Month: November 2016

Holiday Fire Safety

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Holiday Fire SafetySmoke damage is, in most cases, permanent.  While there are things you can do to fix your home after a fire or to replace damage from smoke and heat, the best way to deal with smoke and fire damage is to prevent it in the first place.  During the winter, most home fires come from damaged gas pipes, dry trees, and unwatched fireplaces but the most common cause of home fires is the portable space heater.

Home Fire Safety

If you’re going to buy a real tree for Christmas, don’t start early.  Buy the tree close to Christmas and don’t keep it for longer than two weeks.  Make sure that you keep it watered to keep the tree green and wet.  Dry Christmas Trees are a fire hazard, and draping incandescent string lights on them can lead to heating issues and a possible fire.  Always keep your tree far from any flame or heat source.  Use LED Christmas lights if you can.

Never leave a fireplace fire unmonitored either.  Cheery, warm, and perfect for marshmallows or simply a family gathering, the fireplace is enchanting.  But an unchecked fire can burn too hot or leave embers that pop out.  Keep a fire extinguisher nearby just in case and make sure that anything flammable is more than three feet away from the fireplace.

You should do a similar thing for your central heating system.  The basement or the area around your furnace may have been a great place to store stuff during the summer, but now that colder weather has arrived you want to clear that area out.  Boxes of old tax returns or anything flammable should be at least three feet away from your furnace.  That furnace is going to get hot, and nearby boxes are prime target for starting a blaze.  Check any floor vents you may have in your home as well.  Keep flammable items away and keep furniture from blocking vents.

If your home is heated with a gas furnace, have the system inspected for leaks or damage.  An annual maintenance for your heating system is a good way to detect flaws that could lead to fires and smoke.

Finally, always monitor any portable space heaters in your home.  They may be cheaper than your central heating system, but they are still dangerous if unwatched.  Newer space heaters are safer, but a pet or child can easily knock them over.  Always keep the front of your space heater clear for at least three feet.  Flammable materials such as clothing, curtains, or bedding should always be cleared away when using a space heater.

Update Smoke Alarms

The last preventative measure is an early warning system.  Your best chance to save your home and protect your family is with an early warning from a smoke or fire alarm.  Place at least one smoke alarm on the ceiling.  For added safety, make sure you place them:

  • On every floor of your house
  • In major hallways
  • In rooms with a heat source (furnace room, fireplace, etc)
  • In every bedroom

Consider using interconnected fire alarms, that way when one triggers, every alarm will sound.

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Mold, Food, and Health

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Mold, Food, and HealthMost people know not to eat food that’s been sitting out all day in a hot environment, but how does that apply to large feasts where food has already been out for an hour of preparation, through the meal, and throughout the day as we go back for seconds and thirds?  We all want to sit back, relax, talk with friends and family or just enjoy what’s on TV after the meal but it’s important to remember that food, wherever we leave it, becomes a breeding ground for mold and bacteria almost immediately.  So this Thanksgiving, take a few preventative steps to make sure that that you’re not one of the many Americans who suffer from food poisoning this year.

Food Safety

Clean off your counters.  While there’s no reason to pour pure bleach across the counter-tops (a teaspoon of unscented bleach with a quart of water is all you need), make sure that countertops, utensils, and any surface that will house food for even a short while are cleaned and ready in advance.  Be sure to repeat the cleaning process afterward.  Most countertops are mold resistant but leaving food or liquids spilled onto countertops or in the sink will lead to mold and bacterial growth that will release extra spores into the air (not to mention the smell).

Wash all fruits and vegetables.  Peel or no, you should wash everything before use.  Fruits and veggies can pick up bacteria on the rind or peel which transfers to the knives and surfaces you use.  Basically, the inside is safe until you cut into it if you haven’t washed the surface first.

Finally, when it comes to food, don’t leave it sitting out.  A few minutes to let food cool before eating is fine but you should seal and store everything as soon as the meal is ended.  Most food poisoning comes from food that has sat out too long and was then deemed ‘safe’ simply because it didn’t look or smell funny.  Most of the bacteria and contaminants that cause severe food poisoning leave no discernible symptoms early on.  If the meat has been sitting out for 2 hours or more, don’t risk it.  Even re-cooking the food isn’t safe enough because that only kills the bacteria, not the toxins left behind by living or dead bacteria.

Take a minute to read through this list of common food safety myths, compiled by foodsafety.gov before you start.

Cleaning Up

Cleaning up after an event is just as important as taking care beforehand, especially if you have small kids.  We’re quick to clean up floor spills and wipe down tables and countertops, but for many of us, lazing about after a full Thanksgiving Day feast is a must.  We recommend a little bit of work first, or at least before you go to bed tonight.

Any carpet spills should be treated right away. Liquids are especially dangerous as they can soak into the matting beneath a carpet even if they don’t stain the carpet itself.

Clothing should be cleaned or rinsed if food was spilled on it. As we mentioned in our laundry blog, take the time to rinse food or spilled drinks from clothing if you aren’t planning on washing them the same day.

Clean up dishes after the meal. Leaving food and liquids sitting in dishes is a fast way to fill your home with bugs and mold in a short order.  We know you want to relax with family but maybe you should clean up as a family first.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Avoid Inviting Mold to your Laundry

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Avoid Inviting Mold to your LaundryWe don’t like mold and mildew, that’s why we push for you to waterproof your home, inspect for mold, and repair aging or damaged appliances and piping.  But even with all the proper safety measures in place, mold can still find its way into your home (yes, it is that determined).  One place we haven’t written about yet, but is a commonly forgotten mold trap, is your laundry pile.  So what is it that turns laundry from “need to do” to “need to replace?”

Sweat, Food, and Water

While we recommend doing laundry regularly and not letting it sit around, storing any clothing that is wet, has food (or sticky, sugary drinks spilled on them), or is sweat soaked from a workout in a hamper for too long is a sure road to pulling out moldy clothes when you do get around to doing laundry.

For wet laundry, regardless of how the clothing was soaked or dripped on, rinse it with hot water, wring it out, and hang it up to dry before throwing it in the hamper.  Heavier items such as rugs, comforters, or blankets should be washed and dried immediately.

If you’ve been working out, clothing that’s damp due to sweat shouldn’t be tossed into the hamper and left.  Wash out sweaty fabrics within a week or face the wrath of a moldy hamper.

Food is probably the worst source.  From cleaning up spills to simply having dribbled mustard on your shirt, food is a breeding ground for mold.  If you own a washer and dryer, go ahead and do the laundry, otherwise, rinse out the clothing and let it dry before adding it to the laundry hamper.

You may be wondering why we recommend rinsing and drying clothes that will just end up in the wash anyway.  It’s a matter of timelines.  You may be planning to head to the laundromat this weekend or to do the laundry tomorrow, but what if something comes up?  There’s always a chance that your cleanup gets pushed to later in the week or to next week entirely and that extra time is all that a few mold spores need to get started eating away at your clothes.

Washing Laundry

Follow standard practices for washing clothes.  Separate whites and colors, use detergent that matches the load, and use the right temperature setting to protect your clothes from damage while still killing off bacteria and mold spores.  But part of preventing mold is making sure that you continue to prevent it even after finishing up the wash.  Don’t end the dry cycle too quickly, wait until it finishes.  Don’t remove them before they’re dry.  If you do, don’t fold damp items up and put them away.  If you’re in a time-crunch that demands you stop the dryer, take those clothes out and hang them up to dry!

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Ice Dams and Water Damage

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Ice Dams and Water DamageSure it’s warm outside right now, but while it’s warm and you can handle having people working in your home is the time to make sure your attic is insulated properly.  One good ice-storm or rainfall on a frozen roof is all it takes to start up an ice dam.  You may be thinking that a little ice on your roof it nothing, especially since you got your roof repaired after this year’s hail storms, but the sad truth is that an ice dam can undo all of your work and leave you with water damage throughout your home.

What is an Ice Dam?

Typically present in colder climates, ice dams form when ice or snow melts on a roof and freezes over the awning.  As water continues to melt on the roof, it flows down toward the buildup of ice, refreezing into a large dam that traps water between the new ice wall and your warm roof.  This buildup of water will seek a new way down, often working its way past your shingles and into your attic.

Once that water has infiltrated into your attic, it will seep into insulation and drip between your walls.  The slow trickle from an otherwise non-obvious leak can be as devastating to your walls, ceiling, and attic as any harsh rainstorm.  When the cold season does finally hit, keep an eye on your roof.  If you see large melted spots on your roof with frozen edges along the awnings of your roof, those are ice dams and should be carefully removed.

How do you Prevent an Ice Dam?

Of course, preventing the formation of an ice dam is the best way to protect your home from costly water damage.  The main source of ice dams comes from improper attic insulation.  You don’t want to waste energy keeping your attic warm during the winter anyway, but a hot attic will melt any snow or ice off your roof before it’s ready.

To prevent a hot attic, check to make sure that the floor of your attic is well insulated.  Look at the insulation fill or batts (the fluffy fiberglass or large rolled mats) between the rafters on the floor of your attic.  If they’re compacted and you can see more than a couple of inches of rafter exposed, you need additional insulation.  Alternatively, if you’d prefer a climate-controlled attic, make sure that the ceiling is sprayed with insulation as well.  This will create a buffer zone between the cold outdoors during the winter, and the heat during the summer.

Responding to Water Damage

In many cases, soaked insulation needs to be replaced.  Very rarely can it simply be dried out.  Don’t wait either.  The warm temperature in your home mixed with soaked insulation is a recipe for mold to spread quickly throughout your walls.  So take the time to before it becomes a problem to inspect your roof, walls, and insulation.  Remember, prevention is key!

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