If you have condensation in your home, you have a serious problem. Condensation that accumulates on your home’s windows can cause damage to your window sills, drywall, flooring; and worst of all it will damage your wall studs.

I won’t go into all of the reasons here as to how humudity, temperature and more lead to condensation, but, instead, I will just get to the point and show you a few solutions that will help you rid your problems.

Turn on your properly ventilated exhaust fans when cooking and showering. If you don’t have properly ventelated exhaust fans, have them installed. This shouldn’t cost you more than a few hundred dollars, and these few hundred dollars could save you thousands. The steam created from cooking and showering can put excessive moisture in the air and lead to killer condensation.

If you have bare earth exposed in your crawl space, this will also contribute to condensation accumulating inside the house. If this is the case, you need to have a plastic vapor barrier or ground cover installed. 6-mil, black plastic will do the job and will effectively keep moisture from the bare earth out of your home.

It is also important to be sure that you have enough foundation vents to provide adequate ventilation to the crawl space. This will keep the temperature regulated in the crawl space and help prevent excessive moisture. If your home has old foundation vents that you have to open and close by hand, I recommend replacing them with automatic foundation vents. Automatic foundation vents will open and close on their own, under the necessary temperatures

If you have a vapor barrier and foundation vents in place, the last thing you need to do is make sure that your floor in the crawl space is properly insulated.

Last but not least, make sure that your attic is properly ventilated and insulated.
.





.




Building permit requirements will vary from town to town, so it is very important for anyone planning home repair or improvements to become familiar with the requirements before any type of construction begins.
In the Town of Christiansburg, a building permit is required when:
• A dormer window will be added to your house. *
• Attic pull-down stairs are going to be installed.
• Before you plan to relocate stairs.
• Before you build a roof for a deck, porch or patio. * **
• Before you build an above grade deck, porch or patio. * **
• Before resurfacing a driveway with changing the curb cut. **
• Before constructing a new driveway. **
• Before constructing or excavating a basement under an existing dwelling. *
• Before constructing an entrance into a basement. *
• Before constructing a masonry fireplace.
• Before building a masonry chimney for a wood stove.
• Before installing a prefabricated fireplace. Note: manufacturer’s instructions on fireplace must be submitted as plans.
• Before building or removing partitions or finishing a basement. *
• Before constructing a retaining wall longer than four feet. **
• Before building a brick or privacy wall. * **
• Before installing pre-manufactured storage shed or building. **
• Before building a storage shed or building. * **
• Before building storage shed that will be attached to a carport.* **

*Building plan also required. **Plot plan also required.

To obtain a permit in Christiansburg, visit: Christiansburg Town Hall,
100 East Main St.,Christiansburg, VA
To learn more about the permit and inspection process in Christiansburg: http://www.christiansburg.org/index.aspx?NID=81

Central Vacuum systems only have one drawback: The vac replacement bags are hard to find. You can find bags for regular, upright vacuum cleaners just about anywhere, but you will have to search everywhere to come across one in Christiansburg, Radford, Blacksburg or anywhere else in the New River Valley. If you are lucky, you might find one to fit your vac model at some little vac shop, but the chances are better that you will not.
Sure, the vac shop people will offer to order you some, but you can bet that you will be paying big money for them. Why pay them to order the bags for you when you can order them yourself, just as easy, for a lot less money.
If you have a Nutone or Beam Electrolux Central Vac System, simply order your bags online. All you need to know is the model number, make or series of vac that you have installed, and all of that information is located on the unit or canister. Central vac bags can last a long time, so one small order should do you for a while.
Order your bags online >>>>



One of the most common problems that people experience with their central vac system is reduced suction.

Common solutions for central vac suction loss:

a. Check canister or filter bag. If full, empty canister or replace filter bag.
b. Check that filter bag is not damaged, If damaged, simply replace or repair.
c. Check to be sure that secondary filter is not dirty. If filter is dirty, clean or replace.
d. Check that exhaust vent is not blocked or clogged. If clogged, clear blockage.
e. Check that the latches on the vac unit have been fastened properly. Check that the canister’s
rubber seal is seated on the canister correctly.

If none of the solutions above fix your problem, you may have a clog. Your next step will be to determine if the clog is in your hose or in your tubing.
Take your vac hose and connect it directly to dirt canister inlet. Next, turn on the vac unit. If the hose has reduced suction, the clog is in the hose. If the hose has normal suction then the clog exist in
your tubing.

If the hose is clogged:

a. Plug the hose in reverse into the inlet located on the vac unit and turn the power on. This should remove the clog. If not, try solution (b).
b. Remove the hose from the inlet and push a garden hose through the vac hose to remove the clog. Be sure that you do not turn the water hose on. No water should ever enter the vac system hose.

If the clog is in the tubing:

a. Plug hose into each outlet and place hand over hose to build up pressure and then release. If this doese not remove the clog, try solution (b).
b. Remove the canister from the vac unit. After the canister has been removed, try connecting a shop vac to each central vac inlet untill you find the clog. In most cases, this will remove the clog in your tubing. If this does not work, try solution (c).
c. Try inserting a plumber’s snake into the outlet to push the clog out.



If none of the above solutions address your central vac’s performance issues, you should contact your local central vac service technician. If you live in Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Radford or in the New River Valley, you can contact Profixes Home Repair and Maintenance of Virginia for central vac service and repair.

Most people would agree that natural light is more pleasant and more comfortable than artificial light, but does everyone really understand the benefits of natural lighting?
Natural light produced by the sun can benefit the body in many ways, and it has been proven that natural (full-spectrum) lighting is healthier than artificial lighting.
For example, natural lighting sources trigger your body to produce Vitiman D, which boost the immune system and builds strong bones and teeth. Vitiman D has also been proven to treat a variety of disorders including some cancers.
Everyone can benefit, in one way or another, from the effects of natural lighting, so why not consider bringing more sources of natural lighting in to your home.
The easiest and most affordable way to add natural lighting to your home is to replace your existing light bulbs with natural, full-spectrum, light bulbs. These bulbs can be purchased at most of your local home improvement warehouses, and are highly effective at bringing the benefits of natural light indoors and work wonders at reducing eyestrain as well.
Full-spectrum light bulbs work great, but if you really want to take advantage of all of the benefits of natural lighting, you should consider installing tubular skylights in your home.

Skylights are a great way to bring natural light into your home. However, traditional skylights are a significant source of energy loss, and they often don’t distibute light evenly enough and can cause UV damage to carpets, wood floors, and home furnishings. But tubular skylights, on the other hand, will bring natural light into your home without all of the disadvantages associated with these traditional skylights.
Tubular skylights distibute light evenly. They are energy effecient and will cut down the cost of your electric bills.

Tubular skylights have a roof-mounted light collector with a highly durable acrylic lens positioned inside a rust-proof metal frame.

Most tubular sky lights have a highly reflective sun scoop in the roof assembly that directs the sunlight into a metal tube which has a mirror-like reflective interior coating. This reflective tube guides the captured sunlight to a diffuser lense, mounted on the interior ceiling surface, that distributes light evenly throughout the room.

Installing tubular sylights is the best way to bring the benifits of natural light into your home, and they are suprisingly inexpensive to install.


Contact your local home improvement specialist today and ask them if they install tubular skylights.
If you live in Blacksburg, Christinsburg, Radford or surrounding areas of Virginia, contact Profixes Home Repair and Maintenance for your free tubular skylight estimate www.profixes.com