Shreveport Fire And Smoke Damage Restoration

House Fires and Common Appliances

2008-01-25T14:47:00.001-08:00

Some of the most common items that we use during the winter are the things that we tend to feel comfortable using, so we let our guard down and often become victims because of it. Since we feel comfortable using these items and they are familiar to us, we do not usually think that anything can go wrong because we have been using them for so long, but nothing could be further from the truth. Anything electrical, especially if it puts out heat, can cause a house to catch on fire and burn to the ground before you can even blink.

One thing that is commonly used in areas that have cold winters are electric blankets. These cause more fires than some people imagine and there have been many cases where someone has woken up with their bed on fire because they left it on while they were sleeping. You should only use electric blankets to warm up the bed before you get in it and never leave them on their highest setting for long, if you turn it up that high at all. Do not leave these unattended for more than a few minutes and always turn them off if you are leaving the house.

The same can be said for space heaters. These are very convenient to have if you are on a budget and only need to heat a small area of your home during the winter. Like electric blankets, you should not leave these on while you are asleep or not at home, since most house fires happen during these times. They should not be used in the rooms of small children or on carpeted surfaces, if possible. Certain varieties are safer than others and you may want to consider getting one that has a fan function and is raised off the floor by a few inches. These are safer, since they do not heat the carpet around them nearly as much as space heaters with short legs and only heating coils.

Another thing you should be concerned with is grease in the kitchen. Heating grease and leaving it unattended is one of the worst things that you can do. At least one person I personally know of started this process, went to sit down, fell asleep, and burned her entire house to the ground. She was lucky she made it out alive.

You should never neglect these and other electric items in your home, especially if they put out large amounts of heat. It could be one of the worst mistakes you ever make.

The Best Ways To Protect Your Home From Fires

2008-01-25T14:46:00.002-08:00

Protecting your home from wildfires is probably not as difficult as you might think it would be, as long as you have the time and money to put into it. There are a lot of different ways to help protect your home and if you can do all of them, you just might end up saving your house.

The condition of the lawn and other vegetation around the outside of your house is usually the first line of defense, so make sure this is taken care of first. Your lawn should stay mowed and not allowed to become overgrown or dry and grass cuttings need to be raked far away from the house, but preferably taken away from the property. Trees near the home should be cut down.

Fire-resistant materials should be used in new constructions and if possible, the exterior materials of older homes should be replaced. Old homes often have vinyl or wooden siding on them and this is not fire-resistant at all, especially not compared to brick, stone, or metal. The last three materials will protect your home a lot more and you should have these installed if you are in an area that is prone to wildfires. You will thank yourself later.

The roof is perhaps the most important exterior surface of your home, since it has the largest amount of surface area. The wind carries sparks of fire on it when there are wildfires nearby and when these land on your roof, it can catch it on fire. To do away with the majority of this risk, you should have fire-resistant roofing material installed. Asphalt shingles are oil-based and will catch on fire fairly easily and so will wooden shingles. A metal roof can help solve this problem, among a few other materials available on the market today.

When a wildfire is nearby, you would also do well to keep your roof and lawn wet to discourage firebrands floating on the wind to ignite. If you must evacuate your home, you should wet the lawn down as much as possible to slow the fire from getting close to your home.

Small windows in your home instead of large ones can help, since they will radiate a lot less heat inside the house and be less likely to catch drapes and other things near the window on fire.

Reducing The Mold In Your House

2008-01-25T14:46:00.001-08:00

Removing mold from your house often involves a lot of scrubbing, cleaning, and sometimes replacing entire walls and floors, but there are ways to prevent mold from developing in the house in the first place. One of the easiest ways to prevent mold growth in the home is to make sure the majority of the mold spores in the area are collected and done away with.

HEPA filters are built into vacuum cleaners and air purification systems to remove as much particle debris as possible and it is effective up to about 99.7% of removing almost anything from the air you could want removed. Smoke particles, pet dander, hair, pollen, dust mites, mold spores, and etcetera are all removed from the air that you breathe and this not only stops mold spores from being able to grow in your home, but also from forming an infection in your body. You should note that not all particles in the air are removed, but since only about 0.3% remain, this last bit that remains is negligible in comparison.

Air purification systems are becoming popular in families that have a history of breathing problems such as asthma and allergies. Since people are spending more and more time indoors these days, especially in work environments, the air that we breathe indoors is becoming much more important. The indoor environments that we work in typically allow the air to become stale. Fans do not really solve this problem very well, since all they do is cause the dust and other debris to be stirred up into the air instead of removed. When purchasing an air purification system for your home, you should make sure that you buy one that can handle the square footage of your home so it does the best job it can.

Vacuum cleaners should also have HEPA filters in them, since their purpose is to pull soil and particle debris out of your carpet. If it does not have a filter on it, then all of the dust and particles that the vacuum collected will be spilled back into the air that you breathe and you might as well not have vacuumed at all.

Remember when you vacuum a carpet, you should vacuum all of it and not just part of it. When you get your HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner, go over the carpet at least twice to get it as clean as you can. If members of your family have allergies, it is probably a good idea to do away with as much of the carpet in your home as possible, since pollen, dust mites, mold spores, and the like will have less places to live if you do.

Preventing Mold In Your Home

2008-01-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Having mold in the house is a pretty nasty thought, but there are a lot of people who live with this problem every single day. There are a lot of things that you can do to prevent mold growth in your home and some of the best ones start with removing the mold spores from your indoor air supply.

Removing mold spores from your air supply serves a couple of purposes. The first one is that the spores do not have a chance to land anywhere in your home and start to form a colony, which will produce more spores. If you can stop the spores from producing colonies, then your mold problem is removed before it starts. The second reason you would want to do this is to be able to avoid breathing the spores in, since some species of mold can cause aspergilloma to develop in the body. These are essentially fungus balls that will grow in cavities such as where a person has had cancer or ulcers of some kind and can spread from one part of the body to another.

There are a couple of appliances that you can purchase that will help remove the majority of mold spores in your home’s air. These are a vacuum cleaner and an air purifier and both need to be equipped with HEPA filters.

HEPA filters remove about 99.7% of all particle debris in the air, including mold spores, down to a size of 0.03 microns. This is equal to about one third of the width of a human hair, so only about 0.3% of the air you breathe will have any particle debris in it. All of the things you were breathing previously, smoke particles, mold spores, pet dander, and etcetera are being captured by the filter. As long as you replace it as regularly as you are supposed to, this will work very well, especially for people that have respiratory conditions such as asthma, allergies, or emphysema.

Keep in mind that not all vacuum cleaners and air purification systems have HEPA filters in them, so be sure of what you are purchasing before you hand over the money. Read product reviews and find the best vacuum cleaner and purification system for you, since not all are created equal.

Any pre-existing mold problems in your home need to be taken care of, as well, as soon as possible to make the most out of your prevention methods. As long as mold colonies continue to exist in your home, you will continue to have mold spore problems.

How You Can Protect Your Home From Wildfires

2008-01-25T14:44:00.002-08:00

If you live in a rural area that is prone to having wildfires, you might feel helpless to them when the season starts. There are things that you can do to protect your home, however, and they might not end up being as difficult as you think.

The protection starts with your lawn and the area surrounding your home. Fire has to get past this area before it gets to your house most of the time, unless the house catches on fire due to a spark floating on the wind, but more on that in a minute. Your lawn should stay cut regularly and not allowed to become dried up, since it will catch on fire much easier when it is dry. Keep grass cuttings away from the house and if possible, try to carry them off somewhere away from residences. The same goes for dead leaves and branches. If these items do collect in your yard and you must evacuate, wet them down as much as possible and leave. This is all you can do, since you will probably not have time to collect them and take them away from the house.

Trees that are close to your home, especially those that have branches hanging over the roof, need to be cut down. It might take away your shade, but when a wildfire comes calling, the tree will probably be the first thing to go.

Try to keep the roof of your home wet when a fire is nearby because of the sparks of fire called firebrands that float on the wind. Changing the material your roof is made of can help with this problem, too, but if you cannot afford a new roof, keep it wet as much as possible.

The exterior that your home is made of can also offer some protection against fire, but only if it is fire resistant. Wooden or vinyl siding do not fit into this category, but stone, brick, and metal do. If you can afford to have the exterior of your home re-done, you should.

If you are forced to evacuate your home due to fires nearby, take as many of your valuables as you can with you and get out as quickly as you can. Even though you have done everything listed, a wildfire can still take your home and all of your belongings from you, not to mention your life.

How To Stay Healthy And Reduce Mold In Your Home

2008-01-25T14:44:00.001-08:00

Moving into a brand new home can be an exhilarating experience, but from the time you move in, you are causing wear and tear on the house’s structure. You should start taking precautions to protect your home immediately and do not let yourself think that your home cannot be easily damaged, because it can. Mold gets into the house quickly and silently, but there are a lot of things that you can do to protect your home and your family from it.

If the house is a new construction and was inspected for mold before it was completed and found clean, then you are off to a great start. As long as your bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, and basement are properly waterproofed, you should be fairly safe for a while, but part of the process of keeping mold almost completely out of your home means keeping it out of the air you breathe. This is easiest done with the application of HEPA filters to certain appliances in your home.

The vacuum cleaner from your old home should be replaced with one that has a HEPA filter on it. Your old vacuum cleaner that does not have one releases the dirt and other particles it collects back into the air instead of capturing them the way that it should. This is important if you want to keep as much particle debris out of your new carpet as possible, especially mold spores. Mold loves to grow in carpet, especially wet carpet, so you should try not to allow it to be wet for very long at a time. Soak up any spills of liquid as quickly as you can and be sure to vacuum your carpet evenly and move furniture, if you have to. Carpet gets dirty under the furniture, too, and vacuuming only one section of the carpet can cause uneven color fading over time.

HEPA filters are also used in air purification systems to keep the air that we breathe clean on a consistent basis. The filter will remove up to 99.7% of all particles in the air, including mold spores, pollen, smoke particles, dust mites, and etcetera. This is a great thing to have, especially if any of your family members suffer from allergies or other respiratory ailments.

A new vacuum cleaner and an air purification system that both use HEPA filters will assist in keeping mold out of your home and out of your bodies.

How To Reduce Mold And Stay Healthy

2008-01-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Reducing the amount of mold growth in your home usually starts with removing the existing growth from the property. This growth is typically located in the moist areas of your home like the kitchen and bathroom, but what if you do not already have mold in the house and you want to prevent it? There are a few different ways that you can do this, but one of the most helpful is the HEPA filter.

HEPA filters are specifically designed to remove particles from the air that we breathe indoors down 0.03 microns in size. Believe it or not, this means that it removes everything that is down to one third the width of a person’s hair. Dust mites, mold spores, hair, pet dander, pollen, and just about anything else that you can think of gets removed by these filters, so you can imagine the help it must bring to people with respiratory conditions like emphysema, asthma, and allergies. This is a great addition to the fact that it takes the mold spores out of the house before they have a chance to land on anything wet and start growing.

Vacuum cleaners that have HEPA filters are the only kind that should really be used in your home, since other types of vacuums may extract all of these particles from your carpet’s pile, but toss them right back into the air that you breathe. In reality, you might as well not have vacuumed at all, since it will just settle back down on the carpet.

If you decide to purchase an air purification system for your home, you should only get one that has a HEPA filter, since the other types simply do not work as well. This is the best kind of system that you can get, as long as you get one that can handle the square footage of your home. Air purification systems are often used by more expensive businesses who have employees that spend a lot of time indoors in a particular space, since the air needs to be circulated and kept from being stale, but at the same time needs to be clean of particle debris that can cause illness. The less employees are sick, the less sick days they take, and the less insurance is claimed. You may not work in a building like this, but it is a fact that people spend more time indoors these days and to stay healthy, breathing the cleanest air possible is a must.

House Fires And Common Appliances

2008-01-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

House fires are often caused by some of the most common appliances imaginable, but this is usually due to the mistakes and clumsiness of the people who are using them. Most appliances are completely safe to use in the home, but it is most often their misuse that causes accidents and fires, since all appliances come with a list of warnings.

The most dangerous appliances, though, in terms of the risk that they post to your safety and the safety of your home are the ones that are designed to emit heat.

Space heaters are very dangerous in the hands of someone who is clumsy or does not follow directions. Perhaps following directions is a little more important here, though. There are a number of things that you should take into account when you are using space heaters to keep your place warm during the winter. Never place space heaters near fabric items or upholstered furniture, if you can help it. If you have to, move these items out of the way and never use common household extension cords with space heaters for any reason. A heavy duty extension cord is the only thing that you can use here and most of us know these by their bright orange color and thick diameter. Small extension cords that you use indoors for small appliances will melt if you try to use them with space heaters.

Another item to be careful with is an electric blanket. Everyone likes to crawl into a toasty bed during the winter, but you should never use an electric blanket to do more than just warm the bed up for you before you get into it. Leaving these on or even plugged up while you are sleeping is a very bad idea, simply because many beds have been caught on fire and houses burned down because of this.

Grease fires are the most common type of house fire, since cooking is something that every household has to do in order to survive. Unfortunately, inexperienced cooks do not know how to handle grease correctly and often make mistakes. You can help prevent these fires by cleaning underneath the burners on your stove as often as necessary, since grease and food particles will build up and catch on fire when you turn the burner on. Keep baking soda around for these small burner fires and a fire extinguisher in case the fire grows in size.

Here’s How To Stop Water Damage

2008-01-25T14:40:00.002-08:00

One of the last things that any homeowner wants to have to do is completely renovate their bathroom or kitchen due to water damage and mold growth, but it happens all the time. It does not have to happen to you, though, as long as you know how to maintain these two rooms properly. They require a lot of daily maintenance to keep in top shape, but it is not the kind of difficult maintenance that you might think. Most of it is just a light cleaning up or casual inspection.

Inspect the floor of the room first. This is what supports everything else, so the integrity of this structure is paramount to the integrity of the entire room. If this goes, so will the rest of it. Try bouncing up and down a little on your toes and see if the room shakes. If it does or if the floor feels weak at all, you may have a water damage problem on your hands. You can also inspect for water damaged floors by looking at the tile and seeing if it is cracked at all. If you have a vinyl floor, looking for cracks in this can also help. Grout or caulking around the room should not be missing or loose at all.

The ceiling in both the kitchen and the bathroom is also at risk, although most kitchens come with a range hood with an exhaust fan built into it that will remove the steam from the room. The bathroom should come with one, as well, but if you live in an older home that has a bathroom in the center of the house, you may not have an exhaust vent already installed. These are installed by standard procedure now, especially in bathrooms that do not have windows, as a part of most building codes.

Make sure that the cabinets underneath the sinks in both of these rooms are covered in a laminate material to keep any dripping pipes from rotting the wood and causing you to have to replace that, too.

Spills of water in the kitchen and bathroom can be somewhat controlled by using rugs to help absorb some of the water. Most homes like to have rugs in these rooms, anyway, but many do not realize that they have a practical application other than just feeling good under bare feet and looking pretty.

How To Prevent Water Damage In Your Home

2008-01-25T14:40:00.001-08:00

Preventing water damage to the kitchen and bathrooms of your home is fairly easy, although a lot of people tend to think that it is not. It comes from a number of different sources in your home, but the two rooms that usually suffer the most are the bathroom and the kitchen. If they are built properly in the first place and well maintained, you may never have to deal with this problem in either of these rooms, but if you have moved into an older home that already has damage to it, you may want to try and invest the money to have the support structures re-done.

Weak floors are a sign of rotting or termites, so if you can bounce up and down on your toes and the whole room shakes or if objects lean toward the center of the room, you may have weak floor joists. These need to be replaced as soon as you can. Look for missing areas of grout, caulking, or cracked areas of flooring. If you do end up having to replace the floor in the bathroom, you might as well try to renovate the whole thing, if you can.

As long as you are replacing the floor, you may want to consider installing a waterproofing membrane such as a product from Schluter called Ditra. This creates an extra seal between your bathroom’s subfloor and the tile or whatever flooring that you choose to install.

Water damage also occurs to the ceiling just as much as it does to the floor, but most people do not usually think about it. When you renovate your bathroom or are having a new one constructed, you should always have an exhaust vent installed. If you do not have one, you may recognize them either from other homes you have been in or hotel rooms. These are definitely a worth while investment, since steam absorbed by the drywall can cause it to crack and collapse over time. The first sign that you are having a problem is the mesh tape used to hide the drywall seams coming loose from the wall. It will start to become visible, since it is losing its adhesive properties.

Most people have rugs in their bathroom to help soak up some of the water that gets inevitably dripped on the floor and this is a good thing. Try not to let water stand on your bathroom or kitchen floor for long.

A Few Ways To Stay Safe Around The Water

2008-01-25T14:39:00.001-08:00

People have been going swimming to get away from the heat during the summer for thousands of years, but these days some of us have the luxury of a swimming pool in our backyard that is free from all the wildlife and hazards that swimming in a creek, river, or ocean could give us. Even though the danger of wildlife and disease are mostly done away with when you have this luxury, other dangers still present themselves simply because the water is there.

The most important thing when you have a swimming pool is to teach your entire family how to swim. Your baby can swim even before they can walk, since the water will support them and they are free to exercise their arms and legs as they please. Your baby has an inherited memory that reminds it how to swim, but by the time the baby is a year or a year and a half old, this memory is lost, so the sooner you introduce your baby to the water, the better. Start in the bath tub and work your way to the shallow end of the pool.

Even though your child is born basically knowing how to use their arms and legs to swim and you can teach them to use this skill before they’re even walking, you will still not want to let them outside near the pool without you there. To prevent this, you should invest in a product called Safety Turtle. It acts as a beacon of sorts that attaches to your child’s wrist via a strap and when it comes into contact with water, a base station located in the house emits an alarm to let you know he or she is in the pool.

Another thing that you can do to protect your children and others in the neighborhood is to build a fence around the entire pool and have the gate to it locked. This will help prevent other children in the neighborhood from getting into your pool and possibly drowning.

Teach your kids that running around the pool is not acceptable behavior and make sure that the older children and young adults in the home lead by example, since running around the pool can cause serious injury or even death. It is not very difficult to slip and fall, especially if the surface area around the pool is excessively slippery.

A Few Guaranteed Ways To Prevent Water Damage

2008-01-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

Water damage occurs to your home in a number of different ways and the truth is, most of them are entirely preventable. The only cases that water damage is unpreventable are when it is caused by a natural disaster such as a flood or a hurricane or when a water leak is hidden inside a wall.

There are two rooms in your home that are particularly at risk for water damage and these are the kitchen and the bathroom, since there is a large amount of water that passes through these rooms every day, especially if you have a number of family members living with you. The bathroom is the most at risk of these two rooms, though, and you should make taking care of it a priority.

The grout and caulking around your bathroom floor should be completely sealed. This means it should not be loose or have any parts missing at all if you are going to have a waterproof bathroom floor. If you can jump in the center of your bathroom and the whole room shakes or the floor feels weak, then you might want to consider taking a look at the joists underneath the house in this area to see if they are weak. If they are, then replacing them is the only real option that you have if you do not want the whole room to fall through the floor.

Another problem with water damage concerns the ceiling. Steam from your bath or shower floats upward and has nowhere to go, so it becomes absorbed by the drywall. Eventually, the tape that hides the seams of the drywall will start to loose its adhesive properties and start to detach itself from the walls. The drywall starts to crack after this happens, sometimes toward the edges and sometimes in the middle. This can happen in the kitchen or bathroom, but especially the bathroom, since kitchens usually have exhaust fans installed to help with this problem. Have an exhaust vent installed in your bathroom, since this is usually required by most building codes, especially if the room does not have a window. It is not very expensive and it might take you half a day to install by yourself.

Try to keep spills of water in the kitchen and bathroom cleaned up as much as possible and keep the plumbing underneath the sinks inspected regularly for drips. The bottom of the cabinet under the sink should be covered in a plastic material to keep any dripping water from rotting the wood.

What You Need To Know About Water Safety

2008-01-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

If you decide to go swimming this summer, there are a few things that you need to think about in order to keep yourself and your family safe.

If you decide to go swimming somewhere like a creek, river, or ocean, you need to realize that you are not the only one swimming there. While there may not be many other people there, there are probably other animals there and they probably do not like the fact that you are on their property. This can be anything from snakes to spiders and other wildlife, so you need to be careful and watch for them. Know your local wildlife, especially poisonous ones like snakes and spiders, and know how to react if you are attacked by one of them. Jellyfish are particularly dangerous in the ocean and some varieties have been known to kill people, especially off the coast of northern Australia.

Another thing that you need to know if you are going swimming in an area where there are not a lot of people is CPR and other basic first aid techniques. These can save your life or the life of someone else and if you are taking your family to a place to swim alone with not much access to the outside world, this may be your only option if one of them gets hurt.

Never dive into the water unless you are absolutely sure of how deep it is. You cannot test this by just looking at the water. You need to physically test the depth of it before you do any diving.

It may not seem like a huge risk, but going barefoot near creeks and rivers may not be a good idea. Purchase some shoes that you can wear underwater. The reason for this is that some areas that you may want to go swimming in will have sharp rocks and even used drug needles. Take a good look around an area before you decide to take your family swimming there.

Make sure you and the rest of your family have the correct floatation devices for each person’s level of swimming experience. If you are going boating, lifejackets are typically required in most states.

Finally, the most important thing to learn is how to swim. A large number of people do not know how to swim beyond the dog paddle, and while even this low technique can save your life, there are other and better ways to learn how to swim, especially if you are dealing with a rough current. A dog paddle may not always be able to sustain you. If you are having a hard time swimming, find someone who can teach you how to float. The human body is made of a large percentage of water and floating is fairly easy once you have practiced it for a while.

Starting Smoke Damage Clean Up

2008-01-25T14:36:00.002-08:00

A house fire is something no one wants to have to go through, but after the fire is over and out, the thing that can damage a part of the house the fire was not even in is smoke. When a fire starts, smoke goes everywhere and is pretty indiscriminate as to what it damages. It damages basically everything in the house. What can you do after the fire trucks are gone and the cleanup has to start? Here are a few things to get you started.

Your house might smell like smoke for a while until you get the place cleaned up, but you can always assist getting the smell out the door by, well, getting the smell out the door. Get some box fans and open all the windows and doors of the house so the air can circulate in and out of the house, carrying the smell along with it.

Soot that becomes built up on the walls and ceiling is pretty ugly. Anyone who has moved into a home that has had people who smoke living in it knows this fairly well and the only real thing that you can do to completely get rid of the look is paint over it. It sounds labor intensive, but if you do not want to do this, you can always hire someone to do it for you or maybe someone in your family or community will help you for free. Not too many people will volunteer for things like this, but if you are physically unable to do the job, it never hurts to ask around for some help.

You should try not to walk on carpet, if possible. Replacing the carpet is probably a good idea, depending on how much damage there really is to it, but if you want to try and keep it, you will have to vacuum it carefully. An upright will not work for this, since there are brushes on the bottom that will scrub the soot into the fibers. After you vacuum it, you need to have it steam cleaned. This should remove the smell, but if it does not, you will want to replace it.

Upholstered items in the house will also need to be vacuumed with a vacuum without brushes. Do this carefully.

Your curtains and other fabric items all around the house will need to be shaken out, washed, and dried naturally. Do not use an electric dryer to dry these, because it essentially bakes the smell of smoke into the item and makes it almost impossible to get out.

Keeping Your Kids Safe Around Water

2008-01-25T14:36:00.001-08:00

During the summertime, going swimming is something that a lot of families like to do, but there are only a few of us lucky enough to have a safe swimming area in the backyard. Going to the river, the creek, or even the ocean can be dangerous, but you may not think about the dangers that can exist on your own property. If you do have the privilege of owning your own swimming pool, there are some safety rules that you need to have followed by all the members of your household if you are going to have a safe summer.

When it comes to having a pool, children that live in the home or in neighboring homes should be taken into account. One thing that every pool needs to have around it is a fence to keep not only intruders, but also neighborhood children out of it. This is for privacy reasons as well as safety, since if a child from the community manages to get in your pool and drowns, you are completely responsible because it was not sufficiently blocked off. However, if you have a fence around the pool and it is locked, the likelihood of this happening is extremely reduced.

Something that you can use to keep your own children safe and out of the pool when you do not want them in it is a product called Safety Turtle, which is a wrist strap that you put on the child and when it is exposed to water, it causes the base station that comes with it to sound a loud alarm that tells you the child is in the pool. If you have small children that you cannot always keep track of and you want to make sure they stay away from the pool, this is the best product to give you peace of mind.

If you are going to have a pool, you should also put a good amount of thought into learning CPR and other first aid techniques. Community pools have lifeguards on duty at all times, but when you are in the privacy of your own home, you do not have this benefit, so you need to learn these things yourself in case an accident occurs.

Please make sure that your children and the adults in your house all know that running outside around the pool is not acceptable. This is extremely dangerous and has been known to end in extreme head injuries and even death.

Keeping Safe Around The Water

2008-01-25T14:34:00.002-08:00

Lots of families go swimming during the summer to find relief from the heat, especially since their air conditioners may not work, but one thing that a lot of people are not fortunate enough to have is a swimming pool in their backyard. Many people would be grateful just to be able to afford to go to the community pool, since most of these places require an entry fee, but if you have your own pool, you really do feel on top of the world. There are a lot of safety rules that you should follow if you are lucky enough to have your own pool, though, and we are here to tell you what they are.

Children are the victims of most pool-related accidents, so you need to make every attempt to make the pool area as childproof as possible. This means making sure that you factor in the cost of building a fence around the pool to keep not only your children, but other children that live in your neighborhood safe, as well. Unfortunately, you are liable if a child from the neighborhood falls into your pool and drowns. This is the last thing that anyone wants to happen, so building a high privacy fence around the pool and keeping the gate locked at all times is extremely important.

Another good thing to have in your home if you have small children is an item called the Safety Turtle. This is one of the best products that you can purchase for your home and it will give you a lot of security when it comes to keeping your little ones out of the pool. A wrist strap is put on the child that has a small turtle-shaped device on it and when that device is submerged under water, the base station that is hooked up inside your house makes a loud noise so that no matter where you are in the house, you know that the child has likely fallen into the pool.

Your children and any visitors to the home need to be taught that it is not a good idea to run around the pool. They can fall, hit their head, and drown much faster than you realize.

Any pool chemicals that you have should be stored in a safe place and locked up so children and pets cannot get into them. These items are poisonous and if ingested, could kill you.

How To Keep Your Kids Safe Around Water

2008-01-25T14:34:00.001-08:00

Summers can get pretty hot in the United States depending on where you live and not a whole lot of people can afford to have a pool in their own backyard, but some of us are lucky enough to afford the privilege. For those of us who can afford this luxury, there are some rules that you need to follow to keep both you, your family, and the rest of the neighborhood safe.

If you decide to have a pool put in your backyard, you need to have a fence built around it, preferably a fairly high one. This is to keep your kids and the other kids in the neighborhood safe. You probably do not realize it, but if a child wanders into your yard, falls into the pool, and drowns, you are legally responsible because the area was not properly blocked off. A child drowning in your pool, whether it is your own or a neighbor’s, is the last thing that anyone wants to happen, so factor the cost of a privacy fence into the cost of having the pool built. A fence also serves to keep out pool hoppers.

Your children should understand that if they are caught running around the pool, they will be punished in some form or another. The surface around the pool can be slick and you can fall very easily into it, hit your head, pass out, and drown. No matter how safe you may feel like you are running, accidents can still happen, so make sure all of the adults in your home lead by example and do not run around the pool.

Care should also be taken when storing pool chemicals such as chlorine tablets and other necessary items. These can be poisonous and you do not want children or animals getting into them.

Kids should never be allowed near the pool while unsupervised and a product called Safety Turtle can help you monitor them. A base station is purchased along with a wrist band that, when submerged underwater, causes the base station to alarm. This will let you know from a good distance away that your child has either gotten into the pool or has fallen into it.

Something else you need to consider if you have a pool at your home is learning CPR and first aid. While a lifeguard at a city pool may know these things and you feel safe there, you do not have the benefit of a lifeguard in your own home unless you learn to be one.

House Fire Sources

2008-01-25T14:33:00.001-08:00

Fires can start in the house a number of different ways and knowing as much as you can about fire safety in the home is important in preventing this from happening.

Cooking in the kitchen poses the most amount of risk, but since most people have to do this to survive because they cannot afford to eat out all the time, it must be done. Safety comes first and this means that you should not leave anything on the stove unattended in the kitchen. If you do have to leave, turn it off or leave someone in the kitchen to watch it for you.

Space heaters that you using during the winter time can also present a substantial amount of risk if you do not know where you can safely place them in your home. They should never be put near furniture, curtains, or any other fabric item. Something else you need to know is that extension cords should never be used with appliances that use a lot of electricity or put out a large amount of heat. Electric skillets and deep fryers fall into this category along with space heaters and if you use a normal household extension cord with them, they will melt. If you have to use one, use a heavy duty one that is normally used outside.

If you smoke, this is another possible source of fire in the house. If you have to dump out cigarette ashes, make sure everything in the tray is completely put out. Something you should never do is smoke while you are in bed. Do not let yourself become too relaxed in a chair, either, since you may end up falling asleep and dropping the cigarette, either on the chair, bed, the floor, or yourself.

Chemicals that are flammable like gas and turpentine should be kept outside the house, preferably in a separate building. This way, if they catch on fire for some reason, the extra building will be on fire and not your home.

Electric blankets are also a great convenience, but the bad thing about these is that people tend to leave them on all night while they are sleeping instead of just using them to heat up the bed. Beds catch on fire due to improper use of these, so never leave the house while they are on and never leave them on while you are asleep.

Fire Safety For Home Buyers

2008-01-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Buying a home for the first time can be pretty intimidating, but the thought of losing that new home to a fire is a whole lot scarier. For those of you who are purchasing a home for the first time, one of the first things that you need to learn about is fire safety. Your home is likely to be the biggest investment you will ever have at any one time and protecting it is something that should be at the front of your mind at all times. There are a lot of different things in your home that can cause a fire and most of them can be avoided if you know what to do.

An unfortunate fact is that most house fires start in the kitchen and because people simply are not paying attention to what they are doing. Becoming preoccupied with other chores or things in the house, like the television or family members, is one of the worst things that you can do while you are cooking dinner or any other meal. If you have to answer the phone, make sure it is in the kitchen and that it stays with you in the kitchen at all times. You should never, for any reason, leave the house while you are cooking unless someone will be there to watch the stove while you are gone.

Grease fires are also common in the kitchen, even though most of them are small and easily put out. Most of these are not reported for this very reason, masking just how common they really are. Be ready for a grease fire by heating oil slowly, having a pot lid the size of the pan you are using to smother the fire, and some baking soda in case it starts underneath the burner. Fires start under stove burners most often because they have gotten grease on them or under them and have not been cleaned out as they should be. Put these out with baking soda, but you should also have a fire extinguisher at hand in case the fire gets out of control.

You also need to be careful when you are using deep fryers and electric skillets. Although these can have settings of up to or over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, you should not leave these appliances on at these temperatures for very long. Extension cords should also never be used with these items, unless they are heavy duty ones. Small, typical household extension cords will melt.

Fire Safety For First Time Home Buyers

2008-01-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

If you are thinking about purchasing your first home, one of the most important things that you can learn about is fire safety. If you do not have much experience cooking for yourself, you are more likely to start a fire in the kitchen than if you have a lot of experience working with the stove.

Most fires start in the kitchen. This is just a fact that has held true for a very long time, since the majority of concentrated heat in the home is produced by the stove and the oven. If you do not know what you are doing when you use this major appliance, a badly cooked meal will be the least of your worries.

The most common fire in the kitchen is a grease fire. Cooking with grease the right way can be somewhat tricky even for experienced cooks. Depending on the kind of oil you are using, it will catch on fire faster or slower. The point at which the oil begins to burn is called the smoke point. Some oils have high smoke points around 500 degrees or so, but others are much lower than this. Oils that reach their smoke point should be allowed to cool and then thrown away, because they are no longer suitable for cooking with after they reach this point. They will lend a bad flavor to the food.

You should heat any oil that you are cooking with slowly. This will reduce the chance that it will catch on fire by quite a bit.

If you do end up with a grease fire, there are a couple of ways that you can put it out without using a fire extinguisher. The first kind of grease fire typically comes from underneath a stove burner where it has not been cleaned out in quite some time. Food particles get under the burners quite frequently and catch on fire, but you can put this out using baking soda. A few handfuls of this should take care of the problem, since most of these fires are small and confined to the burner itself.

The second kind of grease fire is the one that comes from within the pan or skillet itself and you can put this out easily by using a pot or pan lid to smother it. This should work, but if it does not, do not hesitate to use your fire extinguisher on it. Every kitchen needs to have at least a 5 lb fire extinguisher and a smoke detector.

Cleaning Up A Smoke Damaged Home

2008-01-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

If your home has been damaged by fire and smoke, there are a lot of things that you need to do to get your home back to livable condition. These are usually things that you can do yourself, although if you do not have the time, you can hire someone else to do them for you. No matter which one you choose, these are the things that you are going to need done to get your home back to its former condition.

Getting the smell of smoke out of the house is not going to be too easy, so open the windows and doors throughout the house and use fans to get the air circulating.

The smoke damage is going to be easier to take care of in the house than the fire, especially on the walls. Unfortunately, cleaning the soot off the walls is probably not going to be an option, since trying to wipe it off will only smear it. This means that you will have to paint over it. If you have a popcorn ceiling, you will have to strip it in order to be able to paint over it. Most popcorn ceilings make a house look outdated, anyway, so removing this will probably be a good thing, anyway.

Try not to walk on any carpet that has been affected unless you plan on removing it, anyway. If you want to try and clean it, though, you will have to vacuum it with a vacuum that does not have brushes, since they will only work the soot down into the fibers. Steam cleaning the carpet may remove the smoky smell and it may not, so you may end up having to replace the carpet.

Appliances are also going to have to be checked out and cleaned thoroughly before they can be used again. Basically every surface in your house is going to have to be cleaned spotless.

Towels, curtains, bed linens, and all other fabric items in your home will need to be washed and dried. When you dry them, try to dry them outside, if possible, since using an electric dryer to do this can set the smell of smoke further into the fabric and make it harder to get out.

No matter what, you should hold your ground against your insurance company, because if they can convince you that they do not have to pay for something (even though your contract says that they do), they will not pay for it. Make sure you know exactly what your contract covers and you should make sure that you prepare for an event like this by having at least a few months’ worth of salary saved up, since most insurance companies expect you to pay for things and then, they will reimburse you.

Easy Ways To Maintain A Smoke Free Fireplace

2007-10-18T11:17:00.002-07:00

Quite a few homes have fireplaces, but not all of them are fit to be used as they are because they have not been cleaned in so long that when you do try to use them, it fills the house with smoke. This can do a lot of damage to the inside of the home, including ruin the paint on your walls, your curtains, and discolor your carpet. It is also a health risk, since breathing this in is not good for anyone, but the elderly, people with allergies, pets, and children are especially affected. Fortunately, though, in most situations you can make a fire that will not smoke up your house without much trouble as long as you follow a few rules.

The damper of your chimney needs to be open before you do anything. Burn some paper or other easily combustible materials in the fireplace, because you want to warm the chimney up. Cold air in the chimney is will push the warm air down and cause the smoke to fill up the room.

Open up the windows in the house and make sure that there is enough air circulating to ignite the fire. A home that is insulated well might not have enough of a draft to allow the wood to catch on fire.

You should also have some fireplace bricks underneath the grill to add some more air circulation to the process. More draft in the fireplace will make it easier for the fire to ignite.

The top of the fireplace also needs to be cleaned out regularly, since anything that gets stuck in it like leaves, sticks, bird nests can keep the smoke from being able to escape and so it floods back into the house, which is exactly where you do not want it.

You should also have the fireplace cleaned by a professional cleaning service if possible, since a layer of creosote is likely built up on the inside of the chimney. This is a tar-like substance that results from burning wood in the fireplace and if your chimney has not been professionally cleaned before and you have lived in your house for many years, then it is time for it to be. Creosote can catch on fire and cause the whole house to burn down, so having it cleaned out is essential.

To keep your fireplace functioning the way that it should, you need to know how to use it and take care of it and by the time winter gets to you, you will be able to enjoy your fireplace once again.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and
flood and water damage cleanup companies across the united states.

Repairing Tile Grout Helps Stop Water Damage

2007-10-18T11:17:00.001-07:00

When the grout between the tile in our bathrooms becomes cracked, loose, or missing, water is allowed to get underneath the tile and damage the wooden floor underneath it. This damage can eventually become structural and cause the need for replacement of the entire floor or at least a sizeable portion of it. This will not only cost you quite a bit of money, but will also cause the loss of at least a day or two in repairing it. Not many people want to have to tear up the tile on the floor in the bathroom or on the walls of the shower and then tear up the floor, too. Repairing grout is not a difficult job to do and it is something that you can do yourself to keep your floor waterproofed.

There are a few different kinds of grout that you can use to repair the cracked or missing grout in your bathroom. There is unsanded, sanded, epoxy, or acrylic grout and depending on the kind of tile that you will use the grout between, you will need to use one instead of the other. If you have marble tiles, you should not use sanded grout, since this will etch the marble irreparably. Use acrylic or unsanded grout on marble tiles.

Mix the grout according to the manufacturer’s instructions and before you go to replace the grout, the area should be cleaned with a mixture of water and vinegar. Use a grout saw to take out the damaged and loose grout, but be careful not to chip the tile. Dampen the joints with water and use a paper towel to soak up the water. The joints need to be filled up and the surface should be rounded out with a stick. Use a damp sponge to get rid of the excess.

Allow the grout to set firmly in the joints and the directions on the grout package should tell you how long this is going to take. A grout sealant should be applied over the grout after it dries, since this grout is going in an area that is going to be wet.

Clean the tile with a damp rag after the sealant dries and allow it to dry again. After the cloudy haze starts to appear on the tile, use a dry towel to polish this off.

You do not need to hire a professional to do these small home improvement jobs. Most of the time jobs of this size can be done by you and you will save a significant amount of money doing them on your own.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
damage restoration companies and
mold removal companies across the united states.

Repairing Wet Basement Concrete

2007-10-18T11:16:00.001-07:00

Water leaking into the basement through concrete walls is something of a nuisance if it does not cause structural damage and if it does, well, then it is a much bigger problem that needs to be dealt with. Whether you use your basement for storage or for an extra bedroom or an entertainment area, having a wet basement tends to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. Musty smells from mold growth will result, especially if there are things in the basement for the mold to feed on, such as paper or furniture. Not only is the smell quite repulsive, but the mold also creates a health risk for anyone living in the house. Mold often gets transferred from room to room by people and pets, so the infestation being mainly in the basement will not stop it from getting to other areas of your house.

So, what can you do to waterproof your basement walls? If there are already cracks in them, particularly in the middle of the wall, then sealing up the cracks is a fairly easy job to do. The only thing that you need to really do is determine what kind of material that you need to fill in the cracks with.

Caulking the crack shut does not work because it does not bond to the concrete and water will eventually cause it to come loose and just fall out. Cement does not work, either, since it is rigid and concrete is always moving, expanding, and shrinking.

Using a low-pressure injection of concrete is one of the best things that you can do to correct this problem. While it used to be expensive and need a heavy amount of equipment to accomplish, you can do it these days with a normal caulking gun.

Expandable polyurethane is one material that you can use to fill in cracks allowing water into the house. While it does not give the concrete any added strength, it does create a waterproof barrier. The polyurethane will bond to the crack whether water is seeping in through it at the time or not.

Go around the exterior of the house and find where water could be seeping inside. This could be around the foundation where water settles into pockets because the soil is not piled high enough around the house. You can fix this by getting soil from another area of your yard, if possible, or purchasing some and packing it in these pockets around the house.

If the problem is ground water, one of the only things that you can do about this is to install a drain system in the yard so the soil does not get oversaturated.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
Dallas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors.

Restoration of Water Damaged Papers

2007-10-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

One of the first things that should be on your mind after a flood or a hurricane is the important papers and other documents that are in your home inside dressers, desks, and on tables. Sometimes these are the only copies in existence and if you lose them, you might be facing a little bit of inconvenience or you could possibly be facing some legal trouble. Protecting these documents should be one of the first things that you think about when a storm is about to hit and after it is over, you also need to be concerned about how to restore them should they become damaged.

Purchasing a waterproof and fireproof safe is a very good idea if you have any important documents and since most people do, this should apply to you. Whether it is a marriage certificate, birth certificate, warranty on your newly constructed home or large appliance, or any other paper that could have legal significance, you should do your best to make sure that these documents are in a safe place. A waterproof and fireproof safe will help keep these documents protected during times of tragedy striking your house.

Documents should be taken out of standing water before 2 days is up, since mold will start to grow sometime closely afterward. Mold eats organically based items such as paper and wood, so making sure that these items do not become molded is very important. Dry a flat surface to lay these documents onto and open the windows and doors in the home to allow for ventilation. This will help dry the papers out faster.

Any standing water that still exists in your home should be removed, as well. The humidity needs to be lowered as much as you can and the temperature should be put at near 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Items that need to be taken to a freeze dry facility for restoration should be packed in freezer wrap. Pack these only as tightly as you need to in order to prevent them from sticking to each other in the box. Books should be packed with other like-sized items and papers should be packed in a separate box with other papers. Put your name, address, phone number, and content list on the box and transport it to the facility of your choosing.

Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.waterbasementct.info and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com

Sump Pumps in Wet Basements

2007-10-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Having a wet basement due to a flood, hurricane, or ground water seeping in is at the very least an inconvenience to most homeowners and at the most, it can lead to serious structural damage that can cost thousands to fix. No matter what you use your basement for, you probably have a lot of important things down there that you either use all the time or are simply in storage to be taken care of at a later date.

The best thing that you can do to prevent having a wet basement is to keep a properly functioning sump pump in it so that the water that builds up in the lowest portion of the basement is pumped out when it reaches a certain level. The pump directs the water to a drain that carries it outside and away from your home’s foundation. This makes sure that the rest of the basement does not become flooded with water.

Keeping an eye on your sump pump and making sure that it working correctly is essential if you want to keep a dry basement. After all, the pump cannot do all the work on its own. It can pump the water out of the basement during heavy rains and floods, but keeping it maintained is your job. Check the float inside the tank and make sure that it is working right by pouring a large amount of water into it. The float should rise to the top, cause the pump to turn on, the water will drain out, and the float will trigger the pump to turn off when it gets to the bottom of the tank. This is how the pump behaves when it is working properly.

Having a backup pump is also a good idea and a lot of times the backup tends to be a water pressure powered one and this will come from the water system in your house. If the electricity flips off during a storm, the backup pump that does not require electricity will take care of the water flooding into your basement.

You should also consider what kind of pump you need to install in your home. Cast iron pumps will last much longer than the plastic ones, but they do come at a higher cost.

Submersible sump pumps are something else you might want to think about. These are designed to work while under water, but these are quieter and tend to last longer than other types.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Florida water damage restoration companies and
Miami Water Damage Restoration. contractors