Winter Driving Tips - Warming up the car

Winter Driving Tips - Warming up the car

- Jeff Voth, Yahoo! Canada Autos

Those of us who live in a four-season climate are used to the idea of allowing our vehicles to warm up on a cold winter's day. But with the technology in today's automobiles, is this still something we should be doing? The simple answer is no. For the most part, letting your vehicle idle for long periods of time in the cold is not only bad for the environment, but can cause serious damage to your engine and emission system.

In the past, most vehicles employed a carburetor to deliver fuel to the engine. Today, almost all cars, trucks and SUVs on the road use some form of electronic fuel injection. In a cold engine, the computer management system tells the fuel injectors to stay open longer allowing more fuel to flow into the engine in part to keep the engine running cool. Trying to warm up the engine at slightly above idle speed is actually doing the reverse and inviting additional problems.

Cold engines produce a much higher level of unburned hydrocarbons as fuel needs heat to burn efficiently. Even the best catalytic converter is unable to process 100 per cent while running at maximum temperature, so allowing the engine to idle for extended periods of time can start to clog the system.

In addition, spark plugs may also become plugged or dirty due to inefficient fuel burning. Older vehicles required regular maintenance, calling for spark plugs to be changed every 30,000 km. Today, almost all engines employ an electronic ignition system that requires spark plugs to be changed at intervals in the range of 100,000 km. An engine at idle for extensive periods of time could dramatically shorten the life of your plugs, causing you to spend hard-earned money on unnecessary service and maintenance.

A better approach is to start your vehicle and let it run for up to one minute before driving away. This will allow fluids to begin flowing through the engine and then warm up to efficient temperatures under normal driving conditions.

Should the temperature outside dip below freezing, allow a maximum of four to five minutes of idle time before driving away. This should be just enough time to clean off any snow or ice that may have accumulated on the windows. While you may not be warm as toast on the way into work or school, you will benefit by saving money at the pump and garage and by driving a vehicle that runs cleaner and more efficient for many years to come.

Profile on Jim Hamilton

JIM HAMILTON GOT MORE THAN AN INSPECTION

When he was selling his home 15 years ago - he got a career.

“I was going through a difficult period in my life around that time and I was unemployed. I was selling my house and I had an inspector come and look at the home,” says Hamilton, who has worked for HomeCrafters Home Inspection Services Ltd. since then and in 2009 bought the company.

“I had heard about home inspectors before and I thought it was intriguing, so I decided to become one.”

With his extensive experience in building construction, Hamilton decided to change his career path and began inspecting homes.

“It’s not what people think it is,” Hamilton says. “Most of the time you’re dealing with people, whether it be homeowners or Realtors. That, along with doing the inspections and the paperwork involved, make it pretty busy.”

Home inspectors visually inspect house and/or apartment systems and components, looking for damage or evidence of deterioration, amateur maintenance work or improperly installed components.

Hamilton’s day generally starts at 8:00 a.m. “The night before every shift, I pick up my inspection orders, which tell me where I have to go for my inspection the next day.”

With three inspections every day, Hamilton leaves directly from his home. “I usually get there around five to 20 minutes early so I can take a look around the outside of the home before anyone else gets there,” he says. “Then, once I’ve met with the Realtor and the homeowner, we go over the entire house, starting at the basement and working our way up to the attic.

“We look for major defects in areas such as the roof, the structure, plumbing, heating, electrical systems and the exterior,” says Hamilton. “We also give clients an idea of how the home works and where system controls are located.  We tag all emergency shut-offs in the home so they can be located quickly when needed.”

In order to be able to spot defects in a home, people who want to become inspectors must have a well rounded knowledge about the structures of homes and buildings and how they work. This can be acquired through a combination of training and work experience in areas such as power engineering, construction or architecture. They must also have good oral and written communication skills, good problem solving skills and be able to understand common building codes.

Once the inspection is complete, Hamilton prints out a report outlining the flaws in the home, describing in detail the methods used to identify problems in the home as well as what may be the result if repairs are not made.

While there are no set requirements for those interested in becoming inspectors, most companies require them to be certified carpenters, engineering technologists or have expertise in a similar field.

The Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (CAHPI) have a voluntary training program that many inspectors take.  "You can work in this industry without that training, but then you can't call yourself a Registered Home Inspector," Hamilton says.

Jim is a Journeyman Carpenter, is certified by CAHPI, ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) and is also a Level I Building Investigations Thermographer.

With more than 15 years in the Home Inspection industry and 10,000 plus inspections under his belt, you can trust that Jim Hamilton and HomeCrafters Home Inspection Services will keep you in good hands!

Helpful Hints For Winter

Helpful Hints For Winter:

1. Keep your headlights clear with car wax!  Just wipe ordinary car wax on your headlights.  It contains special water repellents that will prevent that messy mixture from accumulating on your lights and lasts upto 6 weeks! 
2. Squeak-proof your wipers with rubbing alcohol!  Wipe the wipers with a cloth saturated with rubbing alcohol or ammonia.  This one trick can make badly streaking and squeaking wipers change to near perfect silence and clarity.
3. Ice-proof your windows with vinegar!  Frost on it's way?  Just fill a spray bottle with three parts vinegar to one part water and spritz it on all your windows at night.  In the morning, they'll be clear of icy mess.  Vinegar contains acetic acid, which raises the melting point of water - preventing water from freezing!
4. Prevent car doors from freezing shut with cooking spray!  Spritz cooking oil on the rubber seals around car doors & rub it in with a paper towel.  The cooking spray prevents water from melting into the rubber.
5. Fog-proof your windshield with shaving cream!  Spray some shaving cream on the inside of your windshield and wipe it off with paper towels.  Shaving cream has many of the same ingredients found in commercial defoggers.
6. De-ice your lock in seconds with hand sanitizer!  Just put some hand sanitizer gel on the key and the lock and the problem is solved!

Basement Waterproofing Tips

Basement Waterproofing Tips

The top three problems my home-buying clients were concerned about can best be summed up this way:  water, water and water!  Waterproofing your home is the surest way to make sure buyers stay interested.
While leaks through roofs, pipes and basements are constant concerns, a wet, leaking basement always ranked highest as the home improvement problem most likely to send buyers running for the nearest open house.

Whether you are a buyer, seller or owner of a home, wet basements are always a concern. Not only is a wet basement unusable, flooded foundations can be seriously weakened and toxic mold--the newest threat to residential indoor air quality--can fester faster when an ample supply of water lies just underfoot.


The good news about these unplanned indoor pools is this: while wet basements are often thought of as one of life's biggest home repair headaches, they are generally easy and inexpensive to fix. Yes, that's right--easy and inexpensive!

The wrong way to waterproof a wet basement. 

Ask 10 people how to fix a wet basement and you're likely to get answers that include use of jackhammers to break up basement floors, backhoes to dig out dirt from foundation walls, sump pumps that have to be wired and plumbed, and other such drastic and expensive measures.

While these solutions may seem to make sense, they all attempt the impossible: to seal a foundation so tightly that it will somehow hold off water like a boat. Well, unless your house is a house boat, it won't float, so you might as well stop thinking about all the ways to keep it from doing that.

Most people blame a wet basement on a high water table, the natural level of water in the soil under the building site. This is another myth, because homes are not built below water tables. Builders attempting such a feat would find themselves constructing a foundation in a muddy mess. Likewise, basements that flood after a storm are never caused by rising water tables. A water table moves slowly and seasonally. If basement leaks show up after a heavy rainfall or snowmelt, the cause of your problem is far easier to spot and to fix.

Most basement leaks can be traced to trouble with the drainage conditions around the outside of the house. If  too much water is allowed to collect in the soil around the foundation, it will naturally leak into the basement through the walls, or even up through the center of the floor.

The waterproofing solution lies in improving these drainage conditions, which is easy, cheap and highly effective.

Here's where to begin...

Good gutters. 

Roof drainage is, by far, the number one cause of basement leakage. Since roof surfaces are as large as the house, they collect lots of water in heavy rainstorms. What happens to that collected water can mean the difference between a wet and a dry basement.

Properly designed gutters should have at least one downspout for every 600 to 800 square feet of roof surface. Gutters must be clean, because dirty gutters fill up and the water overflows directly to where you don't want it: near the foundation. It's also important to make sure the ends of the downspouts are extended to discharge at least four to six feet from the foundation. Spouts which discharge too close to the foundation are like big fire hoses blasting water into the basement.

If your yard and local building laws permit, one of the best ways to control roof drainage is to discharge downspouts into solid PVC plumbing pipes that run underground and release water to the street or to another low-lying area. When making this improvement, be sure to pitch the pipe slightly toward the discharge point to avoid backups. Also, don't attempt this with the soft, flexible black pipe that landscapers like to use around flower beds, because it's easily crushed and cannot be snaked clean like PVC plumbing pipe can.

Sloping soil. 

Next to gutter problems, the angle of the soil around the foundation perimeter can also cause wet basement woes. The soil should slope away from the house to keep rainfall from collecting against foundation walls.

The angle and type of soil are also important. The soil should slope downward six inches over the first four feet from the foundation wall. Thereafter, it can be graded more gradually but should never allow water to run back toward the house.

If grading needs improvement, use clean fill dirt (not topsoil) to build up the soil around your house. Tamp the soil down to the correct slope and finish with a layer of topsoil and grass seed to prevent erosion. Or, just use stone or mulch. Whatever the top layer is, be certain the slope is established with the fill dirt, or else the water will just run through the more porous material and into the basement. Also, don't use straight topsoil for the grading improvement. This kind of soil is too organic and will hold water against the foundation, which is the opposite of what needs to be done.

It is also important to avoid landscape treatments that hold soil close to the house. A brick, stone or timber landscape edging around flower beds adjacent to foundation walls may look attractive, but these edges can prevent water from draining away from the foundation and increase your risk of basement flooding.
Following these simple guidelines will solve 99 percent of wet basement blues. These waterproofing improvements are inexpensive and can usually be done yourself or with a little help from your friends.

Avoid panic-peddling waterproofing contractors. 

If you've ever thought about hiring a so-called waterproofing contractor to fix your wet basement, don't. Basement waterproofing contractors can often be rip-off artists that attempt to scare homeowners into an expensive drainage system when they're usually not needed.

*excerpt from http://themoneypit.com