Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
MIKE HOLMES: Bring in the pros to prevent electrical fires
They say where there's smoke there's fire. But when it comes to electrical fires, you don't always see the smoke. By the time you do, it's too late and the flames are climbing up behind your walls.
I was up north a couple of weeks ago. I stopped at a pub and it was completely renovated -- and not because they wanted to do a reno. They had no choice -- there had been an electrical fire. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the truth is, it should have never happened.
Twenty per cent of all fires in Canada are electrical fires. In my world, there wouldn't be any electrical fires because they're preventable if the right pros are brought in at the right time.
Faulty wiring is the No.1 cause of electrical fires. It's what caused the fire at the pub. Sometimes, fires are a result of poor workmanship. Other times, it's just wear and tear. But in any case, you need to be aware of the warning signs.
Here are the warning signs there's a problem with your wiring: flickering lights, breakers that always trip, fuses that always blow, a burning smell coming from appliances or in rooms, discoloured wall outlets, outlets that spark and outlets and switches that are hot to the touch.
The longer you wait to get them fixed, the greater the chance of an electrical fire.
Eventually, every home is at risk of an electrical fire, because electrical wires get worn out -- just like everything else.
Electrical currents generate waste heat. Over time, that heat can cause the conductor to expand and contract. Eventually it will loosen the connection. And once it's loose, the electricity can arc. When this happens, the potential for an electrical fire is huge.
One way we can prevent electrical fires caused by an electrical arc is with Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCI). An AFCI is a circuit breaker that detects potentially dangerous electrical arcs. It disconnects the power as soon as it detects one.
Before AFCIs were introduced, the bedroom was where most electrical fires started. But in 2002 it became code to protect all circuits that feed outlets in bedrooms with AFCIs. Now, the kitchen and bathroom are where most electrical fires start.
It's code to have AFCIs in the bedroom, but in some states, such as Texas, it's code to have AFCIs protecting all the circuits in the home. This is what we need to see in our electrical codes. If we can protect the entire house, we should protect the entire house. It just makes sense.
Counterfeit electrical products can also cause electrical fires. But it's tough to prove when investigators come in after a fire to determine its cause. Why? Because most fires destroy the evidence -- along with everything else. Plus, some counterfeit products are so good the average homeowner would never suspect they aren't legitimate or CSA approved. The only way to know it's counterfeit would be by sending it to a lab to test it out.
And how many homeowners do that?
Overloaded circuits are also a risk. But the risk is less when a 15-amp breaker or fuse protects the circuit.
The problem is when an overloaded circuit starts to trip. Homeowners go in and replace a 15-amp fuse with something higher, such as a 20-amp or 30-amp fuse. But this doesn't fix the problem. The circuit still wants to trip. The wire is telling the fuse that it's too hot. But the fuse says, "I'm still good." Before you know it, the wire becomes your fuse and you've got a fire. It's not about making it work. It's about making it work safely.
Whenever anyone purchases a home that's older than 15 years, they need to get a licensed electrical contractor to check out the house. Especially if the home has a finished basement. Too many homeowners think they can do their own electrical work -- and many of them do.
How do you know if everything is up to code? Or if there's knob-and-tube wiring, or aluminum wiring mixed with copper? Or if the previous owners hired someone who knew what they were doing?
Get a licensed electrical contractor to audit the house. They'll make sure all the electrical work is up to code and all the connections are tight.
How do you find the right electrician? The same way you find the right contractor: Check references, speak to past clients, make sure they're certified. and ask them to show you their licence. A proud tradesperson would love to show you their accomplishments. And never look at the price. If four out five electricians charge $1,000 to $2,000 for a job and one guy charges $700, there's a reason why. You get what you pay for.
How often should we get a licensed electrical contractor to check our homes? Every four years. Why? Because given enough time, any home can be at risk of an electrical fire. Wire insulation dries out. Receptacles and switches come loose or wear out. Oil and dirt can cause electrical components to overheat.
Don't wait for disaster to strike. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Catch Mike Holmes in his new series, Best of Holmes on Homes, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on HGTV. For more information, visit hgtv.ca. For more information on home renovations, visit makeitright.ca
Renovation & Design
ASK THE INSPECTOR: Open up crawlspace to fight moisture
QUESTION: Our house is a 700-square-foot bungalow built in 1973 in St. Vital on a number of concrete pillars. A crawlspace surrounds an approximately 7x7-foot "partial basement" with concrete block walls that rise about four to five feet high. The crawlspace begins at this height and rises another two feet higher or so.
There is also some wooden flat level space for storage above the block walls immediately before drywall, insulation and a vapour barrier separates the basement from the crawl space. Except for a small, open space where the furnace exhaust pipe exits into the crawl space, the rest of the crawlspace is sealed.
The crawlspace has only one vent in a concrete skirting around the foundation. A prominent basement company indicated that crawl space vents should be sealed because they let humid air into the house. Apparently, the only time that it does work to use a vent to dry a crawlspace may be in winter, or if the temperature is 21 degrees C and the relative humidity no more than 45 per cent year-round.
To begin a strategy to address a moisture issue and the possibility of radon in the exposed dirt floor, I've decided to separate the house from the dirt floor with a moisture barrier. I understand that, as part of this, I need to add soil next to the house to create a swale or a slope away from the foundation for precipitation run-off. However, this will cover up the crawlspace vent, because it is currently very low to the ground.
Should I keep the vent in the crawlspace but make a new one higher, or seal it, create the swale or downward slope with soil and dehumidify the crawl space, if necessary, as part of a moisture-reduction strategy?
Jonathan Neufeld and Brigitte Reimer
ANSWER: Crawlspaces are often a problem because of the high chance of moisture intrusion. This is due to the open soil and the location of the crawlspace, as you have indicated. You are being very pro-active in your attempts to keep this area dry and prevent radon intrusion, but you should also attempt to include other alterations in your plans.
Air movement is one of the main things that allows moisture to evaporate from damp air. Allowing an ongoing source of warm fresh air into the crawlspace, even if does have high relative humidity, will help prevent stale, damp air from creating a problem. Unfortunately, having a single vent may be next to useless, as this does not allow much air movement.
To answer your main question, you should definitely move the vent higher and install at least one more additional vent, or small window, at each side of the crawlspace. Adding these vents will help to allow wind-assisted air to enter and exit the confined space, removing damp, stale air that is likely to condense in the cool environment.
Building up the soil outside the concrete grade beam that encloses your crawlspace may help prevent excessive moisture intrusion, but that should be done in conjunction with interior grading as well. If the soil in the crawlspace is significantly lower than the soil outside the home, you may always have a problem with water due to what I call the "swimming pool" effect. Because our wonderful clay soil can only absorb a limited amount of precipitation before it becomes saturated, any depressed area can easily become a puddle during heavy rains or spring melt. You can see this phenomenon on any construction site or grain field after a good rain.
The solution is to bring in additional soil or other landscaping material to raise the level inside the crawlspace above the exterior grade. Sand or fine stone may be a better choice than topsoil and may not require removal of the air/vapour barrier you have installed on the dirt floor if it is not too low. This may be quite difficult due to the lack of an access hatch but one could be installed in your insulated walls, or after they are removed, to allow pails of fill to be carried into the crawlspace.
The final item to address is the configuration of the crawlspace, relative to the rest of the basement.
You would be much better off to remove these short walls and open the crawlspace to incorporate it with the conditioned space of the part basement. This way, you will not be creating an enclosed, separate, cooler area where condensation is highly likely. If the inside of the concrete perimeter grade beam is not well insulated and air-sealed, moisture issues will be a certainty. By removing those walls, you will increase air movement and allow the heat from the part-basement to warm the crawlspace in the winter, preventing condensation.
It is critical that you keep the dirt floor sealed well and attach this to a similar air/vapour barrier installed over the inside of the grade beam and block foundation walls. That can be done after installation of rigid extruded polystyrene sheathing, or equivalent, on both the foundation walls and grade beams to prevent heat loss.
If you're successful in completing all of these items, and create a single, well insulated and sealed conditioned space rather than a separated part-basement and crawlspace, the question about the vent may be moot. There may be not be as much need to vent the entire basement, if you have central air conditioning, but installing a few small windows or large vents, which can be closed or covered for the heating season, is never a bad idea.
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 Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
Renovation & Design
MIKE HOLMES: Respirator an essential tool
I remember the days when if you had work boots and a hammer, you were good to work on a job site. Back then, a lot of contractors would demolish a house without thinking about the potential risks, such as asbestos, mould and lead paint.
You hear the stories. Young kids, just starting to work in construction, doing demolitions on homes that have asbestos without any protective gear. Even some of my guys can tell you stories when they worked on other crews. They joke about it now that they know the risks: "There goes 10 years off my life." But it's a serious problem. Working in hazardous conditions takes a toll on your health.
This goes for homeowners and DIYers, too. You need to protect yourself when doing jobs around the house. Anyone with respiratory problems knows how important it is to protect your lungs. But even today some people are reluctant to use respirators.
Sometimes it's a comfort issue -- working with a respirator is awkward. It's hot and it can make working more difficult. Other times, it has to do with time and costs -- having the right respirators and being properly trained to use them takes time and money.
If you're in a rush to get a job done, you might not think it's worth the extra time. But then ask yourself: How important is breathing to you?
Any time there are contaminants in the air, you need to use a respirator. Contaminants can be anything from vapours, mists, gases and fumes to actual debris such as dust, sawdust -- even metal particles.
Having the right protection depends on three things: choosing the right respirator, knowing how to use it properly and knowing how to take care of it.
However, choosing the right respirator isn't easy. Will you be using it when there's more than one contaminant in the air? Is the contaminant a gas, vapour, fume or debris? What conditions are you working in? What are the temperatures? Are you working in an enclosed area? How long will you be wearing the respirator? This all matters.
There are mainly two types of respirators: air-purifying respirators (APRs) and supplied-air respirators (SARs).
APRs are the most common. They're used for general jobs such as sanding, spray-painting and basic demo. Some work with filters or cartridges, such as half-masks and full-masks. Others don't, such as dust masks. APRs that use a filter trap particles as you breathe in. Those that use a cartridge, such as gas masks, absorb gases and vapours.
Then there are SARs. These respirators feed clean air to the user from a compressed air tank. SARs are used for serious jobs such as remediation or installing spray-foam insulation. The average homeowner shouldn't need an SAR. If a job requires one, call a pro.
Dust masks cover your nose and mouth. They provide minimum protection. This makes them disposable. You throw them out after every use or when they're full. How do you know they're full? They look dirty and you'll notice it gets harder to breathe.
Half masks require filters and cartridges you attach to the respirator. These masks are good for heavier jobs when debris or particles are in the air, such as sanding or spray-painting. Replace filters before they clog and cartridges before they're full. A clogged filter makes it harder to breathe. A full cartridge will start to leak. In both cases, you're breathing in contaminants. Not good.
How often you replace filters and cartridges depends on how quickly they're getting full. If you're a heavy breather, you'll clog them faster.
Full masks provide the same breathing protection as half masks, but they also have a visor for eye protection. Whether a full mask is better than a half mask depends on the job.
Some people might think a full mask is better, but we have to remember that full-mask respirators are uncomfortable. You might want to take it off more often than a half mask, which defeats the purpose. If that's the case, wearing a half mask with safety eyewear might be a better choice.
In the end, it depends on what a safety professional recommends, what the MSDS (material safety data sheet) of the materials you use dictates and your working environment. Why is environment important? Because some contaminants, such as oil, are known to break down certain filters.
No matter what respirator you have, the manufacturer's instructions are the be-all and end-all for using it the right way and how to take care of it.
They tell you what filters and cartridges to use, how to put the respirator on (don) and take it off (doff) properly, and how to do a seal check. It's different for every respirator.
Every time you use a respirator, you need to do a seal check. If the mask isn't sealed, it's useless.
A beard, long sideburns and even stubble break the seal. My guys shave if we're using respirators on a job. Luckily, I don't have to worry about the girls on the crew.
If you don't wear a respirator when you should, you'll be seeing interesting stuff for a week every time you blow your nose. But more importantly, you're risking your lungs. No job is worth that.
For more information on how to choose, use and care for respirators, contact the Canadian Standards Association. You can also contact governmental occupational health and safety officials in your area.
Catch Mike in his new series, Best of Holmes on Homes, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on HGTV. For more information, visit hgtv.ca . For more information on home renovations, visit makeitright.ca
Renovation & Design
SOLUTIONS: In a fog over ice cubes? The answer is clear
QUESTION: I am having a dinner party next week and would like to serve cocktails. Can you tell me how to make perfectly clear ice cubes instead of white or foggy cubes? Charissa, Portage la Prairie
ANSWER: The trick is to boil distilled water twice! In other words, pour distilled water into a pot and boil. Let cool and repeat. Freeze cubes in trays. Or if your party has a theme, freeze water in silicone moulds or a new rubber glove. Secure the opening of the glove with a rubber band and freeze. Remove the rubber band and glove and drop the giant ice hand into a bowl of punch. Feel free to get creative and add food colouring!
QUESTION: I have all three of your books and enjoy giving them out as gifts. I do, however, have a question that I could not find the answer to in your books. My son bought a $40 baseball hat; I nearly fell over when I saw the price tag. The worst part is that the hat is white. What is the best way to clean it? I have heard that it's OK to put it in the dishwasher or washing machine. Any suggestions? Shirley, Winnipeg
ANSWER: I would be very careful about fabric care on this one. Forget about risking the dishwasher; while dishwasher detergent works well sometimes it often leaves small irreversible spots on the fabric where bleach from the dishwasher touched the hat. Too risky. The washing machine may also work but can damage the rim of the hat leaving it flimsy or misshaped. Too risky. Instead soak the hat in a bowl of enough hot water to cover the hat, half-teaspoon dish soap and half cup of borax. Leave for two or three hours. Scrub if necessary, rinse and repeat if needed. Dry the hat on an inverted plastic or glass bowl.
QUESTION: I do hope you have an alternative to mouse traps or poison. We just don't have the stomach to kill or, perhaps worse, find maimed but alive mice in a trap. It's too cruel. This week two were found alive, one with a crushed jaw, one with an injured leg. We must find a way to repel them from entering the building. Thank you, Jana, Winnipeg
ANSWER: Mice love peanut butter even more than cheese. Locate a five-gallon (18 L) bucket with a lid. Cover the bucket and cut a four-inch (10 cm) hole in the lid. Make a ramp so that the mice can climb up and fall in. Spread peanut butter around the hole. Leave the bucket empty and, after they fall in, take them at least six miles (10 km) from your home before releasing them. If you have mice in your home, flatten an empty toilet paper roll; put peanut butter on one end, tape roll to counter extending beyond the edge. Put bucket on the floor underneath the counter, so the mouse will fall in.
To deter mice spread many fabric softener sheets around where the mice like to congregate or shaving cream on a cotton ball or oil of peppermint or Irish Spring soap slivers. These are all mouse deterrents.
QUESTION: I followed a recipe for making cinnamon buns but the results were disappointing. The buns did not rise as I had hoped any idea why? Graham, Clear Lake
ANSWER: First of all, did you turn on your oven light when the buns were rising in the oven? This step is important because it warms up the small space. The temperature of homes will vary, which is anything but friendly to yeast. By using your oven light, you are creating a warm, draft-free environment that is stable.
A second possibility of why the buns did not rise is that the yeast was either old or bad. Yeast is a living organism and its life is fairly limited. So, if you're using active dry yeast, one of the first steps is making sure the little imprinted expiration date is in order.
If you want to make sure your yeast is active before you dive into a weekend of bread making, begin by activating the yeast, simply dissolve the yeast in warm (not too hot and not too cold) water, add a pinch of sugar, cover and let it sit in a warm spot for about 10 minutes. It should be bubbly; in fact, a really active batch will have a sort of "foam" on the top of the water, almost as if you poured cold beer into a glass.
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 website: reena.ca
