.	home features services what's new FAQ delbe pointers principals Sign-up Forms Franchise Information contractor registration contact us! affiliated organizations DELBE MANAGEMENT	Delbe Pointers                            Making Life A Little Easier... Spring 2000 The Delbe Pointers newsletter is a bi-annual newsletter providing homeowners with simple tips and tricks to use when it comes to maintaining, repairing or improving their home. Articles and tips from the Spring 2000 edition can be found below. If you have a tip or a trick you would like to share with your fellow homeowners, please forward them to us. If we use the tip in our newsletter we will be happy to send you a small gift in appreciation. Seasonal Reminders It's Termite Season... Again, the metropolitan Washington area has experienced an unusually warm winter. The cherry blossoms bloomed two weeks early this year. Termites are scheduled to make their appearance in the near future. If you see swarming insects try to capture one in a jar so it can be shown to you exterminator. Your DHS personal service representative can arrange for an inspection. Clean Those Gutters... So often one thinks about cleaning the house gutters only after the fall leaves have fallen. But springtime brings its own gutter problems. Pollen and seeds from trees and shrubs form effective barriers that prevent water from running through the gutters and sown spouts of your home. During heavy rainstorms, excess water can build up and overflow the gutter. Sometimes this water finds its way behind the eves and into your home Give your DHS personal home representative a call to schedule your gutter cleaning. Air Conditioning Tune-up... Air conditioning season is just around the corner. A technician can analyze the overall system and identify conditions that could lead to lower efficiency, higher utility bills, or even system failure. Dirt on the outside coil, belt slippage, loss of freon, dirty fan blades, air flow restriction over the coils, and pitted relays can all result in poor system performance. At a minimum you should remove the winter derbies from around your outside unit and wash the coils with a hose. Screens-The Last Line of Defense... Summer time is bug time. Here are some hits to patch those little holes in your screens. Use glue to patch holes where only a few strands of screening are broken Larger rips in metal screens that can't be closed with a patch cut about 1/2 inch larger than the damaged area. Use a straight edge to bend down the edges about 1/4 inch. Nestle the batch in place so the bent strands fit through the grid, press the patch in place and flatten the protruding strands from the other side. Glue can be used to seal the edges if necessary. For plastic screen sew the patch in place using a needle and fine nylon thread of thin fishing line to secure the seams. Who You Gonna Call? ChoreBusters With this heading the Washington Post ran an article about to-do lists and maintain a home. The article appeared on September 16, 1999 in the Home Section and Delbe Home Services was the main featured company. We are proud of what the Washington Post had to say about DHS's unique service. You can read the article on line in the Post's archives. Articles about DHS have subsequently appeared in The Washington Business Journal, The Potomac Almanac, Center View, and the Northern Virginia Connection newspapers. And did you hear the recent ads running on WMAL with Chris Core? New Staff... DHS Welcomes Sarah Beechler and Jeff Lyons Fall 1998 Delbe Pointers Please read on for more of Delbe Pointers Spring 2000 News Letter (page 2 of 4)