Prevent Frozen Pipes

‘Tis the season for Burst Pipes

Is your home prepared for “frozen pipe temperatures?” Are you sure?

 

Once water starts freezing in your home’s plumbing, it begins a pressure buildup that can cause your pipes to rupture. Leaking burst pipes can cost you thousands of dollars in water damage repair and mold remediation.

Your Winterizing Checklist for Preventing Burst Pipes!

1. Winterizing Your Home’s Outdoor Plumbing

Take these steps to prepare your outdoor plumbing before freezing temperatures arrive.

•Drain your sprinkler system. If there’s water left in the pipes or any sprinkler heads, it could freeze and cause the pipes in your sprinkler system to bust.

•Shut off the water to your outdoor faucets. Locate the valves that control the water flow to your outdoor faucets, and shut the water off there. Then turn on your outdoor faucets so that they can drain.

• Insulate your outdoor faucets. Covering the taps with waterproof, outdoor faucet socks will help protect them from icy winds and prevent freezing. Never attempt to insulate your faucets with any material that will absorb water and freeze, like towels or newspaper.

2. Winterizing Your Home’s Indoor Plumbing

These prevent measures will will help protect your pipes during the coldest days and nights of the year.

•Seal air leaks around your home. Air leaks can occur in numerous locations, but some easy places to correct them are around doors and windows. Use caulk to seal gaps around stationary windows and weatherstrips on doors and windows that move.

•Insulate unprotected pipes with polyethylene foam insulation on top of a layer of electrical tape. There are several places where your home’s pipes could be exposed to cold temperatures, including the crawl space, attic, and garage. Some pipes might also run through exterior walls from your home’s interior.

•Update your home’s insulation where needed. If your home is especially cold above the crawl space, or if it loses a lot of heat through the attic, consult an insulation expert. They can help you achieve a home that’s not only more comfortable but also more energy efficient.

3. Preventing Frozen Pipes During a Cold Snap

Typically, the weather needs to be about 20 degrees Fahrenheit or below before pipes will freeze. Once you start temperatures in the twenties, get prepared to take the following measure to prevent frozen pipes.

•Make sure all of your windows and doors are firmly shut.

•Keep your garage door closed

•Keep your home’s temperature at 55 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

•Open your kitchen and bathroom cabinets so warmth from your home can reach the plumbing

•Let your faucets run at a trickle

•Make sure you know where your home’s main water shut-off valve is in case a pipe burst.

 

Blog credit to: The Rooter Works Plumbing & Drains – https://www.therooterworks.com/blog/2021/november/winterize-your-plumbing-your-must-have-checklist/

Winterize

It’s Time To Winterize!

 

Make sure your home is safeguarded against subfreezing temperatures! Winterizing helps keep your home secure and safe, as well as saving you lots of money in the long run! We know your mind is still in the summer; that’s why we are here to help you get your check list started!

It’s time to give you the 5 most important things to do for your house before the snow hits, and as an extra bit of help, we will include businesses that can help you with each one!

1. Weatherproof Windows & Doors

Weatherproofing your home will drastically reduce your heating bills. By applying weatherstrips to your doors and windows, and caulking to other areas where air leaks, you keep out the cold air of winter.

Businesses that can help: Glass Doctor, Renewal by Anderson, and Window Genie

 

2. Clean Gutters

Winter is a time that puts added strain on our gutter system. When water freezes in your gutters because of debris preventing drainage, it forces the melting ice and snow underneath the shingles and into your home. However, if you clean out your gutters, melting ice and snow can drain off your roof preventing damage.

Businesses that can help: Ever Clean Gutters, Gutter Boys, Gutter Helmet, and Leafguard

3. Check Heating System

Having your furnace inspected before winter reduces the chances of safety hazards from carbon monoxide or gas leaks. It also reduces the chances that you’ll find out there is a critical issue with your system, and will protect you from cold nights. While checking your furnace, make sure your vents are open, so your heater can properly heat your house and not put added pressure onto your furnace.

Businesses that can help: Five Star Heating & Cooling, Jarboe’s Heating & Cooling, Watkins Heating and Cooling, and Williams Comfort air

 

4. Clean and Reseal Chimney

It is very important to clean your chimney before winter, especially if you have a wood burning fireplace. Wood-burning fireplaces generate creosote buildup that accumulates in your chimney. This oily substance is flammable and can lead to fires in the flue. Chimneys get damaged a lot because they are exposed to harsh weather all the time. There can be cracks and structural problems that will cost you a hefty price if not detected before the cold weather!

Businesses that can help: Chimney Guys, Chimney Care Company

5. Book a Date to Have a Company Set Up Christmas Lights

Leave it to the professionals! Christmas lights always make the holiday season more cheerful and bright. So, book an appointment to have it done for you. Don’t take the risk of falling off the roof and ruining your winter, to hang up a couple lights. Businesses come and light up your home for you, but they book up quickly! The sooner you schedule an appointment the better!

Businesses that can help: Landscape Lighting, NiteLights, Window Genie, and Color world

 

NEW Employee Spotlight: Emma Barth

Get To Know Our Graphic Designer, Emma!

Emma is originally from Springboro, Ohio, but currently lives in Montgomery with her boyfriend CJ and their doggie Graham. Emma has also previously lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia so the move to Ohio sucked, because she went from living 15min away from the beach to the state that has all four seasons within a week!

Emma’s biggest blessings in life are her family and friends! Any free time she gets is usually spent with them, swimming at her parents pool, eating out, or staying in and playing board games all night!

Emma is a big fan of art. When she’s not graphic designing, she is usually finding something else to create! From coasters, clay pieces, baby nursery murals, to wooden Christmas decorations and cakes, Emma loves anything and everything art!

Emma comes from a very patriotic family. Her Dad served in the US Navy for 20 years which had a big impact on her. She loves everything red, white and blue, and anything to do with the ocean. To her, nothing is better than long walks on the beach! Go Navy! Hooyah!

Emma loves to travel. She will go anywhere to get out of Ohio……If there is any form of water then the trip is automatically better haha!

And lastly, Emma is such a happy go lucky person! If she isn’t smiling or acting goofy then something is up!

Avoid Disaster! 5 Ways to Detect a Phishing Email!

Thanks to our friends at TechAdvisors, we are sharing 5 tips to help you prevent being scammed.

Phishing is one of the most common cyber crimes facing business owners. Despite how much business owners think they know about email scams, people still find themselves victim at a staggering rate.

According to Mimecast, 58% of organizations saw phishing attacks increase this last year. Verizon found that two-thirds of all data breaches involved social engineering attacks such as phishing.

Here are 5 tips to help you identify suspicious emails.

1. The Message is Sent from a Public Domain

Legitimate businesses do not send emails from addresses ending in “@gmail.com,” or “@yahoo.com.” If the domain name matches the name of the organization sending the email, the message is more than likely legitimate.

 

2. Misspelled Domain Names

Another clue that something is amiss is a misspelled domain name. Once registered, no one else can access a domain, outside of the owner. Hackers have found plenty of ways to spoof legitimate domains by registering names, so be sure to check the spelling. If it looks “phishy,” it probably is!

3. Poorly-Written Emails

An easy way to tell if you’re dealing with a scammer is to pay attention to spelling and grammar. Many scammers impersonating legitimate businesses are not fluent in English. While they run their emails through spell-check systems, as you know, spell-check doesn’t always catch grammatical errors. If it sounds wonky, it is!

 

4. The Message Contains Suspicious Links and/or Attachments

If you receive an email with a strange looking attachment, there’s a good chance it’s infected with malware. Once downloaded onto your system, that malware can run wild and wreak havoc, performing all sorts of nefarious activities.

If you receive a link, make sure that the destination address matches the context of the rest of the email.

5. The Message Creates a Sense of Urgency

Scammers know us well: we’re procrastinators. To avoid having a target forget about their email, scammers create a false sense of urgency to lure victims into acting NOW before they can evaluate the situation. Don’t be pushed around by pushy emails.

 

If you’re in need of further help or information to prevent phishing from happening to you, TechAdvisors can help!

Contact sales@techadvisors.us or call

(937) 340-1863 for more information.