This is a post that I am scratching my head about writing. The question is whether I should risk grossing you out.
On the one hand: “fore warned is for armed.” On the other hand: “ignorance is bliss.” If you read down the list, you will get grossed out as you hit some of the places that there are nasty contaminations, like the ones in your bathtub.
The short story, anything that people touch can have germs that may make you sick on it. Anything that people can cough or sneeze onto has germs that can make you ill. Anytime you flush, spray or splash, you can spread germs onto things that you trust are clean.
By the way, not only are all germs are bad, the presence of the ones that are not bad resists the growth of ones that are bad. Think about the good germs as being a rich, full grass lawn. Weeds have a more difficult time growing in a healthy lawn than one that isn’t full and healthy. It’s the same for germs. There are actually proven studies that adding good germs (Probiotics) to surfaces helps resist the growth of harmful germs, bacteria and viruses.
Dirty Places in the Home
Railings: People need railings, particularly the ones that are most susceptible to getting sick from germ exposure. We grab them when we are sick, but very few people ever clean them. Even when we are not sick, we deposit oil and debris from our skin onto the railings which are rich nutrients for when someone who has germs on their hands touched the railing.
Kitchen Sink: Imagine you drop a piece of fruit into the kitchen sink. Most people would pick it up and eat it without washing it first. Remember draining the “juice” from the raw chicken or beef into the sink last night? How about the food from rinsing your plates before popping them into the dishwasher? The food which can grow bad germs can sit out all night and grow Salmonella or E. coli. Wet dish clothes and sponges are even better places from germs to grow than sink surfaces. Many people use these for days of not weeks at a time without disinfection.
Very often, people do a better job of disinfecting their toilet than they do their kitchen sink. The solution is to sanitize your sink with bleach or other disinfection product. To answer the obvious question, yes, toilet bowl cleaner would do the job. Just make sure you rinse out the residue of the cleaner.
Tooth Brushes: Every time you flush the toilet, small particles of moisture go into the bathroom air. They settle on things that are exposed in the bathroom, including your toothbrush. You also have the contamination of the germs in your mouth growing on your toothbrush which can make you ill when your immune system is lowered. Keep tooth brushes away from aerosolized germs and replace toothbrushes often.
Touch Points: So, when was the last time that you cleaned your light switches? It’s a pretty good bet that someone has had a cold or other contamination and turned on the lights since that time. This is one of the many touch points in your home. The handle on the refrigerator, the salt and pepper shakers, the door knobs, the part of chair that you grab to pull out the chair are all touch points. Let’s add a few more like your computer keyboard, remote control, phone, faucets, handle to flush the commode. It would be an impossible battle to keep up with disinfecting all of the touch points. What you can do is wash your hands OFTEN!
Bathtub: Thank you WEBMD for pointing this one out. I had ever thought about the fact wiping with paper does not remove every last bit of fecal matter from the skin. They tell us that: “The place where you clean yourself is not so clean itself. A recent study found staphylococcus bacteria in 26% of the tubs tested. A separate study had even worse findings for whirlpool tubs. When Texas A&M University microbiologist Rita Moyes, PhD tested 43 water samples from whirlpools, she found that all 43 had mild to dangerous bacterial growth. Almost all showed bacteria from fecal matter; 81% had fungi, and 34% contained staph bacteria.”
Fixtures that Spray Water: This includes your sink spigots, hand sprayers, garden hoses and bathroom tub spouts and showers. The screens and other surfaces of these items accumulate a biofilm that can grow bacteria and other contaminants. The fixtures always spray a fine mist into the air around the fixture We constantly breath those fine mists that we can’t see in and can have the contagions settle and grow in our lungs. We also battle the contaminations that live in the water system. As an example, Legionella can live in hot water tanks set below 140 degrees F.
The bottom line is that we need to be aware of the places germs and other contaminants can live. We need to clean and disinfect these areas, particularly whenever we are avoiding germs from another household member who is ill. In the end, our best defense is to regularly wash our hands.
Giving heavy duty electrical extension cords and checking that they are plugged into outlets designed to carry the load can save lives. Too many people fall victim to the logic that the cord that did not burn the last time they used it, will be safe the next time. That’s just not how that works. Go to a quality hardware store and purchase cords that are rated at 14-2 for 15 amp circuits or 12-2 for 20 amp circuits.
If there is a fireplace or wood burner in use, have the chimney checked. The high temperatures of burning wood and then cooling off damages chimney. Wood leaves a flammable creosote coating that can ignite that creosote and start a house fire. The cost of cleaning and checking a chimney is typically between $150.00 and $200.00. That is a wonderful gift for a family you care about. Check with the National Chimney Sweep Guild ( http://www.ncsg.org/) to find a qualified technician.
The issues of home health and safety can become more complicated than the examples above. Just as parents, family and friends can help with the other important issues above, a significant portion of Sick Building Syndrome work is arranged by caring family members rather than the residents of the sick or moldy building.
Picture the family with asthmatic children, or the senior that has pneumonia four times in a year. These and hundreds of other health issues are often the result of environmental problems that need corrected. Caring relatives or friends can arrange for the needed assessment and testing.
The big problem with this issue is finding qualified professionals working with accurate laboratories. A recent development is helping bring dependable environmental testing across the country. Testall.com is a source to find the right person serving where your family member lives.
Christmas is a wondrous and joyous time of year. It’s a time of giving, caring and sharing. That time of beauty is also a time of fires, carbon monoxide poisonings, falls and other tragedies in homes.
These stories are sad any time of year, but particularly during the time that is supposed to be a celebration of joy. Many times a few timely gifts like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, proper extension cords or a service call for a furnace could make the difference between life and death, or inconvenience and homelessness.
Sometimes it’s a senior, sometimes a financially struggling family, other times it is a person with health challenges. It is those people who have the toughest time recognizing what they need to do or buy to keep themselves and their homes safe. What better gift to give than one that could save the life of someone you love?
Writing this article reminds me about what my dad did during winter weather. When all of the kids came over for dinner on Sundays, he would disappear for about 15 minutes. He would sneak outside with rags and a bucket of windshield washer liquid. He cleaned all of our windshields and headlights. He quietly came back in when he was done. We usually didn’t even know a thing about it until we went to our cars. Never, ever did we ever talk about it. The message was simple, and we all knew that he loved us. That is exactly the kind of gift I am suggesting here.
Giving new smoke detectors, or even changing the batteries in existing smoke detectors is easy to do and inexpensive. Even 15 seconds of warning about a fire can be the difference in survival. If the “change the battery” idea sounds strange to you, imagine the senior that can’t climb a ladder or the young family that used all of their batteries for their children’s toys. Getting up to a smoke detector to change the battery could be as far as the moon for a senior that had a broken hip.
Carbon monoxide detectors are as important as smoke detectors. Purchase carbon monoxide detectors that have both a digital readout and a loud alarm. The “sound only” CO detectors have a delay that allows levels in some models as high
400 PPM (parts per million) without making a peep. The threshold level that is considered unsafe is 10 PPM. The digital readout allows earlier warnings and is well worth the difference in cost. Make sure the detectors are installed near gas appliances or warm air furnace vents and where the residents can see the reading.
There will be many tragic news stories over the holidays that have their start with a furnace that was defective or not working at all. People freezing or ill from a malfunctioning furnace is one set of problems. Carbon monoxide poisoning or fires can be another outcome.
Having a furnace serviced and the needed repairs completed for someone in need can be a very loving gift. A service call where the furnace operation and vent system are checked and adjusted usually costs between $75 and $150. It is a great idea to make sure that the gas lines or oil lines and tanks are checked at the same time.
Taking the time to help someone apply of LIHEAP fuel assistance could be a gift of an hour’s time that make winter bearable for someone in need. This can be done online at http://www.dhs.pa.gov
There are a number of things to check in a home when someone is using supplemental heaters to try to stay warm. Check the heaters themselves for evidence of wear, fraying or burning. If there is any damage to the heater, it needs replaced.
Check the area where the heater is located. Make sure there is a safe distance to combustible materials and surfaces. Oil filled heaters are generally safer than those with exposed elements.
CLUE Report can Solve Your New Home's Mysteries
You are looking at what may be your dream home. The house looks great, but it also looks like there may have been a roof leak, or maybe a tree fell against the house or sewer backup. Maybe you did not notice any of these potential indicators of previous problems, and the seller may have "forgotten" to mention the previous home tragedies .
Imagine your surprise to find out that the home you just purchased had a fire, mold problems, or a flood from broken pipes. If you do not think that happens, I can tell you first hand that it does. As an inspector, I hate the panicked look on a client's face when I ask questions like: "Did you know there was a fire in this home?"
Unveiling the Disaster Response Cover up
There is one disaster response franchise that uses the advertising tag line "Like it never happened". The point they are trying to make us is that the evidence of the disaster or tragic event will not be visible. However, if "it" really did happen, it could affect the insurability of the home and be an indicator of "covered up" defects. A $10,000 mold cleanup that did not address the cause of a mold problem could become your $10,000 problem next year. Broken pipes from freezing can be avoided if you know what conditions cause the broken pipes. Knowledge is power to avoid previous problems learned from experience.
A little detective work can save you a lot of headaches when you purchase your next home. To help you do that due diligence, let me introduce you to the CLUE report . CLUE stands of Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange.
We have all heard of CARFAX. This service tells you all the dirty little secrets of the previous owners of the used car you are about to purchase. What most of us have never heard of is this very similar service for homeowners and home buyers.
The Potential Land Mine News About Your CLUE Report
The insurance companies argue that the benefit to consumers is that the service helps to keep premiums lower for good customers by avoiding higher risks. Repeated claims on a home can be indicative of a building with many problems or an insured that commits fraud or makes bad claims. This is sometimes true. There can be a solid argument for this "risk avoidance" by the insurance companies. This is not a "good thing" when your "new to you" home is the one being kicked to the insurance policy curb because of the previous owner.
CLUE reports can be a nightmare for a new and unsuspecting buyer purchasing a property. Most states allow insurance companies 60 days after issuing a policy to review adverse information about a home. You could lose your homeowner's insurance 30 to 60 days after you purchase a home because of what was on the previous owners' CLUE report. Most lenders require that homeowners insurance remain in force, or they can foreclose on the home.
CLUE Reports are administered by CHOICEPOINT, which is a data management company. The reason to know about this company is that at the same time they manage the data relating to your home, they also manage your personal data as the homeowner. The data provided in CLUE reports includes policy information such as the homeowners name, date of birth, policy number and claim information such as date of loss, type of loss and amounts paid.
A-Plus (Automated Property Loss Underwriting System) is another company that provides the same service as CHOICEPOINT. The insurance Services Office, an insurance industry organization, runs A-Plus to which about 1,250 companies contribute. Most people refer to the reports generated by either system as CLUE reports and for simplicity, we will do the same here.
Requesting and Using a CLUE Report as a Home Buyer
Unfortunately, as a buyer is in the process of purchasing a home, you can't order a copy of the home's CLUE report. On the other hand, you can request that a seller obtain a copy of the report and provide it to you as the buyer. The seller can obtain a copy of their report through their insurance agent or at the website:
https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/homesellers_disclosure_report/landing.jsp
Once the real estate has closed, the buyer is then the owner, and can obtain the CLUE report using the methods above. However, the new homeowner may find a "surprise" of previous claims too late to protect from buying a problem property.
Some realtors are now encouraging buyers to start shopping for homeowners insurance coverage early in the real estate transaction process. They can include a contingency that the purchaser must be satisfied with the insurability of the property for the transaction to proceed.
Keeping You Out of the CLUE Controversy
One of the most controversial issues surrounding the information found in the CLUE database is that an innocent inquiry from a homeowner to their insurance company concerning their deductible or a possible claim, can trigger a file to be opened in the CLUE database-even if the homeowner does not file a formal claim. Keep this in mind when discussing potential claims with agents and insurance adjusters.
When Buying or Selling a Home, Get A CLUE Report
When selling, get a CLUE report before listing to avoid an embarrassing disclosure problem. This kind of surprise can derail a house sale. The report is free, and the avoidance of problems is priceless. A buyer that needs a mortgage will not obtain that mortgage unless they can purchase homeowners insurance. As a seller, if a deal goes south before closing over insurance issues, it will be very difficult to find another buyer.
When buying a home, request a CLUE report from the seller at the same time you make an offer. If there was a serious problem, the information can help your home inspector investigate the homes condition.