Unit 4: Your home is your castle

Lesson 1: Protecting and maintaining your home

Protecting your property from fire and theft

After you have moved into your new home, it is important to protect your property. You can protect your home against fire and theft by following a few safety rules.

1. Keep a list of emergency phone numbers near your telephone. Be sure to include telephone numbers for the police, doctor, hospital, and fire station.

2. Put a smoke detector on the ceiling out- side bedroom doors and near the living room. You will need at least one on each floor of your home. Check them often to make sure they work.

3. Keep a fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen. If you have a large house, place a fire extinguisher on each floor, in the garage, and in the basement.

4. Make sure that all doors and windows have locks. It’s a good idea to change the locks as soon as you move into your new house.

5. Join the neighborhood watch program in your community. Neighbors try to prevent robberies by watching their streets and then warning each other (and sometimes the police) if they see strange or suspicious people or cars in the neighborhood.

Safety rules

Which safety rules are being followed in the pictures below? Why is it important to follow these rules? Try to add some safety rules to this list.

Maintaining your home

When you rent a home, your landlord is responsible for repairs. However, if you own a home, you are responsible for maintenance and repairs. Maintaining your home may take more time and be more expensive than you think. Your roof may start to leak, or you may need to replace a furnace. Even the cost of minor repairs can add up. Your household budget should include money for both routine maintenance and emergency repairs.

Whether you move into a new home or an older home, it is important to know how everything in your house works, including the electricity, plumbing, large appliances, and heating system. In case of an emergency, you should know how to cut off the water and gas supply. You should also know where the fuse box and main electrical switch are located and how they work.

You can usually get this information from a home inspector. Before you close on the purchase of your home, you can hire a home inspector to check the mechanical and
structural condition of the home and give you a written report on it. It is a good idea
to make a list of questions for the inspector and to write the answers in a notebook.

Do-it-yourself repairs

You can save money by doing minor repairs yourself. To learn how to make repairs, you can take a home repair course through your local adult education program. Another possibility is to go to the library and borrow some books on do-it-yourself home repairs.

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