Rick is having trouble with the smoke detector near his kitchen going off too often and he wants to turn down its sensitivity. You can't do that Rick, but the real problem is that you probably have the wrong alarm installed near the kitchen. There are three types of fire alarms.The most sensiti...
Here is a great gadget for protecting small children around water.This little turtle bracelet clips onto the kids wrist and cannot be taken off except by the parent's plastic key. When it gets wet, a loud alarm inside the house immediately sounds off, and won't stop until you turn it off.You ins...
Knob and tube wiring is safe if it is in good condition and it is doing no more than it was designed to do. In fact it was an very good wiring system designed to keep the two wires far apart from each other and well protected as it ran through the house.What could make it unsafe?Rodents gnawing ...
In this segment we walked through that first aid kit with paramedic Sheryl Jackson. Sheryl talked about the ABC's of first aid:A - Airways: make sure that the person's airway is clear and they are able to breath on their own or with assistance.B - Breathing: check that they have a pulse. If ...
Wagish wrote to say that he "has observed the workmen building my new home placing ladders against the window panes rather than against the brick wall. Is this safe?"Very simply -- NO. The reason workmen do this is that it allows them to caulk both sides and the top of the window without moving...
When you are working in an older house and pull down that ceiling light fixture, you may discover a wiring job that could be endangering your house. By code, and for good reason, all electrical connections must be made inside metal boxes that are accessible. That means that you don't cover junc...
I received a letter from an astute viewer who noticed a mushroom head on a chisel while we were watching the "restoration" of an old brick building. He told the story of someone he knew who almost lost an eye because of a piece of metal flying off the butt of a mushroomed chisel, and rightly chi...
There are a number of appliances around the house that have user or trade adjustable temperatures and it is not always simple to get them right.Hot Water HeatersMost Hot Water heaters for domestic hot water are factory set to 66deg C. ( 150F ). This is actually hot enough to scald someone so legi...
Although we tend to associate the term accessibility with wheelchairs, in reality it is much larger than that. Accessibility can relate to people who are extremely short or extremely tall, to very young people or very old people who have trouble holding on to things, or seeing things -- anyone w...
Andy in Oshawa Ontario has a basement stairway that is too steep, it is difficult to walk down this stairway. He says that he can't change the stairway and only wants to cover the treads with something that will give him a bit of a grip.Because of our snow, in most of Canada you can buy rubber s...
