Bunk bed shopping - 10 point safety checklist to protect your children

Written by S.A. Smith


Every year thousands of children are admitted to hospital emergency rooms due to incidents involving bunk beds involving improper use, manufacturing, or set up. If your follow our 10 point safety checklist, bunk beds can still be a great bedding solution for your children:

Reputable manufacturer

Look for manufacturers that are established, and have a long history of manufacturing bunk beds. A good manufacturer will also stand behind their product by providing a lifetime warranty.

ASTM and CPSC guidelines

Askrepparttar retailer if it meetsrepparttar 100087 voluntary safety guidelines ofrepparttar 100088 American Standards of Testing and Materials andrepparttar 100089 minimum safety standards ofrepparttar 100090 Consumer Product Safety Commission. If it does, you'll know thatrepparttar 100091 bed meets all current and reasonable safety standards.

Strong frame construction

Examine and testrepparttar 100092 durability and strength ofrepparttar 100093 bunk bed frame. It should easily hold a parents weight - climb on it and wigglerepparttar 100094 frame a bit. A good bunk bed with remain firmly grounded without movement or noise.

Only rounded edges

Checkrepparttar 100095 entire bed construction for smoothness of materials and fasteners. There should be no sharp edges or protruding points anywhere inrepparttar 100096 construction.

Measurerepparttar 100097 safety rails

Safety rails should run on both sides ofrepparttar 100098 top bunk, andrepparttar 100099 lower rail should be no higher than 3 1/2 inches aboverepparttar 100100 top ofrepparttar 100101 mattress height - any higher and your children could slip underneath it. Also make surerepparttar 100102 top rail is at least 5 inches aboverepparttar 100103 mattress top to prevent your child from rolling overrepparttar 100104 safety rails.

Ensure proper mattress fit

Strangulation deaths have occurred inrepparttar 100105 US when children fall through openings betweenrepparttar 100106 mattress andrepparttar 100107 frame duringrepparttar 100108 night. Make surerepparttar 100109 mattress opening snugly fitsrepparttar 100110 mattress without a lot adjustment room. Ifrepparttar 100111 mattress has a gap greater than 3 inches from any side ofrepparttar 100112 mattress torepparttar 100113 bed frame, headboard or footboard - it does not fit properly.

SLIDING GLASS DOOR REPLACEMENT

Written by John Rocco


This article is going to be about replacing an old sliding glass door with a modern Vinyl frame sliding glass door. If you currently have french doors and you want to replace them with sliding doors, or vise versa, future articles will cover that topic.

The first thing we have to do is measure forrepparttar replacement door. You want to measure acrossrepparttar 100086 bottom, center, and top ofrepparttar 100087 existing door frame to findrepparttar 100088 narrowest dimension. Start outside and measure atrepparttar 100089 point whererepparttar 100090 old door frame stops andrepparttar 100091 exterior material starts. That material can be stucco, siding, or brick. Measure across inrepparttar 100092 3 places: bottom, center, and top. Recordrepparttar 100093 smallest dimension. Then go inside and dorepparttar 100094 same thing. You want to measure whererepparttar 100095 frame ends andrepparttar 100096 drywall, plaster, or sheetrock begins. Take all six measurements, findrepparttar 100097 narrowest one, and deduct 3/4". That isrepparttar 100098 width ofrepparttar 100099 new door. Now, when you measurerepparttar 100100 height, you can do it just onrepparttar 100101 outside. Measurerepparttar 100102 left, center, and right side fromrepparttar 100103 ground whererepparttar 100104 bottom track sits, up torepparttar 100105 top whererepparttar 100106 old frame ends andrepparttar 100107 exterior material begins. Takerepparttar 100108 narrowest dimension and deduct 1/2". That is your height ofrepparttar 100109 new door. Then, determine which siderepparttar 100110 sliding panel should be on. The fixed panel is designated byrepparttar 100111 letter "O", andrepparttar 100112 slider is an "X". In most areas ofrepparttar 100113 country, you call it out by looking atrepparttar 100114 door from outside and reading left to right. So, if you were outside looking at your door, and you wantrepparttar 100115 sliding panel to close torepparttar 100116 right wall, you would ask for an "OX". However, because i have recently discovered that not all parts ofrepparttar 100117 country do it this way, my suggestion is to askrepparttar 100118 dealer how they readrepparttar 100119 opening before placing your order.

Next, you have to decide whether you want a retrofit frame or a replacement frame. Ifrepparttar 100120 old frame

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