Tag Archives: homeowner

Fire Safety Tips & Advice

  1. Install smoke alarms in each bedroom, outside of sleeping areas and rooms and on each level of your home.
  2. Practice an escape plan from every room in the house. Caution everyone to stay low to the floor when escaping from fire and never to open doors that are hot. Select a location where everyone can meet after escaping the house. Get out then call for help.
  3. When home fire sprinklers are used with working smoke alarms, your chances of surviving a fire are greatly increased. Sprinklers are affordable – they can increase property value and lower insurance rates.
  4. Test your smoke alarm each month and change the batteries at least once a year.
  5. Portable heaters need their space. Keep anything combustible at least three feet away.
  6. Install noncombustible 1/4 inch or smaller mesh screening on attic/soffit vents and around elevated wood decks to keep out embers. Install approved or listed spark arrestors on chimneys of solid fuel or liquid fuel burning appliances.
  7. Consider installing protective shutters or heavy fire-resistant drapes.
  8. Have a garden hose that is long enough to reach any area of the home and other structures on the property.
  9. Maintain a “defensible” space around your home by clearing all flammable vegetation a minimum of 30 feet around all structures. Clear dead leaves and branches to leave widely spaced ornamental shrubbery and trees.
  10. Plant fire prone trees and shrubs away from your home and far enough apart so they won’t ignite one another.

DIY: Must-Have Tools for Every Skill Level

ThisOldHouse.com puts together tool kits for the beginner, semi-skilled, and experienced DIYer saying, “A tool chest usually starts with a small investment on the part of a new and inexperienced homeowner and grows over time as new projects need to be completed and skill level improves. TOH put together tool kits for the beginner, semi-skilled, and experienced DIYer. Just remember that no experienced DIYer’s kit is complete unless it contains the tools from the beginner and semi-skilled collections.

Missed out on the refi boom? You may be in luck!

Housing market. Price dropMainStreet.com says, “The housing crash put a lot of homeownership dreams on hold. Lending went from paperless applications and mindless approvals to stringent restrictions, pristine credit requirements and creeping rates. Not only was buying a home growing out of reach for first-timers, but refinancing an existing mortgage was practically out of the question. A lot of people felt like they had missed an opportunity for owning a home of their own. Now, they may be getting a second chance. Housing prices have risen, but moderated. Lenders are once again open for business – and rates have slipped back to those “near historic lows” that tempted us so much in the first place. And revised mortgage fees recently implemented by the Federal Housing Authority could mean even more incentives – for prospective buyers and refinancers alike.” See the full article.

How to prepare your home for Winter

Snow for the HolidaysAssociated Content says, “The proper preparation of your home for the cold winter months [that] lie ahead can ensure that your heating bills will be lowered, your home will be protected from storm damage and potential worries will be dispatched. Preparing your home for the winter months should only take a day or two at most of your time, and the associated costs should be minimal if issues are addressed personally. While some preparatory [measures] do have a cost attached that cannot be avoided, it is foolish to overstep the boundaries of skill and common sense in the futile attempt to save a few bucks. If certain tasks require a licensed professional or are dangerous in any manner, pay a qualified individual to perform them and go have a cup of coffee while experiencing that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you made the right call.” See the full article here.