A Wobble In My Fan

Our goal is to save you money.

Calling an electrician to repair a ceiling fan will cost as much as having the electrician replace the fan. And the repair will likely only take 15 minutes. Let us help you save some money.

A wobble in my fan? You can fix that! The number one reason a fan wobbles is loose fan blade mounting screws. The number two reason a fan wobbles is a bent fan blade. Over time the screws loosen because the fan vibrates. The balancing kits that come with the fan or that you can purchase are a waste of your time and money. You can use the following methods to install a new fan or repair a fan that has been in your home for years.

Vintage fan on wood ceiling

Loose fan blade mounting screws.

Make sure all power is turned off to the Ceiling Fan and light kit.
Get your ladder and stand where the fan blades are about head height.
Hold the blade where the mounting bracket meets the blade with one hand and move it slightly up and down. Repeat this with each blade, you may find one blade that feels different.
Follow the mounting bracket to where it meets the fan motor and there will be two screws.
Tighten those screws with your screwdriver. While you are there tighten the other mounting brackets as well.

If your screwdriver cannot fit into the space between the mounting bracket and the base of the fan you will need to remove the base cover which has three small screws. Once the cover is off there will be three more screws that connect to the fan. Remove these screws and the covermount will come off. Now you will be able to tighten the fan blade mounting bracket and check all the other brackets.
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here are also screws that mount the blade to the mounting bracket which you may want to tighten, which are located on the top of the fan blade.

If your screws were tight and the problem is not fixed, you may have a bent fan blade mounting bracket.

If you are asking yourself how it got bent, let me tell you the most common ways. If you have kids, they do throw things in the house. If you haven’t seen them throw things like pillows or toys, they are doing it behind your back. Also, you may have moved a piece of furniture in the room where the fan is located, bumping the fan.

Bent Fan Blade

Make sure the power is turned off to the Ceiling Fan and light kit.
Stand on your ladder to where your head is at the end of the blade away from the fan motor.
Using a tape measure or yardstick, measure the distance from the tip of the blade to the ceiling or the ground. Rotate the fan to measure each blade the same way. If one blade is fourteen inches then they should all be fourteen inches.

An electrician removing an old ceiling fan. The fan was installed without a ceiling box, in violation of code.

Once you have found the blade or blades that are a different height, it is time to make the repair. Put one hand on the blade mounting bracket and move it slightly up or down in the direction that will bring you to the distance of the other blades. Then check your measurement. Repeat this until you match the measurement of the other blades.

As electricians, our advice is to go through the steps and check it yourself. You could save between $90 and $150. Most homes have more than one ceiling fan, and now that you have the steps you are ready to save!

What Do Estate Sales Pickers Have to Say

When you are listening to other estate sale pickers and expert eBay sellers on YouTube, you learn something. Although you may have a small library of price guides, publications, magazines, books, paperbacks, etc. about antiques and collectibles, things worth selling, you’ll never know it all about where to hunt, how to price and all the places to sell.

I admit that I have a keen eye for finding and identifying quality things to sell, yet an expert is one of my go-to sources to learn something different and interesting to keep me on my toes and excited about finding hidden treasures to buy and sell. Those two skills became the foundation for my estate sale experience. Note: As an estate sale professional, I do not purchase from my sales.

When I have spare time, my favorite pastime is browsing through flea markets, but there are many places to hunt for valuable things on my list, as you’ll see below. Thrift stores used to be my favorite hunting place, but not so much these days. They just don’t seem to have the good stuff they used to have, which begs the question: Why not?

I think I was born with an eye for quality things because I am so aesthetic conscious. However, almost anyone can develop an “eye” for valuable things that are not just old, but unique, different, odd, pretty in an uncommon way, quality, flawless, expensive and rare. Having the ability to determine the rarity of an item requires years of extensive study of a particular item or category of items. No one person can know it all. That’s why collectors specialize in a specific area and collaborate with others.

Why Is It Important To Develop An Eye?

Earning substantially more profits is the obvious reason. Competition is next.

Have you ever noticed someone dogging your footsteps at a flea market, yard sale or estate sale and wondered why? For whatever reason these bird doggers zone in on someone who appears to have an eye, that’s picking up only nice things, turning them over to check for maker’s marks…. It doesn’t take these copycats long to invade your space either. That’s basically why people start fighting over things. I have literally seen this happen in Goodwill stores. Pickers or people with a keen eye often camp out where the picking is good for early Steiff bears, engraved sterling silver, etc. By the nature of collecting to buy, sell, and hold they are aggressive in the pursuit of what they want.

Hmm? Wonder if Lynn Dralle is like that? As I may not be in the same buying and selling category as the Queen of Auctions, I must admit that my “eye” is not dim and I am capable of turning a handsome profit on my finds. That being said, this article was written to help newbie pickers who want to become experts at buying and selling online, because the Internet is where the REAL money is.

What I want you to take away from this article is a set of simple rules to remember before you set out to start picking or buying at estate sales or anywhere to maximize your time and budget, find at least one treasure per hunt, and TAKE PROFIT!

Rule 1: Even if you possess a natural gift of spotting valuable things, you need to constantly review publications about what’s trending, old things as well as new, well-crafted, brand name furnishings, accessories, clothing, jewelry, etc.

Rule 2: Visit showrooms; buy House Beautiful, Veranda, Robb Report, Country, Southern Accents, Traditional Home…magazines to train your eyes and mind to recognize things of quality. In so doing, this new skill will influence your subconscious mind. As a result, you will start to desire a better quality of things for your personal use and home as well. What you are around, you will become influenced by.

Rule 3: If the shopping place isn’t busy, take your time browsing, but when you see something that fits the “eye for valuable things criteria,” put it in your basket. You can change your mind at the register, and don’t take your eyes off your basket. Things have a way of walking around other eagle eye pickers.

Rule 3: Set a budget or you can easily develop a bad habit of buying more than you can afford (believe me I’ve been there) or things that have no re-sale value, so buy smart. If you Need Money to Start or Grow Your eBay Business? We Can Help!

Rule 4: Understand this above all other rules; you “make a profit as soon as you buy an item.” For example, if you pay $2 for a piece of pottery in a thrift store knowing (or not knowing) that the potter is popular, deceased and his work is expensive and highly collectible, and you decide to ask $250 for it online, YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE A PROFIT. Remember: When you see something that fits the “eye for valuable things criteria,” and costs only a few bucks, put it in your basket!

Rule 5: Never examine items with a loupe or magnifying glass anywhere—if you can avoid it. Never brag about your expert eye. Never explain why you’re turning things over to examine them. Never act like an expert or you’ll be charged more. Always act dumb, snap up the item, pay for it, and move on. When that vendor starts to see you on a regular basis they will just think you are a regular buyer.

Follow these rules of developing an eye for finding valuable things at estate sales, garage sales, flea markets… and you will soon be picking and selling like Lynn Dralle, the Auction Queen, and me—whose hands are quicker than the eyes for the valuable stuff!

For the newbie estate sale picker, here is a list of relatively small items that are easy to buy, pack and ship to look for.

Art
Animal Things
Architectural Locks, Hinges…
Carpentry Tools
Art Nouveau & Art Deco
Brass
Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Catalogs
Banks
Boxes
Baskets
Blacksmith Items
Bottles
Bells
Baseball Cards
Bar Equipment
China & Glass
Copper
Clothing
Coins
Civil War Collectibles
Candles & Candle Supplies
Cloisonné
Carvings
Clocks
Chairs (Sell to local antique dealers)
Comic Books
Christmas
Country
Dolls
Depression Glass
Decoys & Shorebirds
Ephemera
Furniture
Picture Frames
Fireplace Equipment
Fishing Tackle
Folk Art
Fabrics
Buttons
Glass
Guns
Gambling Devices
Hardware
Handcrafts
Iron
Indian
Jewelry
Kitchen Items
Knives
Lighting
Limited Edition Books
Locks
Military
Miniatures
Musical
Movie Items
Needlework
Oriental
Postcards & Trade Cards
Prints
Photography
Small Paintings
Itinerant Artist Artwork
Photography
Pewter
Political
Printing
Portraits
Quilts
Railroad
Razors
Sterling Silver
Store Items
Stamps
Scrimshaw
Stained Glass
Sports
Smoking
Scientific Apparatus
Tools
Toys
Tin
Victorian
Golf

Tonza Borden’s Complete List Of Places & Things To Treasure Hunt

Estate Sales
Antique & Collectibles Clubs & Shows
Antique & Collectible Stores
Antique Dealers
Antique Malls
Pawn Shops
Antique Auctions
Government Auctions
Garage Sales
Flea Markets & Swap Meets
Thrift Stores
Private Collectors
Surplus Stores
Salvage Yards
Unclaimed Freight
Postal Auctions
Factories & Local Manufacturers
Book Fairs
Library Sales
Used Book Stores
Stamp Collectors
Magazines
Classifieds
Newspapers
Internet
Real Estate Clean Outs
Closeouts
Relatives, Friends, Neighbors
Churches
Donations

Buyer Beware: I have omitted storage units and lockers for a good reason. I am usually out front in the hunt for valuables so I have known about the sneaky tricks such as cutting the lock after non-payment of rent, owner’s removing things of value and “salting” the unit from other sources with a few attractive items placed in front to get bidders excited. I now know my own little sneaky ways to get the goods from these places that I’ll share with you, in another post.

Now that you’re getting good at finding valuable stuff, you don’t know how to price it, right? Start by comparing prices on WorthPoint or eBay. One of my insider tips is to price expensive foreign items according to eBay China, eBay Japan, eBay France, etc. If you decide to price according to these various eBay price points, reduce the prices from 30-60% so that your similar item sells fast. Caution: Just because an item looks identical to what’s shown online or in a magazine does not necessarily mean it is genuine or authentic. Seek the opinion of a qualified appraiser, whom you will have to pay.

An alternative is to shop your rare, expensive find to antique and collectibles connoisseurs. If one is interested in buying it, you will know that you have found a treasure. Never disclose how much you paid for it, and don’t get greedy. TAKE PROFIT! Not only did you make a sweet deal, but the antique dealer will also be interested in future finds of the same and better quality.

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants live in forested areas of the world. They make their nest in wood. Many people confuse carpenter ants with termites. Termites are insects which consume wood whereas carpenter ants just build their nests in dead and damp wood. Carpenter ants often attack wooden structures and can cause lot of costly damage.

How to get rid of carpenter ants

Carpenter ants hollow their dead tree limbs, timbers, woods in homes etc. to make their nest. They only chisel the wood and don’t actually eat it like termites. In a house many objects and furniture are made of wood. Carpenter ants can infest anywhere. They usually make their nests under the window, decks, porches, etc. They like to be in damp wood but even soft wood is comfortable for them. Let’s have a look at how to get rid of carpenter ants and how to control their population.

Sprays

Spraying pesticide will not be of much value as you will be killing only a fraction of the whole population. The major part of the ants would be sitting in the colony and you will be killing only the workers.

Treating the affected area

One should go for a treatment which targets the whole colony. First, locate the colony by seeing where the saw dust is coming from. Once you find the place, use a dust insecticide for use in wood. Apply it directly into the cavity. Use a tube to do this and not the hands. Fill a bottle full of the dust insecticide and inject the dust by squeezing and releasing the bottle. However, it will be better if you call a professional pest controller.

Baits

Some insects and animals can be fooled with bait, but not all. The carpenter ant feeds on much different stuff and thus bait might not be very successful.

Dust formulations- There are many dust formulations made for home use. Some of them are: Apicide, Deltadust, Drione. These are used by professionals and may not be given over the counter. These formulations are used to control bees and ants which get stuck in the wall. While using these, make sure it does not come into contact with humans or pets.
Liquid insecticides- These insecticides are smart and do not kill the infected insect immediately. Instead it works like a virus and infects other members of the colony as well. But these are very strong and can only be used twice a year. It cannot be used anytime you feel like it, as it is harmful for humans too. They are only to be used by licensed pesticide applicators.

• Always try to target the colony and apply the pesticide or dust.

• Sometimes you might have to use the sprays on a monthly basis.

To prevent more infestation, trim all the branches of trees which surround your house, so that the branches do not touch the house. Also paint exposed wood furniture and replace already infested wood and furniture. The Pest Control San Antonio company provided this blog