8 Critical Safety Concerns to Discuss with Your Contractor

In our area, we see many examples of homes built and remodeled without regard for critical safety concerns. This leaves homeowners at risk for injury, electrocution, fires, carbon monoxide inhalation, and flooding. Regardless of what contractor you choose, we recommend discussing these concerns as they apply to your new construction or remodeling project.

Electrical Panels:

Many homes in our area were built with Federal Pacific Electrical panels, long known to be dangerous. These panels work well for years, but after an overcurrent or short circuit, they can fail to trip, overheat, and catch fire. Our electrical contractor, Ryan Paschall of Pegasus Electric advises, “If your home has an older electrical panel, or one known for not tripping properly, it should be replaced.”

Grounded Wiring:

Older homes were not designed to accommodate today’s electrical consumption. Today’s homes must have a ground connection to ensure that in the event of a short circuit, current will flow through the ground system and trip a breaker rather than back through the electrical appliance, causing a fire or potential electrocution. Contractors shouldn’t simply work around outdated wiring, but should bring wiring up to today’s safety standards.

GFCI Interrupters:

In all wet areas, GFCI interrupters should be installed. These prevent electrocution and fires when liquids inevitably come into contact with electrical currents.

Furnace Heat Exchangers and Carbon Monoxide:

In humid areas like ours, cast iron heat exchangers inside the furnace tend to become brittle and crack after ten years of use. Barry Martin of Bel-Air Mechanical warns, “This causes carbon monoxide to leak out into the home through the vents, poisoning the air you breathe. It’s one reason why you should have your furnace and carbon monoxide detectors regularly checked.”

Furnace Gas and Exhaust

Connections:

Furnaces more than ten years old were not built to today’s safety codes. What we find are leaking gas connections, putting residents at risk for fire, and leaking exhaust connections which blow carbon monoxide into the attic, closets, and the air you breathe.

Venting of Hot Water Heater:

After storms that caused roof damage, we’ve seen many slightly dislocated hot water heater or furnace vents. If the housing shifts even slightly, the vent may not work, subjecting residents to carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s something to check after any roofing job, and once every three years (in our area, because of heavy winds) regardless.

Tempered Windows:

If you have windows on a back door, or windows that come close to the floor, it’s important that they be tempered glass.

If you or your child runs or bumps into a tempered window, it will crumble in thousands of pieces, rather than come down in a falling sheet.

Water Cutoff:

Older homes aren’t set up to enable easy water shutoff in the event of a pipe leak. We’ve seen this result in flooding, as residents are powerless to do anything but watch the water level rise and destroy their homes and belongings. Proper water shutoffs are part of every new home we build, and a consideration in many of our remodeling projects.

Have you encountered any other safety hazards in your home resulting from poor contract work or failing original equipment? If you have, please let us know. It’s one more way we can work together to protect our friends and neighbors.

For more information on Remodeling or Custom Homes, read our blogs at www.bellavistacompany.com