You won’t be carolling from door to door or hosting a big holiday party this year, but your home could still use some love over the holidays.
Before you pour a glass of eggnog and light the yule log, check this home care list to ensure you have a happy holiday!
Deck the halls
Don’t risk your life like Chevy Chase — hire someone handy to string up your outdoor lights. Right now Fox is offering a Holiday Light Promo where they’ll hang your Christmas lights (as long as the job is ladder-accessible) and conduct a free electrical inspection.
“That’s the real value of hiring Fox — you have a home improvement nerd in your house, and they love answering questions,” Fox says.
Worried there’s a defect in your electrical panel? Wondering how hard it would be to protect an outdoor plug or install an extra light switch? Your Fox technician is happy to help.
If you’re determined to hang the lights yourself, Fox has one piece of advice: “Be careful not to overload your outlets with too many cords.”
He knows when you’ve been bad or good
For monitoring Christmas package deliveries (or to try and catch Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve), install a doorbell camera. You’ll receive notifications on your phone whenever the camera senses motion on your doorstep, and you can even talk to delivery workers remotely! Fox sells doorbell cameras, or they can install one you purchased elsewhere.
Sewer pipe surgeons get the yuck unstuck
What do these three things have in common?
- bacon grease
- coffee grinds
- candle wax
You guessed it: three things you should never put down the drain.
“Even if we’re not hosting large gatherings over the holidays this year, it is the season for rich, complicated meals. That can put a lot of stress on your plumbing,” Fox says. “It’s also the time of year when trees grow roots, not leaves, and they often grow into your pipes.”
With new technology, Fox can inspect and even repair your pipes without digging up your lawn or driveway. Similar to arthroscopic surgery with pin-hole cameras, technicians send a camera down your pipes, clear roots and repair cracked pipes. If you consulted a plumber a decade ago and decided there was nothing you could do, Fox says it’s worth trying the latest technology to find a new solution.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a dustbunny
Before you close the windows, turn on the heat and cozy up on the couch, Fox has a friendly reminder.
“Make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector. When we button up the house and turn on the heat, poor ventilation means carbon monoxide can accumulate — if you don’t have a detector.”
Air quality is top of mind for many this year, and one of the best ways to breathe easy is to clean your ducts.
“All the air in the house travels through the ducts, so it’s a good idea to clean them out every two to three years. Some people wait 20 to 30 years, and that means you’re breathing in all that dust and debris,” Fox says.
For more home maintenance tips, visit foxandsons.ca or follow them on Facebook. Call 1-833-739-4569 to request service for plumbing, heating, cooling or electrical issues, or schedule service online.