A house fire can be one of the most devastating experiences a homeowner can go through, but there are a number of things that you can do to reduce the chance of this happening. A large number of house fires result from people simply not paying attention to what they are doing, neglecting an electrical device, or using one incorrectly.
Space heaters are used in the winter in many homes that cannot afford to pay the gas bill or the extra electricity cost that it takes to heat their home, but these are the cause of house fires if they are not used properly. The first thing you need to realize about these devices is that you should never use an extension cord with them unless they are heavy duty. The cord should be a gauge 14 at least or else it will melt. The smaller cords simply cannot handle the amount of electricity needed to power these devices and so, they cause fires.
Something else you should be wary of is putting the heater on a carpeted surface. You can do this with heaters that have a good amount of space between the heating element and the floor, but space heaters with short legs should be used only on non-carpeted floors.
Another electrical item that is often misused is the electric blanket. Imagine waking up and the bed being on fire with you in it. That could be mistaken for a nightmare, but it has happened before to people who do not turn their blankets off when they go to sleep. Electric blankets need to be used to warm up the bed only and turned off afterward and they should NEVER be left on their highest setting while you are sleeping under them. You should also not allow pets or children to walk on these, since it can damage the cords inside them and cause them to have shorts.
Any other electrical device that puts out heat should be used very carefully to ensure that a house fire does not break out. It is important to follow the directions of the device to the letter and use the utmost caution if you have to leave it unattended for any amount of time. Try not to leave these items alone for more than a few minutes at a time.
Grease fires are also common in the kitchen. The best way to prevent this is to heat oil or shortening slowly and never leave it unattended.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Hurricane Water Sanitation
Hurricanes and typhoons occur in different parts of the world, but the effect of both is typically the same. Flooding, high winds, extremely heavy rain, and often casualties occur during both of these kinds of storms, even though one type occurs in the Atlantic and the other occurs in the Pacific. They are similar in not only this way, but also in the way that you need to prepare for them.
Both of these storms can do serious damage to your local water supply and contaminate it with leaves, sticks, other debris, sewage, and sea water. This means that your local water supply is not safe to drink until your local government says that it is safe to do so after the storm is over. You should never drink the water out of your faucet while the storm is still going on outside and if possible, you should always evacuate your area if you are worried that your home could be flooded by the storm or the collapsing of surrounding dams or levees. The catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed what can happen when levees break, so if you live in a similar area and a hurricane comes to town, take whatever you can carry and get out.
If you are not worried about your home flooding during this storm, then you will still need to save up as much water as you can to ride out the storm in your home. As mentioned earlier, drinking your tap water after the storm begins is not an option. You can boil it if you need to, but the bad thing about this is that boiling does not remove any chemicals from the water that it may have been contaminated with. You can purchase bottled water before the storm gets to your house or you can go the cheap way and save tap water in rinsed milk jugs. This is the easiest and cheapest way to do it.
Consider just how much water you are going to need. This amount will go up with the number of people that will be staying in your house and the amount of time you are expecting to be locked up in it while you are waiting for the storm to end. Each person should have access to one gallon of water for their use per day. The last thing that you want is to run out of drinking water, so if it is looking like your water supply might not last, forego bathing until the storm is over.
Both of these storms can do serious damage to your local water supply and contaminate it with leaves, sticks, other debris, sewage, and sea water. This means that your local water supply is not safe to drink until your local government says that it is safe to do so after the storm is over. You should never drink the water out of your faucet while the storm is still going on outside and if possible, you should always evacuate your area if you are worried that your home could be flooded by the storm or the collapsing of surrounding dams or levees. The catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed what can happen when levees break, so if you live in a similar area and a hurricane comes to town, take whatever you can carry and get out.
If you are not worried about your home flooding during this storm, then you will still need to save up as much water as you can to ride out the storm in your home. As mentioned earlier, drinking your tap water after the storm begins is not an option. You can boil it if you need to, but the bad thing about this is that boiling does not remove any chemicals from the water that it may have been contaminated with. You can purchase bottled water before the storm gets to your house or you can go the cheap way and save tap water in rinsed milk jugs. This is the easiest and cheapest way to do it.
Consider just how much water you are going to need. This amount will go up with the number of people that will be staying in your house and the amount of time you are expecting to be locked up in it while you are waiting for the storm to end. Each person should have access to one gallon of water for their use per day. The last thing that you want is to run out of drinking water, so if it is looking like your water supply might not last, forego bathing until the storm is over.
Floor and Ceiling Water Damage Help
Finding mold or water damage in your bathroom is something that no homeowner wants to deal with, but the fact is that this happens more often than most people realize and that preventing it is much easier than dealing with the discovery later on after you have neglected this very important room of your home. If you are moving into a brand new house, then you are in luck, since there will probably be neither water damage nor mold in the bathroom when you get into it. You are ahead of the game. If you are moving into an old house or have lived in the same home for a number of years, then you might have some issues on your hands, but hopefully the room is not so far gone that you will have to renovate completely to take care of them.
The first thing that you need to look at in your bathroom is the floor. This is what holds up everything else in the room and if it gives way, it does not matter the quality of the craftsmanship in the rest of the room; everything in the room will end up on the ground under the house. So, if the flooring in your bathroom is old or damaged, then you should replace it. Before you put the new flooring down, though, you should take a look at the joists underneath to see if they are water damaged or rotting. If they feel weak in any way, you should find the money to repair it with, since building a new bathroom on top of weak joists makes no sense at all, because weak and rotted joists are what you are trying to prevent in the first place. You should also look for mold under the old flooring, as well, and remove any materials contaminated with it.
After you replace the flooring (if necessary) and put down the new flooring, you need to make sure that the entire floor is water tight to prevent rotting the joists later on. Much more water goes through the bathroom every day than you may realize, so think about this when waterproofing your floor. There should be no missing areas of grout or caulking anywhere in the room.
The next place you need to look is up. Does your ceiling sag at all or is it cracked in any places? Do you have a window in the bathroom or an exhaust vent? Or do you have neither? One of the most important things that you can install in the bathroom to protect it is an exhaust vent. Steam from your shower or bath is absorbed by the ceiling over time if it has nowhere to go, cause mold growth, and the drywall to sag. If enough water is absorbed by the ceiling over the years, it can crack and eventually collapse.
The first thing that you need to look at in your bathroom is the floor. This is what holds up everything else in the room and if it gives way, it does not matter the quality of the craftsmanship in the rest of the room; everything in the room will end up on the ground under the house. So, if the flooring in your bathroom is old or damaged, then you should replace it. Before you put the new flooring down, though, you should take a look at the joists underneath to see if they are water damaged or rotting. If they feel weak in any way, you should find the money to repair it with, since building a new bathroom on top of weak joists makes no sense at all, because weak and rotted joists are what you are trying to prevent in the first place. You should also look for mold under the old flooring, as well, and remove any materials contaminated with it.
After you replace the flooring (if necessary) and put down the new flooring, you need to make sure that the entire floor is water tight to prevent rotting the joists later on. Much more water goes through the bathroom every day than you may realize, so think about this when waterproofing your floor. There should be no missing areas of grout or caulking anywhere in the room.
The next place you need to look is up. Does your ceiling sag at all or is it cracked in any places? Do you have a window in the bathroom or an exhaust vent? Or do you have neither? One of the most important things that you can install in the bathroom to protect it is an exhaust vent. Steam from your shower or bath is absorbed by the ceiling over time if it has nowhere to go, cause mold growth, and the drywall to sag. If enough water is absorbed by the ceiling over the years, it can crack and eventually collapse.
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