Clicks 365

1800flowers provides floral, plant, and gift products, along with cakes and cookies, and chocolate and candy gift items for sale. They furnish much choice in bouquets in the under $30 cost range, as well as in the $30 to $50 cost range. 1800flowers also offers corporate gifts, balloons, and gourmet baskets, along with national and international shipping.

The Martha Stewart floral arrangements and gifts at 1800flowers represent more alternative for today’s discerning consumer. This distinctiveness line furnishes best sellers from the Martha Stewart collection. Examples include pink oriental lily bouquets, ‘Pako’ tulips, white phalaenopsis orchid bouquets, and rose bouquets, among others. Every floral design in the Martha Stewart line pairs with a unique vase, container, or basket inspired by her personal collection. This collection includes American ceramic bowls, art deco glass vases, arts and crafts bowls, and bamboo grove vases. They also include burnished gold vases, ceramic woven baskets, classic silvered vases, cut glass vases, among many others.

Other cake gift selections include cinnamon bliss streusel cakes, 7-inch fudge cake, 7-inch chocolate fudge cake for birthdays, and amaretto chocolate chip cake. 1800flowers also offers choice when it comes to fortune cookies for various occasions. Another food gift item they make available is Belgian chocolate hand-dipped Oreo Cookies. Each tin includes 16 classic Oreo cookies hand-dipped in Belgian white, dark, or milk chocolate. The client can also include a personalized message in the container.

Many of their under $30 gift items are eligible for same-day florist delivery. This combination of value pricing and favorable shipping is to meet the demands of shoppers looking for quality gift items that fit their budgets and their need for quick shipping.

1800flowers continues to present various flower, plant, and gift choices. Their commitment is to product and cost option that meets the needs of price as well as quality-conscious shoppers. With flowers under $30, clearance sales, everyday value pricing, and sale selections, they look to supply gifts in price ranges that their buyers’ demand.

Comments Off

Depending upon how your contents insurance is written, garden items can be included on your insurance policy. The cost of replacing gardening tools is very costly and if gardening is your passion you probably have many outdoor tools. Make sure your policy is written to give you the coverage you want to include these items. If you are a gardening enthusiast, you may also choose to consider the possibility of covering any plants you may have. Many insurance policies will cover plants with contents coverage but the owner will need to specify that this is a need to be included on the list of items to be insured. Replacement costs for plants are also very costly and you will need to have a replacement value attached to your list of plants. You will need to keep all receipt of purchases you have made for your garden With your garden items, consider including in your coverage any outdoor barbecues, grills, patio, or pool furniture. Speak with your insurance agent and find out the options that are available for the coverage of all your garden items. Make sure you have an itemized list of all your outdoor items that you need contents insurance to cover. Picking up the financial pieces after a loss is difficult and if the policy does not match your expectations the sense of loss will be even greater. Along with the list, it is essential to attach a replacement value on each item. When having to file a claim, it will be a much less stressful process if the replacement value has already been included in the details of the contents insurance policy. Make sure the contents insurance package you purchase includes all the items you deem necessary to be listed on your policy. You may need to review more than one insurance company’s coverage details to find the one that satisfies all your garden contents insurance coverage needs.

Comments Off | Lees verder »

Safety Concerns with Heat Exchangers

Submitted by: Michael Del Greco, New Jersey Home Inspector Lic GI 0121, President of Accurate Inspections, Inc, a New Jersey home inspection company

How unsafe is a failed heat exchanger in your forced-air system? The main safety concern with warm-

air furnaces, sometimes called \”hot air heat,\” is keeping the products of combustion from mixing with

the air in the home and negatively affecting the health of the occupants.

When fuel is burned, three products are produced: (1) heat, (2) carbon dioxide (C02), and water (H20).

This example assumes complete combustion. If there is incomplete combustion, other products will also

be present. These may include the compounds such as carbon monoxide (C0), formaldehyde (HCH0)

and numerous other aldahydes, nitrogen dioxide (N02), and sulfur dioxide (S02). The technicians who set up furnaces try to keep the C0 to less than 100 parts per million (ppm) in the exhaust.

Problems develop when there is a blocked or partially blocked chimney and/or a failed heat exchanger.

A blocked chimney can fill the area where the heater is located and the first floor with toxic C0 gases in

a few hours, depending on how much air flow there is in the house. In most situations, a blocked chimney is relatively easy to clear.

A failed heat exchanger is much more difficult to determine, but, in almost all cases, is much less
dangerous than a blocked chimney. In fact, when the furnace\’s fan is running, the heat exchanger is pressurized from the house air side. In almost all cases, this pressure will not allow dangerous gases to

accumulate in the house air. The path of least resistance for these exhaust gases is up the chimney.

This may not be the opinion of most gas utilities in the country, which is somewhat understandable based on the liability exposure.

The pressure on the heat exchanger has a significant effect on the tendency of flue gases to pass from
one side of the heat exchanger to the other. If the fan is off, the pressure from the burner will cause the burner side to be positive and the C0 or C02 gas can pass to the house side. The amount of gas passing

from one side to the other is based on the size and location of the failure in the heat exchanger.

However, it is rare this amount would exceed the amount of C0 or C02 gases emitted from a kitchen gas range flame.

When the fan comes on, the house air side of the heat exchanger, in almost every case, is positive. The positive pressure from the house air or fan side would cause the house air to be pushed into the exhaust

side, not vice versa. The only exception may be some power burners which would maintain positive pressure on the burner side while the fan was on or a heat exchanger failure which was large enough to

get your fist into.

The main thing to remember is that high pressure will always move to a low pressure. There are a few other factors which must be added to be totally accurate. These would include the location of the failure and the design of the heat exchanger.

I am not trying to say that failed heat exchangers are safe, but would like you to know it is rarely as

much of a concern as we hear from most information sources.



One last item: According to the American National Standards, it is almost impossible to construct a heat exchanger that is entirely air tight. Therefore, any test method developed to detect flue gas leakage

needs to have quantitative aspects. It would not be desirable to identify as unacceptable any heat exchanger leakage that meets the equirements/standards for heat exchanger joints. This standard says the leak should not be more than 2% of the flue gases with the internal pressure raised to .1 water
column (WC) static pressure.



Information provided by Michael Del Greco, New Jersey Home Inspector Lic. GI 0121, American Society of Home Inspectors Member 102273, Pesident of Accurate Inspections, Inc. A West Paterson New Jersey Home Inspection firm.

Comments Off

A patio can be a wonderful place to relax during the warm days of spring, summer and autumn; or all year if you live in warmer climes. At times when the lawn may be too wet or even muddy, the solid floor of a patio means you can sit outside even after heavy rain and make the most of the fresh air, and visual pleasure of your garden. You can even turn your patio into a patio garden to make it more interesting.

You can turn the plainest of patios into a patio garden with the good use of containers or outdoor planters. If you are starting from nothing, and designing and building (or having designed and built) a completely new patio, then it is worth giving the garden aspect of the patio some forethought.

The reason for the pre-planning is that you have an opportunity to create something very special with little extra expense beyond the foundation work and the patio floor. Here are just a few thoughts to build in at the design stage, so your patio garden can be more than just a flat area of paving slabs.

Colour Scheme for the Patio

When planning a new patio it is best to consider the colour scheme beyond just the colour of the paving slabs. If you want a patio garden, then you will need containers to grow plants in. Try to be sure that you can obtain containers or planters which blend well with the colour of the slabs. For example, light brown paving slabs above may look very nice, but are not so easy to blend in naturally with surroundings, or find complementary planters for.

Natural grey stone, on the other hand, is much easier to find suitable planters for, and can have a much more natural appearance in the garden.

That is not to say paving slabs other than grey cannot be used, but just bear in mind the rest of the decor you will need to fit in to make your patio garden attractive.

Consider Height

As with many aspects of garden design, height is important when planning a patio garden. This can be achieved in a number of ways, which can all be used at the same time. Here are some examples:

1. Consider having a wall around the patio, on which you can put a few containers. On a patio or terrace, columns and balusters can be very attractive, and add a distinctive style.

2. Consider having a covered or partly covered patio. That gives you the opportunity to not only provide shade and cover, but allow for trellis on one side. That way you can grow climbing plants on the patio which add that all important height to the patio garden.

3. Choose some high containers that will immediately contrast with your smaller containers.

4. Choose some tall growing plants and container suitable shrubs, to contrast with the low growing and trailing plants.

Consider Your View and Adjacent Garden

It is best not to design the patio in isolation, but consider it in conjunction with the view you would most like to see. This means that the positioning is especially important, as are the garden design considerations in the surrounding garden.

For example, if you want sweet smelling plants to fill your senses on a warm evening, you can plant them next to the patio. Or, if you want a private area in which to sit, some taller shrubs outside the patio in that area may provide you with just that.

By using a combination of the above features, you can develop a patio garden that will be a pleasing and impressive feature of your garden overall, and also be a great place to relax on those balmy sunny days. Try to visualize it in full before starting work on construction, and your garden patio could end up as your dream garden patio.

This patio garden article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner author of the gardens and decor web site.

Comments Off

One of the things that makes perennials so attractive to home
gardeners is the ability to divide and transplant the
perennials. Gardeners can use cuttings made from their
perennials in order to create new growth, share their plants
with family members and friends, or even to sell excess stock to
nurseries, garden centers and flower stores.

There are basically two reasons why gardeners choose to divide
their perennials. The first reason is for the improvement of the
health of the plants, and to encourage those plants to produce
more flowers. In many cases, an older planting of perennials
will become overgrown, and this can cause the bloom quantity of
those perennials to drop considerably. The other reason
gardeners divide perennials, of course, is to create new
plantings. Perennials can be divided easily, and these new
divisions can be used to create plantings in other parts of the
garden, or even in another garden patch.

Even though many perennials can be divided easily, not all can.
In generally, division is most feasible on those perennials that
grow in clumps, and those that have an expanding root mass.
Perennials that grow from single taproot, on the other hand
usually cannot be divided. That is because any attempt to divide
the taproot can cause the plant to die. Those perennials that
grow from a taproot should be increased by using root cuttings
or seeds instead of division.

The best time to divide those spring and early summer perennials
that can be divided is generally in the fall of the year.
Perennials that bloom in the fall or late summer should be
divided in the spring instead.

To divide perennials, the ground around the plant should first
be gently lessened with a spading fork. The clump should then be
sliced with a garden trowel and then divided into four parts.
Those four sections should then be broken by hand to create
sections four inches by four inches. Those small sections should
then immediately be transferred to a previously prepared plant
bed.

It is important for the gardener to thoroughly wet the soil a
day or two before the division is to take place. Watering
thoroughly will make it easier to dig the clump. In addition, it
is important to add compost or other organic material to the
soil. The organic material should be added to both the original
plant and the new divisions. Doing so will give the plant the
nutrition it needs and help them to thrive better in their new
location. The plants should also be watered thoroughly and fed
with a good quality fertilizer once they have been planted.

.

.

Comments Off