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Page 16 Local Town Pages www.hollistontownnews.com <strong>November</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
Get Your Home Ready for Winter<br />
It’s hard to believe winter is<br />
upon us again when it seems like it<br />
was just the 4th of July, but here it<br />
comes again! It’s important to get<br />
your home ready for winter, so a<br />
little planning and action now can<br />
prevent a major crisis later. Here<br />
are a few tips to have your home<br />
ready for winter.<br />
Heating System Check Up<br />
Make sure you have a service<br />
call scheduled with a professional<br />
technician for an inspection and<br />
tune up of your home’s heating<br />
system. If you have a hot air system,<br />
this should include changing<br />
all the air filters.<br />
Chimney Sweep<br />
We love our fires here in New<br />
England! Hire an insured chimney<br />
sweep to clean your chimney<br />
and inspect your fireplace before<br />
you have any fires. This should be<br />
done every year.<br />
Clean Your Gutters<br />
Clean gutters are critical during<br />
the winter when there may<br />
be large amounts of snow and<br />
ice melting on your home. More<br />
about ice dams later, but for now,<br />
make sure your gutters are clean<br />
and working properly, including<br />
water run off at around the foundations.<br />
If you hire a company for<br />
this, make sure you get a copy of<br />
their insurance policy or ask their<br />
agent if they are covered for ladder<br />
work. Many landscapers may<br />
offer gutter clean but are not insured<br />
to go on ladders.<br />
Change Batteries in<br />
All Smoke/CO Alarms<br />
Have you ever noticed that the<br />
batteries on smoke detectors only<br />
die at 3 am? Who hasn’t been<br />
awakened by a loud chirp and had<br />
to change a battery in the middle<br />
of the night. More importantly,<br />
for your safety, keep the batteries<br />
fresh. Also check any CO detectors<br />
and make sure they have not<br />
reached their expiration date and<br />
that they are mounted at the correct<br />
height per manufacturer’s recommendations.<br />
Exterior Faucets,<br />
Showers, and Irrigation<br />
Make sure you turn off exterior<br />
faucets and showers, drain the<br />
shower and take the valve inside<br />
for the winter, and have your irrigation<br />
company blow out all of<br />
the water in the system. This will<br />
protect all of these components<br />
from freezing and ensure they last<br />
a long time. Plus, you don’t want<br />
your hose faucet pipe to freeze and<br />
burst in your basement!<br />
Inspect Exterior Exhaust<br />
Pipes on Heating System<br />
With today’s newer direct vent<br />
and exhaust heating systems, the<br />
exhaust pipe is often close to the<br />
ground. If you have this type of<br />
system, inspect the exterior pipe<br />
and make sure it is free and clear<br />
from debris and plants. Also make<br />
sure you keep an eye on this during<br />
the winter to ensure it is NEVER<br />
covered with snow or ice. Every<br />
year now we hear about deep<br />
snow covering these and causing<br />
CO poisoning and even death.<br />
Empty Fuel Tanks<br />
in Yard Equipment<br />
Make sure you drain or use up<br />
all of the gas in yard equipment<br />
such as lawn mowers, trimmers,<br />
etc. When gas freezes it can cause<br />
major problems in the machinery.<br />
Also, don’t store any gas over<br />
the winter in an unheated garage.<br />
(Don’t store gas inside your<br />
home either!)<br />
Ice Dam Removal<br />
Company<br />
Get under contract with an<br />
ice dam removal company now<br />
before it’s an emergency. As mentioned<br />
above, make sure the company<br />
you hire has insurance for<br />
this work, which is often excluded<br />
Doug Masters<br />
from policies. Establish clear expectations<br />
of timing and scope of<br />
work during an ice dam event so<br />
you know what the crews will do<br />
and when they will do it.<br />
Doug Masters is the owner of Masters<br />
Touch, located at 24 Water St.,<br />
<strong>Holliston</strong>. For more information contact<br />
(508) 359-5900, e-mail info@MastersTouchWeb.com<br />
or visit www.MastersTouchWeb.com.<br />
Gardener Plus<br />
Your old fashioned perennial gardener<br />
FALL & SPRING CLEAN-UPS<br />
Planting Pruning Weeding Mulching<br />
~Call for our full list of services~<br />
Help Keep a Family Warm<br />
with Project Just Because<br />
Washington Barbalho 508.881.2264<br />
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By J.D. O’Gara<br />
Hopkinton-based Project Just Because<br />
(www.projectjustbecause.org) has grown to<br />
help families in need from the entire state of<br />
Massachusetts, from Boston and the North<br />
Shore, to the South Shore, all the way to<br />
Pittsfield. While need has risen, donations<br />
are down, but you can do something to help.<br />
Right now, Project Just Because is embarking<br />
on its annual “Keep a Family<br />
Warm” program, collecting new or gently<br />
used coats for those who need them.<br />
“We collect them at Project Just Because,<br />
and we’re working at increasing bins we have<br />
around,” says volunteer Barb Christensen,<br />
who says that some groups of people actually<br />
collect coats on their own and then have<br />
a volunteer drive them down to the office<br />
in Hopkinton. People who need coats, she<br />
says, can go online and indicate the sizes and<br />
ages, and they actually come and pick them<br />
up in Hopkinton. Since Project Just Because<br />
is a 211 charity, she says, that helps homeless<br />
people and victims of domestic abuse, the<br />
organization also sees requests from social<br />
workers on behalf of clients they are helping.<br />
“The primary misconception is they have<br />
to be new,” says Christensen. “We’re grateful<br />
for gently used as well, especially for kids.<br />
We’re happy to take last year’s jacket. Then<br />
at Christmas, we do hats, mittens and scarves<br />
at Christmas time, and those are new only.”<br />
Right now, says Christensen, the Christmas<br />
program is open for people who would<br />
like to “adopt” a family or children for the<br />
holiday or just get a couple of items.<br />
“You can take just a child, a family or just<br />
a gift,” says Christensen.<br />
Project Just Because is run by about 20<br />
regular volunteers that are there two days a<br />
week, but “we get a lot of support from other<br />
people in the community and companies,<br />
such as Dell, T.J. Max, who will send 12 or<br />
14 people at a time. Recently, we had a lovely<br />
group of three moms and six kids, and they<br />
helped sort coats and baby clothes,” says<br />
Christensen. “It was really terrific, a great<br />
opportunity for a young person to donate<br />
their time and energy and see what we do.”<br />
Christensen says young people are often<br />
very impressed with the toy room, learning<br />
that the toys are “for kids who would otherwise<br />
get nothing. That’s a concept that not<br />
too many kids in Metrowest have to deal<br />
with.”<br />
For more information, to volunteer, donate<br />
or request aid, visit http://projectjustbecause.org/.
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