Month: March 2021

3 Best Kept Secrets About Home Insurance Claims

You are a home owner. You insured your home properly and paid premiums on time. Probably you never filed a claim before. Now something happens and you need to file a claim. Here is what nobody told you:

The moment you talk to your insurance company about the damage you will have a claim on record. Even if you don’t formally file a claim and even if you never got paid any money.

You are not required to report all damages to the insurance. Before you call the insurance company, get a preliminary estimate of the repair cost. Call the insurance claims center only if the repair estimate is large enough to justify filing a claim.

Insurance company makes a settlement offer that will have many assumptions about the type of repair, quality of replacements and prices in local market. They would like to you to take the offer and quietly go away.

You can easily check whether your claim settlement is correct very easily. You can find claim estimation tools on web. Fill up a few details and find out for your self in couple of minutes. Your state may allow up to 6 years for you to ask the insurance company for additional money.

Claim information will then be sent into CLUE database and will be shared with all insurance companies. This will be used for many years to set your insurance rates and when somebody else buys your home.

You have a right to request a free report from CLUE database. Unfortunately the process is not very easy. Request a copy of your C.L.U.E. report from C.L.U.E. Inc. Consumer Disclosure Center, P.O. Box 105295, Atlanta, Georgia 30348-5295, or call toll free 1-866-312-8076. Report all errors like an invalid claim report or an incorrect loss payment to ChoicePoint. Make sure it is correct.

Please visit for additional information.…

Why Big Brother Has A Lot To Tell You About Hurricane Preparedness

You might think that government officials think that they know more about how we should live our lives than we do ourselves. If you think that authorities are meddling too much in our daily affairs, you are not alone, but in truth we really must listen to them in many instances. This is certainly the case when it comes to hurricane preparedness. You will find that if we do not listen to scientists and regulators we could find that our property and welfare is under threat.

Hurricane preparedness is more about knowing what might happen than actually preparing for something that we know with any certainty. After all, we might get away with any number of “near misses” for years and even decades on end. However, all it takes is one direct hit for us to realize that we must be as prepared as possible.

We are pretty good at predicting what mother nature may throw at us, certainly a lot more than we were a few generations back. When looking at those major cyclones, it’s now a big surprise if they go in an unexpected direction for some reason. We don’t need to classify weather events as unexpected so much any more.

A lot of lessons can be learned and a lot of tips taken from those who live on the coasts or in areas that are prone. The hurricane preparedness efforts can help us deal with other, maybe less significant weather related events. For example, they designed hurricane socks to help them in this situation, but we can use them elsewhere too.

Hurricane socks were designed using first-hand experience of people who had been subjected to those major storms. They found that by putting together a certain quality of filler and creating a flexible product they could often fend off approaching waters.

Polypropylene is used with hurricane socks due to its tremendous ability to absorb a lot of water at any one time. As such, they can be placed anywhere around your home, along the edge of the garage door if you need or anywhere that wind driven rain must be considered.

Heavy rainfall can occur anywhere at anytime and could present a potential flooding risk for anyone who is not prepared. You may not be too concerned with hurricane preparedness, per se, but you should definitely think about what might happen if water penetrates your home without any defense.

People in authority might well tell you what to do too much in your mind. Do listen to what they have to say when it comes to hurricane preparedness, though. People will have been through this kind of storm may be best placed to tell us what to do and have developed hurricane socks to help cope with whatever mother nature has in mind for us.…

How To Use Bribery In Your Spring Cleaning Plan

It’s not surprising that we can become very thoughtful and crafty whatever we are thinking about having a plan to deal with the mess that seems to be all around us. We may call it our spring cleaning plan, but we know that we’ve got to get everybody involved somehow. This means the whole household, notably those who are normally slow at stepping up to the plate.

Your spring cleaning plan had better be crafty and innovative, or you’re not going to be able to provide the necessary motivation to get them to do what you want them to do. Call it bribery if you want, but unless you’re clever you could end up doing all the dirty work yourself and at the end of your weekend you could feel worn out, frazzled and jealous of the rest of the family who still seems to have energy.

Why don’t you consider it this way? If everyone cleaned as they went along and not allow things to add up, you wouldn’t need a spring cleaning plan. Nor would you need to coerce people to lend a hand and everything would be completed easily.

What about trying to incentivize people to engage in your spring cleaning plan by putting some coins, quarters might do, around the place. If you tell your family members that whoever collects the most will win a certain prize and come up with something creative and appropriate, it’s likely to get them rolling up their sleeves and pitching in.

How about telling each family member that their pride is at stake, because you will be composing a list of those who make the best effort to help you? Watch how this motivates the younger ones to get involved in your spring cleaning plan and as they have more energy, this will be doubly productive.

Don’t forget to have a spring cleaning plan that is designed to make the most of the time that you have available. You might not be able to complete everything that needs to be done, but just make sure that you focus on the areas that are particularly bad – just like the garage.

One of the worst places in your home is the garage. Everything falls onto the floor and sits there unless it’s cleaned up. Dirt, dust and debris will be joined by anything that falls from the underside of your car, oils, lubricants and everything else. It’s a major cleaning job.

On top of your list of priorities in terms of a spring cleaning plan is your wish to ensure that you don’t have to do this again anytime soon. Therefore, as you go along make clear notes about how you will avoid some of the worst messes that you have found.…

Knowing Everything About Home Repair Grants

For any homeowner, repairing the residence might be actually costly, that is why home repair grants are getting issued to American citizens who cannot afford to acquire their homes fixed. Millions of dollars are becoming offered to thousands of US residents who could require urgent home improvement every year. It’s also possible to qualify to acquire some!

Tips to follow

These home repair grants are given for free of charge to ensure you don’t have to ever repay it. Even so, there are certain requirements that you need to qualify for. The very first necessity is that you might be who owns the residence or property that requires the fixing. Along with this, you must provide supporting certificates and documents that you are indeed the owner of the house. You should also belong to the low-income bracket. But if you are the kind of person that just wants his home being renovated then you are still be able to give it a shot.

You have to also know what is to be fixed, like leaky walls and roof, garbage disposal, or complete gutter replacement. Ask your municipal contractor for a quick estimate of how much is going to be needed for the repair or upgrade, he will be glad to assist you. This will help you determine what home repair grants will provide you.

Where you should go

Because the government is the major distributor of these grants, you could find them by visiting your local departments like the HUD and FEMA and check if definite grants that you could apply for. There are also private organizations that are more than willing to help needy families. Millionaires also employ helping the less fortunate by giving out grants. The advertisement section of your local newspaper will assist you to find them. You may as well search on the internet in looking for home repair grants seeing as there are also private sites that offer selected grant funds.

Whatever your financial status might be, wherever you look for them, looking for ideal home repair grants requires persistence and patience.…

Basic Home Repair Tools That May Come In Handy

There are certain situations and circumstances that we cannot avoid nor do we have full control of. That is why most of the time, we should be prepared that the things that may happen. In our house, certain incident would happen like breaking of pipes or electrical and technical problems may occur. We can always call for the help of those who know what to do but then they may never be around always to help you out with your problem. In times like these, you do not have a choice but do the working all by yourself.

You have decided to do things on your own, but when you are just about to do it, you realize that you do not have a single tool to help you sort things out. This is an example of the situation you can find yourself in if you don’t get yourself to buy or keep at least a pair of these home repair tools. You don’t need them all. You only need a number of them.

1. Hammer. A portion of the house needs fixing, and with the help of your handy dandy hammer and a few pieces of wood or concrete nails, they will be good as new. Hammers are also helpful in certain situations that you do not want to imagine. You have silver tarps and you would want to put it in your backyard? Just keep your hammer handy and the next thing you know, you will find a hundred ways on how you will need it while assembling your silver tarps.

2. Hand saw. This tool makes cutting wood a lot easier than you can imagine. Imagine yourself cutting a piece of wood into two while using a knife or an ax. It just won’t work. Most of the time you will need its assistance in situations like fixing a hole in your kitchen o covering up a whole in the wall. Whichever goes first. The bottom line is that you will need it.

3. A hand drill. Seriously, what else can you use to make a whole on your concrete wall without actually making a big crack noticeable enough for the whole bunch of visitors to see? Nothing. You can use concrete nails, but it won’t work really. You may not use this when putting up the silvers tarps since they have ball bungee to keep them together without making a whole on its body, but for those things that are not privilege to have a ball bungee, then drills can help them out.

Some other helpful tools include pliers, a set of screwdrivers among other things to help you out when caught in the similar situations.

These tools may not appear important when you don’t need them but when already caught in an incident that you would do anything just to have a hammer beside you, you will realize that indeed having at least a small set of tools by your side can be life changing. Don’t let this happen to you. Be prepared and arm yourself with these home repair tools.…

You Can Use Your Extra Space Efficiently By Selecting A Garage Floor Cover

You might be feeling in a very creative mood and think about how you can utilize your garage space properly. Maybe you just want to reclaim it from where it already is and allow your car or truck to get back in there. On the other hand you might have got so much extra junk inside your home that you just want to use this place for storage. There are many different ways that we can use this room for multiple different ideas.

Far from being content with using it for its original purpose, we want to make sure that our garage can help us to lead our complex and varied lives. Many innovative people don’t want to use it for storing a vehicle anymore and have ideas that require modification. This is when you can start off with a garage floor cover, which can be either a carpet like material, special paint or even a purpose made product.

The financial downturn has put us all under pressure and this itself and cause us to repurpose our garage and turn it into living quarters, for example. This might be a space for your in-laws or grandparents and cause you to want to convert your garage appropriately.

Remember that if you choose to convert your garage into living space for in-laws or parents, you need to be careful to account for increased taxes. In almost every state you will be liable for additional property taxes and you have to take this into account when you are considering your options. Unfortunately, property taxes are somewhat difficult to calculate so make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself in for before you start.

Some experts say that we are unlikely to be two-car households in the future as we come to terms with the sharply higher costs associated with running more than one vehicle. We are under pressure to downsize and likely will be for some years to come. Maybe it’s time for you to use your garage for other purposes. It could be as an office or for a home-based business or even a workshop.

We don’t have to put up with a drab and uninviting interior when we can fairly easily modify our garage for a number of other purposes. Start off with the concrete surface and install a garage floor cover to make it suitable for other purposes and transform its look at the same time.

Some people choose to be traditional and actually store the vehicles in the garage, strange as it may seem! When this happens they have to understand that this now becomes a halfway house and a traditional area between the outside world and the inside comfort. Keep the ravages of the outside world in their place and install a garage floor cover that captures all that snow, rain and mess. This prevents it from getting elsewhere and damaging other items.

The best garage floor cover available is one that not only contains rainwater and slush, but absorbs it as well. In this way you won’t have to worry about removing the debris with a vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, as it will be absorbed by the polypropylene and will simply evaporate naturally.…

Rats are a major concern when they gain access to your property. They are relentless and crafty. Not only are these pests capable of transmitting diseases – harmful to you and everybody around you, rats can also damage electrical cable by chewing and pose a significant risk of fires.

Your food and drinking water are not safe when rats are around. Their urine and dropping are food contaminants as well. Here is how you can carry out a rat removal from your property.

The best solution to get rid of rats from your property is to use Elite Wildlife Services’ recommended methods. We have enough experience over the years to get rid of rats.

1. Know the rat

There are different rats of different species. For effective rat removal, you should understand the familiar places the rats hide in and live in your apartment or house.

Roof rats are usually common in overhead areas such as in the ceiling and rarely on the ground unless looking for food. The location of the rat will determine the location of the bait-and-trap.

2. Damage signs

Damage signs as a result of rats can be enormous. Structural damage, bites, burrowing, gnawing of cables and wood, etc., with the time you will notice holes and gashes that lead to spaces the rat commonly used for entry. Check your property for the above signs and take note of them.

3. Locate their Homes

Nests and burrows from your property are a telltale sign of rats. Presences of gashes in your property that lead to the burrows are a confirmation of rats in your home. It would be best if you strived to locate where they gain entry and where they usually cause more harm in the house.

4. Have a plan

You can opt to go the DIY way to remove rats from your home. There are rat traps available for purchase, and we can advise on the best trap for use. Ensure that you set the traps in places that children and pets access less. This will ensure there is no injury to your loved ones.

Also, you can give us a call, and we will handle the situation. We have various ways we can exterminate and keep your home safe and free from rats. Our extermination procedures are environmentally friendly and very effective. We have various rat poisons and bait traps.

We will later provide you with enough counsel and advice on how you can keep rats away from your compound and house.

We have handled several projects in Houston, and the results from our clients so far have been favorable to us. Don’t let rats roam your house or property and cause further damage. Reach out, or check out our website for further information on rat removal.

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Home Repair Tool Kit

A home repair tool kit is something that every home should have whether the occupants are particularly handy or not. There are so many small things that can go wrong in a home that may need some immediate attention or that require waiting for a repair professional. There are very few differences between a basic kit and a home repair kit. There are prefilled basic tool kits that you can add to in order to have a well prepared home repair tool kit.

Your basic home repair tool kit should include some general tools such as a hammer, flat and Phillips screwdriver, wrench, Allen wrenches and pliers. Some other things that should be included are washers, screws, nails, nuts and bolts. You never know what may break and how you will have to temporarily fix it, from a leaking toilet tank to a table leg that falls off.

A breaker box layout that clearly identifies what each breaker controls should also be in your home kit. It may be important to be able to switch off certain breakers if there is a water leak, or an electrical problem. Light bulbs, batteries, and paper towels should also be part of your home repair tool kit. These are all things that you may need in the course of making small repairs around the home.

Some of the additional items you should have in a home repair tool kit are electrical tape, a wire cutter, a utility knife flashlight, and band aids. Yes, injuring yourself is something you should be prepared for if you’re not a handy person and sometimes even if you are.

Your kit should be kept in an easy to find place so that you can quickly and easily deal with any repairs that need to be made in case of emergency. Keeping your home repair tool kit close to a first aid kit and emergency preparation items is a great way to make sure that it is always ready to go. Make sure when you use tools out of your home repair tool kit, that you replace them. It does no good to have a home repair tool kit with half of the items missing.

As you make small repairs around the house you’ll probably find several other things to include in your home repair tool kit and will be able to create a kit that is extremely efficient and ideal for your individual home. Being prepared for whatever may arise is a smart move for any home owner and not just having the tools but also knowing how to use them can often save you a great deal of money on professional repairs.…