Well, there are some steps you can take to minimize the risk. Let’s just consider the area around your home. If you have a lot of trees there, it could be that one or more of them are unhealthy. This makes it much more likely that it could fall over or drop branches, and they could land on you or on your home and do damage. This makes it critical to be able to identify trees that are dead or sick.

So, what can give it away? Of course, there is the foliage to give attention to. If there are no live leaves on a tree or on single branches, it could be that they are dead. Another thing to check is the trunk of the tree. When you knock on it, does it sound hollow, or is it wet and squishy? If so, you might be dealing with a tree that needs to be taken down.

The post The Dangers With Trees appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

First, you should think of security. There are many manufacturers that have poor security on their devices making them prime targets for hackers. You should stick with well-established companies that you can trust.

Second, you should pick the infrastructure that you want to use and then stick with it. There are a few different big players when it comes to home control, but the biggest ones are without a doubt Alexa and google. Having a mix of both systems is just going to be confusing, so pick one and don’t look back. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages, so there is no perfect choice.

The post A Smarter Home appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

If you own exercise equipment like a treadmill, exercise bike, weights, or similar, or even if you’re thinking about investing in it, you should keep in mind the safety considerations. While most exercise equipment is designed to be as safe as possible, the fact remains that you cannot account for every potential safety hazard. Exercise equipment often has a lot of pinch points or moving parts that can cause some serious pain. And, of course, even equipment that’s not powered can become a trip hazard if it’s left where it doesn’t belong.

The post Exercise Equipment Safety appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

Another important reason is that a damaged toilet could lead to contaminated water leaking out and causing serious damage to your home or even disease for you and your family.

Your toilet seat shouldn’t rock when you sit down on it. If it does it needs to be fixed. In some cases, this could be due to the seat not being properly attached to the floor or from a failing flange. Either way, it needs to be remedied.

Any cracks in the bowl or tank are going to be a sign that it is time to replace your toilet seat sooner rather than later. There is no reliable way to fix cracking porcelain.

The post Keeping Your Toilet Seat In Good Shape appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

The average American household will usually not exceed 60-80 amps during peak usage. So what does that mean? For the most part, we can run the microwave, have lights on, rune a computer, and watch TV with relatively no issue (unless you are trying to get all that power from one or two circuits of course).

Where a problem comes in is when we start to throw pools, custom computers, specialty equipment, or power tools in the mix. If you have anything over the typical household devices in your home, you may start to need a little extra amperage. But for the most part, 100 amps is more than enough for most homes.

The post 100 Amp Electrical Service appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

Wintertime can create a stunning change of scenery, even right outside your home. But the frost it brings can block your view of the beautiful scenes outside. Window frost is formed in a similar way to snowflakes. It is created when the glass pane is exposed to extremely cold outside air and warmer indoor air. The water vapor then condenses on the glass, forming frost patterns.

To remove the frost and take in the view, a simple home solution may be in your bathroom or kitchen cabinet. A very useful tool for defrosting windows is common rubbing alcohol. Use a spray bottle to cover any icy windows with the rubbing alcohol and then dry them with a towel or cloth. If you don’t have actual rubbing alcohol, this can also be done with any other clear alcohol such as vodka or gin. Not only will this remove the frost, but it will help prevent fogging and leave your windows streak-free.

The post Removing Frost from Your Windows appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

This is important, since fallen trees and limbs can cause serious damage to your home, or even cause bodily injury if they fall at the wrong time.

You can learn a lot just from the way your trees look. If they have a lot of branches that are bare of leaves, this could be an indication that something isn’t quite right.

Knocking on the trunk of a tree will let you listen for issues. If it sounds hollow it is definitely sick and needs to come down. The same is true if the trunk is soft.

Remember that cutting down trees is a very difficult task and not one that a homeowner can easily care for. Even when taking sensible precautions, a tree is very heavy and could easily fall in an unexpected direction.

The post How Are Your Trees Doing? appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

To get started you will need:

1. A cleaning solution
2. A microfibre cloth or just a paper towel

When it comes to choosing a cleaning solution, make sure it is not ammonia or alcohol-based, as those solutions actually just attract dust over time. Rather use acetone or rubbing alcohol, which can both remove even tougher marks!

Once you’ve chosen a cleaning solution, start by applying a small amount of the solution to your chosen wipe. Then gently rub the wipe over the mark in different directions, and then dry the surface as soon as the marks appear to be removed to avoid leaving streaks. For particularly stubborn marks, you can apply more solution, or rub more firmly. But no matter how tough a mark is to remove, never use any sharp or hard objects to scrape them off, as it can cause permanent damage to the glass surface.

Now you can enjoy more light and a clear view, connecting you with the outdoors.

The post The Best Way to Keep your Windows Streak-Free appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

One such item is kickout flashing. At first glance, it might look like kickout flashing is either in the wrong spot, useless or bent, but that is probably not the case. Kickout flashing is meant to push water away from sensitive spots of your home so that it doesn’t intrude.

If you suspect that your kickout flashing has been removed by a previous owner, or maybe you removed it yourself by mistake, you should make sure that it is installed again as soon as possible.

The post Keeping Your Kickout Flashing In Place appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.

When water sits on your roof, it can encourage mold growth, rot and other problems. To keep this from happening, you want to keep your gutters and downspouts clear and running smoothly. If there are collections of leaf or debris on your roof, get it off of there as soon as possible, otherwise water could pool up there.

If you want to find out the state of your roof, getting it inspected by a professional is your best option.

The post Taking Care of Your Roof appeared first on Denver Home Inspections.