Home Safety Explained

by Murray Anderson

We all like to think of our homes as being safe places for our families and try to be vigilant about getting rid of any potential hazards to make sure our homes are safe. However, even after we know there are no potentially deadly gas leaks , the doors and windows close and lock tightly, and install smoke detectors, in many homes there are still a couple of potential safety hazards most people never think about. Interested in what they are? The unknown hazards are your unmaintained clothes dryer and if you ever have moisture in your basement any time during the year, there's the possibility toxic mold may be in your house.

Clothes Dryer

It's hard to think of a clothes dryer as a potential home safety hazard, but it's estimated there are over 15,000 fires in the US every year caused by a clothes dryer. Most often dryer vents get blocked with lint causing the dryer to overheat then catch on fire.
While cleaning a dryer's lint filter every time the machine is used helps control lint build up, over time, lint that isn't trapped in the filter will build up in the crevices of the dryer vent line itself, slowly blocking it off and effectively trapping heat inside the dryer. Since dryer lint is a great fire starter (just ask any Scout or campers), with a blocked vent line you've got a real fire hazard in your home.
Fortunately getting rid of the dryer lint is a relatively easy job. Dryer vent cleaning kits are available at most home or hardware stores that include a round 4” brush and usually a flexible shaft that can be extended or added on to, making it long enough to reach through the length of the vent.
Cleaning the vent tube is simply a matter of detaching the vent duct/pipe from your dryer and passing the brush through the tube to clear out any built up lint. Doing this every six months or at least annually will help keep your home safe from a deadly dryer fire.
You can give your family an extra level of fire protection by using a straight, metal pipe as your dryer vent pipe rather than the flexible plastic or metal tubes commonly used for dryer vents. The ridges in the flexible pipes catch and hold lint more readily than a straight pipe, making them more of a fire hazard.
If you're wondering if your dryer vent might be blocked or restricted, here's some signs of a blocked dryer vent line -

clothes take longer to dry and aren't fully dry even then
clothe coming out of the dryer are hotter than normal
outside vent flap doesn't open fully – indicating a lack of air movement
the outside of the dryer feels hot

Deadly mold

Mold is unfortunately an unseen (so its seldom thought about) health and safety hazard lurking in many American homes. Common mold is made up of tiny microscopic organisms that are literally everywhere in the world - the ground, in the air, on plants and growing on organic matter. While the vast majority of molds are harmless to people, some forms of mold – commonly called toxic mold can be extremely harmful to humans. Mold in a home's environment can cause breathing problems for healthy people, increase the severity of asthma and allergies for others and in severe cases toxic mold can literally cause brain damage and even death,

Understanding a little about mold

Mold spores needs three things to grow

A warm temperature – just like humans, mold likes to grow where it's warm.
Food – mold can survive on almost anything organic, so in a home mold will grow on drywall, wood framing, tiles, grout, paint and plaster.
Finally, mold loves moisture. Humidity levels of 70% or above are perfect for mold growth making a warm, damp basement perfect environment for mold to start growing.

Just to give you an idea of how prevalent mold is, it's estimated mold effects about 25% of the homes in the US and they're not all old or homes that haven't been maintained. In fact, the combination of modern building materials (such as drywall), energy saving building practices (that restrict air movement in and out of a building) and central heating and air conditioning systems (that will move mold spores around in a home) along with moisture from a plumbing leak or water getting into the basemen, means mold can grow and thrive in virtually any home in the US.

How to find mold in your home

Mold usually starts growing in the basement and is then spread by the heating and ventilation system to bathrooms, kitchens or even bedrooms – anywhere it can find a welcoming environment.

Commonly a musty smell in your basement is your first indication mold has set up in your home, but, you also need to be aware that it can flourish in other places such as

bathroom or shower walls where moisture is allowed to stay
home humidifiers that aren't properly maintained
washing machines that are kept closed
closets with limited or no air circulations
attics that aren't properly vented through soffits and roof vents

Removing mold

Since mold is a real health hazards any mold in your home needs to be removed Some homeowners prefer to have professionals deal with removing mold from their homes, but with proper preparation and following safe practices a homeowner can usually get rid of mold themselves.

Obviously, the first step is to find where the mold is located. Once you know where the mold is, you need to turn off the furnace or air conditioner and seal the room you will be working in with sheets of plastic.
Wear clothes that can go straight into the trash when the job is finished.
Wear a respirator or breathing mask, rubber gloves and safety glasses.
After all is prepared, dampen the mold to minimize the possibility of any mold spores being released while you work.
Clean the area, first by washing it with soap and water to get rid of as much mold as possible, then disinfect with a mixture of bleach and water. Allow the bleach to sit for 20 minutes, then rinse the area with fresh, clean water and finish by drying the area.
Throw away anything that might have been in contact with the mold - this means in addition to your clothes and gloves, any drywall, insulation, carpet or paper that might have been exposed to the mold. The best way to get of these things is to seal them in trash bags, then put the bags out through a window rather than carrying them out through the entire house.
Finally, air the room out well before using it again.

Stop mold from coming back

After you've gone to the trouble of getting rid of the mold, you need to make sure it doesn't come back. Since all mold loves moisture this means you'll need to stop moisture getting into your home. Often, moisture gets into a home through basement walls or floors, so that's the first area you need to take care of to stop mold from coming back.

Water usually gets into basements in one of three ways -

Surface water running down foundation walls and working it's way in through cracks and openings in the wall.
Groundwater underneath the foundation being forced up through the concrete by hydrostatic pressure.
Plumbing leaks where water works it's way down into the basement, or slab leaks where a pipe buried in a slab foundation breaks or cracks, creating a damp foundation.

Preventing surface water from getting into your basement

In the spring move any piles of snow away from your foundation walls.
Be sure your gutters and downspouts are firmly attached to your home (so water won't run down your roof and in behind your gutters) and are large enough to handle the water volume of melting snow and falling rain.
Ensure your downspouts drain well away from your foundation walls, preferably onto a hard surface like a driveway or walkway that is slanted away from your home.
Finally check that the grade around your foundation slopes away from your home. Commonly after years of planting close to the foundation, the original grade has been changed and now actually slopes towards the home.

Groundwater under the foundation

Subsurface groundwater is more difficult to deal with than surface water. When the earth around or underneath a foundation becomes saturated, hydrostatic pressure will eventually force moisture right through tiny cracks and pores in the concrete and into the home.
Moving groundwater from around a home could require expensive excavation around and under the walls then installing 'weeping tiles' to channel the water away.
Fortunately there's a more cost effective way to deal with the problem – installing a sump pump. A sump is essentially a hole dug though the foundation then lined with plastic liner that allows ground water to flow into the sump. An electric sump pump moves the accumulated water out of the basement and well away from the foundation ensuring the basement remains dry.

Slab leaks and plumbing leaks

Slab leaks are probably the most difficult source of moisture to detect since a leaking pipe buried in a concrete slab won't always give any immediately obvious sign. However, sometimes, it's possible to find a slab or a plumbing leak from a recurring puddle in a particular area of the floor.
If you have a recurring puddle and there are no other signs of a plumbing leak (sounds of water dripping, soft drywall or ceiling) it may be a pipe has ruptured inside the concrete slab.
Repairing a slab leak requires removing any flooring above the area of the leak, opening a hole in the concrete slab itself (either by drilling or chiseling out the concrete), removing the broken section of pipe then installing a replacement piece, followed by mixing and pouring new concrete and finally reinstalling the flooring over the repair. All in all, not an easy of pleasant job that many homeowners will gladly pass over to professionals to keep their basements dry.