Experts In Your Home Blog

Sooner or later you are going to need a Chico plumber. Your plumbing system is complex and while there are smaller issues you can deal with as a homeowner sometimes you will have to call in expert help. You will want to hire a competent plumbing professional, or a good plumbing service company, to handle your plumbing issues.

You're a can-do, resourceful homeowner. So when you encounter a plumbing problem, your first inclination is, I can handle it.

But it's worth asking, Can you really?

Certain plumbing tasks may be well within your capabilities, such as checking and fixing a toilet flapper and float, checking your water heater burner and caulking a shower. But plumbing is a highly specialized discipline, which is only part of the reason plumbers with Experts in Your Home must undergo years-long training and rigorous testing before receiving a license.

Many Chico area residents have heard of the Grinch who stole Christmas. What they don't know is the identity of the Grinch who “stole” the tax credits on insulation, windows, doors, skylights and roofs.

Experts in Your Home doesn't know, either, though it's obviously someone affiliated with a high-level federal agency. We do know that this is one of those times where looking at the proverbial glass as half-full helps since 2017 tax credits are still available on some solar projects.

It's difficult to argue that saving some money is better than saving none at all. So allow the Experts to explain how the IRS-U.S. Department of Energy program works.

You may have filed it under “H.” Then again, you may find it among the “Ws.”

If you're like many people who invest in a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, you pay little (if any) attention to a home warranty until you must unearth it to find out: Is a repair covered under the warranty or not?

It's that time of year again: Some Chico area homeowners are getting an unexpected “gift” for Christmas or the new year.

The box is so big that it takes several technicians from Experts in Your Home to carry it indoors. But the anxious faces around us tell us this is no time to exult, “Ho, ho, ho!” – not when our guests are probably thinking, “Oh no! Oh no!”

Hold the “bah-humbugs!”

If we've seen it once, we've seen it a hundred times: a homeowner faced with a cracked heat exchanger is forced to replace the furnace at the end of the year. This major expense never comes at a “good” time, but the holiday season is arguably the worst.

While the Experts do everything we can to make this major household investment affordable for our customers, we think the second greatest gift we can give at this anxious time is reassurance that investing in a new furnace results in some impressive benefits.

Many people hit the roof, go through the roof or act like a cat on a hot tin roof when they’re dealing with a roof leak.

And Experts in Your Home should know, because this is when we field the greatest number of calls for roof inspections. But a roof shouldn’t cave in – literally or figuratively – for you to schedule a roof inspection.

Instead of watching their favorite reality show on TV, many Chico area homeowners have witnessed a different reality: that of water streaming through the ceiling and splashing into their kitchen, family room or living room.

Water leaks are the most obvious sign that the recent rains have permeated the most important part of their home's outer “envelope”: the roof. (The other components include the attic, doors, windows, exterior walls and subfloor.) But water leaks are not the only sign.

Everyone, it seems, has “a million” things to do when they move into a new home.

That's some to-do list to tackle, and you're bound to need a hand. There are six tasks that should rise to the top of your list – and Experts in Your Home can help you accomplish each one before the movers unload even the first box in your new home:

If you've ever ducked underneath someone's oversized umbrella during a driving rain storm, then you know: it provides the safety and security you need when you're caught by surprise.

It may help to think of Experts In Your Home in the same way – a home improvement umbrella company that many homeowners in the Chico area know for what's underneath it:  services such as building and remodeling, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, painting and cleaning services. 

But the Experts In Your Home umbrella is larger than some people may realize. It also covers commercial properties, and it's usually at this time of year when commercial landlords are preparing for the year ahead by making what are known as tenant improvements. If you, too, are considering making these types of improvements – either because you want to or a tenant has requested them – Experts In Your Home wants to ensure it saves room for you under its umbrella as our schedule fills up.

Say what you want about those older, gas-guzzling cars, but they let you know in seconds how your driving habits affected your gas supply: If you gunned the gas when the traffic light turned green, you watched in amazement as the needle sunk by one-eighth or more.

It's simple to do this kind of math. If you spent $20 to fill your tank, then that hasty start cost you $2.50 (and – who knows – may have been worth it).

It would be nice if our energy-consuming habits around the house registered such swift responses. The U.S. Department of Energy touts many ways that “the typical” homeowner who spends about $1,400 a year on electricity can cut costs by 30 percent, or $420, a year.