Home Renovation Priority - What Affects Safety and Health - By: Tauqeer Hassan

Changes that involve safety and health aren't really renovation, but repair. If your gas furnace has a hole in the heat exchanger, you (or anyone else living in the house) run the danger of carbon monox¬ide poisoning. The hole needs to be fixed, immediately. It could cost upwards of $2000.

Every home needs to have at least one smoke alarm, preferably several. And they should be both the battery and home electrical cir¬cuit variety. The cost is minimal, usually under $25 each.

Perhaps the wiring is frayed in spots, particularly at ceiling fix¬tures. It must be replaced or repaired. Again, as long as it's bad only in spots, the cost is minimal, usually under $100.

Maybe the plumbing is galvanized steel that has rusted out and is leaking. Perhaps the only real solution is to replace everything with copper piping. This is a real bad one in terms of price - figure a minimum of $5000 for the whole house.

In a pinch you can use compression fittings (found at hardware stores) over leaks to stop them. This will work as a temporarily solution. However, if the galvanized pipe is indeed rusting out, other leaks will soon appear elsewhere.

Is there lead paint in the home? (Most homes built prior to 1978 used lead paint.) Many people are willing to live with lead paint in the house. However, if there are children, it could be a significant health hazard, since kids sometimes chew on paint or ingest dust or dirt that carries lead paint particles. Talk about price! Lead paint can be removed only by experts (who use special protective masks and controlled removal techniques). Figure the cost at $10,000 and up for a whole house!

What about asbestos? It may be on pipes, in acoustical ceilings, in floor tile, and elsewhere. Fortunately, if it's not disturbed, it's usually not a threat. Indeed, one often acceptable method of con¬trolling asbestos is to have it encapsulated. But if it's loose, it needs to be removed, immediately. Again, removal must be handled by specialists, and the cost is very high. Start at $1000 and go on up, depending on the location and quantity to be removed.

The list goes on and on. If you have a pool, is it surrounded by a protective fence up to building code requirements (usually at least 5 feet high)? Are the electrical outlets all properly grounded?

Will I Get My Money Back?
What's important to understand is that doing the above work doesn't earn you any more dollars when it comes time to sell the property. That's because the work is actually a repair. And buyers just won't pay extra for repairs. They figure it's your responsibility to do the work as the owner/seller.

Yet you need to do the work. And usually you need to do it at the highest priority, because it affects your health and safety. It won't do you much good to focus on some other work if the house burns down or floods, or if you get sick because you overlooked some pressing health issue. Just don't count on your efforts accomplishing more than bringing the home up to minimal standards.

About the Author

Health is very important and you should know how to prevent sleep deprivation because a better sleep keeps your mind fresh. You might also be interested in learning how to calculate your heart rate.

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