Thoughts From Kaufman Homes

As a follow up to our article at the beginning of December 2011 on, preventing and minimizing fires in your home I thought it would be good to include a very important article on wood burning in your home.  With the increasing natural gas and fuel oil heating costs, many homeowners are turning to wood burning stoves to keep their home warm. Beware, that while you are saving money, you may increase your risk of a home fire.

I personally had an experience at my home a few years ago with a small fire that could have been disastrous. A candle up on a pedestal was not extinguished before going to bed and the candle in the glass container burned to just liquid and broke the glass spilling the hot candle fluid on top of the table cloth starting a big fire.  Luckily our fire alarm worked very quickly and let us know where the fire was.  I grabbed the fire extinguisher in the bedroom and ran out with the flames shooting to the ceiling.  I snuffed the fire out quickly by covering it with a nice tablecloth (cheaper than a new home) my backup was the extinguisher. The only damage we had was a little suet on the ceiling.  My dry natural Christmas tree was only a few feet away from the fire.  This was a very good lesson to put out all candles, make sure the natural Christmas tree is kept moist and last but not least we have for the most part changed to battery operated candles.

Below is a list of items that I feel are really important and hope you find this useful.

Every season our Home Repair and Maintenance Team is sent out on calls during the Fall. This is the time of year to prepare our homes for the coming variety of inclement winter weather that we can or will have in Oregon and the Salem area. During the fall we can be lulled into putting off doing these things especially if we have an Indian summer, but this good weather makes outdoor winterizing much easier. Once this inclement weather hits, and rest assured it will, then we are scrambling to do after the fact and by then it may be too late or the weather may make it more difficult or dangerous to do.

Preparation ahead of time sets the soul at ease and does a better job of protecting our family and now you and the family can spend more quality time together.