10 Easy Ways to Save Money & Energy in Your Home

Homeowners have more to worry about than being ripped off by shady contractors in this lagging economy, but such a climate brings desperation -- and with it, sadly, fraud. Of course, the majority of tradesmen are generally honest professionals, but there is a large number of unscrupulous contractors who will fix items that don’t need fixing, or grossly overcharge you for services or parts. Worse, there are plenty of con artists posing as tradesmen who will simply take your money and run. Inspectors are often the first ones to uncover such fraud, so they too need to be familiar with its common forms in order to best serve their clients.  www.HomeBossInspection.com www.FLBoss.com Some common home repair scams include: roof work. Con artists are known to travel from state to state following natural disasters and looking for victims of storms. Beware of people who suddenly arrive in your neighborhood, offering to fix your roof at a discount. Also, don’t trust a roof...

www.HomeBossInspection.com Fireplaces and wood stoves are designed to burn only one type of fuel. Used as all-purpose incinerators, these devices can pose the following hazards: Harmful vapors can vent into the living space. Even the most efficient fireplaces will vent directly into the living space while they’re opened and closed for cleaning and refueling, exposing everyone in the house to potentially dangerous fumes. Harmful vapors will vent to the outdoors. Most newer fireplaces and wood stoves do an excellent job of funneling smoke and fumes to the outdoors, but the problem doesn’t end there; this pollution persists, contaminating household and environmental air.  Burning inappropriate fuel can cause mechanical damage. Chimneys can become lined with residue from inappropriate items, which may lead to a dangerous chimney fire. The fumes from certain items will quickly wear out sensitive components, such as catalytic combustors in wood stoves.  Read the following ...

A fan attached to a room’s ceiling is known as a ceiling fan. Like other fans, it is used to provide comfort for building occupants by circulating air within a room.  www.HomeBossInspection.com   Fun Facts About Ceiling Fans An adult human cannot be decapitated by a ceiling fan, according to the TV show "MythBusters."  A powerful, industrial-strength fan might be able to damage a skull or slice a person’s neck, however.  Ceiling fans were first used in the United States in the 1860s. They were powered by a system of belts driven by a stream of running water.  Unlike air conditioners, fans do not actually cool the air, which is why they merely waste electricity when they circulate air in an unoccupied room. Ceiling Fan Components A ceiling fan is comprised of the following parts: electric motor:  varies with the size of the fan and its application;  blades:  typically, two to six spinning, precision-weighted blades made from...

www.HomeBossInspection.com  Burglary is a crime of opportunity.  And burglars don’t want to spend a lot of time looking through a home to find things of value to steal, which is why there are obvious locations that they always check.  That means that there are ways to outsmart them by hiding your valuables in not-so-obvious places, and sometimes even in plain sight. Depending on the size and type of item, the best places to hide valuables are those that burglars don’t want to search through or wouldn’t bother with, including places that are inconvenient or difficult to search, messy, or uninteresting. Here Are the Top 10: hollowed-out books.  Criminals tend to be uneducated, which is why they’ve turned to crime to  make their living.  They’re practically allergic to books!  But if you have only a couple of books on a bookshelf, this may be a clue that they’re actually hiding places for your valuables, so make sure your library is large en...

       The winter holidays are a time for celebration, and that means more cooking, home decorating, entertaining, and an increased risk of fire and accidents. InterNACHI recommends that you follow these guidelines to help make your holiday season safer and more enjoyable. www.HomeBossInspection.com          Holiday Lighting Use caution with holiday decorations and, whenever possible, choose those made with flame-resistant, flame-retardant and non-combustible materials.  Keep candles away from decorations and other combustible materials, and do not use candles to decorate Christmas trees.  Carefully inspect new and previously used light strings, and replace damaged items before plugging lights in. If you have any questions about electrical safety, ask an InterNACHI inspector during your next scheduled inspection. Do not overload extension cords.  Don't mount lights in any way that can dama...

    www.HomeBossInspection.com Although trees are generally a desirable feature of home landscaping, they can pose a threat to buildings in a number of different ways. Inspectors may want to educate themselves about tree dangers so that they can inform their clients about potentially dangerous situations.   Tree Roots and Foundations   Contrary to popular belief, InterNACHI has found that tree roots cannot normally pierce through a building's foundation. They can, however, damage a foundation in the following ways: Roots can sometimes penetrate a building's foundation through pre-existing cracks.    Large root systems that extend beneath a house can cause foundation uplift.  Roots can leech water from the soil beneath foundations, causing the structures to settle and sink unevenly.  Other Dangers: Trees that are too close to buildings may be fire hazards. Soffit vents provide easy access...

www.HomeBossInspection.com Daylight Saving Time (DST), also known as British Summer Time (BST) in the U.K., is the practice of adjusting clocks an hour ahead of Standard Time so that afternoon s have more daylight and mornings have less. It is designed to reduce energy consumption in residences and businesses, but its effectiveness is controversial. Interesting DST Paradoxes  In September 1999, two bombs were passed from West Bank terrorists to their Israeli counterparts to be planted on busses. The men misunderstood the bombs’ timers because Israel had just switched back to Standard Time, causing the bombs to explode prematurely and kill only the terrorists.  Daylight Saving Time can reverse birth order. If twins are born minutes before and after the fall switch, the baby born later will appear on paper to be born first. No babies are born from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. after the spring switch.  During the 1950s and 1960s, for five weeks out o...

www.HomeBossInspection.com Condensation is the accumulation of liquid water on relatively cold surfaces. Almost all air contains water vapor, the gas phase of water composed of tiny water droplets. The molecules in warm air are far apart from one another and allow the containment of a relatively large quantity of water vapor. As air cools, its molecules get closer together and squeeze the tiny vapor droplets closer together, as well. A critical temperature, known as the dew point, exists where these water droplets will be forced so close together that they merge into visible liquid in a process called condensation. Double-pane windows have a layer of gas (usually argon or air) trapped between two panes of glass that acts as insulation to reduce heat loss through the window. Other types of gas used in this space have various effects on heat gain or loss through the window. Some windows also have a thin film installed between panes that separates the space between the panes ...