There are many safety considerations that go along with making updates and improvements to your home. When it comes to the world of home energy, this is no different.
Whether you are making improvements to your home energy system or doing regular maintenance checks, it’s important to always keep certain safety precautions in mind. However, safety is far too often overlooked. We’ve developed this two part blog series and included a few tips in each post to keep in mind when it comes to common home energy updates and improvements.
- Prevent excessive dust & allergens in the home. With poor ventilation, the home’s indoor air quality can decrease significantly. Proper installation and maintenance of your home’s energy system can keep air quality high indoors. If dust and allergens are floating around the air in your home, the chance of respiratory issues, especially to those with preexisting allergies, is very high. Dust and allergens can be harmful to one’s lungs and cause potentially severe breathing issues for you or your family.
- Remove mold & asbestos from your home. Black mold and asbestos can be extremely dangerous to the wellbeing of your family. Asbestos is a mineral that’s been used in countless products over the years – from wallboard and insulation to small appliances – to take advantage of its sound, fire and thermal-resistance properties. It happens that this mineral is extremely harmful to humans, potentially causing severe respiratory and nervous system damage. Especially if you are making home improvements to walls and insulation, be sure to have the existing structure checked for asbestos. Black mold can have similarly dangerous effects on you or your family. Mold in the home is often cause by poor insulation or bad air flow and ventilation that cause excessive moisture. If you see mold (especially black in color), be sure to address it right away. Most mold and mold spores can be cleaned and killed with either soapy water mixtures or, in extreme cases, water and bleach mixtures.
- Always keep window safety in mind. Windows are a source of heat containment in the winter and can be a natural way to cool and ventilate the house in the summer months. It’s important to keep in mind some common window safety throughout the house. Always make sure you have properly installed windows with safety features built in – especially if you have children. When opening windows, make sure the windows you choose to open are out of reach for your children and ensure there’s no furniture that places the window “within climbing distance.” Always be sure the windows in your home fall within building code and have proper guards or security bars.
These are just a few of the many safety precautions that homeowners should be mindful of when maintaining or improving their homes. We’ll follow up with a few more in the following post. If you’re uncertain about the overall safety of your home, contact us today to schedule an appointment with a qualified technician.
