March 14, 2010 AsktheBuilder Newsletter And Tips
What’s in This Issue?
Cincinnati Home and Garden Show
Blueprints
Monster Checklist Sale
Bathroom Exhaust Fan Fires
I do product reviews frequently. Please read my Disclosure Policy to understand the relationship between me and the companies that make the products or offer the services I review.
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
Friendly Question Reminder!
If you have a question for me, don't hit the Reply button just yet. Go immediately to my web site and type in the keywords about your problem into my Search engine. The search box is at the top of every page of my web site. You could have your answer in seconds if you do this! Please pay attention to all links you see at my web site. The exact products and services you often need are right in front of you, and you might be ignoring them.
Latest News
Cincinnati Home and Garden Show
In less than four hours, I'll be on the stage again doing my last seminar at the Cincinnati Home and Garden show. Several subscribers stopped by to say Hello!, including Jim Mullaney my pharmacist, Patrick Klever, who works for the Corps of Engineers, and a wonderful woman (I'm so embarrassed as I forgot your name - shame on me!) who cut my hair one rainy night three years ago. Patrick gets the award for distance traveled to get here. He came from Bulgaria! Now that's dedication. Yes, there's more to that story as you might suspect.
Blueprints
One of the attendees of the seminars brought blueprints of his home. He's embarking on replacing a standard 3' 0" exterior door with a 6' 0" sliding door. He was all worried about the structural aspects of the job. Because he had saved his blueprints, I was able to put him at ease within about ten seconds. The plans clearly showed that he just needed a simple header and no concentrated loads were over the new doorway.
If you're lucky enough to have the blueprints for your home, do everything possible to preserve them.
Monster Checklist Sale Almost Over!
Five days ago, I announced the crazy sale of most of my checklists. It's been an overwhelming success. When I came up with the idea, I was positive many would buy not one or two, but ten or twenty. That's exactly what's been happening. Quite a few have bought each and every checklist.
These checklists are designed to help you find the professional contractor in your city or town. They contain secret videos in them I taped showing you where to go to find them and exactly how to spot them. The videos were shot on location at a real building supply business. They are must-see!
This promotion ends in less than 48 hours - 8 a.m. ET on March 16, 2010, to be exact. I've sold these checklists for over 15 years and have NEVER had a sale like this with prices so low. How low? The checklists usually sell for $17 each, but for the next few hours you can get each one for $2. Yes, two bucks. Call me insane, but it's true. You better hurry.
Bathroom Exhaust Fan Fires
Lola from Topeka, KS wrote to me overnight:
Lola, you bet they can start fires. How common is it and what are the real causes? Well, you'd have to scour the NFPA records database for those answers. But I can tell you that about five years ago, a neighbor's house 100 feet from mine had a fire caused by an exhaust fan.
Lint buildup, worn motors, years of vibration fraying wires, etc. are all possible causes of an exhaust-fan fire.
I would always defer these questions to your local fire prevention officer. Just about every fire department has one. Fire service personnel are some of the most helpful government workers out there. They don't want to carry you out of your home, and will almost always do a no-cost inspection to keep you safe. Call them ASAP to see if they'll look at your fan. You should consider installing a digital timer for the fan switch. That's what I have in all my bathrooms. The longest the fan can run in my home is one hour.
AsktheBuilder.com