Author: Stuart Dunlap

Septic Solutions – A Homeowner’s Guide To Tank Care And Troubleshooting

Stuart Dunlap

Septic systems have to endure a lot: chemical cleaners, toxic drain openers, excessive soap and paper, and more. Knowing what to look out for can help keep your septic tank and drain field in tip-top shape.

Click Here to learn more about the common types of septic systems.

septic tank

Clogged Drains

A well-maintained septic system quietly manages wastewater while keeping your home healthy and safe. But like any major home system — such as the air conditioner or electric wiring — neglecting your septic system can lead to problems that require professional help. Issues such as a slow-draining toilet, sewage backups, and suspicious wet spots in the yard are red flags that indicate it’s time to call in the experts.

Septic tank clogs are a common and often unavoidable problem, but there are ways to minimize them. For starters, always avoid flushing anything that doesn’t belong in the toilet, such as toys, paper towels, and feminine hygiene products. In addition, try to limit water usage in your home and use a garbage disposal sparingly.

Regular septic tank pumping and keeping accurate maintenance records will also help prevent clogs. While many homeowners turn to over-the-counter drain cleaners when a septic tank is clogged, these chemical solutions are harmful to the bacteria in the septic tank and can cause further damage to the plumbing of the home.

Another common sign that it’s time to call in a septic expert is when the septic tank fills up more quickly than it should. This can occur if the tank is undersized for household usage or if the microbial process can’t keep up with demand. Installing a larger tank or taking steps to reduce water usage in the home can remedy this.

Leaking septic tanks can be caused by several things, including corrosion that happens over time, poor installation, and tree roots getting into the system. The best way to identify a leaking septic tank is to have a septic professional come out and perform an inspection. This will include examining the tank and looking at all of the pipes, especially those that connect to the drainfield.

In some cases, a septic tank can be repaired or relined to fix the leak, but in other instances, the system may need to be completely replaced. A septic expert will be able to determine the cause of the leaking and offer recommendations that will restore proper functioning.

Overflowing Tanks

Many people think of their septic system as a vital part of the home but one that is out of sight and out of mind until something goes wrong. If your septic tank is full, you need to take immediate action. A septic system will only be able to absorb a certain amount of wastewater each day, and if it receives more than that regularly, the system will overflow. This is because the natural bacteria inside a septic tank that helps break down solids and waste won’t be able to keep up.

A septic tank that is leaking or overflowing is not just an unsightly mess but also a health hazard. The sewage and waste that are leaking from your tank can get into the soil surrounding it, where it can cause illness in children, pets, and adults. The odors created by the sewage and waste can also be very unpleasant, and these smells may even make their way into your house.

Your septic tank will only be able to hold a certain number of gallons, and if you are using more water than that daily, your septic system will fill up too fast and overflow. This is especially true if your household has increased in size or you are experiencing holiday or vacation water usage.

Another sign of a full or overflowing septic tank is standing water around the drain field area. Heavy rainfall or rainstorms that last for several days can cause the ground around your septic system to become saturated, which prevents wastewater from being absorbed by the absorption field. A septic professional should be called to examine the situation and determine the cause of the problem so that it can be fixed.

Keeping up with the routine maintenance schedule for your septic system will help ensure that it functions well and that problems don’t arise. Everyday care is needed, too, which means thinking twice about what you are flushing down your toilets. This includes avoiding the use of chemical drain cleaners and other products that are not safe for your septic system. Also, make sure that you keep trees and other deep-rooted plants at least 30 feet away from your septic tank. They can cause damage to the pipes that carry the wastewater from your home.

Leaking Pipes

Many urban homes connect to municipal sewer systems, but rural and country areas still use septic systems for waste management. An up-to-date septic system with proper maintenance can function effectively for decades before any talk of replacement becomes necessary, but if your system gets neglected, it will likely need immediate attention to avoid costly and hazardous consequences.

An Overflowing Absorption Field

When wastewater leaves your house, it travels through a drain pipe into the septic tank. Here, solids sink while liquids float, and microorganisms break down some of the contaminants. The septic tank also has a distribution box that sends partially treated wastewater to the drain field.

The septic tank needs to be pumped regularly to avoid overflowing. If you notice the water in your septic system flowing more slowly than usual, it may indicate that the tank is filling faster than normal. This could be caused by an increase in water usage or the tank being undersized for your household. It is important to have your septic system professionally inspected and, if needed, resized.

You should also pay special attention to what goes down the drains and toilets in your home. Your septic system is not designed to handle items like tampons, disposable diapers, sanitary products, paper towels, and plastics. These substances can create blockages, cause clogs, and even contaminate the environment.

The area over your septic tank and absorption field should be kept clear of any plants other than mowed grass. Plant roots can damage your tank and clog drain lines. In addition, invasive plants such as ivy can quickly choke out and destroy the roots of your septic tank.

Leaking pipes are another indication that your septic system is not working properly. This could be a result of corrosion from old age, poor installation, or tree roots. The best way to fix this problem is to have your septic tank pumped and have the leaking line between the septic tank and absorption field checked by a professional. A septic expert can repair or replace the damaged line with no further leaks.

Foul Odors

When a toilet flushes or sink drains, it sends sewage into the septic tank. A watertight, underground container designed to hold a maximum of 1,000 gallons, the tank receives the waste and holds it for 24 hours while allowing microorganisms to break down organic materials. The resulting liquid is then carried into the absorption field. Unless the tank is cleaned, waste gases may escape into the house, leading to foul odors.

A septic system requires regular cleaning, monitoring, and pumping. A failure to perform any of these tasks can lead to clogs, sewage backups, and the need for a complete system replacement. However, if you know the early warning signs, you can prevent system failure and avoid costly repairs.

Foul odors in the home are often the first sign of a septic system problem. These odors are caused by a buildup of gases that are too acidic for the septic system to digest. The smell of sewage entering the home often indicates that there is a leak in the septic tank or leach field pipes. This can be the result of corrosion from a corrosive cleaner, poor installation, or plant roots growing into septic system components.

The best way to prevent odors is to keep solid materials out of the septic system. Grease, food scraps, diapers, sanitary products, and facial tissue should be disposed of in the trash instead of flushed down the drains. This will help maintain proper septic tank levels and reduce the amount of solid material that is carried into the absorption field.

There are septic system additives available that promote bacteria growth to break down solids. However, research has found that these chemicals disrupt the natural bacterial activity in the tank and cause damage to pipes and tanks. Hydrogen peroxide, on the other hand, is effective in breaking down septic tank solids and maintaining a healthy septic system. For the best results, use septic-safe enzyme additives every week. This will help ensure that a minimum of solids is left in the tank and help to speed up organic decomposition in the septic tank and leach field.

Flooring Refinishing – How to Refinish Your Floors Yourself

Stuart Dunlap

You can resurface your floors with a traditional varnish or a polyurethane finish. Be sure to use a low-VOC product. For more information, just click the Flooring Middletown NY to proceed or inquire.

Sanding your hardwood floors using medium-grit sandpaper is also a good idea. This will remove dents and nicks in the wood and help the stain or varnish adhere properly.

Hardwood floor refinishing is a complicated job and one that should only be done by a qualified contractor. It requires great skill and knowledge, and using the wrong equipment can result in disastrous results. If you are considering refinishing your hardwood flooring, research the process thoroughly and gather as much information as possible on how to do it properly. A good place to start is by reading some online articles and talking to other people who have completed refinishing projects themselves.

Once you have a clear idea of the process, you can decide whether to hire a professional or try it yourself. Both options are viable, depending on your comfort level and skills. If you are going to attempt a DIY project, make sure to gather the appropriate tools and equipment beforehand. Also, remove all furniture from the area being worked on, as this will prevent damage and keep the work site organized. Also, ensure you have chosen the right stain and varnish for your floor. It’s important to use a quality product that is oil-based, low VOC, and a high-quality brush.

If you are working with natural wood, it’s important to know the color variations that naturally occur between individual boards. These variances will be more apparent after refinishing, and ensuring that the final result matches your expectations is vital. This is why it’s important to take the time to choose the correct stain and test it out on a small sample of your floor before you commit to it.

Another consideration when choosing a stain is whether you prefer a varnish or a wax finish. A varnish is a harder, more durable coating than a wax. It also leaves no color on your floor, while a wax finish does have a subtle hue that can alter the overall appearance of your floors.

Once you’ve sanded your wood floors, allowing them to dry completely before you move the furniture back in is important. Then, apply a couple of coats of your new finish. Typically, this will be either an oil-based or water-based polyurethane, depending on your preference.

Concrete is a common material used in commercial construction and refinishing. It can provide a fresh look for your floors. It consists of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement. It hardens over time, becoming very durable and strong. It can be polished to a high sheen, stained, or coated with a protective coating. Concrete resurfacing is a quick and inexpensive alternative to removing and replacing damaged flooring materials.

The first step in refinishing concrete is to etch, grind, shoot, and blast the surface to make it porous and then repair any cracks. Clean and priming the floor before applying any new surface is important. Removing any protruding metal pieces is essential as these can cause a hazard. After the surface has been etched and cleaned, it must be sanded with fine-grit sandpaper to smooth it. Using a hand-held power sander for tight spaces and corners is best.

After the sanding process, you can stain your concrete floors. Stains are absorbed into the concrete surface and are more durable than paints, which sit on top of the floor. Stains are available in a wide range of colors and can be custom-mixed for specific projects.

Another option for concrete refinishing is to cover the surface with an epoxy coating. Epoxy coatings are fast-drying and can be installed in a variety of patterns. They can also be tinted in various colors to match your décor.

Consider adding stencils and decorative saw cuts to your floor refinishing project if you want a decorative touch. They will give your refinished floor a unique and sophisticated appearance to impress your customers and clients.

Whether using concrete stain or an epoxy coating, it is important to protect the floor with a sealant. This will protect the floor from dirt, chemicals, and other stains. It will also help with maintenance, making the surface easier to sweep and mop. It’s a good idea to ask your flooring contractor what sealant they recommend for your floor.

Refinishing or resurfacing tile is an affordable way to breathe new life into dated tile floors. This process isn’t just for tile flooring; it can also be used to refresh grout, showers, and even walls.

Before refinishing the tile, it’s important to perform a thorough cleaning. This will remove any dirt, grime, soap scum, or stains that have built up over time. It’s recommended to use a non-acidic cleaner that is safe for your tile type. Once the tiles are clean, it’s a good idea to repair any loose or cracked pieces and allow them to dry completely.

Once the tiles are dry, you must apply a resurfacing product. Several options are available on the market, including a powder that you can mix with water to form a paste or a liquid that can be applied with a brush. It’s best to follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of your resurfacing product.

When refinishing tile, you’ll want to put down plastic sheeting over the doorways to prevent dust from entering the rest of your home. It’s also good to tape off floor registers and pull up any shoe molding along the wall-floor joint. This will protect the baseboard and make it easier to reinstall once you finish the refinishing job.

If you’re refinishing tile floors, choosing a stain color that will coordinate well with your decor is a good idea. Remember that the stain will be darker than the original color of the floor since refinishing removes some of the wood grain. If you’re unsure what color to choose, ask your flooring professional for advice.

After the resurfacing coating has dried completely, applying a protective sealant to the floor is a good idea. This will help to protect it against moisture, stains, and regular wear and tear, extending the lifespan of your refinishing job. This step is especially important if you live in an area with much rain.

Laminate is a popular flooring option for its cost-effectiveness and resilience. However, like all floors, it can suffer from normal wear and tear over time. Fortunately, laminate can be restored through flooring refinishing to restore its elegance. Refinishing wood laminate floors can be done using various methods, which we will explore in this article. However, it should be noted that refinishing laminate is more challenging than refinishing hardwood floors. It requires a certain level of patience and care to get the best results.

Laminate comes in many different designs and styles. It is manufactured in layers, with each layer adding to the durability of the final product. The first layer is the wear layer, a durable coating that protects against scratches, water, and stains. Next is the decorative paper layer, which can be printed to look like real wood or other natural materials. Finally, the core layer combines melamine resin and fiberboard materials that help make the final laminate product sturdy and durable.

During manufacturing, each laminate plank is milled with micron-precise tolerances and cut to specific profile edges. The edges are also glued together with a special adhesive. These features allow the planks to fit together easily and consistently according to one of four locking systems panel profiles. The planks are then sealed with a special protective finish to resist stains, scratches, and other damage.

If a laminate floor has minor scratches, the wear layer can be sanded to remove the scratch and refinish the plank. However, replacing the plank rather than sand and refinishing is better if the laminate has been badly scratched or damaged.

Refinishing a laminate floor with a polyurethane sealant will help to keep the new coat of stain from chipping or peeling. A good quality polyurethane will also guard against the fading of the color caused by prolonged exposure to sunlight.

While it is important to refinish laminate floors, it is also good practice to prevent the need for refinishing by sweeping and mopping regularly and keeping furniture protectors on your chairs and tables to avoid scratches. It would be best if you also considered putting doormats in entryways to catch dirt before it has the opportunity to get into your home.

Safety Features Of Dock Lifts

Stuart Dunlap

Loading dock areas are some of the most hazardous parts of a facility. Workers and lift truck operators can suffer injuries due to ramps and inclines, dissimilar surfaces often wet or slippery, trailer creep, and other hazards.

To help reduce these risks, select a dock lift that offers safety features such as bow stops and motor stops. Dock Lifts Charleston SC full-length guide-ons help ensure a boat is properly positioned front to back and side to side.

dock lift

Safety Features

Loading dock lifts are a great way to enhance loading dock efficiency. They can help increase productivity and reduce back injuries that often occur at the loading dock due to repetitive movement or sudden movements of heavy equipment and materials. Effective dock lifts help minimize the onset of these injuries by decreasing whole-body vibration. Additionally, they create a smooth transition between the dock and trailer allowing workers on forklifts to pass between them with minimal effort and discomfort.

To further ensure safety, it’s crucial to choose a lifting system with various built-in features. These include safety legs and dock ramp stops, hydraulic failsafe protection, full-range toe guards, and dock impact barriers.

Dock ramp stops protect the ramp from lowering too low and potentially trapping a vehicle or employee. They can be mechanical or hydraulic. Mechanical dock ramp stops feature a push-button control to stop the cylinder at any time. Hydraulic dock ramp stops feature a velocity fuse to prevent accidental lowering and an emergency ramp stop for immediate and manual intervention.

Guard rails are also a useful safety tool, as they can keep employees and forklifts away from areas where they aren’t supposed to be. They’re especially beneficial in areas with high-rise facilities or where there is limited space between structures. Bollards are another type of safety device that serves the same purpose, but they’re more commonly found in warehouse environments and can be placed around machinery or at building corners to protect them from accidental impacts by forklifts.

When it comes to loading dock accidents, forklift roll-offs are among the most devastating. They can easily happen when a truck pulls away from the dock (whether it’s due to trailer creep or if the driver isn’t paying attention). These incidents are often fatal, which is why it’s crucial to install a wheel chock on your truck and use one every time you enter the dock area.

Properly storing dock lifts will also help prevent trailers from moving away from the edge of the dock or opening the dock door and creating a gap that workers or forklifts can fall through. In addition to ensuring proper storage, employers should develop traffic control plans and train all employees who work in dock areas to understand them.

Guardrails

Guardrails on a dock lift provide a physical barrier and visual warning for all personnel. They protect expensive equipment, define traffic patterns, and shield key work areas from forklift traffic. They’re a powerful safety measure and help facility managers establish consistent behavioral expectations for staff around the loading dock area. Wildeck’s Wilgard(r) guard rail system is the industry’s best and has been tested to withstand severe impact from forklifts and other vehicles. This guardrail system is easy to install, add on to, or remove and features a 42″ double guard rail that meets OSHA guidelines for fall protection. It’s also painted a highly visible bright safety yellow.

For a more permanent, yet convenient solution, consider the option of pocket-style guardrails on your dock lift. These are easily removed by hand tools and don’t require any cutting of the steel guardrails. For example, if you have a truck that backs over your dock lift to a conventional trailer you can use the dock leveler and then pull the pocket-style guardrails up and away. When the truck departs you can quickly and easily put them back in place.

If you want additional personal safety on your dock lift beyond that required by OSHA, consider an advanced electric toe guard. This is an electrically operated toe guard that stops the downward movement of a platform when it is struck. The platform can then be raised to the proper dock height using a simple push of a button.

Other safety options for a dock lift include the addition of an axle rating capacity that identifies the maximum vehicle axle weight allowed to drive over a fully lowered dock lift. Most recessed units have this feature built in and it’s also an option on some surface mount dock lifts.

Wheel Chocks

One of the most common lower-tech safety features on dock lifts is wheel chocks. These wedge-shaped blocks help prevent trailer creep while a lift truck is loading it, which can cause gaps between the trailer and the building or even forklifts to fall off of the dock (7% of all reported forklift accidents involve trailers).

While OSHA regulates the use of wheel chocks at every loading dock where trucks load and unload, most facilities don’t take full advantage of this simple yet important safety measure. This is often due to time constraints and communication breakdowns between truck drivers, lift operators, and dock workers that lead to early truck pull-aways and trailer departures before the trailer is fully loaded.

If you’re looking for a more efficient and effective alternative to manual surface wheel chocks, consider this innovative restraint that uses an interlock-capable control panel, standard LED communication lights, exterior audible alarms, and safe engagement sensors to communicate with the vehicle driver. Unlike traditional wheel chocks that require physical placement by employees, it has an automated arm that engages near the axle height to ensure better capture and can restrain up to 32,000 pounds of force.

In addition, its patented design makes it easier to install by simply placing it on the ground and putting the vehicle in park. Once it’s in place, the lift system automatically engages to secure the trailer to the dock without the need for employee intervention. This can greatly reduce the risk of accidental trailer drift and unauthorized departures during transshipment that put both employees and cargo at risk.

It is also ideal for warehouses and distribution centers that need to secure a variety of different types of trailers, including pup and lift gate trailers that have damaged rear impact guards or different axle configurations. With the ability to be manually or hydraulically operated, this high-performance restraint can keep virtually any trailer parked safely at your dock, whether you’re working in a manufacturing, distribution, food service, or retail environment. Contact a product specialist to learn more about this versatile wheel chocking solution and how it can make your warehouse dock safer.

Barrier Lips

Many dock lifts are equipped with a barrier lip to prevent a fork truck from accidentally rolling off the lift in the down position. The lip is usually mounted at the front of the deck and extends over the edge of the dock. It is supported by a series of hinge support plates 42 that pivot on the lip hinge pin 31. A spring 76 acts to assist in raising the barrier. The spring also provides some resilience to allow the lip to rotate rearward when it is pushed outward by the lip keepers to clear it in the down position.

Several methods are known in the art for providing a run-off prevention barrier at the lip of a dock leveler in both its storage and pendant positions. The simplest involves simply extending the rear edge of the folding lip to raise it when it is in its stored position. However, this design limits access to a transport trailer when the dock lift is in its below dock end loading position and requires that the barrier be lowered before the trailer can be accessed.

The present invention addresses this limitation by providing a mechanism for automatically elevating the lip to an operative position when the deck is restored to its dock-level position. The mechanism includes a push rod assembly 60 that pivots on a pin 61 carried by the frame assembly 10. A first cam lobe 54 protrudes from the front of the crank 50 and controls the position of a second cam lobe 55. A latch arm 70 rides on the cam and is contacted by a control arm assembly 65 that is responsive to the movement of the deck. The control arm assembly 65 holds the latch arm 70 raised out of engagement with the cam assembly.

The latch arm is pushed down by the pressure of the spring when the deck is lowered. When the deck is in its operative position with the barrier extended over the transport trailer the push rod assembly is deflected by the second cam lobe to force the latch arm 70 down and engage the slot in the cam assembly 50. The control arm assembly is then free to move the push rod up and down to actuate the barrier.