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How To Winterize Your Pool

. Posted by in • Austin
How to winterize your pool

Pools can add value to your property, give you an excuse to have people over and provide you with a fun way to spend time with family and friends without having to leave home. When winter comes, however, you’ll need to take steps to make sure your swimming pool can handle the cold weather. If you don’t take proper precautions, even a light freeze can damage a pool. Furthermore, allowing a pool to go unused for several months without proper winterizing can lead to algae or bacterial growth and other unwanted consequences.

How To Winterize Your Pool

Below we’ll look at the basic steps to winterizing your pool. A little attention before winter comes will ensure you and your family can start swimming as soon as warm weather returns.

Clean the Pool

The first thing you will need to do is clean the pool thoroughly. Clean mildew, algae and other gunk around the rim … Read Full Post »

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Easy Home Improvement Projects

. Posted by in • Austin
easy home improvement projects

As a homeowner, chances are you’ve been through your share of surprise home repairs—which means you’ve also likely experienced expensive bills, poor service, and unreliable handymen. Unfortunately, those are risks homeowners take when they hire out for home repairs or renovation projects. But here’s the good news: There are a number of easy home improvement projects you can tackle, many of them on your own, without breaking the bank.

Easy Home Improvement Projects

The following project ideas represent just a few inexpensive ways to improve your living space, and many of them offer that priceless sense of accomplishment that comes from doing it yourself. And when you need an improvement or repair that you can’t manage on your own, ABC is here, ready to help.

Update Your Home’s Front Entrance

Want to enhance your curb appeal? Of all the many easy do-it-yourself home improvements, updating your home’s entrance is one of the best … Read Full Post »

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Refresh Your Home With New Decor

. Posted by in • Austin
refresh your home

Many of us spend so much time out of the house that it can be easy to forget to update our home decor. Do you look around your home and notice things are looking a little shabby? Is your house in need of a little TLC?

If your home’s interior could use a little updating, you don’t necessarily need to call an interior decorator. There are little things you can do, such as tossing or refurbishing worn-out furniture, lighting, and other decor, and bringing in new items, which can easily refresh your home.

Easy Ways to Update Your Home’s Decor

Check out all of our ideas that can help freshen up the look of your house without breaking the bank.

Switch Out Lighting and Candles

Nothing says last season like melted candles. Banish all of your old candles to your pantry or emergency supplies tub. Get new accent candles for every room … Read Full Post »

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Home Maintenance Checklist

. Posted by in • Austin
Home maintenance checklist

When it comes to taking care of your house, there are so many things to think about. It’s easy for homeowners to get overwhelmed by all of the work that come with protecting your biggest investment. What are a few things you can do every month to maintain your home? Whatever month you are in, we have a home maintenance checklist printable to keep you on track.

Home Maintenance Checklist

As homeowners, time may be our most valuable resource. With that in mind, how can we best spend our precious free time taking care of our homes?

January

Prepare for warm and rainy spring days

It may feel like winter now, but warm days will be here before you know it. Time to repair or replace any damaged window screens. While you’re at it, inspect your roof for damage to shingles and flashing, especially areas that might have been pulled up by the wind. … Read Full Post »

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Fleas Driving You Crazy? Try These Natural Flea Killers

. Posted by in • Austin
Natural flea killer

In warm climates, fleas are a year-round problem. Even as autumn comes upon us with cooler temperatures, fleas will hold on until the first frost, and if they’re comfortable inside our homes, they might never leave.

What’s worse, fleas are difficult to control. To get rid of them for good, you’ll need to treat your pets as well as your house and your yard. You’ll need to adopt an approach which allows you to kill both adult fleas and their eggs, preventing them from returning.

Natural Flea Killers

There are some ways you can tackle a flea infestation without resorting to dangerous chemicals. Let’s take a closer look at how fleas can become a problem, how you can make your own natural flea killer, and how you can get rid of these pests, once and for all.

Why Are Fleas Such a Problem?

Fleas are small insects that live on mammals, including dogs, cats, and … Read Full Post »

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What Temperature Should You Set Your Thermostat In Winter?

. Posted by in • Austin
What temperature to set thermostat in winter when away

Summer is over for another year, and that means that Austinites can finally unpack their sweaters and fuzzy socks. While we have a shorter and more mild winter than many of our friends to the north, that doesn’t mean we don’t need to keep our homes warm in the winter. A common question most people have is what temperature to set the thermostat when they are away, whether that means you are simply at work or if you are on a trip. It can be difficult to know what temperature to leave an empty house in the winter.

Temperature to Leave Your House in Winter

Below are some tips for saving energy while keeping your house comfortable year-round.

Ideal Temperatures for your Home

Setting temperatures for your home seems simple, but it can actually be a bit of a balancing act between comfort and HVAC efficiency.

According to Consumer Reports, if you want to save … Read Full Post »

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Choosing An Eco-Friendly Fertilizer For Your Lawn

. Posted by in • Austin
environmentally friendly lawn care

It seems like everything is organic these days. No matter where you go—restaurants, soap shops, farmers markets, and even clothing stores—the word organic is used to describe the product being sold. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Time and time again, the benefits of buying organic have proven beneficial. When you buy organic products, you’re making an effort to avoid pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and growth additives. And while buying organic usually refers to the food we eat, its benefits can be noticed in other products as well, like your lawn fertilizer. More and more homeowners are choosing environmentally friendly lawn care over other alternatives.

Choosing An Eco-Friendly Fertilizer For Your Lawn

At ABC Home & Commercial Services, we strive to care for your lawn in a holistic way. This includes choosing the best products on the market. And while we’ve used a variety of products to care for lawns in the … Read Full Post »

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What You Need To Know About Crazy Ants

. Posted by in , • Austin
Paratrechina longicornis

A new ant species has been discovered in the southern parts of the United States: the crazy ant. What’s important to know about these ants, which are also referred to by their scientific names, Nylanderia fulva (Rasberry crazy ant) and Paratrechina longicornis (the Longhorn crazy ant)? For starters, both of these ant species are not native to the United States, and both are considered pests.

Read on to learn what crazy ants are, how they got their name, what attracts them, and what impact they are having on humans.

What Are Crazy Ants?

Crazy ants were first discovered in 2002 in an industrial park outside of Houston. Exterminator Tom Rasberry noticed ants which were moving erratically and which caused significant damage to electrical equipment. “When you see fast-moving ants that are not following a path, they are probably crazy ants,” explained Randy McCarty, ABC’s Director of Training and resident entomologist, who has … Read Full Post »

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ABC Austin Reduces Carbon Footprint With New Solar Energy System

. Posted by in • Austin
Why is solar energy good for the environment

Austin has a reputation as a green city. Our local utility company, Austin Energy, not only sells the most renewable energy in the nation, but also has an ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2020. Austinites can choose from a wide array of parks, nature preserves, trails, and greenbelts to take advantage of the city’s mild climate and numerous sunny days. Government officials have made protecting the environment a priority, enacting many eco-friendly policies, including pledging to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills by 90% by 2040.

ABC’s Corporate Responsibility

As a local business with a long history of providing environmentally-friendly home services, ABC Home & Commercial Services recently expanded its commitment to reducing the company’s impact on the planet. With the help of Freedom Solar, the roof of ABC’s Austin headquarters is now outfitted with 448 solar panels. By installing these panels, ABC will offset 138.6 tons … Read Full Post »

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Are Mosquitoes Attracted to Light?

. Posted by in , • Austin
does light attract mosquitoes

We all love to spend relaxing evenings out on the patio. That said, outdoor lighting can attract unwelcome visitors. Don’t let flying insects, especially mosquitoes, ruin your night.

One question we often hear from frustrated homeowners: what are mosquitoes attracted to? Our pest control experts reviewed several recent scientific studies to help determine what changes homeowners can make to outdoor lighting to make your porch less attractive to flying creatures.

What Attracts Mosquitoes?

  • Are Mosquitoes Attracted to Light?
  • How Do I Keep Mosquitoes Away From My Lights?
  • Do Insects Avoid LED Lights?
  • What’s the Ideal Bulb for Outdoor Lighting?
  • Are Flying Insects Bugging You?

Are Mosquitoes Attracted to Light?

The short answer is yes – but why, exactly, are bugs attracted to light? Many flying insects, including moths, mosquitoes, and many flies, find the glow of artificial lights irresistible. The scientific term for the attraction bugs have to light is phototaxis.

Positive phototaxis describes the behavior of … Read Full Post »

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