Purdue alive with NIST to advance architecture safety

Civil engineers at Purdue University are helping the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology keep buildings safe from natural and human-caused disasters. www.purdue.edu

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Stair Handrailing Or Guard Rail - Construction and Safety

Before the 1980s most stairways had a handrail and to this day, most stair handrails are not considered guard rails. Well things have changed and now most stairways require a guard rail and it gripable handrail.

What's the difference between a stair handrailing and a stair guard rail, quite frankly about 6 inches. Your stair guard rails have a minimum requirement of 42 inches where stair handrails built before the 1980s had a handrailing for protection with a minimum requirement of 36 inches.

This does not mean that older stair handrails that are 36 inches tall will need to be removed and replaced, because the new building codes have changed. If you were to rebuild the stair handrail or do any work on the stairway that required a building permit, they could have you change your stair handrailing to meet current building codes.

I was helping another guy frame a new house in 2005 and while I was on the job I would mention to the owner, certain concerns of mine with other parts of the job. After a while he realized, that I knew what I'll was talking about and started to pay attention when ever I mentioned anything related to home building.

He asked me if I would be interested in building the stair handrailing system and at the time I was too busy. I reminded him of the minimum requirements for the stair guard rail, it was no longer referred to as a stair handrail and would need to be at least 42 inches in height and include a gripable handrail.

Well as you guessed it, the next time I walked into the home, I noticed a 36 inch high stair handrail. I reminded him and he wasn't too concerned, because he hired someone that knew all about building stair handrails.

The building inspector made him remove and replace the stair handrail, before he would approve the home for final inspection. Don't make the same mistakes, learn a little more about stair handrail safety and don't become another statistic in the home building industry.

Always check with your local building department, whether you're reading articles like this or asking questions to experienced contractors. Everybody makes mistakes and sometimes their information is out of date, according to new home building practices or building codes.

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Garage Door Sensors - A Required Safety Precaution We All Should Follow

Garage door sensors are an integral part of an automatic door opener. Since 1993, as specified in the Underwriter Laboratories specification UL325, all garage door openers are required to have a safety mechanism to reverse the moving door if something gets in the way. For example, a child running to beat the closing door or simply to stop a child from being crushed by the door if it is accidentally closed and they are in the way.

Garage door sensors used for this safety purpose are installed on each side of the door, six inches or less from the floor. Between these sensors is an invisible beam of light which spans the entire width of the garage opening. If anything breaks this beam of light, the door will automatically stop and reverse the door to an open position.

It is wise to check your sensors often to make sure they are in working order. Of course if they are out of alignment, the door will not close to begin with. But, if they are just dirty, this safety mechanism may work intermittently.

Aligning your sensors is easy. Simply aim them towards each other. Each sensor has either one or two colored lights. Most often, sensors with a red or green light work with an Overhead or Genie door opener. Sensors with two lights, usually green and yellow work with Chamberlain garage door openers. On the sensors with two lights, one of them indicates power to the sensor. The other light indicates whether the sensor is aligned. The lights should be lit up on both sensors. This is the way you will know they are properly aligned.

Protect the children and animals around your home. Make sure your garage door sensors are installed and working properly.

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