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Termite Traps

Submitted by David Kettler on

I recently sent a Tweet about a beautiful planter I saw that was just completed.  Unfortunately, the planter was placed against the stone veneer on the house.  The planter was at least 1 foot above the floor level and just soil was placed against the stone.  By code, all soil should be 8” below the floor level unless a moisture barrier is erected to protect the house.  That works for non-masonry walls.  Masonry walls (stucco included) should have weeps at the bottom for moisture to escape.

Its 10:00PM. Do you know where your breakers are?

Submitted by David Kettler on

When you see sparks or smoke coming out of an electrical fixture it is not the time to start looking for your electrical panel.

Do you know where your electrical panel or panels are?  Yes, many homes have more than one electrical panel.  Are the breakers inside the panels labeled?

If it is an emergency, just turn off the main breaker. Most of the time it is not an emergency, but a service issue when you need to turn off a breaker.  Indiscriminately turning off breakers may cause you to have to reset your clocks or create issues if you do not turn off your computer first.

Is your appliance really dead or is it just “playing possum”?

Submitted by David Kettler on

One of my clients emailed me the other day asking for my advice on a new refrigerator.  She told me her existing one was dead.  I asked if the light in the refrigerator worked and she said no.  From that comment I knew that the refrigerator probably wasn’t dead.  If the compressor stops working on a refrigerator the light bulb will still work.  A brief visit to the electrical panel showed a tripped breaker.  It turns out that the contractor working on the pool turned off the wrong breaker because it was mislabeled (another blog subject).

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