‘Tis the Season to Perform Safety Checks Around the House
Spring has sprung, and homeowners everywhere are unpacking their garden equipment and preparing to beautify their yards. Part of sprucing up should include looking around with an eye to safety and security in order to help prevent claims on one's sea coast homeowners insurance policy.
Clean it up. Get out the mower and pruning shears and trim back overgrown shrubbery and tangled greenery that may present a good hiding place for burglars. Vines can cause people to trip and fall, so trim them back as well.
Get the garage cleaned up and organized. The garage often becomes a catch-all for all manner of items, some of them containing caustic chemicals or flammable components. Having those items around is a hazard, as children or pets could come into contact with them and become ill or injured; likewise, the chemical components in the various items could mix and result in a fire if they are kept in an unvented area. One homeowner learned this lesson the hard way, when his dog got into some antifreeze that leaked out of an old bottle left in a corner of the garage. The dog nearly died from ingesting the poisonous liquid (which dogs find tasty), and the vet bill to save the animals' life was extremely costly.
Check the deck. Make sure the deck joints are sturdy and hammer any raised nails back into the deck. This will help prevent injuries from exposed nails which can catch on fingers and feet, and help homeowners ensure their deck is stable, secure, and able to take the load of several people standing on the deck; a splintered support post could result in a collapsed deck and substantial injuries, as one homeowner discovered when her balcony suddenly gave way when her friend wandered onto it one fateful day; the friend fell more than 20 feet to the ground below and sustained multiple fractures and serious internal injury, which resulted in medical fees that amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Check around for missing or forgotten keys. Even today€"long after these tactics have become ridiculously obvious to most people, let alone thieves€"many homeowners continue to €hide€ a spare house key under a flower pot, rock, or doormat. Check to make sure the items haven't been dislodged by wind and rain (if the keys are missing, consider having the locks rekeyed). Better yet, don't hide them there, because doing so provides an easy way for criminals to gain entry to the home. Instead, leave a spare key with a trusted neighbor, or purchase a combination lockbox and hide that somewhere on the property in a less-than-obvious location.
For the ultimate safety check, talk to a professional insurance agent to determine whether it's time to update or adjust any components of the sea coast homeowners insurance policy protecting the home.
Clean it up. Get out the mower and pruning shears and trim back overgrown shrubbery and tangled greenery that may present a good hiding place for burglars. Vines can cause people to trip and fall, so trim them back as well.
Get the garage cleaned up and organized. The garage often becomes a catch-all for all manner of items, some of them containing caustic chemicals or flammable components. Having those items around is a hazard, as children or pets could come into contact with them and become ill or injured; likewise, the chemical components in the various items could mix and result in a fire if they are kept in an unvented area. One homeowner learned this lesson the hard way, when his dog got into some antifreeze that leaked out of an old bottle left in a corner of the garage. The dog nearly died from ingesting the poisonous liquid (which dogs find tasty), and the vet bill to save the animals' life was extremely costly.
Check the deck. Make sure the deck joints are sturdy and hammer any raised nails back into the deck. This will help prevent injuries from exposed nails which can catch on fingers and feet, and help homeowners ensure their deck is stable, secure, and able to take the load of several people standing on the deck; a splintered support post could result in a collapsed deck and substantial injuries, as one homeowner discovered when her balcony suddenly gave way when her friend wandered onto it one fateful day; the friend fell more than 20 feet to the ground below and sustained multiple fractures and serious internal injury, which resulted in medical fees that amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Check around for missing or forgotten keys. Even today€"long after these tactics have become ridiculously obvious to most people, let alone thieves€"many homeowners continue to €hide€ a spare house key under a flower pot, rock, or doormat. Check to make sure the items haven't been dislodged by wind and rain (if the keys are missing, consider having the locks rekeyed). Better yet, don't hide them there, because doing so provides an easy way for criminals to gain entry to the home. Instead, leave a spare key with a trusted neighbor, or purchase a combination lockbox and hide that somewhere on the property in a less-than-obvious location.
For the ultimate safety check, talk to a professional insurance agent to determine whether it's time to update or adjust any components of the sea coast homeowners insurance policy protecting the home.