Find Out If Your Tracy Dryer Is a Potential Fire Hazard

Tracy dryer vent cleaning is an easy project yet an activity that not enough home owners do or do not do often enough. A trained Tracy dryer vent cleaning technician is needed to clean your drying vents. Anyone that is familiar with a clothes dryer fully understands that a meaningful quantity of lint is generated and that the lint trap has to be to be cleaned. Cleaning the lint trap improves air flow in the dryer and lets it operate more efficiently.

How Lint Builds Up In Your Tracy Dryer system

The lint trap does not catch all the lint. Some lint escapes through the dryer vents which is vented outside of your house but a certain amount of lint will become stuck in the Tracy dryer duct system, particularly in a flexible dryer duct with ridges and in corners in the ductwork as it travels to the exterior vent. The the greater the length of duct work the greater chance of lint not making it all the way to the exterior of your home as the air flow from the dryer deceases the further it has to travel.

Some Tips To Help Prevent Dryer Caused Fires

A surprising number of house fires are caused every year by dryer hoses that become obstructed by lint. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) studies show that more than of 15,000 home fires annually are related clothes dryers with excessive lint build up being suspected in many of these fires. Lint is highly flammable and if dryer ducts get restricted and cannot properly release hot air created by the dryer heat build up can occur and ignite the lint.

To reduce the chance of fires, the CPSC recommends you:

• Cleaning the lint trap after every load of clothes.
• Clean the Tracy dryer vent and all ductwork regularly (this includes disconnecting the dryer from the ductwork).
• Check the the vent on the outside of your home while the dryer is operating to make sure exhaust air is escaping. If it is not, the vent or the duct system may be clogged. Clean behind the dryer, where lint can build up. Have a qualified Tracy Dryer Vent Cleaning service person clean the inside of the dryer chassis periodically to minimize the amount of lint accumulation. Keep the area near the Tracy dryer clean and free of household items.
• Replace accordion type hoses with rigid or corrugated semi-rigid metal ducts. Many manufacturers recommend rigid or corrugated semi-rigid metal ducting because they provide better airflow. Flexible plastic or foil ducting trap more lint and are prone to kinks or crushing, which reduces airflow.
• Be particularly careful when drying fabric which has been exposed to flammable chemicals such as gasoline, cooking oils, cleaning agents or wood finishing oils and stains. Consider washing items that have been exposed to these chemicals more than once to reduce the amount of the chemicals still on or in the laundry and, preferably, hang dry these clothes. Use the lowest heat setting and a drying cycle that has a cool-down period at the end of the cycle. Additionally, do not leave these items once dried in the Tracy dryer or in a pile.

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If you are looking for professional Tracy dryer vent cleaning services, please call us today at 209.321.4880 or complete our online request form.

Eco-Friendly Painting in Tracy

Making our dwellings gorgeous is nothing new. Humans have been decorating their homes for millennia. From the Australian Aborigines painting ochre onto cave walls over 40,000 years ago to the almost modern Egyptian pyramids of only 4,500 years ago we all have an innate desire to express ourselves and make our surroundings part of that expression.

But we have always paid a price for this activity. Paints have always contained poisons and toxins that not only pollute the environment but the air within a Brentwood home. Early paints famously contained lead, which had a sweet flavor tempting for kids to ingest. We all know the horrible affects of these paints that caused problems with developing nervous systems in children and kidney damage, mood changes, memory and high blood pressure in adults.

The ingredients used to make paint can be broken down into four areas — pigments, solvents, binders and other additives. Color comes from the pigment while the solvent and binder provide the pigment with a base and helps the paint stick to a surface. The remaining additives are used to help the paint dry and prevent mildew from forming.

The solvents and pigments contain toxins, which not only pollute the environment but also, if improperly disposed of in a landfill, can contaminate the surrounding earth for decades. The solvents and pigments also contain volatile organic compounds that we know create smog and pollution in the environment, but can also have very harmful affects on the internal air quality of a home.

Recent government rulings have not only put in to practice some controls on the toxins and VOCs in paints, but has also drawn attention to this scary situation. The response has been for many paint companies to produce eco-friendly paints that either contain low or zero VOCs. It should be considered though that the majority of paint companies that create these non toxic paints also manufacture and market toxic and high VOC paints — so when you are looking to paint green you may think about who you are supporting with your dollars.

There are a handful of companies that do not have these legacy issues, and only create eco friendly paint. These non toxic paints range from completely organic ‘milk paints’ which are totally safe but lack in durability, to high-performance latex based paints that simply lack VOCs and all toxins.

The newest and most modern Tracy eco-friendly paints can come in any color and, although a little more expensive, have very low odor and zero VOCs. These paints are created in a completely new way, which means that they have all the durability of toxic paints, but without any of the toxins and VOCs. When looking to buy these paints you need to read their labels very carefully. The first thing to notice is if they carry a government warning label. If they do, then they are not completely safe and may contain some VOCs or toxins. Those paints with no warning label and state that they are zero VOC paints as opposed to low VOC are the best. These can often be found at independent hardware stores nationwide and can be researched online.

Get More Use Out of Your Tracy Basement by Finishing It

Many of us are looking for good basement finishing ideas so that we can complete that room and turn it into something that can be used. Basements often end up being wasted and only used for storage when they can be turned into almost anything you want. If you have an empty basement and need more room upstairs in the house, how about finishing the basement and moving one of the upstairs rooms downstairs? Here are some great ideas on how you can use your basement if you finish it:

Without a doubt, using your basement for a family game room is one of the most popular options. A basement game room works especially well because it is a place the kids can go to play their games and not disrupt the rest of the house. They can yell, scream, and make all the noise they want while playing video games, watching movies, or doing other things and they will not be a bother.

A great use of your basement is as an office but you need to make sure several conditions are met. Any office needs good lighting and your basement office will be no different. As basements are naturally dark due to a lack of windows, you must take special care that you new basement office has plenty of light. Likewise basements can be cold year round and so you must figure out how to heat it properly.

You can use your basement as a workshop. Most basements have an outside entry door so that you can get things in and out. Most basements already have electrical outlets installed so that is not a problem and if they have a window that opens to the outside that would provide some ventilation. If you are using tools, things might get a little noisy so the basement is a good place since it is removed from the rest of the house.

A workout room or gym can be the perfect thing because of the heavy machines and the fact that it is away from the rest of the house. Any noise from your workout, stereo, or TV will not easily be heard in other rooms in your home. If you have been wondering what to do with your partially finished basement, turning it into a personal gym might just be the answer.

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