Sunrise Homes & Renovations, Inc.

How Safe is Your Home from a Fire? Learn How to Run a Quick Fire Safety Assessment

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How Safe is Your Home from a Fire? Learn How to Run a Quick Fire Safety Assessment A fire can rage through your home at a moment’s notice, and it can cause a significant amount of damage in a very short period of time. Damage from the flames, intense heat, smoke and soot can cause tens of thousands of dollars or more in some cases, and a severe fire event can result in a total loss for the homeowner. More than that, a fire can create a serious health and safety risk for you and your loved ones inside the home. If you are concerned about how safe your home is from a fire, consider a few important points.

Do You Have Fire Extinguishers On All Floors?

When a small fire breaks out, you may only have a few seconds to respond. You simply do not have time to rush around the house in search of a fire extinguisher. Instead, you should know immediately where it is at and how to use it. More than that, you should have one available on all floors of your home. While you may want to reach for a fire extinguisher to put out a small flame, you should still yell for others in the home to vacate while you use the fire extinguisher.

Do You Have Smoke Alarms in Ideal Locations?

Fires can break out during all hours of the day and night. When you are awake, you may easily be able to smell smoke from a nearby room. However, when you are asleep or when the smoke is in a removed area of the home, it can be more difficult to observe the signs of a fire until it is too late. Placing a loud smoke alarm in all bedrooms in your home is a wise idea. You will also need one in living areas of the home. If your home is larger in size, you may consider investing in additional smoke alarms.

When Was the Last Time You Replaced the Batteries in Your Smoke Detectors?

It is not enough to simply have the smoke detectors mounted to your walls or ceiling. Instead, you need to make sure that they are loud and that they work well. If you have a hearing impaired person in the home, you should invest in detectors with a visible strobe light to alert them to a danger. Batteries generally should be replaced every few months, and you may consider replacing the batteries each time you replace the filters for your HVAC system. Keep in mind that it is better to replace the batteries before they lose power than to be without the function of an alarm in your home when you need it.

Even a small fire can be a dangerous and costly event. By focusing on these factors in your home, you can most easily prepare for a fire, and you will be able to take immediate action in the event a fire develops in your home.

Spring DIY Projects: How to Build a Treehouse That the Kids Will Love

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Spring DIY Projects: How to Build a Treehouse That the Kids Will Love If you have children, no home is complete without a treehouse. Besides the fact that treehouses provide kids with hours of entertainment, they can also confer ancillary benefits that are hard to quantify. For starters, treehouses can improve property values by boosting curb appeal. When building any type of treehouse, keep the following tips in mind.

Location, Location, Location

Before you head off to Home Depot and get all the necessary supplies, you need to spend some serious time storyboarding the build process. Pick a tree with low, sprawling branches such as an oak or a maple. Furthermore, consider issues like wind, shade and privacy before you start to nail up supports.

Choose Your Materials Wisely

A treehouse built with subpar materials will fall short in the longevity department and disappoint the kids. Pick out stout oak 4×4 posts for the structural elements and top them off with pressure-treated pine for the floors and railings. Use quality plywood for the interior walls and seal it to avoid rot.

Make Multi-Use Your Mantra

Treehouses that are simply shacks suspended above ground will quickly bore youngsters no matter how well-built they may be. Incorporate elements such as swings, rope ladders and even zip-lines to get more from your treehouse. As long as you’re putting in the effort, you might as well add all of the bells and whistles.

Bake Safety Into the Recipe

You don’t want the kids to get hurt when they’re frolicking among the branches. Make sure to bolt handles and permanent rails into the truck so that adolescents are less likely to slip and fall. If you want to go all out, add a few safety nets around the edges.

Heed Aesthetics When Designing

An unadorned treehouse quickly turns into an eyesore over time as it’s battered by the elements. Shingle the roof and paint the exterior walls so that they match your home. Kids will naturally gravitate towards a treehouse that looks appealing and your neighbors won’t complain about a shoddy structure in your weeping willow.

It’s More Than a Treehouse

While many young kids will no doubt love a full-featured treehouse, it’s usually the improvement in home value that will appeal to adults. If you’re interested in learning more about homes in your area that would support your desire to build a treehouse, call a professional real estate agent today.

Spring Cleaning: Follow Our Handy Guide to Organizing Your Garage, Basement and Attic

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Spring Cleaning: Follow Our Handy Guide to Organizing Your Garage, Basement and AtticSpring is not far off, and your garage, basement and attic need your attention. From sweeping cobwebs to throwing out old, useless junk and organizing family photos, spring cleaning is essential to keeping a tidy house. Follow our handy guide to organizing your garage, basement and attic.

Make Room For Your Car

You’ll likely need to set aside a full weekend to organize your garage. As you won’t be able to complete this task by yourself, get your family or friends to help you out. It might be a good idea to bribe them with free pizza for lunch.

Go through every square inch of the garage from top to bottom, including tools, unpacked boxes from when you moved and anything else that gets in your way. Separate the items that you want to sell or donate into one area of your driveway, items that you want keep into another area and stuff that you want to throw away into a separate pile.

Organize the items you want to keep into small, well-marked boxes and place back in the garage. Use as much wall space as possible to store tools and boxes by installing shelves inside your garage. Organize the items you want to sell into separate piles on a tarp in your garage for temporary storage.

De-Clutter Your Basement

Similar to your garage, you’ll want to get rid of the clutter in your basement. Make sure you have enough room for multiple piles of items and be aware that you’ll need to add to your garage piles later on.

Organize your items into three piles: one pile for items you wish to keep, another one for items you wish to sell and the final pile for items you want to throw out. If you have a significant amount of clothing in your basement, you might want to consider purchasing mobile hanger units and place them against the wall.

Turn Your Attic Into An Inviting Room

Your attic doesn’t have to be a storage space if you can clean it up and organize it correctly. Place everything you want into marked boxes and dust the attic before you place them in their respective areas.

Selling and throwing away personal belongings can be a huge hassle, especially if you have an emotional attachment to them. Generally speaking, items that are broken, expired or out of date can be thrown away while items that you no longer use but don’t hold much sentimental value can be sold or donated.

Three Inexpensive Makeovers That Will Boost Your Home’s Appeal to Young Buyers

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Three Inexpensive Makeovers That Will Boost Your Home's Appeal to Young BuyersWhen preparing to list your home for sale, you may be wondering who will buy your home. While this initial thought may be one spurred by curiosity, the fact is that understanding who your target audience is and what they are looking for in a home may help you to position your home to sell more quickly and for a better price. If you have determined that there are many younger buyers moving into your area, you may want to make a few changes that will add appeal to this target audience. While you could spend tens of thousands of dollars or more completing a home makeover, there are a few budget-minded ideas that you may consider.

Add Color to Molding and Trim

One of the hottest trends in home décor and interior design is to get rid of the standard white trim and molding and to add color to these areas. Neutral hues like grays and browns have universal appeal, or you can give your space a more contemporary look by adding black to these areas. Generally, you will want a more neutral color like a creamy beige on the walls when executing a look with colored trim.

Update Light Fixtures

If you have a little more money to spend, you may consider updating your light fixtures. There are rather affordable yet stylish fixtures available in a wide range of finishes. When your rooms are empty or staged to perfection, the light fixtures can easily set the tone of the room and may be focal points. Outdated fixtures may have limited appeal to young buyers who are looking for a home that is modern and current with today’s trends.

Redefine Outdated Spaces

In some older homes, some of the rooms may have originally been built with outdated uses in mind. Today’s younger buyers may be looking for a home with an exercise room, a media room or a study rather than a formal living or dining area. With this in mind, you may consider how you can stage your home to show that it can be used for modern purposes. This may simply mean moving your formal dining room set into storage, adding French doors and investing in an affordable desk and side chairs for staging purposes. This is just one of several options available that may give your home broader appeal to a younger audience shopping for a modern floor plan.

If you are thinking about listing your home for sale and you believe that you will likely attract younger buyers to your home, you can consider implementing some of these ideas in your space. Your real estate agent may be able to offer additional suggestions that are customized for your specific home.

All About Radon: How to Test Your Home for Radon Gas and What to Do if You Find It

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All About Radon: How to Test Your Home for Radon Gas and What to Do if You Find It If you are concerned about the presence of radon in your home, you are not alone. The fact is that radon is an invisible, odorless gas that may be found in buildings around the world. It is a radioactive gas that is emitted from the ground soil as trace amounts of naturally occurring uranium break down. The gas can enter a building and remain trapped, and this is known to cause as many as 21,000 deaths related to lung cancer each year, according to the EPA. Testing your home from time to time is a necessity, and you can easily accomplish this in two different ways.

A Home Radon Test Kit

Regardless of the age or location of your home, you should test your home periodically for the presence of radon. You may be able to purchase a radon test kit at a local home improvement store or even online. These kits are designed to be easy to use and to read, and they can provide you with the information you seek in a short period of time.

A Professional Indoor Air Quality Test

Another option is to hire a professional to complete a full indoor air quality test. This may provide you with more information about the presence of radon, asbestos, mold spores and many other pollutants and particulates that may be making you and your family sick. A professional test may be more comprehensive and sensitive. Furthermore, the results can be more reliable.

If You Have Radon In Your Home

If you have the unfortunate experience of learning that your home has radon gas inside of it, you may immediately feel stressed and concerned. This is understandable considering this is a known carcinogen. However, while it is important that you take immediate action to cleanse and purify your home’s air, there is not a need to panic. There are numerous filtration and purifier systems that you can invest in that have amazing results. In fact, some can eliminate up to 99 percent of the radon in your home.

Even if your home tests clean for radon today, keep in mind that this gas can naturally seep into your home over time. You may consider testing your home periodically for radon at regular intervals for the entire time you live in the space. This will help you to identify a problem in your home and to take action soon to minimize the health risks for you and your loved ones.