Category: Home Tips (Page 2 of 6)

A week of hurricane preparation: Crucial steps to take

Hurricanes are a risk that all southern and eastern coastal communities are in danger of. The storms can form and can strengthen rapidly leaving little time for proper preparation. This list details things you can do within a week to help get your family and your home ready for the impact.

Waves_Storm

INSURANCE:

  • Pull out your insurance documents. Make note of your coverage limits and your deductibles. Consider how much you’d need to cover the cost to replace your home’s structure, your personal belongings and your automobile. Call your agent(s) to confirm that you understand everything correctly.
  • Make a video inventory of your entire house including inside drawers, closets, etc. For higher priced and valuable items make sure to get the make/model, serial number and any other information that would be required to prove the value. Upload the video(s) to the cloud.

Extra Tip: Anyone with a child renting their own place should make sure that they have an active renter’s insurance policy and that they follow these same steps.
EVACUATION:

  • Much like an emergency kit but not in place of, pack everyone in your household a bag or suitcase with everything they would need for 2-3 days such as outfits, chargers, weather gear, etc. Critical medicine, food and water should be in every bag in case one gets lost. Don’t forget to pack one for your animals!
  • Make sure everyone has a phone list of emergency contacts (at least each other, a local contact and a contact that is out of the area). These should be programmed into phones and a printed copy should be in every bag with instructions on where to go if you get split up. You should have a safe place planned locally and another safe place to meet should you have to evacuate.

Extra Tip: When cell service is bad a text message may go through when a phone call won’t. Plan basic, short text messages to be shared among your emergency contacts such as “Safe. At Mimi’s”.
PROPERTY:

  • Take any movable items outside your home and move them inside. For items that are too heavy or large to move in, use cables or chains to secure them down so they can’t be blown around.
  • Consider purchasing a heavy-duty gasoline container to be filled and stored it in a cool, well-ventilated area. You don’t want to wait for an evacuation order to start running vehicles and gas cans to the station. Not only could the station run out of fuel before you get there, waiting would take precious time from other preparations and delay your departure.
  • Prepare to board up. Measure all window and glass door openings (include the framing). Purchase plywood pieces and pre-cut them to fit your measurements. Some lumber stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s may even have a panel saw and can cut them for you. Grab a box of screws and a drill if you don’t have one.

Extra Tip: Consider purchasing a generator. If you do purchase one, first test all your carbon monoxide detectors, then pick a safe place that you’ll be able to run it. The running place should be outside in a well ventilated are (no garages or basements!), that is dry and where you can quickly connect to it. Watch this video by Lowe’s for some other important generator tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaLamTvTQc0
Questions? Concerns? Recommendations? Give us a call or send us an e-mail. We’re happy to help!

Uninvited Guests in the Attic

Do you provide insulation removal services?

That’s a question we are asked quite often, and it’s usually followed by a story of how a property owner found animals in their attic. Well the answer is yes! We do! They’re not just looking a basic material removal job at that point though, they’re in need of animal damage cleaning services. Our technicians are trained and properly equipped to handle the removal of the contaminated insulation, both batt and blown-in, and the cleaning and sanitizing of any affected structure.

Why hire professions for animal damage cleaning?

First off, NEVER TOUCH ANIMAL DROPPINGS or urine affected material with bare hands! They can harbor viruses and other harmful contaminates. Animal damage projects should be handled with the upmost care, taking all necessary precautions to protect you and the rest of your home. Our technicians wear Tyvek personal protection equipment (PPE) and respirators.

Why would animal activity require immediate attention?

If they’ve gotten into the attic, they can eventually make their way into your living space too. We’ve had calls where squirrels had a field day enjoying a spacious home, making beds of what was beautiful brand-new upholstery, and where water damage was caused by mice gnawing away at flex plumbing! The longer you wait, the more damage they can cause, the more germs they can spread and the more they can multiply!

If you hear something, smell something, or see any signs that you have animals in your home or business call a pest/critter control company right away. Once the animals have been eradicated, call Whalen Restoration Services to clean things up for you!

Spring Cleaning & Going Green

Signs of spring burst all around the Cape back in February. Although it may not be time to start packing away your winter clothes just yet it is a great time to start on your annual cleaning & organizing. This year why not go a little greener with it?

Spring_Flower_Clean

Your Air
Nix the air fresheners and open up those windows! Toss the scented aerosols and freshen things up with fresh cut flowers instead. Forget chemicals and use mixes of baking soda and essential oils for deodorizing. Use low-VOC paints.

Your Papers
Register an address and you almost immediately start to get paper solicitations and direct marketing cards there. Open a line of credit and you open the flood gates to other financial institutions who want you to “switch and save more!”. On average the amount of paper waste we make every year adds up to over 2000 pounds! What can you you do to go green here? Of course you can recycle the paper, but you can also start lessening the amount delivered in the first place. Call the sources of all of the unwanted mail and opt out. You can also sign up for paperless billing invoices and save your receipts digitally. Not only will you be saving the environment, you’ll be saving yourself the time you would normally spend filing it all away!

Your Water
Use less and keep it clean! If you’ve been putting off fixing that running toilet, do it now! Check all of your faucets for drips and adjust them accordingly. A faucet that drips 1 drip per minute actually wastes up to 34 gallons a year and you’re paying for it. Consider swapping out your shower heads for low-flow models. Be conscious of how much water you’re using when you’re brushing your teeth and doing dishes (turn it off while you scrub!). Be mindful of what you’re putting into your drains. Instead of flushing unwanted prescriptions, bring them to a local prescription drop box or call the pharmacy you received them from and see if they have a take-back program.

Your Stuff Recycle and donate. Old tattered clothes can be used as rags or kept for messy projects like painting the ceiling. Donate clothes in good condition to your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, church group or homeless shelter. Donate old pillows and towels to your local animal shelter. Buy a trash can that helps you sort out your plastics and bottles from your trash, and sort and recycle all of your boxes. The more you organize and re-purpose things to keep them out of the landfill the better.

Your Energy
Vampires are everywhere! Think of how many things are still plugged in at your home right now. The coffee pot? TV? Phone chargers? Computer? All of these things are still slowly using electricity. Put a stake in it and unplug any electrical devices when you’re not using them. For areas with multiple devices use a power strip so you only have to pull one plug from the outlet.
Have you had a home energy assessment done yet? Mass Save offers them for Massachusetts residence. They gave homeowners all new energy efficient light bulbs and power strips for their entertainment centers (for FREE!).

Share with us how you are going green in your home!

Leave your shoes at the door

Leave your shoes at the door

Whether they’re strict about it or not we all know someone with the “no shoes in the house” rule. Although some may find that policy annoying or even sometimes odd for guests you may want to consider adopting the practice for your own home.

Shoes

I’m sure you’ve heard “a little dirt never hurt anyone”, but how about pesticides, lawn fertilizer, the flu, E. coli and C. diff? What is C. diff? It’s a dangerous bacterium that causes terrible symptoms from diarrhea and cramping to kidney failure and fatal inflammation. It’s nasty stuff but what’s even scarier is how possible it is that you’re carrying it or something similar around on your daily footwear! Something as simple as propping your feet up on the ottoman after a long day can actually be a bad idea.

Take a look at the numbers.

  • The University of Arizona shared that the bottom of shoes contain on average 421,000 different types of bacteria, 96% detected coliforms (bacteria used to indicate the sanitary quality of water and food), and 27% detected specifically E.Coli.
  • As shared by TODAY, a study by the University of Houston found that 26.4% of shoes carry that awful sounding C. diff.
  • The University of Utah’s study concluded that bacteria on your shoes are transferred into your home at a rate of 90 to 99%!

So leaving your outdoor shoes on in the house is highly likely to carry quite a bit of bacteria throughout your home where you eat, relax, breathe and sleep. For healthy adults that may only bring a threat of being sick for a few days, but for children, elderly and people with compromised immune systems it can be extremely dangerous.

Still not sold on the daily practice of dropping you shoes at the entry mat? You can keep your home healthier by at least spraying them down with a disinfectant and then thoroughly washing your hands. It’s not as good as taking them off and spraying them down, but it’s certainly healthier than not doing either. And as Mom always said, “no shoes on the table.”

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