8 Tips To Keep Your Family Safe From Heating Fires

Hey ya'll although the weather has been great lately I am sure we still have some cold Virginia days ahead.  I found this article about how to take care of your house and appliances to prevent house fires.  If you have ever known someone who has experienced a house fire, you know how terrible they can be.  Follow these easy tips to keep you family safe.  If you need to get your house insured give me a call!

Original Article by Nationwide

Overall, heating equipment is the second leading cause of U.S. home fires and home fire deaths. There are between 350,000 and 400,000 house fires in the United States every year that result in almost $8 billion in annual damages, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

A heating fire can be catastrophic to a homeowner. Space heaters, fireplaces and water heaters are the biggest culprits but any type of heating element, including stoves and heating units, can cause fires.

Here are eight tips to keep you and your family safe from home heating fires this winter:

Inspect your furnace

Contact an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace and clean all the ducts. Remember to change your furnace filter each month during the winter and to remove all flammable material from the area around your furnace.

Clean your chimney

If you use your chimney a half-dozen times or more each year, it is a good idea to have it cleaned of soot and creosote every year. If you don’t want to hire a chimney sweep, consider a Creosote Sweeping Log, which can be bought at any home improvement store.

Check your chimney for structural damage

Make sure your chimney doesn’t have any cracks. If your chimney does have air leaks, it can change the flame in the fireplace and possibly ignite and cause a fire outside the fireplace.

Use a diffusion screen with your fireplace

A diffusion screen will prevent a flaming log from rolling out of the fireplace or sparks from popping out to cause a fire. If you have carpeting or wood flooring in front of your fireplace, it’s especially important to use a diffusion screen.

Be careful with space heaters

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, space heaters are involved in 74 percent of fire-related deaths. The best way to prevent a home fire caused by a space heater is to purchase one with an emergency cut-off so that it will automatically shut off if tipped over or accidentally knocked down. Otherwise, if it falls on the carpeting and doesn’t turn off, it could easily ignite a fire.

Never leave space heaters unattended. And make sure you place your heater on a flat, level, non-flammable surface such as ceramic tile rather than on a carpet. Don’t place space heaters near curtains, bedding or anything flammable, and make sure you are plugging the space heater into a GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) system, so that if a malfunction does occur, the electricity will automatically turn off.

Check your water heater

As your water heater gets older, the thermostat and the heating element inside will start to deteriorate and the flame will become inconsistent. This could cause a flash fire, particularly if the water heater is in the garage where it is susceptible to wind or changes in air supply that could be caused by someone opening or closing a door.

Give your boiler a wide berth

Be careful not to put flammable items, such as boxes and newspapers, around your boiler system.

Don’t forget about the laundry room

Most homeowners don’t realize the laundry room can be a source of home fires due to the duct that connects to the back of the dryer and collects flammable lint. Homeowners should have their duct cleaned at least once a year. Your dryer doesn’t capture 100 percent of your lint and some of it ends up in the ducts, and that material is very flammable. If you have enough dryer lint built up in the duct you can have a huge fire.

Staging a House For Sale

Staging a House for Sale: 11 Tips from the Experts

Photo courtesy of Nationwide

Nationwide Blog Original Article 

Homeowners looking to get the best price for their home are learning that if you want to sell quickly and score big profits, you need to remove clutter and make the place look inviting, not lived in.

Staging your house can help you sell it faster and possibly bring you more money, say many real estate professionals. The cost to stage a home is typically less than 1 percent of the list price, says Cindy May Davis, a Realtor with the Ann Wilson Homes Team for Keller Williams Realty in Arlington, Va., and the return is typically 1 percent to 5 percent over the list price.

Homeowners can hire a staging company, work with a real estate agency that does the staging for its clients or do it themselves. Here are 11 tips for staging your home that will have a positive impact on its price and appeal:

1. Give your home curb appeal

Most buyers start their home search on the Internet. Often their first impression of your home is a photo of the outside, Davis says. Before you take that photo, be sure you have spruced up the grounds of the house by weeding, mulching, trimming back trees and bushes, and power washing your siding and walkways.

2. Depersonalize and declutter

When buyers come into your house, it’s important they be able to visualize themselves living there, Davis says. So take down anything personal, including family photos, collections, diplomas or awards, , replacing them with generic artwork and photos. “This is often the hardest thing for people do to,” she says.

3. Clean your house

Make your house shine by cleaning everything including the inside of your appliances, the baseboards and windows, Davis says. Change your air filters and clean out your gutters. “This will show buyers that you do regular maintenance on the house,” she says.

4. Get rid of odors

If you’re a smoker or have a pet, it’s important to get rid of odors. Be careful of using air fresheners, Davis warns, because many are too strong and they might suggest you are trying to hide something. Open the windows instead.

5. Neutralize colors

Potential homebuyers might not love the dark purple accent wall in the dining room as much as you do, so it’s best to paint the walls a neutral color before you start showing the house, Davis says. You don’t have to paint every wall white but it should be a neutral color that will appeal to a variety of people.

6. Turn up the lights

At every open house, Davis opens every blind and curtain to get let in as much light as possible. If a room seems too dark or the lamp is outdated, Davis says she will bring extra lighting or a new lamp to the open house. Make sure all the light bulbs in your house are working on the day of the open house.

7. Pare down furnishings

Oversized furniture can make a room feel smaller, Davis says. Furniture is there to help the buyer visualize what the room is used for, but it’s best to minimize the number of pieces so the buyer can envision their own furniture in the room.

8. Accessorize

After you remove all the clutter add some accents such as interesting coffee table books, throw pillows and blankets on the sofa, a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter and matching towels in the bathroom.

9. Make repairs

If there is anything that clearly needs to be repaired or if there are any unfinished projects, you need to take care of them before the open house. No potential buyer wants to see unfinished work inside the house.

10. Clean out the closets and drawers

Potential buyers will open every closet, cabinet, drawer and door, says Davis, and you will want to display as much storage as possible. Davis recommends using baskets to hold items that are normally just loose in drawers and in closets to make them look less cluttered. She also tells clients to remove 20 percent to 30 percent of what is inside each closet to show space between items that are hanging up. This will make the closet seem larger.

11. Check the floors

If the carpeting is stained, replace it. If you’re using an old area rug, remove it. If your wooden floors are scratched, cover them with inexpensive area rugs.

Staging a home is key to appealing to prospective buyers. Get more helpful information about selling your own home today.

Car Dashboard Lights - What Do They Mean?

Know What Your Car Dashboard Lights Are Telling You

Today’s cars have many different dashboard lights designed to alert drivers to possible problems and to make sure you can take care of those problems quickly.

Here’s a quick guide to common dashboard warning lights and car symbols.

Check engine

In newer cars, the lit icon will look like an engine. It means the vehicle’s computer has triggered a diagnostic trouble code indicating there’s an issue. If it occasionally turns on and off, it’s an intermittent problem and you’ll just want to have it checked next time you take it in for maintenance.

However, if it stays on, it means there’s an ongoing problem – though it could be as simple as the gas cap not being closed tightly. If the problem continues, get the engine checked out. If the light flashes rapidly, the problem may be serious and you should get to a repair shop immediately.

Low tire pressure light

This dashboard light looks like a tire with an exclamation point in it and means that at least one of your tires is underinflated. You’ll want to check your tire’s air pressure immediately.

TPMS

This dashboard light stands for Tire Pressure Monitoring System and when it comes on, there’s a problem with the monitoring system – probably a failed sensor in one of the wheels. Some people mistakenly believe this means the air pressure is low in the tires, but the TPMS is responsible for keeping track of air pressure in the tires; when it notices a tire is low, it triggers the low tire pressure light. If the TPMS light remains on, have the sensors checked during regular maintenance – and never rely solely on warning signals. You still should check your tire pressureonce a month.

Oil pressure

If you see a dashboard light that looks like an oil can, you need to pull over at the nearest gas station. This light signals the loss of oil pressure, and you need to check to make sure you aren’t losing oil.

Coolant temperature

A warning dashboard light that looks like a thermometer means the engine’s temperature is beyond the normal limits, and it should be checked immediately to keep your car from overheating. You’ll want to check the coolant level and make sure the radiator cap is properly sealed as well as look for coolant leaks. Always allow time for the engine to cool down before checking the coolant level, however, to avoid getting burned.

Battery/charging

When the dashboard light that looks like a battery comes on, your voltage level is below normal. It means the vehicle’s charging system isn’t functioning properly, so you need to have the battery terminals and alternator belt checked. If it’s an older battery, you may need to replace it.

Brake system

The dashboard light that looks like a circle inside a set of parenthesis with an exclamation point in the middle represents your brake system – and if it comes on while driving, you need to pay immediate attention to it. It could be triggered by driving with the parking brake on, but it can also mean you’re losing brake fluid.

If it comes on and off intermittently, and you don’t notice a change in braking ability, you should get it to a repair shop as soon as possible. But if it stays on there’s a problem that needs to be taken care of immediately, and you should have it towed to a repair shop.

In the case that you do need to go to a repair shop and have work done, make sure you have the best coverage. Learn more about how Nationwide auto insurance can protect you and save you money.