Window Safety Checklist - Homeowners Must Read

Broken glass is definitely a health hazard, for anyone who is near it, when the glass is actually broken. After the glass is broken and is laying on the ground in pieces, people can still get hurt. Here's a basic window safety checklist for homeowners that everyone must read. It will provide you with some simple tips that could prevent a loved one from getting seriously injured in the future.

1. Contact your local building department or fire department, to get the basic requirements for using your window as a fire escape. Your windows can be used to jump out of, if there is a fire inside your home.

2. Make sure that young children avoid playing around windows. You should always teach your children, never to throw large objects or balls in the house.

3. You might think about installing a window ladder, if you live in a two-story home, which could be made of rope or chain. These latter's can be thrown out of the window, while latching onto the window sill, in case there's a fire. It would provide you with an alternative from jumping out of the window. Don't under estimate these fire ladders, they can be extremely difficult to climb down.

4. If you leave large sliding glass doors open on a regular basis and clean them spontaneously, others might not realize they're closed, because they're so clean. Simply put a piece of tape on the window to prevent other people from thinking there open. You would be surprised how many accidents happen, from clean windows.

5. Last but not least, one of the most important problems with windows. Think security, if you leave your windows open and leave the house, someone now as easy access. There are plenty of ways to make your windows secure, using locks that clamp on to the side of the window. This will allow you to leave the windows open about 4 inches, leaving you the desired ventilation and preventing burglars from entering your domain.

If a window is cracked, or broken it should be replaced as soon as possible. Try to avoid fixing broken glass your self if you don't have any experience. Plenty of people get hurt every year, simply underestimating how sharp broken glass can actually be.

Home Window Ideas

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Five Things That a Termite Inspection Company Might Not Ever Say

I don't think that I've ever heard of a termite inspector, ever go to a home and not find any termites. Even if the home doesn't have any damage that is visible from the termites, it seems like it's always a good idea, to tent the home, just in case, for protection. Anyway, here's five things that you might not ever hear a termite inspector ever say.

1. Your house is free of termites. This means that there isn't, one termite on your property and the termite inspector isn't going to make any money. Let's face it, termite damage, whether it's visible or invisible, keeps these guys working.

2. Your house isn't going to fall down, if I don't do anything to stop the termites. I have seen homes, where termites have been working on them for quite some time and they still seem to stand up and function properly.

3. Termites don't eat much and I wouldn't worry about the damage. Most termite inspectors will tell you how much a termite in Hawaii or Africa will eat in a day, but doesn't seem to have an honest idea, how much damage they are doing to your home, if they can't actually see it.

4. Every one that works for our company, has at least 30 years experience, repairing any termite damage. Don't even get me started with this one.

5. We will replace all of the termite damage wood, back to its original condition. What they might say, is that they will replace the wood that is damaged by termites, that you can actually see.

There are plenty of great termite companies out there and this article was meant just to have fun with most of them. Termite damage can be a serious problem with some homes and I would suggest that you contact at least three termite inspectors, before proceeding ahead with any home repairs or use of chemicals.

Try not to forget, the only way that a termite inspection company will make any money, looking at your house, will be to find something wrong with it.

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Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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10 Things a Homeowner Won't Tell a Contractor - Common Courtesy

I've been a contractor in the state of California for over 20 years and there are some things that a homeowner won't tell a contractor. These are a few things that a contractor might want to hear, but a reluctant homeowner, might have second thoughts telling their contractors how they really feel.

1. We are happy with all of the work that you did in a timely manner and we appreciate your services.

2. We are happy with the way you performed your construction tasks, efficiently and we appreciate your services.

3. The work was done by a true professional and we would recommend you to any one of our friends.

4. The payment plan that you created in the contract worked out perfectly and never made us feel uncomfortable. It never seemed like you had too much of our money or we were putting you in a bad spot financially.

5. Thanks for keeping the job clean, it meant a lot to us, because we have seen other construction jobs that look like a tornado ran through them.

6. Thanks for helping us with our design. Working with your contractor on a daily, weekly or monthly basis can be frustrating or joyful. Let the contractor know either way how you are really feeling.

7. You and your crew are extremely hard-working and we appreciate the simple fact that you didn't come to work late or leave early.

8. Thanks for the reasonable priced estimate on our project. You helped us say a lot of money and we appreciate that sincerely.

9. Thanks for doing the extra work at a reasonable price. You could have gouged us at certain times, but you chose to be fair and work things out, in a way that would benefit both of us.

10. This one is the most important and often overlooked by homeowners and it's simple and easy to do. Thanks for doing what you said you were going to do and actually doing it.

Just a simple thank you and paying them on time, for a service well done is enough for most contractors. However, a little common courtesy can go a long way, even in the construction industry.

If You Live in Northern San Diego County or South Orange County, and You're Looking for a Great Contractor, Click on This Link Home Remodeling Contractor

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Home Purchasing Checklists Provide Protection

Home purchasing checklists provide protection for consumers with useful information for future home repairs or current home repairs that will need to be done before the home is sold. Home inspectors often use checklists like these, while they're inspecting the home.

If more home shoppers used home inspection checklist while shopping for houses, we would probably have more satisfied homebuyers than dissatisfied ones. Recently just purchasing a home, we had our real estate professional, the previous homeowner's real estate professional and a mortgage lender, involved in the purchase of the property.

There was a home inspection report from the current homeowners, available for us to look at. It provided us with the damaged parts of the home that were repaired or replaced. Some of these repairs were from termite damage and it was stated so on the report. This was helpful information for us as we walked around the home inspecting it for damage.

The work that was repaired to look satisfactory and the rest of the home had minor damage. Listening to one of the real estate sales people that were involved in the transaction, you would've thought we would get in the deal of a lifetime and they had nothing but good news to say about the product they were representing. I easily understood that, this person could have influenced some one into believing that the home was in great shape, if they didn't have a home inspection checklist with them.

The home had been re-carpeted, painted and was in generally good shape. The problems with the home, were the old windows that were hard to open, the heating unit leaked gas, the tile flooring that ran through the kitchen and a large room addition looked great, except for one thing, they installed the tile over linoleum.

This eventually will have to be replaced as the tile starts to separate from the linoleum. While I'm writing this article, there's about 40 square feet of tile that needs to be replaced, because it's popping up and cracking.

A home purchasing checklist does not guarantee that you will find everything but can't eliminate some of the things that homeowners have the biggest problems with. If you could just eliminate one of these problems, the small price of purchasing, one of these checklists would be worth it.

Home purchasing checklists provide protection for the shopper and I would recommend, never shopping for a home without one.

If your looking for some more home inspection or home building ideas.

By Greg Vandenberge

Attic Handrail Safety - Do it Yourself Home Repair

Some stairways that lead up to your attic will have a safety or guardrail to prevent people from falling down the stairs or off of them. Attic handrail safety can provide homeowners with a little peace of mind if they just follow the few simple steps. Make sure that the handrail is at least 42 inches in height. 42 inches is the minimum height for guard rails and can be found in the uniform building code.

The uniform building code is the Bible to the building industry and sets the standard for new construction and remodeling.

The 42 inches will be measured from the floor to the top of the handrail. Some older homes will have handrails that are 36 inches and some of them will be even 30 inches in height. A 30 inch handrail provides limited protection for anyone who is over five foot tall. 30 inches becomes the center point for any one over 60 inches and these people could easily fall over the short handrail.

Now for the homes that don't have any attic handrail safety systems. Some homes that were built before the 1960s won't have a handrail system at all in the stairway. Keep something in mind here, when these people were building these houses, some of them were trying to save money, some of them figured that it wasn't going to be a big deal and other builders simply forgot to install them.

It's not hard to install a working attic handrail for safety but keep in mind, that if the handrail isn't the right height, it will provide you with limited protection. Attic handrails that are lower than 30 inches can provide young children or others who are shorter than five feet with very little protection but can be a safety hazard to anyone over 5 feet tall.

If your attic doesn't have a safety handrail, use caution and be careful in these areas of your home. It wouldn't be a bad idea to install a locking doorknob if your attic access has a door that can be secured to prevent small children or other people from entering these unsafe areas.

Home Attic Repairs

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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How Many Bathrooms Do You Really Need? Building New Homes

When my dad was a kid, they lived in a two bedroom house with one bathroom and the family consisted of him, his two brothers and his mother and father. When I grew up, we have it a little bit better. We had the same sized family as my father did, but we lived in a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms.

How many bathrooms do you really need? Think about it. Here's what I would like to suggest, if you have more money than you know what to do with and would love to help the economy, then you should put as many bathrooms as you need in your home.

If you really need to tell your friends, that you have a 250 bedroom house with 275 bathrooms, and you have the money to pay for it, do it and knock yourself out. However, if you are building a new home, I would like you to consider, this question. How many bathrooms do you really need?

If you want each one of your children to have their own bathroom, then go for it. It will require more cleaning, more money to build these bathrooms and is it really necessary.

Here's what I would suggest as a guideline for deciding, how many bathrooms you really need. One bathroom for two or less people, two bathrooms for five or less people and three bathrooms for eight or less people. You could actually add one bathroom for every three people as a general rule of thumb.

Don't get carried away and start installing bathrooms all over your house, it doesn't make sense. Bathrooms are expensive and I have been in the homes, where I was the only person that used at bathroom. Some bathrooms might not ever be used.

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Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Pest Droppings in the Attic - Pest Problems

Sometimes I wonder how these large animals can get through such small holes in our homes and into our attics and crawlspace's. A few years ago, I was working on a home that had water damage to the siding that needed to be fixed. The homeowner of course didn't want anymore water damage and this required repairing roof, the original cause for the siding damage.

When I bid the job, I had no idea what I was about to run into. The first day on the job, went smoothly as I repaired some damage fascia board, but the next day I was in for a surprise, as I removed the damaged siding, I found what looked like dog poop in the attic.

I was looking around in the attic and trying to figure out how a dog could of got up there. I know that I shouldn't have, but I walked around the home inspecting it for a large hole, any holes, something that a small dog could have wiggled his way into. I got my latter off of the truck and then went on the roof, trying to find a place where a dog could have got into the attic.

I couldn't find any holes and after wasting about an hour, I decided it was time to get back to work and since the homeowner wasn't there, I couldn't show him my new findings or ask him any questions. I cleaned up the mess and repaired the water damaged siding, but in the back of my head I kept thinking about how in the heck a dog got up in the attic.

To make a short story even shorter, when the homeowner arrived home that day, I showed him my findings and he informed me that he didn't have a dog. He did however inform me that he has been hearing something walking around in his attic for about a year now. He had a pretty good idea that they were raccoons.

I told him, that I had inspected his home and only found one small hole on top of his roof underneath the roof eave, but there's no way that a small raccoon could fit through that hole. He told me that you would be surprised, what these animals were capable of squeezing into and out of.

Well that's about it, the mystery was solved, I repaired the small hole in the attic and have never heard from the homeowner again. Hopefully that meant I did my job well and not that he was embarrassed about the poop in the attic.

Pest Control Ideas, House Pest Pictures

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.