If your home has a basement but there’s nothing down those steps
except scary stuff and dampness, you have the power at your
fingertips to change that dark cavern into something
everyone in the family can enjoy!
How?
Well,
the first step is to get rid of the dampness - and
that's especially important if it has a musty, mildewy smell or the
floors are slippery or windows misty because of condensation on the
insides of the windows because all those situations can lead to
some really bid problems...
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It is spring and all the gardeners out there are just chomping
at the bit to get their hands in the dirt.
So they will all understand when I complain about my frustration
with all the rain this spring. My yard is mush - even with my muck
boots on, the soil is too wet and muddy to play in.
What do frustrated gardeners do when they can't
garden? Flip through garden books, magazines and catalogs
- and, in my case, spend hours on the Internet looking up "garden
stuff."
I don't have a greenhouse, but,...
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Before
the snow started to fly I figured I'd better get my
car cleaned out. All four doors were opened
and I started moving seats forward and backward to vacuum.
I was a bit surprised at the number of pens, coins and
lipsticks I found under the front passenger seat.
I know how this happens. Part of the problem is my
purse. I never, ever close it and it constantly
falls over spilling out onto the seat - and over the sides of the
seat. I try to pick everything up, but obviously, I don't get
it...
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For many
people this time of year brings so many memories - triggered by
smells and aromas; the smell of wreaths and Christmas
trees, baking cookies and breads and the scent of candles. The
fireplace is cleaned out and fires are lit adding warmth and
ambiance.
These same things also trigger something else - sneezing and
sniffles and misery for asthma and allergy sufferers. It's not just
the air that can be a problem, dust and mold allergies can be
especially aggravating during the winter months...
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A
few days ago a friend called for a favor, which at the time seemed
a bit odd. She has two dogs. One is
a dalmation named
Olivia - Liv for short. Liv was a rescue animal and has always been
a little quirky in personality and frail in health. She is prone
to bronchitis. My friend and her husband are both
smokers, which, when the temperatures fall and the windows get
closed, aggravates Liv's bronchitis issues.
At the most recent visit to the vet, he suggested a
humidifier might help Liv sleep...
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As the seasons begin to change, we start getting questions about
problems with dehumidifiers. The biggest issue, by far, is that of
the coils frosting up.
To begin with, people often purchase
dehumidifiers
in the summer time when they discover condensation on the
inside of windows or pipes, dampness in rooms or a musty
smell in the basement. Overall, humidity makes the air too
sticky.
As the summer comes to a close and temperatures begin to fall, air
conditioners are turned off and windows get...
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Have
you ever noticed that all you have to do is say the word 'humidity'
and people say all sorts of things? Some will explain
what it does to their hair, their ability to breath or, the worst,
their home.
When people talk about humidity, they are usually referring to
relative humidity or RH. The definition of RH, thanks to Jim
Dulley at Ruralite Magazine, is the percent of maximum water the
air can hold. In other words, if the RH is 70 percent, the
air is holding 70 percent of the maximum...
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I called my son to tell him I was victim to a
weather-related accident. He immediately thought flash
flood or tornado, but I assured him it wasn't that dramatic.
It was condensation.
He sniffed that I could think condensation could in any way harm
me. Little does he know.
A friend asked me to help clean out her
basement. So I agreed and we set a date.
Early that morning, we gathered our boxes and bins and started
down the stairs.
Unbeknownst to me, the tile floor had a
thin layer of condensation...
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The story I've heard is that in the 1920s people in Arizona would
sleep in screened-in porches to escape the heat of the house.
They would hang sheets soaked in water inside the screens
and place fans inside to pull air through the sheets to make
the air cooler.
This concept was used to create other coolers and evaporative
cooling could be purchased ready to go without sheets and
fans. Commonly referred to as "swamp coolers," this type of cooling
is used best in dryer climates such as Denver and...
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