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Home Safety Tips Check out these tips for simple fixes and practical solutions to make your home safer. From "Today Show Tips" episode DTST-120

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Safety Check

With so much emphasis on energy efficiency these days, more people are adding insulation in their attics. However, if you live in a house that’s more than 15 or 20 years old and you have recessed lights, you need to pay attention to them. Older models of recessed lights don’t have temperature sensors, and if you cover them up with insulation, it could start a fire. So if you’re adding insulation in your attic, keep it at least 3 inches off any recessed lighting fixtures.

In fact, if you have an older house, you should consider having the wiring and the plumbing inspected. Getting an older house up to code usually happens during a renovation, but there are some things that you should be aware of.

There are other potential hazards in houses, too:

• In the bathroom, if you have shower doors, make sure they have tempered glass or plastic. If there’s a window right over the bathtub, it should have tempered glass, too. If tempered glass breaks, it shatters into tiny pieces that won’t cause serious cuts.

  The hot look in bathrooms right now is polished tile or stone. It looks great, but it can be dangerous when it’s wet. Choose a tile, such as terra cotta, with some texture to it for a non-skid surface. Also consider using small tiles instead of very large tile; the extra grout lines provide some traction for wet feet.
  

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• Every shower should have a pressure-sensing, pressure-balanced, anti-scald valve. The valve senses the pressure of the hot water and the cold water and adjusts for any drop in either one. The result is that if you’re in the shower, you don’t get a sudden blast of hot water just because someone flushed a toilet somewhere else in the house. One of these valves is especially important if you have older people or small children in the house.

• In the bathroom and the kitchen, check to make sure that any electrical outlet within six feet of a sink has a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). They sense any short that might be caused by moisture and shut down the power to that outlet. It can keep you from being electrocuted. GFCIs are relatively easy to install yourself and can help bring your house up to code.

• Any time you’re working with electricity, of course, be sure the circuit is turned off at the panel. Use a tester to make sure it’s off before you start working. And make sure that any tools you use, such as a wire snipper or needle-nose pliers, have rubber grips to insulate you from any shock.

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