Residential Real EstateQuick Fixes For Three Common Household Emergencies
It"s Murphy"s Law that the majority of household emergencies occur at the
most inopportune moments. You lose power, for example, while you"re asleep,
meaning that your alarm never goes off to wake you for that critical early
morning meeting with a prospective client who, if successfully wooed, will
launch you and your company to instant prosperity. Or you lose hot water at
precisely the time when you need to take a shower ... and it happens to be
the coldest day of the year, a time during which a cold shower amounts to
water torture. Or you"re planning to prepare a home-cooked meal for someone
special ... and if you can just distract him or her from the water dripping
into the bucket in the corner of your dining room, the evening should be
perfect.
Homeowners can solve some of the most common household maladies themselves.
Others are just going to elude your abilities, and you"ll have to rely on
the skills of a professional. Another law in Murphy"s book: When you need
the phone number of a professional and you need it fast, you won"t be able
to locate it. That"s why it"s a good idea to post the numbers of your
trusted plumber, electric company and gas company, electrician, heating/air
conditioning repair company, etc., next to your telephone. You may even
consider making copies of that list and keeping it near every phone in the
house. In the event of a power outage, you don"t want to seriously injure
yourself on your way to the one phone in your house with the list beside it
(Murphy"s Law #187: You won"t be anywhere near that phone when you lose
power).
If you discover (when you turn on the water full force, of course) that
you"re out of hot water, first, stop shouting. Then find your water heater.
It"s usually located in your utility room, in the basement if you have one,
or in a separate closet usually off the hallway in which your bedrooms are
located. If it"s a gas heater, you"ll want to see if your pilot light is
still on. The pilot light is located at the bottom of your water heater. If
the light is out, find the master control valve (also located at the bottom
of your heater), and turn off the gas. Then open all of your windows to
remove any traces of gas from the air inside your home. Call the gas or
utility company, and arrange to have a professional relight the pilot light
in your water heater. Then bundle up, microwave yourself a cup of hot
chocolate, and wait for the pro to arrive.
If you own an electric heater, check your fuse box to see if you"ve got a
blown fuse. If that"s not the case, one of your circuit breakers could be
open.
If you"ve got an electrical power outage -- and you"re awake to notice it
-- this is the time when you"re going to wish you"d had the foresight to
purchase a flashlight to keep on hand for emergencies like this. If you"ve
already got one, great. If you don"t, light some candles if you can locate
them (and your matches or lighter). The first step is to determine whether
this power outage is neighborhood-wide, or if you were singled out to have
this much fun.
If only your house is affected, you"ve probably either blown a fuse or
tripped a circuit breaker. To determine which, if either one, is the case,
find your fuse box (probably located in the same place as your water heater
-- in the utility room or basement), and check the service panel inside.
This panel tells you whether you"ve got fuses or circuit breakers. There"s
not much guesswork here: Fuses generally are round, glass fixtures arranged
in rows. Circuits, on the other hand, are black switches, which can be
reset very easily. To reset a tripped circuit breaker, find the switch that
either doesn"t line up with the other switches on the service panel, or the
switch that"s displaying a red tab, drawing your attention to it. Once
you"ve identified that switch, simply shut it off, then turn it back on to
restore power.
If you"ve blown a fuse, you"ve got more work ahead of you. To locate the
blown fuse, you"ll need to identify the one that appears different. Look
for one that appears burnt behind its glass covering, or one with a spring
that appears contracted instead of stretched like the others. Once you"ve
identified the blown fuse, you"ll have to replace it with an identical one.
Ask a professional if you have any doubts that you"ve purchased the right
replacement. Installing a more powerful fuse than the one you"re replacing
is dangerous.
"Tis the season for roof leaks. If you live anywhere on the Southeast coast
and were lucky enough to be spared the total devastation of our recent
hurricanes, you probably still were subjected to frequent downpours of
rain. And with that comes roof leaks. Your first step, once again, is to
identify the source of the problem either in your ceiling or the roof of
your attic, if you have one. It"s best to take a flashlight in order to
pinpoint the exact spot of the leak. Mark the spot with a pen or marker,
and place a large pot or bucket underneath it until the professionals
arrive. If you"ve got an attic leak, and your attic consists of a vaulted
ceiling and beams with no floor, place a board on top of the beams
underneath the leak, and place your pot/bucket on top of the board. Then
call a professional to seal up the leak.
One other piece of advice: In the event of one of the above-mentioned
household emergencies, be prepared to discover another one soon. Because
after all, bad things happen in threes; that"s another Murphy"s Law for the
books. But with a little foresight and a phone list, you"ll hold your own.