Know anyone who's interested in building a home?If you have any friends, family, or co-workers who are looking to own their first or second home - would you forward this message to them? We'll be happy to show them our 6 new construction home plans along with the benefits of owning a Charleston Home so they can make a decision that's right for them.
We've had a pretty cold winter, with a lot of temperature swings and moisture changes. This has caused many of our streets, sidewalks, and driveways to fall victim to what is known as "frost heave." This is when extreme cold temperatures and moisture get into the small cracks in the cement and cause the cement to rise. This happens every year, but this year in particular has caused a lot of extra frost heave.
Since temperatures have risen here in the last few weeks, the cement has returned to its original position, but it has left behind some imperfections that you'll need to shore up. After frost heave happens, you tend to see a lot of little hairline cracks that will start to form in the cement - seal those up once temperatures get above 50 degrees.
Your home may have this problem as well. On many driveways, between the driveway and the garage, there is an expansion joint. The joint is meant to be there so the driveway can't be pushed into the house. When frost heave occurs, it will be pushed up. You can't really push it back down, so the best thing to do in this situation is to try to cut off the excess expansion joint safely with a knife. Then, get some polyurethane sealant and apply it to the crack. Doing this sooner than later will help prevent against frost heave next winter.
If you have any questions, you can always give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!
Know anyone who's interested in building a home?If you have any friends, family, or co-workers who are looking to own their first or second home - would you forward this message to them? We'll be happy to show them our 7 new construction home plans along with the benefits of owning a Charleston Home so they can make a decision that's right for them.
It's been a cold winter here in Nebraska, and along with the cold and snow come some unique problems for homeowners. One such problem is frost heave, which occurs when moisture collects underneath concrete, freezes and expands. The result is that it lifts the concrete and damages your driveway and garage.
Causes of frost heave:
While frost heave can be very typical with the Nebraska winters, there are a few steps you can take to help prevent it.
Do not wash the garage out in colder months
Make sure downspout extenders are secured properly and diverting water away from concrete
Clear snow right away
Make sure gutters are free of debris and working properly
MOST IMPORTANT- Caulking and sealing of the driveway prior to winter to help prevent water from going into gaps or voids (Typically when we receive calls that a driveway has frost heave, the driveway has not been caulked or sealed)
One way to prevent frost heave in the winter is by caulking your control joints early on in the spring or summer. This will help prevent excess moisture from getting inside the concrete slabs and freezing. Concrete is naturally porous, so it will absorb a certain amount of moisture, but caulking will help prevent quite a bit of movement.
What to expect with frost heave:
Typically when a concrete slab heaves due to frost it is not that anything was done incorrectly but
rather moisture made it's way into the ground causing the ground to freeze. Frost heave is more of a weather-related problem and cannot always be 100% prevented despite any measures taken ahead of time.
Most heaves occur between the garage and the driveway
Homes facing North and East are more susceptible to this due to a lack of sunlight and colder temperatures
Slabs can move anywhere from 1/4" to 4" in rare occasions (typically 1/2" to 1")
When weather warms, frost will come out of the ground and slabs typically return to their original placement
On occasion, slabs can be held up by stone and concrete, not allowing sections of the slab to move, which causes cracks in the concrete panels
Cracks less than 1/4" can be caulked using Vulkem concrete caulk
Be careful to inspect your concrete before and after winter to make sure that you've taken the necessary steps to protect your driveway and other paved areas.
If you have any questions about this or if you would like to contact us in regards to a property in Omaha, please feel free to do so via phone or email. We can always arrange a time to meet with you.
Know anyone who's interested in building a home?If
you have any friends, family, or co-workers who are looking to own
their first or second home - would you forward this message to them?
We'll be happy to show them our 7 new construction home plans along with
the benefits of owning a Charleston Home so they can make a decision
that's right for them.
Today we’re joined by our warranty manager, Shaun, to discuss fireplace safety and maintenance. All of our homes have similar fireplaces, and these tips are similar for most modern gas fireplaces. Today, we want to walk you through a few safety and maintenance procedures that will make your fireplace run smoothly and safely when it needs to. First, let's talk about cleaning the glass panel on the front of your fireplace.
The process of cleaning this panel is quite easy, it's getting the panel off that is the tricky part. For a lot of our fireplaces, there are two latches underneath the glass, next to the pilot light. Undo these latches, and the panel should hinge out and lift right up. To clean the glass, we recommend using Cerama Bryte, or another ammonia-free glass cleaner. You should clean this glass at least twice a year. Once at the beginning of the winter season, and once at the end.
Now that we have the cleaning down, let's talk about lighting that pilot light. It's something you have to do at the beginning of every season, so let's go through the step-by-step process of getting that pilot light lit.
Open the door beneath the fireplace to expose the gas line and pilot light switch.
Look for the red handle that controls the gas line. When the lever is perpendicular to the gas line, the gas is off, if it is parallel with the gas line, the gas is on.
Push in the control button on the left, and turn it to "pilot"
Press the ignite button, up to 20 times.
Once the fireplace is lit, hold the gas valve for about 30 seconds, then release and turn the left-hand control knob to "on."
There you have it, some basic fireplace maintenance to keep your home clean and warm this winter. If you have any questions, or would like to check out the great new fireplaces we have in our models, give us a call or send us a quick email.
