Weekly Maintenance for your Home

December – Week 52

Just like preventative maintenance on your car, if you take care of a few small items around the house every week, you can avoid many emergency breakdowns and expensive repairs.

CHRISTMAS SAFETY is even more critical AFTER CHRISTMAS. The celebrations are over but not the holidays nor the holiday decorations. It is time for a safety check because we tend to ignore holiday decorations after Christmas and we seldom realise that the house itself has been functioning longer and hotter than any other time of the year. Unfortunately Christmas time is a busy time for the Fire Department.

Check number one — the dryness of real Christmas trees. If the needles are drying out, you may want to remove that tree before your planned date. Don't let a dry, fire-prone tree remain in your house. If it has retained its moisture, keep an eye on it.

Check number two — changes since your initial decoration. Has anyone put candles near the Christmas tree that shouldn't be that close? Someone may put a decorative candle near the tree and another might light it. Don't leave candles where they should not be lit. Is there package wrapping lying around? Collect it all as it is highly flammable.

Check number three — You carefully installed extension cords when you set everything up for Christmas, but things may have changed since then. Has anyone plugged more things into the extension cords you installed for the lights? You may be overloading the circuits with some of those Christmas toys. Check to see if any outlets or extension cord ends are warm to the touch. See that all cords are run safely where no-one can trip on them, or maybe accidentally pull the tree down. Check outdoor wires to be sure they too are still safely installed.

Check number four — Christmas time is a time when we have heavy and more continuous occupancy of the house than the rest of the year. If you have a wood burning appliance or any seldom used heating device, it has probably been working harder than any other time of the year. Feel all surfaces near the appliance to see if they are hot. This includes the floor in front of the appliance. If unusually hot, shut down the appliance or move objects further away. What is normally an acceptable heat load can become excessive if it is continuous over several days time. Also check the roof for ice accumulation. The extra continuous heat in the house could cause some ice or ice cycle build up on the roof that you don't normally have. You don't want this falling on anyone's head.