You should always have your furnace checked out at least once a year to avoid those types of situations — generally in the fall — but if you’ve forgotten or just haven’t had the time, it’s certainly not too late to make sure your furnace is in good shape.

Check out the furnace repair experts at Evam Canada who can see to any issue regarding your HVAC system. They offer 24-hour emergency repairs, so if you find yourself freezing cold in the middle of the night, you’ll know who to call.

In the meantime, read on to learn how you can keep your furnace up and running over this last stretch of winter.

Clean the Filter

A furnace filter is designed to prevent dust, hair, and other harmful particles from clogging any furnace. Once the filter has been in place for a while, it gets full of debris. When this occurs, your furnace has to work harder to pull air through the densely congested filter, and this places extra stress on the furnace.

If you find that your house is colder than usual, it’s a good idea to check out your furnace’s filter. It’s particularly useful to do this if you have pets or if you’ve recently undergone renovations. Hair from pets, dust, and debris from renovations can quickly clog up the filter.

If you notice hair or dust on the surface, replace the filter or if it’s reusable, give it a good wash.

Clean the Furnace Blower

When you’re cleaning the filter system, your next stop should be the blower assembly. The dust, dirt, and debris that penetrate through the air filter goes to the blower. It’s a good idea to have this maintained by a professional, but you can clean it with a damp cloth, and always make sure that the furnace has been turned off before you attempt any blower repair.

Repair or Clean the Furnace Ducts

Furnace ducts are prone to damage particularly when using a forced-air furnace. You must clean the ducts regularly using a high-powered vacuum cleaner.

When you finish sucking up all of the dirt with the vacuum cleaner, cover all of the ducts to prevent any air from leaking into the furnace.

Clean and Unblock the Vents

If your vents are dirty or blocked by large pieces of furniture or carpeting, heat will be prevented from escaping causing your home to feel colder than it should.

Take a large brush and clean the surfaces of the vents. Get out your vacuum cleaner once more, remove the vent covers, and vacuum up any dust that may exist right underneath. Also, be sure not to block them with anything to let the hot air pass through smoothly.

It’s not too late to get a furnace check-up. Use these tips to help you get through the last few weeks of winter!

Generally, you should try to keep furniture out of sunlight and away from sources of heat. Different types require different care. Find out how to clean any piece of furniture and preserve it for years of use in your home.
 

Leather Furniture

 
It is best to wipe leather furniture with a clean, damp cloth every week. You can use a vacuum to clean up any crumbs or dust gathered in the seams. Every month wipe it down with a leather conditioner to keep it shiny. For spills, use a soft, dry cloth to soak it up. Don’t rub it. Rubbing a stain on a sofa can cause it to sink further into the leather. After the initial spill has been soaked up, wipe the area with a damp cloth.

While leather furniture is an expensive investment, it’s expected to last. When you go to www.TheChesterfieldShop.com and see all the greatest leather furniture styles, you’ll realize that the investment is worth it. They have the most gorgeous looking leather chairs, seats, and sofas, for great deals.
 

Fabric Furniture

 
While fabric furniture should be vacuumed regularly, make sure that your vacuum is wiped clean and is free of dust and hair. Use a fabric attachment, paying close attention to seams and corners. Lint rollers can be used if you have pets. If you spill on your fabric couch, rush quickly to clean it. Use an absorbent cloth or paper towel and cover the spill until it has been absorbed. For tougher stains, clean with furniture stain removing chemicals.
 

Wood Furniture

 
Make sure you know what type of finish you have on your wooden furniture to know the best way to clean it. Use a lint-free cloth to polish it regularly and use appropriate cleaners and conditioners to create a shiny surface. Always wipe in the direction of the grain. To remove grease or dirt, use turpentine or mineral spirits and clean with a lint-free cloth. Remember to clean the entire piece of furniture instead of just the soiled area.
 

Painted Furniture

 
Dust or wipe clean painted furniture weekly with a damp cloth. Make sure not to leave any water spots as they could become permanent. Sand down any marks and match the paint to paint over any scratches on the surface. Finish the surface with an oil finish to protect the paint.
 

Wicker Furniture

 
Wicker furniture is made of natural fibres that can dry out, so it is better to keep them out of the sunlight. Dust and vacuum regularly. To keep the fibres from drying out, spray the wicker with water to lengthen its life.
 

Marble Furniture

 
Marble is a very porous material that can suck up spills. Avoid spilling any liquid on marble as it can leave permanent stains. If you do spill, wipe with a soft cloth. Avoid cleaners or chemicals as marble is very sensitive to acid.

These are a few ways you can clean your furniture. By taking care of your items, you can easily improve their longevity. With the right care, your furniture will look new for a long time.

On the other hand, you’re excited about what lies ahead. It’s a new chapter in your life and you’re ready to begin it. Even if there are a few lingering memories floating around, you want to sell the house as fast as you can.

Consider these tips on how to increase your home’s value before you put it on the market to ensure a speedy and simple sale, and a smooth transition into the next exciting phase of your life.

Upgrade and Build Attractive Additions

To truly add value to your home and to draw attention from buyers, make it stand out from the rest. The positive property value impact of a home conservatory can go a long way. With the addition of a beautifully lit, relaxing conservatory you’ll bring luxury and sophistication to any home.

Indulge in the elegance of a room made of glass and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors all year long. You can turn the room into anything you like from a library, an office, to a playroom for the kids.

Potential buyers will remember your home because of its unique addition. It adds character and finesse.

Always work with a manufacturer and installer who incorporate the beauty of Old World aesthetics and Victorian details as well as one who utilizes modern tech design.

Beautify the Outside of Your Home

The outside of your home is just as important as the inside. In fact, it’s what people see first and first impressions are incredibly important when selling a home!

If a buyer approaches a house that is covered in weeds or if there is garbage all over the lawn, chances are they won’t want to see what’s inside.

You can add an addition to your home such as a solarium or a conservatory — front yard or back — to make an instant positive impression with buyers.

A conservatory or solarium doesn’t just add beauty to the inside of a home, but it also provides a separate, elegant part of the home to the outside. These additions are unique in that they blend the inside and outside of a home with gorgeous glass windows and walls.

They provide a type of luxury and comfort that is inimitable.

Upgrade the Kitchen and Bathroom

If time and money allow, hire professional renovators to fix up the kitchen and the bathroom. Both of these rooms are crucial elements to any home, and if there is old plumbing or outdated appliances, people will notice this and won’t be impressed.

A fresh paint job, new countertops, and a professional cleaning job in the bathroom can go a long way when you’re trying to sell your home. Add a rolling island to really capture buyers’ eyes.

Selling a house will bring up many emotions, but at the end of the day, you’ll want to go through the process as quickly and as easily as possible.

When you decide to sell your home, try out these tips. You’ll add value to the house and you’ll be moving on to the next exciting chapter of your life in no time.

How to Introduce Wood Features

One of the most elegant ways to highlight the element of design in your living room is with the addition of handcrafted solid wood. If your current living room is utterly devoid of any wood features, then that just means that you have a clean slate to work with. This gives you the option of choosing a variety of wood and a perfect shade of stain to match appropriately with your interior décor. Some of the most popular varieties today include:

• Wormy Maple
• Black Walnut
• White Oak
• Ash
• Speckled Cherry

Going for the Delicate Touch

In style, subtlety can be everything. Adding hints of solid wood to your living room can help to make all of its best features pop. If you have a brick or stone fireplace, the look of traditional wood will heighten the natural feel of the room.
 

The Option of Mixed Materials

Another way to introduce wood furniture to your living room is to consider how the other materials included in the item will accent your living room. For example, you can buy a natural wood coffee table that includes a metal base or a live edge that is finished with a colourful epoxy.
 

Introduce Antique Items

When you’re adding wood furniture to your living room, bit by bit, it can help the overall look to also introduce a few wooden antique items. This look can work particularly well when your interior is designed to reflect more of a rural or vintage look – or even if you’re blending together a wide variety of styles. Some of the items that have become popular for home décor more recently include:

• A Spinning Wheel
• Antique Wine Crates
• Vintage Radios or Stereo Equipment
• Wooden Lamps
• Retro Telephones
• Barometers or Thermometers

Adding any of these items will allow you to introduce subtle highlights that can easily bring out the texture of your wooden furniture.
 

The Beauty of Handcrafted Wood

While all of these tips will help you to introduce wood items to your living room, there’s probably no one point as important to keep in mind as the need to buy handcrafted, quality items. When you buy handmade or custom solid wood furniture from a professional company, you’re making an investment in beautiful items that are meant to last.

Your living room is the centrepiece to your home, so you want it to be comfortable and impressive. Bring a new piece of solid wood furniture to your home and see what a wonderful and refreshing change it will bring about in your overall design.

Considering that gardening is about harnessing natural processes, it’s always a good idea to keep your gardening practices as eco-friendly as possible. It saves you money and is healthier for your garden — it’s a win all around.

If you are seeking eco-conscious tips for cleaning your yard this spring, start with making your own compost. The rest — pruning, yard waste removal, etc. — will come after.

You can always enlist the help of professional junk removal services to get rid of amalgamated yard waste — but when it comes to your compost, that’s something you can take into your own hands.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines compost as an “organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow.”

There are a lot of benefits to creating your own fertilizer for your garden — it’ll save you the cost of buying the materials and is altogether more satisfying:

It Will Save You Money

Making your own compost will cost you nothing — you already have all the things you need. When you make your own compost, you get more use out of things you already paid for and save the money you’d spend on fertilizer.

It’s Easy

Making your own compost doesn’t require any work. It’s just a matter of taking compostable items like old vegetables, peels and other organic materials and putting them aside for composting — instead of tossing them in the garbage.

Avoid using any bones, dead plants, fats, fish, dairy products, meat, weeds or sauces in your compost pile.  According to Live Science, things you can use include:

You Can Use Things You’d Get Rid of Anyways

Consider how much waste you discard of daily. Food scraps and yard waste make up 30 percent of what we throw away regularly according to Good Housekeeping, so why not direct that waste to something useful?

Say Goodbye to Chemicals

Why use a store-bought fertilizer with chemicals when you can make your own? There is something to be said about using a product and knowing exactly what went into it — no hidden additives, no snake-oil promises.

You’ll Keep the Environment Clean

When you re-use these bio-degradable materials, you are preventing them from getting wrongfully sentenced to a landfill.

Using your own materials is a lot better for your garden than a store-bought chemical fertilizer; it is actually a lot easier on your landscape and will remove the risk of soil contamination.

Use it for Any Gardening Purpose!

When you make your own compost and know what’s in it, you will feel comfortable using it for just about anything. You can use it to fill in holes in your garden, integrate it into your existing soil, put it in potted plants, and basically use it for any gardening or landscaping needs.

With the psychological as well as physical benefits of living in bright spaces, the benefits of brightening up your home are well worth the investment. Freshen up your home this spring with these tips for making the inside of your home look and feel brighter.

Start by Cleaning Your Windows

If you want more natural light to get into your home then the most obvious place to start is your windows. Coming out of the rainy season means that the weather will have taken a toll on your home windows by flinging dirt, debris, and polluted rain (if you live in the city) onto the glass. Without even realizing it, this can cause your windows to get filmy or hazy, reducing the amount of light entering your home.

It’s easy to clean your vinyl windows with a vinegar-based washing solution. There are a number of suggestions out there for the exact measurements, but basically, all you need to do is mix one part hot water into one part distilled vinegar in a bucket or spray bottle. Apply the solution to the glass surface of your windows, and then afterwards gently wipe the solution off with a sponge.

This kind of solution is surprisingly effective, not even leaving any streaks behind as you wipe it away. It’s also environmentally friendly and safe to use in your home, versus harmful chemical solutions that can potentially be harmful to both you and your home.

Utilize White and/or Neutral Colour Schemes

Another obvious choice is to use colours to increase the brightness inside your home. The colour white actually reflects light, whereas darker colours absorb various wavelengths of light (colour), and black absorbs all wavelengths. A little confusing, but the gist of it is that light colours reflect light, whereas dark colours will absorb light, making your room look darker.

So it’s only natural that if you want to make your room brighter that you will choose to paint your walls white. If you go for a neutral colour then paint your ceiling white in order to help with reflecting light.

If a sterile colour like white doesn’t sound appetizing to you, use statement pieces like a bold-coloured rug or set of pillows in order to add some definition and life into your room. The contrast will make the space feel bigger with distinct features.

Look for More Tips and Tricks

There are a number of other ideas for brightening your room, like trimming the trees outside your windows so that they don’t block the sunlight, or using a mirror hung directly across from a window in order to bounce light back into the room. With these small adjustments to your living space, you’re sure to see a huge improvement in how you feel about the inside of your home.

Keep reading to see the top 3 renos that can give you the most bang for your buck.

1. Start by Remodelling Your Bathroom(s)

One of the biggest selling points for home buyers is the bathroom – the more the better – and whether or not it’s been upgraded recently. You can renovate your bathroom in 5 days with the right plumbing company and dramatically improve the value of your home hassle-free, all within an affordable price-range. You can get a complete bathroom renovation, including all materials and labour costs for a standard 5×8 bathroom, for only $11,995 plus tax. This includes:

• 5-day demolition and installation
• Up to a 3-year warranty
• A 2-piece fiberglass tub/shower
• Moen faucets and accessories
• A custom vanity, countertop, and sink
• A chelini toilet
• Cabinet hardware
• Armstrong LVT flooring
• A crescent shower rod
• A vanity mirror and light
• Drywall repair
• Paint finish

These upgrades can make your bathroom look dramatically brighter, cleaner, more inviting, and can help make better use of the space if it was originally designed poorly. Besides the benefit of having a nicer-looking bathroom, homebuyers can also be enticed by the energy-savings of having new bathroom fixtures that don’t waste water as much as older models.

2. Affordable Kitchen Remodels

The kitchen is the most important space in the home when it comes to what homebuyers want to see. It’s probably because people typically spend a lot of time in their kitchen, and cooking meals can be made easier with a kitchen that’s got the right fixtures as well as layout. While it would be great to go all-out and completely renovate your kitchen, even a few minor fixes can go a long way towards bringing up the value of your home.

Try some of these affordable ideas:

• Add a fresh coat of paint to your cabinets or replace them all-together
• Install new appliances – even small items like your microwave or toaster can make a difference
• Replace countertops with affordable options like laminate that can be made to look like marble

3. Upgrade Your Flooring

Nowadays homebuyers are attracted to homes with hardwood floors because they look cleaner, are easier to maintain, and are longer-lasting than carpets which need to be replaced every ten years. If you can afford it, make sure that at least the main rooms of your home host hardwood flooring. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that parquet flooring counts as it’s now considered out-dated and generally not attractive to homebuyers.

These 3 renos can significantly bring up the value of your home, especially with the addition of new fixtures like toilets, sinks, and bathtubs/showers. And remember: if you’re undertaking big renovations to your bathroom or kitchen, be sure to call your local plumber and ask them to take a look at your plumbing and make sure that there will be no potential issues with your plumbing.

Foul smells can be as confounding as they are humiliating, but fortunately, there are straightforward ways to narrow down the issue and tackle it hastily. To help get you started thinking about the various bad smells that, as a homeowner, you might come across, this article has listed four of the most common ones.

If you can’t readily locate the source of smell (i.e. the garbage, or the fridge), then start looking for these usual suspects:

Mould/Mildew

As moisture builds around various parts of the home – the bathroom, most commonly – it creates a perfect environment for mould and mildew, which aside from being unhealthy for residents, is also pretty smelly. Luckily, mould and mildew are beatable with a DIY solution. A mixture of chlorine bleach and water – in roughly equal parts – should do the trick to remove the mildew, and any unwanted odors it produces.

Sewage Backup

This one is as nasty as it is common. Without proper plumbing, gases from the city-side of the sewage system can make their way back into your house, producing a smell that, anecdotally, homeowners have described as “rotten eggs”. If your house has that rotten, sulphur-y smell, start thinking about replacing your floor drain in the basement – that is, if you have one in the first place! The floor drain is often the best line of defence against foul sewage smells, a p-trap that contains a small amount of liquid, through which the gases cannot pass.

Electrical Components Overheating

If you notice a distinctly “fishy” smell, and it isn’t coming from any marine product you’ve brought into the home, it might actually be your electrical components overheating. That’s right – when outlets and fixtures overheat, they are known to produce a fishy smell. If this is the case, call an electrician immediately, as the problem may be much more serious than a mere foul smell.

Pests

Mice, rats, bugs, skunks and raccoons, in addition to being a nuisance, can also drag in some unwanted smells. Skunks, in particular, are known for their pungent defense mechanism, and a skunk that has made residence in your backyard can be an ongoing source of the stink. Mice and rats can leave behind droppings that, while dry, are smelly and hazardous to your health. Stinkbugs, true to their name, produce a foul odor that no homeowner wants to live with. In these instances, don’t hesitate to call either pest control or city animal services, as the case may be.

These are four of the more common sources of those mysterious bad smells in your home. To tackle them quickly and effectively, have an experienced plumber, a trustworthy electrician and a pest control company on speed dial.

One thing we need to understand is no matter how much movement or exercise you get indoors, there’s still no replacement for the role of sunlight. Sunlight is our prime source of Vitamin D, which is important for a lot of the things that keep us healthy, from our immune system to how our bones develop. A lot of these are even more essential for children, whose bodies are still growing and have more nutritional requirements in some case than your average adult.

In addition, outdoor play is the best source for unstructured playtime for a child, which means more than you may think. Unstructured play is important because it is open-ended with no type of singular goal, like you would get from a video game or some form of instructor led-activity. Pediatric occupational therapist and founder of Timbernook, Angela Hanscom, explains that “as we continue to decrease children’s time and space to move and play outdoors, we are seeing a simultaneous rise in the number of children that are presenting with sensory deficits.” By letting them play outside, you are not only helping the bodies of children, but the way they think as well.

There are also several other important traits that children pick up almost exclusively through outside play. For example, many people will agree that an interest and respect for nature are traits they want their children to have, but how can they do that without the chance to see nature first-hand? One other thing that’s worth mentioning is how playing outside allows for socialization.

Take a close look the next time you see a group of young children interacting with each other on a playground. Different things like the ability to make friends, cooperate, and treat others are all on full display. The strides they make now without even knowing it pay off later in school and other structured settings. There are lots of awesome swing sets for your backyard to choose from that will transform your backyard.

The benefits of getting your kids to play more often are varied and essential. From improving their health and activity to facilitating social activity with other children, there’s no substitute for regular outdoor play. But what about those days where there’s not enough time to go to a park or playground and you want some safely monitored fun?

Therefore, it makes sense that changing or painting a home’s front door can also increase its value. A recent report found that front doors that are navy blue, dark grey, or charcoal can increase a house’s value by upwards of $1,500 (think of it as ‘makeup’ for the home’s ‘face’).

However, replacing a front door does more than just increase value and aesthetics; it can also increase efficiency — older doors are more likely to have holes and cracks which make them less energy-efficient, and can increase heating/cooling bills (whether a door is leaking hot or cold air, it’s going to cost more to regulate the interior temperature).

Additionally, replacing a home’s front door with a steel alternative can make a home more secure, as they’re seven times safer than wooden doors. It can also bring a 129 percent return on investment, as steel doors are often cheaper than their wooden counterparts. Steel and fiberglass doors also require less maintenance, as they are more weather-resistant, and don’t need to be repainted as often.

If you want your home to look its absolute best, your entry door system should look good too. When replacing your entry doors, you also have to consider whether a single or double door best suits your style.

While single doors are often adequate for many homes, it’s difficult to discount the baroque beauty of a grand double door entryway. Thanks to their considerable width and the fact that they act as a veritable canvas for customization, double doors offer a lot of options.

But the benefits of upgrading aren’t restricted to the front door. Replacing interior doors can completely change a home’s aesthetic, and increase its resale value, increase natural light, and decrease outside noise.

French doors are a great option for both the interior and exterior doors. Modern French door designs provide a larger entry space, and therefore make it easier to move large furniture and appliances in and out of the home, as well as providing more natural light, making the home more energy efficient.

In fact, due to their energy efficiency, many French doors can not only help home owners save money on energy costs, but they can also provide tax breaks which can cover the cost of their installation.

Additionally, replacing interior doors can decrease the chance of finding mold and mildew, as doors are one of the most common household items responsible for them (since moisture can get inside cracks).

Whether it’s for safety purposes, increasing resale value and improving curb appeal, increasing security, or simply increasing aesthetic appeal, replacing a home’s front/interior doors can provide substantial benefits in the long and short term.