All Things Real Estate Newspaper Issue 5 Volume 4 | Page 15

restore, renovate, remodel

{ TIPS}

HOW TO CLEAN

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Interior Woodwork
Trim

Uses for Lemons

One of the reasons wood is
the most popular building
material is the fact that it’s
easy to machine and work
with standard tools. Minor
scratches and gouges can
be hidden or covered up,
but you may want to replace pieces that are more
seriously damaged. To protect your interior woodwork,
it’s important to keep surfaces clean.

Cutting Board Refresher: The
antibacterial properties of lemons
make them a good choice for
refreshing cutting boards. After
disinfecting give the surface a rub
with a halved lemon, let sit for a
few minutes, and rinse.
Grater Cleaner: Remove dried
food from your grater by rubbing
with the pulp side of a cut lemon.
scarded
Firelighters: Bake discarded
orange or lemon peels
eels
until they darken.
al,
,
These create natural,

Interior woodwork is usually
protected with some kind

onegoodthingbyjille.com

wood effectively without ruining the topcoat, you need

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The CARE FEEDING of YOUR HOME:
How to Earthquake Proof Your House

G

rowing up in Portland, I remember hearing about the “big one” that scientists
were certain would strike some day. With each major earthquake that occurs
somewhere else in the world, we are reminded that we are sitting on a significant fault line. It just makes sense that it is not a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when”
it will strike here.
One of the reasons Haiti suffered such horrific damage a few years ago is that they
have virtually no building codes. Construction technique in that situation is left to the
individual. While we’ve had building codes in place since the early 1900s, seismic considerations weren’t codified until the 1970s. This means older homes, in general, won’t
withstand an earthquake as well as newer ones.
And, just so there’s no misunderstanding, seismic building codes are not designed to
build earthquake proof structures, rather they help us build earthquake resistant structures. The intent is to build something that won’t collapse on the occupants and will
allow them to escape safely.
For the most part, old fashioned building techniques simply relied on gravity to hold
a house on its foundation, so the addition of anchor bolts through the sill plate into
the concrete makes good sense. But, that only keeps the house from sliding off the
foundation.
Once the house is anchored in place, shear wall hold-down anchors should be attached
at each corner. This will keep the house from being tipped over like an old outhouse
on Halloween night.
All post and beam construction under the house should be tied together to keep the
posts from coming off their piers and to prevent the beams from sliding off the posts.
Gravity is great so long as all forces are straight down. But when the earth begins to
pitch and roll and twist and heave, all bets are off for any parts of the house that aren’t
tied together.
Now, let’s go back into the house and see what we should do in there to make things
safer. If your water heater isn’t strapped to a nearby wall, it should be. In a major earthquake, this container may hold 50 gallons of the most precious commodity you will
ever own – water. Having it tip over and spill out could be the difference between life

and death. Of course, having a five hundred pound tank full of water tip over can
also cause a lot