September 2000 Newsletter
- About Us &
August's $100 winner!
- September's $$ Saving
Tip - when to run your dishwasher
- Shrink Your Energy
Bills
- Lawn care time
savings- because we have enough to do this
autumn!
- Our Sponsors
- The monthly funny!
:)
1. About Us
& August's $100 winner!
As fall approaches you may notice
things around your property that
need fixing or replacing. Please contact us with any of
your needs,
big or small. Why locate a stranger in the yellow pages when you
can receive, at no charge, a full page of information about each
company that is interested in providing you with a quote?! No
obligation to use them of course.
Congratulations to August's winners of $100 towards their
renovation project! The winners are D. & J. Meyer!
If you receive
this email, you are registered for each monthly draw! Best
of luck!
We hope to see you down at the new Round-Up Center, Stampede
Park Sept. 21-24th for this year's Home & Interior Design
Show!
We will be in the newly built area.
2. September's
$$ Saving Tip - when to run your dishwasher
You should use your dishwasher
late at night during the summer
(or anytime of year) for several reasons. First, dishwashers
have
built-in heaters so that they heat the water even more than the
water heater does. This creates a lot of heat and humidity which
leaks out into your kitchen. You may find this uncomfortable if
you
are working in or near the kitchen. As well, the noise from your
dishwasher can be an annoying background sound. If you run your
dishwasher late at night, you will be saving money as well. The
highest peak electricity usage for your utility company is in
the
afternoon. By delaying your electricity intensive activities
until the
night, it helps to keep utility rates lower. *Another tip is to
cut out
the drying cycle by opening the door and letting it air dry
overnight.
(Jim Dulley)
3. Shrink
Your Energy Bills
According to experts, many homes
- including new ones - act more
like sieves than like sealed buildings. For example, because hot
air
rises, most heat lost in a building goes right through the roof.
What
causes that heat loss? Leaks in attic floors are the culprit,
lowering
the R-value of attic insulation and draining 30 to 50 percent of
a
home's heating energy. And while leaks around windows and doors
let out far less energy than you probably thought, gaps in
forced-air
ducts can cut home heating and cooling efficiency 40 percent.
Fortunately, making your home more energy efficient isn't rocket
science. A couple of weekends sealing the attic and furnace
ducting using materials that cost less than $50 on average will
slash up to 30 percent off your energy bill.
SEALING THE ATTIC
To save energy immediately, begin by sealing the gaps that lead
from your living areas to the attic. Some of these gaps
accommodate wiring and pipes, while others result from poor
craftsmanship and the normal settling of the building. But all
of
them serve as passageways for heated air to escape.
That's because houses act like big chimneys. Warm air rises to
top of the building, increasing air pressure near the ceiling.
The
difference between that pressure and the lower pressure outside
on
a cold day drives the warm air through any crack, crevice or gap
it
can find. The high pressure at the top also creates low pressure
near the bottom of the house, which pulls cold air in through
openings around the foundation or slab.
Energy experts call this the stack effect. The larger the spread
between inside and outside temperatures, the greater the
pressure
differences and the stronger its pull. However, if you have mold
or
condensation problems in your home during winter, don't do any
sealing until you've tackled the moisture situation.
(Today's Homeowner- to read the rest of the article, click here
http://www.todayshomeowner.com
look under Managing Your Home)
4. Lawn care
time savings- because we have enough to do this
autumn!
One way to reduce the time we
spend on our lawn is to reduce
raking and fertilizing:
When you mow your lawn, leave clippings where they fall.
Although
fallen leaves and branches can smother lawn, grass clippings
aren't
a problem unless they form dense clumps. A mulching mower will
help clippings hide in the grass. Don't worry - clippings don't
cause
thatch. And because they feed the lawn as they decompose, they
reduce the amount of supplemental fertilizer needed by 20 to 30
percent.
Fertilize just two or three times a year - instead of four to
six - by
using the right stuff. Apply organic fertilizers, or use
slow-release
synthetic types containing either sulfur-coated urea or urea-
formaldehyde. A single application works for six to eight weeks.
Because nutrients are provided as plants need them, they're much
less likely to burn the lawn or be flushed from the soil before
roots
can absorb them. And unlike fast-acting fertilizers with
straight
urea, slow-release types won't cause a quick surge of top growth
that requires additional mowing.
(Today's Homeowner)
5. Our
Sponsors
Thank you for visiting our sponsors
as they so faithfully support our service. Check them out at http://www.home-workcanada.com/sponsors.htm
Remax House of Real Estate, Informative Home Inspections, Magiclean Cleaning Services, Phantom
Screens, High Security Lock Co., Pillar to Post Home Inspection,
Realty World Tempo, Handles & More, Paint'N'FauxFX, Keaco
Services, AmeriSpec Home Inspection Services.
6. The Monthly
Funny :-)
|During the French Revolution a
priest, a lawyer and an electrician
were lined up at the guillotine to be beheaded. They were given
the
choice to look up or to look facing down in the guillotine.
The priest said, "Well Heaven is up, so I'll look up, so I
can see
where I'm going." They placed the Priest in the guillotine
facing up
and released the blade. The blade stopped just inches from the
priest, so they let him go, thinking it was a miracle.
The lawyer thought, "Well if it worked for the priest, it
might work
for me," so they placed him in the guillotine looking up.
They
released the blade, and it stopped just inches from the lawyer,
who
claimed he can't be executed twice for the same crime, so they
let
him go.
The electrician thought, "Well why not?" So they put
him in the
guillotine looking up, and the electrician said, "Wait a
minute! If you
swap the red and the blue wires over, you might make this thing
work."
