OpenHouseNYC: Safety in Your Home
A double dip of OpenHouseNYC this week as I couldn't resist sharing both of these incredibly useful episodes.
First is a piece that shares how to prepare an emergency plan for you and your family:
As our host George Oliphant notes in this edition of Floorplan, New York is the safest big city in the world, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a plan ready in the event of an emergency or disaster.
To help devise a plan, George visits with Diane Hoch. Diane is a homeowner and mother of three daughters, but doesn’t know a “go bag” from a golf bag and sadly is unprepared for the worst case scenario. In order to help Diane (and all other viewers of OpenHouse NYC), George visits with Amber Greene of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management for the three essential steps to get your home ready.
According to Amber, every resident must:
Get informed about potential risks
Be Prepared—Make a “go bag”
Make a plan for evacuating your homeAmber also suggests including 3 days worth of food and water as well as flashlights and important documents in a go bag for EACH member of your home. A lot of people who remember to make “go bags” often only have one for the entire home—when each resident really needs an individual bag.
After Amber helps George build his “go bag” he slides down the pole to meet with Anthony Mancuso of the FDNY. Mancuso reminds George that every home needs a working smoke alarm, an extremely familiar knowledge of the exits and an alternate exit plan through a fire exit or escape ladder.
Once George is a trained escape artist, he heads back to the Hoch home and helps them practice their emergency plan.
Do they learn well? Are you ready? Watch the video and find out…
The second episode is chock full of tips on making our kitchens and baths safer for our children:
In this floorplan episode, George Oliphant meets with Geoffrey Belle of the inimitable New York Kitchen and Bath for some new interior design features that can make your kitchen and bathroom safer and child-friendly.
In the kitchen, Belle shares some new devices that are both technologically advanced and functionally safer. He shows George a new electronic locking function on stovetops that prevents accidental hot surfaces. He also demonstrates a new rotating oven control panel that is built into the oven display. Even the most mischievous of children will be unable to fire up the oven without proper parental supervision.
In the bathroom, some of the NYKB touches are more old-school than gee whiz, but still can make any bathroom safer. Belle suggests a matte tile or grout mixed with mosaic tile and then installing grab bars and safety bars in the bathtub and shower.
So no matter if you’re high-tech or low-tech, these tips from NYKB will undoubtedly make your home much safer!
If you haven't seen OpenHouseNYC yet, check it out every Sunday on NBC4HD at 8:30am.
This IS very interesting. Mainly because it's completely bogus and absolutely fictional. NYKB stole my money, destroyed my home and left it an unparalleled safety hazard for children--featuring reverse polarity and LIVE WIRES!!!! How is this safe, exactly? Violation after violation. As a 'bonus' they hid a junction box in the wall and did ALL the wiring of the new box incorrectly so we had to have it ALL redone. ALL. To the tune of 15k. They are thieves and they are conmen. And they care NOTHING about the safety of their customers' children. NOTHING. What a disgusting, tasteless joke for you people to disseminate this utter hogwash. You should be ashamed.
Dear "don't,"
Just as I recommend to all of my readers, I would strongly suggest that anyone looking to hire a real estate agent, mortgage broker, architect, contractor, babysitter, attorney, doctor, financial planner, accountant, etc (you get the point) get references and check with respective agencies that oversee and "sometimes" actually police these professions. If NYKB did what you said i can't believe that it was the first time and that you couldn't find this out before hiring them?
Please understand that I don't know you and therefore also don't know what your motives are, if any, in bashing NYKB at every opportunity you can. I have seen your comments before and hope that you have taken your complaints to an attorney as a more constructive means to whatever end you are seeking.
I know people who have used NYKB with 150% satisfaction. Having said that, I don't refer contractors for this exact reason. Heck, my wife's cousin was a contractor and he even screwed up a job once so I didn't feel comfortable referring him business anymore. Another contractor that did work for my wife and I on two of our apartments was detail oriented, timely, communicative and reasonably priced (go figure)! That said, as soon as I referred him to someone else, they said he flaked out and left them with a huge punch list that never was completed. So until agencies like the DCA actually begin policing and not just accepting complaints, it remains buyer beware.
I'm sincerely sorry that you had a bad experience with NYKB. I truly am. However, I still think that this piece on bathroom and kitchen safety is useful to my readers.
My mission has always been about the greater good of my readers and the consumer. Fortunately they will read your comments, determine their validity, hopefully do their own research, and then make their own mature decision as to the professionals they hire.
I believe the complaint. They are the WORST renovation company I have ever dealt with. What a nightmare.
I also believe the complaint, They are the WORST....
Nigtmare still going on.... (now that is one year already),
