Storm Survival Necessities

Preparing for a hurricane can be some hectic business, but compiling a list of things that you will need during the storm if you are planning on staying home is the easiest way to sort this mess out.

The most important thing you will need is clean water to drink. You can purchase bottled water at the grocery store if you need to, but a cheaper way to do this is to save old milk jugs and fill them with tap water before the storm begins. As long as you have somewhere to store the milk jugs, you should not have a problem with this method. If you do not have anywhere to store them, you can buy water at the store just before the storm begins, but be aware that they might not be able to meet the demand.

After the storm begins and you are shut up inside your house, you should not drink the tap water or even really bathe in it because of possible contamination. It might be fine to bathe in sea water, but you never know what the local water supply may be contaminated with. It could be sewage, chemicals, soil, or any one of a number of different things. Try to have enough clean water saved up to bathe a little with while the storm passes.

You will also need plenty of non-perishable food to eat. This should include pre-packaged food that does not have to be cooked, since there is a good chance that the electricity will go out, depending on how far you will be from the hurricane’s landfall.

Another item you may want to have on hand is a hand crank radio. This is something else that you will need if the electricity goes out; it will allow you to keep in touch with what is going on in the outside world and if there is anything that you need to know about. It can also help keep you from getting cabin fever, since you may be trapped by the storm in your house for a few days or longer.

Batteries for anything that you may need should also be available, especially for a flashlight.

Having a first aid kit on hand is always a good idea whether a natural disaster is imminent or not.

A rain coat and some heavy rain boots should be kept in case you have to go out for any reason.

You should also make it a point to keep some cash on you, since your local ATMs and banks may not be available for a while.

What to Know About Hiring a Contractor

Hiring a contractor to build your house might be some tricky business, especially since there are so many factors involved, but it does not have to be a nightmare if you do your research and know what to look for.

First of all, the contractor that you choose needs to be a licensed one. After you discover that they are licensed, find out if there have been any lawsuits or claims filed against that license. They should also have the appropriate levels of insurance so if anyone is injured while they are on your property, you are not liable for their medical bills.

Second of all, you need to talk to each contractor you are considering in person and make sure that you can get along with this person. You both need to be able to get along so you can concentrate on the process of building the home instead of arguing about this or that. This person will be in your life for at least a few months, so hiring someone that you can tolerate is important.

Next, you need to get references from each contractor that you talk to and talk to those references at length and make sure that the contractor does good work. Ask if they have had any mold or water damage issues since their home was constructed or since their remodeling work was finished. Mold may be the most important issue to look for, since this gets built into new homes more often than most people think due to materials being stored directly on the ground or because they have been rained on.

You should also consider what your contract with this person is going to have in it. You should schedule a date for when the project will start and an approximate date that you want it to have been completed by. If you are expecting a baby or any other major event that will require you to have the home completed, take this into account when hiring your contractor. Find out when they can start on the project and if you do not have any room to be flexible (this is rare), consider hiring someone else.

The contract also needs to contain exactly what materials you want your home to be built from, from the kitchen counter material to the type of finish you want on all the hardware. Be very specific and do not give room for any substitutions, since some contractors will substitute lower grade materials without you noticing if they can get away with it.

Home Building Contractors

Having a home built for you is a tricky procedure, especially since there are so many different factors to consider. The first thing that you need to think of, though, is just who you will hire to do this task for you. There are a large number of contractors out there that would love to do the job, but the fact is that not all of them are honest or completely up to the task of making sure it gets done correctly. Many contractors have been known to use poor quality materials, even if they are up to local building code standards. They may end up causing damage to your home, but you cannot do anything about it as long as the materials the contractor used are up to local structural codes.

When choosing a contractor, you should talk to people that you know and trust first to find out if they can recommend anyone for the job. Only after you have exhausted these resources should you look to the local phone book. No matter which method you use, you should obtain at least three different references from at least three different contractors so you will have some options. Contact each of the references and ask if the newly built home has had any problems with mold or water damage since the construction was finished. Other structural problems should also be asked about.

After you have gotten a few different contractors to choose from that you find to be reputable, ask each one of them for a fixed price bid based on the building plan that you give to them and what materials you want the home built out of. They may try to get you to accept a time and materials contract, but this can be tricky, since time and materials contract allow the price to vary depending on different factors such as the cost of labor and building materials. They may quote you a low price in the beginning, but it can quickly rise as unexpected issues come up with the building process.

The contract with your contractor should be very specific as to what is covered in it. It should include the date that the project will begin and a date by which it should be finished and also include what specific building materials you wish for the home to be built out of so that your contractor does not have much room to substitute other, lesser materials.

Fires And The Smoke Point of Oil

If you cook a lot at home and with oil, then you are probably at least somewhat aware of what a smoke point refers to. Even some of us who do cook fried or stir fried foods often are not fully aware of what a smoke point is and what it might be for the particular kind of oil that we are cooking with. It is something that every cook should be familiar with, since not knowing the smoke point of the oil that you are cooking with can cause it to catch on fire. Some of the worst house fires ever have been started by cooking with oil in the kitchen and by knowing the smoke point of what you are cooking with, you can reduce the chances of having an oil fire greatly.

Unrefined oils that have been harvested using what is called cold extraction tend to have a lower smoke point than other kinds of oil. These unrefined oils usually have better flavor than refined oils and are usually used in sautéing, baking, and for salad dressings. Unrefined oils tend to include avocado oil, some nut oils, and olive oils. Oils that have high smoke points are generally peanut oil, canola, soy, and safflower oil.

A pan containing oil that has reached its smoke point needs to be removed immediately and let to cool. After it cools, it should be thrown out for a number of reasons. Oil that reaches its smoke point starts to break down and will taste very bad, which is why any kind of oil that has reached its smoke point should be thrown out. It will make the food taste bad and the smoke should not be breathed in or the oil consumed, since it can form carcinogens.

You should heat oils gradually because they will perform better than if you just pour them into a very hot pan. As long as they are heated up and cooled off slowly, you can reuse most oils, but you should throw them away as soon as they start to discolor or smell rancid.

One of the worst things that you can do is leave oil to heat in the kitchen on its own. A home catching on fire and burning down completely is not an uncommon occurrence when there is unattended oil heating in the kitchen. What makes this another very bad situation is that oil and electrical fires cannot be put out with water, no matter how much of it you throw on it. If your oil or stove catches on fire and it is fairly small, you can put it out effectively by using baking soda or using your fire extinguisher. Anyone who cooks with oil on a regular basis should have both of these items close by, just in case.

Carelessness Concerning Electricity and Water

All homeowners have been careless at one time or another concerning water or electricity in their homes, but unfortunately negligence is one of the leading causes of damage to homes in the country. You should not fail to take care of your property and do maintenance whenever needed, but you should also make it a point not to take unnecessary risks when concerning water and electricity. While water does not do much immediate damage to a property, fire certainly does and carelessness with electronic items can cause fires much more quickly than anything in the natural world.

Most house fires are caused by either failing to make sure that an appliance used on a daily basis is not in danger of having electrical shorts or due to an electrical device being left unattended when it should not be. Space heaters are particularly dangerous in this regard and should not be left on overnight or used with an extension cord that is not a heavy duty gauge of at least 14. They should also not be left on overnight unless absolutely necessary, since most house fires tend to happen when people are sleeping.

This is also the case when you are cooking with grease or oil of any kind in the kitchen. Houses have caught on fire and burned completely to the ground due to leaving oil or shortening to heat in the kitchen unattended. You should never leave anything you are cooking unattended on the stove, especially if it is grease or solid shortening. It catches on fire much quicker than you would think, so no matter what reason you may find to leave the room, you should either stay in the kitchen or turn the stove off.

Water damage occurs mostly when there are leaks from the outside of the home or the plumbing, but sometimes damage occurs due to carelessness, too. This can happen when you are running a tub of bath water or filling up the kitchen sink to wash dishes, but the fact is that people often become preoccupied with other chores or phone calls and allow them to overflow onto the floor. Whenever you run a large quantity of water into a container, you should always watch it to make sure that it does not overflow, since allowing it to do so on a regular basis can cause damage to the floor, especially if it is not waterproof.