Maryland and D.C. Home Improvement and Home Inspection discussion and Repair Advice

Making sure you get a fair deal and keep your TV Protected: When there is a wide price gap for services- how do you insure a proper deal.   (The "skinny" on discount installers vs retail) Baltimore, MD: Having a TV mounted can be stressful. You just spent the better part of a paycheck on a new device and now it begs to be mounted, admired. . . hanging from a wall. . .  and ofcourse "staying there"! But you read online that the job can be easy however, after a few holes you decide to hire a pro. Anyone who has ever gone through this process knows a few things. 1. The actual mounts are ridiculously expensive. $80 for a piece of metal! 2. Install prices are all over the place, but why? (*see price list at bottom of article) Not getting into the mounting prices too much , they are connected to the price of installs in certain circumstances.  The only important part: a good single tilt mount should not be more than $40- anything over is marked up. Now, ...

The Home Energy Saver We All Overlook: How Window Treatments can reduce your energy bids. Baltimore, MD- EFynch.com: Windows are one of the most overlooked energy monsters in your home. Although great advances have been made with increasing insulation value (yes, insulation is equally important for HOT as it is for COLD), the hot summer sun pummels your windows all day long. That heat literally turns anything it touches into a radiator which can cause your AC to run constantly as some indoor surfaces can top 130 degrees Fahrenheit! To battle this, a few years ago I spent time studying Passive Solar. The idea is you design your home to block out the summer sun but let it in during the winter (has to do with shutters and angles, besides the point). In this practice you use certain finishes in your home to capture the right heat .etc. etc.etc. . This is great but, it requires work and planning. If you are looking for changes that can have an effect right away- tomorrow- literally....

Late Spring Freeze: The Handyman and Homeowner Guide to Protecting Outdoor Landscaping in Maryland. What the homeowner should do with a late Spring Freeze/ Frost.   Baltimore, MD: Tonight (April 7th, 2017) and into Saturday morning, forecasters are calling for freezing temperatures possible throughout Central Maryland*. With the warm weather the past few days, many of us in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. have already begun outdoors landscaping for Spring. With a semi-rare Freeze Watch in place, there are a few measures that homeowners should take to help plants survive. The issue with a cold freeze and some plants is the inability for vegetable and flowers to withstand freezing water on a cellular level. As we know, when water freezes it expands and can break the sensitive cell structures. For certain plants, this is irreparable damage. Here is a quick reference on what you can do to prevent damage: 1: Sensitive plants in pots: Bring indoors. 2. Sensitive plants...

How EFynch Weekly Deals Help the Homeowner: By: EFynch.com (Baltimore, MD) Each week EFynch works hard to bring relevant, money saving deals for our Maryland Homeowner Members. These deals typically include normal services like: - Power Washing - Handyman 3 hour packages - Gutter Cleaning - Snow Removal - Mulch Delivery - etc. We also try to provide some unique services which may go overlooked like: - Mailbox Post Replacement - Flower and Garden Box Install- coming soon :) - Smoke Alarm Battery Replacement - Dryer Vent Cleaning These are all common things us homeowners need and are things we should consider. So how do we get these deals? The truth is we sometimes just “wing it”. For the most part we pay attention to our own homes and speak with our professionals. They recommend services that are starting to trend because of seasonality. These take priority but we also look for unique ideas. What can make your home more enjoyable or something we see on TV that is awesome, but not ...