7-Legal Affairs-Property-Housing-Hazard

household hazard

Household hazards {hazard, housing} {household hazard} are asbestos, earthquakes, flooding, formaldehyde, lead, mold, radon, and wastes.

asbestos hazard

Natural fibrous minerals {asbestos, housing} do not burn, do not react chemically, and are good insulators. Asbestos was in plaster, sprays, roof materials, vinyl for floors, and insulation for walls, ceilings, boilers, ducts, and pipes. Asbestos can become powder, and friable asbestos fibers go into lungs.

earthquake hazard

Houses need protection from earthquakes {earthquake hazard} {seismic hazard}.

foundation

Houses with concrete slab foundations have no cripple walls or posts and typically already have anchors. Foundations can have anchors and anchor bolts or steel plates can attach sill plate to foundation. Foundation wood studs {cripple wall} can raise bottom floor higher above ground and create crawl space. Cripple walls can have plywood or diagonal wood strengthening. Concrete blocks with wood posts {pier-and-post foundation} can raise bottom floor higher above ground and create crawl space. Posts can have plywood or diagonal wood studs for bracing. Concrete blocks, stones, or bricks can be foundations. Brick and concrete-block masonry can have steel reinforcing bars in the grout.

other

Masonry walls have bricks, clay tiles, stones, concrete blocks, and adobe and need reinforcement with steel bars. Rooms over garages need bracing around garage door {garage door}. Water heaters {water heater} need a bracing strap attached to wall studs, to prevent tipping. Chimneys {chimney} need bracing.

soil

Earthquake shaking can cause soil liquefaction. Sloping soils can have landslides.

flooding hazard

Houses should be above nearby lake and river water level {flooding, house}. Houses should not be in possible water-flow paths {flood zone}, such as below river or ocean levels or in channels.

formaldehyde hazard

Colorless water-soluble, organic-soluble organic-smelling gas {formaldehyde, housing} is in urea-formaldehyde and phenol-formaldehyde resins in plywood, particleboard, and oriented-strand board. Formaldehyde can be in paint, plastics, wrinkle-resistant-cloth resins, fiberboard, urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI), and photography chemicals. It is high in manufactured homes, mostly from composite wood.

friable hazard

powder or easy to powder {friable}|.

lead hazard

A heavy metal {lead, housing} was in gasoline and paint and is still in car batteries. Lead poisoning can result from lead in paint dust, exposed by sanding, scraping, peeling, chipping, chalking, and cracking. Lead can be in lead crystal, ceramic clays, bullets, and fishing weights. Traditional medicines can have high lead. Houses built before 1988 can have lead solder in water pipes.

mold hazard

Houses can have fungi {mold, housing} that break down organic materials. Molds can grow on wood, paper, and leaves. Molds look green, gray, brown, black, or white and smell musty and earthy. High mold-spore levels can damage roofs, beams, and floors. Flooding, leaky roofs, sprinkler spray, leaky plumbing, sink or sewer overflow, basements, crawl spaces, showers, cooking steam, humidifiers, and indoor clothes-dryer exhaust make moist places where molds grow. Mold spores can get in lungs and cause hay fever and allergies. Molds can produce poisons {mycotoxin}.

radon hazard

Natural odorless colorless radioactive gas {radon} comes from radioactive decay of uranium and radium in granite and shale. Radon then travels to soil and ground water. Homes can be on soil with high radon levels. Wells can access ground water with high radon levels. Radon causes cancer.

waste hazard

Wastes {waste, housing} can be poisonous, corrosive, flammable, explosive, or otherwise reactive.

poison

Poisonous chemicals {toxic chemical} are bleach, drain cleaner, insect killer, rat poison, rug cleaner, and weed killer.

corrosive

Corrosive or reactive chemicals {caustic chemical} are ammonia, batteries, bleach, drain cleaner, and oven cleaner.

flammable

Chemicals that can explode or catch fire {flammable chemical} {ignitable chemical} are petrochemicals.

cleaners

Hazardous household cleaners are ammonia, bleaches, drain cleaners, metal polishes, oven cleaners, and rug cleaners.

garden

Hazardous outdoor and garden chemicals are charcoal lighters, fertilizers, gasoline, insect killers, kerosene, rat poison, and weed killers.

car

Hazardous automotive chemicals are antifreeze, batteries, brake fluid, gasoline, oil, and transmission fluid.

household

Hazardous paint and household chemicals are glues, paint, paint removers, varnish, and waxes.

other

Oil, gas, petrochemicals, metals, dry cleaning fluids, printing chemicals are hazardous, and such wastes have special landfills. Wastes can contaminate soil and water wells. Houses can be close to leaking fuel and chemical storage tanks or sanitary landfills.