Fatherhood Factor

For all the "dealings" of dads...

Emily Joswiak

DIY Home Improvement Projects to Avoid Doing

By Leave a Comment

In an attempt to increase the value of their home while saving some money, many ambitious homeowners will try to take on home improvement projects all on their own. While there are several home improvement projects that the average homeowner can complete successfully without professional help, others are best to leave to the pros. To avoid damaging your home and potentially injuring yourself in the process, here are some DIY home improvement projects to avoid doing.

Installing Certain Types of Insulation

If you’re interested in installing a few batts of fiberglass insulation in your attic, go right on ahead. Many homeowners are perfectly capable of safely and effectively installing such insulation in their homes. However, if you want to install a more advanced type of insulation, you should always contact a professional insulation contractor.

Installing advanced insulation materials in your home, such as spray foam insulation, requires specialized equipment and expertise. The incorrect installation of such insulation could result in harmful chemical off-gassing or home damage from blocked vents. Plus, poorly installed insulation simply won’t be effective, which eliminates the purpose of purchasing and installing it in the first place. As such, it is best to leave installing most types of insulation to the pros.

Repairing or Redoing Plumbing

Another DIY home improvement projects to avoid doing is repairing or redoing your plumbing. Altering your home’s plumbing system in any way is a high-risk situation. While you may save a little money by making the repairs on your own, you could also potentially flood your home and end up with a mold issue that costs thousands of dollars to take care of.

In cases where your home’s plumbing and electric components are situated close together—as is often the case in bathrooms—the risk of taking on a plumbing project doesn’t just involve your home. It may also involve your life. To stay safe and protect your property, call up a professional to handle your plumbing project.

Removing a Wall

Taking a sledgehammer to the wall to expand a room or create an open concept floorplan is perhaps one of the most fun home improvement projects. However, it is important to be 150 percent sure that the wall you are taking down isn’t loadbearing.

If you realize too late that the wall you’re hammering away at is essential to your home’s foundation, you could seriously hurt yourself as your roof or ceiling comes tumbling down. To play it safe, make sure to hire a professional contractor to at least confirm that the wall isn’t loadbearing before you start your demolition project.

4 Signs You Need to Replace Your Home’s Air Filter

By Leave a Comment

Your home’s air filter for your HVAC unit is responsible for far more than you realize. It might also be responsible for some issues you are having around your home. Here are some signs you need to replace your home’s air filter.  

Your Allergies Are Bad 

The first indication that you might need to change your home’s air filter is if your allergies have worsened. Air filters are the key to ensuring allergens don’t get into your home’s air. However, a filter will fill up with all the particles that might be trying to get through, which can result in you having worse symptoms with your allergies than what you are used to.  

Electricity Bill Costs More 

When you don’t change your filter, it can also be costly. That is because having an old air filter will cause your entire HVAC system to work harder to function. Therefore, an air filter that needs to be replaced can drive up your electricity bill’s cost.  

Dust and Dirt Around Your Vents 

Another sign you need to replace your home’s air filter is if you start to notice more dirt and dust than usual. Again, when your air filter is older, it cannot catch all the small particles from getting in the air, so you will notice more of them around your home, especially on vents.  

Airflow Isn’t Cold Enough 

Because it’s summertime, you are going to want to make sure that your HVAC system is fully operational. If you notice that the airflow in your home isn’t as cool as you think it should be, the problem may lie with your home’s air filter.  

How to Check 

To check if your air filter needs to be replaced, all you need to do is pull it out and see if any light passes through it. If you can see light pass through it, then you are okay for a while. If you don’t, then it’s time for a new air filter. To get the correct air filter for your home, keep MERV ratings and the size you need in mind.  

What to Look for in Off-Campus Housing

By Leave a Comment

Off-campus housing presents a ton of advantages for college students, but as a parent, you still get the final word. There are certain things you will want to keep in mind to ensure your child’s safety when they are away at school. Find out what to look for in off-campus housing as a parent with our guide below.  

Security Measures

The most important aspect of off-campus housing is safety. For many off-campus apartments, there are safety measures put into place such as scanning your ID at the front door to enter, fire protection, locked doors, and more.  

Lease Details 

Another important thing to look for when you are searching for off-campus housing for your child lies in the lease. Not reading the lease or understanding it thoroughly is a common mistake many students make. A lease will contain important information such as the price of rent, other bills, services provided, the length of the rent, and more. This will also help you figure out what works with the budget you have in place.  

Proximity to Other Locations 

You also need to look into how close the apartment is to where classes are located. Will it require your kid to drive a vehicle or take a bus? School is the priority in college, but you also need to see if your child will have easy access to the grocery store, the cafeteria, or a job from the off-campus destination they are considering.   

Utilities/Furnishing  

The final part of your guide on what to look for in off-campus housing as a parent is the included utilities and furnishing. Some living spaces might come fully furnished, while others may require you to get stuff on your own. You must be aware of what is included and whether these features work will work for your child.

Having an idea of what should be your priority when you are selecting a place for your child to live for the semester is the key to their safety.  

Best Ways to Teach Kids About Fire Safety

By Leave a Comment

As dads, we have the privilege of teaching our kids several skills. Some of those skills include how to change the oil on your own car or how to play a sport. At the same time, dads also need to teach their kids how to react in various emergencies like a fire without completely scaring the kids. If you’re searching for some of the best ways to teach kids about fire safety, we’ve got you covered in the guide below.

Show your kids the smoke detectors

Every home should have at least one smoke detector per floor, and your kids should be familiar with them and what they sound like. Make sure your kids understand that smoke detectors are there for their safety and that they need to get somewhere safe when they hear them. To avoid scaring the kids, you should probably let them know that you have to test them to make sure they work. Otherwise, your kids are going to run out of the house when you’re testing them.

Have a plan and practice

By developing a basic plan, your kids will feel much safer and more confident if they had to react to a fire. Your plan should involve the basic steps to fire safety, like getting low to the ground and feeling doors for heat before opening them. Additionally, you should have a meet-up point that’s a safe distance from the home; many people make that point at the bottom of their driveway or sidewalk. Having a plan without execution isn’t going to cut it though, so you need to practice with your kids too. Teach them the safest routes to get out of the home, and what it means to stop, drop, and roll.

Take your kids to a local fire station

Most fire stations welcome visitors to learn about fire safety during field trips or community events. By taking your kids to a fire station, you’re going to expose them to firefighters and fire trucks, in addition to safety lessons. Of course, we hope you’ll never be in a situation where you need a firefighter to rescue your kid. But in the event of an emergency, the last thing you want is for your kids to be afraid of a firefighter in their gear. A fire station will typically let kids try on firefighter personal protective equipment, and explain why the gear is important.

All things considered, the best way to teach kids about fire safety is to talk about it. Communication is going to be the hardest part of fatherhood, especially when you have teenagers, so build that muscle today.

Vehicle Problems You Shouldn’t Try to Fix Yourself

By Leave a Comment

Those who know their way around the inner workings of a vehicle may feel confident enough to take on certain vehicle repairs themselves. After all, doing your own repairs rather than taking your vehicle into your local mechanic can often save you a nice chunk of change—that is, unless you mess up. Trying to take on complex vehicle repairs outside of your skill and experience level can end up causing even more damage to your vehicle, or worse, result in a trip to the hospital. Here are some examples of vehicle problems you shouldn’t try to fix yourself.

Transmission issues

Your vehicle’s transmission is one of its most important and complex components. Due to the transmission’s complexity, it is incredibly difficult to determine what the exact problem may be, let alone resolve it. As such, trying to adjust a transmission’s maze-like series of cogs, gears, and bearings that must seamlessly work together will likely only end in trouble—no matter how many video tutorials you watch. While it may be expensive, it’s better to fork up the money for professional repairs than risk causing more damage.

A cracked windshield

While there are several vehicle repairs that most people can DIY, a cracked windshield isn’t one of them. Don’t let the commercials for quick crack repair kits fool you—repairing a chipped or cracked windshield isn’t as easy as it may seem.

When a windshield with a small crack or chip doesn’t receive the proper repairs, it can eventually cause the entire windshield to crack, turning what would have been a $50 to $70 repair into a complete windshield replacement, which often cost upwards of $700. Probably not a risk you want to take.

Faulty shock absorbers

To avoid a trip to the hospital, repairing a shock absorber issue is one vehicle problem you shouldn’t try to fix yourself. Attempting to repair or replace your own shock absorbers poses several significant safety risks. For one, doing this incorrectly could cause your tires to lose contact with the road and impair your ability to brake or steer properly when driving.

In addition, the act of replacing your shock absorbers is dangerous in itself. Jacking your vehicle up and climbing underneath it to replace the shock absorbers puts you in a precarious situation that may result in significant injury if you aren’t careful. To avoid such safety risks, it is best to take your vehicle to a professional.

Activities to Do With Your Kids During the Pandemic

By Leave a Comment

As you’re well aware, we’re in the middle of a pandemic that’s completely altered life as we knew it. While there’s a light at the end of this tunnel, we’re all going a little crazy at this point, but it’s especially difficult for our kids. They don’t understand what’s going on and why they can’t go to school or see friends, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have fun. Summer is here, the weather is clearing up, and we have more options than before. If you need some new ideas of what to do, we put together this list of activities to do with your kids during the pandemic. Check them out below.

Get outside and learn a new sport

We could all use some exercise, especially us dads, but our kids need to run off some steam too. Why not teach them a new sport? Every active kid will love learning baseball, even if you’re just playing catch or setting up a tee and letting them swing for the fences. For those of you with kids that can run for hours, you might benefit more from teaching them soccer. Soccer is simple, and what kid doesn’t like kicking the ball into the neighbor’s yard? Just make sure you’re practicing social distancing when you go get the ball, regardless of how many times that may be.

Camp in the backyard

There’s nothing quite like camping, so why not set up a tent in the backyard? Kids seem to have a blast getting flashlights, sleeping bags, and making s’mores around a campfire. Having their parents beside them makes it that much more fun. At the same time, if you have older kids, you may be able to let them camp themselves. Then you can relax inside––away from the bugs and sleep on an actual bed.

Teach your kids something new

Every parent has their own unique skills, and your kids see that and want to be like you. For instance, if your career or one of your hobbies is photography, take the time to teach your kids photography. Alternatively, maybe you’re a tradesman. Depending on the age of your kids, you may be able to teach them some useful skills while getting some work done around the house. Every kid loves to help their parents, and you may even get some free labor out of it.

You’re probably over the pandemic like everybody else and ready to get back to normal, whatever that looks like in the future. We don’t blame you because we are too, and hopefully these activities to do with your kids during the pandemic will give you and your kids some sense of normalcy.

The Different Kinds of Cable Ports on a Laptop

By Leave a Comment

Families often expect fathers to be technical geniuses. However, even guys undaunted by the words “some assembly required” may find the array of connection ports on new laptops a bit confusing. Cables and devices continue to evolve, and the array of connection points along the edges of new laptops keeps changing and expanding. If it has been a while since a new device came into the family, this guide to the different kinds of cable ports on a laptop should help you identify what goes where.

USB Ports

These ports connect to USB cables for charging or data transfer. There was once a single type of USB cable connector, but now they come in several different versions for different devices. Since 1998, USB standards have advanced to support greater speeds and bandwidths. Old laptops might have type 1 or type 2 USB connectors, with a white connector in the port indicating the older, type 1 connector. A black connector is the next generation (type 2), and the newest laptops have a blue type 3 connector, which is capable of 5Gbps. Just to make things more complicated, the newest USB standard (type 3.1) doubles that speed to 10Gbps. And if you see a red or yellow USB connector in a port, that one is charging external devices.

The newest USB ports are USB-Cs, which look different from the older, standard USB port and the Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt has the same design as the USB-C, but it supports up to 40Gbps. A lightning bolt icon identifies this super-fast connection port. Both of these types of ports are skinner and have more pins to support high speeds.

HDMI Ports

Here’s where things get really fun. More mobile and smaller devices are now capable of displaying high-definition video and streaming HD audio. As a result, HDMI ports have evolved, and there may be several different types of HDMI ports on a laptop, including ports for connecting a laptop to a television or an additional monitor, game console, phone, or camera. Fortunately, these ports are fairly easy to identify by size alone.

Display port connections are for another type of cable that can send HD video and audio signals to additional monitors for gaming or multiple monitor setups. This type comes in mini and standard sizes for different devices.

Ethernet and SD Card Ports

Despite advances in wireless connection speeds, most laptops still have Ethernet ports for wired Internet connections and SD card readers for transferring data. Wired connections are faster for data transfer and better if Wi-Fi is spotty.

The ability to recognize the different types of cable and connector ports on a newer laptop will keep fix-it fathers on top of their tech games when the family expects a quick connection for a new device.