Couple Who Hid Secret Home With Fake Garage Door Slapped With Fine

There’s often a hitch when it comes to extending your home into an uber-pad – your next door neighbours and local authorities might not be all too happy with it.

Now one UK couple who tried to hide the fact they’d converted their garage into a secret home by fitting it with a fake garage door have been slapped with a fine.

Dr Reeta Herzallah and Hamdi Almasri, of Enderby, Leicestershire, used the false door to hide the doorway and window of the new building from planning inspectors, reports the Leicester Mercury.

This was despite the fact that permission for the new build had already been refused by the local council, as they went ahead and did it anyway. Naughty, naughty.

The pair were convicted at Leicester Magistrates’ Court for breaching a number of planning conditions after authorities caught wind of reports that the couple had been carrying out unauthorised work on the garage.

The couple now face having to return the garage to its original purpose. Can’t imagine that a garage would be nice a place to live in, can you?

“The development included the conversion of their garage to habitable accommodation and the erection of fencing, preventing off street parking at the property,” a planning authority spokesman told the Leicester Mercury after the court hearing.

“The couple also undertook illegal works within the highway and created an unauthorised vehicle access onto the busy B4114 dual carriageway.”

The couple’s home only got planning permission in 2007 with the condition that it had permanent car parking facilities to ease potential issues with on-street parking. Permission was also required to build a driveway.

After the council became aware of the breaches in October 2015, the couple made an application to keep the works in July 2016. A six month battle ensued but their appeal was finally dismissed in February last year, leading them to come up with their ploy.

A spokesperson for Braby District Council said: “After further correspondence from the council, some remedial works were undertaken by the defendants in May and June of 2017, which included the removal of fencing.

“Inspections by officers in July and August 2017 confirmed, however, that the garage had not been restored to its approved use, with the inserted door and window concealed by a propped up garage door.

“A final site visit in November 2017 confirmed that the required works to the garage had still not been undertaken, following we sought prosecution for the offence.”

The couple have been issued a Breach of Condition notice and were ordered to pay a £770 fine, £1,252 in legal costs, and a £77 victim surcharge.

Councillor Sheila Scott, the council’s cabinet member for planning, called the couple’s removal of ‘valuable’ off-road parking space ‘completely unacceptable’.

“The message from this case is clear: if you breach planning regulations and ignore us we will not just go away,” Cllr Scott said.

She added: “We will be following up the successful prosecution with a further visit to ensure that all the requirements of the Breach of Condition Notice are fully complied with.”

This isn’t the only time lately that rogue landlords in England have used their garage or garden space for nefarious purposes.

Last month a London family was convicted for renting out a four-bedroom property to as many as 40 people. Some of them even lived in the garden shed.

Link to the article: http://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-couple-who-hid-secret-home-with-fake-garage-door-slapped-with-fine-20180212

Related articles: https://rollerdoor8227.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/crucial-steps-are-assessment-adjustment-repair-and-replacement/

For further assistance in home securiy, click here for more: http://www.locksmitharvadaco.com/

Article source here: Couple Who Hid Secret Home With Fake Garage Door Slapped With Fine

Indoor Air Quality vs. Your Garage Habits

Do you have an attached garage? I do. It’s convenient for storing tools, bicycles, and holiday decorations. Oh, and my car. That, too.

Unfortunately, attached garages are also a source of indoor air quality problems. Cars live in them, which means internal combustion engines live in them. Every time you start your car, it exhausts carbon monoxide, or CO, into the air.

In some cases, the CO can seep into your home.

Shutting the garage door is important, but it’s not the only solution.

By now you’re probably thinking, “Ok. I already open the garage door before cranking up my car. What else is there to know?”

Well, that is the main thing to remember if you don’t want car exhaust to make you sick. Always open the garage door before you put the key in the ignition. Pretty simple.

The thing is, car exhaust can linger in your garage for awhile – even after you’ve backed into the driveway or after you’ve parked the car in the garage and shut off the engine. According to a fact sheet from the Iowa State University Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering extension service, closing the garage door immediately after backing out the car might create an unintended threat to health and safety:

The effect of backing the car out of the garage should be monitored with a CO detector in the house (several detectors have digital displays and memories that can help determine if the CO in the house is elevated by backing the vehicle out of the garage). If carbon monoxide enters the house, it will be necessary to leave the garage door open after backing out until the CO clears.

Every home is different. Every garage is different. Every garage ventilates differently. If you happen to have a garage that doesn’t ventilate particularly well – or one where air inside the garage tends to migrate into your living space – you might need to change your garage habits.

Here’s how to prevent car exhaust from polluting your home.

The following primer isn’t a set of instructions. Rather, it’s a guide for determining whether CO from your car’s exhaust enters your home – and taking the appropriate steps to stop it.

1. Don’t ever close the garage door while your car is running. By the same token, don’t ever crank your car before the door opens. Doing so presents real danger. CO concentrations in car exhaust are extremely high and can harm you very quickly.
2. Keep the door open for a few minutes after parking your car. This gives the exhaust time to dissipate into the outdoor environment.
   Install a CO detector in the room adjoining your garage. This might be a hallway, foyer, kitchen, or laundry room. Whatever room contains a door that opens to your garage, put a CO detector in there. And make sure you get a quality unit with sufficient CO sensitivity.
3. Monitor indoor CO concentrations after cranking or parking your car. Does the alarm go off following normal activity? If it does, then you definitely need to heed steps 4 and 5.
4. Air seal the area between your garage and your living space. When we say “air seal,” we’re talking about applying fire-rated foam around wiring and plumbing penetrations between the garage and the living space. You should also have a quality weather seal around the door to the garage so that fumes can’t leak in.
5. Install an exhaust fan in the garage. Here’s a great way to remove CO from your garage. Install a small exhaust fan that turns on every time you close your garage door. Connect it to a timer, and it will turn itself off after several minutes. You can also use a switch to turn it on and off manually. A properly-sized fan will remove lingering car exhaust from your garage so that it doesn’t enter your living space.

Even if your carbon monoxide detector doesn’t go off while you’re testing things out (see #3 above), air sealing and/or installing an exhaust fan is smart. After all, “normal” conditions aren’t consistent. You might be in the habit of opening and closing the garage door at the appropriate times, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always remember to do so.

Forgetting to open the garage door before cranking your car is an innocent mistake, but the consequences can be serious. Good air sealing and an automatic exhaust fan can pick up the slack for our own absentmindedness.

The exhaust fan is also a good idea when:

• You’ve got a really “tight,” energy efficient house. Indoor air quality is the achilles heel of many supposedly high performance homes. They’re so well-sealed, the indoor air takes forever to escape! But while these homes are well-sealed in their entirety, the air sealing between the garage and the living space isn’t always so robust.
• You don’t like keeping the door open after you park. Maybe you’re afraid people will steal your stuff or you’re worried about letting in cold air, hot air, humidity, or rain. Whatever your reasons for keeping that door shut tight, an exhaust fan is a way to mitigate the heightened CO risk.

We’ve all got our habits.

And they can be tough to break. However, when it comes to protecting yourself and your family from CO poisoning, changing your habits is worth the effort.

If you’re like most people, you won’t have to change anything about your garage habits – and that’s good! The only way to be sure is to get a CO detector, adopt good habits, and take action to reduce your risk.

Garages are great. Just be aware of the hazards they may pose.

Link to the article: http://www.pvhvac.com/blog/indoor-air-quality-vs-garage-habits/

Related articles: https://prefabshedskits03.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/3-reasons-to-buy-prefabricated-sheds/

For further assistance in home securiy, click here for more: http://www.locksmitharvadaco.com/

Article source here: Indoor Air Quality vs. Your Garage Habits

Thornton Locksmith Services

It’s now possible for local Thornton, Colorado residents to enjoy quality locksmith service from the professionals at Locksmith Arvada CO. What makes us any different than any other locksmith shop? Plenty! We are affordable, responsive, honest and available to you 24/7. Locals know this and they’ve wanted us enter the market for a while. In fact, we now serve Aurora, Westminster, Highlands Ranch, Federal Heights, Loveland, Arvada and Denver, too!

Call Now: (720) 310-1706

Call our shop and start enjoying fine quality locksmith service on a 24-hour basis. From lost key replacement to high tech security upgrades, our Thornton professionals can help with any locksmith want or need. We use the finest hardware made, from brands that include:

• Kwikset
• Master
• InstaKey
• Baldwin
• Ace
• Schlage
• Medeco
• Mul-T-Lock
• And many more!

One great aspect of working with our Thornton locksmith pros is that we literally “do it all.” Choose services from:

Thornton Emergency Locksmiths

Get fast relief for any locksmith emergency by calling on our Thornton technicians from Locksmith Arvada CO. We are not only responsive and alert; we are affordable, and highly skilled in every method of locksmith emergency service including home, business and auto. Whether you are locked out of your Thornton home or just broke the key off in your car’s ignition, our 24-hour emergency locksmith experts always have your back!

• Panic bar unlocking
• Stuck keys removed
• Emergency key cutting
• Home door unlocking
• Mobile 24-hour emergency locksmiths
• Free locksmith price quotes
• Safe unlocking
• Residential lockouts 24/7
• Free locksmith consultations
• Car trunk unlocking
• Broken off keys removed

Call Now: (720) 310-1706

Commercial Locksmiths in Thornton, CO

Line up a great commercial locksmith for your Thornton business! How? Just call our Locksmith Arvada CO shop and we’ll send you one of ours! Our Thornton commercial locksmiths can help you with basic locksmith security as well as upgrades so that you can better combat business perils like shoplifting, vagrants, pilfering, employee theft, inventory loss, unwanted intruders and more! We offer dozens of locksmith products and services, all designed to make your Thornton firm safer and more secure.

• Safe unlocking
• Keypad devices
• Commercial rekeys
• Mobile 24-hour locksmiths
• Fingerprint locks
• Door closers
• Cylinder locks
• Panic bar repairs
• 24/7 emergency locksmiths
• Free locksmith consultations
• Fire and panic devices
• Access control

Thornton Residential Locksmith Service

No matter how secure you feel at your Thornton home, it can always be better secured and safer. How? Work with a skilled and experienced residential locksmith like the ones we have here at Locksmith Arvada CO. Our Thornton technicians offer affordable locksmith services and hardware; all designed for that very purpose. Give us a call and get additional, helpful details like a free locksmith consultation and some complimentary price quotes.

• Gun safes
• Home door unlocking
• Bump proof locks
• Mobile 24/7 locksmiths
• Break-in repairs
• Master keys
• 24-hour emergency lockouts
• High security locks
• Deadbolts installation
• Garage door locks
• Eviction rekeys

Automotive Locksmiths – Thornton

Treat your auto locks and keys well and they will let you drive longer, safer and with less stress. Is this hype? Not at all! Well maintained and installed auto locks and their keys help you access the car and drive it with fewer problems and with more reliability. This is where your Thornton locksmith pros come into play. We offer repairs, installations, maintenance and service for all makes and models of automotive locks and keys. 24/7 mobile service to anywhere in the Thornton metro region is included!

• Break-in repairs
• Transponder key duplication
• Steering wheel locks
• Keyless entry repair
• Mobile 24-hour locksmiths
• Ignition cylinder replacement
• Keyless remotes
• Free locksmith price quotes
• Programming for transponder chips

Call Now: (720) 310-1706

Call today to start enjoying premium quality locksmith service, anywhere in the Thornton, Colorado region at unbeatable rates and on a 24-hour basis!

Article source here: Thornton Locksmith Services

How to burglar proof your home

With more than 1.5 million home burglaries every year, it makes sense to take a few steps to burglarproof your home. According to a survey done by the Department of Justice, approximately another 1.5 million burglaries go unreported every year.

That’s one burglary per 50 properties, one burglary every 10 seconds.

But if burglars think it will take more than four or five minutes to break into a home, they will move on, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Making it harder for criminals is worth it.

“You don’t have to invest thousands to safeguard your home. Taking time to secure your home and your possessions doesn’t have to be complicated either,” said Russ Iden, vice president of Insurance for AAA Oklahoma.

Check for weak points

Iden said everyone should walk through their home sometime and pretend they are an intruder.

“Look around and see if there are any easy entry points or weak points,” Iden said.

Trim trees and bushes near doors and windows. While shrubbery and high fences add privacy, they also provide cover for burglars.

Experts also recommend installing motion sensor lights and exterior lighting that shines on potential hiding places in your yard.

If you have big windows or glass doors, be aware of what people outside can see inside your home. Decrease the visibility of your valuables such as paintings, televisions, computers or other expensive items, Iden recommended.

Take simple security steps

Many law enforcement officials will attest that there are a surprisingly high number of people who don’t lock their doors either out of habit, or because they don’t think they have to.

“Lock your doors, make sure you have good locks in your doors and make sure outside doors and frames are strong and made of metal or thick hardwood,” Iden said.

Installing a one-way viewer in your front door is safer for identifying visitors than a door chain. Don’t neglect back doors and patio doors even if you have a fence or live in a gated community.

“Sliding glass doors – one of the most common points of entry for robbers – can be reinforced with special locks or by placing wooden rods or metal bars in the tracks they slide on,” Iden said.

And don’t forget about your windows. Make sure all window locks are securely fastened.

If your lock is worn or weak, replace it.

“Better safe than sorry,” Iden said.

Consider investing in a burglar alarm that alerts the police, fire department or other emergency services.

Prepare for vacations

Prime time for burglars is during vacation season. With fall break for many students and Thanksgiving travel on the horizon, experts urge homeowners to make their home look inhabited by using timers to turn lights on and off.

“Use discretion and avoid discussing vacation plans in public places, and never announce on social media that you are planning to be away,” Iden said. “Avoid leaving detailed out-of-office messages at work or over sharing your vacation pictures online until you’re back home.”

Nearly half of all burglaries are committed by somebody you may recognize.

Temporarily stop newspaper deliveries and arrange to have mail picked up or held by the post office.

Turn off the volume of your landline telephone ringer so that it can’t be heard from outside; by searching online, burglars can connect addresses with names and phone numbers to call and hear if anyone answers.

Before you leave, create a home inventory, Iden said.

“If you do need to file a claim, a thorough accounting of your possessions will make the process easier,” he said.

Don’t forget insurance

Make sure you have the policy you need to cover your prized possessions. Average loss due to a burglary was $2,316 in 2015.

“For greater protection and peace of mind, consider adding endorsements to your homeowners or renters’ insurance policy to cover valuables such as expensive jewelry, artwork or electronics,” Iden said.

For more information about homeowners and renters insurance, call your AAA insurance agent or insurance customer service, or visit www.ok.aaa.com.

Link to the article: http://newsok.com/how-to-burglar-proof-your-home/article/5566696

Related articles: https://hertslocal.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/how-to-burglar-proof-the-family-home/

For further assistance in home securiy, click here for more: http://www.locksmithmilwaukee.net/

Article source here: How to burglar proof your home

Tips To Hire a Good Locksmith

If you live in Arvada, CO, you should be able to find a trusted locksmith business with ease. Having said that, because the issues for which you may need a locksmith may be a bit sensitive, it pays to be prepared when it comes to selecting the best lock and key service providers. You need to be able to trust that the professional you hire is fully licensed, insured, and qualified to deliver the services that you are looking for. If that’s not enough, you need to be able to rely on your professional to come to your assistance promptly in the case of emergencies, and to provide affordably priced solutions for all your lock, key and security problems.

So, how can you identify the best locksmith for the job? This is what we are here to tell you.

Here are a few tips and guidelines to follow when selecting an Arvada, CO, locksmith. These tips should help you hire someone trustworthy and respectable.

Be prepared

You never know when you will need emergency help with lockouts, break-in repairs, a key stuck in your car’s ignition, or any other unexpected lock and key matter. That is why we advise all Arvada, CO, locals to be prepared in advance. Locksmith help should be reasonably affordable but, if needed, keep some money saved up in an emergency fund to make it easier to get the help that you require. Find a locksmith service provider that you are certain you can call whenever you need assistance, and save their contact details in an easy to access place. Some ideas could be keeping their phone numbers saved into your contact book, bookmarking the business’s webpage, or keeping their business cards handy in your wallet.

Do your homework

To start with, look for referrals from friends, family and trusted acquaintances. As with most services these days, word of mouth can really help you get an idea of a business’s reputation. Gather as many recommendations possible, and then research each company to see which one is the best fit for you.

We can’t stress this enough – researching the company is vital. You need to be certain that both the business and its professionals are fully licensed and insured, and it is your prerogative to ask them to see all required certifications. If they refuse, that is confirmation they are not to be trusted.

We also recommend that you look through locksmiths’ websites, and the information they have about their services. Make note of their options, contact details, and rates if you can find them. Keep in mind that some locksmith service providers may offer a full set of lock and key services, whereas others are more focused on specifics like residential, automotive and commercial solutions.

Use the information on the website as a reference when contacting the business in relation to the services you are looking for, and request a consultation and price quote from them. Most reputable locksmith businesses will offer these two services at no cost – and once again, if there is a refusal to go into detail about any of their services, move on to the next business on your list.

Proceed with caution

That brings us to a very important point. You need to make sure the business actually is locally based. Locksmiths further afield will most likely charge extra for travelling to your location. You should be able to find out if the business is local by their office’s address, but never take this information at face value. We recommend that you confirm that the address provided actually belongs to the locksmith business, as there are dishonest operations around who will put fake addresses on their websites. Locksmith Arvada CO is a quality, trustworthy business.

To further avoid being scammed, always be on guard. Here are some check points that will show you that the locksmith you have hired is trustworthy:

When calling a company, listen to how they answer their phone. If a business uses a generic term like “locksmith service” rather than the full name of the company, proceed with caution. Ask the person on the other side of the line to provide you with a full business name – and if they refuse, hang up immediately.

Take notice of the vehicle the locksmith is driving – you should be able to see the company logo, contact details, and other information that identifies the business they work for.

On arrival, reputable locksmiths will inquire for your identification for security purposes. Take this opportunity to request the same from them – including business cards, as well as license and insurance information. Once again, refusal is the best indication that they are not to be trusted.

Finally, ask for itemized invoices and receipts. These should include the company’s full contact details as well as a full breakdown of the repairs (including the parts used, labor, mileage and price) that the locksmith performed while at your property.

Final points

Found the best locksmith service provider for the job? Great! Continue to keep their contact details handy in case there is a next time. Hopefully, the locksmith you hired is able to provide you with a wide range of services, including automotive, residential, emergency and commercial, so always having their information on-hand will save you time if you ever need any other type of assistance.

We hope we have helped the decision-making process a little bit easier to navigate through. Your security is an investment, so finding the best suited locksmith business in Arvada, CO, should be an investment too. Reputable locksmiths will help you with everything you are looking for – you just need to know how to distinguish between the real pros and the scamming businesses. Caution is key, and preparation will save you from unexpected surprises. Doing just a miniscule amount of research on your end will help out tremendously.

Article source here: Tips To Hire a Good Locksmith