Home Safety

Home Safety and You

The importance of home safety is not in the way you look at your home for the insurance costs and risks, but in the way you maintain your house and property to make it not just safe, but long lasting and valuable to all.

We hope that this article will provide you with some guidelines for looking at your home with an eye on safety and improving the value of your property, because your home may just be your most valuable asset.

Among other things, keeping your home well maintained protects its value as an investment and improves its appearance.

The following items are a simple guideline of home safety tips that you can apply in your everyday living.

Have the gutters been cleaned recently? This should be done every Spring and Fall to remove leaves, dirt and any nests or material left by birds and small animals. If these materials are not removed, they can impede water runoff, which can cause damage to the gutters and the roof.

Do you have ice dams on the roof in the winter months? This ice build-up on the roof, evidenced by evidenced hanging down from the roof of your home, can cause water from snow and ice melt to puddle and subsequently cause damage to the roof. Proper insulation and air ventilation in the attic of your home can prevent this from happening and save you money on your heating and cooling costs.

Is there a build up of mold or mildew on the walls and ceiling in the attic? If so, your attic’s ventilation and insulation needs improvement. If left untreated, this mold and mildew can cause considerable damage to the walls and roof.

Take a close look at the outside walls of your house. You may see evidence of insects. Particularly on warm evenings, just after dark with a quick inspection of the wails using a flashlight you may find large black carpenter ants on the wails. These ants can cause considerable damage to the wood structures of your home. Mud tunnels running along the cement foundation of your house may be evidence of termites, which can also do considerable damage.

You should check the window frames for rotting wood both inside and outside. Rotted wood can lead to more significant damage from insects and weather

Check the siding and any masonry work on the side of your house. If there is evidence of warped, lose or rotted siding or loose masonry work, these should be attended to promptly to prevent further damage. The exterior wails and trim of your house may need paint. Fresh paint not only improves the appearance of your home, but it also protects the siding and trim.

If you have a fireplace or a woodstove, these should be cleaned annually by a qualified professional. This minimizes the risk of a serious fire.

Loose or rotted boards on the porches or steps of your home should be replaced. These are hazards to people walking in these areas and may foretell of even more hidden damage.

Porch railings should be secure to make certain that they are safe if people grab onto them for support.

Any large cracks or broken surfaces in walkways or driveways should be repaired to provide a safe surface for people walling on them and to prevent further damage from occurring.

Galvanized pipes in the plumbing system may be corroded due to age. If not replaced, these could lead to pipe leakage or burst, which could cause severe damage to your house and its contents.

Heating, hot water and air conditioning systems should be periodically cleaned and inspected by a qualified professional in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. If not done on a regular basis, fire or water damage could occur.

If your house has a septic system, it should be pumped and inspected periodically. Doing this adds to the efficiency and life of your system. If left undone, the system can deteriorate causing back up, expensive repairs and even the possibility of a very expensive system replacement.

Electrical circuits should not be overloaded. Overloaded circuits may cause slow heat build up in the wiring, which is a potential fire hazard.

Any poor or faulty electrical wiring at switches or outlets should be repaired to prevent the possibility of fire.

Household appliances such as clothes dryers, washers, refrigerators, freezers and stoves should be maintained in accordance with manufacturers specifications to add to their life, maintain their efficiency and prevent fire.

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Independent insurance brokers providing personalized financial planning and insurance services including homeowners insurance, business insurance, professional liability and group medical benefits. Murray, Schoen & Homer Inc is a New York State licensed insurance agency located in New Rochelle, NY and serves the surrounding Westchester County communities including Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Mt. Vernon, Harrison, Eastchester and Pelham, New York.

As a licensed entity in the State of New York we want to notify you that this is not an offer to sell insurance or an
advertisement of insurance anywhere except the State of New York, United States of America.