Category: Handyman Services

Chimney Sweeps West: Gutters

Posted on August 1, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Chimney Sweeps West: Gutters

Have you ever wondered why most houses have gutters, and what their purpose is? Gutters are optional, but almost every house will have them. There are multiple benefits to having a gutter system and gutters on your house. One of the main benefits is that gutters will prevent water damage by collecting the water from your roof and draining it. Because of how regularly gutters are used, over the course of time, they will need to be cleaned out. This is one of the most important things people tend to forget whenever it comes to their house maintenance. There are several problems a dirty gutter can cause.

Gutter Cleaning Chimney Sweeps West Knoxville TN

What Will Happen If I Do Not Clean My Gutters Regularly?

  1. Roof Damage: If precipitation starts to build up and clog your gutters, then your roof will start to rot and decay. Its life will drastically decrease. This will cause you to either have some of it redone or all of it completely replaced, and both options will cost you a large amount of money.
  2. Pests, Pests, And Pests: Clogged gutters will harbor all sorts of materials. It can be anywhere from rotting leaves to a dead bird. These materials will attract all sorts of pests which will cause more problems.
  3. Damage To Fascia: A fascia is a board that is right behind your gutter. Whenever your gutters do not have a clear path for draining water, it will overflow and seep into the fascia. This will not only ruin your gutters but also there is a risk of it ruining the exterior of your house.
  4. Drowning Your Plants: Your plants that are planted along the sides of your house can potentially be damaged. If water is spilling from the top because your gutters are full, then it could drown your plants and kill them. Overwatering your plants will kill them much faster.
  5. Cracks In The Foundation: Whenever your water cannot be drained and it just sits there and the weather drops, it will freeze and turn into ice. This will cause cracks in your foundation which can turn into a disaster. If your foundation becomes unstable, your walls, roof, or even the house can come tumbling down.

Hire Someone To Clean Your Gutters

As you can tell, there are numerous issues that will occur if you do not clean your gutters. Even though cleaning gutters is a simple task, it can be dangerous and a lengthy process. If you did not have the time to notice that your gutters needing cleaning, then you most likely will not have time to clean them yourself. But if you hire a handyman, then the job will get done professionally and there are added bonuses such as you will have extra time to do whatever you want and you do not have to worry about damaging anything or injuring yourself. If you are interested in hiring a handyman to help you out, contact Chimney Sweeps West. We guarantee that all of our handymen are reliable and will go above and beyond your expectations.

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Chimney Sweeps West: Why You Should Hire A Handyman

Posted on June 13, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Chimney Sweeps West: Why You Should Hire A Handyman

As the summer season rolls around, everyone wants to redo their homes for the summer time. During the summer season, many people like to use their homes as a venue to host all sorts of events such as outdoor grilling, dinner parties, pool parties, graduation parties, and much more. There are many different ways to spruce up your home for the visitors, but they all take some time and effort. If you hire a handyman to help out with your decor projects, you will get a lot accomplished at a faster rate.

Handyman Working

Ways To Spruce Up Your Home For Summer

  • Adding A Deck: A deck is a perfect spot for entertaining guests. For the summer months, you can add fun colored furniture along with a porch swing to make your deck feel more cozy and comfortable.
  • Building A Fence: If you have a fence around your home, it will provide a boundary for your children and pets to play within, but also it will give your house curb appeal and extra safety. You and your loved ones can enjoy the beautiful weather without the worry of an intruder sneaking in easily.
  • Painting Your House: Depending on your budget, you can paint both the interior or exterior of your house to give it that extra boost. During the summer months, rays of sunshine will shine throughout your entire house, so it is recommended that you use lighter colors. The lighter colors will give the home an illusion of it looking larger than what it really is, and it will give it a fresh and modern appearance.
  • Framing The House With Plants: Plants and greenery can give your home a fresh and clean look. You can plant roses, lilies or any other type of flowers in the front yard to create a natural atmosphere for your guests. Also, adding plants throughout the house will tie in the summery feel.

Benefits Of A Handyman

  • More Work Done In Less Time: Any repair in a home will take time, but a handyman can complete the task in less time than you can. While they are repairing the broken item, you can have free time to get done whatever else you need.
  • Expertise And Experience: A handyman will have more knowledge on repairing household items than you will. Most of the handymen have been in business for a long period of time, and they know exactly what they are doing. It will be the finest quality of work.
  • Right Types Of Tools: If something in your household broken and you attempt to fix it but use the wrong types of tools, then it can lead to more damage. Most likely, you did more damage and wasted money because you will probably never use that tool again. A handyman is prepared and already has his tools and he knows their exact purpose.
  • Saving Money: The idea of hiring a handyman sounds expensive, but often it is cheaper. An independent handyman will charge less than a specialized service provider. Depending on your relationship with the handyman, some are willing to negotiate and charge less than usual.

A Handyman Is The Best Option

Anytime you are in need of a repair, just call a handyman. A handyman will also take on projects such as fixing up a house for the summer by doing anything from hanging drapes to moving furniture to the patio. They are skilled and experienced in carpentry and will provide the best service possible at an affordable rate.

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2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Home’s Exterior

Posted on May 11, 2018 by - Handyman Services

2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Knoxville Home’s Exterior

2018 Best Ways to Improve Your Home’s Exterior

Whenever spring or summer comes around, the good weather encourages people to host events at their homes. It could be a simple family get-together or an extravagant party. It could be that you were deciding to put your house on the market. Whatever the event may be, your home needs to be ready for visitors, and it needs to be in tip-top shape. If you reside in or close to Knoxville, TN then check out Chimney Sweeps West. They offer various handyman services to get the curb appeal you are searching for. To get the exterior to look presentable, some of the options are adding a fresh coat of paint, adding a fence, or adding a deck.

Painting the Exterior

Whenever you paint the exterior of a house, it adds curb appeal. If you choose the right color scheme, then your house can appear bigger, and who doesn’t want a bigger looking house? Painters say neutrals, whites, and creams can give the illusion of a larger house, and currently, those are the trending colors. It will also increase your house value by 2-5%. Home buyers search for houses that are ready to be moved into than doing all the extra repairs. It can also benefit you because painting the exterior is much cheaper than installing new vinyl siding or whatever the material may be. Painting can help your house to stand out because if you live in a subdivision where all the houses are identical then you will need something unique to make your home different. It also gives you the opportunity to be creative and customize your house to your liking.

Fencing the House

The houses that are fenced give off a polished appearance. Some fences have ornamental elements on them for decorative purposes. The quality of your fences can also increase your house value because fences are extremely useful. Fences are excellent for marking your property. If you live in a close subdivision, then there has to be a marking that indicates where your property begins and ends. Along with being a property divider, fences are great for safety purposes. If you have children, then fences serve as boundaries preventing the child from leaving the house. It is also a boundary for pets. Often, pets wonder out to the yard, and sometimes cross that boundary and get injured, but if you have a fence, then you do not have to worry about it because it acts as a security precaution.

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Adding A Deck

There are various types of decks all made from different materials. The two common ones are a pressure-treated wood and composite deck. If you want a custom- built, unique style then hire a well-reputable deck designer. Backyard decks are multifunctional; for example, you can have dinner with the whole family while grilling outdoors, you can have lounge chairs and sit out there while reading a book, or you can host social events while enjoying the company of your friends. A backyard deck can increase your property value drastically. If you have a well-built deck, then the average value it adds is about $9,000. Decks are perfect for privacy. If you do not like having a lot of attention, then having a deck in your yard can prevent have the public’s attention.

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Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning

Posted on January 22, 2018 by - Handyman Services

Importance of Dryer Vent Cleaning

When the weather gets bad and you can’t hang clothes out to dry, a clothes dryer can be one of the most helpful appliances you own. However, using a clothes dryer comes with its risks. If you don’t clean your dryer vent often, your clothes dryer can be a fire hazard in your home. To ensure your clothes dryer is safe to use, you should try to clean your dryer vent regularly.

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Why Cleaning Your Dryer Vent is Important

Keeping your dryer vent clean prevents a house fire. That’s because lint (which is small fibers that come off your clothes every time you dry a load of laundry) accumulates in the dryer vent. When you don’t clean the lint out of your dryer vent, it can easily catch fire.

According to statistics, approximately 15,600 household fires, 400 injuries and 15 deaths are caused by dryer vent fires each year. In 1996, a report by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 15,000 household fires caused by dryers. According to the report, the fires resulted in 20 deaths, more than 300 injuries and more than $80 million fire damage.

But while preventing a house fire is arguably the best benefit of cleaning your dryer vent, there are multiple reasons why you should keep your dryer vent clean during months when you’re often using your tumble dryer.

Save on your energy bill

When your dryer vent is full of lint particles, humid air doesn’t travel down the vent as efficiently. Because of this, it will take longer to dry your clothes, and the longer you run your tumble dryer every month, the higher your energy bill will be.

Dry clothes more efficiently

As mentioned, a dirty dryer vent can cause your clothes to take longer to dry, meaning you’ll save time on drying clothes when your dryer vent is clean. However, in cases where the dryer vent has an exceptional amount of lint buildup, you might even find that your tumble dryer doesn’t dry clothes completely.

Protect your tumble dryer

When your dryer vent is blocked with lint, your tumble dryer will be more prone to overheating. This can cause it to burn out more quickly, and generally just isn’t good for your dryer.

Protect your clothes

A dryer vent that’s blocked with lint can cause problems with your clothes. If your tumble dryer constantly overheats, this could lead to heat damage on more delicate fabrics, for instance.

Much like any other cleaning and home maintenance, cleaning your dryer vent is part of what you need to do to keep your home safe and clean.

Signs Your Dryer Vent Needs Cleaning

If you’re not sure whether or not your dryer vent needs cleaning, there are some signs you can look for, these include:

  • The laundry room gets very hot while you’re using the dryer.
  • Clothing doesn’t dry within a normal dry cycle.
  • Lint is visible around the around the dryer’s lint filter.
  • The outside of the dryer gets very hot when it’s being used.
  • There’s a lot of lint and debris in the laundry room, especially when the dryer is being used, there’s lint particles floating in the air.
  • The outside dryer vent opening has visible debris buildup.
  • Clothing is very hot after a dry cycle, perhaps even burning a bit if you remove it from the dryer directly after a cycle is finished.

While all of the above mentioned things could indicate that you need to have a dryer vent cleaning, you shouldn’t leave your dryer vent if it’s been more than a year since you last had it cleaned. If you can’t remember the last time you had your dryer vent cleaned, booking a dryer vent cleaning as soon as possible is recommended.

How to Clean Your Dryer Vent

You can clean your dryer vent yourself on a regular basis if you’re up to it. While you might not have all the necessary tools to clean your dryer vent professionally, cleaning the vent yourself from time is a good way of getting rid of most of the lint that’s trapped in the dryer vent. When cleaning your dryer vent yourself, you can also check for bird or squirrel nests near the vent opening outside. Unfortunately squirrels have a tendency to make nests in dryer vent openings, so it’s a good idea to check this area regularly.

If you’re unsure about how to clean your dryer vent yourself, it’s always best to call in a professional. Many people aren’t sure how to disconnect the dryer duct and reassemble the ductwork, but it’s important that every step is done correctly to ensure your dryer functions properly. But even if you are capable of cleaning the dryer vent yourself, it’s still good to call in a professional to clean the duct at least once a year.

Need a professional dryer vent cleaning? Call Chimney Sweeps West to keep your home safe from dryer vent fires.

The Benefits of Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

Posted on January 15, 2018 by - Handyman Services

The Benefits of Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

You depend on your dryer to dry your garments. Regardless of whether you dry garments once per week or do a load every couple of days, you expect your dryer will work. However, if you neglect to keep up your dryer vent cleaning, your dryer could fail. Even more terrible, your dryer could cause a home fire.

Your dryer vent is a standout amongst the most generally ignored parts of your dryer, however it does so much for your dryer system. Your dryer expels the dampness and build up from your garments through your dryer vent. Along these lines, it’s important that you keep up your dryer vent in good shape before it decides to clog.

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Counteract Home Fires by Cleaning Your Dryer Vent

Dryer vents working incorrectly are one of the main sources of garments fires in homes. Lint that is not expelled from your dryer venting framework can stop up your whole system. In the event that this happens and your dryer overheats, your odds of encountering a fire skyrocket. Luckily, you can keep this issue from ever happening. By getting your dryer vent cleaned, you lessen your odds of encountering an apparel fire because of lint.

Take Out the Danger of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

You can exacerbate your odds of encountering carbon monoxide poisoning by neglecting to keep up your dryer vent. The colorless, odorless gas comes from fuel-burning appliances. Your dryer can be a wellspring of carbon monoxide danger too. At the point when a considerable measure of build up collects in your dryer venting framework, and your framework overheats, the vapor from your dryer can contain carbon monoxide. These exhaust fumes can radiate carbon monoxide each time you dry your garments without being detected. The most ideal approach to keep this from happening is by cleaning your dryer vent. Furthermore, if it’s been quite a bit since you cleaned your vent, you ought to likewise get your home checked for carbon monoxide.

Decrease the Cost of Your Energy Bill

A stopped up dryer venting framework forces your dryer to work harder to dry your garments. When your venting framework is obstructed, your dryer doesn’t have the wind stream it needs to dry your garments satisfactorily. Thus, stopped up dryers take more time to dry your garments, which builds your service charge. Furthermore, the more drawn out your garments are in the dryer, the more wear and tear your garments undertake. The more drawn out your garments take to dry the less wear you’ll get from them in general. You’ll be compelled to buy new garments sooner than you anticipated.

At Chimney Sweeps West, we are your go-to source with regards to cleaning and keeping up your dryer vents. With our assistance, you can drastically shrink the chance of garments fires and enhance your dryer’s general proficiency. On the off chance that you’ve seen your dryer isn’t drying as quick as it should, or you’ve never had your dryer cleaned, it’s time to call us. We are glad to look at your dryer and clean it if essential.

Signs That You Need a Dryer Vent Cleaning

Posted on January 8, 2018 by - Handyman Services

There’s nothing more irritating for a property holder than when the clothes dryer quits working. The chore of laundry reaches a total halt and there’s no place to put the basket loaded with sopping wet garments. For this situation most mortgage holders consequently believe there’s an issue with the dryer itself thus they call the machine repair organization. He takes five minutes to establish that there’s nothing wrong with the dryer. The dryer vent is stopped up. So now the property holder has paid for a repair visit that was never needed to begin with.

Summer Projects to Improve Your Home

Posted on August 30, 2017 by - Handyman Services

Summer Projects to Improve Your Home

Summer is one of the best times in the year to get around to improving your home. Both regular maintenance tasks and remodels can be done in the summer, seeing as you won’t have to worry about the weather too much. Small additions and touch ups on your home can go a long way in making it a more pleasant place to live.

Not sure what things to focus on while working on your home? Well, here’s a list of things that are worth considering.

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Paint and Finishing Touch Ups

Never underestimate a new coat of paint! Paints these days are more durable than ever, so if your house isn’t exposed to too much harsh weather where you live, a fresh coat should last you at least a few years.

However, paint can be tricky, and if you don’t know paints well, this could be a job best left to a professional.

Redoing the paint anywhere in your house shouldn’t simply be a matter of running to the store, asking an assistant what you need, and then applying whatever you bought to the area that looks like it needs to be repainted.

Not all paints are equally good. And if you apply a fresh coat of high quality paint to a wall that had a bad paint, your new paint job simply won’t last as long. Sometimes getting a paint job to last properly could require you to add a primer underneath, or to scrape off the old layer completely.

Whichever way it goes, it’s important that you realize that you can’t treat painting like a simple, straightforward task if you want the new paint job to last. To get your paint to last, you have to make sure you know what you’re dealing with and that you’re using the right products to get the best out of your fresh coat of paint.

When checking for areas that might need a new paint job, you need to think further than just checking your walls and roof. Here’s a checklist of areas that you can check to see if they need a fresh coat of paint or finishing:

  • Window and door frames
  • Doors (including garage doors)
  • Fencing
  • Deck or patio
  • Outdoor furniture
  • Roof

Not everyone has a painted roof, so not all of those areas would necessarily present a problem to you. However, what should be clear is that there are plenty of areas in and around your house that can do with a fresh coat of paint or finishing from time to time.

Siding Improvements

Maybe your siding is old and you want to replace it. Or perhaps you just want to switch from one kind of siding to another. Siding can either be made from vinyl, wood or metal, and all options have their pro’s and cons.

If you have wood siding, there’s a good chance that it might need some maintenance. There might be areas in your siding where the wood has gone bad, in which case some parts might have to be replaced.

Adding Energy-Efficient Windows

Energy-efficient windows can go a long way in helping to regulate the temperatures inside your home without using air-conditioners, heaters or your fireplace. The aim of these windows is to either keep heat inside your home more efficiently, or if rooms get too much sun, the windows helps to keep out the harshness of the sun.

The trick is to get windows that suit your climate type best. You might even want to install the different kinds of windows in different areas of your home depending on how much sun they get. Also be sure to do your research and make sure that you’re having a high grade window installed, otherwise all the effort might not pay off really well.

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Deck and Patio Addition

No, a deck or patio addition isn’t a very small home improvement project, but if you don’t have a deck or patio, adding one can make your yard a more fun place to be this summer.

If you’re exceptionally good at carpentry, you could even try to build your own. It could be a fun project for your family to try this summer.

However, if you’ve never built anything out of wood in your life, your deck or patio isn’t a good place to start experimenting. After all, you want your deck or patio to be durable.

If you already have a deck or patio, you could consider changing it to be bigger or smaller. But even if you’re perfectly satisfied with the amount of space on your patio, and the space still left in your yard, you should check your deck or patio every year to see if it needs any maintenance. There might be pieces of wood that are cracked, or some planks might need replacement.

To help your deck or patio last longer, it’s also best to have a fresh coat of finishing applied once every one or two years. How often you refinish your patio will depend on the weather conditions in your area, as well as how often you use it. To keep this area looking its best, it’s also recommended that you clean it properly.

Need these projects done but don’t have time to complete when yourself? Feel free to call us at Chimney Sweeps West! We have a team of professional handymen that can help you painlessly get around to all of your home maintenance tasks this summer. With professional help, you won’t have to squeeze home improvement and maintenance into your already busy schedule, we can help you get everything done in as little time as possible so you can enjoy the look and feel of your newly improved home in no time!

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Pick The Perfect Handyman Service Provider

Posted on August 14, 2017 by - Handyman Services

It is safe to say that you are searching for home rebuilding administrations? Would you like to improve the excellence of your home? It is safe to say that you are searching for jack of all trades administrations to settle harms? You have to pick the ideal jack of all trades specialist organization. You can without much of a stretch discover them close you. Simply take after a few stages to pick the best one.

Deck vs. Patio: Which is Perfect for Your Abode?

Posted on July 10, 2017 by - Handyman Services

Picking between introducing a deck or a patio includes a reasonable number of functional, stylish, and individual contemplations. Keeping in mind the end goal to start settling on the choice between a deck, a patio, or both, how about we initially take a gander at the functional contrasts between the two.

While a yard much of the time alludes to an open air space that is set straightforwardly on the ground, decks are frequently lifted off of the ground by bolsters and can be various levels or raised to suit departure from a first or second story level. Porches can be attached to the house or separate from the home contingent upon inclination, yard size, and utilization, however they quite often require a level surface to keep development costs more sensible.

Decks then again can be all the more effortlessly intended to suit uneven scenes with higher backings and in addition distinctive levels and stairs, however they are generally associated with the home. While patios don’t by and large require licenses and reviews, decks, which are connected to the home, dependably require these perspectives.

Materials

Patios frequently have solid bases, yet a few mortgage holders utilize stone, tile, pavers, block, or different materials to make the establishment. While these materials are strong and impervious to the components, settling of the ground underneath them can cause uneven focuses in the surface that must be redressed every once in a while. For the most part, support is low, and with materials like locking pavers, the incidental substitution of individual pavers is refined decently effectively.

Since they are dependably at ground level, porches don’t require a rail unless there is an unexpected drop-off straightforwardly neighboring their limit. Decks are either made of wood, vinyl, or wood composite materials, however the backings are frequently made of pressure treated timber with solid footings.

The distinctive decking materials will have diverse levels of sturdiness and upkeep needs. Wood decks should be intermittently resealed while composite decks require less maintaining. The cost contrasts between the two are more about whether you will be paying more after some time in upkeep (wood deck) or a greater amount of an in advance cost with low up keep and for the most part longer life (composite).

Since most decks are hoisted off of the ground to some degree, they are commonly encased with some kind of railing and regularly offer a raised perspective of the property on which they sit. Decks might be worked off of the lower floor of a home, for example, the parlor or kitchen, or they may be added to an upper level room or even on a housetop setting.

Pleasantries and Use

How you expect to utilize your deck or yard is a central point in deciding comforts for either. There are an extensive variety of courtesies that can be added to possibly one with some plan contemplations considered for each.

While it is regular to have fire pits as well as implicit barbecues on a yard, these components can be a piece of a deck configuration also with outline and wellbeing contemplations considered by the expert deck planner and building group. Hot tubs and spas are reasonable amusement for either a deck or a porch.

The same can be said for pools with a deck or porch encompassing it, however outline and material contemplations can influence solace and wellbeing contemplations. In spite of the fact that yards are by and large revealed as far as rooftops, current plans do frequently highlight trellises, pergolas, and gazebos. Decks can likewise highlight these covers.

Life expectancy, Costs, and Other Practical Considerations

At the point when ground planning, seepage, and development techniques are done appropriately and to elevated requirements, decks and porches can have equivalent life expectancies with yards likely having the edge. Contingent upon the atmosphere and upkeep, decks can last somewhere in the range of 15 to 25 years or more with wood decks on the lower end and top notch composites on the upper end.

Porches can last upwards of 20 to 30 years, but at the same time are influenced by atmosphere. Solid patios can split and hurl as the consequence of rehashed solidifying and defrosting, much the same as whatever other poured solid, which may require fixing. While pavers can likewise split the individual spots can be all the more effectively supplanted. Contingent upon the plan, porches can be more affordable than decks, however this relies on upon various elements, for example, materials, estimate, and the civilities among others. Both decks and patios give a decent ROI to mortgage holders regarding added esteem and claim to purchasers.

As should be obvious, the decision between a deck and porch depends on various critical contemplations. Today, numerous property holders pick a blend of both to suit the way they need to engage and utilize their open air space to its fullest. The objective is to have an open air condition that matches the way you need to live and appreciate the outside.