Steamatic of Sacramento Healthy Home Blog

Safeguard Your Family and Business in Severe Weather

With El Nino-driven rains slamming into Sacramento, please consider two easy ways to protect your family and business. Buy a SAFELY OUT™ kit for your loved ones and put Steamatic of Sacramento on your speed dial.

Born out the heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina, the SAFELY OUT™ project was designed to help the vulnerable evacuate in a natural or man made disaster. Suppose a levee breaks in Sacramento - the metropolitan area most at risk from flooding in the nation. What happens to your elderly mother, to your wheelchair-bound uncle or to your fifth grader home alone after school when you can't get through to help? If you have purchased this simple kit and have followed the instructions, your loved ones will have easy access to critical information. Pre-designed helpers will move your family members to safety leaving behind information on how to find them on a door hanger. Or, if they can't leave, they will post a bright red door hanger that says"Need Help" to alert rescuers. If you haven't heard about SAFELY OUT™,  click here to see a Channel 3 news story  the project and the kit. Buy the kit here.

Evacuation of the vulnerable is critical in a disaster

Gary and Elyse Dietrich, the co-founders of the non-profit group Citizens Voice, developed the SAFELY OUT™  project in partnership with the Red Cross Sacramento Sierra Chapter. Gary went to Louisiana after Katrina and during Rita as a Clear Channel broadcaster and as a Red Cross volunteer. In those grueling two weeks, Gary saw how rescuers checking thousands of homes had no way of telling whether residents had been safely evacuated. Precious time was lost when some flooded houses were checked more than once leaving those who were in need of help to wait. Finding a way to solve this problem was the inspiration for the SAFELY OUT™ kit. This neighbor-helping-neighbor approach has been embraced by rescuers across the country. They say that every family needs a solid evacuation plan. The kit, they say, is a simple, affordable way to easily put the critical evacuation pieces in place.  Here's a link showing how to use the kit.

Steamatic of Sacramento supports SAFELY OUT™

Four years ago, Steamatic of Sacramento became the first business from the private sector to become a project supporter with donations of money and time. Company President Charles Cassani currently serves on the advisory board. Sponsoring SAFELY OUT™   has been a perfect fit for his 38-year-old cleaning and restoration business. "Although we provide emergency response to individual fire and water damage losses, our ability to respond in an area-wide disaster is almost nil. The best way is to aid follow citizens is to help them prepare ahead of time," Cassani said. Steamatic of Sacramento has geared up for the El Nino weather pattern, according to Cassani. If severe weather has damaged you individual home or business, call 916-386-8191 or 800-564-1846 for an immediate response.

  Guest blog posting by Gail Bullen

Roof Rats - How to Handle the Problem

Sacramento once had more trees per capita than any other US city.  We also have an endemic issue with roof rats and field mice.  What do the two issues have in common?  Trees give access to the rats and other critters that enter your attic via the roof.  These uninvited house guest can cost you thousdands of dollars to abate and clean-up their biologically unsafe mess.

We know this due to the number of calls we receive asking "what to do?".  Recently, we had such an uninvited guest(s) ourselves and I learned some things that the reader may find helpful.

1.  It would be difficult not to know that the guest has arrived: First the scratching on the kitchen ceiling; then the gnawing of our plastic dust pan in the closet.  I set one Victor Rat Trap (a scary strong spring-loaded large trap - enough to make one leery of the critter you are seeking!) and over-night caught the 8" long rat who was actually pretty cute, less the blood and surprise look on his/her face.

2.  In searching for other options for how to handle the situation, I discovered a web site in my search of wildlife control, which led me to Professional Wildlife Removal.  The map of the US and California produced several northern California wildlife control contractors who can rid or relocate critters for you.

3.  Further searching led me to a nifty idea for rat or mouse abatement: the Rat Zapper Ultra.  Best price on the internet was found at the National Marine Products.  This product uses four (4) D-size batteries and produces an electrical shock that kills the critter(s), time, after time, after time.  One set of batteries will produce over 200 uses.  This is especially good since mice and rats seek shelter for their mates and families as well as themselves.

CONCLUSION: You can have someone else deal with this problem for you (I did not seek quotes for their services) humanely or fatally - your choice.  Or, you can trap them yourself as soon as you become aware of their presence in an attempt to minimize the damage to your attic or other structures.

THE BIOLOGICAL ISSUE: Field mice and rats have the potential of infecting humans with hantavirus that is uniquely transmitted by aerosolized rodent excreta or rodent bites. Makeup air in most homes is primarily supplied by both the crawl area and or the attic of a home or the attic alone if the home is build on-grade (concrete slab).

Please feel free to call me if you have any other questions about attics or crawl spaces.  You now know everything I know about rats and field mice!

Charles E. Cassani, CR

Steamatic of Sacramento, Inc.

(916) 386-8191

Moving Forward

This blogger has been struggling with what and how to communicate to you, the reader (Robert).  Silly Boy!  I will simply start sharing my day-to-day communications that are educational in themselves.  Here are the subjects as of now:

1.  Making our web site efficient and educational (and cost-effective).  My partner in success is V7 (Velocity7 that I discovered in the process of realizing a life-long dream of owning an Airstream Travel Trailer - see www.airstream.com produced by V7).

2.  Provide client education to consumers and others who could benefit from my knowledge and experience.

3.  Provide career opportunities for those interested in joining a winning organization.

All for now in keeping with the KISS approach.