JWC Residential would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season

So your looking to sell your house, one of the biggest things you can do before anything else is get the home inspected. Once you receive your home inspection list don’t be discouraged, there are going to be a lot of things on that list. The inspectors will usually spend hours looking through every inch of your house, they will find faults, no house is perfect. The thing to keep in mind is that you need to bring the home up to good condition, not perfect-brand-new-in-the-box condition, just good condition.

Before the inspection takes place do your own inspection. Some simple things to look for are:

• Appliances
• Lighting
• Garage Doors
• Window Operations
• Outlets (Specifically GFI’s)
• Operation of Doors & Locks

Fix all the things you can before the inspection and then have the inspector come in and do their job.

Once completed start going through the list and you’ll begin to see a lot of simple to fix items that you missed during your own inspection. Start with those items and then work on to the bigger ones. Or, if the bigger ones are too big for you, call in a contractor to take care of them. Fix as many items as possible. If your budget is a little tight always fix the most important items first. These items will include:

• HVAC
• Mold & Mildew, if any
• Roof
• Plumbing
• Electrical
• Drainage

Always keep all receipts and records of any other inspections or fixes that you have done while living at the house. This will show potential buyers that you have always done routine maintenance on specific items. Examples are yearly inspections and adjustments on furnaces, hot water heaters, and AC units. Also keep records of any warranty work that was done for appliances.

A good book that I recommend for anyone that is about to have their home inspected or for anyone that wants to do some fixing up around the home is “How to Operate Your Home by Mr. Fix-It“. This book goes over a great deal of information for every home owner to know about their house. It has solutions for common problems and recommendations for maintaining your home.

Those days could be coming to an end as it looks like a couple of scientist at the university of Illinois have devised a way to make self healing paint.  When scratched the paint has the ability to fill in the scratch on it’s own.  Sounds like a perfect fit for the housing industry right? Well not quite yet, the paint currently leaves a rough texture so it’s not ready for smooth walls but hopefully with a little refinement we might see something similar start to show up in an exterior application where a perfectly smooth surface isn’t always necessary.  I can see the day where having to refinish your deck would be a thing of the past, and minor hail damage just “fixes” itself.  Looks like the future may be closer than we think…….  now who’s working on color changing paint?

Follow the link to read the entire very technical article found on the [Technology Review, photo credit: Paul Braun]

Now that we all have our Christmas Tree’s up it’s a good time to talk about tree safety. Here are a few tips to follow to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Always make sure the tree has plenty of water

Make sure to check the stand every day and fill it up when needed. If the tree is not properly hydrated it will dry out which will signifintly increase the fire hazard.

Keep the tree away from heat sources

Never place the tree near the fireplace, heater vents,  room heaters, or your entertainment system (TV, DVD player,audio components, etc.). All that heat will dry out the tree faster thus making it less safe.

Tree Lights

Make sure you are using the proper lights for your tree. Never use outdoor lights indoors and vice-versa. Check the lights for any damaged sockets and frayed wiring, if found you should fix or replace the set. If using an extension cord never use more than 3 sets of lights per cord. The cord should never be running across any walk ways (even if under a rug) and should always be along a wall. The final thing about lights, make sure you turn them off before you go to bed.

Ornaments and Decorations

Always use a step stool when placing ornaments on higher parts of the tree. Keep the smaller stuff up higher in the tree so it wont become a choking hazard to children and pets.

For everyone out there that has cats and needs some advice on how to keep them out of the tree try keeping orange peels under it. Apparently cats hate oranges from what I hear. Also keep a spray bottle of water around and spray the cat when he tries to get near the tree.

Showings (Directv)

Saturday 12-6 @ 12:00pm; Monday 12-8 @ 11:00am; Tuesday 12-9 @ 7:00pm & 9:00pm

Channel Listing (Minneapolis Market)

DirecTv ch. 230; Comcast ch. 121; Dish Network ch. 111

Stocking Stuffers: Gifts under $10.00

• Mini Maglite Flashlight: A classic gift that never goes out of style
• Stripped Screw Remover: This is a must have around at all times
• Rapid Edge Utility Knife: Comes with a serrated blade so it stays sharp longer

Gifts For All: Up to $200.00

• Digital Protractor $135.00; One handy tool for hanging crown moldings and trim.
• Home Owners Manual $24.95; Great book that covers most homeowner questions.
• All weather extension cord $49.99; Stays flexible in the coldest MN temperatures.
• Gorilla Rack Shelving $30.00 – $90.00; you can never have enough storage space.

He/She’s Been Good All Year!: Gifts Over $200.00

• Magnum Paint Sprayer $299.00; pair this will the roller attachment and you’ll make quick work of all your painting projects
• Makita Drill Combo Set $299.00; read our review to find out why we like this set so much.

OK, OK, It’s by no means the “Be All, End All” gift giving guide of the year but cut us a little slack, it’s our first try, and after all it is the Holidays.  And on that note, Everyone at the JWC team would like to wish you and yours a Happy & Safe Holiday Season this year and a big thanks to all of our new and existing clients.

I’ve been using the Makita LXT211Lithium-Ion 2 peice combo kit with a 2 speed 1/2″ hammer driver-drill and a variable speed impact driver for a few months now and thought I’d take a minute to give you my impressions.  The previous cordless drill I was using was the Rigid 18volt hammer driver-drill, I had been using this drill for the past 3-4 years and it has always treated me well but it began to show it’s age when the new crop of lightweight, lithium-Ion powered drills came to market about 6 months ago.  You can click the links to get the full pecs on the drills from the manufactures websites but read on for my impressions.

There are three main things about the Makita drills that I really like, Weight, Power, & Battery run time.

Compared to my old drill I would estimate the Makita hammer drill to be about half the weight, this may only equal a pound or two but when you use them all day you’ll really start to appreciate the difference, most of which I think comes from the improved battery, when comparing to other lithium-Ion drills on the market I would say these are roughly 10% lighter/more compact.  the weight is a big help but so is the compact size, you really can squeeze them in places you never would have been able to with older drills.

Next is the power, before I bought this drill set I used one that our framer had on a job-site where we were building a deck, when I first picked it up I thought it was a kids toy, it was so small and light it didn’t feel like it could handle a full day of work, boy was I wrong! Hands down this drill set easily outperformed my old drills, it was almost comical how much more torque was behind these things.  The impact driver delivers 3x the torque of the drill and is even more compact, very handy when your installing long lag bolts or screws.  I haven’t had much time to play with other brands of lithium-Ion drills on the market but i would expect similar results.

Finally the batteries have always been the biggest drawback to cordless tools, with limited run times, long charge times, and overheating issues.  I can safely say that the Lithium-Ion battery packs are a vast improvement, in my real world use I’ve found them to last atleast twice as long at about half the weight.  the charge time for my set is 30 minutes which hasn’t improved drastically over my old ones that took about 40 minutes but after a full discharge with my old set I would have to wait 15-30 minutes to let the batteries cool down before they would even take a charge, I have yet to experience that with my new set.

There are some draw backs though, even though the cost is coming down you can still expect to pay a 30-50% premium for the new drills, and I would have like to see more in the box, like additional drill bits or screw drivers, also my kit included 2 drills and 2 batteries but only a single battery charger, having a dual charger would have been great.  After a few months of use I would highly recommend this or any other Makita set for a fellow contractor or even as a Christmas present for a do-it-yourself-er.  If you have any additional questions or experiences with other drills please leave a comment below.

There are a lot of advantages for these units; for instance, you always have the opportunity to change the code at anytime if you believe the code has been compromised, you never have to worry about losing your keys, you never have to leave a key under the rug for company, and some of the newer models let you customize multiple codes for multiple users. Say for instance that your housekeeper recently moved on to another job, you can now simply delete her code without effecting your families codes, you no longer have to continuously update everyone with the new code.

Another feature that some of the newer models have is the ability to send you a text message whenever the lock has been used. You can now monitor who and when people are accessing your home. Say some relatives call you and say surprise, we’re at your front door, well now you can remotely let them in (or make sure they stay out if your house is a mess).

The prices on these units are pretty reasonable. Looking at Home Depots website they’re selling between $99 – $148. For more of the high tech remote control units I recommend looking at Schlage’s website, they offer a vast selection with great features and appealing designs.

If you or someone you know already uses keypad entry, please let us know your opinons about them in our comments section.

1. Seal it up: Check the outside windows and doors to ensure that there isn’t cold air entering the home. If air is coming through caulk the windows and use weather stripping to seal the doors. And switch out all summer screens with its glass replacement.

2.Inspect the furnace: Have your ducts cleaned and your furnace inspected by a HVAC professional. Change your furnace filter once a month this will prevent your furnace from over-working and over-heating. If your home is heated by a hot-water radiator, open the valves slightly and bleed them until water appears this will ensure the proper flow of water through the system. When the time is right you may want to consider switching to geothermal heating/air to save on your energy bill in the winter and summer. Also make sure there is a carbon-monoxide detector near your furnace and that it is operational.

3. Check the lid: Inspect the roof to ensure the shingles are in good condition. Consider adding extra insulation in the attic to prevent warm air from escaping through the roof and causing ice dams. Clean out your gutters and downspouts. Installing leaf guards will minimize debris in your gutters and prevent them from clogging. Check flashing to make sure water can’t enter your home.

4. Protect the pipes: Drain all garden hose and insulate all exposed piping. If you leave for vacation, keep the house temperature at 55 degrees to prevent your pipes from freezing. Make sure you know where your water main shut off valve is in case there is an emergency.

5. Keep the pest at bay: To make sure your home stays rodent free, rake all edible vegetation away from the foundation. Seal up all entry points and any cracks in the foundation. Inspect all sill plates for possible infestation.

We would like to keep a dialogue going with our clients and subscribers so if you have any specific questions about wintering your home respond to this blog with your questions. And remember the only dumb questions are the ones that aren’t asked.