June 2022

A water heater is an important appliance that ensures we have warm water for baths, cooking, laundry, and even dishwashing at home. Typically, these appliances have a lifespan of about 8 to 10 years, but only with proper maintenance.

So, how do you go about the maintenance procedure? Read through the post to learn more about water heaters and the tips for maintaining them at home.

What is a water heater?

A water heater is an appliance used to warm water for different uses at the home, office, or industrial purposes. Since raw water has impurities, having a water heater filter installed in heaters prevents the plumbing system and heating materials from corrosion from the corrosive substances in water.

Performing routine service and maintenance to your water heater doesn’t need you to call a professional plumber. With a bucket, screwdriver, and instructions from the user manual, you can do complete service easily.

Before you begin any operation, ensure you turn off the power supply to the heater for electric water heaters or gas supply for gas water heaters.

Follow the steps below after ensuring no power runs to the appliance.

Do a mini-flush

Prevent rust buildup and corrosion by getting rid of the sediments from the bottom of the heating material, such as a tank. This will also increase the energy efficiency of the heating unit.

While a complete flush is the best, it will need a total power shut-off. Perform a mini-flush because it will take less time and can be done with the power on.

Place the bucket below the drain valve and turn it counterclockwise to drain one to two gallons of water. Be keen while doing this as the water from the heater will be very hot.

Test The Temperature And Pressure Valve

The T and P safety valve is an essential feature in the water heater. It detects abnormal pressure and temperature buildup and opens automatically to release them. Without it, the heater is at high risk of exploding.

The valve is located either on the top or sides of the appliance and has a discharge tube extending to the tank’s base.

To test it, place a bucket below the valve and lift the valve lever to open it manually. This allows water to flow through the tube into the bucket. Allow the flow for some seconds and return the lever to close the valve. Replace the valves if there is still a leak.

Reduce the Temperature

Water heaters are often purchased and connected at a preset temperature between 120 to 140˚F. However, the recommended temperature range for households by US Energy Department is 120˚F, and this step can reduce energy consumption costs significantly.

Depending on the supply you use, gas or electricity, turn off the temperature lever up to 120˚F to meet the recommended standards and increase energy efficiency.

Remember to protect your plumbing system and heating materials; the heater is installed with a water heater filter which also needs regular services like rubbing to improve efficiency and increase durability.

Conclusion.

Water heaters keep our lives easy; they provide warm water for baths, sparkling utensils, and clean clothes. Showing it a little love through regular maintenance will ensure it serves for the maximum duration with constant efficiency. Follow the steps discussed in this article to get the best of your water heater for long.

You must always include throw pillows in your living room decorating ideas. They are perfect for adding more visual interest to any space on a budget. Moreover, they make space more comfortable as well. You will find many different options when buying throw pillows. Make sure that the throw pillows complement the look of your living room decor. Also, the cushion cover design should match the overall look. Further, you get options between choosing ready-made throw pillows and handmade pillows. Although most homeowners opt for ready-made pillows, you can consider getting handmade pillows if you want them to reflect your personality and match the decor perfectly. If you are not sure about how to decorate your living room with throw pillows, here are a few tips that will help you to use throw pillows properly:

01 of 05 Check for inspirations in your home before deciding

If you are planning to add throw pillows to your living room decorating idea, it is important to ensure that they look good with the rest of the elements in the living room. Hence, you must first check the textures and colours used in your living room and then choose throw pillows accordingly. For instance, you can match the colour of your coffee table and throw pillows. This will help to maintain uniformity in your living room design. However, this does not mean that all the elements should match perfectly. It can make the design fall flat. You can add contrasting elements as well for an appealing look.

02 of 05 Look at how others are using throw pillows for decorating

It can be hard to determine the type of throw pillows you want to buy for the living room. If you do not want to spend time thinking about it, you can simply check and copy what others are doing. Just search online and you can easily find plenty of ideas shared by renowned designers. Interior design magazines are a great source for this purpose as well. Take snaps of the ideas you like and compare them later. Try to take inspiration from images that appear similar to your living room. This will make the task much easier. If you have any friend or relative who likes decorating home interiors, you can ask for suggestions from that person as well.

Also, keep in mind that your throw pillows will be covered with cushion covers. Hence, your cushion cover design is important as well.

03 of 05 Choose between a contemporary and traditional look

You must first decide if you want a traditional look or a contemporary design. This decision should be made depending on your living room design. In most cases, it is better to opt for traditional throw pillows for traditional homes and contemporary throw pillows for contemporary living room designs. Throw pillows with decorative trim and intricate designs look best in traditional living room arrangements. Also, traditional throw pillows are generally smaller. Group an even number of throw pillows together on your furniture for creating a beautiful traditional setup. Modern throw pillows have a very simple look and feature cleaner lines. They are quite large and generally solid-coloured. Do not keep them very close to each other in a modern setup. Also, an odd number of pillows are used in modern living rooms in most cases.

04 of 05 Determine how you want to use the throw pillows

Before purchasing any item, you must first determine how you want to use it. You will have to follow the same principle when buying throw pillows for your living room design. This will help you to choose a design and look for the throw pillows that will match their purpose. If you do not receive a lot of guests or your throw pillows are not used very frequently, you can choose any colour and design for the throw pillows that you like. However, people with kids and pets should very carefully choose the throw pillows. It is important to opt for cushion cover designs that are durable and stain-resistant. This will help to ensure that the fabric of the throw pillows does not get damaged and they appear as good as new for years. If you have the habit of sleeping on your sofa, choose throw pillows made of a soft and smooth fabric.

05 of 05 Mixing up everything a little

Even after a lot of thinking, finalising the decision can be tough. However, this is not a reason to worry. When you cannot narrow down any one choice for the living room, you can just add a little of everything. This means adding throw pillows of different types, sizes, colours, and designs to the setup. It will help to create an interesting look as well. However, make sure you do not add too many contrasting elements. It can make the space appear overwhelming.

Introduction

There are many ways of adding dimension and depth to your yard. One of them includes using a lot of rocks and stones in fun ways. If you need to do the same for your yard, you can search for “paving companies near me” and hire professionals for the job. Let’s check out a few interesting landscaping ideas that use stones.

The Ideas

1. Be one with nature – If you have a lot of natives and green cover in your garden and yard, it’s best to preserve that with a more naturalistic design. Instead of using precisely cut stones and rocks, you can use rough slabs of stones and rocks to pave a path through your green sanctuary. This makes the path look more natural and suggests that there has been minimal human intervention in the landscape design.

You can take the naturalistic look up a notch by edging the path with bounders, pebbles, and gravel. This also creates a more sustainable landscape design since the hard and porous rocks soak in water and allow it to seep into the ground instead of running off the side.

You can also build a rock garden out of natural and local stones to take up the sustainability even higher. Local and natural stones have been weathered for many years to create exquisite textures and don’t need to be transported over thousands of miles in large containers by burning fossil fuels. To soften the look of your rock garden, you can add natives on the edges. This helps you establish a coherent yet informal space. Make sure that the plants you choose for the soft edging match or complement the shade of rocks. 

2. Stones in an urban and modern setting – In urban and modern landscape design, smooth surfaces and clean lines always dominate. However, you can maximize interest and texture in the urban landscape design by introducing contrasting materials like stones. You need to make sure that the stones have a contemporary yet contrasting color.

If there’s a space in your modern landscape where there’s a gap between raised beds and a smooth paved path, you can use charcoal-colored stones as edging material. You can always find charcoal-colored pebbles of various sizes for the job. Moreover, these pebbles come in their natural rough surface and in polished variations. They can help create stunning color contrast in your modern landscaping project. 

3. Easy low-maintenance landscape – If you’re confused about how to use stones in your landscape design, it’s best to go for a low-maintenance rock garden. This kind of landscape is dominated by stones and pebbles with soft plant cushions in between. This type of landscape design can be left to its own whims to create a more natural look and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance as long as you choose plants that are suited for the soil and your local climate.

In this type of landscape design, you allow nature to be your landscape architect. You leave the ground cover to evolve every year instead of trying to create a picture-perfect design. Just make sure to choose non-invasive native plants or those that have adapted to the local conditions over several years. That way you won’t need to worry about soft ground cover dying off without water.

4. River stones – Everyone has been curious about river stones every time they have had a chance to camp next to a river in the wilderness. River stones are usually made of limestone and other hard-wearing materials that maintain their appearance for decades with little to no maintenance. You can use them in the water features on your landscape to make it look like they have always been there.

Moreover, river stones only improve over time with more complex crevices and curves as they are weathered by natural elements. You can create a realistic stream with river rocks in your garden. The base of the stream can be made from mortar and gravel with a low-lying shallow area for wildlife to drink and bathe in. you can press on the gravel and cover it up with river stones to create that natural look. To take that look to a whole new level you can also add a few broken tree trunks with moss right next to the stream.

5. Mix textures – Landscape designers always like to mix different textures and materials to add visual interest to their design. You can do the same with rocks and stones. Moreover, you don’t need to be limited by natural stones either. It can be a mix of both natural and artificial materials. That means you can mix pavers and flagstones with natural stones and river rocks.

If you have smooth slabs, you can fill in the edging around them with gravel and small stones or boulders. This makes that path itself more interesting and attracts a lot of attention instead of being just a path between two interesting features of your landscape. You can also take inspiration from the Japanese garden and create a pebble path with paddle stones. They are large pieces of slate that have rounded edges and can be used to create a path that mimics a riverbed.

6. Enhance drama – If you have a lot of plants creating soft sweeps on your landscape, consider adding large boulders or stones to the design. This type of design takes inspiration from Victorian gardens and helps create a lot of drama. You can also group smaller stones with larger rocks to create natural clusters and bed those clusters into the soil. The large rocks create height and slope in favor of a cleaner design with less fuss and a generous dose of impact.

Conclusion

Your landscape design should reflect your personality. If you have a large property, rocks and stones can be a great way of adding layers, depth, and complexity to the landscape. If you need to hire professional help for the job, you can always search for “paving companies near me”.

Choosing a flooring material is never an easy task. It has to be a well-thought-out decision. Sometimes, it can be daunting to make it. Hardwood has been the popular choice for flooring material amongst homeowners for ages. Its natural charm and rustic look add to the aesthetic value of the room. If you have decided to get hardwood flooring, the experts at Hardwood Planet will guide you through the process and help you. They will be by your side to make this process a smooth sailing one. We are here to help you understand this type of flooring better.

What are the benefits of hardwood flooring?

Following are some of the reasons why you should opt for hardwood flooring:

1. Adds to the aesthetic value: Solid hardwood flooring is a popular choice because it adds to the aesthetic value of the home. It makes the room look more elegant. When solid wood flooring is installed it makes the room seem bigger.
2. Easy to Maintain: When choosing the floor, we don’t want a floor that is difficult to clean. Solid wooden flooring can be easily cleaned. It can be swept, steam-cleaned and vacuumed. They are more stain-resistant as compared to the carpets.
3. Extremely Durable: one of the reasons for selecting hardwood flooring is that it is durable. Though it may get dented or scratched, that doesn’t usually happen. Maintaining it properly can enable it to last for longer.
4. Adds Value to the home: If planning to sell your house in the future, installing hardwood floors is a great idea. Houses with hardwood flooring usually fare more than those with carpet flooring. Often buyers prefer wooden flooring.
5. Improved Air Quality: The flooring doesn’t trap pollen, dust, dander or other allergens. This makes it an ideal choice for those who have allergies as it improves the quality of air inside the home.
6. Money’s Worth: Hardwood flooring can be a little expensive, but it is easier to maintain. As it is durable, the costs associated with cleaning and repairs are lower. Hardwood flooring can last for generations if it has been maintained. It can be seen as a one-time investment.
7. Colour is always as good as new: When installed in rooms with high foot traffic, you don’t have to worry about the flooring fading. It is usually impacted by wear and tear and has a steady appearance.
8. Improves the Acoustics: Installing solid hardwood flooring helps to bring down the vibrations or any hollow sounds. Due to this quality, it is highly used in music and dance studios.
9. Warmth: Being moderately warm, allows the home to have a moderate temperature throughout the year. This is because it has a warmer tone. It can be easily paired with the underfloor radiant heating system.

Reach out to the expert

If you find yourself feeling confused, reach out to the expert. They will equip you with the knowledge that is needed to make an informed decision.

Floor Heating Systems are increasingly becoming a popular choice with homeowners. Whether they are building a new home or undertaking renovation, it seems to be the go-to choice. The radiant heating system has brought about a revolution in the way we heat our homes. However, with popularity also comes its dark sides. Many myths surround this method of heating our homes. Sometimes these myths can prevent us from making a well-informed decision. We are here to help you understand what the system really is and how it would be a great fit for your home.

Suitable Only for Bathroom or Kitchen

When looking to install a heating system in the kitchen or bathroom, the radiant heating system seems to be the ideal choice as it is installed underneath the flooring. However, this by no means indicates that it can only be installed in wet rooms where there is tile flooring. The system efficiently and evenly distributes heat in every room that which they are installed. Though tile is a great flooring material to be paired with the radiant system, it works beautifully even when installed under carpet flooring.

Needs to be installed throughout the house

This myth is bound to deter you from installing the system. If the installation is to be taken place in an already existing home, the entire flooring needs to be teared up. This is far from the truth. You get to decide where you want to install the system. It can be installed in the room of your choice or throughout the house. Installing it in one room will mean that you don’t have to renovate the whole house for it.

Can only be installed with Tile or Concrete Floors

It is said to be suitable for bathrooms and kitchens because the flooring used there is concrete or tiling. Both these materials are great conductors of heat. They make an ideal pair with the radiant heating system. However, the choices don’t have to be limited to that. It can be installed under various flooring materials like carpet, laminate and hardwood. The experts will guide you about which radiant system would be ideal for the flooring material you want to choose.

It Omits Heat

When we say something omits heat, we are implying that there is a transfer of energy. That is not how the radiant heating system works. As the name suggests it radiates heat, meaning it absorbs, reflects and transmits energy. The heat from the system rises upwards to warm up the entire room.

Overheats the house

Before installing any heating system, it is crucial to note the insulation of the room and the number of windows present. Poor insulation could lead to the room or the house being overheated. This can be easily controlled by improving insulation or adding windows to your home. Unless either of these issues pre-exists in your home, there are no chances that the floor heating system will overheat the home.

After accumulating all fence-building materials, one will definitely want to work with the best fence installer. After saving a lot of money, nobody wants to end up with installers who are unsure about what they are doing. There are several benefits of hiring a professional in the field; the benefits are short-term and long-term. This article explores 5 top reasons why people need a top-notch installer:

To Prevent Future Fencing Issues

With a professional fencing company, it is easy to solve all fencing problems. An expert will be in a position to give valuable advice on the best fencing materials and even help choose a design that matches a home’s exterior. This will protect the customer from purchasing faulty materials that are not long-lasting. Also, people don’t want to hire installers who interfere with their property. For instance, some installation mistakes can involve damaging underground pipes and cables. Professional fencing contractors like Nortex Fence serving Frisco, Texas, always label property for accurate installations.

Avoid Legal Problems

Each location has its own set of rules on fencing. Customers need to hire professionals who are familiar with such legal requirements to avoid legal problems. For one’s serenity, trained and established contractors who understand the job’s specifications are the best. Customers also need to ask friends and read some reviews and testimonials of companies online before getting in touch. They should hire a company that puts customer needs first; it is even better if the company has been given an A+ rating. This way, customers are sure of getting a fencing company that complies with the laws of your locality.

Quality Installation is Guaranteed

A fencing specialist will give various options regarding the type of installation that a customer wants. Besides, most professionals have received extensive training and know all the safety standards. Upon using a professional, there is even a higher chance of getting an appealing result after fencing. One such blunder is when a customer hires a beginner in the field, then they mess up their work, and now they have to find an expert to correct the mistake. It is critical to find a fencing company that guarantees long-lasting and quality results. Nortex Fence, serving Frisco, Texas, is a company customers can count on.

Saves on Costs

Installation requires many tools; hence, when one hires a professional, they will have saved on the cost of buying or hiring. Most fencing companies have access to all the necessary tools making the process cheaper. Even if a customer bought a few tools, there would be less likelihood of them damaging. Professionals have mastered the skill, so they may not require lots of materials for workmanship. Besides, if someone’s fence is installed correctly, they will not have to spend large sums of money for repair in the future.

Increases Your Property’s Value

Cheap is always expensive. If a customer goes for a local installer, they will have to call them over and over again for repair. However, if they choose high-quality, it is once and for all. Professionals always avoid mistakes that can lead to regular replacements in the future, thus making the property more durable. Another thing about professionals is they will always do a thorough job, and customers don’t have to doubt that.

EndNote

While it is cheaper to install a fence, hiring a professional is recommended for reputable fencing. Property owners need to guarantee a great outcome for their money. For professional fencing, contact our professionals at Nortex Fence Serving Frisco, Texas.