Health & Safety

How To – Staying Cool in a Heat or Power Outage Emergency

Summer storms and other events can knock out power to your home during the hottest days of the year. In the Washington DC area this summer about 800,000 homes saw loss of power for days to weeks and every summer dozens of people die an many more end up in hospital emergency rooms.

The hardest hit are the elderly and young. Having people close to me that are both it is very true that people …

How To – Understanding Long Term Food Storage Methods and Products

http://www.yourepair.com/yrblog/wp-content/HLIC/a4d3b6c0b5b92770110c0c38c12e9eaa.jpgThere are many reasons to store food for later use. Many gardeners will save food by canning and for products that need to be refrigerated a good stand alone freezer will extend the shelf life of many regular foods.

The most important thing to remember when storing food is that you want to keep it air tight and when necessary adding a preservative is a good idea. Even if you are doing your own canning you probably …

How To – Preparing Your home to survive a Wild Fire

Unfortunately many communities are hit by wild fires and your location in the United States really does not matter all areas are effected to some degree.

Trying to protect your home from wild fires may not work in every situation but if you take steps before you are effected you may find that your home survives. We have all seen pictures where a few homes on a street survive without damage while the rest of …

How To – Extending the life of Store bought Produce Vegetables

Everything is going up in price and it will be a trend that never reverses… unfortunately when you can’t rely on your garden for fresh vegetables you will have to buy what you can and look for the best deals.

Most stores will have rotating sales for their produce offerings.. I have found a few local stores that will put bananas on sale one day a week just to get customers shopping. This is a …

How To – Safety Shoes for Home and Work

Whether you are a professional contractor or just trying to be one on the weekend it is important to take care of yourself while working on your projects.

There are a variety of different safety clothing choices including Eye Protection that must ALWAYS be worn, Welding Aprons and Paint Suits that are good for painting and cleanup of some seriously messy things.. but today we are going to take a quick look at what types …

How To – Dealing with a Burst Plumbing Pipe Emergency

Burst pipes can happen at anytime of the year but more often then not they happen in the winter if your pipes are in an unheated or uninsulated area of your home.

In this howto we will cover what you should do in such an emergency and then how you can make a quick repair if possible.

The most important thing to remember is to keep your cool. If you start freaking out when a pipe …

2.2 Million in Central USA Plan for Feb 7, 2012 The Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill

On February 7, 2012, at 10:15 a.m.* CST, more than 2.2 million people across nine states will participate in the 2012
Great Central U.S. ShakeOut!

The ShakeOut is an opportunity to practice how to protect yourself during earthquakes, and to get prepared. along with your family, community, co-workers, state, and and region.

We all must get better prepared before the next big earthquake, and practice how to protect ourselves when it happens. The purpose of the ShakeOut is to help people and organizations …

How To – Home Security Systems for Apartment Renters

Wireless alarm system for ApartmentsThere are many reasons that people choose renting over owning their own home. Often it is for convenience or it could be for temporary housing when moving to a new location or it could just be the cost. Whatever the reason it does not mean that you have to do without a dependable security system that you can purchase and control yourself.

The problem with home security systems is that they …

How To – Baby Proofing Your Home

If you are an expectant parent or if you have children in your home it is important to take precautions to make your surroundings safer for kids. This is also important if you often care for a relatives or neighbors children on a regular basis.

Probably one of the most important things to do when protecting your kids from your house is to ask other parents or try to remember your own childhood if you …

How To – Wood Burning Fireplace Guide

Many older homes and even some new homes have wood burning fireplaces.  For most of the year they are not much more then decoration but for those few months in the winter they can add warmth and pleasure to your home.

One of the biggest concerns about fireplaces is that you are actually making a conscious decision to light a fire inside your home. Yes this is a little crazy …