From compliance with city regulations to managing tenants to dealing with sudden disasters like a fire, managing properties can be stressful. You can reduce and manage many risks, though, and here are a few tips to make sure your property is as fire-safe as possible.
#1: Clear Debris From Roofs, Gutters & Yards
From leaves and pine needles to fast food wrappers and other wind-blown garbage, accumulated debris makes your property look bad and increases risk of fire. Regularly removing debris from grounds, roof and gutters will help protect your building from damage.
#2: Get Regular Electrical Inspections & Encourage Self-Reporting
Bad electrical sockets have been the cause of many avoidable building fires. Make sure to regularly test all outlets and switches in public areas, and make sure you seem approachable to your tenants. If they trust you won’t get mad over damage to outlets in the units, they’re much more likely to seek your help instead of moving a couch in front of the damage and hoping no one notices. Be available to your tenants and diligent about inspections.
#3: Insist on Smoke Alarm Compliance
There’s almost nothing more frustrating than a tenant who removes the battery from their smoke alarm to be able to smoke indoors. You have the dual problem of people carrying lit embers over carpeted areas and not having a warning system for fires working in that unit. Whenever you have an opportunity to do a unit inspection, make sure you check the smoke alarm and don’t be afraid to penalize tenants who don’t comply with the leasing agreement.
#4: Clean Dryer Vents Regularly
Out of all the items on this list, dryer vent cleaning is the least obvious and perhaps most important. As time goes on, a great deal of lint and cloth fibers pass through the dryer’s lint filter and accumulate along the walls of your dryer vent. This accumulation restricts dryer exhaust flow and causes higher temperatures, reducing efficiency and increasing blow-by of extremely hot air through a vent clogged with flammable material. It’s a recipe for disaster, and without regular vent cleaning, a disaster becomes more and more likely.
Commercial dryer vent cleaning has been one of the most difficult maintenance items to schedule because you have to access every unit that has a clothes dryer, but every tenant has a different availability schedule. What if every dryer vent were able to be accessed from the outside of the building?
Western Washington’s Miracle Vent Cleaning actually rappels down the side of your building to access the vents from the outside, cleaning every unit’s vent without setting foot in any tenant’s unit. This makes things so much simpler! Miracle Vent Cleaning specializes in mid-rise and high-rise apartments, but any building can benefit from this innovative, non-invasive cleaning process. Call 206-650-6515 to schedule a free estimate!
We Clean the Dryer Vents Others Can’t Reach!
Serving King County, Pierce County, Skagit County and Snohomish County, including Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett, Issaquah, Lake Stevens & Marysville