Your Haunted House and How to Fix It

Halloween is here, which probably means you’ve been hyper-aware of a lot of creepy noises and other unexplained activity coming from your house. You were thinking about visiting a haunted house, but since your own house replicates the experience so well, you figure that people should be paying you to enter a dark and creepy home if they want to feel fear and anxiety.

 

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Although many people think that they live in a haunted house, whenever there has been a full inspection of the situation, those spirits turn out to be caused by faulty electrical wiring, air leaks and drafts, plumbing, and old appliances.

 

If people frequently ask you if your house is haunted, you may want to take a look at this list of ghostly phenomena and the real reasons behind those apparent supernatural signs. We will provide you with the paranormal explanation followed by our own, more scientific explanations. Our reasons are going to be a lot less amusing, but they will provide you with real solutions to get rid of your creepy companions. Are you ready, guys and ghouls?

 

COLD SPOTS/DRAFTS – You always feel like you are sharing the room with some invisible other because sometimes when you walk by a specific spot, it immediately gets cold. You take a step forward and the air temperature returns to normal. One step back and it gets cold again.

 

Paranormal Reason –  This is what ghost hunters and parapsychologists refer to as a “cold spot.” The paranormal explanation is that in order for ghosts to materialize and scare the bejeezus out of you, they need to suck the heat energy out of the air, thus creating an area of the room that is referred to as a “cold spot.”

 

Boulden Reason – When Boulden technicians encounter a “cold spot,” they instantly look to find an area nearby where cool air is leaking in. By simply closing the air leaks in your home, you can save up to 15% on your heating and cooling bill every month. A simple and inexpensive solution is to use weatherstripping on your windows and doors.

 

If you want to try to find the source of the leaks yourself, go around your home with a smoke stick and hold it up to areas you suspect might have an air leak. If the smoke moves, you know that air is flowing through a crack somewhere. You can also just check to see if light is coming through any edges of your windows or doors. Weatherstripping will stop the air from coming in around the top and sides of the door, but to prevent air from flowing underneath your door, you will need to add a door swee. Cut the sweep to fit the door and mark and predrill your screwholes. With the door shut, screw the sweep to the door. Check the instructions on the door sweep package to see whether it is supposed to be installed on the inside or the outside of your door.

 

 

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Rubén Hidalgo

 

CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING – There are several stories of apparent ghost sightings and haunted houses that can be attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

 

Paranormal Reason – The house was haunted and the ghost that Mrs. H saw was real. It is well known among parapychologists that ghosts try to run families out of the house, and that’s exactly what this ghost family did. When slamming doors and creaking floorboards weren’t doing the trick, they fiddled with the blower to the furnace so that it would leak a poison gas. W

 

Boulden Reason – As a colorless, odorless gas, carbon monoxide (CO) is very difficult detect. If you don’t have CO detectors throughout your home, you’ll never know its there. The symptoms of CO-poisoning include weakness, nausea, dizziness, confusion, blurred vision, and hallucinations before loss of consciousness and death. These effects are due to a lack of oxygen because our red blood cells absorb CO faster than they do oxygen. The oxygen that is normally in our blood gets replaced with CO molecules, which blocks the path for any new oxygen to enter.

 

How to Avoid CO Leaks in Your Home:
  1. Schedule annual furnace maintenance – Right now is the perfect time to schedule your fall furnace maintenance. Don’t wait until the first cold day of winter to turn your furnace on and realize that you have a problem. Most factory warranties even require that you have regular maintenance done on your HVAC equipment. When you schedule repair or maintenance with Boulden Brothers, you will get a full cleaning and inspection of your system during which we will perform a wide range of tests and and identify any problems your furnace might have.
  2. Change your air filters every 30-60 days – A clean filter will allow your furnace to breath easier, preventing airflow backups and keeping dust from circulating in your home. A blocked up filter causes carbon monoxide to build up within the furnace, raising the risk of CO poisoning. Click here to learn how to change a furnace filter form Bob Vila. 
  3. Have furnace installation and repair done by a trusted professional – Learn from Mrs. H.! If you need repair or installation of any piece of HVAC equipment, make sure you do your research and hire a trusted professional. You have probably heard the phrase, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do a job, wait until you hire an amateur,” but it is especially true in the home service industry. Call Boulden Brothers at (302) 368-3848 for true professionalism and 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. 
  4. Install carbon monoxide detectors –  Carbon monoxide is produced whenever a fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood or charcoal is burned. Have a trained professional check all your fuel-burning appliances and make sure you have carbon monoxide detectors outside of every sleeping area.

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If you have any further questions on how to tell if your house is haunted or not, talk to the licensed, trained technicians at Boulden Brothers. From everyone here at Boulden Brothers, we wish you a safe and happy Halloween!

Visit us on our website, Facebook, and Twitter or give us a call at (302) 368-3848. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer any questions you might have.