The Importance of a Home Inventory

If you don’t yet have a home inventory, you should consider putting one together as soon as possible. There are many risks to your home possessions, including robbery, fire and floods. You could lose everything suddenly. Once that happens, you want to have the process of replacing it as easy as possible. A home inventory can serve two main purposes. The first is to help you realize what you own and what it is all worth. Once you have your home inventory, you will be able to determine if you have enough insurance to cover your losses. Many people underestimate … Continue reading →

How to Deal with Frozen Pipes

Frozen pipes can be a nightmare with flooding and major damage to your home. There are plenty of preventive measures to take in order to prevent frozen pipes, but what if your pipes do freeze, in spite of your care, or during a time when you are away from your home? What can you do? Here are some steps that you can take to keep things from becoming worse. Pipes can freeze even if you are currently living in the home. Poor construction can leave pipes exposed to the elements. I learned this one time while renting a home in … Continue reading →

Radon Risk

I’ve been on a home safety kick recently. I think it is because I keep hearing about all of these issues with people I know and dangers in the home. Just this week, a boy in my son’s class witnessed his house burning down while he was waiting for the school bus because of a chimney fire. A neighbor suffered extensive wind damage to her home. And now, one of our dear friends just announced that he has been breathing in radon for probably the last few years. So if you will bear with me on another post about home … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Home from the Weather

The weather can wreck havoc on your home no matter where you live. Here are some of the common weather occurrences and what you can do to protect your home from extreme weather, both in the short term and the long term. Hail Yesterday was a crazy weather day for us. There was rain, snow and finally hail. Of the three, I was most worried about hail. It can really cause damage to your home requiring major repairs even damaging your belongings. One way to reduce your risk of damage from hail is to install impact-resistant roofing. There is a … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Appliances and Electronics from Electrical Surges

Electrical surges can damage so many appliances and electronic devices in your home. You could lose your television, your DVD player, your camera, your microwave, your telephone, garage door opener, well pump and even your refrigerator. Basically, anything that is plugged in and contains some sort of electronic component or computer chip is vulnerable to an electrical surge. What is an electrical surge? This is when the voltage in your home’s electrical system increases and then returns to normal quickly. An electrical surge can be caused by lightening or buy a malfunction in the electrical system. How can you prevent … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Home from Theft

This past summer, there were a number of thefts to homes in our area. Fortunately, the thieves were caught when someone in one of the neighborhoods noticed a person that she did not recognize. Her quick alert to the police put the thieves out of business. After talking to the thieves, the police learned some interesting information. In each of the thefts, the homes were not broken into. The thieves simply walked into the home, either through the front door, the back door or a garage. Furthermore, the police said that the thieves had specifically targeted our area because it … Continue reading →

Fire Prevention Tips

Fires in the home can be devastating! Learn some quick tips on how to prevent fires in your home. How many of these tips are you practicing right now in your home? Never use flammable liquids inside your home. This would include kerosene, gasoline, etc. Keep these liquids outside of your home or garage. They should be stored in approved containers far away from any potential source of ignition, from your furnace to your water heater to your car. Clean the clutter from your home. In the event of a fire, clutter can fuel the fire making flames spread quickly … Continue reading →

Candle Safety

Candles are wonderful to have in the home. They bring light, heat, ambiance and even scent into your house and make things soft and romantic. But candles have a harsher side. They cause many house fires. Here are some safety tips to practice when using candles. Candles should only be burned when they can be carefully watched under adult supervision. Never leave a room that has a lit candle. You might think the candle is in a safe place, but children, pets or even the breeze can upset the flame. Remember to extinguish any candles before you go out or … Continue reading →

Preventing Water Damage in Your Home

Imagine arriving home after a busy day and finding that your carpet is sopping wet or your hardwood floors are ruined under inches or even feet of water. Water damage can be expensive to fix, but yet it can usually be avoided with some preventative maintenance. Here are some steps that you can take to help minimize the risk that you will be faced with water damage in your home. Know the trouble spots If you are aware of the spots in your home where water damage is most likely to emanate from, you can do a lot to prevent … Continue reading →

Safety Tips for Portable Heaters

When the temperature goes down, more and more people are turning to portable heaters to warm up. Portable heaters can be a great way to cut your heating costs. Because they heat only a small space, you can turn down that furnace and yet still feel comfortable. Portable heaters are especially good when you will be staying in one place for a length of time, such as in an office, a home office, a living room, etc. Portable heaters do come with some safety precautions. As a source of heat and electricity, portable heaters can be hazards. Here are some … Continue reading →