We all have valuables that we need to have protected, whether it is from a burglar, nosy child, fire, or floods. Documents, jewelry, or anything else that may be valuable to you can be put inside and safe and be almost completely protected from anything that might have happened to them outside of it. Making an investment in a safe can possibly save you thousands of dollars, simply depending on what you choose to keep inside it.
Depending on your situation, there are a few different kinds of safes that you can consider. Do you need a waterproof safe because you live in an area prone to floods or hurricanes? Or an area prone to wildfires? Or do you want a combination of the two? Both kinds of protection are good to have, since water damaged documents can be a hassle to deal with and a fire can do away with them completely.
Safes that are fireproof have the feature of having a positive pressure inside them that will keep water from getting inside, but unfortunately if there is not a fire present to create this pressure, water can get inside these and cause damage to your items. If possible, try to purchase a safe that is both waterproof and fireproof.
There is also the choice of where you want your safe to be located. Portable safes are good if you do a lot of traveling and want a thief to have a hard time getting to your valuables, even if they can pick it up and take it out of your room. It will take them a while to get your belongings out of the safe, to be sure, and it is very possible that the police will catch them before they have a chance.
A floor safe is just what the name implies: a safe that you install directly into the floor. You can cover this with a rug or a piece of furniture to make sure that no one sees it. A safe installed into the floor should be waterproof, since the floor is the first thing that flood waters will reach.
A wall safe offers the same kind of concealment that a floor safe offers and you can cover these with tapestries, mirrors, or photographs. Make sure you choose the correct depth for it, however, so you get the right one for your wall.
Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Westchester County Water Damage Repair and
Elizabeth NJ Water Damage Repair Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Monday, February 4, 2008
How To Restore Smoke Damaged Clothing
Anyone who has been the victim of a house fire will tell you that the cleanup that you have to do afterward is a huge chore and that a lot of things in your house will either have to be cleaned thoroughly or have to be replaced. Unfortunately, this includes something that everyone has to use on a daily basis: clothing. The vast majority of us have to wear clothing every day of our lives and if a fire were to affect our whole wardrobe, a lot of us would be in some trouble.
Fortunately for us, though, cleaning smoke damaged clothing is not always as difficult as some might make it out to be. You will need to sort your clothing fairly heavily, though, since there are so many factors involved. How soiled the clothing is, what it is made out of, and what color it is. This will be the most time consuming part of the whole task.
Some things will need to be dry cleaned, but you do not want to take these to a normal dry cleaning service. Make sure that the dry cleaning service that you are dealing with has experience in dealing with smoke damaged clothing items.
Sort your clothes. Lightly soiled clothing should be put into one group and heavily soiled items into another. Sort them further by dividing them into kinds of fabric. Put synthetic fabrics into one pile and organics such as wool and cotton in another. Further sort them by color type. Bright warm colors, cool colors, dark colors, and reds should be given their own group. Do not be concerned over whether there is enough in each pile to constitute a full load. Washing them separately like this is necessary.
Before you wash the heavily soiled clothing, take them outside and shake them out. The excess soot and ash need to be removed so that the water in the washing machine does not become too saturated with dirt to be of any real use. Heavily soiled clothes should be washed twice or more.
Use as much detergent as the washer requires and add about a cup of water conditioner to the mix. Some all-fabric bleach can also be used. Use as much water as your machine can handle for each load.
Synthetic items should be washed in warm water so that they do not start to wrinkle during the washer’s spin cycle. Wrinkles can be difficult to remove from synthetic fabrics.
Hang the clothes out to dry instead of using the dryer, but do not do this in your basement or a confined area. Clothes should never be hung to dry inside the house; only do this outside. After they dry, smell them and see if the smoke odor is still there. If it is, wash them again and repeat the drying process.
Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Manhattan Water Damage Repair
and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Fortunately for us, though, cleaning smoke damaged clothing is not always as difficult as some might make it out to be. You will need to sort your clothing fairly heavily, though, since there are so many factors involved. How soiled the clothing is, what it is made out of, and what color it is. This will be the most time consuming part of the whole task.
Some things will need to be dry cleaned, but you do not want to take these to a normal dry cleaning service. Make sure that the dry cleaning service that you are dealing with has experience in dealing with smoke damaged clothing items.
Sort your clothes. Lightly soiled clothing should be put into one group and heavily soiled items into another. Sort them further by dividing them into kinds of fabric. Put synthetic fabrics into one pile and organics such as wool and cotton in another. Further sort them by color type. Bright warm colors, cool colors, dark colors, and reds should be given their own group. Do not be concerned over whether there is enough in each pile to constitute a full load. Washing them separately like this is necessary.
Before you wash the heavily soiled clothing, take them outside and shake them out. The excess soot and ash need to be removed so that the water in the washing machine does not become too saturated with dirt to be of any real use. Heavily soiled clothes should be washed twice or more.
Use as much detergent as the washer requires and add about a cup of water conditioner to the mix. Some all-fabric bleach can also be used. Use as much water as your machine can handle for each load.
Synthetic items should be washed in warm water so that they do not start to wrinkle during the washer’s spin cycle. Wrinkles can be difficult to remove from synthetic fabrics.
Hang the clothes out to dry instead of using the dryer, but do not do this in your basement or a confined area. Clothes should never be hung to dry inside the house; only do this outside. After they dry, smell them and see if the smoke odor is still there. If it is, wash them again and repeat the drying process.
Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Manhattan Water Damage Repair
and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wet Basements and Mold
Those of us who have basements in our homes see it as either a curse or a blessing, depending on the condition of it. You can leave the drywall and carpet out of the basement and use it for storage like many homeowners do or you can put it in and use it for an extra bedroom, family room, or an area to entertain guests. The bad thing about using the basement sometimes, though, is that if it is not properly waterproofed, you can have some moisture and humidity issues to deal with later on if you are not dealing with them already. No one wants to stay in a humid, smelly basement for long and this will turn off any guests that you might want to have over in that area.
Take care of any indoor water issues first. This can include bursting water pipes, hot water heater (that really should be in the basement and nowhere else) or if you use a portion of the basement as a laundry room, it can be a malfunctioning clothes washer. Make sure that your dryer has a vent so that the excess humidity will be directed to the outside of the house. It is also a good idea to never hang clothes up to dry in the basement, unless it is just a single article or two. Water evaporates from the clothing and settles into the air, creating humidity. Clothes should also be dried in the electric dryer as soon as they are done washing to help reduce this problem.
Another thing you should do, especially if you use the basement for a laundry room or if you have an extra bathroom in it, is install an exhaust vent. You can do this in more than one spot if you need to, depending on the size of your basement. This will displace some of the humidity to the outside of the house and not allow it to be soaked up by the ceiling.
Another thing to worry about when you have a humid basement is mold. Mold loves to grow on any dead organic material and once it starts growing, you will be hard pressed to get rid of it without removing the source of the water first. If you have water issues in the basement, make sure these are taken care of before putting any carpet down, since carpet that becomes molded is hard to clean and any padding underneath it that becomes contaminated will have to be torn up and thrown away.
Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Queens Water Removal
and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Flooding Emergency Service Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Take care of any indoor water issues first. This can include bursting water pipes, hot water heater (that really should be in the basement and nowhere else) or if you use a portion of the basement as a laundry room, it can be a malfunctioning clothes washer. Make sure that your dryer has a vent so that the excess humidity will be directed to the outside of the house. It is also a good idea to never hang clothes up to dry in the basement, unless it is just a single article or two. Water evaporates from the clothing and settles into the air, creating humidity. Clothes should also be dried in the electric dryer as soon as they are done washing to help reduce this problem.
Another thing you should do, especially if you use the basement for a laundry room or if you have an extra bathroom in it, is install an exhaust vent. You can do this in more than one spot if you need to, depending on the size of your basement. This will displace some of the humidity to the outside of the house and not allow it to be soaked up by the ceiling.
Another thing to worry about when you have a humid basement is mold. Mold loves to grow on any dead organic material and once it starts growing, you will be hard pressed to get rid of it without removing the source of the water first. If you have water issues in the basement, make sure these are taken care of before putting any carpet down, since carpet that becomes molded is hard to clean and any padding underneath it that becomes contaminated will have to be torn up and thrown away.
Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Queens Water Removal
and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Flooding Emergency Service Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
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