Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Sloan Sales Homes open House with Michelle Sloan,
Remax time agent and proprietor of Sloan Saleshomes dot Com.
You have questions, she has the answers. This is your
opportunity to learn from one of the best and most
trusted agents in the business. This is the Sloan Sales
Homes Open House with Michelle Sloane on fifty five KRC
(00:26):
the talk station.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Okay, today I'm going to talk about some really, really
bad words. A word that begins with an S, A
word that begins with a W. Do you know what
I'm talking about? Snow and winter. Oh, they're not that bad.
It's part of living in Cincinnati. We get to experience
all of the seasons, which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
But this is the time of year.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
When it starts to get a little dark and gloomy,
you know, the time change. I'm still not used to
it getting dark at four thirty five o'clock. Yeah, it's
not my favorite time of the year. I don't think
it's really anybody's favorite time of the year. But there
are some things that you need to be thinking about
(01:15):
when it comes to your real estate this.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Time of year.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
If you haven't already done your prep for winter, now's
the time to do it. So I have a checklist
today of all of the things that you should be
thinking about as we move through the rest of this month.
All right, let's start with inside. We want to always
make sure that our HVAC, that your heating system is
(01:43):
cleaned and checked. Make sure that you replace your furnace
filter pretty regularly over the winter months, because it's going
to help you stay It's going to help you stay
a little bit healthier because the air quality is going
to be better. So keeping that air filter switched out
(02:05):
every thirty days or whatever is recommended. If you haven't
had your furnace cleaned or checked in the last year,
now's the time to make that call. I'm sure that
pretty much everybody. If you haven't, I don't know what
you're doing, but pretty much everybody has turned on their
furnace at least a few times, or at least it's
(02:26):
on now for sure. So getting that done is going
to help lengthen the the ability. So making sure that
your furnace is cleaned and checked is going to make
sure that the longevity of that unit will last longer
and longer each and every year, and that's what we
want too, because when it comes time to sell, most
(02:49):
likely one of the first questions I'm going to ask
you is how old is your furnace and when was
the last time you had it cleaned and checked. So
I talked to somebody just recently and that was one
of the first questions. And he knew that was going
to be one of the first questions because he listens
to this program. And so I think it's awesome when
(03:14):
the knowledge that I'm sharing with you that is valuable,
you take it to heart because it really does matter
with the value of your home how long your systems
are going to be working. Cleaning and checking the HVAC
is number one. It always has been number one, and
it always will be. Okay, So next step, how is
(03:35):
your insulation now? Now may not be the ultimate time
to add insulation, But.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
At the same time, if I think.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
About it, it may not be a bad time adding
insulation in your attic. Maybe adding insulation in your walls
can absolutely help with keeping that heat on the inside
of your home, keeping your home feel just.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
A lot warmer.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So insulation in your attic spacement's crawl spaces can prevent
heat loss, which makes pretty much sense. Using draft stoppers
on your doors and windows can also keep that cold
air out. So a draft stopper, I've seen these people
that have like these little snakes that run along the
(04:23):
bottom of a door. So if you have a room
that you don't go into very often, or maybe it's
a sun room, a three season room, and you don't
have a real tight air gap between that room and
the rest of your home, adding some sort of a
ceilant even if it's one of those little snakes.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And if you're watching.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
On YouTube Sloan Sales Homes Open House on YouTube, I
will show you a picture of one of those what
they look like, because you know, it's just a puffy
It's not really a snake for sure, but it's just
a puffy, round, long game piece of material. Usually it's soft,
(05:04):
and you just put it under on the long the
bottom of your door and that will help some of
those drafts when you from the older or the colder
areas of your home into the warmer areas of your home.
I've seen some people that will have those along pretty
much every door just to keep that airflow cut off
(05:24):
during the winter months. When talking about windows and doors,
let's talk about windows and doors. Your windows and doors
are you want to make sure that those gaps are sealed. Now, again,
it may be a little bit late for you to
get calck out and start calking around your windows and doors.
You can add weather stripping. That's something that you can do,
(05:46):
but you have to have a certain temperature in order
for that cock to clear, to be able to get
hard and do what it's supposed to do. So definitely
keeping your windows and if you see light, that means
that cold air is going to get in. So especially
if you at night, if you look at your front door,
(06:09):
or maybe there's a time of day where you can
see where the light comes into your front door and
you see light around the edges, you definitely want to
make sure that you get some something to seal that
gap and keep that cold air from coming in. So
today on the Sloan Sales Homes open House, we're talking
about getting ready for the winter months and it's not
(06:31):
something that we look forward to, but it's something that
is super super important. You know, another thing that you
can take a minute and think about is when was
the last time you checked your emergency systems inside of
your home, your smoke alarms, your carbon monoxide detectors. Do
(06:53):
you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home? Now,
this is not something that people I've thought about twenty
thirty years ago. So a smoke detector. Obviously, most of
us will have smoke detectors in the hallways of our
home leading into bedrooms. In the main hallways. There's a
(07:15):
certain number of smoke detectors that are code that are
supposed you are supposed to.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Have in your home. The code has changed over the years.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So if you are getting a home inspection done, the
home inspector may say you have to have a smoke
detector in every single bedroom and in the hallway. So
you may say, well, that sounds like overkill, but it's
really not, because it's that warning system in case of
an emergency, and a lot of the smoke detectors. Now
(07:45):
you can double up and you can have a smoke
detector slash carbon monoxide detector.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
In one unit.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And those units are pretty inexpensive. You can get them
at the big box stores. I highly recommend it. Honestly,
it's not the sexiest holiday present. If you are looking
for gifts, for Hanekah or Christmas, you know, but at
the same time getting some new smoke detectors with a
carbon monoxide detector, you know, the dual one, the two
(08:16):
in one. I think it's a really great idea. Again,
it's it's all about safety and security inside of your home.
One of the other things let's talk about. Okay, this
is number six on our list if you're following along,
is insulating the pipes in the unheated areas to prevent freezing.
(08:38):
So you definitely want to if you haven't yet, I'm
going to strongly, strongly recommend that you make sure that
all of your hoses outside are disconnected from the house.
And then if you have a shut off as well
inside of your home on the backside, inside wall of
your home, a shut off for that outside spicket, go
(09:02):
ahead and make sure that's off as well, because you
don't want that trapped water to freeze, because then you're
going to have a blowout and that's not a good thing.
You could have a blowout when that pipe bursts when
you turn it on in the spring. So making sure
(09:22):
that all of your pipes, if it's on an outside wall,
those are the pipes that you want to be really
conscious of and taking a look at, let your faucets
if it's super super cold, and we'll probably talk about
that in the coming months. I don't want to talk
about it. But if we get down to the negative
whatever degrees, we know that some faucets are better off
(09:45):
dripping a little bit so that you're constantly having a
little bit of flow in there.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But we don't need that right now.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So and then the next thing that you should be
doing is, and it's not my favorite thing in the
whole wide world, is cleaning. I don't love cleaning, but
cleaning and dusting your heating vents, your radiators to make
sure that you have optimal airflow. Always vacuuming your carpets
(10:13):
and rugs removes the allergen from the air.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And then again that.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Kind of stirs up all of that dust and dander
if you have pets, So making sure that you're cleaning
inside of your house, making sure all of the vents
and registers are cleaned. You can take the registers off
on the floor and vacuum inside of there. You'll see
pet hair, you'll see dust, you'll see debris. Sometimes sometimes
(10:37):
if you haven't taken and it's not that difficult to
take a register vent on the floor off. It just
usually just pops right up if you take that off.
Look inside. If you've never done that, you might be
surprised what you find. So you want to make sure
those are cleaned out. So those are like the top
seven things that you can do inside of your home
(10:58):
to get ready for winter.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I'm going to run down them really quick. You're ready.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
We're going to get the heating system cleaned and checked.
What else we're going to check for your insulation, You're
going to seal your windows and doors. Emergency preparedness and
that means you can create a little bit of a
kit for emergency situations, like a flashlight, that kind of thing, smoking,
carbon monoxide detectors. Pipe protection that means making sure that
(11:25):
your pipes are in a safe mode for the cold weather.
And clean, clean, clean, cleaning is the key. My name's
Michelle Sloane and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes
open House right here on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Welcome back to the Sloan Sales Homes open House.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Today.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
We're talking about getting ready for winter and ultimately snow
and probably ice, all of those bad words that we
talk about during the winter months when we live in Cincinnati.
Here's the thing. If you're prepared for it, it's not
that big of a deal. And really we probably, at
least for me, the winter months are not bad until
(12:10):
we get to like January or February, because you know,
we have the holidays coming up, and everybody's happy and
cheerful for the most part.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of course, there's always a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Of drama, but during the holidays, I think we can
stand the cold a little bit.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We like a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Of snow on Christmas, and so it's nice and fun
for a while, and then it gets kind of old.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
The grace guys get just a little bit old. But
here's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We talked about in that last segment, cleaning and getting
ready on the inside of your home. What about the
outside of your home. It's not too late to start
working on those things on the outside of your home
to get prepared for the winter months. One of the
biggest things, if you haven't already, all of the leaves
are pretty much gone, all of the leaves on the
(13:01):
trees have fallen, and if you haven't had a chance,
please make sure if you haven't mulched them or removed
them from your lawn, go ahead and do that now.
You also want to make sure that your gutters and
your down spouts are clear. That's really important because if
your down spouts and gutters are not clear, that can
(13:23):
cause water damage on the inside of your home. And
you'll and you may think, Okay, that really doesn't make
sense because the gutters and down spouts are on the
outside of our home. But that the rule is if
you are planning to no, let me step back just
(13:44):
a second. What I'm trying to say is your gutters
and down spouts are making sure that the water is
going away from your home. It's falling into the gutters,
going down into the down spouts, and then outside it's
going farther away from your foundation. That's super important. And
if that is clogged, that water has to go someplace,
(14:08):
and it will find its way inside of your home,
I promise you, and that is not a good thing.
It'll find its way into your basement, it'll find its
way if you have ice stamming once it gets really
really cold, that ice stamming can go underneath your roof
cause water damage. In your attic and then drip down
into your second floor or first floor, depending on you
(14:31):
know what type of home that you have. So getting
those gutters and down spouts cleaned is so very important. Also,
this is something that you've never done before, you know,
or you've not done it recently.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Take a look.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Go ahead and walk around the outside of your home.
It was really interesting. I was with the client just
the other day and we took a walk around the
exterior of the home and he has so many laws
large trees and bushes that are overgrown, especially on the
sides of the home in the back of the home
that they don't look at very often, and there's a
(15:09):
lot of branches and you can tell because the leaves
are gone for the most part. These are not I've seen.
They had some that were more of an evergreen type
and some that weren't. But you never want your vegetation
to be touching your house because that's an invitation for
(15:29):
bugs and animals to crawl into the little nooks and
crannies and get into your home. You know what, You
don't want mice in your home, right Well, that's a
great way for a little mice to crawl up those
branches and find a hole and find a way to
get into your home. So making sure that all of
(15:50):
your vegetation, bushes, trees, tree limbs are not touching your house.
You want to have a barrier around your home and
a gap of at least a foot or two between
the bushes and your house. Okay, and with that you're
going to find that Again, it's just protecting the xter
(16:12):
ear of your home. If you have large branches that
are over your house and in the wind, they will
rustle and they will hit your house. That could cause
damage to your sighting, It could cause damage to your roof.
All of those things you would never get understand. Maybe
you don't even think about it. Like I said, you
(16:33):
don't go to the one side of the house and
you and those bushes and trees have just gotten so
much bigger. Now isn't a bad time to go ahead
and do some trimming. Those trees and bushes will bounce back,
I promise you, so don't worry about getting them down.
And the other thing that I'm always telling people is
(16:54):
if you have the old style shrubs on the front
of your home and they've grown really big, and they've
grown above your windows. You want to make sure that
they're cut back below the windows on the first floor
of your home, because we want as much light as
possible coming into your home. We want to have a
(17:15):
nice curb appeal, so cutting down those shrubs, bushes, And honestly,
if you've had the same darn bushes for the last
twenty or thirty years, and you say, Michelle, once I
cut them, they're going to look ugly, I'm going to
maybe suggest that you pull them out and start over,
do something different, do nothing at all. Honestly, a nice
(17:39):
fresh bed of mulch in the spring, with nothing, you're
going to be able to see your house. A lot
of people we can't even see your home. And if
you have a big evergreen on the corner of your
home that has gotten monstrous, has gotten so big over
the years.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I don't know why, but builders landscapers twenty or thirty
years ago thought it would be a good idea on
the corner of everybody's house to put it evergreen. This
evergreen has gotten taller than the roof of your home.
That means the roots roots roots of the home, or
(18:18):
the roots of that tree are actually pushing on your foundation.
And you may say, I love, I love, love love
the evergreen on the side of my house. And if
you've been trimming it and you've kept it sort of
in an angular position so that it is not touching
your home, you know, maybe it's.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Still in good shape.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
But a lot of evergreens over the years get really
I mean you can see through them. They look kind
of nasty. It's not a bad idea to go ahead
and cut those down as well and sort of start
over with your landscaping. So that's something if you can't
do it now, something to think about in the spring
is those bigger trees and shrubs and bushes near the
(19:03):
foundation of your home, within six feet within ten feet
of your foundation should probably be removed and then start over.
And it's not a bad thing. And when I go
talk to people and they have trees and shrubs and
bushes and all kinds of things for the curb appeal
(19:24):
for your investment that is your home, it's smart to
go ahead and cut some of those back. At least
cut them back. Okay, that's really important. Have you put
your outdoor furniture away yet or covered them up? If
you want your outdoor furniture to last longer. Probably a
good idea to go ahead and do that. Today on
the Sloan Sales Homes open house, we're talking about getting
(19:47):
ready for winter, and you know, are you ready for it?
I know a lot of people are spending time. They're
very everybody's kind of excited about the holidays this year.
People are putting up decoration. I'm seeing lights everywhere being
turned on. Kind of fun, kind of early, but.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
All right.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
So we talked about the landscaping and trimming trees to
prevent that breakage. When heavy snow and ice get on
those branches again, they can fall down cause damage.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Not good. You've raked your leaves already.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I know this, and it's now is not the best
time of year to do this, but it is something
again to put on your to do list.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
When I said my to do list, I have the
client that I have been working with, he said, just
give me my to do list, Michelle, and I will
take care of it before I sell my home in
the spring. I'm like, those are the kinds of people
that I want. If you are if you just need
a to do list, call me. I'm really good at
(20:53):
giving you a to do list, But anyway, filling cracks
in your driveway and walkways, it's a good idea. Again,
if it's too cold, that's not something that you can
do right now, but that's okay. And checking your outdoor lighting.
You know again, lighting is a wonderful thing. It can
add a ton of value. It can make your home
(21:14):
look beautiful in the dark winter months. So having that
outdoor lighting and checking it often is really important. All Right,
We're gonna take a quick break for news. When we
come back, we have some more great information. We're gonna
talk about your fireplace. Do you have a wood burning
fireplace or a gas fireplace. We're gonna talk about both
of those when we come back. My name's Michelle Sloan,
(21:37):
and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes open house
right here.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I'm fifty five. Care see the talk station.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
When it comes to real estate, you can have a
thousand questions. Luckily, there's one agent you can turn to
for honest answers, Remax time agent Michelle Sloan from Sloan
Sellshomes dot com. This is your opportunity to learn from
one of the best and most trusted agents in the business.
This is the Sloan Sales Homes Open House with Michelle
(22:09):
Sloan on fifty five KRC the talk station.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Welcome back. Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
If you are listening on the radio right now, thank
you so much for listening. But you could also catch
the full show on iHeartRadio and also on Sloan Sales
Homes Open House on YouTube. Okay, so you can see
me and making my all my little funny faces and
stuff like that when it comes to when I'm talking
(22:38):
and I'm you know, trying to explain to you the
importance of keeping your home safe and keeping your home
ready for market at any time.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Because that's what we like to talk about anyway.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, so today we're talking about getting ready for winter
colder months. Not our favorite thing for the most part,
but you know what, it's going to happen one way
or another in the first half hour. If you missed
it again, go back and listen to the iHeartRadio or
YouTube and check it out, because I think there was
(23:14):
a lot of really good information about getting your ready.
You're home ready on the inside and outside of your home.
The next thing I'm going to tackle is fireplaces, so
do you have a wood burning fireplace, or do you
have a gas fireplace, or maybe you don't have a
fireplace at all.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
So that's this next segment's not for you.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
But it's interesting because a lot of people when it
comes to fireplaces and they're building a home, they ask me,
because I will go with you when you're building a
new home, I will be your representation on new construction.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I love doing that.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But a lot of people when they're looking at the
bottom line adding a fireplace is it can be very expensive.
If you're adding a wood burning fireplace, you have to
go to a custom builder because a lot of the
big box builders will not even build you a wood
burning fireplace because you have to have the entire flu
(24:18):
that goes all the way up, and you have to
have the box and everything, and it's a little bit
more costly to build a wood burning fireplace. But if
you love the wood burning fireplace and you know that
you're going to use it, I mean, it's a wonderful
thing having a fireplace in your home. But it's very
(24:39):
interesting because I would say, and this is just from
my experience twenty years in the business, it seems like
probably eighty percent of the people that I talk to,
they never use their fireplace because number one, it's usually
a hassle. Number Two, people are just scared of it.
(25:00):
They're scared of fire, the possibility of fire.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So if you are.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Thinking about building a home or buying a home that
has a fireplace, number one, if you buy a resale
and it has a fireplace, you don't have to use it.
And if you do buy a home with a fireplace,
you want to talk to the owner or ask the
agent for the owner or your agent can do that
(25:26):
as well. Find out how often that fireplace has been used.
If it's been used a lot and it's in good
working order, you always want to make sure that your
fireplace is cleaned and checked at least on a probably
buy an annual basis, if not an annual basis. If
you have a wood burning fireplace, the bricks on the
(25:47):
inside of that fireplace from the heat and the kreosote
and everything, they heat up so much that over time
it does tend to disintegrate. So that's something that we
need to look So we're going to start with let's
start with the gas fireplace, Okay, because I think if
your home is within the last twenty to thirty years.
(26:11):
Most likely you have a gas burning fireplace. If you
have an electric fireplace, you just plug it in and
go right. You know, there's no maintenance, really, I don't think.
You just get to see the pretend flames, and sometimes
there's a little heater in there, which you probably want
to make sure that it's working. If you smell a burning,
something that's burning, then obviously turn it off and get
(26:33):
it checked. But let's start first with a gas fireplace.
First thing you have to do if you're going to
do it yourself, if you're going to clean it yourself.
There are companies out there that will come clean a
gas fireplace, but you obviously want to turn off the
gas and make sure that that interior of the gas
burning fireplace is cooled off before you get started. In
(26:55):
this process, you will remove the glass from the front
of a gas fireplace if you have one. That can
be a little bit tricky. Again, if you need help,
that's fine, but usually you have to lift up that
glass in order to disengage it so that glass will
come out.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
It's always a little bit tricky.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I had a gas burning fireplace for many, many years,
and it was something that we didn't clean on the
inside because removing that glass and getting it back on
was a little bit tricky. So it's definitely something if
you want to get the full effect of your fireplace.
If it's clean, it looks amazing. But you have to
(27:37):
clean on the inside of that glass and the outside,
and so in order to do that, you have to
remove the glass from the front of that system. Okay,
you want to make sure that it's dry. Don't use
an abrasive because it's glass. It's gonna etch in there
and that's not a good thing. So cleaning the glass,
and then you can clean the burner in the logs.
(27:59):
You take all the little logs out separately, you can
clean it. You can get a vacuum cleaner and clean all.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
The dust off of it.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
If you have these little embers that help make the
flames look bigger, you know, you can get some fresh
embers again. If you want to spend a couple hundred
dollars and just have somebody else do that, there are
companies out there that will help you do that. And
then you want to make sure that everything gets put
back together properly before you turn it on. The other
thing is is checking your venting system. If you have
(28:29):
a gas fireplace, it vents to the outside of your home.
Usually just the back of the unit is venting to
the back of your home. If you see and you
go outside and you look at the back of that
gas burning fireplace, it's dark black, discolored in any way.
(28:49):
You may want to get that checked by a professional
because maybe it's not venting properly. And a gas fireplace
usually even if you're not using it, there's a little flicker.
There's a little flame that's on all the time. Most
people will turn that off, turn the gas off to
(29:11):
the fireplace during the summer months, but then when you
turn it back on, you'll always have that little gas flame.
And that again safety reasons. It scares a lot of people,
and so they're like, I don't want that flame burning
constantly inside my home, even if it's just a little bit.
So it's on just a little bit, and then a
(29:33):
lot of times you just have to flip a switch,
and we call that instant romance in the real estate world.
When you have a gas burning fireplace and all you
have to do is turn on the switch. If everything
is working properly, it'll fire up and it'll turn on.
So a gas fireplace is less mess, less maintenance, but
(29:57):
you still have to maintain it. And if you are
planning to sell your home, you've not turned your fireplace
on for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Guess what.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Either you go ahead and get it done, or we'll
have to disclose that you have not used it. You
don't want to turn it on, and that will be
up to the buyer to decide how they want to
handle it. They may say, well, I want to see
if it's working, so can you hire someone to.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Get that done.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Again, that's going to be up to you, mister and
missus seller, if you are comfortable. The other thing is
if you have any kind of on your roof or
near your roof or on the side of your house. Again,
if there's any like a chimney cap or anything like that,
that could be costly to get looked at and to
get fixed if it is needed. So we're going to
(30:47):
talk about that in just a minute. So we're going
to talk about the wood burning fireplace. Not everybody has it,
not everybody wants it because it tends to be messy
because you have to chop firewood.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You see a lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Wood burning fireplaces out in the country a little bit
in the rural areas.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And frankly, people in rural rural.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Areas can't live without their fireplaces because it is it's
a good source of heat, it burns great, and it
is it's cheap for the most part, because you're just
using nature to heat your home. So talking about I'm
(31:31):
gonna wrap up. Let's wrap up the gas fireplace.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Right. Safety first, turn it off. Clean the glass.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
If you don't know how to do it, this should
be a manual or you can look it up online
on how to remove the glass from the front of
your gas burning fireplace. Clean the burner, the logs, make
sure that you're dusting, use something replacing the material that
may be old or not working that gives you that
little extra spark, checking the venting, making sure that you
(32:03):
reassemble it properly. And if you need help, go ahead
and hire somebody to help you.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
All right, So that's.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Your gas burning fireplace, and we're going to take a
quick break. Then we're going to talk about the wood
burning fireplace and getting wood and again the ambiance and
that's like a Norman Rockwell picture. Right, is the gas
burning fireplace do you have one? Do you want one?
Do you even not want to mess with it? We'll
(32:32):
talk about that when we come back. My name is
Michelle Sloane and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes
open House right here on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Welcome back to the Sloan Sales Homes open House. I
am Michelle Sloane. I'm your local residential realtor and broker
at Remax Time Remax Time. We have been in business, well,
(32:56):
I've been in business for twenty years. The office has
been open for a six years, and we have been
serving the northern Cincinnati area and all around Cincinnati. To
be very honest, I, like I said, have been in
business for twenty years and absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Love what I do.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I'd love actually being on the radio, being on YouTube
explaining to everybody, you know, best practices and what you
should expect from your real estate agent. And you you
know there are a lot of expectations. I am licensed
to make sure that I'm always telling you the truth.
(33:36):
I am protecting you. That is my job and I
take it very very seriously. So if you are looking
for a real estate agent, hopefully you'll look no further
than Sloan Sales Homes Michelle Sloane our team. If you're
looking for someone in the Kentucky area, we have several
(33:57):
agents in the office who are since in Ohio and Kentucky.
I am personally not licensed in the state of Kentucky
right at this point, so but that's okay, we'll hook
you up and again, okay, So we're part of Remax.
Remax is global, Remax is worldwide. And it's funny because
(34:21):
I have friends in Britain and they will send me
pictures of Remax signs and I say, yeah, we are everywhere,
and I love that about this company and this brand.
Remax is a tremendous brand, and it is also gives
buyers and sellers the upper hand. So as an agent
(34:43):
with Remax, I have tools that I can use to
help you sell your home.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's really the key.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
When an agent works for a broker, and I am
a broker, but you're with a broker with Remax Time.
Remax Time is franchise, so all the Remax offices are
a little bit different. They have different brokers and around
the city, so it's like kind of like McDonald's, you know,
McDonald's is really not operated, owned and operated by the
(35:13):
same person.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I think Ray Kroc started all of that, but.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Each Remax office is individually owned and operated. So if
you are looking for an agent with a company that
backs me and therefore backs you, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Okay, Remax time.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Michelle Sloane Sloan saleshomes dot Com, text me, call me.
All of my information is right there.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Today we're talking about getting your home ready for the
winter months. We talked about the inside of your home,
making sure that it's ready for the winter months, and
preparing your home during those winter months and throughout the
year will help it and help you make more when
(36:08):
it comes time to sell your home. Do you have
a wood burning fireplace? Do you love a wood burning fireplace?
I grew up with a woodburning fireplace, and I have
great memories of chopping wood. I lived in rural Seneca County,
(36:29):
which is northwest Ohio, and I have great memories as
a child. I think I was probably not real excited
about stacking wood for the winter months, but it was
definitely something that the whole family, you know, had to
get your gloves on and really do get a workout
(36:49):
and get that.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Wood ready if you are.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
You know, if you are have a wood burning fireplace,
you probably know that if you stack the wood near
your home or inside your garage, which I don't recommend
because that can lead to bugs in your garage, and
so at least keep it on the outside of your home.
And then you know, once you move all of that
close to the house, you have to move it away
(37:13):
from the house during the summer months again because that's
a breeding ground for bugs and termites and things like that,
and you.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Don't want that.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
That's why you don't want to put your firewood inside
your garage. I know some people do, but it's really
not the best place for it. Wood burning fireplaces have
become a little bit a thing of the past unless
you're building a custom home, a very very expensive custom home,
(37:40):
because having a full chimney is quite expensive. It's beautiful
and it can be absolutely stunning as a focal point
to your home, but over time, like anything a fireplace,
the mortar, the bricks will break down. On the exterior
(38:01):
of your home, there's a chimney cap, there's all this,
there's a whole system, and oftentimes over the years, with
wind and rain and snow and all of those seasons
that we love, the chimney cap will crack and the
concrete will crack, and so those the cap has to
(38:22):
be fixed so that water doesn't get down inside of
the chimney and then potentially create other issues inside.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Of your home.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
So you're going to want to make sure that if
you have a wood burning fireplace, or if you're looking
to purchase a home that has an existing wood burning fireplace,
you know, you may not even think about it, but
hopefully your real estate agent will think about it and
help you understand the costs involved of maintaining a wood
(38:53):
burning fireplace. There are a few things, a few key
things that you really want to think about.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Number one is the soot build up.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
When you burn wood natural wood, you're going to get
a layer of soot on the inside of your firebox walls,
in the hearth, and in the flu. The flu is
the you know where the the air and the all
of the dust and flames and stuff go up into
(39:24):
the flu that needs to be cleaned so that you
don't have a fire inside of the fireplace.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Flu.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
If there's a persistent smoky odor inside of the home
and nobody in the home smokes, you want to make
sure that you get that fireplace cleaned and checked. If
I walk into your home and I smell smoke and
you're not burning, if you don't have a fire going,
there has been some significant creosote and build up inside
(39:58):
of your fireplace, you probably want to get that cleaned.
And then once you get it cleaned, you may find
or the person who cleans it may find that you
have in the mortar in between, you may have some gaps.
Those gaps have to be filled for safety purposes. You know,
if you have a hard time starting a fire in
(40:20):
a wood burning fireplace, you know it could be as
a result of blockages within the chimney or the flu.
So if it's hard to start you're not having enough airflow,
that could be because you have a blockage inside of
that flu. And if you haven't had your fireplace woodburning
(40:41):
fireplace cleaned and checked in a long time, it may be.
You know, it's weather dependent, and there are a few
really good around here. There are really good contractors who
could come out and clean your flu and when it's time,
if you need your chimney cap replaced, or if you
see that the brick around your chimney is falling apart.
(41:04):
That's not uncommon because of the outdoor effects. It's not uncommon,
but it still needs to be fixed. So you're going
to find depending on the person that you call, and
you may want to get a couple of couple of people.
You may want to call a couple of different contractors
because it can be very expensive. It could be thousands
(41:27):
of dollars to make those repairs. Again, it depends on
who you call. If you're in a hurry to get
it done because you're selling your home, then you know
it may cost a little bit more. If you have
excessive smoke inside your home after you start a fire,
that very well mean that you have a blockage or
(41:50):
build up inside of your flu because remember that smoke
is supposed to go up the flu. The heat is
supposed to come out of the fireplace. The beautiful view
of the crackling the wood crackling in the fireplace, and
make sure you have a screen on there so that
no wood pops out and starts a fire inside of
(42:11):
your home. Again, a lot of people are kind of
scared of a wood burning fireplace.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I grew up with one.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
I was a little bit of a pyromaniac as a child,
I'd love to like burn little things in the fireplace
when when my parents weren't home. Don't tell them, but definitely.
And then you have to make sure that you know
you don't have any animals that are nesting in your fireplace.
There's a lot of things that you can think about
(42:38):
or that you have to look at. If you are
buying a home with a wood burning fireplace, you're building
a home and you want a wood burning fireplace, and
if there's never if you've never had your fireplace checked
and you use it, look for these signs. Look for
a smoky odor, look for if you can't start that fire,
or if you have excessive smoke inside of your home.
(43:01):
Those are all signs that you need to get your
fireplace cleaned and checked. Okay, I'm out of time. I
want to thank you so much for joining me today.
And if you missed any of this, you can listen
to on iHeartRadio. You can go to my YouTube channel
Sloan Sales Homes Open House on YouTube and right here.
(43:23):
Of course, I'll be back next week four o'clock on
fifty five KRS, the talk station
This is the Sloan Sales Homes open House with Michelle Sloan,
Remax time agent and proprietor of Sloan Saleshomes dot Com.
You have questions, she has the answers. This is your
opportunity to learn from one of the best and most
trusted agents in the business. This is the Sloan Sales
Homes Open House with Michelle Sloane on fifty five KRC
(00:26):
the talk station.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Okay, today I'm going to talk about some really, really
bad words. A word that begins with an S, A
word that begins with a W. Do you know what
I'm talking about? Snow and winter. Oh, they're not that bad.
It's part of living in Cincinnati. We get to experience
all of the seasons, which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
But this is the time of year.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
When it starts to get a little dark and gloomy,
you know, the time change. I'm still not used to
it getting dark at four thirty five o'clock. Yeah, it's
not my favorite time of the year. I don't think
it's really anybody's favorite time of the year. But there
are some things that you need to be thinking about
(01:15):
when it comes to your real estate this.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Time of year.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
If you haven't already done your prep for winter, now's
the time to do it. So I have a checklist
today of all of the things that you should be
thinking about as we move through the rest of this month.
All right, let's start with inside. We want to always
make sure that our HVAC, that your heating system is
(01:43):
cleaned and checked. Make sure that you replace your furnace
filter pretty regularly over the winter months, because it's going
to help you stay It's going to help you stay
a little bit healthier because the air quality is going
to be better. So keeping that air filter switched out
(02:05):
every thirty days or whatever is recommended. If you haven't
had your furnace cleaned or checked in the last year,
now's the time to make that call. I'm sure that
pretty much everybody. If you haven't, I don't know what
you're doing, but pretty much everybody has turned on their
furnace at least a few times, or at least it's
(02:26):
on now for sure. So getting that done is going
to help lengthen the the ability. So making sure that
your furnace is cleaned and checked is going to make
sure that the longevity of that unit will last longer
and longer each and every year, and that's what we
want too, because when it comes time to sell, most
(02:49):
likely one of the first questions I'm going to ask
you is how old is your furnace and when was
the last time you had it cleaned and checked. So
I talked to somebody just recently and that was one
of the first questions. And he knew that was going
to be one of the first questions because he listens
to this program. And so I think it's awesome when
(03:14):
the knowledge that I'm sharing with you that is valuable,
you take it to heart because it really does matter
with the value of your home how long your systems
are going to be working. Cleaning and checking the HVAC
is number one. It always has been number one, and
it always will be. Okay, So next step, how is
(03:35):
your insulation now? Now may not be the ultimate time
to add insulation, But.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
At the same time, if I think.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
About it, it may not be a bad time adding
insulation in your attic. Maybe adding insulation in your walls
can absolutely help with keeping that heat on the inside
of your home, keeping your home feel just.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
A lot warmer.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
So insulation in your attic spacement's crawl spaces can prevent
heat loss, which makes pretty much sense. Using draft stoppers
on your doors and windows can also keep that cold
air out. So a draft stopper, I've seen these people
that have like these little snakes that run along the
(04:23):
bottom of a door. So if you have a room
that you don't go into very often, or maybe it's
a sun room, a three season room, and you don't
have a real tight air gap between that room and
the rest of your home, adding some sort of a
ceilant even if it's one of those little snakes.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And if you're watching.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
On YouTube Sloan Sales Homes Open House on YouTube, I
will show you a picture of one of those what
they look like, because you know, it's just a puffy
It's not really a snake for sure, but it's just
a puffy, round, long game piece of material. Usually it's soft,
(05:04):
and you just put it under on the long the
bottom of your door and that will help some of
those drafts when you from the older or the colder
areas of your home into the warmer areas of your home.
I've seen some people that will have those along pretty
much every door just to keep that airflow cut off
(05:24):
during the winter months. When talking about windows and doors,
let's talk about windows and doors. Your windows and doors
are you want to make sure that those gaps are sealed. Now, again,
it may be a little bit late for you to
get calck out and start calking around your windows and doors.
You can add weather stripping. That's something that you can do,
(05:46):
but you have to have a certain temperature in order
for that cock to clear, to be able to get
hard and do what it's supposed to do. So definitely
keeping your windows and if you see light, that means
that cold air is going to get in. So especially
if you at night, if you look at your front door,
(06:09):
or maybe there's a time of day where you can
see where the light comes into your front door and
you see light around the edges, you definitely want to
make sure that you get some something to seal that
gap and keep that cold air from coming in. So
today on the Sloan Sales Homes open House, we're talking
about getting ready for the winter months and it's not
(06:31):
something that we look forward to, but it's something that
is super super important. You know, another thing that you
can take a minute and think about is when was
the last time you checked your emergency systems inside of
your home, your smoke alarms, your carbon monoxide detectors. Do
(06:53):
you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home? Now,
this is not something that people I've thought about twenty
thirty years ago. So a smoke detector. Obviously, most of
us will have smoke detectors in the hallways of our
home leading into bedrooms. In the main hallways. There's a
(07:15):
certain number of smoke detectors that are code that are
supposed you are supposed to.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Have in your home. The code has changed over the years.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So if you are getting a home inspection done, the
home inspector may say you have to have a smoke
detector in every single bedroom and in the hallway. So
you may say, well, that sounds like overkill, but it's
really not, because it's that warning system in case of
an emergency, and a lot of the smoke detectors. Now
(07:45):
you can double up and you can have a smoke
detector slash carbon monoxide detector.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
In one unit.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And those units are pretty inexpensive. You can get them
at the big box stores. I highly recommend it. Honestly,
it's not the sexiest holiday present. If you are looking
for gifts, for Hanekah or Christmas, you know, but at
the same time getting some new smoke detectors with a
carbon monoxide detector, you know, the dual one, the two
(08:16):
in one. I think it's a really great idea. Again,
it's it's all about safety and security inside of your home.
One of the other things let's talk about. Okay, this
is number six on our list if you're following along,
is insulating the pipes in the unheated areas to prevent freezing.
(08:38):
So you definitely want to if you haven't yet, I'm
going to strongly, strongly recommend that you make sure that
all of your hoses outside are disconnected from the house.
And then if you have a shut off as well
inside of your home on the backside, inside wall of
your home, a shut off for that outside spicket, go
(09:02):
ahead and make sure that's off as well, because you
don't want that trapped water to freeze, because then you're
going to have a blowout and that's not a good thing.
You could have a blowout when that pipe bursts when
you turn it on in the spring. So making sure
(09:22):
that all of your pipes, if it's on an outside wall,
those are the pipes that you want to be really
conscious of and taking a look at, let your faucets
if it's super super cold, and we'll probably talk about
that in the coming months. I don't want to talk
about it. But if we get down to the negative
whatever degrees, we know that some faucets are better off
(09:45):
dripping a little bit so that you're constantly having a
little bit of flow in there.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But we don't need that right now.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So and then the next thing that you should be
doing is, and it's not my favorite thing in the
whole wide world, is cleaning. I don't love cleaning, but
cleaning and dusting your heating vents, your radiators to make
sure that you have optimal airflow. Always vacuuming your carpets
(10:13):
and rugs removes the allergen from the air.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And then again that.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Kind of stirs up all of that dust and dander
if you have pets, So making sure that you're cleaning
inside of your house, making sure all of the vents
and registers are cleaned. You can take the registers off
on the floor and vacuum inside of there. You'll see
pet hair, you'll see dust, you'll see debris. Sometimes sometimes
(10:37):
if you haven't taken and it's not that difficult to
take a register vent on the floor off. It just
usually just pops right up if you take that off.
Look inside. If you've never done that, you might be
surprised what you find. So you want to make sure
those are cleaned out. So those are like the top
seven things that you can do inside of your home
(10:58):
to get ready for winter.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I'm going to run down them really quick. You're ready.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
We're going to get the heating system cleaned and checked.
What else we're going to check for your insulation, You're
going to seal your windows and doors. Emergency preparedness and
that means you can create a little bit of a
kit for emergency situations, like a flashlight, that kind of thing, smoking,
carbon monoxide detectors. Pipe protection that means making sure that
(11:25):
your pipes are in a safe mode for the cold weather.
And clean, clean, clean, cleaning is the key. My name's
Michelle Sloane and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes
open House right here on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Welcome back to the Sloan Sales Homes open House.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Today.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
We're talking about getting ready for winter and ultimately snow
and probably ice, all of those bad words that we
talk about during the winter months when we live in Cincinnati.
Here's the thing. If you're prepared for it, it's not
that big of a deal. And really we probably, at
least for me, the winter months are not bad until
(12:10):
we get to like January or February, because you know,
we have the holidays coming up, and everybody's happy and
cheerful for the most part.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Of course, there's always a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Of drama, but during the holidays, I think we can
stand the cold a little bit.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We like a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Of snow on Christmas, and so it's nice and fun
for a while, and then it gets kind of old.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
The grace guys get just a little bit old. But
here's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We talked about in that last segment, cleaning and getting
ready on the inside of your home. What about the
outside of your home. It's not too late to start
working on those things on the outside of your home
to get prepared for the winter months. One of the
biggest things, if you haven't already, all of the leaves
are pretty much gone, all of the leaves on the
(13:01):
trees have fallen, and if you haven't had a chance,
please make sure if you haven't mulched them or removed
them from your lawn, go ahead and do that now.
You also want to make sure that your gutters and
your down spouts are clear. That's really important because if
your down spouts and gutters are not clear, that can
(13:23):
cause water damage on the inside of your home. And
you'll and you may think, Okay, that really doesn't make
sense because the gutters and down spouts are on the
outside of our home. But that the rule is if
you are planning to no, let me step back just
(13:44):
a second. What I'm trying to say is your gutters
and down spouts are making sure that the water is
going away from your home. It's falling into the gutters,
going down into the down spouts, and then outside it's
going farther away from your foundation. That's super important. And
if that is clogged, that water has to go someplace,
(14:08):
and it will find its way inside of your home,
I promise you, and that is not a good thing.
It'll find its way into your basement, it'll find its
way if you have ice stamming once it gets really
really cold, that ice stamming can go underneath your roof
cause water damage. In your attic and then drip down
into your second floor or first floor, depending on you
(14:31):
know what type of home that you have. So getting
those gutters and down spouts cleaned is so very important. Also,
this is something that you've never done before, you know,
or you've not done it recently.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Take a look.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Go ahead and walk around the outside of your home.
It was really interesting. I was with the client just
the other day and we took a walk around the
exterior of the home and he has so many laws
large trees and bushes that are overgrown, especially on the
sides of the home in the back of the home
that they don't look at very often, and there's a
(15:09):
lot of branches and you can tell because the leaves
are gone for the most part. These are not I've seen.
They had some that were more of an evergreen type
and some that weren't. But you never want your vegetation
to be touching your house because that's an invitation for
(15:29):
bugs and animals to crawl into the little nooks and
crannies and get into your home. You know what, You
don't want mice in your home, right Well, that's a
great way for a little mice to crawl up those
branches and find a hole and find a way to
get into your home. So making sure that all of
(15:50):
your vegetation, bushes, trees, tree limbs are not touching your house.
You want to have a barrier around your home and
a gap of at least a foot or two between
the bushes and your house. Okay, and with that you're
going to find that Again, it's just protecting the xter
(16:12):
ear of your home. If you have large branches that
are over your house and in the wind, they will
rustle and they will hit your house. That could cause
damage to your sighting, It could cause damage to your roof.
All of those things you would never get understand. Maybe
you don't even think about it. Like I said, you
(16:33):
don't go to the one side of the house and
you and those bushes and trees have just gotten so
much bigger. Now isn't a bad time to go ahead
and do some trimming. Those trees and bushes will bounce back,
I promise you, so don't worry about getting them down.
And the other thing that I'm always telling people is
(16:54):
if you have the old style shrubs on the front
of your home and they've grown really big, and they've
grown above your windows. You want to make sure that
they're cut back below the windows on the first floor
of your home, because we want as much light as
possible coming into your home. We want to have a
(17:15):
nice curb appeal, so cutting down those shrubs, bushes, And honestly,
if you've had the same darn bushes for the last
twenty or thirty years, and you say, Michelle, once I
cut them, they're going to look ugly, I'm going to
maybe suggest that you pull them out and start over,
do something different, do nothing at all. Honestly, a nice
(17:39):
fresh bed of mulch in the spring, with nothing, you're
going to be able to see your house. A lot
of people we can't even see your home. And if
you have a big evergreen on the corner of your
home that has gotten monstrous, has gotten so big over
the years.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
I don't know why, but builders landscapers twenty or thirty
years ago thought it would be a good idea on
the corner of everybody's house to put it evergreen. This
evergreen has gotten taller than the roof of your home.
That means the roots roots roots of the home, or
(18:18):
the roots of that tree are actually pushing on your foundation.
And you may say, I love, I love, love love
the evergreen on the side of my house. And if
you've been trimming it and you've kept it sort of
in an angular position so that it is not touching
your home, you know, maybe it's.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Still in good shape.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
But a lot of evergreens over the years get really
I mean you can see through them. They look kind
of nasty. It's not a bad idea to go ahead
and cut those down as well and sort of start
over with your landscaping. So that's something if you can't
do it now, something to think about in the spring
is those bigger trees and shrubs and bushes near the
(19:03):
foundation of your home, within six feet within ten feet
of your foundation should probably be removed and then start over.
And it's not a bad thing. And when I go
talk to people and they have trees and shrubs and
bushes and all kinds of things for the curb appeal
(19:24):
for your investment that is your home, it's smart to
go ahead and cut some of those back. At least
cut them back. Okay, that's really important. Have you put
your outdoor furniture away yet or covered them up? If
you want your outdoor furniture to last longer. Probably a
good idea to go ahead and do that. Today on
the Sloan Sales Homes open house, we're talking about getting
(19:47):
ready for winter, and you know, are you ready for it?
I know a lot of people are spending time. They're
very everybody's kind of excited about the holidays this year.
People are putting up decoration. I'm seeing lights everywhere being
turned on. Kind of fun, kind of early, but.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
All right.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
So we talked about the landscaping and trimming trees to
prevent that breakage. When heavy snow and ice get on
those branches again, they can fall down cause damage.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Not good. You've raked your leaves already.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
I know this, and it's now is not the best
time of year to do this, but it is something
again to put on your to do list.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
When I said my to do list, I have the
client that I have been working with, he said, just
give me my to do list, Michelle, and I will
take care of it before I sell my home in
the spring. I'm like, those are the kinds of people
that I want. If you are if you just need
a to do list, call me. I'm really good at
(20:53):
giving you a to do list, But anyway, filling cracks
in your driveway and walkways, it's a good idea. Again,
if it's too cold, that's not something that you can
do right now, but that's okay. And checking your outdoor lighting.
You know again, lighting is a wonderful thing. It can
add a ton of value. It can make your home
(21:14):
look beautiful in the dark winter months. So having that
outdoor lighting and checking it often is really important. All Right,
We're gonna take a quick break for news. When we
come back, we have some more great information. We're gonna
talk about your fireplace. Do you have a wood burning
fireplace or a gas fireplace. We're gonna talk about both
of those when we come back. My name's Michelle Sloan,
(21:37):
and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes open house
right here.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I'm fifty five. Care see the talk station.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
When it comes to real estate, you can have a
thousand questions. Luckily, there's one agent you can turn to
for honest answers, Remax time agent Michelle Sloan from Sloan
Sellshomes dot com. This is your opportunity to learn from
one of the best and most trusted agents in the business.
This is the Sloan Sales Homes Open House with Michelle
(22:09):
Sloan on fifty five KRC the talk station.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Welcome back. Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
If you are listening on the radio right now, thank
you so much for listening. But you could also catch
the full show on iHeartRadio and also on Sloan Sales
Homes Open House on YouTube. Okay, so you can see
me and making my all my little funny faces and
stuff like that when it comes to when I'm talking
(22:38):
and I'm you know, trying to explain to you the
importance of keeping your home safe and keeping your home
ready for market at any time.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Because that's what we like to talk about anyway.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Okay, so today we're talking about getting ready for winter
colder months. Not our favorite thing for the most part,
but you know what, it's going to happen one way
or another in the first half hour. If you missed
it again, go back and listen to the iHeartRadio or
YouTube and check it out, because I think there was
(23:14):
a lot of really good information about getting your ready.
You're home ready on the inside and outside of your home.
The next thing I'm going to tackle is fireplaces, so
do you have a wood burning fireplace, or do you
have a gas fireplace, or maybe you don't have a
fireplace at all.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
So that's this next segment's not for you.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
But it's interesting because a lot of people when it
comes to fireplaces and they're building a home, they ask me,
because I will go with you when you're building a
new home, I will be your representation on new construction.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I love doing that.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
But a lot of people when they're looking at the
bottom line adding a fireplace is it can be very expensive.
If you're adding a wood burning fireplace, you have to
go to a custom builder because a lot of the
big box builders will not even build you a wood
burning fireplace because you have to have the entire flu
(24:18):
that goes all the way up, and you have to
have the box and everything, and it's a little bit
more costly to build a wood burning fireplace. But if
you love the wood burning fireplace and you know that
you're going to use it, I mean, it's a wonderful
thing having a fireplace in your home. But it's very
(24:39):
interesting because I would say, and this is just from
my experience twenty years in the business, it seems like
probably eighty percent of the people that I talk to,
they never use their fireplace because number one, it's usually
a hassle. Number Two, people are just scared of it.
(25:00):
They're scared of fire, the possibility of fire.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
So if you are.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Thinking about building a home or buying a home that
has a fireplace, number one, if you buy a resale
and it has a fireplace, you don't have to use it.
And if you do buy a home with a fireplace,
you want to talk to the owner or ask the
agent for the owner or your agent can do that
(25:26):
as well. Find out how often that fireplace has been used.
If it's been used a lot and it's in good
working order, you always want to make sure that your
fireplace is cleaned and checked at least on a probably
buy an annual basis, if not an annual basis. If
you have a wood burning fireplace, the bricks on the
(25:47):
inside of that fireplace from the heat and the kreosote
and everything, they heat up so much that over time
it does tend to disintegrate. So that's something that we
need to look So we're going to start with let's
start with the gas fireplace, Okay, because I think if
your home is within the last twenty to thirty years.
(26:11):
Most likely you have a gas burning fireplace. If you
have an electric fireplace, you just plug it in and
go right. You know, there's no maintenance, really, I don't think.
You just get to see the pretend flames, and sometimes
there's a little heater in there, which you probably want
to make sure that it's working. If you smell a burning,
something that's burning, then obviously turn it off and get
(26:33):
it checked. But let's start first with a gas fireplace.
First thing you have to do if you're going to
do it yourself, if you're going to clean it yourself.
There are companies out there that will come clean a
gas fireplace, but you obviously want to turn off the
gas and make sure that that interior of the gas
burning fireplace is cooled off before you get started. In
(26:55):
this process, you will remove the glass from the front
of a gas fireplace if you have one. That can
be a little bit tricky. Again, if you need help,
that's fine, but usually you have to lift up that
glass in order to disengage it so that glass will
come out.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
It's always a little bit tricky.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I had a gas burning fireplace for many, many years,
and it was something that we didn't clean on the
inside because removing that glass and getting it back on
was a little bit tricky. So it's definitely something if
you want to get the full effect of your fireplace.
If it's clean, it looks amazing. But you have to
(27:37):
clean on the inside of that glass and the outside,
and so in order to do that, you have to
remove the glass from the front of that system. Okay,
you want to make sure that it's dry. Don't use
an abrasive because it's glass. It's gonna etch in there
and that's not a good thing. So cleaning the glass,
and then you can clean the burner in the logs.
(27:59):
You take all the little logs out separately, you can
clean it. You can get a vacuum cleaner and clean all.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
The dust off of it.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
If you have these little embers that help make the
flames look bigger, you know, you can get some fresh
embers again. If you want to spend a couple hundred
dollars and just have somebody else do that, there are
companies out there that will help you do that. And
then you want to make sure that everything gets put
back together properly before you turn it on. The other
thing is is checking your venting system. If you have
(28:29):
a gas fireplace, it vents to the outside of your home.
Usually just the back of the unit is venting to
the back of your home. If you see and you
go outside and you look at the back of that
gas burning fireplace, it's dark black, discolored in any way.
(28:49):
You may want to get that checked by a professional
because maybe it's not venting properly. And a gas fireplace
usually even if you're not using it, there's a little flicker.
There's a little flame that's on all the time. Most
people will turn that off, turn the gas off to
(29:11):
the fireplace during the summer months, but then when you
turn it back on, you'll always have that little gas flame.
And that again safety reasons. It scares a lot of people,
and so they're like, I don't want that flame burning
constantly inside my home, even if it's just a little bit.
So it's on just a little bit, and then a
(29:33):
lot of times you just have to flip a switch,
and we call that instant romance in the real estate world.
When you have a gas burning fireplace and all you
have to do is turn on the switch. If everything
is working properly, it'll fire up and it'll turn on.
So a gas fireplace is less mess, less maintenance, but
(29:57):
you still have to maintain it. And if you are
planning to sell your home, you've not turned your fireplace
on for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Guess what.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Either you go ahead and get it done, or we'll
have to disclose that you have not used it. You
don't want to turn it on, and that will be
up to the buyer to decide how they want to
handle it. They may say, well, I want to see
if it's working, so can you hire someone to.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Get that done.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Again, that's going to be up to you, mister and
missus seller, if you are comfortable. The other thing is
if you have any kind of on your roof or
near your roof or on the side of your house. Again,
if there's any like a chimney cap or anything like that,
that could be costly to get looked at and to
get fixed if it is needed. So we're going to
(30:47):
talk about that in just a minute. So we're going
to talk about the wood burning fireplace. Not everybody has it,
not everybody wants it because it tends to be messy
because you have to chop firewood.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You see a lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Wood burning fireplaces out in the country a little bit
in the rural areas.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And frankly, people in rural rural.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Areas can't live without their fireplaces because it is it's
a good source of heat, it burns great, and it
is it's cheap for the most part, because you're just
using nature to heat your home. So talking about I'm
(31:31):
gonna wrap up. Let's wrap up the gas fireplace.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Right. Safety first, turn it off. Clean the glass.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
If you don't know how to do it, this should
be a manual or you can look it up online
on how to remove the glass from the front of
your gas burning fireplace. Clean the burner, the logs, make
sure that you're dusting, use something replacing the material that
may be old or not working that gives you that
little extra spark, checking the venting, making sure that you
(32:03):
reassemble it properly. And if you need help, go ahead
and hire somebody to help you.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
All right, So that's.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Your gas burning fireplace, and we're going to take a
quick break. Then we're going to talk about the wood
burning fireplace and getting wood and again the ambiance and
that's like a Norman Rockwell picture. Right, is the gas
burning fireplace do you have one? Do you want one?
Do you even not want to mess with it? We'll
(32:32):
talk about that when we come back. My name is
Michelle Sloane and you're listening to the Sloan Sales Homes
open House right here on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Welcome back to the Sloan Sales Homes open House. I
am Michelle Sloane. I'm your local residential realtor and broker
at Remax Time Remax Time. We have been in business, well,
(32:56):
I've been in business for twenty years. The office has
been open for a six years, and we have been
serving the northern Cincinnati area and all around Cincinnati. To
be very honest, I, like I said, have been in
business for twenty years and absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Love what I do.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I'd love actually being on the radio, being on YouTube
explaining to everybody, you know, best practices and what you
should expect from your real estate agent. And you you
know there are a lot of expectations. I am licensed
to make sure that I'm always telling you the truth.
(33:36):
I am protecting you. That is my job and I
take it very very seriously. So if you are looking
for a real estate agent, hopefully you'll look no further
than Sloan Sales Homes Michelle Sloane our team. If you're
looking for someone in the Kentucky area, we have several
(33:57):
agents in the office who are since in Ohio and Kentucky.
I am personally not licensed in the state of Kentucky
right at this point, so but that's okay, we'll hook
you up and again, okay, So we're part of Remax.
Remax is global, Remax is worldwide. And it's funny because
(34:21):
I have friends in Britain and they will send me
pictures of Remax signs and I say, yeah, we are everywhere,
and I love that about this company and this brand.
Remax is a tremendous brand, and it is also gives
buyers and sellers the upper hand. So as an agent
(34:43):
with Remax, I have tools that I can use to
help you sell your home.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's really the key.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
When an agent works for a broker, and I am
a broker, but you're with a broker with Remax Time.
Remax Time is franchise, so all the Remax offices are
a little bit different. They have different brokers and around
the city, so it's like kind of like McDonald's, you know,
McDonald's is really not operated, owned and operated by the
(35:13):
same person.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I think Ray Kroc started all of that, but.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Each Remax office is individually owned and operated. So if
you are looking for an agent with a company that
backs me and therefore backs you, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Okay, Remax time.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Michelle Sloane Sloan saleshomes dot Com, text me, call me.
All of my information is right there.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Today we're talking about getting your home ready for the
winter months. We talked about the inside of your home,
making sure that it's ready for the winter months, and
preparing your home during those winter months and throughout the
year will help it and help you make more when
(36:08):
it comes time to sell your home. Do you have
a wood burning fireplace? Do you love a wood burning fireplace?
I grew up with a woodburning fireplace, and I have
great memories of chopping wood. I lived in rural Seneca County,
(36:29):
which is northwest Ohio, and I have great memories as
a child. I think I was probably not real excited
about stacking wood for the winter months, but it was
definitely something that the whole family, you know, had to
get your gloves on and really do get a workout
(36:49):
and get that.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Wood ready if you are.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
You know, if you are have a wood burning fireplace,
you probably know that if you stack the wood near
your home or inside your garage, which I don't recommend
because that can lead to bugs in your garage, and
so at least keep it on the outside of your home.
And then you know, once you move all of that
close to the house, you have to move it away
(37:13):
from the house during the summer months again because that's
a breeding ground for bugs and termites and things like that,
and you.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Don't want that.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
That's why you don't want to put your firewood inside
your garage. I know some people do, but it's really
not the best place for it. Wood burning fireplaces have
become a little bit a thing of the past unless
you're building a custom home, a very very expensive custom home,
(37:40):
because having a full chimney is quite expensive. It's beautiful
and it can be absolutely stunning as a focal point
to your home, but over time, like anything a fireplace,
the mortar, the bricks will break down. On the exterior
(38:01):
of your home, there's a chimney cap, there's all this,
there's a whole system, and oftentimes over the years, with
wind and rain and snow and all of those seasons
that we love, the chimney cap will crack and the
concrete will crack, and so those the cap has to
(38:22):
be fixed so that water doesn't get down inside of
the chimney and then potentially create other issues inside.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Of your home.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
So you're going to want to make sure that if
you have a wood burning fireplace, or if you're looking
to purchase a home that has an existing wood burning fireplace,
you know, you may not even think about it, but
hopefully your real estate agent will think about it and
help you understand the costs involved of maintaining a wood
(38:53):
burning fireplace. There are a few things, a few key
things that you really want to think about.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Number one is the soot build up.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
When you burn wood natural wood, you're going to get
a layer of soot on the inside of your firebox walls,
in the hearth, and in the flu. The flu is
the you know where the the air and the all
of the dust and flames and stuff go up into
(39:24):
the flu that needs to be cleaned so that you
don't have a fire inside of the fireplace.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Flu.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
If there's a persistent smoky odor inside of the home
and nobody in the home smokes, you want to make
sure that you get that fireplace cleaned and checked. If
I walk into your home and I smell smoke and
you're not burning, if you don't have a fire going,
there has been some significant creosote and build up inside
(39:58):
of your fireplace, you probably want to get that cleaned.
And then once you get it cleaned, you may find
or the person who cleans it may find that you
have in the mortar in between, you may have some gaps.
Those gaps have to be filled for safety purposes. You know,
if you have a hard time starting a fire in
(40:20):
a wood burning fireplace, you know it could be as
a result of blockages within the chimney or the flu.
So if it's hard to start you're not having enough airflow,
that could be because you have a blockage inside of
that flu. And if you haven't had your fireplace woodburning
(40:41):
fireplace cleaned and checked in a long time, it may be.
You know, it's weather dependent, and there are a few
really good around here. There are really good contractors who
could come out and clean your flu and when it's time,
if you need your chimney cap replaced, or if you
see that the brick around your chimney is falling apart.
(41:04):
That's not uncommon because of the outdoor effects. It's not uncommon,
but it still needs to be fixed. So you're going
to find depending on the person that you call, and
you may want to get a couple of couple of people.
You may want to call a couple of different contractors
because it can be very expensive. It could be thousands
(41:27):
of dollars to make those repairs. Again, it depends on
who you call. If you're in a hurry to get
it done because you're selling your home, then you know
it may cost a little bit more. If you have
excessive smoke inside your home after you start a fire,
that very well mean that you have a blockage or
(41:50):
build up inside of your flu because remember that smoke
is supposed to go up the flu. The heat is
supposed to come out of the fireplace. The beautiful view
of the crackling the wood crackling in the fireplace, and
make sure you have a screen on there so that
no wood pops out and starts a fire inside of
(42:11):
your home. Again, a lot of people are kind of
scared of a wood burning fireplace.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
I grew up with one.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
I was a little bit of a pyromaniac as a child,
I'd love to like burn little things in the fireplace
when when my parents weren't home. Don't tell them, but definitely.
And then you have to make sure that you know
you don't have any animals that are nesting in your fireplace.
There's a lot of things that you can think about
(42:38):
or that you have to look at. If you are
buying a home with a wood burning fireplace, you're building
a home and you want a wood burning fireplace, and
if there's never if you've never had your fireplace checked
and you use it, look for these signs. Look for
a smoky odor, look for if you can't start that fire,
or if you have excessive smoke inside of your home.
(43:01):
Those are all signs that you need to get your
fireplace cleaned and checked. Okay, I'm out of time. I
want to thank you so much for joining me today.
And if you missed any of this, you can listen
to on iHeartRadio. You can go to my YouTube channel
Sloan Sales Homes Open House on YouTube and right here.
(43:23):
Of course, I'll be back next week four o'clock on
fifty five KRS, the talk station
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