Secure Handrails for a Safe and Healthy Home
Handrails help with stability and balance on stairs. The handrails in your home should be securely attached to the wall. Building codes require handrails when there are more than two risers, and the rails need to be installed at a height of 34” – 38”. Always check your local building codes when making renovations or repairs that involve safety concerns. Your local regulations may have more specific requirements.
Install Motion-Detecting Lights
Motion-detecting lights turn on at any sign of movement. These fixtures are useful because the lights are automatic and light up when you arrive home at night. Motion-sensing lights also help ward off would-be intruders. If someone comes onto your property after dark, they turn on and flood the yard with light. Some of the best places for motion lights are near the backyard deck, above your garage door, and in the side yard.
Keep a Home Healthy and Safe by Improving Air Quality
Many homes have poor indoor air quality. Irritants in your home’s air contribute to allergy-like symptoms and headaches and worsen the condition of asthma-sufferers. Keep your home clean by dusting and vacuuming at least twice weekly.
Change the filter in your HVAC system every 30 to 90 days, or as recommended by the manufacturer to help improve indoor air quality. Remove shoes when coming inside and don’t allow smoking indoors. Install an air purifier in rooms where symptoms seem to be the worst.
Use Nightlights to Boost Safety
Nightlights provide just enough Illumination to brighten hallways, bathrooms, and kitchens after dark, but they’re not bright enough to disturb sleep patterns. These small and inexpensive fixtures help improve safety in your home. Older family members and young children will be safer with light to guide them through the house at night.
Store Cleaners and Chemicals in a Safe Place
An easy way to improve safety in your home is to keep chemicals out of the reach of children and pets. Move prescription and over-the-counter medicines to a high cabinet and install a lock. Store car-care products like motor oil, cleaning products, and antifreeze in a locked cabinet in the garage.
Especially in a household with young children, keep cleaning products on a high shelf or in a cabinet secured with child-locks. Laundry detergent pods, brightly colored glass cleaner, paints, scented furniture polish, and other products can spark interest in curious children.
JVC Home Inspection offers home inspection services in Central Florida. Contact us to request an appointment.