While a house fire may be one of the most preventable disasters to happen to a home, a wildfire can be one of the least preventable on a small scale. Prevention of wildfires requires that a large number of people do what they can to make sure that the wildfires that do start are not manmade, but this awareness is only just now starting to catch on. When the fire is creeping toward your home, you are not likely to care what caused it, only what you can do to slow it down and in fact, there are a few different things that you can do to minimize the damage.
You may enjoy living in a more rural area, but you are at a disadvantage when it comes to wildfires because this is where they begin. One of the bad things about living in a rural area is that fire departments are not as prevalent, so the response to your home may not be as quick as you need it to be.
If you are contemplating having a home built for you, have it made of fire-resistant materials. Houses with an exterior made of brick, stone, or even metal will resist catching on fire much more than those that have exteriors made of wood or vinyl siding.
The most important exterior surface of your home is the roof. This is the largest surface area on the exterior of your home and it should be made of fire-resistant materials instead of the traditional wooden or oil-based shingles. Everyone knows that oil catches on fire very easily, so if you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, you may want to have another roofing material put on your home. Something else to do with your roof if a wildfire is nearby is to wet it down with the garden hose. This will give a little extra protection against the firebrands that are being carried in the air by the wind. Wetting the exterior walls of the house and wood decks is also a very good idea.
Do not allow any dead vegetation to build up in the yard. This includes grass cuttings, sticks, dead plants, and leaves. If a wildfire starts before you have a chance to get these dead organic materials cleaned up, all you can do is soak them and the rest of the yard with water via the hose and hope for the best.
Trees should also not be located close to the house, especially if the branches hang over the roof.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
north carolina flood water damage restoration and other states such as
New Jersey mold remediation companies across the united states.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
How to Contend With Water Damaged Papers
When our homes are water damaged due to floods and hurricanes, one of the things that we do not tend to think about until after we come upon them while attempting to restore the house is our documents. Any important documents that we might have in our homes at the time of the storm can be damaged almost irreparably, but there are ways to salvage these documents and store them later for better protection against not only floods, but fires, as well. Knowing how to deal with these documents after they have already become damaged is essential if you want to save them, especially if they are the only copies in existence.
There is no real reason to panic unless you have been away from the water damaged building for more than a couple of days. Most of the time it takes at least 48 hours for mold to start to grow on cellulose-based items like paper and cardboard, so getting to these soaked documents as soon as possible before those 48 hours are up is important. The environment in the building should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit if you can manage it and the humidity needs to remain as low as possible. Mold loves humidity.
If you have any standing water still in the home, it needs to be removed as soon as possible. Documents lying in standing water need to be taken out of it and put on a flat surface quickly. Remove them carefully, since they can fall apart, depending on the weight of the paper and how long it has set in the water.
Figure out what documents are the most important to you. These should include marriage and birth certificates, death certificates, divorce papers, bank papers, warranties on large appliances, and any other legal documents you may have in your home. If you are a writer, a printed manuscript of a book you are working on is one thing that could be considered invaluable, especially if you do not have it stored on electronic media or if the media you did have it stored on was damaged during the storm. Take other printed materials like this into consideration depending on your own unique circumstances. If these items are not completely soaked in water, then you can possibly just dry them out using a fan or simply laying them out to dry. If they have been under the water for a long period of time, then freezing them and drying them at a local facility is best.
Using freezer wrap to separate watery books and documents from each other when you are packing them to take to the freeze drying company is best. Do not pack things tightly and label every box with your contact information.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and other states such as
north carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
There is no real reason to panic unless you have been away from the water damaged building for more than a couple of days. Most of the time it takes at least 48 hours for mold to start to grow on cellulose-based items like paper and cardboard, so getting to these soaked documents as soon as possible before those 48 hours are up is important. The environment in the building should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit if you can manage it and the humidity needs to remain as low as possible. Mold loves humidity.
If you have any standing water still in the home, it needs to be removed as soon as possible. Documents lying in standing water need to be taken out of it and put on a flat surface quickly. Remove them carefully, since they can fall apart, depending on the weight of the paper and how long it has set in the water.
Figure out what documents are the most important to you. These should include marriage and birth certificates, death certificates, divorce papers, bank papers, warranties on large appliances, and any other legal documents you may have in your home. If you are a writer, a printed manuscript of a book you are working on is one thing that could be considered invaluable, especially if you do not have it stored on electronic media or if the media you did have it stored on was damaged during the storm. Take other printed materials like this into consideration depending on your own unique circumstances. If these items are not completely soaked in water, then you can possibly just dry them out using a fan or simply laying them out to dry. If they have been under the water for a long period of time, then freezing them and drying them at a local facility is best.
Using freezer wrap to separate watery books and documents from each other when you are packing them to take to the freeze drying company is best. Do not pack things tightly and label every box with your contact information.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and other states such as
north carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Hurricane Preparations and Water Safety
There are quite a few things that you need to do if you are preparing for a hurricane to hit your area and you do not want to leave your home, but perhaps the most important thing is making sure that you have a sizeable supply of bottled water in your home. This should be proportional to the number of people living in your home at the time of the storm.
The safety of the water that you will be drinking while the storm is raging outside and even after the storm is gone is important to your survival. You should keep around at least one gallon of water per person per day. Never assume that the water that comes out of your faucet is clean, because water from the sea and possibly from sewers can contaminate water treatment plants in your area. This contaminated water will make you extremely sick and could even possibly lead to death. During a hurricane or a flood, never drink anything but bottled water. Water purification tablets should also be kept on hand and chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify water in most situations. 8 drops per gallon of contaminated water should be enough. Let the treated water set for at least 30 minutes before drinking it.
While water damage to your home may be an important issue after the flood waters have receded, water damage to your body due to contaminated water is even more important. Even if you are not drinking the contaminated water, it can still cause damage to your system, especially if you have open cuts or wounds that have been exposed to it. Wash these with soap and bottled (or chlorine bleach treated) water to keep them from becoming infected.
Children should not be allowed to play in flood waters, no matter how hot it might get inside the home you are staying in. If there are toys that have come into contact with contaminated water, these need to be disinfected before allowing a child to play with them, as well. The hands of children should also be washed very thoroughly often and especially before meals.
Boarding up your windows and doors with plywood is a good idea to keep your windows from being blown out and the glass sent flying into your home and possibly into you.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and other states such as
north carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
The safety of the water that you will be drinking while the storm is raging outside and even after the storm is gone is important to your survival. You should keep around at least one gallon of water per person per day. Never assume that the water that comes out of your faucet is clean, because water from the sea and possibly from sewers can contaminate water treatment plants in your area. This contaminated water will make you extremely sick and could even possibly lead to death. During a hurricane or a flood, never drink anything but bottled water. Water purification tablets should also be kept on hand and chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify water in most situations. 8 drops per gallon of contaminated water should be enough. Let the treated water set for at least 30 minutes before drinking it.
While water damage to your home may be an important issue after the flood waters have receded, water damage to your body due to contaminated water is even more important. Even if you are not drinking the contaminated water, it can still cause damage to your system, especially if you have open cuts or wounds that have been exposed to it. Wash these with soap and bottled (or chlorine bleach treated) water to keep them from becoming infected.
Children should not be allowed to play in flood waters, no matter how hot it might get inside the home you are staying in. If there are toys that have come into contact with contaminated water, these need to be disinfected before allowing a child to play with them, as well. The hands of children should also be washed very thoroughly often and especially before meals.
Boarding up your windows and doors with plywood is a good idea to keep your windows from being blown out and the glass sent flying into your home and possibly into you.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and other states such as
north carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Smoke Damage Cleanup
Cleaning up smoke damage after a fire can be a pretty involved task, but if you know what you are doing and follow a few simple rules, it might not be as difficult as you might think. Even though you might want to get the job done as quickly as possible, you might end up doing more harm than good if you do not take your time to do it correctly. Do the job right, not rushed.
If you have pets, the best thing for them is to remove them from the area as soon as possible. You need to keep your pets out of the home until you are done cleaning up the smoke and water damage done to the home after the fire trucks have gone. Birds are especially sensitive to smoke and chemicals in the air, so if you had a pet bird in the home at the time of the fire, you should have it examined by a vet.
Use a vacuum cleaner to clean up any soot and other particles from your furniture and floors, after you are certain that the electrical circuitry in the home was not damaged by the water poured into the home by the fire truck.
Plants should be rinsed with water as soon as possible, but be sure not to drown the plant’s soil in an excess amount of water. If the soil has been saturated by the water from the fire truck and you want to save the plant, the best thing to do is to put it in a new pot with new soil.
Open the windows and doors in your home so air can circulate and help remove all the particles from the air inside. This will help remove the smell of smoke from the home, as well.
Do not sit down on upholstered furniture that has not been cleaned yet. This will only rub the soot down into the fabric and make it more difficult to remove.
Sending your clothes to an ordinary dry cleaner can irreparably damage your clothes.
Do not eat any foods that were in the home at the time of the fire. This includes everything that was in the home, no matter what it is. Replace everything in the home that was edible.
Ceilings and walls that have been smoke damaged can sometimes be cleaned and restored to their former selves, but heavier deposits of smoke must be specially treated so that the surface will accept being painted over again. Sometimes the stains cannot be removed and the surface must be painted.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.moldrestorationny.info
http://www.moldrestorationnj.info
If you have pets, the best thing for them is to remove them from the area as soon as possible. You need to keep your pets out of the home until you are done cleaning up the smoke and water damage done to the home after the fire trucks have gone. Birds are especially sensitive to smoke and chemicals in the air, so if you had a pet bird in the home at the time of the fire, you should have it examined by a vet.
Use a vacuum cleaner to clean up any soot and other particles from your furniture and floors, after you are certain that the electrical circuitry in the home was not damaged by the water poured into the home by the fire truck.
Plants should be rinsed with water as soon as possible, but be sure not to drown the plant’s soil in an excess amount of water. If the soil has been saturated by the water from the fire truck and you want to save the plant, the best thing to do is to put it in a new pot with new soil.
Open the windows and doors in your home so air can circulate and help remove all the particles from the air inside. This will help remove the smell of smoke from the home, as well.
Do not sit down on upholstered furniture that has not been cleaned yet. This will only rub the soot down into the fabric and make it more difficult to remove.
Sending your clothes to an ordinary dry cleaner can irreparably damage your clothes.
Do not eat any foods that were in the home at the time of the fire. This includes everything that was in the home, no matter what it is. Replace everything in the home that was edible.
Ceilings and walls that have been smoke damaged can sometimes be cleaned and restored to their former selves, but heavier deposits of smoke must be specially treated so that the surface will accept being painted over again. Sometimes the stains cannot be removed and the surface must be painted.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.moldrestorationny.info
http://www.moldrestorationnj.info
Water Safety and Sanitation During Hurricanes
When you are preparing for a hurricane to hit your home and you plan on staying there instead of evacuating, the most important thing that you need to worry about is your water supply. Even though water damage to your home after the storm is over can be a real headache to have to deal with, the water damage that contaminated sea and sewer water can do to you and your family is even more dangerous. You might be able to repair the water damage to your home with money, but drinking or coming into contact with contaminated water can lead to serious illness and even death in some cases.
You should have a large amount of bottled water on hand at any given time if you live in a flood or hurricane prone area. The number of gallons that you have on hand should be enough for every person with you to have one gallon of water a day for at least a week or two. Keeping water purification tablets on hand is one very important thing that will help you if you happen to run out of bottled water for any reason. Chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify any of the contaminated water that you come across. If the water is cloudy, you can filter it through cloth until it is mostly clear. After that, you can use about 1/8 of a teaspoon of chlorinated bleach to treat a gallon of water. Leave this for at least 30 minutes before you attempt to drink it. This will make sure that all the bacteria and viruses in the water have been killed.
Unfortunately, you cannot trust that the water that comes out of your faucet during a hurricane is safe to drink. Flood waters from the sea and from the sewers can contaminate your local water treatment plants and cause the water in them to become undrinkable. You should never drink tap water until your local government assures you that it is safe to drink.
If you have children in your home, do not let them play outside in flood waters. Even if it gets up into the 80’s and 90’s in temperature, the worst thing that you could do is let the kids play in the water, especially young ones that do not know any better than to drink it. Toys that come into contact with the water need to be disinfected with bleach or other chemicals, but this is only for non-porous toys. Stuffed animals and other items like this must be thrown away immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
New York mold remediation companies across the united states.
You should have a large amount of bottled water on hand at any given time if you live in a flood or hurricane prone area. The number of gallons that you have on hand should be enough for every person with you to have one gallon of water a day for at least a week or two. Keeping water purification tablets on hand is one very important thing that will help you if you happen to run out of bottled water for any reason. Chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify any of the contaminated water that you come across. If the water is cloudy, you can filter it through cloth until it is mostly clear. After that, you can use about 1/8 of a teaspoon of chlorinated bleach to treat a gallon of water. Leave this for at least 30 minutes before you attempt to drink it. This will make sure that all the bacteria and viruses in the water have been killed.
Unfortunately, you cannot trust that the water that comes out of your faucet during a hurricane is safe to drink. Flood waters from the sea and from the sewers can contaminate your local water treatment plants and cause the water in them to become undrinkable. You should never drink tap water until your local government assures you that it is safe to drink.
If you have children in your home, do not let them play outside in flood waters. Even if it gets up into the 80’s and 90’s in temperature, the worst thing that you could do is let the kids play in the water, especially young ones that do not know any better than to drink it. Toys that come into contact with the water need to be disinfected with bleach or other chemicals, but this is only for non-porous toys. Stuffed animals and other items like this must be thrown away immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
New York mold remediation companies across the united states.
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