Bucket Bathing Suits

Buying your first home is exciting. No more rental payments to a landlord making money for someone else. Instead, you are purchasing your own home and investing in yourself. Money paid to your home mortgage is really investing in your future. It is no wonder that first time home buyers are so excited, sometimes so excited that they make mistakes. There are a few common mistakes of first time home buyers, which with some knowledge and direction can be avoided.

First of all, it is always good to research the housing market and see what is out there. Yes, the very first house you look at may look like its perfect, but there are others out there for sale too. Be sure to at least look at a few before deciding on the one you want to buy.

Watch the cost of the home, do not be swayed into thinking that you can not barter down the cost of the house, you probably can.

Insist on a home inspection by a qualified inspector. There are plenty of people who will provide you with a home warranty when you buy their house and try to sway you from having the house inspected.

Having a home warranty is important and many first time home buyers just don’t know that they should or could get one when they are buying an older home. Home warranties are not a new product; they’ve been around for many years, but many people think that they are for new homes only, not realizing that they can be purchased for older homes as well.

A home warranty makes great sense when you are purchasing an older home – you just don’t know the house very well until you’ve lived in it. A home warranty protects first time home buyers from major expenses for repairs and replacements that could come up.

A first time home buyer can make a major mistake if he or she does not understand that if something goes wrong, they are fully responsible to fix it. There is no landlord to call and the costs are all theirs to bear. This is one of the major reasons it is so important to invest in a home warranty when you purchase an older home. If any major repairs need to happen, most often the home warranty will cover the costs, making owning a home much more feasible.

When looking for a home warranty, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what you are looking for. When you talk to an agent, there are many questions that you need to ask to be sure you know what level of warranty you are getting. Questions to ask include:

What is covered with the home warranty? Most often the electrical system, plumbing system, heating system, cooling system/air conditioning, and major appliances that are covered under the warranty.

What is excluded from coverage with the home warranty? Most often this includes outdoor water, including the sprinkler system, faucet repairs, hot tubs, pools, spas and costs of hauling away debris and old appliances.

What are the rates/premiums? How much will you have to pay for the home warranty?

What is the deductible on the home warranty? The deductible is how much you will have to pay when you make a claim. Most often the deductible is $50, this amount will be deducted from the overall cost of the reparations paid by the warranty company.

How long is the warranty active for? Most often home warranties are offered in one year terms.

Is the warranty renewable at the end of the term? If you’ve purchased it yourself as the buyer, it is likely renewable. However, if the seller purchased the home warranty, it will not be renewable.

What are the terms of the warranty? When will the warranty be void? Most often if you’ve misused the item, or if it is not up to code or not installed properly, your warranty will be void and will not cover any reparations.

How are claims handled?

How do I make a claim?

With the above information, first time home buyers can avoid some of the serious mistakes that are usually made, and then go through with their home purchase knowledgeable and safe from the fall out of a potentially serious mistake. Mistakes such as the ones listed above can land a first time home owner in serious debt paying for repairs they were not prepared for financially. Owning a home of your own is very exciting, especially a first home, but make sure you go into it with your eyes open, your finances secure and a plan for the future should a problem rise with one of the major components of the home.

DATELINE: SOUTH BOSTON, MA…

The Thanksgiving table groans under the load of traditional dishes, and tummies growl and gurgle in anticipation when, suddenly, this Norman Rockwell scene of tranquility erupts into chaos with the realization that the groans, growls, and gurgles are actually coming from the drain of the kitchen sink…

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Your friendly neighborhood plumber! John Wood, founder and CEO of Hub Plumbing & Mechanical in South Boston, MA is well acquainted with this familiar Thanksgiving tableau as he girds himself and his crews for the annual Thanksgiving onslaught.

The long Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the busiest time of the year for a plumber, according to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association. Why? It’s simple explains Wood, “A 1 ½ inch diameter drain can’t be stuffed with the detritus of a Thanksgiving meal without fighting back and literally erupting and overflowing. A garbage disposal can’t handle the overload either and often grinds to a halt. More than once we’ve literally had to cut out eight or nine foot sections of pipe that are packed to the gills with compacted waste.”

Wood’s colorful descriptions of the sights he has seen should serve as fair warning for Thanksgiving revelers. “Imagine the rich smells and colors of a typical Thanksgiving dinner; then imagine all of those foods mixed together, compacted in your drain, ready to burp back up with the addition of a little water…”

Hub Plumbing and Mechanical’s clog busting team is at the ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but if you’d like to avoid a Thanksgiving visit, Wood offers some common sense tips.

•    Grease congeals and solidifies, the same way fatty deposits block an artery and cause a heart attack. If you want to avoid a drain attack, pour grease into a tin can and toss the can into the trash after the grease hardens.

•    A garbage disposal isn’t a wood chipper. Turkey bones splinter (that’s why you can’t feed them to your dog), while turkey skin and fibrous vegetable skins can wind around the blade, causing the disposal to come to a screeching halt.

•    Always turn on the water before starting the garbage disposal, and keep it running for a minute after turning off the disposal to move the waste through the pipes.

•    Keep utensils away from the sink if at all possible. There is nothing like a piece of silverware accidentally dropped into a garbage disposal to bring an ear-shattering end to your Thanksgiving festivities.

•    If you don’t have a garbage disposal, the remains of a Thanksgiving feast can present even more perils. Leftover trimmings, including gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, vegetables, and pie need to be scraped off of plates and deposited into the garbage. Rinsing plates and letting clumps of food slide down the drain is a recipe for disaster as food builds up and compacts, firmly clogging the drain.

•    Also, dishwashers are not garbage disposals. Dishes need to be scraped before they are placed in the dishwasher. Also be careful that the dishwasher isn’t overloaded– glasses break easily and a dishwasher drain clogged with glass is a sure fire way of ensuing that you will be washing dishes by hand all evening!

About Hub Plumbing & Mechanical

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical takes the plumbing industry to the next level, utilizing a professional, friendly, customer-centered approach. In addition to protecting your floors with red carpet, Hub Plumbing and Mechanical’s experienced plumbers also cover their work boots with stain-resistant boot covers, wear ID badges for security purposes, and arrive on time and smartly dressed in crisp, clean uniforms.

The company does not charge by the hour, but by the specific project. Hub Plumbing & Mechanical is available 24 hours a day and 7 seven days a week to provide immediate access and peace of mind. Dedicated 2nd and 3rd shift night dispatchers internally handle all calls at Hub Plumbing & Mechanical, not an answering service. The difference between the two enables Hub Plumbing & Mechanical to get real-time info on the customer 24/7 to expedite the call as efficiently as possible.

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical was established in 1999 and now includes a staff of 16 full time employees. This full service plumbing company assists residential and commercial customers with code violations, sewer/drain clogs, garbage disposals, water heaters, water filtration, steam and hot water boilers, thermostats, leaky faucets, tub valves, gas pipes, appliance installation, and outside hose faucets.

Hub Plumbing & Mechanical Inc. is located at 70 Old Colony Avenue in South Boston, MA 02127. For more information about Hub Plumbing & Mechanical call 1-866-HUBPLUMBING (482-7586), email services@hubplumbing.com, or visit www.hubplumbing.com.

Although wooden shutters have been around for many years longer than that of vinyl, not all homeowners want to use the old time favorite for their home anymore.

There are so many reasons why homeowners choose wood over vinyl shutters and vice versa. A large percentage of homeowners who choose to stick with wooden shutters are due in part to the style and age of their home.

If a homeowner occupies a well kept 20th or even 19th century home, they typically won’t choose vinyl as their homes exterior shutter because they want to stay true to their home’s era.

However, anymore it can be quite hard to tell the difference between wooden and vinyl shutters due to vinyl’s authentic wood grain appearance which makes it hard to tell if it’s wood or vinyl.

As with most things in life, both wood and vinyl shutters have their advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages of vinyl shutters are that they are very durable, hold up to most any extreme weather conditions and vinyl is typically much cheaper than that of their wooden counterparts.

Disadvantages of vinyl shutters, depending on personal preference, vinyl shutters don’t appear quite as attractive as wooden shutters. Vinyl is also not a good choice if a color change in wanted ever so often since vinyl doesn’t hold paint as well as wooden shutters, nor is it stainable.

Wooden shutters too have their downfalls, such as higher price, manufacturing times and greater chances of deterioration than that of vinyl. Not everyone minds paying more for wooden shutters when quality and custom appearance are important factors. However, when dealing with wooden shutters a homeowner should be aware that wood shutters are bound to deteriorate over time.

If the wood shutters are constructed well and made of a quality wood, they should last many, many years, but only if the homeowner maintains proper care of the shutters. Wooden shutters last the longest when properly cleaned and paint every few years, which is something vinyl owners need not worry about since vinyl does not deteriorate like that of natural wood.

Wood being the old time favorite also has advantages that some find to outweigh the perks of vinyl. Wooden shutters, when made with high quality material and craftsmanship, are very durable, they can be painted or stained almost any color imaginable and create an appearance that vinyl can’t quite top.

When it comes to needing 100% custom shutters made, wood may be the only option, depending on the exact size(s) needed. Although vinyl shutters are available in many, many sizes, wooden shutters are available in any size imaginable, even down to a 1/16”.