Archive for the ‘Home Services’ Category
Friday, February 24th, 2012
As spring approaches, homeowners all across the Chicagoland area are beginning to consider the condition of their air conditioner. Having a maintenance check performed is the only sure fire way to know that they air conditioner will be ready once the summer heat hits, and those that signed up for the Carefree Maintenance Program this winter will get to take advantage of their free air conditioner cleaning this spring! While you are getting ready to schedule this service, now is a great time to consider adding another system in the home to your Carefree Maintenance Program: the plumbing system.
The Benefits of Maintaining Your Systems
The Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning’s plumbing experts are now offering special pricing when you add the home’s plumbing system and hot water tank to your carefree maintenance program. From a 26 point inspection to 10% off parts and labor to the priority service guarantee, you can give your home’s plumbing system the same level of care that you give to the HVAC system. Take care of the plumbing system for the same reasons you take care of the furnace and air conditioner. For many these reasons involve the money saved by preventing repairs and using the system more efficiently. Four Seasons can help you get your plumbing system up to date and back in shape this spring!
Tags: air conditioner maintenance, efficiency, Four Seasons, heating and air conditioning, maintenance program, plumbing, plumbing maintenance, Savings
Posted in Air conditioning, Heating, Home Services, Plumbing Services, maintenance | Comments Off
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning struggles daily to overcome to negative image many homeowners get when they hear the word “duct cleaning.” Countless illegitimate companies have given homeowner the wrong impression of the value of this service, and it is all due to their practices of cutting corners, hiding fees, and failing to deliver results that many people think duct cleaning is just a big scam. Well, Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning is working very hard to prove the value of this service by highlighting the differences between us and those less scrupulous companies in this business.
An Incomplete Cleaning
One of the major complaints that the BBB found amongst illegitimate duct cleaning companies was the lack of results. Many companies either faked the cleaning all together or didn’t do a thorough job. In many cases the technicians hooked up their machines to the HVAC system and then sat around for a couple hours before removing their tools, asking for payment, and leaving the home. In other situations, the duct cleaners will only clean the first few feet of ducts that are visible at every register. This will leave the majority of the system in the same filthy state as it was before you shoveled out your hard earned money. This is not what your duct cleaning should look like! (more…)
Posted in Air Quality, Air filtration, Consumer protection, Duct Cleaning, Home Services, Informational, Quality, customer service | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning is known for our reliable around the clock heating and cooling repair services in the Chicagoland area. We are there when other companies have shut their doors for the night and we don’t rob you blind for the convenience. Four Seasons has dedicated itself to the comfort and function of the homes within out service are and that means offering more than just heating and cooling services to our customers. That is what brought about our Home Services division and more specifically the plumbing services that they offer. The furnace and air conditioner aren’t the only units that can fail at inconvenient hours and demand and emergency repair.
Emergency Plumbing Services
The hot water tank, the sinks, the pipes, the sump pump and the toilets can all create an emergency within the home. A broken hot water tank leaves you with icy cold showers. A broken sump pump can mean a flooded basement, and a backed up toilet or burst pipes can create quick a mess in a very short amount of time. You need someone to rely upon after hours and that company should be Four Seasons. Our professional plumbers are on call, and when you need us there, we will be. We apply the same warm, affordable, and friendly service that our HVAC repairs are known for, to our plumbing services. Make Four Seasons your emergency plumber and avoid after hours plumbing disasters in your home too!
Tags: air conditioner, Arlington Heights, Chicago, Cooling, emergency repairs, Four Seasons, Furnace, Heating, Home Services, Hot Water Heater, IL, plumbers on call, Plumbing Services, Sump Pump, toilet
Posted in Home Improvement and Repair, Home Services, Plumbing Services, Sump Pump | 3 Comments »
Friday, February 17th, 2012
The majority of homes have the furnace or boiler located in the basement of the home. Over the years we have noticed that this really isn’t the safest place for these valuable systems especially when most homes have little protection from the damaging effects that water can have upon a basement. What was once a solid wall began to develop cracks then leaks and now you have water problem in your basement. Homes that experience water damage in this way are usually not equipped to handle the water once it gets into the home. Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning and the Four Seasons plumbing experts have a solution to help keep the water away from your home.
Your Aging Foundation
As a home ages, the foundation begins to show signs of wear and tear. Where a sump pump may not have been necessary 10 or 15 years ago, it is not a desperately needed appliance to have installed in the home. The soul purpose of a sump pump is to divert water from the foundation of the home. If water starts coming into your basement, it is a sign that erosion has been occurring for years. Let Four Seasons lend you a hand and get a sump pump that is up to the task of keeping your basement dry. (more…)
Tags: basement, Chicago, cracks, flooding, foundation, Four Seasons, Home Services, IL, leaks, plumbing, prevention, repair, Savings, Schaumburg, Stickney, Sump Pump, sump pump installation, water damage
Posted in Home Improvement and Repair, Home Services, Plumbing Services, Sump Pump | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Next to clogs and leaks, noises coming from the plumbing system in the home are among the top complaints made to plumbers by homeowners. There are many noises that may be coming from your pipes, but the most common pipe noise is called “water hammer.” Every time you turn off the flow of water, a hammering noise reverberates throughout the plumbing system in the home. Over time this noise becomes more than just an annoyance and turns into major plumbing problems. Four Seasons Home Services offers professional plumbing services that can rid your home of water hammer and any other noises your pipes may be making.
What is Water Hammer?
When a plumbing system is properly built, there should be enough air chambers to cushion the shock wave caused by the sudden stop of water flow through a sink, shower, or tub. If not, the reverberation caused by this shock wave can dislodge pipes and cause a huge mess. The noise alone is very disturbing and many homeowners want to know what Four Seasons can do to fix their problem. (more…)
Tags: air chambers, Buffalo Grove, Chicago, Four Seasons, Home Services, IL, maintenance, noises, pipes, plumbing, plumbing repair, Plumbing Services, professional plumber, water hammer
Posted in Home Improvement and Repair, Home Services, Plumbing Services, maintenance | Comments Off
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
As Americans, we inherently have busy lives full of things to remember on a day to day basis. Maintaining the heating and cooling system may not be a task that needs to be completed every day, but for most, checking the furnace’s filter just once a month is still too much of a task to remember. In order to make sure things continue to work properly, many homeowners will invest in fancy filters that can last for multiple months, so that they don’t have to remember to change the filter every 30 days. However, some of these homeowners are finding that despite the manufacturer’s claims that the filter should last 3 months or longer, the filter still needs changing every 30 days. Before you blame the manufacturer, take a moment to consider that the problem might not be your filter; it might be your HVAC system and the air quality in your home!
Finding the Source of Air Quality Problems
It is recommended that once you replace your filter or upgrade to a new type of filter you check it every 30 days to make sure that it is able to handle to air quality in the home. For some, 30 days comes and the filter that is made to last 3-6 months is still in good conditioner. For others, the filter already needs to be changed. The problem lies within the home’s air quality. You may have animals or other factors that are contributing to the dirty air in the home or you may just have filthy ducts. As the furnace circulates air through them, debris is picked up and caught by the filter. When this debris is excessive, it can waste a filter in 30 days or less. (more…)
Tags: 30 days, air conditioner, Air Quality, Chicago, cleaning, Duct Cleaning, Evergreen Park, filter replacement, Flossmoor, Forest Park, Four Seasons, Furnace, furnace cleaning, furnace filter, IL, maintenance, Tune Up
Posted in Air Quality, Air filtration, Duct Cleaning, Furnace, Home Services, Tips and Suggestions, furnace filtration | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
With all of the holiday lights and decoration finally put away for the year, odds are your home’s exterior is looking pretty plain. The cold dreary winter doesn’t help the situation but something needs to be done to liven things up a bit. Take one of the warmer days this winter and put a little effort into improving your home’s exterior. By making certain improvements, you can bring life back into your home’s exterior no matter how miserable Chicago’s weather may be! Four Seasons Home Services has a few ideas that may be just what your home needs.
Affordable Upgrades and Repairs:
- Line the Drive: Paving stones, decorative rocks, and brick can all be used to liven up an asphalt driveway. The installation is relatively simple, and Four Seasons has a variety of styles to choose from.
- Sidewalk Lighting: The sidewalk leading up to the doorway of your home is a great place to make improvements. Four Seasons can replace old cracked concrete or replace concrete with paving stones to bring a more elegant look to the front of the home. If your sidewalk is in good shape, you may want to consider adding decorative lighting. This will add new dimension to the home’s exterior and it doubles as a safety mechanism for those that may not be as steady on their feet. (more…)
Tags: curb appeal, custom mailboxes, exterior, Four Seasons, garage doors, handyman services, hardware replacement, Home Services, improvements, lighting, painting, paving, sidewalk
Posted in Home Improvement and Repair, Home Services, Tips and Suggestions | Comments Off
Monday, January 30th, 2012
You can’t always control the way that your home was built. When you purchased the home odds are you were looking for the obvious flaws and when those were ruled out, everything seemed to be in order. However, many older homes suffer from problems that lie beneath the surface. The problem is that the older the home is the less air tight it was made. Insulating the walls and attic were not a priority at the time and many of these older homes experience air leaks and drafts that not only disturb comfort but they also cost the homeowners big bucks in energy costs. In the past, the only way to get in and add more insulation was to tear down the walls, fill, and then reseal them. However, with blown-in insulation from Four Seasons, you can add insulation to nearly any crevice in the home without tearing the walls down.
Popular Places to Add Insulation
- Attics: Attics in older homes often have little to no insulation within them. Any insulation that was placed has long since settled and is offering little protection. Have Four Seasons pump in a fresh thick layer of fiberglass and give your home an air tight cap to help keep heat in this winter.
- Crawl Spaces: Many older homes have crawl spaces that lack insulation. A crawl space can be as cold as the chilliest of winter nights and that cold air will seep into your warm home if you do not prevent it from happening. Simply have Four Seasons fill in the spaces with fresh insulation and eliminate this source of heat loss. (more…)
Tags: air tight, attic, basement, Burnham, Chicago, cost effective, drafts, energy efficiency, Four Seasons, garage, heat gain, heat loss, IL, Insulation, Rolling Meadows, Savings, un-insulated rooms, walls
Posted in Air Quality, Heating, Home Services, Savings, attic insulation | Comments Off
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
Having work performed in the home can create quite a mess. From dirty floors and walls to construction dust on every surface, getting the home back to its original condition after the repairs or remodeling jobs have been completed can prove to be quite a task. Many construction companies will clean up after themselves, but nearly all of them forget about the mess they made of one very crucial system in the home: the HVAC system! All of that dust, debris, and odor will be swept up into the duct work to be transferred through the furnace and then re-circulated throughout the home. Depending on how extensive the work was, you may have a serious air quality and furnace efficiency problem leftover. You are going to need someone to clean up this system, and Four Seasons has got your back.
Cleaning Up After Construction
- Duct Cleaning: Many homeowners have never had the ducts cleaned in the home, so odds are they are not only full of construction debris but also years and years of particle build up. A professional duct cleaning from Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning is the only way to restore this part of the system back to peak performance and bring clean air back into your home. Without this service, you could be left breathing in construction dust for years to come.
- Heating and Cooling Cleaning: With all of that debris circulating through the ducts, it will have to pass through the furnace and air conditioner as well. If you aren’t using advanced filtration system to capture these particles before they dirty up the furnace, then you probably have a mess inside your system that could be causing a massive decrease in energy efficiency. Burners and heat exchangers that are coated in a layer or dust and debris cannot transfer heat as effectively and energy efficiency suffers. You will end up paying more to use the furnace every month because the system will need to burn more fuel to keep up. (more…)
Tags: air conditioner, Air filtration, Air Quality, Chicago, cleaning, debris, Duct Cleaning, duct work, dust, energy efficiency, Four Seasons, Furnace, IL, maintenance, professional, remodeling
Posted in Air Quality, Air conditioning, Air filtration, Duct Cleaning, Heating, Home Services, Tips and Suggestions, furnace filtration | Comments Off
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
One of the top complaints when it comes to home comfort is temperature inconsistency from room to room. Drafts and inadequate circulation are often the source of these types of problems, and many homeowners feel that they are at a loss when it comes to finding a solution to this issue. Many people can’t afford to blindly spend their money in search for an answer, but Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning has a few suggestions that any homeowner can cheaply implement in the home.
3 Ways to Even Out Your Home’s Temperature:
- Furnace Fan: The first step towards improving circulation in the home would be to turn the furnace circulating fan to “On.” The fan is most likely set to the “Auto” position which would only allow the fan to run when the furnace is generating heat. By turning the fan on all of the time, more air exchanges will be made through the ducts of the home which will lead to better circulation and disbursal of air in the home.
- Ceiling Fan: During the winter months, changing the direction of flow of the ceiling fan will help aide circulation in the home as well. A fan set to run clockwise will push air up. This effectively pushes that hot air that has risen to the ceiling back down into the room. This will help eliminate temperature variances from room to room and help optimize use of the heat created by your heating system. (more…)
Tags: attic insulation, Cary, ceiling fan, Chicago, circulation, comfort, Four Seasons, Furnace, furnace fan, Heating, Homewood, IL, insulation services, temperature variances
Posted in Air Quality, Heating, Home Improvement and Repair, Home Services, Tips and Suggestions, attic insulation | Comments Off
