Homeowner’s Academy
This is your guide to interesting facts, tips and general homeowner information. We hope you find the information useful – and feel free to share with friends!

Tips to Avoid Thanksgiving Disasters

Spring cleaning often comes with a fresh coat of paint. Painting can be a great way to change the feel of a room or give your home some great curb appeal. Painting also plays a role in home repair by protecting the wood of your home against the elements, essential here in Florida.

If you decide to try your hand at painting this spring, People’s Trust has some tips that can keep the experience enjoyable and safe for everyone in your family.

Try Some Eco-friendly Paint

Spring conjures up the sniffles for many people in the great outdoors, but paint may do the same thing inside of your home. Household paints have previously contained up to 300 toxic chemicals, including the hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that release particles into the air for years after you paint.

Try a low-VOC paint, which tends to be water-based, for any home interior painting. These have taken off in recent years and come in every shade and finish imaginable. Some brands also create no-VOC paints by replacing chemicals with more natural ingredients. These no-VOC paints are often pet-safe, but always check the label and never leave your pet unattended in a room where paint cans are open.

Home Repair Supervision

If you have children, never let them be in a room with open paint cans by themselves. If children are under the age of 10, they should never be in a room with any open painting materials. Even eco-friendly paints are extremely dangerous if ingested. If you believe your child has ingested any paint, immediately call poison control at 1-800-222-1222.

Try Cloth Catchers for Indoor and Outdoor Painting

You can pick up plastic sheets to protect your floors and lawn, but these often move and tear as you walk around painting. Turn to cloth or canvas drop cloths that will stay in place easier and can be weighed down with objects without the risk of tearing.

For painting the outside of your home, try a tarp with tie-holes. These can be staked into the ground to provide a steadier surface for a ladder.

Ventilate: Make Room to Breathe

If you’re painting inside, open the doors and windows. If your room has a fan, turn it on. You want proper ventilation for any space you’re painting to help air out the room and not breathe in paint fumes. If you can’t ventilate where you’re working, get a respirator and only paint in short stints.

Ventilation is essential to most common home repair improvements.

Stick to the Shade

If painting outside, you know that you need to take a break in the shade, but what about your materials? Paint, paint thinner and lacquer all need to stay in the shade as much as possible when painting outdoors.

Not only can heat and sun alter some of these items when they’re sitting in the can, but heat can also be a big problem for these flammable items. The city of Las Vegas actually warns its citizens to be careful when painting their homes or canvases outside because paint thinner has been ignited by the sun and started home fires.

Clean Up after Home Repairs

When you finish painting for the day, clean up the entire space. This will prevent spills and any accidental exposure.

Latex paints can typically be cleaned from surfaces and your skin with soap and water. Oil-based paints will have specific cleaning instructions located on the paint can itself. Take a look at your can before you start painting and write down what it says, because paint often spills on the outside of the can during the painting process.

Gasoline was once used to clean paint off of brushes, but this should never be used. Gasoline is extremely dangerous and should never be used as a cleaner for any object.

It’s always a smart practice to clean up and watch your space clearly when doing any home repair project.

Thanksgiving is a time for family, food, and honoring our nation’s history. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is also the leading day for home cooking fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association, with three times as many occurrences as any other day of the year.

We’ve rounded up the top safety tips to help you have a happy and disaster-free holiday.

Fire Safety

Don’t leave your home unattended while cooking your turkey, and check on it frequently. Set a timer to remind you to take your turkey out of the oven before it overcooks (and bursts into flames).

Oven drippings can spark a flame. Before placing anything in the oven, make sure your pan or cookware can hold the food and its drippings.

Keep flammable items, such as potholders, wooden utensils, towels, napkins, and cleaning supplies, away from the stovetop at all times.

Most importantly, be prepared in case of a fire. Make sure your smoke alarms are working properly before you begin your Thanksgiving festivities, and ensure your household fire extinguisher is up-to-date.

Food Safety

As soon as your turkey begins to thaw, it can quickly turn into a breeding ground for bacteria if not properly handled. Thaw your turkey in the refrigerator or in cold water to prevent the formation of bacteria. Do not leave it sitting out at room temperature. For detailed instructions on how to safely cook a turkey, click here.

While wooden cutting boards may be more aesthetically pleasing, they tend to absorb bacteria, which increases the risk of foodborne illnesses. For holidays like Thanksgiving, where several food items are being handled at once, opt for color-coded plastic cutting boards instead.

Prevent post-holiday food poisoning by storing leftovers properly. Fight that tryptophan-induced coma and put leftovers in the refrigerator within two hours of preparation, placing them in shallow containers to allow them to cool faster.

Thoroughly wash your hands before and after touching food, especially meat, to prevent cross contamination. Be sure to clean utensils, cutting boards and cookware after they have come in contact with food, especially meat and eggs.

Kitchen Safety

Unplug small appliances, such as blenders and electric hand mixers, when they’re not in use, and keep cords away from high traffic zones to prevent trips and falls.

Don’t put glassware from the refrigerator directly onto heat, or vice versa – it may shatter due to the sudden change in temperature.

Clean up spills immediately. For broken glass, use a broom to sweep up as much as you can and throw the pieces out in a paper bag. When you’re done, carefully shake the broom into the paper bag to get rid of any pieces of glass that may have gotten stuck in the bristles. But you’re not done yet… use a slice of soft sandwich bread to grab the dust-like glass particles that couldn’t be swept up with the broom.