Tips on looking after your home
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Condensation
A few simple rules to help prevent condensation.
- When cooking and washing, keep the kitchen internal door shut to prevent moist air being carried into the rest of the house and keep the kitchen windows open.
- The bathroom door should be kept shut during and after bathing and the bathroom window opened after bathing. If you have extractor fans these should be used.
- Do not allow kettles and pans to boil any longer than necessary.
- Clothes should be dried outside and not on radiators or in front of a gas or electric fire. Tumble dryers must be vented to the outside through a duct.
- Paraffin and bottled gas heaters give off large quantities of water vapour when in use; every gallon of paraffin burnt produces a gallon of water, which will settle on cold surfaces. When using this kind of heater, or any flueless gas heater, ensure that the window is open sufficiently.
- Always wipe up condensation with a cloth.
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Frost Precautions
The house should not be left entirely without heating for more than a day or two in very cold weather. If the house is to be left for any length of time and the heating turned off, it is safest to drain off the hot water and cold water systems completely.
This means turning off the main supply stopcock on the cold riser to the cold water storage tanks. Hose pipes should be fitted to draincocks and the system drained down. All taps should be turned on until they run dry, then turned off again. Flush the WC.
If you are unsure on how to undertake any part of these precautions, please call us on 0800 876 6060. speak to our Housing staff.
Before turning on the heating, you must turn on the main supply stopcocks and the stopcocks of the downpipes from cold and hot water storage tanks. Turn on taps until the water flows freely again. Keep all pipes and tanks in the roof space, outhouses and external WC’s well insulated to prevent freezing up and bursts pipes.
If you have controllable gas/oil/electric heating, it is possible to avoid this inconvenience by adjusting the timer to bring the heating on for an hour or so twice a day at a reduced level. This will normally keep the dwelling free from freezing.
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Leaking, Burst Or Frozen Pipes
When pipes leak, place a dish or bowl underneath the leak. Pull back any carpets and lay down newspapers or towels to absorb any dampness.
When pipes burst, turn off the water at the main stop cock, and any gate valves from the water tank, and switch off any water heaters. Open all taps to drain water from the system.
- Can it be isolated?
Some items of equipment may have their own isolation valve (either a gate valve, or a service valve). If not, you may be able to isolate the fault by just turning off a gate valve on a pipe coming out of the cold water tank. This will leave you with some services, even though it might only be cold water at the kitchen tap. You could then temporarily flush toilets using a bucket of cold water.
- If electric fittings get wet
DO NOT TOUCH and turn off electricity at the meter.
- When ceilings bulge
To prevent the ceiling falling down, place a bucket under the bulge and pierce a small hole to let the water through.
- When pipes freeze
Turn off the water at the main stop tap and open the cold taps. It is best to leave the pipes frozen but you may try to thaw the pipe using hot water bottles
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Electrics
Fuses
Check your fuse box if you lose power to all of the sockets or lights in a room or on one floor of a house. Modern fuse boxes simply need you to flick a switch or press a button. The fuse box is normally located near to a front door, in a cupboard or perhaps under the stairs. Find out where yours is before you have a problem.
Remember: - a blown fuse indicates a problem somewhere else, possibly a faulty socket or light fitting. If you think electrics may have been affected by water, give them time to dry out before resetting a fuse switch. Fuses should be marked to indicate which circuit they manage, e.g. lights, sockets etc. If a fuse cannot be reset, this information is useful to the electrician in identifying where the problem will be in the property.
Switches and Sockets
Some fittings also have a fused switch or fuse in the circuit so that they can be isolated (this commonly applies to immersion heaters and the like). If something doesn’t work and it has a fuse switch, check the fuse first before reporting a problem.
REMEMBER:
Electricity CAN KILL - repairs should be carried out by a qualified electrician.ALWAYS turn off power at the fuse box before doing any electrical repairs yourself. If in any doubt, call us out.
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Smoke Detectors
Your smoke detector has been designed to be as maintenance free as possible. To keep your detector in good working order you must:-
- Test the detector weekly (see section below “How to Tell if the Detector is Working Properly”).
- ELECTRICAL SHOCK HAZARD: Turn off mains power at the fuse box or circuit breaker powering the detector before following these cleaning instructions.
- Vacuum the detector at least once a year, using the soft brush attachment to your vacuum cleaner.
- Clean the detector’s cover when it gets dirty. Hand wash the cover with a cloth lightly dampened with clean water. Dry it with a lint-free cloth. Be sure not to get any water on the detector components.
- Test detector after restoring power.
How to tell if the Detector is working properly
When the indicator light flashes about every 40 seconds, the detector is receiving power from the battery or electrical current.
Test the detector weekly by pushing firmly on the test button until the horn sounds. This should take 20 seconds. If the alarm horn makes a continuous loud sound, the detector is working properly. This is the only way to be sure that the detector is working.
Never use an open flame of any kind to test your detector. You may set fire to and damage the detector as well as your home. The built-in test switch will accurately tests all detector functions as required by Underwriters’ Laboratories. It is the only correct way to test.
If you have a battery powered smoke detector, this will be replaced with a wired system whenever it becomes necessary to carry out an electrical check to your home.
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Wall Fixings
Most modern houses have walls of lightweight materials which may require special fixings to secure heavy pictures, mirrors, bathroom cabinets and so on. Steel pin picture hangers can be used for lightweight articles. This is a list of some wall constructions and the fitting to use.
- Blockwork (breeze block): plastic or fibre wall plugs and screws.
- Paramount Partitioning (hollow plasterboard): “rawlplugs”, spring toggles, rawl and/or similar butterfly bolts.
- Plasterboard on blockwork: “rawlplug”, spring toggles, rawl anchors or similar, butterfly bolts, but heavy articles should be fixed direct through the partioning into blockwork using plaster or fibre wall plugs and larger screws.
- Plasterboard on timber supports: articles should be fixed directly through plasterboard into timber supports with timber screws/nails, or as for “Paramount” into the plasterboard.
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Central Heating
Please read the operating instructions for your central heating so that you know how to operate this safely. If you do not have instructions please call our Customer Contact Centre on freephone 0800 876 6060.
If your central heating does not work, here are a few simple checks you should make before reporting this as a repair:
- If you have gas central heating this needs both an electrical and gas supply to operate the controls and ignite the boiler, so check that both of your supplies are working.
- Check that the timer is set correctly. This has to be re-set in Autumn and Spring when the clocks change.
- Check the thermostat is not set too low. If it is the heating will not come on.
- Switch your heating to constant. This overrides the timer. If the heating comes on this means that your timer is not set correctly.
- Check that your radiators are turned on and that if they are fitted with individual thermostats these are set to a high temperature so that they come on.
If your central heating still does not work, please call our Customer Contact Centre on 0800 876 6060, or for an emergency repair when our Customer Contact Centre is closed please call 01628 788555.
Heating and/or hot water loss is classed as an emergency for calls received between 8am to 7pm and at any time of the day or night for elderly and disabled customers.
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Gas Leaks
If you think you have a gas leak, phone Transco immediately on: 0800 111999.
If you smell gas in your home:
- Turn off the gas supply at the meter;
- Put out all naked flames and fires;
- Do not touch any electrical switches or equipment;
- Open all windows;
- Do not use a mobile phone.
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Fire
If you have a fire in your home:
- Get everyone out of the home immediately; do not stop to save belongings;
- Close all doors;
- Telephone 999 and ask for the Fire Brigade;
- Inform us as soon as possible.
If you live in sheltered accommodation your Sheltered Housing Manager will give you information on what to do in the event of a fire.
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Double Glazing
Some people are concerned about double glazing restricting access and ventilation in fires. As a safety precaution, we advise all residents to always make sure they know where the window keys are and think about their escape route if there was a fire.
All new windows at first floor level and above have safety restrictors fitted, preventing them from opening fully, without its release. They are designed to reduce the risk of falling from an open window.
To open the window fully for cleaning:
- Press the release control marked ‘press’ on the bottom hinge and slide the bottom of the window towards the middle of the opening;
- Repeat this for the upper hinge;
- Slide the window further until access can be gained to the outside of the window;
- To re-activate catches, close the window as normal pulling the handle.
If you have any problems, or need any further operating instructions for your windows, please get in touch with our Customer Contact Centre on 0800 876 6060.
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Household insurance
We insure your home against fire, storm, flood and any damage for which we are responsible. We do not insure belongings against fire, theft or accidents that are not caused by our negligence.
We strongly advise all our residents to take out household insurance to cover against incidents such as a burglary or accidental damage.
In some circumstances, for example a bad water leak we may need to gain access to your property without giving you written notice. If this happens we will try to contact you. It is important that we always have a contact telephone number where a keyholder can be reached. In exceptional circumstances, if we are unable to contact you we may need to break-in. If we have to do this we will make your home safe before we leave.
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Asbestos
Asbestos is a natural mineral that has been used in a range of building materials to make them more rigid and fire resistant. It was used widely as a building material in Great Britain from the 1930s through to the mid 1980s. It is our policy not to use materials containing asbestos in our properties.
However, as we have a large variety of homes, some of which were built when asbestos was widely used, it is likely that some of our homes will contain asbestos in some form.
Many people have worries about asbestos, but undisturbed asbestos is usually safe. However, care should be taken to prevent the release of fibres from asbestos as they can cause serious damage to your health.
What are we doing about asbestos in our properties?
We have carried out surveys on all types of our homes to identify any that were built using materials containing asbestos.
If your home has been identified as containing asbestos we will:
- Offer information and advice on the location, type and condition of any asbestos;
- Remove or make safe any materials containing asbestos that pose a serious risk to health. home;
- Remove any materials containing asbestos that do not pose a risk to health, when it is safe and cost effective to do so;
- Manage any materials containing asbestos which are left in place to minimise the risk to the health and safety of our residents, employees, contractors, visitors and other people using our premises.
If you think you may have asbestos in your home please leave it alone, it is safe unless it is damaged or disturbed. If you plan to do any DIY work on or around any materials that you think may contain asbestos in your home you should seek our advice before you carry out the work.
Asbestos do’s and don’ts:
- leave asbestos alone, it’s safe unless it’s damaged or disturbed;
- call us if the asbestos is damaged or disturbed;
- never sand, drill or saw asbestos materials;
- do not attempt to remove asbestos materials.
For more information or for a leaflet on dealing with Asbestos please call our Customer Contact Centre on 0800 876 6060. You can also download the leaflet from our website: www.housingsolutions.co.uk.
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