Tips Before Buying A House Deadly Asbestos Maybe Present

By: David Cant

Do you have Asbestos in your Domestic home?

When buying or selling a house, or even contemplating renovation or DIY tasks, you should be fully aware of the potential harm ful risks posed by any deadly Asbestos-Containing materials that may be present.

If you are a buyer or seller, the presence of Asbestos-Containing material has the potential to substantially adversely affect the value of the property.

Did you know that over 70% of UK homes potentially contain asbestos in some form.

Increasing numbers of mortgage lenders and conveyance solicitors are advising prospective buyers to obtain Specialist Reports on Asbestos prior to exchange of contracts.

Although not covered by legislation, commissioning an Asbestos Survey is desirable, especially when considering the likely devaluation affect on the future price of the property.

Landlords have legal obligations under current legislation to identify and manage asbestos in the common parts of multi-occupation dwellings; failure to do so may lead to prosecution.

Veritas Consulting Safety Services is an independent company with specialist knowledge to undertake asbestos surveys. In most cases, the building surveyors who undertake pre-sale surveys do not have this specialist knowledge and their reports will usually carry a disclaimer in respect of asbestos.

So why is it important that potential property buyers know whether asbestos is present?

Because deadly Asbestos materials can be found in the following places.

• Thermal & Acoustic insulation

• Ceiling tiles

• Decorative coatings such as artex

• Stud walls & partitions

• Thermo plastic floor tiles

• Flue pipes & chimneys

• Cement roofing, drainpipes

• Electrical fuse boards & switch gear

• Soffit boards

• Toilet cisterns & water tanks

and more…

So what are the Health risks from Asbestos?

DIY activities or building works which involve drilling, sanding, sawing or removal of any Asbestos-Containing Materials will almost certainly release asbestos fibres into the air.

If inhaled, asbestos fibres may be deposited in the airways and lung tissue which can cause irreversible scarring and render sections of the lungs unusable.

Asbestos in the home does not pose a health risk unless the material is broken, deteriorating, or disturbed in such a way that asbestos dust is produced.

So what are the Financial Risks?

The cost of employing the required Specialist Contractors licensed by the HSE to remove and dispose of Asbestos-Containing Materials is very high due to the strict legislative controls. It is vital therefore to determine the location, extent and type of Asbestos in the home prior to purchase or undertaking any refurbishment.

How can surveyors help?

For a fixed fee asbestos surveyors will undertake a comprehensive physical asbestos survey of the property and produce an Asbestos Survey Report in accordance with HSE Document MDHS100; they will include a detailed Material risk Assessment on any Asbestos material identified.

They will provide practical and impartial recommendations on any actions that may be necessary to ensure that you are not put at risk through exposure to deadly asbestos fibres.

Original source: The Health and Safety Blog

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/family/article_2997.shtml

Personalized Stationery Appropriate For Every Season

By: Jennifer Bailey

Personalized stationery is appropriate for every season and every seasonal celebration. Although relatively lost in the mix of email, text messaging and instant messaging, personalized stationary is still very useful. Let’s take a look at the seasons and celebrations and how you can make use of personalized stationery.

Spring

In the spring, many people have get-togethers to celebrate the end of the cold season, finally the snow, ice and cold has gone and the roads are less treacherous making travel easier. You can utilize personalized stationery as invitations to a get together like this, or to a garage sale or party. After the party has been held, personalized stationary is perfect for thank-you notes.

Summer

Summer often means barbecues, picnics and parties out in the sun. In the summer, you can use your personalized stationery to invite your friends to a party, barbecue, picnic, outing or celebration. Create personalized stationery that reflects the season with bright sunshine-yellow paper, clip-art smiling suns, palm trees – the list goes on! The end of the school year is also at the beginning of summer so you can utilize your personalized stationery to thank your child’s teacher for their hard work throughout the year.

Fall

The fall means the start of school, which is a great way to say “hello” to your child’s new teacher for the year. You can introduce yourself and your child to a new teacher and wish them a great school year with personalized stationery. As a teacher, personalized stationery is a great way to send home personalized notes to your students’ parents as well.

Winter

With winter comes many seasonal celebrations, but apart from that, you can send out well wishes on personalized stationery to ill friends who are sick with a cold or flu, or just send out a simple pick me up card that brings some sunshine and happiness to a grey day.

Seasonal celebrations

You can use your personalized stationery or create personalized stationery for every seasonal celebration. Let’s take a look at the popular seasonal celebrations and how you can make use of personalized stationery to make your cards, notes and letters all the more special.

New Years Eve / New Years Day

You can use personalized stationery to invite friends to your New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day celebrations. Invitations can be made on personalized stationery, you can even use your personalized stationery with your computer printer to print out several invitations, or you could choose to write them out by hand for that added extra special touch.

Valentines Day

Nothing says I love you like a note to your significant other on personalized stationery. Similarly, you can purchase personalized stationery for your children to give as valentines to their friends or for you to send out to the special people in your life.

Easter

Invite friends and family to your Easter celebrations with personalized stationery, or just send a Happy Easter card to those you love.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for everything important to us. What better way to do so than by sending your friends and family note cards that thank them for being a part of your life.

Veterans Day/Remembrance Day

Remember those we lost, those who fought for our freedom on Veterans Day and Remembrance Day with a special personalized note card or letter written on personalized stationery. Send the veterans in your circle of family and friends a thank you card to remember the sacrifices made by all the men women in the armed forces.

Christmas

Christmas letters and cards are a staple throughout the Christmas season – instead of using store bought Christmas cards or typing out your holiday letter on Christmas stationery, create your own personalized Christmas stationery to send cards and information out to your friends and family. You can include your family photo on the Christmas card or even on all the personalized stationery you order for the Christmas season.

Hanukah

Celebrate Hanukah with all of your Jewish friends with personalized stationery made for the season.

Mother’s Day

Tell your mother and maternal figures in your life how much you love them and care about them with personalized stationery.

Father’s Day

Tell your father and paternal figures in your life how much you appreciate them, love them and care about them with your own personalized stationery.

Independence Day/Canada Day

Send out invitations to a party; celebrate your country and more with personalized stationery made for the event. Perhaps you could use your country’s flag and colors to create your own special patriotic personalized stationery.

Halloween

Invite your friends to a Halloween bash at your house with personalized invitation stationery, or just wish them a “boo-tiful Halloween” with precious Halloween themed stationery and note cards.

Regardless of the holiday or season, you can find a reason to use your personalized stationery to send out invitations, notes, and cards of thanks or letters to your friends and family.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/family/article_3080.shtml

Mom, After Dad

By: Jacquie Bird

My dad passed away March 11, 2008 six days shy of his 73rd birthday. His body wasted away in the final year, his mind gradually retracting from the things he loved. This was a vibrant LARGER THAN LIFE man who was succumbing to the affects of a lifetime of smoking, the lung cancer wrapping like tentacles around his breathing organs, spine and brain. Through this all labored my step-mom, caring for him the best she could as his journey began to veer away from hers, the door to their 40 year union closing. A union starring her alcoholic, abusive, angry husband in the role of dictator-t’was not a picnic growing up in that house. My home was the stage for daily fights, beatings, and yelling. The man didn’t want her to live her life, dogging her when she tried to learn the guitar, have a job, wear nice clothes, or have friends. Stay in that box I put you in was the directive, and that fiery, intelligent, go-getting woman did. She stayed through his hell-with-the-world-isms, through his brilliance, through his genius, [because he was all that] through his purgatory, through his crash and burn anger charring EVERYTHING in its wake, through his infectious laugh and magnetic charm, through his lighting fast wit; Ma played her role as the dutiful wife and partner for two thirds of her life, dulling her dreams and aspirations in deferment to his.

Once beautiful and smooth of skin, scowls replaced smiles as she formed a bitter brittle shell in which to exist. If living with daddy wasn’t stress enough, add to the mix the many years I blamed her for much in my upbringing. We were mortal enemies for 20+ years, each wielding hexes of anger, misunderstanding, & high handed judgments. Eventually growing weary of our battle, we made way to each other with much patience, honesty, empathy and compassion-I think we surprised ourselves with the great friendship that has grown out of the ashes. [This was well before we knew daddy was ailing]. When I finally saw her I gasped inwardly, very dark circles were under her eyes and the robust Native American tresses gave way to large bald spots. The once foxy body had thickened with the weight of the Unhappy while her fluid speech pattern had become halting, [not quite a stutter but close] the rush of words stampeding over each other, making you gasp for air as you hunkered down for the onslaught. The razor-sharp tongue that could cut your head off was now cutting itself.

As daddy’s illness set deeper, Ma’s energy was draining as she took care of him. I tried to prepare her for what I knew was coming by issuing lectures on preparedness and how she needed to give thought to re-entering the work-force. She needed to acquaint herself with technology, particularly the computer. So one day I marched over there armed with an old laptop ready to give lessons. But she wasn’t feelin’ it. So it sat packed up for a year. She was scared to touch it.

One day, I’m over at my folks’ & asked Ma, NOT dad ['cause I knew what he'd say] if she wanted an answering machine. She hesitated, which gave my dad enough time to bark “WE do not want an answering machine! If someone calls and we don’t pick up, I don’t want to know who calls anyway. If they really want to talk to us, they’ll call back! Now remember, I asked HER, not him. By this point, he was sleeping most of the day and night so what was it to him? But since this was another stitch in the fabric of their relationship, I as part of that fabric annoyingly acquiesced to his directive to save her any harassment after I left. But not long after his passing, I again bring up the idea but could barely get the question out of my mouth before “YES!!” leaped from hers. When I unveiled her introduction to technology I was too tickled to see this stern woman’s child-like glee when the machine lit up. And oh man, when it talked? HEAVEN. She couldn’t WAIT to tell me she got her first message!

Today I am so very proud of her. She dove into the deepest depths of despair, grief, loneliness and fear. “What am I going to do?” she implored of the heavens, “I am a 67 year old woman with no skills, and very little work history. I am close to destitute [daddy left nothing] and my life has passed me by. I feel like my mental capacity is at a deficit, oh how I have wasted my life, my best years are gone!” In the early days and months, not a phone conversation or visit went by without her breaking down into sobs. I tried to remind her that the invincible, foxy, self-assured woman I remember meeting all those years ago was still there and that she just needed to reach out to that gal inside. It became my mantra to her. Then, into all that darkness, an angel came to her in the guise of a social worker [who wasn't even assigned to her!] who became her champion, working tirelessly on her behalf, steering her through the tsunami of bloody red tape. She got Ma into a program providing her with a part time job with access to computer classes and other great opportunities to help get seniors on their feet. Slowly this battered, beat down soul began to shine! Now she’s making new friends, trying new things, is beginning to slim down and lookin’ suave. SHE’S GETTING HER MOJO BACK! Girlfriend participates in Tai Chi and yoga classes at her part time gig. She’s working on her typing on that old laptop-she wanted to know how much a new one cost! It is so good to see her smiling and laughing as she figures out what SHE likes.

Ma is beginning to enjoy her life.

I’ve heard that people generally stop learning and/or trying new things once they hit their 30′s. Not my mom, she’s reaching out with everything she’s got, trying new food and oh my goodness, I got her a cell phone! Oh boy. “Ma, you have to remember to take it with you,” “Ma, you have to remember to turn it on,” “Ma, you have to put it where you can HEAR it!” “Ma, Ma, MA…” Teaching her to text? OH GEES! That was pretty much a futile endeavor until one day I was in Paris checking my text messages and there was one from her! It said: “got your text, writing this, NOW HOW DO I SEND IT?” Boy I can’t believe she didn’t hear me howling from across the Atlantic.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/family/article_3024.shtml