Preventing Home Emergencies: 6 Essential Foundations We All Need

Source – CC0 License

We’ve got it all wrong when it comes to emergencies. Rather than being reactive, we’ve got to be preventative. Home emergencies can strike at any time, but with careful planning, this doesn’t need to be the case. We should anticipate potential home emergencies, and here are a few tips that can make a massive difference. 

Insulating Your Pipes

While there are 24/7 emergency plumbing services available, if you find that your pipes are vulnerable in specific weather, for example, during the winter, you would need to insulate them so water doesn’t freeze inside them. 

Keeping the Drains Clean

It’s a very common concern in modern homes. Drains get blocked for a number of different reasons, from grease to excessive hair. The best approach is to keep the drains clean by regularly placing drain unblocker down it, and avoiding throwing anything down there. We can think that anything out of sight is out of mind, which is a very dangerous mindset, especially if you’re putting oil or anything with saturated fat down the drain. Saturated fats such as coconut oil will resolidify in the drain, creating a massive blockage. 

Be Careful With Electrical Appliances

One of the main reasons we get electricity problems in the home is because we either overload the circuits or we use faulty appliances. When we plug in multiple devices, we overload the circuits, which could cause a power cut. We need to get our fuse box checked on a regular basis, but we should also understand that any faulty electrical device could spell major danger, such as an electrical fire or electrocution. If you believe you’ve got a faulty appliance, you should get it checked by a qualified electrician. 

Testing Your Alarms

Your smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm, and burglar alarm all need to be tested on a regular basis. A very simple thing, but testing can help you to prevent numerous problems. 

Have First Aid Equipment

No matter how much you do to prevent problems in the home, there is still the likelihood of getting hurt. It’s vital to provide as much medical attention as possible. A first aid kit is going to help you, but you should also think about what situations could occur. You could learn first aid yourself, which means that you won’t need to sit back panicked in a major emergency.

Understand Your DIY Limits

If you start getting into home maintenance, you have to consider if you are going to benefit your property or if are you just going to cause more problems. Everybody wants to save money and therefore, before you do any DIY work you’ve got to make sure you know what you’re doing, inside and out, but also know your limits. If you are considering fixing a pipe, you can’t just start drilling and hammering; you need to have an understanding of the piping system inside your property. The best thing to do is to build up your confidence gradually by doing smaller tasks, but when it comes to major work, leave it to the professionals.