Holiday Saftey Tips From A Home Inspector

By: Rachel Roberts | Published On: December 22, 2022 | Categories: Athens, Electrical, Georgia, Natural Disaster, The Home Inspection

The holiday season can be a busy one, with so much time spent on decorating, cooking, and entertaining it is easy to overlook the added stress that holiday decor brings to your home. The Brickkicker recommends following these helpful guidelines to have a happy and safer holiday season.

Holiday Lighting

Make sure all holiday decorations are flame-resistant, flame-retardant, and non-combustible materials. With that said, if you do use combustible materials take care to keep candles and open flames away from said materials.

Every year your holiday light strands need to be carefully inspected. Replace any damaged light bulbs as necessary. When mounting your lights, make sure to keep the cord wire away from anything that may potentially damage the cord’s insulation. Always string lights through hooks or insulated staples, never use nails or tacks to hang string lighting. Be gentle with your lights, never tug or pull them to remove them.

Make sure to plug all outdoor electrical decorations into circuits with ground-fault circuit interrupters to avoid potential electrical hazards.

And please make sure you turn off all your decorative lights when you go to bed. The lights could short out and start a fire.

Trees

If you plan to purchase an artificial tree, look for the “fire-resistant” label. When setting up a tree in your home, place it away from fireplaces, radiators, or any portable heaters.

When burning any wood in your fireplace only use hardwoods. Burn only the firewood you bring inside or bring unused firewood back outside when done burning. The risk of wood-destroying organisms moving from firewood to your home is extremely low, but still a possibility.

With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, don’t forget to water your Christmas tree.

This video conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), shows just how quickly a dried-out Christmas tree fire burns, compared to a well-watered tree, which burns at a much slower rate. The unwatered tree reaches flashover in less than one minute.

U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 160 home fires that start with Christmas trees per year according to the National Fire Protection Association. These tree fires can turn devastating and deadly within seconds.

All of us at The Brickkicker wish you and yours a safe holiday season. Now go water that tree!