Daily video updates from Jac — Window Washing, Gutter Cleaning, Solar Panel Cleaning, and Christmas Lights, Utah County
A standard window cleaning usually stops at the surface. Hard water removal is often left out or quoted as an extra. Here’s what I do instead. First, a pure water rinse top to bottom, including the edges and seals, where a lot of dirt hides. Then soap, a short soak, and a full scrub. I…
Most businesses think of holiday lighting as a once-a-year, one-time expense. It doesn’t have to be. Once I run the light line along your roofline, switching the look for a different event is just a bulb swap on the same strand, about 15 minutes, no new line to install and no re-hang labor. That means…
Solar panels generate electricity anytime the sun hits them, even with the system shut off at the disconnect. On many home systems that means 300–600 volts DC running along the roof wiring. Add water and a pitched roof, and DIY solar cleaning gets dangerous fast. Here’s why My Hearthside cleans solar panels with deionized water…
Independent testing has found that nearly half of the Christmas lights sold on marketplaces like AliExpress, eBay, and Wish fail basic electrical safety standards, and some carry counterfeit UL safety marks that were never actually tested at all. I don’t source anything like that. I’m a contractor with Sprinkler World and Lowe’s, and every strand…
Clogged gutters don’t just cause a mess. They cause the kind of slow water damage that insurance is least likely to cover. I’ve seen wood on patrons’ homes so rotten it was soft as a sponge: black with mold, full of cracks, with a hole you could push your finger right through. Water damage makes…
Why do Christmas lights go out when it snows? It’s usually not the snow. It’s wet plugs. Snow doesn’t hurt your Christmas lights. A fresh snowfall just makes them look more festive. What shuts a display off is water getting into the plug connections, which trips your GFCI outlet and turns the whole house dark….
A mistake I see homeowners make constantly: pouring CLR (calcium, lime, and rust remover) straight onto glass and scrubbing. It’s acidic, it strips protective coating, and it can etch your windows for good. Here’s what actually happens and what to do instead.
A real job from last season: I took down another installer’s Christmas lights in Utah County and found exposed, cut copper wire hidden in the sharpest part of the roof, no tape or protection. Here’s why I never reuse another company’s lights, and what to actually check before trusting yours.
A homeowner once told me another company quoted them ten grand just for their front roofline. Here’s what permanent Christmas lighting actually costs, the real roof risk if it’s not installed right, and why it might affect your home’s resale value the same way a pool can.
Homeowners tell me rain handles it, or a pressure washer does, or they just soap it themselves once in a while. None of that actually works, and the DIY version is genuinely dangerous. Here’s what rain really leaves behind on your panels.