Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
SOLUTIONS: Be proactive regarding fire prevention
Deaths from fires and burns are the third-leading cause of fatal home injury (Runyan 2004).
-- Use extension cords as a short-term solution in your home. Since cords heat up and cool down during use, the cord tends to quickly wear, thus becoming a fire hazard.
-- Unplug appliances such as the toaster, toaster oven, curling iron, coffee maker and kettle when not in use. Pull these appliances out from under cabinets before use.
-- Clean the dryer lint tray after every use. Vacuum behind the dryer as well as using the crevice tool of the vacuum to reach inside the lint trap housing.
Extra tip: Dryer lint is very flammable. In fact, some people save it in sealable bags and use it as a fire starter or keep a lint-filled bag in the glove compartment of their vehicles as part of their emergency kit.
-- Check furnace filters once a month; if they are dirty replace them. It isn't necessary to purchase expensive filters; the three-in-one pack will do. After removing the filter, do not stand or lay it beside the furnace. Discard it immediately because the debris on the filter is flammable.
-- Avoid turning on the dishwasher and clothes dryer when no one is home or when all household members are sleeping.
-- If your carbon monoxide detector goes off, contact 911 or Manitoba Hydro immediately. Remember, carbon monoxide is a silent killer because it doesn't carry its own odour.
Extra tips: The yeast in bread-making can trigger the carbon monoxide detector. Turn on the fan (if not built in and automatic) with every gas stove use.
-- It's safest not to use extension cords when plugging in Christmas lights. If extension cords are used, be sure to unplug them at night or when no one is home.
-- When plugging in Christmas lights, make sure every bulb on the strand is functioning properly.
-- Keep the tree holder full. Water freshly cut Christmas trees twice a day for the first while and once a day after that or as necessary.
-- Store one ABC fire extinguisher near the kitchen and one in the furnace room. The Class ABC fire extinguisher is suitable for three kinds of fires: Class A (ordinary combustibles such as wood or paper); Class B (flammable liquid fires such as grease or gasoline); or Class C (electrical fires). Check the date to make sure your fire extinguisher has not expired.
Extra tips
-- If your fire extinguisher has sat for a long time, turn it upside down for a few seconds and give it a pat to loosen the powder that falls to the bottom of the extinguisher. During use: Aim the extinguisher towards the bottom of the flames and squeeze the trigger in a slow, sweeping motion.
-- Talk to your family regarding fire prevention and discuss an escape plan and meeting place outside of your home. Beginning at age three, speak to your children about the importance of not hiding during a fire.
-- In the case of a stove fire or grease fire, turn the element off. If possible, put the lid on the pot and close the oven door. Toss baking soda onto the fire; flour will NOT work.
-- Change the batteries in carbon monoxide and smoke detectors whenever daylight saving time occurs. Make sure your detectors have not exceeded their expiration dates.
-- Clean your chimney properly at least once a year.
Many thanks to fire Chief Kelvin Toews and Lieutenant Cindi Krahn of the Steinbach Fire Department for the preceding information.
The power of words
"Don't let your dreams go up in smoke -- practise fire safety." -- author unknown
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Renovation & Design
ASK THE INSPECTOR: Don't raise home humidity for new flooring
QUESTION: Could you please give us some advice in regards to humidifiers and hardwood flooring. We have ordered hardwood flooring for our main floor. It's a Brazilian hardwood called Tiger Wood. We were told by the flooring company that the humidity in the home should be kept at 43 per cent, otherwise the wood will crack. Are you in agreement with this?
Is it best to have a humidifier mounted directly on the furnace, and can you direct us to companies that can do this? Lyle & Sandy Fodchuk
ANSWER: I've answered similar questions in my column several times, but I feel so strongly about this issue that I think it needs further review.
I'm constantly amazed and annoyed at the terrible advice, recommendations or requirements given to homeowners by manufacturers of various building materials. There are many examples of this, from HRVs to shingles, but it's particularly true of hardwood flooring.
There's a lot of information out there about the need to maintain specific conditions for building materials installed in homes, much of it provided without any verified testing. Some of this information comes from experienced contractors and tradesmen and should be treated with respect. But advice such as that you received about relative humidity (RH) is unreliable.
In our climate, interior RH levels change with the weather. Maintaining artificially high humidity in our frigid winter can have disastrous effects on other components in your home. If the flooring you've chosen really does indeed require constant RH levels nearing 50 per cent to prevent damage, it should not be sold or installed in Manitoba and many other places. More likely, this requirement is just an excuse for manufacturers to blame defects on unsuspecting homeowners.
If high air moisture levels were really required to prevent damage to hardwood flooring, there would be thousands of homes with either cracked floors or major moisture damage to walls, windows and other building components. Anyone maintaining an indoor air RH above 40 per cent in the dead of winter in our area will know what I am talking about. Condensation on windows alone, especially at night, will be excessive with that much indoor moisture. This condensation can run down onto window sills, walls and even floor coverings. Even with modern, sealed, dual- or triple-pane windows, the temperature differential will be a certain recipe for the air to reach its dew point upon contact with the glass. While this could be controlled by constant mopping of the water from the sills with towels, or with fans blowing directly on the windows, maintaining a lower RH is the proper approach.
Since your chosen flooring is an exotic wood, it may have different properties than the traditional oak or maple installed in our homes for decades. But numerous types of hardwood are very commonly used for flooring because they are very durable and adapt to environmental changes as well or better than most building materials.
In my opinion, most problems with wood flooring are caused by the condition of the material after milling or the conditions present during installation. Hardwood flooring has to be properly dried before or after production, often in huge kilns, to reach a fairly low moisture content. This is critical to prevent excessive shrinkage if the wood dries out after it's nailing down. If the wood is not properly seasoned, gaps can open between planks.
If the hardwood has a proper moisture content but the air in your home is too humid, buckling can occur as the flooring absorbs this ambient moisture. For this reason, any wood flooring should be stored for several days or weeks in the home where it is to be installed. This will allow the material to "acclimatize" to the existing RH, preventing dramatic shrinkage or swelling after being nailed down.
This critical step has been adopted by experienced flooring contractors for decades, and skipping it can cause many flooring defects.
Maintaining an RH level close to 50 per cent during the heating season in our climate creates another danger -- the possibility of mould growth. This could occur inside exterior wall cavities, on cold foundation walls, or in any areas with poor air movement. Mould, such as wood rot, can cause serious health problems.
While moisture may be good for your rainforest flooring, it's not good for many of the other wooden components in your walls, floors, and attics that are subject to rotting. It makes no sense to provide an indoor air environment that will be beneficial to one component to the determent of many other home systems. I would forget about installation of a humidifier and look at time-tested alternative flooring materials for installation in your home.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors - Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
Renovation & Design
Renovation of the Year awards presented
On Wednesday evening, the RenoMark Renovator members of the Manitoba Home Builders Association celebrated their outstanding accomplishments with the annual Renovation of the Year awards at the Norwood Hotel.
The occasion brought together the best of the best to recognize those projects that were considered the leaders in the renovation industry. Each category was broken into sub-categories by price point to enable the judges to fairly compare one project to another. In many cases, the margin of victory was extremely close, with only a point or two separating entries. Following are the categories and award recipients.
Kitchens: Any kitchen project that changes layout and/or cabinetry in the interests of improving traffic flow and/or changing appearance of the overall kitchen. There were four different categories and awards were won by Oswald Construction, Harwood Design Builders and Make It Home.
Bathrooms: Any bathroom project that involves new fixtures, resurfacing walls and floors, and/or changing size or layout. There were two different categories and awards were won by Harwood Design Builders and Over and Above Renovations.
Exteriors: Any project that changes the exterior appearance of a home. There was one category and the winner was Oswald Construction.
Whole House: Any project that renovates at least 75 per cent of a homes' square footage. There were three different categories and awards were won by Over and Above Renovations, Make It Home and Sakiyama Construction.
Congratulations and thanks go to all participants in this year's event. All entries will be on display at the Ask A Renovator booth at the Kitchen Bath and Renovation Show January 10 - 12, 2014 at the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre. Numerous MHBA RenoMark Renovator members will be there to answer your renovation questions.
For a complete listing of all MHBA renovators and more information on the RenoMark quality code, visit the Manitoba Home Builders Association web site at www.homebuilders.mb.ca
Mike Moore is president of the Manitoba Home Builders' Association.
Renovation & Design
SOLUTIONS: Attack nasty laundry odours with borax
QUESTION: I'm hoping that you can offer a solution for my daughter. She recently had her dirty laundry sorted on the floor of her laundry area in the basement of her home. Unfortunately, her sewer line backed up and the basement sewer drain is right in front of her washing machine. Some of her clothes ended up soaked with sewage and now she can't get the smell out of her clothes. She washed them immediately the conventional way, then washed them again and tried adding vinegar to the washing machine -- still no luck at removing that nasty odour. I'm thinking that using extra fabric softener in the wash is only going to mask the odour for a short time but not eliminate it totally. What else could she try in order to salvage her clothes? Thanks, Sharon (Brandon)
ANSWER: Before rewashing the clothing, soak them in hot water and borax. Borax contains no phosphates and no bleach and it is wonderful at zapping hard-to-handle odours. If you cannot locate borax, use a generous amount of Oxy Clean or tea tree oil and vinegar or baking soda. Adding vinegar to laundry loads is a wonderful idea, but for this particular instance you need to use straight vinegar and tea tree oil and soak for at least two hours before laundering.
QUESTION: What is the easiest and fastest way to cut an apple without a corer? Elsie (Emerson)
ANSWER: In my opinion, the easiest way to cut an apple is to stand it on the cutting board. Cut half inch from the center on all four sides of the apple around the core. Allow the sides to fall to the cutting board.
QUESTION: How can I avoid getting freezer burn on the meat that I buy? Daniela (Foxwarren)
ANSWER: All food items will eventually find themselves with freezer burn, which is thousands and thousands of water molecules that have formed into ice crystals. There is a limit to how long food can be stored in the freezer. Here are a few easy steps that you can take to reduce freezer burn. Don't overcrowd the freezer; make sure that all meat has enough room. Doing this helps the freezer temperature stay constant, which reduces freezer burn. All foods should be packaged correctly; squeeze out air before packaging. Some people double bag meats to reduce freezer burn. Freeze smaller portions and do not freeze foods when they are hot. Allow them to cool before freezing. Correct freezer temperature should be set at -18C.
QUESTION: My grandson had gum stuck in his hair and not knowing what to do I took a scissor and gave him a haircut! When his mother returned to pick him up she was mad at me for cutting his hair. She took him for a professional haircut and now he's got very short hair, which doesn't work well with such cold air. Is there anything I could have done to avoid the haircut? Pam, Winnipeg
ANSWER: If this ever happens again simply take a blob of peanut butter and run it through his hair. Gently slide the gum along his ends until it's out. If peanut allergies are a concern, use WD-40 or cooking oil instead.
Fabulous Tips of the Week
*Reduce heating costs in your home by 10% and clean less with this simple tip. Change your furnace filter monthly so that your furnace does not need to work as hard and less dust floats through the air.
*As you get ready to enjoy the fireplace in your home, remember not to burn colored flyers or magazines. The fumes from colored papers may be harmful to breathe.
I enjoy your questions and tips, keep them coming. Missed a column? Can't remember a solution? Need a speaker for an upcoming event? Check out my brand new videos/blog/website: reena.ca!
