Trusted Saskatoon Furnace & Duct Cleaners Bridge City Duct Cleaning provides both residential duct cleaning and commercial duct cleaning and furnace maintenance services. Their team is professionally trained, qualified, bonded, and factory furnace and duct cleaning technicians. In their latest article, they talk about the number of air vents needed in our homes. The question often comes up: why clean your ducts in winter?
Getting through a Saskatchewan winter can be tough due to the extreme weather. While playing in the snow and enjoying the winter scenery are nice, escaping within our homes to find warmth is essential. Your home’s duct system is there not only there to keep you warm, but also for your home. If not running efficiently, a number of issues can occur.
1. Save You Money
With the extreme cold that Saskatoon winters bring, it’s inevitable that your duct system is going to be working overtime to heat your home. Naturally, your ducts will collect debris which will block airflow. This obstruction will put more strain on your duct system resulting in inefficiency as well as increased utility bills. Getting rid of the extra debris in your ducts will allow the system to run more efficiently, saving you money.
2. Improve Your Air Quality
Cold weather forces you to turn your heat on. With your heat on you’re unable to open your windows to get fresh air running through your home. If your windows open and your heat is turned on, you risk the chance of heat escaping and your utility bills climbing. With a lack of fresh air, the air within your home gets recycled through your duct system. Keep in mind that your duct system collects particles and debris over time, and if you haven’t had them cleaned since the summer, there could be lots of pollutants and other allergens being recycled throughout your home. Having your ducts cleaned in the winter will clear them of any leftover debris from the fall and summer, leaving you with clean air.
3. Keeps Your Home Safe
An inefficient duct system can pose a risk at any time. This risk is increased during the Saskatchewan winter months. Without having your ducts cleaned a build-up of particles can lead to serious consequences. One of those particles, lint, commonly found in furniture within your home, can settle into your duct system. Unfortunately, lint is a very flammable material. With constant heat being pumped through your duct system, this can increase the potential of overheating, resulting in the lint igniting. This fire will spread quickly throughout your home and can be detrimental. Be sure to have your ducts cleaned in the winter to prevent such a disaster from happening.
Trusted Saskatoon Furnace & Duct Cleaners Bridge City Duct Cleaning provides both residential duct cleaning and commercial duct cleaning and furnace maintenance services. Their team is professionally trained, qualified, bonded, and factory furnace and duct cleaning technicians. In their latest article, they talk about the number of air vents needed in our homes. The question often comes up for older homes, how do you know if your ductwork needs to be replaced? That is the question this article answers.
The ductwork helps keeps your home cool in Saskatoon’s warm summer months and warm during our frosty winters. It channels airflow from HVAC into the locations of your home when you need it most. So what are the signs to watch for:
1. Uneven Temperatures
One of the key things to look for when something in your ductwork starts going bad is unusual temperature fluctuation. What does this mean? If you find the temperature in one room of your Saskatoon home is consistently colder than normal or overheating then you might have tears in your ductwork causing an improper flow of air.
2. Low Air Flow
Is too little air flowing through your central HVAC system? How do you know if this is the case? Bridge City Duct Cleaning professionals can perform a blower test to see if enough air is flowing through your system. A blower test forces air into your ducts to measure how much air is transferring out, noting any issues and will be able to recommend a repair or just a good cleaning.
3. Dusty Home
Do you find that the air in your home smells like something is burning when your furnace ignites? Dirt and dust can enter the main system inside your home when your ductwork has an issue. When there is a problem with your ducts, your system may not be able to filter out allergy-causing particles. Cleaning or repairing the ductwork in your home leaves you with less chance of getting a cold or flu. Viruses can spread easily due to the particles flowing up through your central HVAC system and into your lungs. You will also find that removing debris from your ductwork will help eliminate dirt and dust so your home stays a lot cleaner.
4. Loud Ductwork
Do you hear rattling and loud noises coming from your furnace vents? You may need to have your ductwork checked. Sometimes it is because your kids have hidden their hotrod cars in the register, other times it is because your ducts are clogged up from years of dust and debris. Instead of dealing with this noise constantly, get your ductwork cleaned, serviced or repaired. Your ductwork should be doing its job quietly in the background, keeping a constant flow of air throughout your home.
K & S Contracting specializes in foundation repair for homeowners across Saskatchewan. In addition, they also offer general contracting services to Saskatoon and the surrounding area. In their latest Trusted Saskatoon tip, K & S Contracting, Trusted Saskatoon General Contractors, and foundation specialists, they continue last month's blog on Developing your Basement. This is Part 2.
Many basements are little more than a place to collect cobwebs and store stuff. However, fixing a full-height basement can increase the usable living space in your home at a lower cost than adding on. Basements can be turned into any one of several living areas: bedrooms, rec room, or office space.
Changing a concrete dungeon into an inviting living area can be a challenge, and not every basement is a good candidate for finishing. And this time, we are going to review the key considerations for conversion including lighting, ventilation, and dressing up those window wells. Although you can do some of the work yourself, hiring K & S Contracting can save money and headaches.
WHERE IS THE LIGHT?
Basements that walk out usually have an abundance of light; however, when the only light is from small, ground-level windows, the basements can be dark and uninviting. The first step is to clear away shrubbery from existing window wells to make the most of what natural light there is available. If the basement is served by a steel bulkhead, a door with glass lights can be installed at the bottom of the steps and the bulkhead doors left open when the weather is nice.
The options listed above, don’t always do the trick, so lighting needs to be added to the ceiling. Depending on the area you have to work with, you will have different options. Some of them include track lighting, recessed lighting or “can” lights can be added as spot or flood lamps. These lights allow you to add a dimmer switch which gives you more lighting flexibility.
VENTILATION ISSUES
If you only go down to the basement occasionally, musty, damp air may be something that you can tolerate. But once the basement becomes a true living space, some form of ventilation is crucial in controlling air quality. Using reverse fans work, in winter they draw in fresh dry air from outdoors, and in summer moist air can be pumped out of the house. If the home already has a forced air heating system then the basement can become another area.
HOW TO DRESS UP THE WINDOW WELL
It’s hard to enjoy the view out of a basement window if all you see is a when all you see is corrugated steel. Changing that dreary scenery may be easier than you think. You can add a view of the seashore, mountains, woodlands, desert or golf course with Scenic Window Wells’ WELL liner. These are weather-resistant polystyrene liner that slips into a standard window well. The window well liners will allow you to imagine you are on vacation to the ocean or on the golf course.
There’s a lot to think about when you convert your basement into a bright, welcoming living area, when trying to make the decision to develop your basement, we recommend you
call Steve and ask him to provide you
with your options and costs. Once the work is done, you won’t be sorry about the decision.