when it’s cold and snowing.
However, this does not mean that you can’t do outdoor renovation projects during winter. The truth is that some professionals recommend doing it to save money. One of these projects is fence installation.
Today, there are a lot of myths about fence installation during winter. That is why we’re here to help. Before you hire a fence service Tyler TX company this winter, here are several myths you should not believe.
Fence Companies Are Not Available
So, you’ve chosen to put up a fence this winter, and you are concerned that fencing professionals would be rare during the colder months. This is yet another common myth. Contractors who specialize in outdoor renovations are extremely busy in the summer months, as this is when most homeowners want to start beautifying their backyards. When it comes to installing a fence, you’d be amazed how much you may gain by not following the trend!
Services Are Expensive During Winter
There is a common misconception that expert fence installation costs more in the winter. This is a common misconception; in fact, you can save money by starting your fence installation during the cold months. There are more advantages of buying a new fence in the winter. Faster installation speeds and shorter wait times for specialized products are just a few of them.
Since contractors are not busy during this season, they often offer discounts to attract customers.
Hard to Install If It’s Snowing
Just because you can’t put up a fence in the North Pole during the winter doesn’t mean you can’t put one up in your own yard! While severe winter weather is a serious threat in regions like Alaska, the situation in and around the United States is different. Despite the fact that Mother Nature can still throw a curveball when it comes to outside temperatures, winters have become warmer in recent years, with only one or two major snowfalls per year.
The chances of your fence project being delayed by winter weather are little to none. You don’t have to wait until spring because you’re concerned that it might snow in the coming months.
The Ground Will be Frozen
Many individuals wrongly believe that the soil is frozen during the entire cold season when they ask if fencing can be constructed in the winter. This is not true. The truth is that even when temperatures drop below freezing, it takes many days for the ground to freeze solid enough to make fencing erection impossible. The ground is likely not as hard as you think it is, no matter how chilly it is in the morning.
Keep in mind that these are just some of the most common myths about winter fence installation. If you’ve got questions about installing a fence during winter, the best thing you can do is to talk to a professional fence service provider.
Tree Diseases That Can Cause Death
Just like animals and humans, trees can also get sick from parasites and infections. While trees show their diseases much differently than we do, they can be affected by fungal infections, bacterial infections, and viruses.
These infections are typically common and come in a lot of forms. Most of the time, they can lead to shriveling fruit or flowers and browning of leaves.
In addition to that, tree illnesses are also contagious. Thus, whenever you notice indications of tree disease, you need to act fast to avoid it from spreading. Don’t hesitate to immediately hire a tree service Bryan TX company for help.
Common Tree Diseases That Can Cause Death
There are a lot of names for tree infections, from apple scab to shoestring root rot. A couple of them are described by their causes, while others are described by their symptoms.
Here are a couple of the common tree illnesses that can cause the death of your tree:
- Powdery mildew
- Fire blight
- Verticillium wilt
- Anthracnose
- Armillaria root disease
- Cedar apple rust
- Apple scab
Signs of Diseases
Typically, you will notice the first sign of the disease in the crown of the tree or on the new leaf growth.
A yellowish cast or irregular spots on the leaves might indicate that your tree has a disease. If you don’t want your tree to die due to this disease, here are several tips you can follow:
- Tree Removal
Oftentimes, it’s too late for your tree. If this is the case, your only option is to get rid of your tree with the help of a professional tree service company. Doing so will help you stop the disease from spreading to the other plants of your property.
- Tree Care
Prevention is better than cure. That is why it’s always ideal to regularly take care of your tree to avoid diseases from taking in the first place.
- Hire a Professional
If you notice that your tree is showing signs of the disease, don’t hesitate to hire a professional. They will evaluate your tree and provide you with the ideal solution for the problem.
Why Do These Diseases Exist?
The biggest reason why these diseases exist is due to different types of fungi. These fungi range from fully-fledged mushrooms sprouting from the roots or those that look like fluffy or powdery spores on the leaves or fruit of a tree.
When Do These Diseases Occur?
Usually, tree illnesses take hold of and infect a tree whenever it is stressed. There are a lot of factors that you need to consider. Some of the most common ones include:
- Injury
Injuries can include human error from over-pruning or accidents such as a lightning strike. Injuries can cause stress to your tree.
- Overcrowding
If you plant trees too close to each other, competition for resources and shade from older trees can make it hard for younger trees to acquire nutrients.
- Drought
If your tree does not get enough water, it will weaken. Thus, it will lead to stress and vulnerability to diseases. That’s why you should always give your tree enough water.
Costly Mistakes to Avoid when Taking Care of a Tree
If you’re a homeowner, you have probably heard a couple of recommendations that you shouldn’t trim or prune your trees. So, you might wonder why you shouldn’t do it. After all, it’s your tree.
Though there is nothing wrong with you pruning or trimming your trees, the result that you’ll get might be far from what you have imagined.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might end up with expensive mistakes. Because of this, it’s always ideal to work with a tree service Tyler TX company for help.
If you work with a professional, you can avoid doing these things:
Wrong Tool Sanitation and Maintenance
You wouldn’t want a surgeon doing even a simple operation with instruments that had been already used and hadn’t been cleaned, right? This is a fundamental element of effective clinical hygiene.
When it comes to trees, this may seem exaggerated, but just as an infection can spread from one individual to another if a doctor neglects his or her instruments, tree disease can spread from one tree or plant to another.
Clean and sharpened equipment must be used if a tree is to continue to thrive. The following is a list of the consequences of poor tool maintenance and cleaning:
- More Work
It’s simply harder to do the job of trimming, pruning, and cutting with tools that you don’t sharpen or clean properly.
- Jagged Cuts
Cuts that aren’t even and tear off part of a branch can be harder for the tree to heal. This leaves it prone to parasites and diseases.
- Fungal Infection
If your tool has spores from a fungus, they can take root on a newly cut wound and start stealing nutrients from your tree.
Mistakes in Amount of Cutting
A beginner in tree trimming is prone to either cut too much or not enough branches. A professional tree care company considers the entire tree and its growth before they trim it.
They know what your tree requires to survive. Unfortunately, an average homeowner does not have this knowledge. Overall, the health of your tree might suffer if you use incorrect cutting methods.
If you over-trim your tree, it can lead to:
- Tree death
- Impeded nutrient production
- Unilateral growth
- Lowered growth
If you insufficiently trim your tree, it can lead to:
- No positive result or benefit
- Misshapen growth
- Crowded growth
Seasonal Mistakes
There’s a right time to sow and a right time to reap. There is also a right time to trim. Trimming at the wrong season of the year can lead to issues for your tree.
Usually, professionals recommend you trim your tree during the winter season. During this period, your tree is dormant.
Summer is also an excellent time to trim your tree when the sun is warm and bright and there are tons of nutrients available.
Spring and fall are much more dangerous seasons. Trimming and cutting during these seasons can lead to:
- Dehydration due to sap loss
- Depleted ability to produce nutrients
- Impeded growth
Thus, it’s best to avoid trimming your tree during fall or spring.
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