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Get Your Grout and Tile Ready For Fall

Get Your Grout and Tile Ready For Fall

September is here – that means fall is about to make its arrival. Across the country, fall is a beautiful season. Temperatures are cooler, humidity drops, and the trees and plants start changing beautiful colors. Although, the downside to fall Is there’s a lot of debris on the ground, and potential inclement weather coming with winter right around the corner. Leaves. Mud. Branches. Snow. Grass. All these things can easily can trekked into the house from our shoes and belongings.

During the season, our tile and grout can take a beating. The dirt and wetness can easily seep into our grout and stain both the tile and grout. Your beautiful floors can begin to look old and dirty quick. That’s why it’s essential for you to take the time to prepare your tile and grout for the dirtier seasons. Cold, wetness, mud, snow, and more, can all be damaging to your grout and tile. You don’t want any of these things to ruin your floors, because it can be a financial burden to retile and grout a room. read more

9 Reasons to Clean Your Grout

9 Reasons to Clean Your Grout

It’s time to clean your kitchen and bathroom. When you need to clean, what comes to mind? Mopping? Wiping down counter tops? Scrubbing the shower? How about cleaning your grout? Grout shouldn’t be on the back burner when it comes to items to clean in your home. If grout isn’t clean, it can make your entire room look dirty, even if it isn’t.

Don’t waste your time cleaning your rooms from top to bottom if you’re going to ignore your grout lines. Your grout should be maintained throughout the year. At Grout Shield, we make grout cleaners, grout sealers, and grout restoration products to help keep our grout looking renewed and clean. For this article, we wanted to share with you some reasons on why you should clean your grout and maintain it regularly.

  • Grout is porous, and it absorbs everything it encounters like a sponge. Because of this, a lot of bacteria and germs can linger in the grout lines, so it is essential to clean it.
  • Grout can turn black or brown if not cleaned properly or regularly.
  • Grout can start to smell if not properly cleaned.
  • Your floors/countertops/backsplashes will last longer. If Grout isn’t cared for, it can be compromised and break, which can lead to the tiles moving and breaking around it, as well.
  • Your floors/backsplashes/countertops will look newer.
  • Dirty grout can be bad with people who have allergies, asthma, or respiratory problems since grout can collect dirt, dust, and allergens.
  • Grout-specific cleaners and sealers, like from Grout Shield, won’t damage your grout like regular household cleaners.
  • It preserves your home’s value.
  • Grout can hold mold and mildew, which not only looks gross, it can make you and your family sick.

Preventative care with grout will help your grout stay looking good year-round and keep you from having a dirty looking room that need fixing. The Grout Shield Maintenance Cleaner cleans stains in the grout, and it is perfect to use regularly Grout Shield Grout & Tile Deep Cleanerisgreat at lifting deep stains. read more

Vanessa Puleo of Led2Serve Selects International Medical Global As Travel Health Insurance Provider

Vanessa Puleo of Led2Serve Selects International Medical Global As Travel Health Insurance Provider

Led2Serve today announced its selection of International Medical Global as it’s new provider of travel health insurance. IMG is an award-winning provider of global insurance benefits and assistance services. Through their Outreach Travel Medical Insurance plans travelers with Led2Serve are provided trip interruption, accident, sickness and also emergency evacuation coverage for their Journeys.

“In our nine year history as a mobilizing organization we have had a stellar safety record. While travelers have never had any medial emergencies or a need to use health or travel insurances, our Journey Members can always take comfort in knowing we put their safety as our highest priority,” stated Yolanda Puleo, Director of Operations. “IMG is recognized as a leader in their industry and we feel our selection of them as a provider reflects our continued commitment to traveler safety and planning for the unexpected.”

Led2Serve is approaching its tenth year anniversary and anticipates adding several Journey locations in 2018 as they expand Service Learning Journeys for middle and high school partners. Student teams will continue to travel to new and existing partner locations in support of the organizations mission to engage in meaningful service components while enjoying a Journey balanced with adventure and learning outcomes. read more

Dustin Rinaldi Shares Red Flags that Could Alert the IRS

Dustin Rinaldi Shares Red Flags that Could Alert the IRS

The IRS audited approximately 1.4 million individual tax returns filed in 2012.1 That amounts to approximately 1% of 146 million individual returns filed that year. However, fewer than one-quarter of those audits involved face-to-face meetings with IRS auditors. The rest were conducted through the mail.

Filers earning less than $100,000 had a .58% chance of being audited. Among filers with income exceeding

$200,000, the audit rate was 2.06%; for those earning more than $1 million, it climbed to 9.20%. Audit risk also increased for self-employed taxpayers who filed a Schedule C, Income and Expenses for sole proprietors.

Depending on how much income was reported, the chance of being audited ranged from 1.0% for returns listing gross receipts under $25,000 to 2.7% for those reporting gross receipts of $200,000 or more.1

What Triggers an Audit

The following are some of the red flags that could alert the IRS, aside from earning a lot of money:

1. Running a cash business

2. Claiming the home-office deduction read more