Your furnace needs to be working throughout the winter so that you can stay warm. There will occasionally be a sign that you could need furnace work. Read on to learn more.

1. Weird Noises

Your furnace makes noises when it runs. Most of the time, these will be normal humming or whirring sounds. There are, however, several sounds that could mean trouble for both your furnace and your whole HVAC system.

Heavy Thumping

When your furnace thumps, it could mean that your blower motor is either out of alignment or has a piece broken off within it. In either case, you’ll need the help of a for repairs. If you hear this kind of heavy thumping coming from your furnace, be sure to turn the furnace off right away and call for help.

Loud Shrieking

Not all furnaces have belts in their blower motors, but if yours does, then a loud shrieking noise can mean that the belt needs replacing. Once again, this is not a DIY project, and you will need the skills of a pro to accomplish the project safely and quickly.

2. Water on the Floor

Furnaces create water from condensation as part of their normal operation. There will be a hose, pipe, or both for shunting water out of the furnace to someplace else. A lot of the time, these drainage conduits lead outside, but it is also possible for them to lead to a drain or sink inside your home.

One reason that you could see water on the floor is that one or more of these drains have developed a clog. When that happens, the water backs up through the pipe and can leak. Many furnaces have drain pans instead, and if the drain pan cracks or likewise develops a clog, then it can leak water too. Finally, if your furnace has a condensate pump, then it could leak from that device if it is faulty.

3. Bad Odors

If you smell formaldehyde, then it is not good news. That generally indicates a cracked heat exchanger, which cannot be repaired and will need replacement. This will necessitate calling in a pro to do the work.

Another unpleasant smell would be old socks. Normally, this means that there is biological growth somewhere inside your system. It could be in the body of the furnace itself or inside the ducts. If the growths are inside the ducts, never try to clean them out yourself. You could cause extensive damage and/or hurt yourself.

The worst smell would be rotten eggs. That smell means that you have a gas leak, which is an emergency situation. Shut your furnace off immediately and then open all the windows in your home. Go outside, and call for help.

The post Is Your Furnace Crying for Help? Three Telltale Signs You Can’t Ignore appeared first on Blog | 皇冠体育app.

How many times do you plan to buy a home during your entire lifetime?

For most of us, the number is somewhere between 3 and 5. It certainly doesn鈥檛 happen often enough to make us experts on the process.

Real estate agents, on the other hand, may handle 3-5 purchases per month. This experience makes them an invaluable resource to homebuyers.

Before you think about handling your purchase on your own, consider these 3 serious dangers of buying without a real estate agent.

Risk #1. Overpaying for your home

Many buyers make the mistake of thinking that the listing price always reflects the real value of a home.

Real estate agents know better. They know how to value real estate. They鈥檝e had extensive practice in finding and analyzing comparable properties to determine the fair market value of any home.

Your buyer鈥檚 agent can tell you what a home is really worth before you make an offer on it. This can save you from accidentally overpaying for your home.

Good agents also know that fair market value isn鈥檛 a single number. It鈥檚 a range, with room to negotiate. Armed with their local market knowledge, they can negotiate on your behalf for the best possible price.

Risk #2. Being overwhelmed by the inspections

Home inspections can be scary, especially for first-time buyers. Which inspections do you even need?

Inspectors note everything they can find wrong with the property. And it鈥檚 usually a sizable list, even on the best home. Your buyer鈥檚 agent can help you prioritize the issues on the inspectors鈥� reports. They can help you determine which items must be addressed immediately, which items should be addressed at some point in the future, and which items are listed simply documented for your information.

They can also help you renegotiate the original offer if the inspections find that immediate repairs are necessary. Perhaps you should ask the sellers to cover the cost of the roof repairs or the HVAC replacement? Your agent can help you decide.

Risk #3. Buying the wrong home

It鈥檚 the scariest question in the home-buying process: What if I buy the wrong home?

Agents are elbow-deep in local market data all day every day. They know why some neighborhoods have high turnover. They know about upcoming development projects that can make a neighborhood more desirable. And they know about homes coming on the market days before the listings are available online.

Having an agent with all this information in your corner can prevent you from buying the wrong home. Or buying in the wrong neighborhood altogether!

Remember: the seller customarily pays all real estate commissions. It literally doesn鈥檛 cost you a penny to protect yourself against these dangers. Why risk it?

This post is intended for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. The point of view and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of 皇冠体育app International. This post was written by Michelle Clardie.聽Michelle is a professional real estate blogger, specializing in ghostwriting Realtor庐 blogs. Her engaging content helps real estate agents become more visible online, generate more qualified leads, and increase their revenues. You can learn more at聽www.michelleclardie.com

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Do you ever feel like your money is literally flying out the window? Parents have ribbed their kids about turning off the lights and closing the door for as long as there have been homes, but there鈥檚 quite a bit of truth behind one of the most common household pet peeves. Wasted utilities can be a monetary black hole in the budget of any family, and in many cases, the ways we鈥檙e wasteful aren鈥檛 always immediately obvious.

Thankfully, today鈥檚 smart home technology can enable every family to do some smart snooping for inefficient habits, and set up intelligent scheduling to keep a home comfortable while minimizing costs. Here鈥檚 some helpful advice to consider:

Keep an Eye on Your HVAC

Nothing can wreck an electric bill quite like an unusually warm summer or a brutally cold winter. No matter how you adjust your thermostat, it鈥檚 hard to find the right balance between a comfortable home and an affordable one.

Installing a smart thermostat can be a huge help to manage the cost of running the heat or air conditioner. Wi-Fi thermostats are affordable, simple to install, and they provide homeowners with valuable data and powerful tools to manage their home鈥檚 heating and cooling from anywhere.

If you鈥檙e facing colder weather, these thermostat systems can help you take an in-depth look at your heat pump鈥檚 runtime history to find the exact outdoor temperatures where expensive auxiliary heating kicks in. Some products even feature self-adjusting temperature settings that can cool down or heat up your home an hour or two before extreme weather rolls in, sparing your units from running in less than optimal conditions. Additionally, with remote access, it鈥檚 easy to lower the temperature or turn off the system if no one is home.

A few smart tweaks to your home鈥檚 heating and cooling settings can help you to better manage your electric bill.

Read Your Home鈥檚 Diary with a Smart Home Hub

A smart home hub is a great tool for a variety of reasons; it ties all of your smart home gadgets together in one interface, enables some really fun features through automation, and can even let you control your home with your voice. If you鈥檙e looking into your home鈥檚 financial efficiency, you鈥檒l also find that their detailed daily logs can be a huge help in tracking down energy hogs and bad habits such as leaving lights or having an open window when the AC is blasting.

When you look over daily usage logs, keep an eye out for data on door/window sensors and smart lighting. Door and window sensors can clue you into who might leave doors open when they head off to school, or what windows have been left open at night. Your lighting system can give you a history on which lamps are left running for hours on end, and which fixtures are still active when the family is gone for the day.

Smart home hubs can be set up as part of a whole home security system through a security company or even your local internet service provider. The capabilities to manage your smart home devices remotely offer the ease and convenience to have better control on your home. 聽Keeping a finger on the pulse of your home can help you better optimize your daily habits and routines for more financial savings.

Check Your Mobile Connectivity

This applies to those who do not have an unlimited mobile plan. If your mobile connectivity is limited, make sure your device automatically connects to your home Wi-Fi whenever you are home. Also, make sure your device is streaming on your home Wi-Fi, especially if you are just within the perimeter, as your device may hop onto the wireless network which will eat into your limited plan.

Live Smarter on a Schedule

Once you get acquainted with your smart gadgets, take some time to set up schedules for different aspects of your home, which can save you some money.

Is your family typically gone during the middle of the day? Have your thermostat automatically 聽adjust the temperature (or turn off your HVAC) and your lights automatically shut off. Do you like to fall asleep with the lights on? Set up your bedrooms to dim automatically after bedtime. Have some forgetful roommates? Set your smart home app up to receive notifications when doors and windows are left open for more than 15 minutes or at unusual hours.

All it takes to save some money is a combination of the right gadgets and the right home automation. Having a smart home at your fingertips 聽offers conveniences and it鈥檒l help you have a healthier bank account every month if you take some time to set things up .

This post is intended for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. The point of view and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of 皇冠体育app International.

This post was written by Eric Murrell. Eric is a software developer and technology contributor to鈥�.鈥疕e enjoys sharing鈥痶ips on how people can benefit from incorporating smart home automation and security in their homes on his blog鈥�.鈥赌�

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