Real Estate Reality Matters

A Real Wood Fireplace - Don’t Do It!

Real Wood Fireplace - Don’t Do It

The classic ideal of the romantic fireplace suggests that you just throw a log or two in the fireplace, strike a match, and sit back and enjoy the gentle, soothing warmth and the beauty of the dancing flames. Let me tell you, that isn’t the case.

In the first place, unless you’re buying firewood unsplit by the cord (128 cubic feet), you’re going to pay cut throat pricing. Split firewood runs about $400 per cord and higher. That’s partially dry wood, which means you have to buy it in the very early spring and then dry it yourself. Drying firewood means stacking it carefully to allow airflow through the stacks, but not just on the ground. You’ll need to place runners or long boards underneath to keep the wood elevated and off the moist ground. You’ll also need to cover it from above to keep the rain off it. Don’t just throw a tarp over it though or you’ll block the airflow and the tarp will prevent the moisture from escaping. Stacking it on your covered porch is pretty good, especially if you plan to use the wood during the winter or on rainy days. The alternative is trudging out through the rain or snow to lug back wood for the fireplace. At least the lifting and carrying will help you lose weight.

Once you got dry wood to burn, the real fun starts. By the way, if the wood isn’t sufficiently dry, it’ll burn cooler and create excessive creosote. Creosote is that fun black stuff that you see covering Chimney Sweeps in those great classic movies like Mary Poppins. It is also the cause of chimney fires. You see it sticks to the inside of the chimney and builds up in thick layers. Unfortunately, the stuff is flammable and can be ignited by sparks rising up from the fire, or just by very high temperatures if you let the fireplace get out of control. (I remember waiting outside in the snow on one fine Christmas morning as the firemen extinguished a chimney fire caused by disposing of the wrapping paper in the fireplace.)

Starting a fire takes more than striking a match. You have to start with kindling, smaller pieces of wood that burn more easily and quickly. You make a pile of kindling and then arrange the larger wood over it just so. The goal is to burn enough kindling so that by the time it burns out, the bigger pieces of wood have caught fire and there is enough of a base of ash to maintain the heat which supports the fire. By the end of the second or third year, you’ll either have learned to start a fire within 20 minutes or you’ll have given up the idea altogether.

Once the fire is started there’s the heat, lots and lots of heat. Expect the room with the fireplace to approach 80 or 90 degrees if it’s open to other rooms in the house. If it’s relatively closed then 100 degree temperatures should not be altogether unexpected. The good thing about the heat is that when the fire is really going well and throwing off lots of heat, the smoke is considerably lessened. Make no mistake though, the room and most of the house will smell of wood smoke, as will your clothes, your food, and quite possibly even your family pets. While in the latter case, this may be an improvement, it does take some getting used to. With practice, you’ll learn to adjust the damper properly to thoroughly fumigate the entire house.

Then if you can stand the blazing heat, you can finally sit back and enjoy the gentle beauty of the flames as they rapidly consume the properly dried wood that you paid $400 per cord or more for back in the spring. Of course, by this time, you may need to go back outside and get some more wood to throw on the fire to keep it going at a level that won’t make too much creosote and risk burning down the whole house.

So if you’re thinking of adding a fireplace, or firing up the one that came with the new house, think again. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to buy an electric fireplace, with a remote control that lets you turn the dancing flames on and off independently of the built-in heater? Take it from someone who’s been there, electric fireplaces and stoves are the way to go. And don’t even think about old-fashioned fireplace cooking, save yourself the aggravation and go with the electric grills.

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Cash for Relocation May Not Be Your Best Option

As a highly qualified professional in your field, chances are you have been approached by a recruiter, a former colleague, or someone else offering you the chance for a job in a region far from your current home. Often, a part of the incentive for taking such a job, is some form of assistance with moving to the new area. This relocation package can take many forms. Fortunately, relocation packages are often one of the most negotiable benefits that a company offers to new employees. Of course, the amount you can ask for depends greatly upon your specific value to the company.

If you own a home and plan to buy a new one, this is one of the biggest sources of expense you will face during your move. Sometimes, a company will offer a guarantee to buy your house at a certain price if it doesn’t sell within a specified period. In today’s real estate market, this is becoming much rarer as this can be a very real and costly option as home values are on the decline and sales are slow. Instead, you may be better off asking for temporary living expenses in your new location in the event that your house doesn’t sell. Two months is commonly offered, but if you express your concerns about selling your house in today’s market, you may be able to get this extended considerably.

Often, a company will offer you a set cash amount for relocation. How you allocate it is up to you (within the allowed expenses). This means you may be responsible for finding and arranging your own temporary lodging during the relocation process. Since you’re looking for short term accommodations and want to rent only on a month to month basis, your options may be severely limited. Using an extended stay hotel can burn through your allowance quickly. Not only will the rates be high, but you’ll often need to eat out every meal, every day. Instead many larger companies will contract with a firm that provides fully furnished corporate apartments. these short-term corporate housing companies provide full working kitchens, so you can buy groceries and cook your own meals.

If you can, negotiate for the company to provide cash for moving expenses such as transportation, packing, and so forth, and have them provide your temporary housing under a separate provision. Instead of a cash allowance, ask for a furnished temporary corporate apartment for a specified period. Estimate how long you think it will take to sell your house for its fair market value, and then add a safety buffer. Larger companies are more likely to take on the effort of locating and providing corporate housing than smaller companies.

Smaller companies may be more inclined to offer cash only. In either case, come to the discussion prepared with a list of relocation expenses. Have estimates for movers, housing, transportation, meals, and everything else you can think of including the real estate commissions that you’ll have to pay. Estimate generously for housing and offer an alternative that allows the company to provide your housing. You can use additional points of leverage by pointing out that you’ll need some additional time off to look for a temporary apartment, especially since you are new to the area and don’t know which neighborhoods might be suitable. Whichever choice the company makes, you’ll have all the bases covered.

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The NICEIC Electricial Standards

The NICEIC Electricial Standards Anyone searching for an electrician should take into consideration a few things, such as do the company offer free estimates, do they charge call-out fees, are there any hidden charges and what type of skills does the electrical contractor / company actually have.

You should always be sure to know the differences between an estimate and a quote. The differences between the two will make a huge difference to how you decide on which company to go for. An estimate is simply a estimation of the costs for the customer, however a quote is the actual price you would pay for the work – as you can imagine getting this crucial information wrong can lead to a larger sum of money being paid to which you had already imagined.

If you are looking for an electrician in dartford that is highly practical, skilled and professional you should always look out to see if they are NICEIC registered as it brings with it many benefits and gives customers less reason to be wary when looking for electricians.

What is NECEIC?

It’s an organisation that was set up to regulate and offer a new standard of quality delivery to customers by ensuring electricians registered with NICEIC hold the skills and reputability to be carrying out the work in question. To be a part of this organisation, you need to possess a high standard of workmanship and you need to adhere to specially set regulations and procedures, ensuring only the best are given NICEIC certification.

To give you more of a perspective on how important it is to be NICEIC certified, it is believed that around ninety percent of all work carried out by various local councils around the country are NICEIC registered, which alone proves a point, that only the best will do.

The Essex based company Electrician4hire possess these exact skills, workmanship, professionalism and highly-acclaimed skills. Having being founded in 2006 by its current director Les Grayson, the company has moved on in an upward direction, perfecting the art of customer service and customer satisfaction.

Electrician4hire is run by the family so when you’re dealing with them you’re sure to get a much more personalised service than you would off any other company in the Essex area. As part of their customer satisfaction belief, they offer to do work on a half-hourly basis, so if you were to only need an electrician for 5 minutes, you’d pay for 30 as opposed to a whole hours work.

Their skills are of such high standard, they were asked by ITV’s producers of “60 Minute Makeover” to do an episode of the highly-acclaimed show. After their show the ITV’s producers were so delighted with their work that they were requested to come back and finish off the series.

Here is what the producers had to say;

“Hi Les, we really enjoyed working with you, we use many & various local tradesman with varying degrees of success. It is so nice to meet two total professionals, like yourself, who will work above the call of duty to finish the job.”

Electrician4hire offers services in the county of Essex, services include Electrician Thurrock, Rayleigh Electrician and Chafford Hundred areas. Whether you need an electrician by day or night, someone will be with you at a time convenient to you and services offered will be of utmost professionalism and by a highly-trained NICEIC certified electrician.

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How a Memory Foam Mattress can Improve Your Sleeping Patterns

How a Memory Foam Mattress can Improve your Sleeping Patterns

Everybody wants to be more comfortable and get a good night’s sleep. That goes without saying. Memory foam mattresses and mattress toppers solve that problem by providing a firm, but yielding cushion that prevents uncomfortable pressure points between your body and the mattress. Many of us, however, have been willing to sacrifice our own comfort by choosing more eco-friendly bedding materials. Now, Padco Memory Foam is offering two brands of environmentally friendly memory foam products. Both Green Memory Foam and EcoMemory Foam products are made from plant-based materials, and both provide the same ultra-comfortable cushioning that people expect from all memory foam mattresses.

EcoMemory Foam claims the distinction of being the first plant-based memory foam that’s made right here in the good old US of A. Their patented formula actually directs excess heat away from the body, so EcoMemory Foam mattress toppers not only cushion, but cool as well for a completely comfortable night’s sleep on those warm summer nights. After all, if we want to be green, turning down or turning off the air conditioner certainly goes a long way toward reducing our carbon footprint.

Padco’s other environmentally friendly offering, Green Memory Foam products, also provides a cooling effect with their breathable plant-based memory foam mattresses. As they explain, their formula is also designed to reduce harmful emissions during the manufacturing process itself. When you weigh the environmental impact against conventional materials, you should also consider that all memory foam mattresses retain their support and cushioning properties for a longer period of time than most conventional mattress materials, so there will be less material for the landfills over the years that you use memory foam.

At the end of the day, though, choosing a mattress is all about getting a good night’s sleep so you can be at your best during the day. Memory Foam mattresses and mattress toppers over firm support while gently molding themselves around the shape of your body. This cushioning action helps reduce uncomfortable pressure on the hips, shoulders, knees, and other parts of your body that would typically bear most of your weight on a regular mattress. By eliminating pressure points, memory foam can also help prevent night time circulation problems that can occur as ordinary mattresses compress the soft body tissues around these areas.

Memory foam provides more comfort, eco-friendly materials, and at Padcomemoryfoam.com, it comes at a very affordable price. EcoMemory Foam mattress toppers start at less than $140, while complete eight inch thick Green Memory Foam mattresses can be purchased for less than $400. Unlike most internet companies that sell items as big as mattresses, shipping from Padco Memory Foam is always free. Imagine getting a mattress shipped right to your door anywhere in the USA without having to pay any shipping charges. You won’t find service like that even from a local mattress supply store these days, but it’s all part of the Padco promise.

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Winter Gardening Indoors

If the weather’s getting cold and you haven’t planned ahead, don’t worry. There are plenty of salad varieties that you can sow now for tasty leaves, even in the depths of winter. Our guide to indoor produce will allow you to enjoy fresh produce through to Christmas and the new year.

Sowing Without Soil

To spice up your sandwiches, try cress ‘Extra Curled’ (link). All you need is a saucer lined with kitchen towel, cotton wool, or even an old flannel. Moisten your chosen medium, and simply sprinkle with the cress seeds. Cover with a plastic bag, then place in a warm spot (such as the airing cupboard) until the seeds have germinated. When the seedlings begin to emerge, place on a well lit sill and remove the plastic covering. Ensure that the medium is kept moist, and you’ll be enjoying the fresh sprouts in 10 to 14 days time. We also stock sprouting rocket (link), which can be grown in the same way and makes a delicious addition your lunchbox.

The Winter Windowsill

Many of our seeds can be grown on a cut-and-come-again basis during the colder months. This means leaves can be picked as required, rather than waiting for the whole plant to mature. After harvesting the plants will replenish themselves, and successional sowing ensures a steady supply for weeks on end. For a wide variety of leaves, try our niche salad leaf mix (link). This collection includes leaf carrot and radish, kale, amaranth and purslane, perfect to break the monotony of supermarket salads. Rocket (link) is another excellent choice for indoor sowing, and has a hot flavour far superior to the shop-bought variety. For leaves in a hurry, try ‘Skyrocket’ (link) which combines the speed of salad rocket with the taste of the stronger wild rocket (link).

Hot Crops

If you lack a bright windowsill or wish to grow more exotic vegetables, garden4less has the equipment to get you started. To give seeds a good start, try a heated propagator (link to category). If you are a new gardener and would like to experiment, the Parasene Fastgrow (link) is great value for money and promotes rapid germination. For greater precision, the Bio Green (link) offers digital temperature control for seedlings and cuttings.

Shed Some Light

When light levels are very low, some plants may fail to thrive on the windowsill. An indoor light (link) provides the perfect solution, enabling you to get a head start with your spring sowing.

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