i write a lot

Lifestyle Blog

Blog

Which Fireplace Tools Will You Need For Your Hearth

by Leave a Comment

Winter is no longer coming, it is very much here and it is high time that you dusted out the cobwebs and fired up that hearth to keep yourself warm on the winter nights. You can use your central heating if you like but why not do away with technology and take things back a bit with a real open fire. There is something about the feeling and the smell of a real fire that warms the bottom of your heart and soul and there are few things better than relaxing in front of it with a warm drink and a good book. Once you have cleaned out the hearth and chopped up some wood for the winter, here are the fireplace tools which you will need.

Bellows

Using bellows will help you to pump air into the fire giving it much needed oxygen. This is perfect for when you are first trying to light the fire or for when the fire is dying to a little and you need to give it a touch of encouragement. There are many bellows which you could choose from and you should try to get one which looks decorative so that it fits in with the style of the fireplace which you have. The function is the same with any set of bellows.

Poker

Very often you will need to move the fire around a bit to ensure that it is burning evenly and this is when you will need a good solid, cast iron poker to use. The poker should also have a heat proof handle, some don’t so make sure that you check beforehand. The last thing that you need is a burning hot poker stuck to your hand and a trip to the hospital on the horizon.

Tongs

Sometimes you will need to remove things from the fire or move large items so you will need a good set of long tongs to do this with. Much like the poker you should make sure that the tongs have a high quality heat proof handle, to make using them simple and easy.

Fireplace Screen

The most important tool in your arsenal when it comes to a real fire is a fireplace screen. Fireplace safety should be your top priority. You may not like the idea of covering up the flames but it is absolutely worthwhile. Even the smallest of embers that shoots out of the fire can cause a fire in the house if it even touches a carpet, something which you will of course want to avoid. There are many screens which you can buy that are designed in such a way that you will be able to view and enjoy the fire in all its glory. The choice of screen is yours but just make sure that you invest in one, for your own safety.

Finally try to get tools for your fireplace that will match, they look great when they all hang on the side of the fireplace.

For more tips, check out the I Write a Lot blog: http://www.iwritealot.com/blog/

Canyon Lake Smartphone Repair – Is It Worth Repairing Your Phone?

by Leave a Comment

The phones which we use these days are becoming more advanced by the second and they all feature a huge array of small parts and tiny components. In fact whilst many of us could probably fix our cellphone back in the day when something went wrong, the smartphones which we have today require a degree in engineering just to open them up! This is why many smartphone repair shops have opened up, filled with smart men and women who know far more than we do about our handsets. The question is however, is it worth getting the smartphone repaired? Costs are rising in mobile phone repairs and some people don’t always believe that it is worth having them fixed. We spoke to the guys here at Canyon Lake Smartphone Repair to find out why it is a worthwhile endeavor to have your phone repaired when it breaks.

Like for Like

Because of the capabilities which phones have these days they are incredibly expensive to buy as new. This means that if your phone does happen to break, to the point where you can no longer use it, the cost of a repair will be far, far less than the cost of replacing the phone entirely. Unless you have insurance in place, something which very few people do, then it will always make more sense to take your phone to be repaired, than to explore the possibility of buying the same phone again. Furthermore even if you did buy a new phone, you will have invested money in the broken phone and now it will be worthless.

DIY

A lot of the repairs that come into the shop are from people who have tried to fix the phone on their own. This is usually the case when people break the screens on their phone, and they attempt to buy screens online and then replace them by following a YouTube tutorial. The problem with this is that the parts which are bought are often of low-quality or poor design, and the tools which are required are not shown on the videos. In many cases the cost of the original repair would have been, let’s say $100, yet after they have tried and failed to fix it and caused more issues, the cost could end up at $175. To save you money from the outset, take your phone to the pros and have it repaired to save your finances.

Long Lasting

Repair jobs are not just quick fixes which can get you back to calling and texting, they are permanent fixes which use the very best parts. Many smartphone repair services offer very long guarantees on their work because they know that as long as the user looks after the handset, that nothing will go wrong with the new parts for a very long time.

If your phone has broken, don’t seek out other options or wait, take it to a trusted smartphone repair shop and have it fixed to a very high standard.

 

Free Background Check – Why It Is Worth Doing

by Leave a Comment

If you are recruiting new staff for your business then it is very important that you carry out a background check on the possible candidates. Not only is this something which can greatly help your company and its reputation, a free background check can give you all kinds of supporting information which can help you in the recruitment process. All companies must carry out these checks on their people and if you have any hesitation at all in terms of doing these checks, here are just a few reasons why it is absolutely worthwhile.

The Cost

There are many services that offer you a free background check and it will not even cost you very much time to put it all together. given the abundance of information that you can find out about a persons history when you carry out a background check, it is really a no-brainer in terms of whether you should do it or not, especially when you save money on the process.

The Dangers

There are many dangers which a company must avoid when hiring its staff, dangers which can be easily avoided through a solid background check. Let’s say for example that you hire someone who has a criminal history of being violent, and that they have not declared this on their application form. Let’s also say that you then hire this person without a background check and they go on to attack someone in the workplace, when news comes out about their past, your company reputation can be highly damaged because you failed to perform a solid background check on the person.

Helping Find The Right People

Regardless of what business you are in you will of course wish to find the very best people for the job and a background check can greatly help with that. Let’s say for instance you are hiring for a job which entails driving, wouldn’t you want to know that this person is the best candidate for the job based on their driving history? In this example you can use the background check to find out the status of their license, any driving offenses which they have made, how many accidents that they have been involved in and whether or not they have any convictions for driving.

Background checks can also help you to find out the integrity of a person, imagine that they have lied about their education on their application form and you find out the truth via a background check. In this instance the lack of education may not be important but the very fact that they decided to lie most certainly is.

Whatever position you are trying to fill you must ensure that the people that you are bringing in to the company are those who are honest and who have a history that won’t come back to bite the company. A free background check therefore is the most sensible thing to do for every potential employee that you are considering.

To learn more about I Write a Lot, click here.