By Platinum Team September 18, 2017

Fixing Your Home Up for Fall: The List TV Segment

Fall is setting in, and we recently caught up with The List to talk home maintenance. This segment covers three top items that often need attention come autumn.
1.  Gutters and downspouts – How dry leaves can plug up your downspouts, posing a fire danger or creating flooding issues and what you can do to prevent problems.

2. Washer and dryer – How summer’s heat can encourage mold growth in your washer and how properly cleaning both your washer and dryer can help you prep for fall.

3. Oven – How a dirty door seal and grease build up can impact your oven’s performance and how to best clean it.

Featuring:

Steve Higgins, VP of Field Services, Platinum Home Warranty

Need help with home maintenance? We can help! Just give us a call at 602.733.5000, and ask for our retail division.

Aired: 09/05/2017 04:30:18 PM

Full Transcript:

Jared Cotter: These lazy late summer days may be easy on us but can be super hard on your home. Happily, we’ve got a few simple ways to fix up your home for fall without walloping your wallet. All on the top of our list.
As much as we’d like to, we can’t put our homes on autopilot. Our friends at Platinum Home Warranty show us three things that need your attention come autumn. Number one thing, the gutters and down spouts. David, why is the fall season so hard on gutters?

David Tolsdorf: The leaves are changing, drying, falling, hitting the roof, going into the gutters. The dry leaves will plug up your gutters and down spouts. It’s a huge fire danger.

Jared: Even in cool fall weather, sunlight on metal gutters can spark dry leaves.

David: Not only can it clog up the gutters, it can clog up your downspouts and not allow them to do their job.

Jared: The means rainwaters can’t drain and before you know it, a flood in the house. What can we do to prevent it?

David: For a couple hundred dollars for your entire home, there are gutter guards. The debris will fall on here and won’t go into the gutter itself.

Jared: Next, the washing machine and dryer.

Steve: Because of the heat, in the laundry room, causes a lot of these mold and mildew spores to start growing around the room of the washing machines. That is mold.

Jared: Summer’s heat caused more mold to collect, so give it a good clean for the fall.

Steve: Use anything, any kind of a cleaner. Anything but your fingers.

Jared: What about the dryer?

Steve: The dryer, simple stuff. The lint trap on here everybody is aware of, but not everybody cleans like they should. And if you don’t keep this clean and a lot of this plugs up, not only will the dryer use a lot more electricity, but it also creates a fire hazard with that lint going outside. A little spark will ignite a lot of stuff on that roof.

Jared: And our final fall home hazard, the oven.

Steve: Okay, so we’re inarguably the most important room in the house, the kitchen. Going into baking season. A lot of people neglect the oven. The door seal gets a lot of grime and stuff on it, causes it to get crusty and prevents it from making the proper seal.

Jared: That means an inefficient oven and a higher electric bill.

Steve: If grease allowed to stay on there at 400 degrees, it will melt a hole in the elements. you’ll see it catch on fire.

Jared: Steve says to clean after each baking while the oven is still warm. Falling for autumn home maintenance on the top of the list.