Securing the Doors And Windows Of A Home

22. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Safety

The doors and windows of your house are the critical access points of your home. What does this mean? It means that these are the two area the a burglar would or could get into your home. It is vital to the security of you and your family to make sure that these two areas are secure.

You want to make sure that their are 1-inch throw deadbolt locks on all exterior doors. This will help prevent a burglar from simply pick locking the door to get in. Many homes are constructed with these locks, but not all.

Make sure doors do not have too much space between the door and the frame. Burglars can use a jimmy to access these doors. If the door has a bad gap, the burglar could even use a credit card to access the door.

Sometimes a door is installed with the hinges on the exterior. All a burglar has to do in this case is pop out the hinge pins. Not really sure why someone would install a door like that, but it does occasionally happen.

Glass patio doors can present an access problem. Many of them can simply be lifted off of the track and removed. Burglars know this and so you have to take action. The best bet is to make sure you have heavy weight glass and to lay a piece of wood or metal in the track so the door cannot be opened.

Windows should be protected with good locks, and should have small glass panes instead of big ones. Bigger panes allow burglars to simply break the glass, reach in and unlock the door. If possible, install safety glass in all first story windows.

Taking these simple precautions can help deter burglars from even attempting to break into your home. It will protect your family and make you safer, because you are safer.

Another thing that makes windows so accessible is the fact that their on ground level. Some houses are being built where the first story windows are actually a half story off of the ground. This means that if a person stands at a first story window, the bottom of the window would be about top of head level. This makes it extremely difficult for would be robbers.

 

Constructive Criticism

13. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Construction

Building houses and strip malls, grocery stores and banks is something we do in this country. It is a sign of good times, stability and economic growth. The only problem with is it has to end somewhere. We can’t just keep building forever, can we? You would think that eventually we would have enough places to live, enough places to shop and enough things to do.

Several years ago things were booming. Where you cold really see it was in the west. Places like Phoenix and Las Vegas were building subdivisions so fast it made your head hurt. And these subdivisions were huge. not the kind you’re use to if you are from the Midwest or east coast. These were ridiculously big. One subdivision running into another; creating a massive community.

In 2008, things started to change. They changed quick too. the economy started showing signs of instability. The first thing that started being affected was homes. Home sales started to plummet. People were not buying homes all of a sudden. Home builders had just gone from bragging about how they could build a home in record time, to having thousands of brand new, empty homes.

As things got even worse, more people became unemployed. The more people that became unemployed, the more people that couldn’t pay their mortgages. Folks started walking away from their homes. They made the decision that vacating the house was the only option – they simply could not afford to pay the bill anymore. Add on to that, the fact that because housing prices had dropped to all-time lows, they were never going to get their money back out of their house.

In this country, we have a tendency to be extremists. If something is big, new, popular or working for someone; we go full bore and run it straight into the ground. We do it with sports, we do it with music, with technology – and we do it with construction. Hopefully we will learn from this, and be more prepared when the economy takes a turn for the worst.

The Brooklyn Bridge – Greatness in Tragedy

06. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Architecture

The Brooklyn Bridge is on of the most magnificent and incredible architectural feats in American history. The bridge is one of the oldest bridges in the country. The Brooklyn Bridge crosses the East River and connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. It was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and was the longest of its kind in the world until 1903. The fact that this bridge was built so long ago, and still stands strong, is incredible.

The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883. The bridge is a suspension bridge made with cable stays. The bridge was designed by John Augustus Roebling, and spans 5,989 feet. Designer Roebling had previously designed big project suspension bridges in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas.

Roebling was injured while surveying the property for the bridge, and died of tetanus before the bridge was built ever build. It was a tragedy. Roebling’s son, Washington Roebling, completed the design and supervised the engineering for a time, but he died. The bridge was completed 14 years after it was started The project was eventually completed by Washington Roebling’s wife, Emily.

When the Brooklyn Bridge opened, there was a rumor that the bridge was about to collapse. A stamped ensued, killing 12 people and injured 35 more.

Of all the engineering designs of the 1800s, the Brooklyn Bridge stands out as the most famous remarkable. It took a long time to build the bridge; more than a decade. It also cost the life of its designer, and his son. The bridge and was constantly criticized by those who thought it was going to fall into the East River.

The Brooklyn may always be remembered most as the passage way that thousands took to escape Manhattan on September 11, 2001.