Spring and summer are traditionally the busiest shopping seasons for potential homeowners. With the current housing stock dwindling as buyer demand increases going into the warmer months, a seller's market has emerged across the country, giving residents looking to unload their current properties the upper hand in negotiations. However, even with the advantage laying in the hands of owners, a closing can still get derailed - or at least made less-than ideal for a seller - when a buyer hires a home inspector to come investigate the property.

In many cases, these contractors will unveil deficiencies in the property that even the homeowner didn't realize existed, causing the prospective purchaser to demand a slash in the asking price. Often, the amount of money that these home inspections cost the seller on a closing exceed the price it would have cost them to be proactive about minor fixes in the first place.

Before putting your home on the market, have a home inspector come in and evaluate your property to check for the deficiencies that potential buyers will be watching out for. Simple things like the water heater being outdated - or even not positioned correctly off of the floor - can be caught, allowing you to preemptively address them before the open house. 

Once you know what fixes need to be made, a Fairfax general contractor like John C. Flood can come make sure repairs are made in a timely and cost-effective manor. Contact us today for the best Fairfax water heater, sump pump or electrical service available.

It's important that your bathroom is as clean as possible all year long, since this area is the site of many of your home's biggest germ havens - from the drain in your shower to the basin of your toilet. However, in the summer, making sure your bathroom is clean is an even bigger priority, as this already humid space only gets more muggy when the meteorological conditions outside are contributing to the air-bound moisture within your home. This contributes to an increased presence of mold and mildew that needs to be addressed before it has an adverse affect on your family's health.

The shower head is another area where there tends to be a high concentration of germs and moisture gets trapped. Start the season off on the right foot by giving this appliance a thorough cleansing before the hot weather makes maintenance harder than ever.

If your shower head can twist off, remove it from the line and submerge the piece in vinegar overnight. Should your shower head not be removable, fill a plastic bag with vinegar and seal it around the the piece using an elastic band. The following morning, use a toothbrush to thoroughly scrub all of the contours of the appliance, removing dirt, grime and lime scale.

Now that your shower head has been cleaned, be sure to monitor it throughout the season, keeping in mind that now is the time of year where your appliances can get dirtier than ever. If you have a bigger issue with plumbing at all during the summer, contact John C. Flood, the leading Virginia plumbing service, to come make the necessary repairs.

A recent report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has found that builder confidence is up industrywide when it comes to home construction this month. In the group's Housing Market Index - a monthly study compiled in conjunction with financial giant Wells Fargo - the composite ticked upward three basis points from April to May, now sitting at a healthy 44 for the period.

"Builders are noting an increased sense of urgency among potential buyers as a result of thinning inventories of homes for sale, continuing affordable mortgage rates and strengthening local economies. This is definitely an encouraging sign even amidst rising challenges with regard to the cost and availability of building materials, lots and labor," NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C., stated in the group's press release.

For months, activity has been ramping up in the housing industry, with buyers flooding the market faster than home builders could keep pace. With the busy summer real estate season just about to begin, the supply of new residences is anticipated to tighten even more if buyers can't keep up.

If you are looking into purchasing a new property over the next few months, make sure to watch out for signs that the home is a positive investment. Things like outdated electrical systems or plumbing leaks could result in costly repair bills down the line. Should you only discover these issues after signing the lease, an experienced Arlington electrical service like John C. Flood can help you fix the problem without costing you a fortune.

In just a few weeks, children across the Mid Atlantic will be getting out of school for summer break, which has prompted families throughout the country to begin planning their annual vacations to seaside locales. Virginia and Maryland are chock full of some of the nation's most sought after seasonal hot spots, from peaceful communities along the Delmarva Peninsula to the sandy beaches of the Atlantic shore. 

In many cases, the vacation homes that are found in these coastal zip codes don't get a lot of use during the off-season and sit dormant for much of the year while owners occupy their primary residences. As a result, problems that may arise due to unforeseen circumstances such as coastal flooding or freak weather events - an all too common occurrence over the past few years in the region - will only exacerbate in the absence of a homeowner who is there to conduct maintenance. 

If you haven't visited your vacation home frequently enough over the past year to evaluate any repair work it may need before summer starts, do so now before the warmer months are officially here in full force. This way, a plumbing or electrical problem won't dig too much into your family's vacation, and you'll be able to enjoy your second house in peace.

An experienced Maryland plumbing service like John C. Flood is your best bet when it comes to resolving these issues, as we have more than 100 years of experience serving the communities of the Mid Atlantic when they need us most.

As we've discussed in the past on this blog, spring is National Electrical Safety Month, and now is the perfect time to brush up on the best practices and preventative measures that homeowners should take to avoid an electrical disaster. Some of these tips and tricks are generally common sense - like keeping water away from any open current, or replacing a frayed wire to avoid any sparks or arcing - while others may not be so obvious. 

For example, you may not realize it, but there could be underground wires surrounding your house that could easily be compromised when you are gardening. If you have a light post in your front yard, there is likely a wire that connects it to your home's main electrical hook up, or if you have a detached garage with power in your back yard, that connection too probably runs beneath your lawn. Even some pool owners power their filters through underground wiring set ups.

Whether you are simply laying down new sod or intend to plant some shrubbery along your driveway, before taking a shovel to dirt, you want to be sure you aren't severing a wire that could make you vulnerable to potential electrocution.

If you aren't aware where these connections might be located, contact an experienced Fairfax electrical service like John C. Flood today to highlight the likely site of your outdoor wiring. This way, you can freely conduct any yardwork you'd like this spring while lowering your risk of electrocution.

Before the introduction of the ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) power outlet in the United States, nearly 800 people a year died from household electrocutions. Now that this kind of outlet is standard in most new construction, that number has dropped down to roughly 200 fatalities annually.

Basically, GFCIs de-energize a circuit when they detect a ground current to prevent a potentially deadly electrical flow from passing from the outlet through an individual holding onto the device. These outlets are extremely common in most homes and are especially useful for higher voltage appliances.

It's easy to recognize a GFCI as they are found in most buildings with up-to-date electrical layouts. When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. The left slot, which is slightly larger, is "neutral," the right slot is called "hot" and the hole is called "ground." All of the electricity goes back and forth between the hot and neutral prong, while the ground acts to regulate flow. 

If there is ever an imbalance in the flow, the round ground prong will detect it and trip the circuit in a fraction of a second - hopefully enough time to prevent electrocution.

Your home or business should at the very least have GFCI outlets on the walls as a safety precaution. If your house's electrical wiring isn't up to date, contact an experienced Washington, DC electrician like the kind found at John C. Flood to have the space upgraded as soon as possible.

A leaky toilet is a terrible nuisance any time of year, but while you're already making small home repairs throughout your house this spring - May is, after all, National Home Remodeling Month - you may as well check to see if your toilet is the cause of that persistent puddle on your bathroom floor.

A toilet leak may not be as obvious as you think. Often, there are smaller cracks inside the tank that are contributing to excess moisture in less obvious areas near the back of your toilet, ultimately causing a hidden mold buildup. Furthermore, if the tank is seeping water into the basin - even in small increments - it is likely having an unnecessary drain on your water bill.

To detect any hidden cracks, put a few drops of food coloring into the tank and keep an eye on the basin. If excess water is seeping through, it won't be long before you notice some discoloring in the bowl. To prevent any further leaks - and to lower your water bill - it may be time to purchase a new toilet.

Make sure to inspect around the base of your toilet as well for any signs of mold or mildew that are hallmarks of a cracked tank. Before installing your new toilet, make sure to thoroughly remediate any mold buildup so it doesn't get trapped beneath the new appliance.

If you aren't comfortable installing the toilet yourself or have discovered other more troubling plumbing issues in the process, contact one of the experienced Fairfax plumbers at John C. Flood today for assistance.

It used to be that energy-efficient green housing was once not only rare, but extremely expensive, as appliances and non-conventional layouts that are characteristic of such properties could only be acquired at a premium. However, that trend has changed, and now environmentally friendly and energy-efficient are descriptors at the top of many home buyers' checklists when shopping for a new residence. 

According to a study conducted by industry research firm McGraw Hill Construction, green housing accounts for roughly 20 percent of all new residential buildings across the country. Even during the Great Recession, the industry for energy-efficient housing was worth roughly $25 billion in the United States, and analysts indicate that this figure will only grow as green goes mainstream.

"The green building market has evolved beyond the crunchy-granola, Boulder types," David Johnston, a Colorado consultant and co-author of "Toward a Zero Energy Home," told the Wall Street Journal in a story on this more-popular-than-ever kind of residence. "We have mainstream builders doing this."

The source reported that here in the Mid Atlantic, residents are helping to lead the way in lowering utility bills and lessening their dependence on the energy grid. One home profiled in the story looked at a net-zero house in Frederick, Maryland, that costs the residents nothing on electric and water bills at the end of the year thanks to upgrades to their traditional brick house.

To learn more about the latest practices in energy efficiency or to simply repair an electrical system that is weighing heavily on monthly power bills, contact an expert Maryland electrical service like John C. Flood today.

It's already starting to feel like summer in many parts of the country - especially here in the Mid Atlantic, where meteorologists are anticipating temperatures will be heading toward 80 degrees by the end of the week. To combat the muggy weather, central air conditioning is an essential in homes throughout the region. In fact, when the weather outside gets so unbearable in the summer that it prompts a heat advisory, staying inside and enjoying the AC is not only a must for comfort but actually vital to your health.

Before it gets too intolerable outside, make sure that your home's central air is in perfect working condition. This way, you and your loved ones won't be the only family on the block sweltering this summer while all of your neighbors are enjoying cool, filtered air.

One common problem that homeowners may notice is an abundance of moisture on a specific part of their air conditioning system. In many cases, water building up on the unit is completely normal,  especially during this time of year when it is leaking out of the bottom condensate line. This is the result of the AC actually doing its job right, as the unit takes moisture out of the air in your home and then filters it through a cooler to provide temperature control. However, if there is a leak coming from the top condensate line of your air conditioner, that means there is a clog in the primary drain that needs to be cleared. In this case, call a trusted Arlington HVAC repair service like John C. Flood to make the necessary repairs.

Summer is right around the corner, which, for us here in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., generally means extreme humidity, unpredictable weather patterns and, in recent years, rolling blackouts. Although we have all undoubtedly been looking forward to warmer days after this volatile past winter, summertime is not without its headaches. 

It was just last summer that a massive blackout left millions along the Atlantic Coast without power after devastating thunderstorms downed tree limbs and power lines across the region on June 30. Shortly after the power outage, the state of Maryland ordered a heat advisory, warning elderly and infirmed individuals to stay indoors. However, because of the blackout, millions were left without the air conditioning they relied upon to make temperatures indoors more tolerable. As a result, area hospitals that were already crowded following the storms were flooded with even more patients suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. 

These events are relatively rare, but given the unpredictable whims of Mother Nature over the past 12 months, it's not unlikely that communities in the Mid Atlantic will be left in the dark at some point this summer. Once the power goes out, be sure to keep your freezer and refrigerator doors shut for as long as possible so that cold air doesn't escape, ruining your food. In order to avoid a power surge once the lights turn back on, make sure that you have your air conditioner turned off and wait at least 10 minutes before turning it back on. Should problems persist in your home after the rest of the neighborhood has their lights back on, contact an experienced Virginia electrical service like John C. Flood.