Latest blog entries - Simply Additions

There's a 90% Chance Your Central AC System Is Installed Wrong, Sad But True

2014-06-18T12:57:09-04:00

Did you know that about 50% of all the money we spend on heating and cooling is due to inefficiencies in the way these systems are installed?

It's a sad but true fact. A whopping 25% of your hard earned money is literally leaking out of the duct work. The other 25% comes from other installation problems with the units themselves.

The biggest problem according to John Proctor of Proctor Engineering Group is that the vast majority of heating and cooling systems are improperly installed to being with. A poor installation leads to wasted energy, future reliability problems with the units themselves, and of course a whole lot of wasted money.

The good news is that there are several things that any homeowner can do to begin the auditing process of their HVAC system. Just keep in mind that for some of these steps, you are better off printing out the article and discussing it with a licensed heating and air conditioning contractor. You can find a HVAC contractor using the form below, or using trusted sources like the Better Business Bureau.

Have a licensed professional check your HVAC system for energy efficiency by verifying the original installation. John Proctor has found that items like the compressor, coil, and capacitor will last much longer when compared to exactly the same HVAC systems that were installed by a lazy or incompetent HVAC contractors.

Did you know that about 50% of the money you spend on cooling your home is being wasted because of a improper installation?

Standard Installation - Not Good Enough

setting the outside unit
bringing the set of lines out
brazing it together
opening the valves
turning it on
and testing for cold air operation
this doesn't cut it

Proper A/C Installation

Match outside unit and inside coil
Braise the lines using nitrogen. So when you flow nitrogen through it you won't get little carbon pieces of carbon; they will end up clogging the unit and making it not work right.
Evacuate inside coil & line before refrigerant. You need to use a vacuum pump, a micron gauge, you have to pull all the moisture and air out of those lines and the inside coil before you put the refrigerant in.
Release the refrigerant into the inside coil & the lines, and then you have to check and make sure you have the right amount. Because it comes with a certain amount but it is not the right amount necessarily for your inside coil and the length of lines you actually have. You usually have to add enough refrigerant to get it up to the right amount of refrigerant in order to have the unit run at its top efficiency.
When you don't evacuate the system, because what you end up with is air and moisture in the system. Decreases durability because the excess moisture will turn into acid and corrode the system.
When you don't have the right amount of refrigerant in the system. You will have too much super heat which means the compressor will overheat and burnout. If you have too much refrigerant it's going to slug liquid back to the compressor and ruin the compressor that way.
When you have low airflow accross the inside coil.

Duct Work

Having leaky duct work system with a seer 14 AC unit will easily drop it down to a seer 10 efficiency. Then if you add the wrong amount of refrigerant in, the efficiency will drop to a seer 8. And lastly if you get the wrong amount of airflow, you're going to drop it down to a seer 7.

Air Flow

The amount of air flow across the inside coil.

4 ton air handler on a tiny duct system equals not enough air flow.

You really need to test it.

Test Method 1: Temperature Split Method

Title 24 Airflow Test in California has a temperature split method which is a common method that is easy to do. What you do is measure the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures which tells you what the humidity is as well as the temperature on the return side. And also what the temperature is on the supply side. So you see how much the temperatures drop between the return and the supply. Based on the temperature drop you can tell whether or not you got too little air flow or not.

You can compare your results with a table you get from the CDC website www.energyu.ca.gov. It's good for all the states, east coast, Saudi Arabia. If your temperature split is too high, you got too little airflow.

Test Method 2: Using a Flow Grid

This is the best way to measure the airflow. Its a device that you put in where the filter would normally be and you take a few pressure readings, and from that you can get real accurate measurements of how much airflow is flowing through the inside coil.

How do you know if you have the proper amount of airflow. Manufacturers give different specs for different regions to get air flow numbers. 450 cfm per ton across the coil in California. Georgia where it's hot and humid needs 350 cfm across the coil per ton.

What About The Size Of The Line Set Itself

As the line set gets longer you have to change the diameter of the line set. It's something that the manufacturers specify but it's most often ignored. Most often mistakes found coming from the back of the unit they will actually use a smaller line set which the machine was designed for. People actually take clamps and squeeze down the unit not put a fitting in there and braze the gap. The efficiency drops significantly using that method because there's a good pressure drop there andnothing is working right at that point.

Top Efficiency Hits

The Durability of a system depends on doing it right. If you don't do it right the first time, it's going to keep coming back and bite you.

Checking Contractors

Make sure they know what the specifications are. Then you need someway to have that information verified by a third-party. The CDC has a way The CheckMe System. www.proctoreng.com
While the technician is still on the site they gather the information and pickup the cell phone and call a toll free number, the numbers are read over the phone. It goes into a computer program that checks everything and makes sure its a good test. And since the technician is on the site, they verify that the airflow is right and that the charge is right. Also if there is a problem, the technician can address it right away. This system helps everybody.

This helps out the builder, state, and HVAC contractor. Good trade schools and manufacturers have training.

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The Polish Guide to American TV Remote Control Functions on AT&T Uverse, Comcast, and more

2014-06-20T15:41:45-04:00

My parents are old school baby boomers from Poland. They always had the convenience of having their son or daughter taking care of their business for them, something only kids of foreign parents know too well.

I already mentioned many times before in my articles and YouTube videos of how my life experiences led me to become the ProvenHelper. You see, I've been creating tutorials and tools to free up my time, because I've had many moments in my life where I basically worked for free as a translator, computer repair guy, and in some respects even a lawyer (don't ask). When your family, friends, and families friends know you can help them, before long, your free time disappears.

It's the desire to regain my free time that I started creating how-to guides, tutorials, videos, and diagrams. I even started using them professionally when I worked in IT at Pfizer, Siemens, and B/E Aerospace and a few other places.

I have no idea of how useful or popular this article and PDF guide will become for the Polish Guide to American TV Remote Controls, but I made it anyway simply because I wanted to give my mom and dad the same experiences we have. Today TV remotes are far more complicated then changing a channel and powering the devices on and off. Today we can schedule recordings, watch On Demand Programming and much much more.

I wanted to enable my parents with their limited knowledge of technology to fully understand the functions of their AT&T Uverse Television. They have no idea how much programming options already exists with their current package.

Anyways, if you have Polish parents, or a Polish friend that could benefit from actually understanding what the buttons and it's functions are on their remote control, no matter if they are a Comcast customer, Cox customer, or any of the satellite TV customers such as AT&T Uverse, Comcast, DIRECTV, DishNetwork, or Cox Cable, please print the picture or PDF out for them, or share it on their Facebook. I'm sure they will thank you immensely for unlocking the power of their cable box and remote control functions.

In my opinion every Polish household in America should have this guide printed out.

PDF of Polish Universal Remote Control Guide for AT&T Uverse and Other Carriers

Right click and select save target as or simply download the PDF then print it.

How-to Avoid Paying Large Unexpected Bills

2014-04-07T20:41:57-04:00

I never planned to become an expert producer of how-to videos and tutorials,it sort of just happened naturally, and that's why I go by ProvenHelper. Today my how-to videos have saved over 5 million YouTube viewers from having to pay expensive bills on their cars, computers, cell phones, and houses. In a nutshell, my unusual life experiences can save you from those unexpected bills when something goes wrong.

Birth of the Kid Entrepreneur

I was one of those unique kids that parents love and hate. I'm the one who would take apart your electronics and try to improve them, while you’re at work. You could come home to a TV with better reception, or a $100 toy that no longer works. When I got slightly older I taught myself how to fix computers, because when they first came out, they just kept breaking. Before I knew it, I was fixing everyone's computer around the neighborhood and the family tree, but that got old fast. Most of these people just expected the little computer wiz to fix their computer troubles for free and free doesn't buy toys, so at 14 I got myself a paper route; my first experience as an entrepreneur.

From a computer wiz at a young age in the 80's and 90's to what some might consider a gangster in my teens, back to computers & an IT (Information Technology) career in my late teens and early twenties. After that, I entered into entrepreneurship again by creating a residential construction company focused on quality by means of checklists and repeatable procedures at the age of 24. You're probably wondering why would someone who works in computers all of the sudden want to remodel houses. The short answer is, because I lost my mind; well, sort of.

Doctors Called It a Miracle

For a long time I wasn't sure why I had the opportunity to experience everything from adrenaline rushing car chases, to presenting at team meetings for a fortune 500 company with executives that had more degrees than I had in completed semesters at a local college. Recently a major catastrophic event, led me to finally figure out what I can do with the information I gained by living many different roles in one lifetime. Just think about it, from computer geek, to a kid who hung around gangsters, to an IT professional, to an award winning builder, to a self-made internet entrepreneur, and a person who took his health into his own hands and baffled many doctors in the process with his healing capabilities. If this doesn't amaze you at all, then just keep reading because it get's far more interesting next!

I was gifted as a kid, but with that gift came the desire to control situations using my above average intelligence. This backfired on me many times over the years. One time I outwitted an eye doctor when I was enrolled at Catholic elementary school, and this trickery kicked me in the ass all throughout life, because since then I cannot focus my right eye. The problem would have easily been corrected with an eye patch and 3 months of adolescent torture, but I hated the thought of glasses and being called four eyes. So I memorized the letters using my good eye, and repeated them when the doctor told me to switch from the good eye, to the bad during the eye exam.

Another famous time my above average wit screwed me was when I convinced my parents to switch me from a Catholic school to a public school. Did I mention that I lived in a city not really known for good public schools? Yeah, my first week in the sixth grade I met a Puerto Rican kid named Raul who had "Criminal" tattooed across his chest; a memento from juvenile hall. The day I met Raul, he was showing all of us the stolen car he drove to the sixth grade in. I know what you're thinking, these stories sound very far fetched, and you're right, they do. If I wasn't me, I probably wouldn't believe them, but the best part about me is that I will be showing you proof in the months ahead, so subscribe to this blog (link above) and my ProvenHelper YouTube Channel. I can only do this, if enough people show interest, otherwise, I'll just stick to making the money-saving how-to videos and articles.

So before you write me off as some punk bragging, let me tell you a few things before I get to how I got to making how-to videos and getting paid by YouTube & Google in my 30's.

I actually think that I was dyslexic when I was younger. I couldn't concentrate to read a book properly, but this was never a problem for me, because I never studied and aced my exams usually with an A or B+ anyway. In the 9th grade I was in honors science and math classes, and about that time, I already had such a collection of hooligan friends, that I hardly came to class.

No worries, I still passed these honors classes with A's and B's. One thing that I did have my entire life was a high IQ. Not so high that I could excel from high school to college, but I kind of did that anyway. When I was about 12 or 13, I found some IQ testing software and took the tests several times. I had friends who couldn't barely score over 100. I remember one of them scored in the low 80s. Anyways, I scored in the 130's and 120's at the age of 12. Later on when I took these IQ tests, last time was in 2010. I scored 158, 155, 164, etc... But by then my dyslexia had left my body, because in 2004 I had a major life changing epiphany, which began my extraordinary thirst for knowledge.

At first I read books about the subconscious mind because after my epiphany, I was making things happen as if I could influence the universe easily with my desires and beliefs. Some of my friends nicknamed me "The Wizard", while others for some dumb reason thought I was a devil worshiper, which really bothered me, but I figured they didn’t know about this power of the mind stuff, so I just let it go. In any case, I was really curious how is it that I'm making my desires manifest so quickly, so one by one, I ate up books like I was starving for this knowledge, Incidentally it’s been 11 years later and I still can’t get enough of reading books or listening to them when I go for walks, which happens to be one of my favorite things to do, because it allows me to laser focus my thoughts and workout any problem at the time.

One particular time I was working at Pfizer; you might have heard of them, they make those penis harder pills called Viagra. Yeah, so I was their Computer Engineer for awhile, and had a small team under me that I would take to lunch, so we could chat about what businesses or inventions we could start up with our combined knowledge and experience.

One of these days, post epiphany, I was telling them that I need a timing belt replacement on my 1995 Acura Legend and Pep Boys was going to charge me $600 bones. A half hour later we're heading to Panera Bread for lunch and in the parking lot, a person was pulling out of a space, but for some strange reason I couldn't find my horn button in time to warn them of my position. Let me explain, I also drove my 1999 Ford Mustang Convertible which I customized to a Saleen Speedster a lot back then, and that car had an entirely different horn setup. Like a Momo (a term I made up for those moments when anyone acts really slow), I fumbled with the steering wheel by pressing the airbag instead of any of the two little horn buttons, and the person backed right into my front bumper.

We all got out of the car, I looked at mine and a 5" spot of paint just fell off my car in a crisp paint flake. The person told me that they have too many accidents on record, and that they would rather pay for my repairs without reporting it to the police and insurance company. Normally I would say no, but I had 3 witnesses, and I took down the person's license number and all contact information. Long story, short I took it to a body shop and they quoted me at $600 for the repair. I purchased a factory colored spray paint can online for $15, sprayed the little area myself, and used the $600 to get my timing belt done. This happened only 1 hour after I told my friends at work before we went to lunch that I would somehow manifest the $600 to do my timing belt, because I didn’t feel like using my savings.

Are you still here? Thank God! I just wanted to give you a little taste of some of the strange things that have happened to me along this journey to 35 years of age. I'm currently working on creating a following on here and YouTube, so that I can share my unusual tips and highly unusual stories that I never thought about owning up to ever with the public, until now! Hey, I always thought that some of these things would make a great movie or even a miniseries. Just follow me on here and YouTube and you'll find out why. In the meantime, I’ll probably save you a few thousand dollars or more along the way, showing you how I save money all the time doing simple and complex things in an easy to follow video or article.

From overcoming a major and highly unusual health problems to manifesting the exact type of wife I wanted to end up with, my way of life is not only interesting, but it's also a collection of what I learned from being so many different things, to what I also learned from reading over 200 books about entrepreneurship, success, metaphysics, and more.

What I can tell you is that, if I was just your average boring Joe, you would have never found this article in the first place, right? Well, just as a teaser, why don't you Google "Voitek Google". That's my first name and Google, because like I said before, I make things happen, and at a time when I wanted my website mentioned on their official blog, I manifested going into their blog and going into several of their commercials on the Google Adsense channel on YouTube. I’m sure you heard of Google, and now you sort of met someone who not only gets paid by Google on an hourly bases, but they also have proof that Google themselves asked them to be in their Adsense product commercials.

What's the Bottom Line for Today? Hi, do you want to save more of your cash by avoiding big bills using my how-to videos and articles? Just last month I saved a guy $13,000 by getting him a brand new engine installed in his Out-of-Warranty Lexus. The best part is that he's not the only one who used that video to get a free engine! My sister got a brand new engine for her Nissan Altima too and so did I of course, that’s why I made the video to begin with! My mind is always ticking, and lately I’m sharing these interesting secrets for fun and to grow my dream business of working from home. Maybe one day, I’ll show you guys how you can make your own home business too!

Follow and share me everywhere you can, because it will make my day, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll will repay the people who made me the most famous in a HUGE WAY!

God Bless and don’t forget to subscribe to this blog and my YouTube channel; links are below.

Subscribe to ProvenHelper How-to Videos on YouTube

Subscribe to My Blog using the link in the top bar of the blog where it says "Life Should Always be This Simple".

Check Out The Official Press Release!

How-to Save Money On Unexpected Bills For Your Car & House by ProvenHelper

Real Answer to Is a House on a Dead End Street Bad Feng Shui

2014-03-01T18:46:22-05:00

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Looking for a new home to buy can be more of a project and risk than most of us think it is. I can honestly say that the process can feel grueling and never-ending, because buying a house is much like getting married. You have to lock in all the qualities you really can't live without and figure out which qualities you're willing to overlook, because a house much like a spouse will never be perfect and neither will be the process of finding them. In the end you still have to hunker down with faith and put your money on the one you think is the one and hope for the best. There are no guarantees in life, just educated guesses, ancient wisdom like Feng Shui and statistics.

Will This House Make Me Happy?

Do you need quick answers on how much typical home improvement projects cost, because your buying a home this year? If you are in the market to buy a new home this year, you're probably driving around town with your Samsung Galaxy, iPhone or iPad with Zillow or another mobile app, scouring the neighborhoods for good deals.

Maybe you've gone to the next step and signed a contract with a Realtor like we did. I say we because my wife and I have been looking for a 3 bedroom home for the past couple of months now, but almost every home we visit, we find ourselves asking things like "How much will it cost to remodel the bathroom", or "Do you think we can do the windows, roof, and kitchen remodel and stay within budget?". Yes folks, even a former general contractor does the same thing you do, when they shop for a home.

From siding replacement, to bedroom additions, and even adding on a garage, all of us are driving around town or searching for houses feverishly on our mobile phones, tablets and computers, thinking "Can I afford to make this home into the home I really want?". (Browse my typical home improvement costs chart; includes job costs for 35 projects.)

I'm a retired general contractor but the retired part is not so much by personal choice. The recession thanks to good old George Bush junior and a few other circumstances beyond my control, forced me to close down a business that I poured every single dollar and a whole lot of energy into. It really was a catastrophic life experience, complete with a financial disaster and an infamous health problem that could have easily snuffed me out during the last few stressful months I held that company with my Kung Fu Grip, while I desperately tried everything to save it.

Important Lessons Learned from a Catastrophic Life Experience

Lesson One: Don't put your personal life on hold while you're trying to build a nest-egg, because there's a chance you will run out of time like I did. I practically put off dating for 6 years while I was working my butt off on my business, and when my business forced me to go bankrupt, I realized that choosing to focus purely on the business was a big waste of time.

One month after I closed the doors to my business for good, I was dating again! Several months after that, I married an amazing girl from Sri Lanka, who also went through her own catastrophe, which I believe molded her into the amazing person she is today. I actually believe based on my personal experiences and by the experiences of others that huge catastrophes in life force a person to mature past their age. I'm happy to report that I'm truly happily married to my wife Kawshi, but maybe I paid the price for this happiness. What do you think? (Actually keep reading, it get's really interesting ahead)

Lesson Two: Sometimes our biggest failure leads us to the beginning of our biggest victory, as long as we focus on the positive in the midst and aftermath of a disaster. Closing down a business you spent countless hours on is exactly how you would imagine it to be, painful and depressing, and for me it was extra painful.

I have birth defect that produces superhuman levels of pain called pancreatitis. The sickness is caused by stress even though modern medicine has not confirmed this. I've written a lot about that on my other websites, because I've made remarkable progress in controlling it in my life. However when my business was drowning in debt, my pancreatitis flare-ups were torturing me every week instead of every month and that started to worry me. I manifested some highly unusual experiences fighting this health condition and on several occasions I completely bewildered my doctors. After that, I became a huge supporter of mind over matter development, which is also known as using the power of your subconscious mind. To most this type of power is fictional but when your life depends on it and you cause physiological changes within your body that doctors can't explain, you tend to develop a faith in these types of things. However fighting through a crushing defeat like a business closure that you poured your heart and soul into was far more challenging for me to keep my mental composure on and towards the end there, I found my faith wavering in my ability to get through the situation unscathed, or even alive.

Eventually I realized that because of circumstances beyond my control, I could stick around and watch a business that I've worked hard to make amazing and award winning go down in ruins or I could admit defeat and move on with my life. The fact that you're reading this right now, is a clear example of the path I chose. Right at the 11th hour I decided that my life was more important than fighting the inevitable, because it's not like I could make the banks grant $100,000 renovation loans to my customers who couldn't get approved after lending practices were changed. It was time for a reinventing of myself once again, something that I've done more than a few times in my 35 years of life!

Did the Feng Shui Dead End Street Curse Kill My Business?

Did I mention that my business office was located on a cul-de-sac, often refereed to as a dead end street? I acquired the office back in 2007 and I already knew about the dead end street significance in Feng Shui texts that says that the energy can be chaotic, stagnant, or low because it's divided among all the other properties on the cul-de-sac. We got a great deal on the rent from my business partners dad who owned the building with his partner, and we thought it would be okay. However I lost my business and my business partners dad was victimized by his business partner who stole over $100,000 from the company account. Sure it may all be a giant coincidence, or maybe there maybe something to this Feng Shui wisdom.

Putting the Nail in the Coffin

When we were furnishing the office, we went to a going out of business sale at a large office building and picked up several desks for the office, 2 old and 1 new. Turns out that Feng Shui texts also talk about the possibilities of facing the same faith as the previous business, if you acquire their place or belongings. Strike 2 indeed!

Because I did know a bit about Feng Shui, I employed several cures just in-case there was something to this mysterious 6,000 year old wisdom. Look at this picture of my old office. In the upper left corner I setup a Feng Shui water fountain and a lush plant filled green space in what's considered the wealth area. Our business always wasn't doomed you know, we grossed 1 million dollars in a little over a 14 month period right before the recession hit. And I've won so many awards for the business from the Better Business Bureau year after year that they actually asked me not to apply for next years award because it wouldn't be fair and others would think the contest is rigged. LOL, true story!

My Phoenix Like Resurrection

So I put the past behind me, decided to start fresh and rebuild my life from a financial disaster that might have been caused or helped by the dead end street Feng Shui Curse. I once again find myself in the market to buy a new home.

Now I'm saying a new home, but the fact of the matter is that I'm a newbie in the field of purely working from home by writing articles and producing Youtube videos out of all things. So the house my wife and I are looking for will be relatively new instead. Good ole Google and YouTube have to bless me with a few extra thousand bucks in my monthly paychecks, before we can buy or build that shiny new house we really want, but I digress.

Oprah Went To School Here

We are currently looking for a newer home. Just today we had our hopes shattered once again, when we set them so high to look at a very promising 3 bedroom raised ranch in a very appealing neighborhood. The house was just listed and no photos were provided on Zillow, Trulia, or anything else; just one measly Google Streetview photo. But what was provided was the fact that this particular home was right on the town line, between a town that's A-okay, and another town that is just plain great, but generally above our current price range.

By great town, I mean low taxes and some of the absolute best quality schools in Connecticut (Have you ever heard of Oprah? I thought you might, she actually went to one of these schools!) . We were excited beyond reason for the showing and I even drove down there while my wife was at work, to text her a few photos because she couldn't wait to go see it herself.

That's one of the benefits of working from home, I can leave the house whenever I please you know, but to be honest I find myself constantly working on my business because my goals are larger than life and my thirst for fancy cars is never going to be quenched in entirety like Jay Lenos. Speaking about making money from home, have you seen this lovely ad before :)

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Giving a Dead End Street A Second Look

So long story short, we let ourselves get excited once again, and today at 9am we met with our Realtor at the house that was said to be in need of a little TLC . Now mind you we are not morning people, so to meet our Realtor on the weekend at 9am, was a slight exertion of effort on our part. Anyways, we get to the house and pull into the crackled driveway. Then the nit picking begins, as we wait for our real-estate agent to pull up.

"Look at the siding, it's dirty, look at the garage door, the paint is peeling", "Why are all the bushes dying?". As we waited, we just kept noticing small imperfections with the house on the quiet cul-de-sac and then our real- estate agent pulled up in her slick and silver Mercedes. Now the inspection of the house we were ready to put a full price offer on, because of the location and taxes, begins.

Oh my God! WTF! Were my first thoughts. Pardon my acronyms, but this guy was the biggest pig ever! I say guy because I did a little Google espionage the day before on the house and found out that the owner is in his mid 40's, and he's been living there for about 11 years. First the carpet was so far beyond the original color, we had no idea what the original color was. Then we saw his ugly black fireplace surround! I mean who paints their outdated fireplace surround bricks gloss black! And I'm not talking about someone who made a contemporary looking fireplace surround, nope. We're talking about someone who drank a 12 pack of Miller Light and thought he's a Picasso with a black spray paint can, type of fireplace.

So besides the dirtiest ceilings we ever saw, soot on the walls and ceiling form the pellet stove. There was massive spiderwebs on the ceiling corners, 45 electric guitars in every room, and 8 cases of Miller Light beer in the bathroom. This house was in need of everything. We're talking about all new flooring, paint everywhere,new kitchen, new bathrooms, new windows, new doors, new HVAC system, pretty much a complete new interior. Yeah, our heart sank within seconds of the showing. This house is the definition of what can go wrong while living on a dead end street. He's in his forties, the house is dirty and broken everywhere, and he doesn't seem to be married, because what women would dare to eat or sleep in a cold, dark, dingy, dungeon?.

Rock & Roll Should be on the Radio

Can you imagine setting yourself up thinking this house might be the one, then walking into Ozzy Osborne's bachelor pad from hell? Yeah, within 30 seconds of viewing this dead end street house, we knew right away there's no way in hell we'll put in a full price offer on it, EVER. Hell, the house probably needs at least $30,000 in repairs alone (It had a roof leak too), not to mention things we would want to upgrade there like the heating system, kitchen, and bathrooms. Plus, how much is an exorcism anyway? We don't think it's haunted, but it sure doesn't look like it's not haunted, and it is located on a Dead End Street!

Is A House on a Dead End Street Bad Feng Shui? YES!!!

I can't say that I'm a Feng Shui Guru, but ever since I read a few books about it, I cannot help but notice that I see similarities between what the books say, and what actually happens in real life, either to me or other people I know. I'm not superstitious, but if something seems to be happening to the occupant of a house and the Feng Shui principals I memorized pretty much spell out the persons circumstances, it may be a good idea to learn what not to do at the very minimum, right?

You're not going to catch me hanging wooden flutes above a doorway, but you may find me not facing my bed towards the bedroom door, which is considered the Feng Shui death position!

Hey we live in an amazing universe and no one exists that really knows all the rules. Many have tried to explain how the universe works in entirety like Albert Einstein, and some are still trying to create the theory of everything like Mr. Steven Hawking. All I know is that I tend to follow the wisdom of whatever worked in my life so far, and what seems to work in the lives of others on average. On that note, please visualize me being the first trillionaire who dedicates mas fortunes to improving all of our lives :) Hey, it was worth as shot wasn't it?

Subscribe to my blog, I'm just getting started here, but this was one of my first real blog posts and I hope you enjoyed it. And if you don't mind, share it this on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other place where you think someone might enjoy it too.

Take Care of yourself and prepare yourself for some unique blog posts in the future, because as you will learn in my future blogs, I'm a pretty unique individual. Afterall, how many people you know have their own Google Commercial?

Voitek {loadposition responseblog}

A Cold Weather Checklist: How to Winterize Your Home

2014-01-04T19:51:07-05:00

No one likes a cold home or paying outrageous utility bills trying to keep warm in cold weather. This checklist helps you beat the cold and keep your heating costs down.

As we move past first day of every winter on December 21, Americans across the country are begin to experience colder temperatures and winter weather, some even experiencing severe snowstorms and dangerous, icy conditions. Time to whip out the Cold Weather Checklist, written by a general contractor who transformed many older homes in New England into much more modern and efficient houses.

When snowflakes start to fall, Americans match up their mittens, dig up their winter boots, and buckle down to weather the storm. But if you’re like many people, you might not always think about adding your house to the winter-weather checklist.

With these expert winterizing tips, you can make your home warm and cozy without breaking the bank on those cold-weather energy bills. We’ll start with the easiest chores at the beginning of our list, to ease you into the winterizing wonderland:

Clean your gutters

This allows melting snow and freezing rain to properly drain throughout the winter season. Start by removing all leaves and debris from your home’s gutters. Use your hands, use a spatula, or, if you’ve read our 2013 Ultimate Leaf-Blower Buying Guide, you can even use your leaf blower to quickly remove gutter debris. Finish up by rinsing the gutters out with a hose – while you do this, look for leaks and make sure that the gutters and downspouts carry water away from the house’s foundation.

Block air leaks and drafts underneath doors and windows

On a chilly, windy day, walk around your house and check near doors and windows for drafty spots. You can easily block these drafts with a draft snake, or even a rolled up bath towel. For air leaks around windows, use weather-resistant caulk on the outside of the house, or weather stripping, to keep the cold air on the outside, where it belongs.

Change your furnace filters once a month while you’re heating your house

Throughout the winter, regularly check your furnace’s air filter. Dirty filters can impede air flow and reduce efficiency, costing you more money in the long run. A dirty filter can also pose a fire hazard, so this is one step you won’t want to skip.

Check the insulation in your attic

You should have at least 12 inches of insulation in your attic. If you don’t, take the plunge and add insulation to what you already have. This will cost money initially, but it will save you money in the future.

Wrap your pipes:

Wrapping pipes in insulation helps on several fronts – this will prevent your pipes from freezing during cold weather, allow you to reduce the heat on your boiler, and get hot water to your sink or shower sooner – no more waiting five minutes for the shower to heat up.

Now here’s where you’ll want to call in a professional

Call an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace and to clean and inspect heating ducts. Your furnace and heating ducts are both crucial to keeping your home warm in the winter. There are several functions that should be checked on each of these, so although it might cost some money, this is one that’s best left up to the pros.

Check your chimney:

Have a certified professional inspect your chimney and remove any hazards within the chimney.

BONUS: Run your ceiling fans in reverse! Most people don’t know this is possible – even I didn’t know this function existed until just recently – but most new ceiling fan units can actually be run in reverse. A switch on the fan reverses the directions of the blades, so they begin to rotate clockwise, instead of counterclockwise. The clockwise motion of the blades actually pushes warm air down and recirculates it throughout the room. So turn that switch, warm up, and use this fun fact as an ice breaker at your next holiday party – your friends will be amazed by how handy you are!

We hope these tips help you to effectively winterize your home this year. Stay warm out there!