Last Tuesday, I found myself staring at a blackened, twisted mess that used to be my neighbor’s laundry room. Standing beside the fire inspector as he pointed to the charred remains of a dryer vent, I couldn’t help but think about the load of towels tumbling in my own machine at home. “This is the third one this month,” he sighed, clicking his flashlight off.…
The morning I found myself in the ER with my five-year-old daughter struggling to breathe changed everything I thought I knew about home maintenance. Between nebulizer treatments, the pulmonologist asked a question that blindsided me: “When was the last time you had your air ducts professionally cleaned?” In fifteen years of homeownership, I’d replaced roofing, updated plumbing, and religiously changed HVAC filters – but never…