Hurricane Season - 5 Steps to being prepared

Today is the start of Hurricane Season that has been predicted to be busier than usual. Based on the ocean temperatures and the changing weather conditions, they might just be right this year. With that in mind, below is our 5 steps to being prepared. If you happen to own pets, we added an additional bonus step just for them. While this list is geared for those faced with hurricane evacuations, this is a good list for anyone that may be in areas that maybe affected by ea

September and Early Fall Maintenance Checklist

Summer is slowly winding down; the dog days of August are quickly going to fade into a distant memory as the leaves start changing. The kids are back in school, which gives you some time to make sure that your home is ready for the winter. Why worry about it, fall doesn't officially start until the 22nd right? Well starting next month, you are probably going to end up wanting to use your heater for the first time this season when the Average Minimum Temperature at night

There’s no such thing as a free lunch – Roofing

Knock, knock – Hello? Hi, I’m Mike & we were just looking at your neighbors’ roof and thought we spotted some damage to yours, would you mind if we performed a free roof inspection? It will only take a few minutes, you see we do lots of insurance repair jobs and most of the time we can get you a completely new roof and it won’t even cost you a cent. Really, why that sounds great. (Man, this must be my lucky day)… What’s even better is we have contrac

Renovations & Insurance - What is covered & what isn't

The idea that an article like this was needed was made abundantly clear to me on a recent project I completed. This project required us to completely remove and reframe an existing roof, while leaving the existing walls & floors untouched. During the consultation phase of this project, we covered all the normal items like material choices, options, budget, contractors insurance, the necessity of them reviewing their insurance policy, etc... They were quite shocked on

25 Conservation Tips & Tricks

In our last article, “Energy Efficiency vs. Conservation – what is the real issue?” we covered plenty of the issues that involve your actual house while it is being worked on. While we have also had several articles on making your house more energy efficient, money saving tips & tricks, air sealing, green cleaning, and many others, we have not had an article on just conservation. In order to rectify that, and seeing everyone likes top ten articles, etc... we wo

Energy Efficiency vs. Conservation – what is the real issue?

I have to admit, I was originally confused by some of the attitudes or opinions given about those in the Energy Efficiency fields. I grant you that there are quite a few individuals in the green community that are five cans shy of a six pack, but the following quotes come from some of the “respected” experts. One of my favorite quotes is, “What an awesome presentation! I called Energy Efficiency fanatics "the Sith Lords of Green building"!” Another one is, “T

Designing your Dream Kitchen – One common mistake you can easily avoid

Wow, what in the world is that? Well, before we get to that, I would like to first thank Bill Conley from Northwest Kitchen & Bath in Tacoma Washington for allowing us to repost these pictures. These are pictures he took at a homeowner’s house that wanted a new kitchen. She had apparently spent a lot of time reading articles on kitchen design and she followed one of the best pieces of advice we can give anyone – create a mock up. I have to admit, I am impressed b

Tag Archives: Fire Safety

Independence Day Safety – Fireworks

By Sean | Published: July 3, 2010

July 4th, 1776 — We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Also tagged Holiday, Independence Day, Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | 4 Comments

Smoke Detectors – A primer on Placement & Location

By Sean | Published: January 27, 2010

In the prior articles, we covered the proper maintenance of smoke detectors and many of the options available. In this article we will be discussing where smoke detectors should be located, and even how to prevent false alarms. The Starting Point – Current Codes In order to answer the question of how many are
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Tagged Fire Safety | 13 Comments

Smoke Detectors – A primer on the Options Available

By Sean | Published: January 25, 2010

In the prior article, we covered the proper maintenance of smoke detectors. One item that we mentioned was that they should be replaced after 5 years. In this article, we will be discussing the different types of alarms and options that are available, including those for the deaf or hearing impaired. There are two common
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Tagged Fire Safety | 14 Comments

Smoke Detectors – A primer on Maintenance

By Sean | Published: January 23, 2010

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire”; while this statement is not fully factually correct we can tell you that most “fire related” deaths actually occur from smoke inhalation. I can honestly say I have yet to see a house that did not have a smoke detector in it, but I sure have seen the results when
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Tagged Fire Safety | 6 Comments

Warning; this book may shock you or possibly start a fire

By Sean | Published: January 11, 2010

This book may cause a fire or severe shock

To be fully honest, I laughed when I first saw this, but now I am getting more and more upset as I keep looking into this and the more I think about it. Before we go into what has gotten my blood boiling, let me start from the beginning. I have been kicking around the
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Also tagged Consumer Awareness | 3 Comments

Thanksgiving Day – A quick moment for safety & to say thanks

By Sean | Published: November 20, 2009

Less than a week to go & most of us will be sitting down and enjoying a nice meal with family and friends. On this day of thanks, let us all hope that at the end of the day were not thanking our lucky stars that it was not as bad as it could have
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Also tagged Holiday Planning | 6 Comments

Everything we owned…

By Sean | Published: October 22, 2009

“Everything we own…” was lost during a simple trip to a grocery store for a Vinemont family this last Tuesday. The culprit? The fire appears to have been started by an electric heater located in their living room. Unfortunately, we will be hearing or seeing more of these types of stories as winter starts to show itself. According
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Posted in Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | Also tagged Safety; Your House - Working & Living Safely | 4 Comments