Repair & Improve

Winter’s Helpers

Enjoy a worry-free season indoors with the help of products that seal, balance and protect your home

by Tom Kraeutler, AOL Home Improvement Editor

Tom Kraeutler is the Home Improvement Editor for AOL.  In this column, Tom offers tips on how to build an outdoor patio or deck.

Though early autumn days may still be spent outside, it won’t be long until cooler weather and winter storms conspire to send you indoors. Before battening down the hatches, ensure a well-sealed, comfortable, worry-free haven with the smartest solutions of the season. You’ll continue to enjoy their benefits when warm weather returns, and who doesn’t appreciate shaving a few tasks from the perennial honey-do list?

Seal the deal
A leak here and a crack there may not seem like a big deal, but when precious indoor warmth is using them for escape hatches, you can be sure that your energy dollars are making the same exit. In fact, if you added up all of the cracks and gaps hiding around the average house, you’d wind up with an opening the size of a window!

Now’s the time to tighten up your home’s building envelope with a sealing treatment like GE Silicone II. Unlike acrylic-based caulking products, silicone won’t crack or shrink, and it provides the best seal against water and the elements. Silicone also lasts a lifetime, so you’ll only have to go through the application routine once. All it takes is about four tubes of GE Silicone II to seal windows, doors, electrical outlets and other air escapes around the average structure─a minimal investment when compared to the hundreds of energy dollars you’ll save in the coming year. Look for GE Silicone II at your local hardware store or home center.

Maintain a comfortable indoor climate
During the hot, sticky days of summer, you know your home would be unbearable without a central air conditioner. But during up to 40 percent of the entire year, humidity levels can be high enough to make you feel uncomfortable even at moderate temperatures. Mild fall and spring days, morning and evening hours when temperatures drop, and rainy, overcast conditions are just a few of the times when your air conditioner typically won’t be in action to help control indoor humidity.

This is where a central dehumidifier literally comes in to provide improved comfort, health, and protection of your home’s structure and furnishings. Aprilaire’s Model 1700 Whole-Home Dehumidifier can be added to your central heating and cooling system to help control moisture levels whether the air conditioning is running or not. As a result, rooms won’t feel stuffy or sticky, harmful allergens and fungi don’t have a place to thrive, and molds and mildew won’t take up residence in fabrics, furnishings or millwork. Learn more about home dehumidification and other helpful HVAC add-ons at www.Aprilaire.com.

Brush on beauty and water resistance
Rainy weather often reveals the leaks and other moisture problems lurking in basement spaces, so anything you can do now to waterproof your underground bonus area will preserve its comfort and character. A great way to finish off a below-grade space in water-resistant style is with BEHR Basement & Masonry Waterproofing Paint. Developed with Nanoguard technology, this new surface solution uses tiny nano particles to fill the voids created by larger ones, helping to prevent water penetration and moisture buildup. The alkali-resistant paint formula is also super strong, withstanding up to ten pounds of water pressure per square inch, equivalent to 22 feet of standing water.

BEHR Basement & Masonry Waterproofing Paint is formulated to prevent water penetration and moisture buildup in both above- and below-grade walls, masonry and retaining walls, cinder and concrete blocks, stucco and brick. This smooth, flat finish is water-based and available in 32 custom colors and limited computer color matching selections. Look for it in both gallon and five-gallon containers at your local Home Depot.

Safe and secure shading
Window shades make for a great year-round privacy and climate control solution, but their dangling lift cords can be a hazard for curious children and pets. Taking that safety concern to heart, Levolor now offers the only line of cordless Roman shades on the market, providing a clean, uninterrupted silhouette for windows up to 144 inches wide. Adding to the convenience of the cordless lift system is an available top down/bottom up configuration allowing you to simultaneously provide coverage and let in natural light in such zones as bedrooms and master baths. You can also give a room a style lift with a color, texture or traditional stripe pattern from among Levolor’s 90 Roman shade varieties. Start designing a safe, stylish view of the winter season with a visit to Levolor’s Roman shade gallery.

Tune up outdoor tools before hibernation
It’s been a busy summer for you, your lawn mower and the other accessories you use to keep your yard and garden looking great. As your helpers head to the shed for the winter, take time to tune them up so that they’re ready when you and your chores are next year. A good cleaning is a start, and you can now get advice and help with more complicated care issues through John Deere’s Ready To Mow Mobile Maintenance. Your local Ready To Mow rep is a factory-trained service professional who brings their “service center on wheels” to your home or business for standard maintenance and diagnosis of problems with lawn, commercial or hand-held outdoor power equipment. Any brand is fair game for this 14-point maintenance and inspection service, and because regular care has been shown to increase the life of most mechanical equipment, Ready To Mow is a convenient way to protect the investment you’ve made in your landscape maintenance arsenal. Get acquainted with this service now through the dealer directory at www.ReadyToMow.com, and you’ll be thanking yourself come spring.

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