If you maintain a larger property, the state of your mowing equipment is vital to success. After all, these tools handle the bulk of your lawn management, and their condition will influence the quality of your results. However, even the best devices tend to break down under enough stress—and mowers are no different. If you want to get the most out of yours this summer, make sure you know what to expect. These are some of the top mower issues and how to prevent them.

Failure To Start

If you’ve had your mower for several years, chances are good that it could fail to start sometime soon. Old gas is one common reason behind why this happens, as well as dirty spark plugs or air filters. Because of this, you must perform any core maintenance tasks before using your mower. Replacing these parts now and filling your mower with fresh gas will ensure better fuel flow to the engine.

Power Depletion

Homeowners may experience power depletion in their mowers after some time—which can stop the engine from running entirely. This also stems from dirty filtration systems and an ineffective spark plug. One of the best things you can do to prevent this is to keep your machine clean. This means removing any lawn debris from the mower blades and cleaning or replacing the spark plug.

Ineffective Blades

Another top mower issue you’ll want to avoid is the dulling of your mower’s blades. Your mower’s blades will dull as they cut up larger debris. When this happens, they become less effective at cutting evenly—even something as thin as grass. Fortunately, you can correct this by sharpening them. Doing this ensures that the blades perform to your expectations and makes them last longer by protecting them from additional damage.

Engine Smoking

Some mowers start to smoke when they’re under a lot of stress. This effect is usually due to an engine overheating. However, it can also occur because of an oil chamber being too full or the oil lines springing a leak. If your mower starts smoking, determine the exact source of the problem. If you notice that the smoke is lighter in color and happening often when you use your mower, you should definitely get a professional to look at it.

Losing a loved one is never easy, but there are ways you can still incorporate them into your life. Honoring a lost loved one is a beautiful gesture, and there are lots of ways to do so. If you visit the grave of someone that you loved all the time, you’ve probably started decorating it. To give you some more ideas for your next visit, we’ve put together a list of ways to honor loved ones at the cemetery.

Have a Picnic at the Cemetery

Lots of cemeteries are well-kept with beautiful fields, lakes, forests, and trails. In other words, they’re the perfect setting for a delicious picnic. Make sure that you take some family members with you to enjoy the afternoon.

You can set the picnic up in front of your loved one’s grave. That way, they can join you in spirit while you enjoy your relaxing picnic. It can be very healing, and it can make you feel as if your lost loved one is there with you.

Honor Their Military Service

Did your loved one serve in the military? If so, you have a great opportunity to honor their service. Flags, pictures, plaques, and flowers are all great ways to pay your respects. Their decorated grave will show that they were a proud and dedicated solider who served our country.

Take Family Photos

Taking photos is another way to honor the lost. If you have some new family members that were born after your loved one died, now you can take a photo with them. A full family photo at the gravesite is a beautiful gesture toward your lost loved ones. It will also help the younger members of the family remember and appreciate their relative who has passed.

Compare your old photos with your late loved ones to the new photos you took during the picnic. The younger family members will love seeing what their ancestor looked like before they passed away. You may also decide to decorate their grave with that image by purchasing a personalized ceramic headstone photograph that immortalizes their appearance for generations to come.

Clean the Grave

Graves get dirty like anything else. Time will bring moss, mold, lichen, dirt, and more. To pay respect to your loved one, cleaning the gravestone is a great idea. It will also communicate to the rest of the cemetery that you care about your lost love. With a little work, you can make even the dirtiest and overrun gravestone look brand-new again. It will also help you keep the memory of them alive.

These are what we feel are some great ways to honor loved ones at the cemetery. It’s never too late to honor someone, even after they’re gone. The grieving process is also never really over. Visiting and honoring gravesites is a great way to heal and cope with grief.

If you’re like most homeowners, the last room you think about renovating is your bathroom. Since restrooms are small, often windowless, and typically accommodate only one occupant at a time, it can be challenging to get excited about altering them. Most of us are ready to focus our attention on more sociable spaces, such as dining rooms or kitchens.

But it’s a mistake to leave your bathrooms by the wayside. A bathroom can make just as much of a statement as any room in the house. For those wishing to update their restrooms for the modern world, here are the top bathroom design trends we see in 2021.

Abstract Triangle Tile

The trends in 2021 mostly center around an attempt to make bathrooms busier and more visually stimulating. Gone are the days of simple, one-color arrangements. New trends have inspired the use of different tile shapes, including triangles. Furthermore, clashing colors and designs have become popular. All this makes for fascinating spaces that capture your attention.

80s Square Tiling

Every new era in design carries a nod to a time before. In the world of tiling, 80s nostalgia has returned at full force. The square black and white or single-colored tiles that dressed the childhood homes of so many 30- to 40-year-old people have made a comeback this year. Though this look seems garish to some individuals, it’s a friendly reminder of a bygone time to others.

Natural Material for Bathtub Exteriors

With home design moving toward rustic styles and an emphasis on earthy textures, one of the top bathroom design trends we see in 2021 is the emergence of natural materials for bathtub exteriors. Bathtubs lined with wood paneling or stitched within wicker are elegant, pastoral additions that will catch the eye of your visitors.

Botanical Wallpaper

Similar to this year’s emphasis on natural finishes, bold botanical wallpaper is also a design trend to watch. With tropical scenes, images of animals in trees, and depictions of flowers, the botanical wallpaper spreading like wildfire in the design world is anything but minimalist. If you’re thinking about renovating your bathroom, these bizarre additions are fun ways to show guests your wild side.

Luxe Lighting

When it comes to lighting, the current trend is to go big or go home. Large chandeliers, giant floor lamps, and drum pendants are very much in style. For people that want to make a statement with their bathrooms, a change in lighting can be a relatively inexpensive and powerful way to accomplish that. Don’t be afraid to stretch the limits. With lighting, it’s much easier to dial back excessive harshness than to brighten a weak fixture.

Whether you’re designing a new home or reimagining an existing one, don’t forget the fans. Ceiling fans add value and comfort to your home while helping you cut down on gas and electric bills throughout the year. Before you start shopping, here’s what you need to know about ceiling fans for your home.

Rotation Direction Matters

We’ve all memorized “lefty-loosey-righty-tighty” when it comes to screwing things in. But did you know that the direction of your fan blades makes a difference? Unfortunately, “left cool, right warm” doesn’t have quite the same mnemonic value. Clockwise blade rotation draws air upward and redistributes it, which aids in warming rooms during the winter. Counterclockwise rotation does the opposite and forces a downdraft, which gives people the perception of the room being several degrees cooler. Relying on your ceiling fans to mitigate muggy temperatures can help cut cooling costs down in the summer by decreasing your need for central AC. Conversely, clockwise ceiling fans at low settings can ease the burden on your furnace in fall and early winter. Make sure to toggle your fan’s rotation for the season.

Don’t Forget to Dust the Blades

Once you get those blades into the proper rotation, you don’t want a bad case of indoor precipitation—the accumulated dust atop the blades showering down on you. Before you commit to putting your fans into service, be sure to dust the blades thoroughly, and don’t forget to dust them off over the course of the year, especially if you give your fans a rest for a while. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and an idle fan gathers a fair bit of dust.

Motors Matter Too

There are qualitative and quantitative benefits to installing ceiling fans around the house—they look nice and save on electric bills. But the sustained whirr of a fan’s motor can be an annoyance to people whose tolerance for ambient noise is low. When shopping for fans, look for DC motors, which offer quieter operations.

Keep Fans in Proportion to the Room

When it comes to what you need to know about ceiling fans, one size does not fit all. Bigger rooms call for bigger fans. And an oversized fan will prove too powerful for a smaller bedroom or kitchen—plus, it’s also aesthetically unpleasing. Most bedrooms will benefit from a blade span between 42 and 50 inches, while the master bedroom usually calls for up to a 60-inch blade span. For the living room, 60 inches is usually just the low end.