Missoula Window Cleaning - How To Guarantee You Never Overpay For Window Cleaning
In this short video, I show you how to guarantee you won #39;t overpay for window cleaning. http://www.spectrumwindowcleaning.com to learn more. After cleaning w...

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Missoula Window Cleaning - How To Guarantee You Never Overpay For Window Cleaning - Video

Insurance choices for a green home

An energy-efficient home is the superhero of housing, providing homeowners with lower utility bills, reduced risk of fire and other benefits, all while helping to sustain the planet. Federal, state and local energy rebates often pick up part of the expense of "going green."

But before you install that solar panel array, wind turbine or solar water heater, check with your home insurance agent. After all, you don't want to make a dumb insurance move with your energy-smart home.

Insurers are bullish on green homes. Farmers, Fireman's Fund, State Farm, Travelers and others offer: premium rebates for building green; policy endorsements that pay the difference to repair a damaged home with environmentally friendly materials; or both.

Ed Charlebois, vice president of personal insurance for Travelers, says there's a good reason insurers roll out the red carpet for a green home.

"It shows that this homeowner is very into good home maintenance, and I will tell you that better-maintained homes are less risky," he says. "It's not that you have a solar water heater; it's that you care about your home and you're going to maintain it to a higher standard."

Here's a look at some insurance considerations when going green.

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Best insurance for 5 green home upgrades

Provided by Networx.com

1. Take Care of Your Furnace. If you live in a chilly place like Minneapolis, an HVAC system that delivers optimal performance is a wintertime must. Schedule a professional maintenance visit for thorough inspection of switches, burners, and safety controls; the motor and blower need to be both checked and cleaned by a skilled technician. A task you can -- and should -- do yourself is changing the air filters every 1-3 months.

2. Install a Carbon Monoxide Detector. A carbon monoxide detector can be a lifesaver when you operate equipment powered by an internal combustion engine -- a generator, for example -- or fuel-burning appliance -- a furnace, range, water heater, or space heater. Fuels that produce CO when burnt include natural gas, oil, wood, coal, and more.

3. Maintain Your Ducts. Maintaining ductwork is one of the best ways to lower your fuel bills while enjoying more efficient, healthful heating this winter. Check for leaks and cracks; then use duct mastic and metallic tape to repair. Insulate ductwork. This will pay off in the good ol' summertime as well, preventing unnecessary loss of your A/C's cool air. While you're at it, clear out any mold or dirt hiding in the ductwork.

4. Check Doors and Windows. Another place where you may be losing precious heat is your doors and windows. If you can see daylight through their frames, there are cracks that need attention, pronto, with the help of caulk or weatherstripping. In an older home, consider replacing windows with energy-efficient versions. Over time, the amount you save on utilities will more than offset the cost of replacement.

5. Adjust Your Ceiling Fans. Adjust ceiling fans to rotate clockwise in the cold weather. Simply flipping a switch on the fan housing will change the rotational direction and allow the paddles to better circulate heat produced by your HVAC. The result? You'll feel much warmer for a minimal cost.

6. Clean Your Fireplace and Chimney. Check your chimney (with the help of a flashlight) for leaves, nesting animals, or other blockage, which require removal by a professional. Clean out dirt and leftover ashes from the firebox. To go greener, consider purchasing an EPA-certified insert or a clean-burning electric fireplace.

7. Shield Your Outdoor A/C Unit. Protect your air conditioning unit as it "hibernates" for the season, by means of a special A/C cover. This will shield it from the elements -- wind, rain, snow, and hail -- as well as mice, rabbits, or other pests looking for a cozy winter home.

8. Inspect Your Roof. From the vantage point of your attic, check for daylight peeping through cracks or worn spots in your roof. Then go outside and inspect the roof for "bubbles" or shingles that are missing, curling, loose, or broken. Look at the condition of the flashing too. Trim any overhanging tree branches. When you're in the market for a roof replacement, consider impact-resistant roofing materials.

9. Clear Your Gutters. Clogged gutters will overflow, potentially causing major damage to your home's foundation or roof. Remove the fall's accumulation of dead leaves, pine needles, and twigs by hand (wear sturdy work gloves) or with a trowel. Then scoop out any residue from asphalt roofing shingles. When relatively clear, flush the gutters and the downspouts with water from your garden hose. Repair gutter leaks with silicone sealer and replace damaged hangers.

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10 top to-dos for fall maintenance

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) - ??

Here is a list of road projects around the Heartland scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Butler County, MO

Southbound Route 67 will be reduced to one lane while crews perform bridge repairs. The bridge is located at the interchange of 158. Weather permitting, crews will be working on Tuesday, Oct. 14 and Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

North and southbound Route 67 will be reduced to one lane while contractor crews perform utility work. This section of road is located just north of the Route 60/67 Interchange. Weather permitting, crews will be working on Monday, Oct. 13 through Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Route W will be reduced to one lane as contractor crews perform utility work. This section of road is located in the area of Shadowbrook Drive. Weather permitting, crews will be working on Monday, Oct. 13 through Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Route 72 in Bollinger County will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform shoulders repairs. This section of roadway is located from Old Route 72 to Route B.

Existing lanes of Route 67 from CR 323 to Route 160/158 will be signed as Route C. The north end of Route C (existing Route 67) will remain closed for about two months as work is completed at the intersection of Route 67, Route C, and CR 323.

Cape Girardeau County, MO

Northbound Interstate 55 will be reduced to one lane as contractor crews perform pavement repairs. This section of road is located at the 96 mile marker underneath the Route K overpass. Weather permitting, crews will be working from Friday, Oct. 17 through Sunday, Oct. 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily.

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Heartland road projects for 10/15

Patios Walkways and Steps

Patios Walkways and Steps can be constructed using the following materials or a combination of:

What sets Quality Concrete & Masonry apart from the competition ? When setting flagstone on a concrete sub-base a double bond coat is used in a unique way and in conjunction with mortar additives to create a bond that will last a lifetime. Also each stone is hand selected upon my personal inspection to ensure it is of the highest quality and free of defects .

Flagstone has rich color with natural variations and is available in many different colors and sizes. It can be used to create formal or informal patios and walkways. For a formal look, select cut flagstones and have them laid in a repeating pattern. For an informal look, select irregular flagstones and have them laid randomly.

(Example of an informal look)

(Examples of a formal look)

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Patios Walkways and Steps - VA - Quality Concrete & Masonry

Garlic is one of those magical ingredients that give foods depth of flavor and the richness of another world. Italian food, French food, Indian food, these all include liberal use of garlic. Why the English decided on fish and chips and boiled dinners as their staples is a mystery to me. Maybe they cant grow garlic. But Ive been growing garlic for my kitchen for decades. Its easy to grow and now is the time to plant it for next year.

Your first task is to find some garlic suitable for planting. You cant just go the grocery store and buy some. Most commercial (non-organic) garlic has been treated with chemicals to keep it from sprouting. Instead, go to your garden center to buy some, or get a few heads of garlic from a farmstand or a friend who grows it.

Here in New England, the recommended type of garlic is called hardneck garlic and it survives our cold weather nicely. Softneck garlic, commonly grown in California, is less cold tolerant. It is the type that can be braided and hung in the kitchen. Hardneck garlic sends up a stiff stalk, called a scape, which grows out of the middle of the bulb a stiff neck, if you will.

Hardneck garlic generally has a stronger, richer flavor with more bite. It also comes in a wide range of flavors, just as different varieties of tomatoes and sweet corn have distinct flavors. Hardneck garlic is often classified as either rocambole, porcelain or purple stripe. Rocambole garlic has a tan outer covering and usually produces up to a dozen cloves per bulb. Porcelain garlic has a satiny white wrapper and tend to produce larger cloves with as few as four per bulb. Purple stripe garlic is one of my favorites: It is productive, tasty and generally a nice, plump size.

I like to say that everyone would be a gardener if growing all vegetables were as easy as growing garlic. There are just three steps to growing garlic: planting it, mulching it, and harvesting it. Thats right, if you mulch well it will grow well and you will never, or seldom, need to weed.

I grow garlic (and all my vegetables) in wide, mounded beds. Each bed is 30 to 36 inches wide, and mounded up 4 to 6 inches above the walkways. A short-tined garden rake or hoe is useful for shaping the beds, and to gather up loose soil from the walkways.

The first step when planting garlic is to remove any weeds from the soil. Then I enrich the soil by adding 3 or 4 inches of compost on top of the bed I am planting it in. I use a garden fork or my CobraHead hand weeder to stir the compost into the top few inches of soil. Rototilling would mix the compost in deeper good for drainage in a clay soil if you have it, but away from the roots of my garlic.

Rows of garlic need to be spaced about 6 inches apart. Most years I plant short rows across my wide beds, but sometimes I will plant rows down the length of the beds. It really doesnt matter which way you do it. I create furrows with a hand tool in the fluffy soil of my bed and sprinkle on some bagged organic fertilizer, then mix that in.

It is important to plant your garlic right side up. If you look at a bulb of garlic, you should be able to see roots, or where the roots have been cut off. The top of a clove has a slightly pointy tip, and the bottom has a small, flat scar. And of course, when looking at a bulb of hardneck garlic you can see where the scape grew. If you plant the cloves upside down, they use up a lot of energy trying to get started and grow toward the sun.

To plant, just push each clove into the prepared soil about 4 inches away from its nearest neighbor. The top of the clove should be 2 to 3 inches beneath the soil after you cover it up. Pat the soil with your hands to firm it up.

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Notes From the Garden: Now Is the Time to Plant Garlic

If the planning process sticks to the script, Hatboro-Horsham Superintendent Curtis Griffin hopes shovels will hit the ground for construction of a new Hallowell Elementary School by May or June 2015.

And a vocal group of local and regional craftsmen expressed their hope at Monday nights meeting that the hands carrying the shovels will belong to union workers.

We are local taxpayers who will have kids attending these schools, said Mike Walton, a member of the local plumbers union. Non-union firms will bring in unskilled workers from the other side of the state who wont be paying the local taxes from their wages. The district should make it a point to have some percentage of the construction workforce come from the local residents.

Waltons sentiments were echoed by several speakers who addressed the school board and district administrators, making their case for union labor for the new school. District solicitor Jack Dooley reiterated that the project will follow the state law of using prevailing wages and putting the project out for public bid, with the requirement that the district will contract the lowest responsible bidder.

The union representatives think enough leeway exists in defining the word responsible that can increase the likelihood of using skilled labor for the project.

What we are looking for is transparency in the project, said Rodney Walker, business agent for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98. Outside contractors undercut the unions by paying low wages for unskilled, uneducated labor that ultimately perform substandard work. We just want to level the playing field.

There are still quite a few steps the district must take before the project goes out to bid, Griffin said, but he appreciated the comments from the community and says they will all be taken into consideration. Mondays presentation fulfilled Pennsylvanias Act 34 mandate requiring a public hearing to detail the specifications for the new school and how it will be funded.

According to Bonnie Sowers, the architect for the project from E/I Associates, the 88,000-square-foot building will accommodate 600 students, with the capacity to create additional classroom space for up to 750 children.

The building will be built on the site of the former Army Reserve Center, 6.8 acres that the district lobbied to acquire from the federal government. The deed was signed over to Hatboro-Horsham in the spring for $1, putting the project on the front burner.

Getting that land was a real game changer for us, said Griffin. We have 50-year-old schools that look great cosmetically, but need a lot of help with their infrastructure, such as roofs and the electrical grids. The availability of that space helped us decide which school to focus on first.

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Union workers want to build new school in Horsham

Tree Removal Service | Marietta GA | (770) 203-1176
Aspen Tree Service (770) 203-1176 Marietta, GA, 30068 Aspen Tree Service offers wide range of tree services. Our company is the best choice for all property owners that are looking for nothing...

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Tree Removal Service | Marietta GA | (770) 203-1176 - Video

UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. -

The Upper Saucon Township Board of Supervisors Monday eveningunanimously passedthree ordinances regulating tree removals, soliciting and peddling, andthe speed limit on Curly Horse Drive in the township.

According to township solicitor Thomas Dinkelacker, the amendment to the currentUpper Saucontree cutting ordinance allows every Upper Saucon resident to cut downthree healthy trees on their property per year without a permitin place ofthe current one-tree limit requiring no permit.

In addition, the new ordinance specifies if a residential lot is larger than two acres, a property owner is permitted to cut down one additional tree per each additional two acres of land or "a fraction thereof," not to exceed a maximum of seven additional trees per lot.

The ordinance explains, for example in a single calendar year, a landowner with a two-acre lot may remove up to four trees with a permit.

For a resident owning more than two but less than four acres up to five trees may be cut down with a permit.

However, the tree limit ordinance does not apply to dead, diseased, hazardous, or smaller trees with a trunk diameter of less than six inches. Residents can remove "unlimited" problem and smaller trees, Dinkelacker remarked.

To note, owners of propertydesignated as part of the South Mountain conservation district are permitted without obtaining a zoning permit, to remove one treeper year and no moreon such classified land.

After considerable discussion, the supervisorsagreed to monitor the effectiveness and practicality of the new tree removalordinance , and amendit as necessary in the future.

In other business, the board passed an ordinance regulating sales and solicitations on the streets and at the doorsteps of township residents.

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Upper Saucon alters tree removal restrictions

As preparations continue for lava possibly inundating Pahoa, some area residents are bristling about a plan to cut down three trees near the Pahoa Senior Center to make room for fire trucks.

Fire department officials say the move is necessary so they can maintain a presence in lower Puna if the lava flow crosses Highway 130, cutting off access to the region.

About 20 residents gathered Monday morning around the trees, located between the senior center and the Pahoa Community Center. They held signs and blocked contractors with Arborist Services LLC from cutting the trees down.

Shortly after arriving and finding the protesters there, the workers packed up their chainsaws and left, according to Toby Hazel, who alerted several of her friends about the plans to cut down the trees.

Its over the line, at this point, to cut down the trees. I dont know that I totally understand the reason for it, she said.

The fire department asked Parks and Recreation to cut down the trees and erect a chainlink fence around the parking area to protect two fire trucks, an ambulance and a tanker truck, explained Deputy Fire Chief Renwick Victorino.

We need to make sure those apparatuses dont get damaged. We cant park the apparatuses in the bay because we need to install an exhaust system before were allowed to do so, and with the lava about to inundate Highway 130, that wont give us enough time. Its required for the safety of the firefighters, he said.

The possibility of falling branches damaging the equipment also is a concern, as is vandalism and/or theft. The root systems of the trees also necessitates their removal, in order to place the fencing in the ground, he said.

If we dont have the apparatus to respond, that could be a problem, he said.

Hazel said she was glad to see the contractor back down Monday, and she plans to organize a petition to save the trees. She also hopes to bring the subject up at Thursday afternoons lava meeting at Pahoa High School.

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Tree removal plan draws protest: Demonstrators halt attempt to cut down monkey pods as Fire Department makes plans to ...