A few week’s ago I introduced you to the HomeAdvisor Report Card Quiz and you saw how by answering 10 questions you could determine what needs your home may need this Fall as well as learn maintenance tips you hadn’t thought of! Well this week I decide to choose a project for my home – and I chose to upgrade my thermostat!

Image via: McConell & Ewing

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The Gibson household is a small 2,000 sq. ft 1987 brick home and we’ve been told that the previous owner’s didn’t choose the most efficient thermostat. Although, when you move into a home the last thing we were thinking of was upgrading the thermostat! So… three years later, this was the perfect time to do it. Our last thermostat wasn’t automatic — Eek! It was very inefficient – we would just turn it up and down as we needed, and this in itself wasn’t good for our energy bill.

Before I show you my thermostat and a video to help you choose one for your home, take a look at the results of my quiz!

My Results: HomeAdvisor’s Home Report Card Quiz

Here are the results from my HomeAdvisor Home Report Quiz . You can take the quiz also to see how you rate in determining what Fall home maintenance tips are most beneficial, which can save you money and some energy conservation facts that may surprise you!

Installing & Learning what type of thermostat is best for your home

I decided to upgrade my thermostat and HomeAdvisor has a great tool to help you get matched with a thermostat contractor in your area. If you’re not sure what type, or how to install one, you can fill out the information and be contacted by a service professional in your city.

Watch this video on how to winterize your home – upgrading your thermostat can definitely help!

How to winterize your home video – by HomeAdvisor

Let HomeAdvisor help you with other fall tasks such as:

• Energy Audit
• Gutters cleaned out and replaced
• Fall lawn clean up
• Easy kitchen updates – *Kitchen Repainting * Kitchen lighting replaced/installed

For past HomeAdvisor posts on Stagetecture, click here.

Disclosure: I am a voluntary participant in the HomeAdvisor Blogger Network.  I have been asked by HomeAdvisor to review their products in exchange for compensation.  All opinions are my own. 

For more outdoor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Can you believe we have already finished 9 months of the year and we are headed into Fall already? By now you have probably started to think about cooler weather and enjoying a break from the record breaking heat of the summer. Depending on where you live – you could already be feeling the changing of the temperature, and that means Fall maintenance time is here!

Image via: Rob Karosis

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One part of Fall that homeowners forget about is maintaining their home to ensure home safety, energy conservation and to keep up with routine “wear and tear” on your home.

Autumn is the perfect season for checking in on your home systems and HomeAdvisor always has great resources to make the job easier. Make sure and see the past posts on Stagetecture for maintenance and DIY project ideas and vendor resources to help with your home project. This Fall – HomeAdvisor helps you get ready for the changing season with their Home Report Card.

HomeAdvisor’s Home Report Card Quiz

Take the quiz to see how you rate in determining what Fall home maintenance tips are most beneficial, which can save you money and some energy conservation facts that may surprise you!

See how I answered some of the quiz questions:

After 10 questions the quiz goes through your answers and helps you discover tips for saving energy and preparing for your fall maintenance schedule this season. Check back next time when you see how I scored!

HomeAdvisor Cost Guide

There is also vital information to help you determine the cost of your upcoming project. Fall is the perfect time to maintain your outdoor and exterior home, but also start any DIY projects before the holidays! Look to the HomeAdvisor Cost Guide to get an idea of how much your project or maintenance project cost ranges in your area.

This Fall your home will be ready for the cooler weather with the use of these handy tools from HomeAdvisor. Take the Home Report Card Quiz, try out the Cost Guide and see how you do!

Image via: Case Design Remodeling

Next week, check back with Stagetecture and see how I scored on the quiz and see what Fall maintenance task I chose to do in my home. There’s nothing better than getting tips for what you should be doing at your home, right?

Stay close, we will both get our home’s ready for Fall together!

For past HomeAdvisor posts on Stagetecture, click here.

Disclosure: I am a voluntary participant in the HomeAdvisor Blogger Network.  I have been asked by HomeAdvisor to review their products in exchange for compensation.  All opinions are my own. 

For more outdoor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Over the past week my outdoor home has been transformed with spring maintenance projects! If you missed the first post – ProjectHome – Spring Maintenance on My Home with HomeAdvisor you will see the 3 projects I chose for my spring maintenance with HomeAdvisor.

Image via: Peter Zimmerman Architects

My gutters, driveway, and dryer vent were all the subjects and were they in dire need of help or what?!

Last week I showed you the Profinder site helps you identify up to 3 professionals in your area based on the projects you choose. I was amazed to see all of the different options for spring maintenance. Here’s how I chose my service professional.

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Selecting a HomeAdvisor service professional 

The HomeAdvisor ProFinder is great because it asks you step by step what you need. What is your projects, what repairs are needed, what troubles are you experiencing, etc.. Once you enter your zip code it will start to filter through professionals in your area.

I chose the Zill Service, Corp:

The Window Gang (Zill Service Corp) were awesome! Very professional. They came out to give me an estimate and walked me through each of my projects:

• Cleaning out the gutters
• Pressure washing all of the sidewalks and driveway
• Cleaning out my dryer vent

Before & After pictures of the Gibson House:

1. Gutters:

For most homeowners that are trying to obtain a green roof – this is not what they mean! We live in a 30-year old neighborhood with mature trees all around. While it looks beautiful, the trees drop seedlings all season and so our gutters literally grow weeds and mini trees until we clean them out. So this was #1 on the list for us.

Before

After

Before

After

2. Sidewalks:

Since our sidewalks are older they have cracks, but worse of all – they are black in many areas due to age and all of the tree debris from around our home. We hope to get all the walkways cleaned to help the walkways and driveways look clean and refreshed.

Here are Before & After of our sidewalks:

Before

After

Before

After

3. Dryer vent cleaning – 

So as I told you before that they couldn’t find my dryer vent from the exterior. Well bad news, the Window Gang traced my dryer vent  into my attic where it isn’t vented to the outside of my home. Instead it is blowing into our attic! EEK This can start a fire!

I was so happy that they told me. I am now in the process of getting a heating/air conditioning duct professional out to my home to see what can be done.

In the meantime – the Window Gang was still able to dig out all of this lint from the lower part of our dryer vent duct…. EEEWWW!

Before

After

So needless to say – this home maintenance project could have saved me my home! I’m so glad we got it done. Thanks HomeAdvisor.

That completes my spring maintenance projects with HomeAdvisor. What spring maintenance do you need in your home? Get started at HomeAdvisor by hitting the ‘Get Started’ button below:

Start Here for your Spring Maintenance Project:

Want to win a chance for 3 months worth of free maid service?

HomeAdvisor’s Spring Cleaning Contest Information:

Use HomeAdvisor’s Cost Guide tool to find out the average cost of a maid service in your city. Submit that cost on our entry form found on HomeAdvisor’s Facebook page May 6^th-16^th to be eligible to win 3 months of free maid service.

Note: I am a voluntary participant in the HomeAdvisor Blogger Network. I have been asked by HomeAdvisor to review their products in exchange for compensation.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

For more HomeAdvisor projects on Stagetecture, click here.

Springtime is in full swing and it always seems like over the wintertime we completely neglect our outdoor homes! Even with me living in Florida where the winters are mild, for us we think it’s cold! So we still don’t keep up our outdoor homes as we should. Once the weather becomes warmer it’s officially time to get started on our spring maintenance checklist. So I was excited when HomeAdvisor asked me to pair with them in showing how their Spring maintenance services offered by professionals in your area are perfect to help you tackle your spring maintenance tasks.

The Profinder site helps you identify up to 3 professionals in your area based on the projects you choose. I was amazed to see all of the different options for spring maintenance.

Image via: HGTV

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Here are just a few of the spring maintenance options HomeAdvisor professionals offer:

• Give your home a good spring cleaning with a maid service (read below how you can win a chance for 3 months free maid service!)
• Clear gutters and downspouts
• Duct and vent cleaning
• Power washing your walkways/driveways, patio/porch
• Carpet cleaning
• Window washing
• Disinfect grout & tile
• Air conditioning servicing
• Weather proofing your home
• Prep your lawn for play – removing debris

 So I chose these 3 spring maintenance projects:

Clear gutters and downspouts
Duct and vent cleaning
Power washing your walkways/driveways, patio/porch

Before pictures of the Gibson House:

1. Gutters:

For most homeowners that are trying to obtain a green roof – this is not what they mean! We live in a 30-year old neighborhood with mature trees all around. While it looks beautiful, the trees drop seedlings all season and so our gutters literally grow weeds and mini trees until we clean them out. So this was #1 on the list for us.

2. Sidewalks:

Since our sidewalks are older they have cracks, but worse of all – they are black in many areas due to age and all of the tree debris from around our home. We hope to get all the walkways cleaned to help the walkways and driveways look clean and refreshed.

Here are pictures of ours:

3. Dryer vent cleaning – 

Dryer vent fires are on the uprise in many people’s homes. So we will be getting our dryer vent cleaned out too! I can’t show pictures because we can’t find the exterior vent. Once the professional comes out – we will let you know where it is.. he he!

Determining the cost of your project:

If you remember back in October I paired with HomeAdvisor to install wood flooring in my home. One of the great options is using the HomeAdvisor’s Cost Guide to help you estimate how much the average cost of your project could be in your geographic area in the United States. It gives you a range from low, middle and high and is a good way to get a feel if you are budgeting enough for your service to be rendered.

Next week you will see how I chose my professional for my gutters, pressure washing, and dryer vent cleaning! Until then – get started at HomeAdvisor by hitting the ‘Get Started’ button below:

Start Here for your Spring Maintenance Project:

Want to win a chance for 3 months worth of free maid service?

HomeAdvisor’s Spring Cleaning Contest Information:

Use HomeAdvisor’s Cost Guide tool to find out the average cost of a maid service in your city. Submit that cost on our entry form found on HomeAdvisor’s Facebook page May 6^th-16^th to be eligible to win 3 months of free maid service.

Check back next week as the Gibson house gets spring maintenance!

For other HomeAdvisor projects on Stagetecture, click here.

Note: I am a voluntary participant in the HomeAdvisor Blogger Network. I have been asked by HomeAdvisor to review their products in exchange for compensation.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.