Winter Storm Power Outages On the Rise – 3 Ways To Prepare

(BPT) – Winter storms can wreak havoc on roads, homes and personal lives. However, facing hours of cleaning up fallen tree limbs, shoveling snow or being cooped up inside with antsy kids might be the least of your worries. Experts predict more frequent and severe storms could lead to lengthy power outages that could affect thousands of Americans this winter storm season.

In fact, increasingly severe weather is the chief reason power outages are becoming more likely, according to a National Governors Association report. What’s more, a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found the average outage lasts two hours and 20 minutes, but increases by 260 percent to six hours and 10 minutes when a major event like severe weather is involved.

While you can’t predict when a winter storm or extended power outage might affect your neighborhood, you can take steps now to prepare your home and family for severe weather events.

Stock Up In Advance

Nearly everyone has experienced long grocery store lines and cleared-out store shelves when news of a coming storm hits the airwaves. Spare yourself the aggravation, or possibly being caught without essentials if stores sell out, by stocking up on important items at home.

Keep enough bottled water and non-perishable foods on-hand to feed everyone in your family up to one week. Set these items aside in a “storm prep” box so you don’t dip into them until you really need them. Canned foods, protein bars, dry cereal and nuts are great options.

Never allow your supply of prescription medications to fall below a week’s supply, and make sure you stock up on useful over-the-counter meds such as pain relievers and cold remedies. Finally, keep a supply of batteries, flashlights and battery-powered lanterns readily available to ensure you have safe illumination when the power goes out.

Invest In Emergency Power

With the average length of power outages growing longer, many Americans are turning to generators to help ensure their homes and families stay safe and comfortable during winter storms. In fact, a report from the Society for Risk Analysis notes “a string of natural disasters and prolonged blackouts have motivated consumers to invest in personal generators at unprecedented rates.”

Homeowners have two options when it comes to back-up power; portable generators and automatic standby generators. Portable generators can be moved from place to place and are designed to power a few key items or systems, like a refrigerator or lights, using properly rated extension cords. These manually operated generators are usually gasoline-fueled and must be operated outside of the home.

Automatic standby generators like those from Kohler are permanently installed outside the home similar to a central air conditioning unit. They attach to a home’s existing natural gas or propane lines and turn on automatically within seconds when the power goes out; homeowners do not need to be present to operate. Standby generators can power an entire house, from essentials like the refrigerator, sump pump, lights and water heater to non-essentials such as TVs, computers and more. To learn more about automatic standby generators, visit www.KohlerGenerators.com.

After the Storm

Once the storm is over, continue to be cautious. Check weather and traffic reports before leaving the house to determine if roads are closed. If you do venture out, stay alert for downed power lines. If you spot power lines that are down or damaged, call the power company immediately. Finally, check on your neighbors, especially the elderly, to ensure everyone is fine.

Preparation is the best way to protect your home and family during the winter storm season. Take action now, which includes a storm prep box and a backup power source, to keep your family safe and comfortable, no matter what the weather may bring.

3 Tips to Keep Your Home Cozy All Winter

(BPT) – Every year, homeowners across the country take precautionary steps to winterize their homes to protect against burst water pipes as well as improve their overall comfort throughout the colder months. Winterizing your home goes beyond just ensuring snow and chills stay out. These three tips will help ensure that your home is adequately prepared for the harsher months ahead.

1. Reduce the Risk of Water Damage

Beyond damage sustained from heavy rainfall, water damage can occur because of ice dam formation. Ice dams on your roof as well as snow melt near vulnerable basement windows can cause significant (and often unseen) damage to your home, which can result in costly repairs. Replacing traditional attic insulation with open-cell spray foam insulation can help mitigate air loss through your home’s roof, reducing the risk of ice dams while also helping to keep all that expensively conditioned air inside your home, keeping you and your family comfortable. Closed-cell spray foam insulation installed in basements can help reduce the risk of water entering your home. FEMA has identified this insulation as a flood-resistant material.

2. Reducing the Prevalence of Drafts

Cold spots and drafts throughout your home can literally make you shudder. It is estimated by the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) that gaps and cracks throughout the typical 2,500-square-foot American home can equate to more than half a mile. Sealing your home’s tiny cracks and crevices can help reduce the possibility of drafts inside your home.

3. Address Potential Problems Before They Develop

The frigid winter weather can often create problems that you did not anticipate around your home. Colder temperatures and increased precipitation are harsher on a house. Cleaning eavestroughs, ensuring the seals around windows and doors are intact, upgrading your traditional insulation and getting your HVAC unit serviced are all actions that can help to prepare your home for the upcoming winter.

Insulation can play a vital role in winterizing your home, allowing you and your family to remain comfortable throughout the entire winter. Spray foam insulation like that available from Icynene works well in all climates to seal the building and fill gaps to stop air leakage and reduce the strain on HVAC equipment.

More information is available online at www.icynene.com.

Think Spring: Now’s the Time to Plan the Landscape of Your Dreams

(BPT) – The weather outside is frightful, and the week ahead calls for falling temperatures, maybe even snow. That makes it easy to dream of warmer spring weather, but to plan for it? To sit and strategize for making the most of next year’s lawn and landscape projects? That seems like no small feat.

It Doesn’t Have To Be

The good news is that spring will be here before you know it, and now is the best time to work with your local landscape professional to set the stage for a healthy spring. With the expertise and knowledge of a professional, you’ll be well on your way to get a thriving landscape you’ll enjoy come spring.

Finding the Right Professional for You

Quality lawn care and landscape professionals are all around you, but finding the perfect one can be challenging if you go it alone. Instead, consult the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) professional directory at www.loveyourlandscape.org/find-a-pro/. You’ll have access to the NALP’s comprehensive directory and can find inspiration through the organization’s expert advice columns and idea center, motivating you to take your spring landscaping projects to new heights.

Making the Most of Your Relationship With Your Landscape Professional

The initial conversations you have with your landscape professional are essential for creating a beautiful outdoor space. When working with a professional, you can become more prepared by considering the answers to these questions in advance of your first meeting.

What’s Important To You?

You don’t need to know every last detail, but you should have a broad understanding of what you want. Do you want to entertain? Have space to garden or create a private area to enjoy quietly by yourself? Determining what you want your yard to be and how it will be used can help your landscape professional realize your vision.

What’s Your Budget?

When it comes to dreaming of the perfect landscape project, the limit is your imagination. But once you place some real-world practicality behind it, the limit will ultimately be your budget. So, how much are you willing to spend? It’s a good idea to have a rough estimate of this figure in your head before discussing plans with your landscape professional. Relaying this information to them will allow them to tailor a project that matches your expectations and your budget.

What Plants Are Best for Your Property?

Flowers, shrubs and trees are all integral to any landscape project and you should have an idea of what you’d like to see. If you don’t know, visit your local greenhouse or nursery for inspiration and gain a greater understanding of native plants that fare well in your environment.

What Level of Lawn Care Is Needed?

Whether or not you have sprawling acres of land, a healthy lawn of any size and shape sets the foundation for a beautiful landscape. Your lawn care professional can review with you how to grow and maintain a lawn through all the seasons. Consider if weed control, mowing, aeration, fertilization and irrigation may be needed as part of your lawn care program. A lawn care specialist can help you budget and plan for these tasks now, even if your lawn is covered in frost or snow!

It’s Never Too Early To Start Planning

The long weeks of winter are here, but now is the perfect time to formalize your plans for a gorgeous, spring lawn and landscape. A professional can help you reach every goal you’ve dreamed about. So start planning today. Your home will benefit from your preparation – and on those cold mornings, it sure helps to dream of spring, doesn’t it?

 

5 Budget-Friendly Master Bathroom Upgrades You’ll Cherish for Years

(BPT) – What does your bathroom mean to you? Is it an oasis, a place to unwind, relax and let the cares of the day simply melt away? Or is it just another room in your house?

If your answer is the latter, then your bathroom isn’t doing everything it could. The good news is, getting your space there doesn’t have to break your bank or signal a months-long remodeling process. The truth is there are plenty of unique, invigorating ways for you to reinvent your bathroom space – some of which you can tackle yourself, and all of which can be budget friendly.

So if you’re ready to turn your master bathroom from a simple location to a desired destination, do so with any or all of these five projects.

Repainting In Your Image

When it comes to affordable projects that redefine the look of a room, it’s hard to beat a fresh coat of paint. Changing the color of your bathroom changes the entire appearance, and if you’re ready to strap on some clothes you don’t mind destroying, there’s no reason you can’t tackle this project yourself. Pick a color that matches your tastes and your space and your bathroom will take on a whole new feel.

Get Soaking

Remember all that talk about the oasis? It really starts with the tub. The Sterling Lawson Oval Bath offers beautiful style at an affordable price with soaking and whirlpool models. The bath can be situated to fit nearly any bathroom layout, and with a headrest and lumbar support included, as well as six jets featuring variable control, the Lawson oval bath is your perfect getaway that doesn’t require you to actually get away.

Fix Up the Fixtures

A brand-new tub completely redefines your bathroom, and if you want to bring the rest of your bathroom up-to-date as well, replacing your existing fixtures with new models is an easy way to do it. From towel racks to faucets and shower hardware, new fixtures are an effective way to show your sense of style and bring cohesion to your space while capitalizing on the latest technology.

Finish the Flooring

Your new bathroom deserves to look good from top to bottom. Pick a flooring style that speaks to you, spoil yourself with heated floors and rest easy knowing you’ll never have to grout again.

Shed a Whole New Light

There is perhaps no room where lighting is more important than the bathroom. If your current bathroom feels more like a cave than spa, it’s time for a major lighting overhaul. Modern fixtures allow you to use fewer bulbs more efficiently, and installing a dimmer switch gives you the bright light when you need it without blinding yourself in the morning. Lastly, this is a great time to replace all of your old bulbs with energy-efficient options. They’ll last as much as 25 times longer, and replacing your most often-used bulbs can save you as much as $75 per year on your energy bill.

Start Improving Your Bathroom Today

Many people see their bathroom as a functional space in their home when it has the potential to be so much more. Apply any or all of the tips above and you’ll turn your bathroom from a functional space to the oasis you’ve always wanted.

The New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep: A More Eco-Friendly Home

(BPT) – Nearly 42 percent of all New Year’s resolutions are broken by February, according to Statisticbrain. It’s easy to understand why – resolutions are difficult to keep all year long. Instead of risking disappointment in 2018, why not make a resolution that takes short-term effort but yields long-term benefits?

This year, resolve to make your home more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

“The upgrades needed to make a house eco-friendlier can be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time and for a reasonable investment,” says Chris Garcia, an energy efficiency expert with Champion(R). “Instead of struggling to stick to a resolution month after month, resolving to reduce your home’s environmental impact is quickly achievable and satisfying. Plus, energy-efficient upgrades can help lower utility bills, and saving money is a great way to start the year!”

Garcia points to three areas of focus to help you keep your resolution to make your home better for the environment – and your wallet – this coming year:

Focus on the Furnace

Heating and cooling account for about half of a home’s total energy usage, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Of course, where you live helps determine whether you use more energy to heat your home or to cool it, but the majority of homes in the U.S. have some form of heating, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports.

“An old, faulty or wrong-sized furnace can significantly increase how much energy a home uses,” Garcia notes.

Start your new year by taking care of your furnace. Have a qualified professional inspect it if you didn’t do so at the start of the heating season. Check to be sure that all components of the heating ventilation and cooling system are working properly. Change air filters if you haven’t done so in a while, and set a reminder on your smartphone to change them throughout the year according to the furnace manufacturer’s guidelines.

If you need to replace an older, less efficient system, consider high-efficiency options like a Champion(R) Momentum(TM) gas furnace, which provides more heat for less money with a high 98 percent AFUE efficiency rating. The new system can reduce fuel costs nearly 38 percent compared to older models.

Eliminate Air Leaks

Temperature-controlled air can escape your home in multiple ways, including through air leaks in and around windows and doors, fireplaces, attics, basements and even garage doors. Air leaks can make HVAC systems work harder, use more energy and even shorten a system’s usable life.

Keeping cooled or heated air inside your home starts with sealing air leaks, which the Department of Energy says could yield yearly energy savings of 5 to 30 percent. Add or replace caulk and weather stripping around windows and doors, including garage doors. Check fireplaces, air ducts and points of entry such as water pipes, electrical lines and cable connections to ensure that no air leaks are occurring.

Add insulation in your home’s attic, basement or crawl space to help ensure your home stays warm in winter and cool in summer. Keep in mind often overlooked spots such as garages, especially if your home has a room over the garage space.

Rethink Lighting

Replacing old, less efficient incandescent light bulbs throughout the house with newer, energy-efficient options like CFLs and LEDs is one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to reduce a home’s energy consumption and environmental impact. The Department of Energy says that these types of bulbs use 25 to 80 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs to produce the same amount of illumination. They can also last three to 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs, so you’ll save money in the long run by purchasing fewer replacement bulbs.

You can also reduce energy consumption by relying on natural light whenever possible. Start by opening curtains and blinds to let in light during daytime hours in winter months. To further increase the amount of daylight in your home, consider installing a skylight.

“New Year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to sustain for an entire 12 months, but energy-efficient improvements to your home mean you can fulfill your resolution to be more environmentally friendly in the first months of the year,” Garcia says. “Your resolution can be accomplished and continue to benefit you and the environment long after other resolutions have been broken.”

To learn more about Champion(R) furnaces, visit www.championhomecomfort.com/ecofriendly.