5 Safety Tips for Home Owners
- April 13, 2012
- By Cody Battershill
5 Safety Tips for Home Owners
Anyone with common sense knows that falling asleep with candles lit or forgetting to turn your stove off is unsafe, for you and your home. What most home owners don’t plan for is how to react in emergency situations if an emergency does occur.
Home safety is especially important if there are seniors and / or young children living amongst you and if the residence was constructed decades ago. As time passes the safety requirements for building new homes has increased, decreasing the amount of electrocutions, fires, slip trip hazards and fatalities which is great, but there are still things a home owner should do to help prevent any tragedies.
1. Know Where to Turn the Gas Off
For houses there is a shut off valve for the gas line entering your house below the gas meter that needs a wrench to operate. For the mechanically declined people, turning a valve right will close it, while turning it left will open the valve. For condo owners contact the building management for directions in case of a gas leak from your gas-stove, fireplace or any other gas appliance. Usually there is an external valve to turn off the gas for such things, so familiarize yourself with where these valves are and how they work.
2. Know Where to Turn the Water Off
Leaking water in a house can ruin structural integrity and cause dangerous living conditions such as the growth of mold. Water lines are easily broken during renovations, so know where the shut-off valves are in the occurrence of uncontrolled water flow. Also, water lines in older structures are more susceptible to freezing because of the tendency of some insulation to lose its efficiency over time. A crack in a pipe could spell disaster for your home.
3. Know How to Cut the Water Supply to the Water Heater
When a hot water leak arises, you will have to shut off the valve on the water heater. By turning off its water supply, no more hot water will flow from the heater. If a hot water leak occurs in an area, try turning on the water at a sink or shower near the location of the leak
4. Regularly Check Smoke Detectors for Proper Function
Checking your detectors every month for proper functioning is a good idea. An alarm might save your life and assets one day. It is recommended that any smoke detectors that are older than 10 years be replaced. Today’s standards for smoke alarms are higher than ever, resulting in less injuries, fatalities and property loss.
5. Know Where the Circuit Board is and How to Operate it
A must for any home owner is to know where the electrical board is and how to operate it properly. Many regular tasks such as cleaning and maintenance can sometimes require that the electrical supply to the area of a home is turned off. Electrical boards are typically located in a basement, bedroom, closet, utility room or sometimes outside of the residence all together. In condos, there is usually an individual breaker board inside the unit that has the condos different areas located. Electrical problems in a home can be extremely dangerous. If you have any doubts at all about an electrical issue, call a professional electrician. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Safe Practices for Home Owners
No one plans on an emergency situation like an electrical short-circuit that causes a fire, but it can happen. By doing these few suggestions to enhance your safety at home, you will be prepared for the worst. Hopefully, you and I will never have to experience such. Thanks for stopping in at Best Calgary Homes. Check out these other articles concerning owning a home!
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