Some Tips on How to Stop Water Damage

Everyone who owns or rents a home should know what to do to prevent water damage. Even if you rent the property that you’re on, it’s in your best interest to take some responsibility for your living space and do what you can do stop water damage, especially if you plan on renting there for a long time.

If you have a washing machine in your home or apartment, it’s a good idea to make sure that the hose doesn’t have any cracks in it. If the hose ruptures and begins to spew water, it won’t be long before your entire laundry room floor is covered in water and starts leaking into the next room. Hoses that connect to your washer should be replaced as many times and as frequently as you need to, but under normal conditions, every three to five years is sufficient.

A leaky water heater is also a cause of water damage in the home and one of the best ways to determine if you have a leaky one is to look for rust or signs that it has leaked in the past. If a water heater is located on a 2nd or higher floor of the home or apartment building, it needs to be installed inside a pan that has a drain connected to a drain in the floor to make sure the water goes into the plumbing system.

Making sure that water is escaping from your roof the way it should be one of the first things on your mind if you want to prevent water damage to your attic and the rest of your house. If you’re just renting an apartment, then this part is mostly up to your landlord or the property manager. If you’re renting a home, then part of this is probably up to you. Cleaning out the gutters and the general maintenance of the property is up to you unless it’s something serious. Making sure the downspouts that are attached to the corners of the house are free of leaves and other debris will drain water away from the foundation of the house and keep it from sinking into the ground. Keeping water draining away from the house and making sure the cracks around your doors and windows are thoroughly caulked and sealed is another step that you can take to keep water from leaking into your home.

Preventing Mold From Invading Your Home’s Construction

One of the worst things that can happen to someone who’s building a brand new home is discovering after the construction is completed that mold has been growing within his new haven. It is indeed a problem and it might be more common than you would think.

Mold can and does get built into new homes and a lot of the time, it’s the fault of the contractor for not properly inspecting or storing his building materials and by allowing the site to get wet from rain before the roof and walls are completed. Sometimes what is supposed to be the interior of the home is left uncovered and when it rains, the building materials get soaked and are allowed to dry this way. In warm, humid weather, this can allow mold to get a grip on the structure and begin to grow. You’ll not only have the possibility of mold, but you’ll also put your home at risk of water damage. Covering the building site with tarps or plastic sheeting should keep the rain, snow, (and the mold) out.

You should make sure that the contractor and his/her workers are using good quality materials to build your new home with. Testing the building materials for mold is one thing that you can do to make certain that it stays out of your home’s foundation. If you go to the building site and you see building materials like wood and sheetrock being stored directly on the ground, tell your contractor that they need to be raised up to aid in the prevention of mold growth. Your contractor should already know this, but irresponsible ones or those that are trying to make the process as easy as possible are the ones that you should worry about. Check your contractor’s references and make sure they’ve done a good job for others in the past.

The home should also be periodically checked for mold as it’s being built and after the building is completed. No one wants to go to the trouble of building a home that will be worth quite a lot of money if it’s only going to have to be gutted to remove mold a few months later, right?

If you’re careful and you keep an eye on your home’s construction, you can prevent most kinds of mold and water damage. If you’re not, you’re asking for quite a headache and the loss of a lot of funds.

Mold Health Issues including black toxic mold

Everybody knows that mold is unsightly and can cause health problems, but exactly what kinds of health problems are we talking about here? We shouldn’t just be concerned with the respiratory or skin effects of mold, because these are not even close to being the only things that mold can cause in a person.

Mold can produce allergic reactions in people by producing allergens, irritants, and toxic substances called mycotoxins. No matter what kind of mold you’re dealing with, it’s a bad idea to touch it or inhale any of its spores. Some molds can cause cold or flu-like symptoms or in infants, even bleeding of the lungs. Incessant coughing, asthma, allergy symptoms, and vision can occur and even problems with a person’s central nervous system can arise. Abnormal amounts of fatique, headaches, problems with your sinuses, vomiting, and sometimes even cancer can be caused by mold infestations in the home or the workplace. Where mold is concerned, you’re basically playing roulette: you don’t know which number is going to come up or for who.

Air conditioners are one of the worst culprits of spreading mold infestations from one area of the building to the other. They thrust the mold spores up into the air and you inhale them, drawing them into your lungs, and this can be dangerous, especially if you’re one of the people who are particularly at risk for sickness. This includes infants, pets, the elderly, and anyone who has a weakened immune system. People with weakened immune systems are those who are pregnant, people who have just had surgery, or those with HIV, AIDs, or other immunodeficiency conditions.

Most people don’t realize that there are so many health complications that can be caused by mold and since this is true, they don’t understand how big of a problem mold can be in the home. They think that they will be alright if they put off removing the mold until they can afford it, but it’s not a good idea.

People with good constitutions and are generally healthy can survive in a home that has a mild amount of mold for a while without any adverse health effects, but staying there without any attempts to treat the home and remove the mold can be a costly mistake. If you discover mold where you live, you should do what you have to in order to get the mold removed or find another place to live.

Mold Beats Bleach. Bleach does not KILL Mold

What’s the one thing that most of us think cleans and disinfects everything you cover in it? Chlorine bleach. Some new evidence suggests that chlorine bleach isn’t the great cleaner that we all think it is and one of the most common misconceptions about it is that it kills mold. Bleach is good to clean a number of things and to preserve the whiteness of white clothing and other items, but as far as being a disinfectant, it doesn’t measure up.

Unless the mold is located on a non-porous surface such as a hard counter top or a kitchen sink, bleach won’t really do anything to get rid of the mold. You can’t get rid of mold with bleach on surfaces like sheetrock, wood, furniture, or any other surface that isn’t hard and solid. Mold often grows inside walls and even if you clean the mold off of the surface of the wall, you still can’t get inside the sheetrock to completely kill the infection. It infests the entire depth of the board and it’s easier to just remove the sheetrock, clean the mold out from the inside of the wall, and replace the sheetrock with new and paperless sheetrock. Mold eats paper and if you put paper inside your wall, you’re helping it build a home inside your new one.

What we do know about bleach is that it does not play well with other chemicals. Many times when we’re on a budget and we’re trying to make the best of what we have on hand, we mix different household chemicals in order to make more cleaning solution to work with or we’re trying to make ourselves feel like the cleaner has become stronger, because it’s been combined with another. Sometimes mixing household chemicals will do no harm, but it’s best not to mix anything with bleach, especially if it contains ammonia. Ammonia and bleach, when combined, will produce toxic fumes that can kill you if you’re not working in a ventilated area. There are better chemicals to use when fighting mold, so the best thing that you can do is stay away from bleach and never mix it with another ammonia-based cleaner. It’s not worth the risk.

The EPA does not define chlorine bleach as a disinfectant that kills mold. There is always a registration number on each and every product that will kill mold, but this label does not appear on any bottle of chlorine bleach currently in circulation.

Starting Smoke Damage Clean Up

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.

A Few Sources Of Smoke Damage

Smoke damage to your home can come from a few different sources, but the main one is just an outright house fire. Having a good knowledge of fire safety and what should be considered fire hazards around your house is the best way to avoid this, so while we are going to give you a few fire safety tips, we will also tell you a couple of other sources of smoke damage to your home.

The most important place of the house to practice fire safety is the kitchen. Most fires start here and are usually due to clumsiness or simple carelessness that is almost completely avoidable. The first thing that you need to know is that you should never leave things in your kitchen unattended on the stove. Always try to leave someone to watch the cooking for you if you have to leave and if you do not have anyone that can stay, turn it off.

Grease fires are common occurrences in the kitchen, as well, and there are a few things to know about this. Heat any oil or grease that you are using slowly, since heating it too quickly can allow it to reach its smoke point before you can stop it, making it unsuitable for cooking. It gives the food a bad taste, so throwing it out is best. If it manages to catch on fire, you can use a pot lid to smother it with and this should work fairly well at putting it out. Grease fires also start under the burners sometimes if they have not been cleaned out as they should have been. You can use baking soda to put these small fires out with, but if it even remotely starts to get out of control, use your fire extinguisher. Every kitchen and household needs to have one.

Another source of smoke damage to your home is candles. If you burn a lot of candles or incense, the smoke has to cool and settle to the floor eventually and will become rubbed into the carpet as you walk across it. You can tell if you have this kind of damage if you move a piece of furniture that has been in the same spot for a while and the carpet is lighter.

Cigarettes and cigars are another source of this damage and the same principle that applies to the candles applies here. The best thing to do to prevent this is to just stop smoking, since it will affect your health.

Great Tips For Water Safety

Summertime is the perfect time of year to go swimming, but no matter whether you swim in the ocean, creek, river, or in a city or backyard pool, you should never neglect to consider water safety. A large number of children and inexperienced swimmers die every year because they do not follow a few guidelines that could keep them safe from it.

The most important thing for you to do is learn how to swim. This can be one of the most useful skills you can ever learn and once you learn, you are not likely to ever regret it.

An area supervised by a lifeguard is the best place for you to swim, since the lifeguard is trained in CPR and first aid.

If you have children, they should always wear a floatation device and be supervised by you. There are likely a lot of other people and children where you are and you cannot rely on the lifeguard to be able to pay attention to everyone at the same time.

When you go to a swimming area of a beach or to a city pool, you need to read all the signs and make sure you understand what they mean. This is especially true of beaches, since certain areas of the world may be subject to different kinds of seasonal wildlife that can pose a great amount of danger. A good example is the box jellyfish that swims off the coast of Australia and can kill you. They inhabit the waters off the coast of northern Australia between November to April or May, so swimming in this area during this time is not recommended at all. You should be careful at other beaches around the world, though, even if there are no signs posted concerning dangerous wildlife.

Safety rules should be set for your entire family based on the level of swimming experience that each person has. Children and other inexperienced swimmers should not enter water that is higher than chest level.

If you have alcohol to drink, you should not go swimming, diving, boating, or driving. Alcohol impairs a lot of basic human necessities like coordination, judgment, and balance and your body will not stay as warm.

The only time you should dive into a pool of water is when the area is posted as being safe to dive into.

The local weather report can also be important to you and you should get out of the water at the first sign of a storm.