Month: February 2023

Ways to keep your home smelling fresh naturally

Posted on February 24, 2023 by - Indoor Air Quality

 

Everyone loves walking into their home and smelling the fresh scents of vanilla, lavender, or citrus. Most people use plug-ins that emit the scent of their choice, but these can be polluting to your air. We have several ways for you to get that sweet-smelling air without polluting your lungs.

Essential Oils

When you dab a few drops of essential oils on your filter it helps circulate that scent throughout the entire home.

Simmer Pot

On your stove bring a pot of water to a boil and add in cut-up oranges or lemons along with cinnamon sticks and herbs of your choosing. As these simmer on the stove, they will release all of those scents into the air and circulate throughout your home. Turning on a fan in a nearby room can help this make its way through the entire home.

Baking Vanilla

If your goal is to make your home smell like the comforting smell of baked cookies, then adding a few drops of vanilla extract to a bowl and placing in the oven on a low temp will achieve this.

To remove bad smells from your home

There are many ways to remove bad odors before refreshing your home with the good smells above.

A bowl of white vinegar

Without using chemicals, you can also remove bad smells from your home such as pet odor or a burnt smell that is lingering by adding a bowl of white vinegar to the room. Let it sit overnight and it will absorb much of the smell from the air.

Alcohol Spray

Add 1 part alcohol, 1 part fabric softener to 3 parts hot water and add a few drops of essential oils to bottle. Then spray down curtains and couches with this mixture to naturalize the odors.

Air Purifiers

Smaller stand-alone air purifiers work very well especially if they are using HEPA-rated filters. These work great in smaller rooms such as a child’s room who has allergies.

If you are looking for a deeper clean give Air Design a call at 202-cool and we can do a full duct cleaning and get your air quality under control.

Finding the Leak in Your Laundry Room

Posted on February 24, 2023 by - Plumbing

 

You walk into your laundry room to move the clothes over from the washer to the dryer and immediately feel the cold wet water seeping into your socks. When this happens there are many things you should check before resorting to replacing your appliances. It can be hard to pinpoint what is wrong especially if your water heater is in the same space as well.

The first thing to check is your drainpipe

Behind your washer, there is a place where your drain hose runs into the wall. This pipe can become clogged causing water to back up and drip back down the hose and onto the floor. To fix this you will want to run a small snake down the pipe to clear any clogs.

Another issue that can relate to this pipe is if your vent is clogged above the pipe. Every main pipe in your home has a vent that allows air to escape for the water to drain properly. Check that vent to make sure it is also clear.

Frozen pipes

If it has recently dropped below freezing and your laundry room is against an exterior wall then the pipe inside of the wall may have become cracked and be leaking down and through the baseboards.

Next, check your water heater

Inspect the pan that the water heater sits in and see if there is any water. If there is then the leak could be coming from your water heater. Run your finger under the drain spout and if it feels dry then it’s not coming from there, run your finger or a dry paper towel down all the pipes around your water heater, if any of them are wet then you have found your leak. If they remain dry and the pan is still full of water then most likely there is a crack in your tank.

Hoses can get old

Another thing to check is the hot and cold water hoses that run from your water source into the washer. These can get tattered and cracked. The best replacement option for these is stainless ones that will last much longer.

The final option could be your washing machine itself

Check your drain hose that runs from the washer to the wall, sometimes they can become brittle and crack over time. Another option could be your drain pump it can spring a leak for a variety of reasons, and you will want to get that fixed before it gets the motor wet and you need an entirely new machine.

If after checking all these things, you still are not sure where your leak is coming from give us a call at 202-cool and one of our very experienced technicians will come out and solve your problem for you.