According to the National Association for Realtors, 90% of home buyers are now searching online as part of the home buying process.

With that, there an increasing number of apps available today that allow buyers one of the most convenient ways to search and find the home they’re looking for.

But what are the best apps to help you find that new home?

• Redfin

If you were only going to download one app, it should be Redfin.

One of the best apps of its kind on the market, you can search nearby condos, homes, townhouses, and open houses, view photos, and top-down maps.

It also includes features like short sales alters, a foreclosure notifier, and updates on homes that are for sale by owner.

It has some useful built-in sharing tools as well, so you can share your favorite properties with your partner, spouse, or friends easily via social media, email, or text message.

This free app gives basically gives you the same information used by agents on-the-go, including that realtor in Dallas, or pretty much any other city in the country.

 

• HomeSnap

This app isn’t your typical home-search app. Extremely useful, just snap a pic of any home and it will reveal details like interior photos, home value estimates, schools in the area and school ratings, taxes, lot boundaries, and more.

It has sharing and messaging features when you want to get someone else’s opinion, and you can even chat with realtors after taking a photo.

 

• Dwellr

Dwellr has remained under-the-radar, but it’s a great one to download as it’s the information hub for neighborhood and city stats and more.

Run by the US Census, it matches data with your location preferences to reveal a list of potential relocation towns that best fit your needs and lifestyle.

It considers how you get to work, home values, schools, and more after you answer a series of questions.

Afterward, it displays a list of the top 25 cities that meet your specific criteria.

 

• Xome

This integrated real estate platform will allow you to streamline your home-to-buy search using applications like Zoom.

With this app, just as the name implies, you can “zoom in” on any of the million houses in its property list.

The list is refreshed every 15 minutes so that any building that has been purchased would be excluded within few minutes.

If you’re searching for that rare home in a highly-desirable neighborhood, it’s a great way to learn when it comes available before just about anyone else.

You can use the filter to search by price range, square footage, property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and many other criteria.

One of its highlights is the “Xome Concierge” which will connect you with an agent who can answer questions or schedule a showing.

When you’re selling a home, most people have their minds on the money that’s coming in more than they do on the money they may need to spend. 

Although receiving a couple hundred thousand dollars may sound nice, realizing you have to spend a few thousand dollars can dampen the mood.

Here are four expenses that show up when you’re selling your home so that you won’t get blindsided by costs!

Staging

If you want to convince someone into buying a home, it’s easier if the place gets dressed to the nines. 

Unless you’re an interior decorator that’s okay with leaving your furniture there until your home sells, most people don’t have a magazine quality home.

Unfortunately, dressing your home to the nines isn’t cheap to do.  House staging companies charge, on average, five hundred dollars a month.

The consultation, before you even get the furniture, can easily cost three hundred dollars.  If your house doesn’t sell right out of the gate, this could quickly rack up a cost that goes into the thousands.

The good news is that staged houses sell faster and for more money if you can hold out!

 

Realtor Fees

If you’re currently working with a realtor to sell your home, you may be giving up to two percent of the money your house makes. 

This expense can add up quickly and take off the money you’d hope you could put toward your next home.  There’s a reason they’re so expensive. 

Realtors make sure to get people into your home since it’s their job.  They can get your listing on more sites and will work harder to get people into your door.  If you want a realtor, be prepared to make the price.

 

Home Repairs

If you have trouble selling, and a buyer puts in an offer as long as you cover repairs, you might have to agree to their terms.

The buyer has to deal with a lot of expenses, probably hunched over a house payment calculator and will try to get you to lower the price as much as possible. 

You should be flexible, but make sure to be reasonable and not bend too much.

 

Inspection

Nobody wants to go into owning a house blindly; we like to know that the place we picked is safe and will last for years to come. 

Because of this, everyone has to get a home inspection.  A home inspection can cost from two to three-hundred dollars. 

There’s no getting around this expense since most realtors require one- and most buyers won’t even look at a home that won’t get inspected. 

Certain testing, like radon or mold, can cost more but maybe worth it depending on your home location.

You’ll be making a lot of money from your home, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get off scot-free! 

Budgeting and planning ahead will make sure that you keep the most of your money to put it towards your next fantastic home.

 

All good things in life come with an expiration date. In the winters, you need to ensure that your furnace is up to the task of keeping you warm.

If you have had it for quite a while now, you need to pay attention to certain clues about what’s (possibly) wrong with it.

In this article, we look at the warning signs that scream out the need to replace it.

 

Going through these will help you to know

• The average life of a furnace blower motor,
• When it’s leaking carbon monoxide and likely going to explode,
• Whether to replace the blower motor or buy a new furnace

 

Your Furnace is More than 15 Years Old

Most modern ones have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years.

Most people will start looking for a furnace at the 15-year mark, but there are many ways by which you can make the most out of your existing furnace.

You can, for instance, make sure that the breakers and shut off switches are in working conditions.

You could also replace the clogged filters with clean ones that will enable proper airflow.

However, if you find yourself repairing it often, then it is one of the most evident signs you need a new furnace.

They are like cars – the older they get, the more maintenance they will require.

On the other hand, if it is working fine without any need for maintenance, but you’d like to get the utility bill down, there are a few options available.

Upgrade your thermostat, clean ducts, get a portable heater, or add extra blankets in your house.

You can always check in with the HVAC experts to know which option may be the best for you, depending on your furnace.

 

Visible Soot around the Registers

One of the clear-cut signs of a broken furnace is if it starts to spew out dust and dirt particles.

It can not only be irritating to those who want to keep a clean house but can also be dangerous to your family’s health.

Finding rust or soot around the registers is a sign that it has excessive CO2. It can cause dryness which is bound to affect furniture, walls, flooring, and plants.

Soot around the furnace registers may end up causing irritation, headaches, dry eyes, and respiratory problems, especially for people who have asthma.

That is why it is best to change your furnace if there is visible soot around the registers.

 

Noisy Furnace

If it has gotten louder through the years, it may be time to get a new unit.

The different types of noises will tell you what to know when replacing a furnace.

Depending on the damage, you may need to replace a few parts or the whole unit.

• Rattling: This noise usually occurs if there are loose screws or sheet metal inside it. It could also be the result of an unsecured duct or an unbalanced lower motor.
• Popping: This noise comes about when the parts within the furnace become hot or cool with changes in temperature.
• Humming: If it begins to hum, it could be due to a failure of the blower fan motor. The fan motor usually produces humming sounds, but they should never get too loud or disruptive.
• Screeching: This could be a sign of a deteriorating belt, a loose bearing, or an overall issue with the blower/inducer motor.

 

Higher Utility Bills

The older it is, the harder it will have to work to generate heat, and as a result of this, your energy consumption and utility bills rise skyward.

If you witness sharp increases in bills and your furnace technician knows you by name, it is one of the obvious signs you need a new furnace.

You can compare temperature changes and the energy use per year to check if the furnace is indeed working harder and longer hours than it used to.

 

The Temperatures in Different Rooms are Different

As time passes, your furnace will lose the ability to efficiently and adequately heat your house uniformly.

As a result, some rooms become colder than others do.

The most likely reason for this is the outdated duct system of your old furnace that has lost its ability to distribute heat evenly and efficiently throughout the house.

 

Your Burner Flame is Yellow When it should Be Blue

If your burner flame comes out yellow, it is a clear indication that carbon monoxide is being produced in your furnace.

If not that, at the very least, your furnace is not able to burn fuel efficiently.

Anytime the flame color is anything other than blue. It signifies incomplete combustion or a potentially dangerous situation such as a gas leak or production of carbon monoxide.

Carbon Monoxide is dangerous to your health. It is tasteless, odorless, and colorless, its exposure can be lethal.

A few other indications that your furnace is producing carbon monoxide are as follows:

• Soot around the furnace
• There is no upward draft in the chimney
• Moisture on walls, windows, and other cold surfaces
• Rusting on pipe connections

Get out of the house and call your utility company to turn the gas off if your furnace shows signs of carbon monoxide production.

At this stage, you would have to replace your existing furnace with a new one.

 

Conclusion

If you spot even three of the signs mentioned above, it is high time that you replace it.

Knowing when to replace the furnace will help you in the end.

It will keep your repair costs and your utility bills under control, and it will keep you from potential dangers of a malfunctioning furnace.

You may still need to get the furnace properly installed to get it working to its full capacity.

For such purposes and many more, contact HVAC professionals.

 

Signature

Kay Burton is a writer for homemakerguide and as an expert mechanic, gardener, builder and a DIY specialist that can repair everything that’s related to a house and garden.

To regulate the electric energy that is flowing to your electronics, you need stabilizers, and in that, your best option should be a servo voltage stabilizer.

Servo voltage stabilizers are developed with advanced technology and latest equipment in the stabilizer production.  It uses the servo-motor and buck-boost transformer for high-speed voltage corrections.

There are leaders in the manufacturing of servo voltage stabilizers, such as Oil cool, Purevolt and Sevolife.

These companies have some of the best manufacturing plant and they dispatch their  products to various fields like Educational institutions, Hospitals, Petrol pumps, Residential, Highways and many more.

A good servo voltage stabilizer will make your electrical appliance more durable and improves the life by stabilizing the voltage fluctuations. These stabilizers are much needed in summer and winter seasons as that is the only time of power fluctuations.

There are different types of Servo controlled voltage stabilizers in terms of how it was engineered. We have the 3phase oil-cooled, air-cooled and many more.

Some electrical appliance like doorbells, home security sensors, X-ray machines etc gets affected when there is a high voltage whereas refrigerators, compressors get affected when there is a low voltage supply.

So to get rid off such conditions, using a very good servo voltage stabilizer is a good choice to make and save your appliances from quick damage.

It protects your electronics from overload at the input, getting the constant output voltage and protecting the electrical appliances from voltage fluctuations.

While the stabilizer with multiphases which is good when there are many appliances to be connected to it may be a little expensive, you can still get a single phase servo stabilizer with low voltage at a reasonable price.

However, to be able to control the voltage supply in severe conditions, the best thing is to go for the 3phase voltage stabilizer to provide stable output and lifelong performance of any electrical appliances.

 

Conclusion

Voltage fluctuation can really wreck havoc to your electrical appliances. While some products can accomodate this fluctuation, using a stabilizer will help enhancing the durability of your electrical appliances

Most kitchens are the gathering point for all families.

It is the heart of the home and the most critical family room in your whole house.

Dealing with a small kitchen can be quite frustrating.

Even in larger kitchens, it is very easy to run out of space quickly with all the appliances, such as coffee makers and microwaves on your counter.

So, if you are considering remodeling your kitchen to be more space-efficient, there are plenty of places to look for inspiration — including these Omaha homes for sale that have revolutionized small kitchen spaces.

Here are a few pro tips for remodeling your kitchen.

• Material Choices you make

With a smaller kitchen, it is essential to mix materials to give it some exciting details.

One huge advantage of undergoing a minor kitchen remodel is that there is less square footage to pay for.

You can also get creative with your countertop choice. Something as simple as adding a dramatic curve to your counter can invigorates your space.

You can also think through your cabinets.

Will adding additional cabinets help clear up some space on the countertops?

If so, then this will be a wise choice. A barren countertop opens up the room and makes it feel larger than it is.

 

• Using Glass and Mirror 

A great trick that professional decorators and renovators use is glass and mirrors.

Strategically placed mirrors can open your room up, giving the illusion that space is much larger than it is.

Also, there are some cool doors that you can get for your see-through cabinets.

This small detail can add an expensive look to your kitchen.

 

• Getting it right with the Lighting

You can do every trick in the book to make your kitchen look and feel larger, but if you have poor lighting, then it is all for nothing.

Nothing is more appealing in opening up a room than your lighting choices.

And it doesn’t stop at just making sure it is well lit, you fixture decisions are essential as well.

There are so many options for relaxed, hanging lights that you should have no problem finding one that fits in your style.

You should also consider using track lighting to help provide additional light without being obtrusive.

 

• Flooring

The first thing most people see when they walk into a room is the floor.

In a smaller space, you can afford to do a more expensive per-square-foot material that will match the new design you are working on.

Some people opt for just a traditional hardwood, while others seek out a particular marble tile that provides a unique look.

Make sure you spend some time looking over all the options and weighing the pros and cons of each.

Marble, for example, looks beautiful. However, it can feel icy in the winter.

There are many ways to open up your room. Your wall color choices also play a huge part in the overall look.

Make sure to search for inspiration everywhere and take your time planning it out.

As of 2019, there have never been so many new advancements in technology.

With more and more gadgets regularly being released, it can be difficult to keep track of new tech trends.

With crime taking new dimension everyday, high tech home improvement is now a focus. Not only for safety but also for comfort.

Starting from having a smart home design to building a house which can help reducing the rate of disasters and crime and to using home tech gadgets to deter burglars.

To help keep you in the loop, here’s a guide to some of the latest tech trends, unique gadgets in the market that you might find helpful to use in your home to prevent intruders, improve your health or enhance your comfort.

 

• Smart lightbulbs

Smart lighting is one of the biggest home tech trends of recent years.

More people around the world are making the most of these technological advancements and using smart lighting in their homes.

Some of the popular ones are Eufy lumos, Cree connected LED bulb, C by GE starter pack, LIFX bulb etc, which you can buy on Amazon, Walmart or other reputable online store.

Not only does smart lighting make life easier, but it’s also more energy efficient, which is why a lot of property companies are starting to utilise this trend.

These smart light bulbs work with Google home, Alexa or switches and some use electricity while some don’t.

Liverpool based company RW Invest , for instance, offers a range of investment opportunities featuring smart lighting as a way to attract new investors to buy or let their properties and appeal to more tenants.

 

• Video doorbell

Video doorbells are another home tech trend that’s growing more popular.

Unlike simple doorbells, these high-tech versions are linked to your smartphone. Some wireless video doorbells are with monitor.

When someone rings the bell, an alert gets sent to your phone notifying you that someone’s there, allowing you to directly speak to them via the speaker and microphone integrated into the doorbell device.

While this might not be worthwhile if you only have a small apartment or house, this device could be useful for those in larger homes who often don’t hear the regular doorbell.

Some best affordable ones are the August doorbell, Ring, Remobell, Bertrand Blink video doorbells.

 

• High-tech scales

Forget your run of the mill bathroom scales — nowadays, there are precision digital bathroom scales that are intelligent enough to measure things like your weight, fat content, body water content, heart rate, and more.

Once you’ve weighed yourself, your results are then synced up with your smartphone to let you easily track your progress.

These high-tech smart scales can even recognise which family member is using them by analysing their specific weight, allowing multiple people to use them with ease.

 

• Advanced air purifiers

Air purifiers are used to clean the air of toxins, but new advancements in technology allow them to go a step further.

These high-tech air purifiers use an advanced air purification process which monitors the air for any pollutants and automatically cleans the air without being prompted.

The advanced pure air can filter air from furnace, AC etc. These air filters have been so beneficial to allergic patients and smokers.

These air purifiers can help improve the health and wellbeing of homeowners and are even able to alert users if carbon monoxide or any other serious issues are detected.

You can get beat cheap air purifier online from your desired store.
Kindly check the review of past users to ascertain it’s working fine for most people.

 

• Robot vacuums

If you’re not a fan of housework, then robot vacuum’s may be the perfect home tech gadget for you.

Robot vacuum’s move around rooms in the home, picking up all types of hair, dirt, or debris.

You can schedule the vacuum to clean your home at certain points in the day, or push a button as and when you wish for instant cleaning.

Some robot vacuum will clean and also mop your thick carpet or rug, some for hardwood and hard floors.

While these little gadgets can make life a lot easier, they do come with a hefty price tag, ranging as high as £899 for the most sophisticated devices.

Some of the popular ones are Neato, Deik, KOIOS, Eufy, iRobot and Roomba robot vacuum.

For the plumbing work in your house, it’s important to afford the best pipe materials for water supply and drainage to avoid mess.

I’m sure you understand the components of sewerage system, the importance and also the need for maintenance.

In order to carry out your plumbing preventative maintenance properly, one of the things required is the pipe drain inspection camera.

You’ll need sewer camera inspection service for this.

Having said that, what exactly is plumbing inspection camera all about?, here we tell you.

 

Drain inspection camera

This helps diagnosing drainage issues. The toilet inspection camera can be endoscope or borescope, with the two having similar functions but still different in capacity.

Dealing with drain blockages and floods is not anybody’s idea of fun.

On the other hand, a lot of homeowners and business owners do not take proactive steps, such as deploying a drain inspection camera, to prevent outcomes such as drain blockages and floods.

Some drain issues are completely unavoidable.

Pipes can break without notice.

Drains can become clogged with one item.

However, the majority of drain problems are avoidable if steps are taken to ensure that your drains are in good shape.

By using a drain inspection camera, or hiring a professional to use one for you, you can ensure that your drains are in the best shape they can be in.

In this blog post, we are taking a better look at how a drain inspection camera can help make sure your drains are working as they should be.

 

Drain inspection cameras are Portable:

They are small enough to access typically inaccessible places you can’t tell very much about the condition of a drain with just an external physical inspection.

Your eyes can only see so much, and it’s not as though you can fit inside drains to take a proper look inside!

A camera designed for the inspection of drains is suitably sized so that it can fit inside drains of various pipe diameters.

For example, the latest IBAK and Vivax drain inspection equipment can be used to survey pipe diameters ranging from 30mm to 2000mm.

Other brands are Anysun, spartan, ridgid cameras.

Designed to inspect drains effectively, drain cameras are the ideal size to enter and examine the majority of drains.

Simply, a drain camera can be used to take a look at the interior of pipes in a way that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

 

Drain inspection cameras are Robust

They are robust enough to complete a comprehensive survey. Drain cameras are small, obviously.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to enter drains!

However, just because drain cameras are diminutive, it does not mean that they are not robust.

Dain cameras are made of strong materials, to ensure that they are effective when looking at drains.

There are also wireless endoscope and borescope like the depsteech, leshp which can be connected with your android or iPhone.

Also, pipes can be jagged, and they can present many dangers to technology that isn’t strong.

However, inspection cameras are made of materials that are resistant to most of the hazards found in drainage systems.

 

Drain inspection cameras detect issues better

They notice major and minor issues when controlled by a specialist, a drain camera is a brilliant tool that can be used to notice a variety of issues with pipes, both minor and major.

While an individual might be unable to manually inspect a pipe, a drain, or a sewer, they can use high-tech inspection cameras to diagnose a variety of problems.

A drain inspection camera can send live footage as well as record footage. This allows for immediate assessment, as well as further investigation once the drain camera is removed.

The footage captured can be advantageous in numerous ways:-

It can offer an immediate conclusion: A drain camera can capture footage that immediately demonstrates what is wrong with a pipe.

In previous times, when keyhole inspection wasn’t available, this would require extensive digging.

It can provide the location of problems: Without the help of a camera, you might be able to ascertain that there is a problem with your pipes.

However, it is typically impossible to specifically locate the issue.

As a drain camera’s position is always known due to tracking technology, the user will know exactly where the problem is.

If you are experiencing problems with your drains, hiring a professional to utilise a drain camera is advisable.

 

Signature

This article is written by Jack Mitchell
using information from Subscan UDS.

Moving industrial machines and loads in the construction site wouldn’t have been easy without cranes.

 

The impacts of cranes in moving heavy tools

The cranes play vital role in this, reduce workforce, manpower and thereby maximize time to improve service and increase productivity.

Cranes also help limiting risks of damage in moving heavy tools and have made great impact in the ports and mining industry.

With tower and vehicle cranes, loads can be lifted, moved in the working area of the crane.

For cranes to be able to lift heavy tools, the lifting hook should also be of good quality.

Hook is the device fixed to the crane to lift the loads.

It should be well fixed so as keep the rope sling or chain with which the load is attached together.

You can get more info about crane hooks here

 

Types of Cranes

There are four major types of cranes based on their model and functions on sites.

These are truck mounted crane, rough-terrain crane, crawler, and floating.

However, there are other cranes with some specific functions such as bridge or overhead cranes, ship or deck cranes, loader, stacker, boom cranes, tower cranes among others.

Each of these cranes consist of substructures that work together in lifting or moving the tool.

For example, the tower cranes consist of the booms, towers, pivot and crane substructures.

They are usually used for weighty tool and high offloading and for the crane not to tip over, it requires a support to the boom and the attached load.

The boom
There are several booms with varying shapes and functions in the crane.

The first Boom : This one is the more or less horizontal Part of a crane On which the Loads hang.

Depending on the load you’re working on, the boom can be be buckled, left moving up and down or leave the load rope on it moving back and forth.

The Needle Boom: This is also called the Sean boom and it’s fixed below the spire top in the pivot.

It’s waved up and off via The Cantilever Rope, which runs over rolls on the Top of the spire.

They are important where the crane souls have to work in a small environment.

The Button Boom: These cranes are much needed in some special operations like during the construction of mast or TV towers.

In the Buckling Boom, the two-piece Tickdriver Can be varied by Buckling in a Connecting joint.

 

The Crane Tower
The crane tower can be raised or lowered hydraulically.

Most times it has climbing facility and when it does, the tower can be lifted since it has a lower Height of construction and is often telescopic.

An example of this is the rapid Reaction cranes. This can be set up or disengaged and reassemble relatively quickly with the help of Hydraulics.

 

The Crane Substructure
Tower cranes can either have a suspension, tyres, caterpillars as components or firmly set up in one unit.

The one as single unit, which is stationary is placed on strong foundation block and it will be cemented with the foundation slab of the construction or clamped like the Elevator Shaft.

 

Vehicle Cranes
These are Road vehicles that have Lifting devices which have rotating telescopic or Lattice Mast boom.

The Vehicles are powered almost exclusively by Diesel engines.

The Power Transmission is usually hydrostatic via Hydraulic pumps, less often via Mechanical Manual transmission.

Since Hydraulic Pumps are much easier to use and the Work Rate can be better regulated, they’re good alternatives when fixed cranes are not available.

Also, when there is no Power Supply or the Crane is only needed for a very short time, vehicle crane can be so helpful and can even lift heavier loads than Tower Cranes.