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Updated monthly
Short, sourced pieces on the questions that come up most often in our workshops. Published on the first Tuesday of each month and reviewed annually.
8 articles
Monthly testing takes about twenty seconds per alarm, and most households do it far less often than that. This piece explains what the test button actually confirms, what it does not check at all, why alarms carry a manufacture date on the back, and how to decide whether a ten-year-old unit is worth keeping.
A sequence for households starting from nothing: what to do this week, this month and this year. Roughly two-thirds of the list costs nothing, and we have marked which items those are so that budget is never the reason to postpone starting.
Local networks are often congested during a regional event while long-distance routes stay open. How to choose an out-of-province contact, what everyone should carry in writing rather than only in a phone, and how to arrange check-ins when a household is split across several locations.
What belongs in a home kit as opposed to a car kit, how to store medication safely at room temperature, which expiry dates are worth writing on the lid, and the three items people most often find missing when they finally open the box.
The difference between a low-level warning and an emergency signal, where alarms must be installed in Ontario homes, why a fuel-burning appliance and an attached garage both matter, and what to do in the first sixty seconds after an alarm sounds.
How long a well-sealed home holds heat, how to concentrate a household into one room, why generators and barbecues belong outdoors and how far from a window, and what to check on the pipes before the temperature in the house falls below freezing.
Grading, downspout extensions, window well covers and sump pump testing, plus the storage habits that turn a minor water event into an expensive one. Includes what to photograph before and after, for an insurance claim.
The inspection we teach in every workshop, written out in full: forty-one items across eight areas, ordered so you move through the house once rather than doubling back. Most households complete it in under ninety minutes.
Articles are written by our education team and reviewed by a subject specialist before publication. Where we cite a requirement, we name the standard or by-law it comes from. Corrections are welcome at info@ofor.info.