Whether it’s a house or apartment, a home is a place for relaxation away from the stresses of everyday life. But could your home be making you unhealthy? Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a relatively new phenomenon used to describe issues with building features which could be causing harm to your health.

Poor HVAC (heating, ventilation & air conditioning) is a crucial component of SBS, with improper systems posing a number of risks. Fortunately, there are many ways in which HVAC technicians can fight the problem and create a more pleasant home environment for customers. Read on to find out what they are.

The Origin of SBS and the Impact Buildings Have on Health

SBS is usually a result of a change in construction methods in the 1970s. Buildings were being made increasingly airtight, as the worldwide energy crisis forced planners to create houses and apartments which could better retain heat. This came at the cost of decreased ventilation, with dangerous toxins in the air unable to escape.

Students in HVAC training  should be aware of some of the symptoms of SBS, which include sinus or skin irritation, aches in different parts of the body, and tiredness. These problems will usually only occur while spending time in the building, but may affect many of the people living there. Seasonal changes in the use of heating or air conditioning equipment mean that these symptoms can also come and go throughout any given year.

HVAC School Will Help You Discover Common Ways of Tackling Sick Building Syndrome

A trained occupational health or industrial expert will often carry out official tests to determine whether a building is ‘sick’ and in need of action. Where these problems exist, proper maintenance of HVAC equipment is vital. Air conditioning filters should be cleaned or replaced regularly in order to catch bacteria, molds, pollen and viruses. Those living in the building may not see the results of this regular maintenance, but they will feel it in their standard of health.

Properly maintained HVAC units can make a living space much more pleasant

Graduates of HVAC school can also improve conditions by installing the latest equipment which meets current environmental codes, and service and repair existing systems which may need to be updated in order to prevent SBS. Other possible solutions include fitting whole-home air cleaners into the air ducts, while purifiers are also useful in capturing and killing air contaminants.

Copper as Part of HVAC Solutions to Sick Building Syndrome

The health benefits of copper have been known for many centuries, but the substance may still be an underused option when tackling Sick Building Syndrome. Copper has antimicrobial properties and is used in antiseptics, medical devices and oral hygiene products among other things.

Copper therefore could be a used as an alternative to biologically inert materials in HVAC products such as heat exchanger tubes, fins, and filters. The European Copper Institute has described it as a cost-effective way of preventing fungal and bacterial growth which can thrive in dark and damp components of HVAC systems.

Copper could be an underused solution to Sick Building Syndrome

Trained HVAC technicians therefore have a vital role in preventing SBS, and the ability to improve a person’s wellbeing is a rewarding aspect of this career.

HVAC technician courses are an excellent way to learn all you need to get started in the trade.

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Qualifications are a necessity in almost any industry, and in the welding field it’s no exception. The Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) leads the way in training and certification in the sector, and is supported and recognized by the top organizations in the industry.

The Ontario headquartered group has offices around the country and is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada. The CWB’s impact on welding is much more than national, however. It has also become a worldwide leader in welding standards relating to certification, education, safety and membership.

Want to know more about this organization and the role it could play in your career? Keep reading to find out.

Why is the Canadian Welding Bureau so Important?

The Canadian Welding Bureau has been established for over 60 years as a leader in welding certification, and its regulation and oversight is vital to ensuring the quality, safety, and integrity of work done in the industry.

As such, it is mandatory to have CWB certification if you’re working in the structural and erecting industry in Canada. Many non-structural welding companies also choose to be voluntarily certified by the CWB, as they’re the only organization which offers nationally recognized credentials. Therefore, it’s important that the welding school you choose offers CWB certification.

CWB certification is required for a lot of welding work

What CWB Credentials can you Earn During Welding Training?

In a CWB certified program like the one offered at North American Trade Schools (NATS), students undertaking welding training will receive an industry recognized CWB Certificate of Achievement upon completion, and will also be able to join the CWB Trade Association.

Students also have the opportunity to get CWB certificates for passing individual welding theory modules. Coupled with the hands-on, practical training you will receive, a course like this will ensure that you are full job-ready upon graduation, and have the credentials employers will require.

Welding training offers hands-on experience which can be carried into your future career

How the Canadian Welding Bureau can Help you as you Develop your Career

The significance of the CWB doesn’t end once you graduate. The Bureau offers assistance to welders of all experience levels, as well as certification for welding supervisors and inspectors. Classroom courses are available in a range of national locations, which can help you to upskill in specialized areas like ultrasonics, industrial radiography, and non-destructive examination.

If classroom courses don’t suit your schedule, a wide variety of online courses are also available which examine further issues such as health and safety, inspection methods and surface inspection. The CWB’s years of experience mean that all bases are covered if you want to expand your expertise as your career progresses.

Companies that want to retain their own certification with the CWB must also ensure that their staff are fully certified, and always follow approved welding procedures, meaning you could also expect to deal with the organization should you have ambitions of starting your own business once you gain experience.

Are you interested in electric arc welder training?

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What does it take to be a great electrician? Being good with spatial work and mechanics can certainly help, and having an ability to work well in groups is valuable as well. There are other skills though, which you might not immediately associate with electrical work, that nonetheless deliver tremendous value in the right hands.

Curious about which surprising skills might prove useful to you in a future career as a construction electrician? Here are a few that can make a real difference.

Being Good at Basic Math is a Big Asset When You Become a Construction Electrician

You won’t be doing calculus as an electrician, but being good at basic math can give you a big leg up in your work. Measuring, addition and subtraction, working with basic formulas, and a number of other kinds of math may be required in the course of electrical work. There’s no rule against using calculators, of course, but having a good understanding of the math being done – or even being able to do some of it in your head for a quick estimate – could help you work more quickly.

Having a head for numbers can be an asset for electricians

Not normally a big fan of math? Unlike much of the math work you might have done growing up in school, the math you do when you become a construction electricianalmost always translates into something you can see – a length of wire, a particular angle in a layout, etc. This sort of practical problem solving can be far more satisfying than math as most people know it, and might even be a bit of fun once you’ve learned the ropes.

Skills in Reading and Interpretation Are Important Assets for Electricians

There are a number of technical documents, measurement tools, blueprints, and other things you will need to able to read and understand in electrical work. It takes a little practice to be able to interpret these correctly, but having a natural knack for reading can be a big help.

As with math, the kind of reading you’re doing here won’t be like what you did growing up. No dull novels or academic essays, just concise and instructional material that will inform your electrical work. You can learn everything you need to know about working from these sources of information at electrical school, so there’s no need to worry about being unfamiliar with them heading in to your career.

Developing the Ability to Seek Out Learning Can be a Great Asset in Electrician School and Beyond

Learning might seem like an unconscious phenomenon, but it can also be a skill. To be able to learn on an ongoing basis means being open to new ideas and willing to experiment with new tools and concepts, and not just assume you know what you need to know because of prior experience and education.

This is important to electrical work because the industry has changed before and will change again, and adaptable professionals will be better able to roll with the challenges and opportunities posed by these changes.

Develop a skill for lifelong learning for a great chance at career success

Partly, you can develop this skill by just keeping the same open attitude toward learning that you’ll have during school. You might also check in with your instructors to see if they have their own advice about how to go on learning throughout your career, since they’ll have many years of professional experience to draw advice from. However you approach it, finding a way to develop a skill for continual learning can be a secret weapon for success in electrician careers.

Think you have what it takes to become a maintenance electrician?

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As time passes and a home falls into disrepair, renovation becomes less a nice option to have than an essential. The trouble is, however, that aged buildings often present additional obstacles to be surmounted en route to making improvements.

From structural issues to problems relating to the availability of parts, there are a number of special challenges that might need to be dealt with by a home renovation professional. Curious about what kinds of problems you might need to handle when renovating older homes? Here are a few examples to note.

Renovating Old Attics Can Be an Expensive Challenge for Home Renovation Technicians

A lot of attics are mostly ignored by their owners. They become storage space for Christmas trees and old tax documents, collect moisture (and  sometimes animals), and may decay quicker than most parts of a home. As years go by, attics could well fall into a state of rather profound disrepair.

Come renovation time, this could make for a significant challenge for a home renovation technician. New moisture-proofing might be required, damaged materials might need to be replaced, and there’s always the potential that a new intended use for the space might create problems. Adding extra headspace to an attic that is being converted to a bedroom, for instance, is not exactly easy or cheap. All of these tasks are well within the capabilities of graduates of home renovation technician school, but they might take a fair bit of time and effort to complete.

Some Components From When a Building Was Constructed Might Not be Available

Standards change, and with those changes can come headaches for renovation professionals looking to make an old place look a little more modern. You might have difficulty finding bathtubs that fit a space correctly, or modern doors or flooring made from a formerly common, now rare material. When these components are essential to the completion of a project, this can be a bit of an obstacle to be overcome.

 Needing to find outdated components or uncommon materials is an important renovation challenge

Largely, this is a problem resolved through diligent research, with appropriate materials and components often sourced from antiques shops or specialty stores. Since older components will generally be as simple to work with as those that are more common today, the hands-on skills developed in home renovation technician training will still apply.

Fixing Bad Renovations Isn’t Uncommon for Those Who Become a Home Renovation Technician

One of the great frustrations of home renovation professionals is encountering poor attempts at repairs or construction and needing to fix them up. There might be exposed wiring that needs to be covered up in a wall, horrible mismatches in exterior finishing, uneven floors, stuck doors, and any number of other problems indicative of sloppy prior work. Worse, older homes might have had several such renovations over time, leading to a bit of a mess for a home renovation technician to go in and fix.

This isn’t so much a test of skill as it is a test of patience, but it’s something that it is almost inevitable that a home renovation expert will encounter in their career. It’s not all bad, though. Finding especially bad examples of prior renovations could give you some fun stories to share with friends you make in the industry.

You’ll likely have a few chuckles with friends over the weird “repairs” you encounter while renovating

Are you ready to become a home renovation technician?

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Cabinetmaking skills are applicable to many work environments in the construction and renovation industries, but some people just aren’t going to be satisfied with going in and working for someone else. There’s real excitement to be had in starting a business and making your own way, and real opportunity to do so with cabinetmaking training behind you.

Being good with woodworking isn’t quite all it takes to succeed when going into business, though. Having a strategy in mind, knowing how to get attention, and being smart with money are all attributes that can help you find the success you desire.

Think you might like to go into business for yourself? Here’s how you can find entrepreneurial success.

Figuring Out Where and How You Want to Work Are Important First Steps

Cabinetmaking requires a bit of space in which to work, so it will be necessary to put some thought into a location in which you might run your business. This might mean renting warehouse space, or even just taking over the backyard shed or your basement. Just make sure any family or roommates you live with will be okay with sawdust accumulating while you’re in the middle of a project!

Keep in mind that regional laws regarding operating a business in your home should be taken into account if you decide to pursue these latter options. Wherever you go, it will also be important that you and your space are properly insured. You don’t want to lose everything in the event of a burst pipe or a fire. Note that operating a business out of a home often requires special insurance, so don’t count on your regular insurance being sufficient.

Wherever you set up shop, make sure you’ve got good insurance to protect you from accidents

Have an Idea of the Finances You Will Need to Get Started

After deciding where you want to work, you’ll need to figure out how much money you’ll need to get started and how to get it. In addition to any location leasing and insurance costs, you’ll also need to think about purchasing equipment and materials. Cabinetmaking training will provide you with an idea of the kinds of equipment that will be needed, like various saws, hammers, measuring devices, and other implements, so try to build and cost a list of the essentials.

Don’t forget that you’ll need to eat at some point, so it’s important to take stock of your personal financial situation. Don’t assume you can operate at a loss or at low wages for too long, and always leave a little extra room in your budget for things you’re forgetting about. You don’t want to lock yourself into a budget and then find yourself stuck when a surprise expense pops up.

Take some time to figure out finances before starting out on your own

Entrepreneurial Cabinetmaking School Grads Will Need a Marketing Strategy

In the early days, the skills gained through cabinetmaking school won’t be enough to guarantee lots of business. It will take time for people to find out about your work and to cultivate a strong professional reputation.

An easy way to start making your name would be to create a website with information about services, pricing, and how to contact you. Building a social media presence could also be a good idea, as clients might like the option of sending you a chat message instead of having to pick up the phone or send an email.

Social media is also a great place to use pictures to show off your cabinetmaking skills! If you have a knack for photography or can find or pay for a photographer to do some professional-quality shots of some of your best work, those images could prove a great way to convince people to hire you.

Even a great marketing strategy takes a little time to get going, so don’t expect to have a full plate of work right away. Build up an online presence and produce great work, though, and you’re likely to see results in time.

Do you want to get started working in cabinetmaking?

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Welding looks pretty easy in the movies. Take two piece of metal, apply heat, then just stand back and admire the way they melted together. Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that in real life. There are a number of things that can go wrong in a weld, and mistakes in welding can have expensive or even dangerous consequences.

Fortunately, the risks of error are greatly minimized for graduates of welding training, and learning how to judge the quality of a weld further ensures that rare mistakes are caught right away. For the curious, here’s how welding professionals do it.

Graduates of Welder School Know to Be Wary of Pores

Even small holes can have a significant effect on the structural integrity of a weld, so new welders quickly learn to look out for the presence of this defect in the work that they do. The presence of very small holes – a quality known as porosity – is a subtle indication that a weld isn’t of the highest quality.

There are a few potential causes of porosity. The metal may have been contaminated with dirt or grime, for instance, or insufficient shielding gas may have been used during the weld. Whatever the case, porous metal is something to be avoided, so it’s important for professionals to use their experience from welder school to ensure their materials and equipment are fully ready each time they start a job.

A Good Weld is an Even, Clean Weld

Since welding means joining one edge of molten metal to another, the weld probably isn’t going to look perfectly clean. It should, however, be free of slag and other debris, and the weld material shouldn’t be too skewed to one side. Welds that have too much slag or an uneven distribution of materials were likely not performed correctly.

In the case of slag or other debris, it’s sometimes possible to chip away the waste material and thereby gain a cleaner look, but uneven welds can be a more difficult task to fix. Sometimes, it’s enough to add some extra metal to clean up the look. Other times, it might be necessary to grind out the weld and do the job over.

To become the kind of welder who only needs to do a job once, it’s important to complete electric arc welder training at a school that will give you plenty of hands-on experience. To learn by doing is to build the real skills employers demand and that will serve you well in a welding career. With this education and a little luck, having to go back and redo a weld will be a rare occurrence.

Clean, even welds such as these are the goal for welding professionals

Pros With Welding Diplomas Know Just How Risky a Leak Can Be

When welding professionals are inspecting their work, there’s a pretty obvious sign they can look for when working on some projects: is the weld leaking?

Welding is often used for structures that hold water or gas, so having a leak spring can be inconvenient and even dangerous. Detecting leaks of water will, of course, tend to be relatively straightforward. For gas leaks, the precise location of the problem can be detected in a number of ways. This is a topic well worth running by your instructors at welding school, who will likely have their own recommendations and justifications to share.

It’s worth noting, however, that many professionals swear by simple, soapy water. Just spraying a water and soap solution onto the weld and seeing where it bubbles up can be a surprisingly effective verification method.

Here’s a video from Northwest Ohio Home Inspections that demonstrates the concept on a pipe that is leaking gas:

Do you want to learn more about creating quality welds?

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In the process of beautifying and fixing up a home, home renovation pros often encounter signs that they are not alone. Waste, bite marks, and the pitter-patter of little feet are just some of the indicators that there’s a pest of some kind in the area, most likely causing damage that will need to be addressed.

This type of nuisance is common just about everywhere buildings are found, with pests coming in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some, though, stand out from the crowd as being particularly problematic.

Here are some of the common pests that tend to give home renovation pros the most grief.

If Undiscovered, Racoons Can Wreak Havoc on Attics

When Racoons get tired of dumpster diving, they often take up residence in the attic of a home. Their nimble fingers and surprising strength allow them to rip holes through walls and even roofs, giving them easy access to a nice, insulated space in which they can nest. The trouble is, invading raccoons will often trample insulation, rip up ducts or wiring, and otherwise destroy attics. They are also known to leave significant amounts of waste behind, which can be a biohazard.

Beyond potentially needing to delay work until a wildlife removal specialist can remedy the problem, the presence of racoons probably won’t pose the biggest problem to your work when you become a home renovation technician. Insulation can be replaced, holes in walls can be patched, and other issues can be taken care of fairly efficiently.

Being surprised by a racoon while you’re in the middle of some roofing work, though, is never much fun. Likewise, if a racoon moves in and starts destroying your recent hard work while you’re halfway through a project, you probably won’t be especially fond of them.

Ants & Termites are Annoyances That You’ll Likely Deal With After Home Renovation Training

Insects are some of the most notorious household pests, and for good reason. Termites and carpenter ants in particular have earned reputations for spreading wide, spreading fast, and chewing up the wooden structure of a house. This often creates damage that should be replaced not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because it compromises the structural integrity of a home.

Carpenter ants and termites can cause real structural damage to a home

Since home renovation training teaches students how to complete all kinds of house work – from installing windows to building entire rooms, and more – graduates are quite likely to be tasked at some point with repairing the damage caused by hungry insects. The main aggravation here will be that insects often cause damage to home elements that are difficult to repair, like molding or columns. With good, hands-on training from a school like North American Trade Schools, though, you will be up to the task, and able to fix even the trickiest insect-related damage.

Become a Home Renovation Technician and You Probably Won’t Like Mice & Rats

Mice and rats are a special kind of problem because they can go just about anywhere in a home and destroy just about anything. They chew through walls, through floors and roofs, through insulation, wires, and wooden supports. They also build nests in inconvenient places, often creating a greater risk of fire. Nobody wants them, but just about every home will have them at some point, and home renovation technicians often need to clean up the messes they make – perhaps more than once.

Mice and rats are everywhere, and cause all kinds of damage to homes

It might seem annoying that the renovation work you do could end up in need of redoing if rodents show back up and destroy it.  It’s worth considering, however, that their seeming dedication to destroying homes accounts for a not-insignificant amount of the work that is out there for home renovation pros. With the interesting, varied work and healthy salaries available, it’s probably best to take the bad with the good and accept that your craftsmanship might occasionally get chewed up a little bit.

Are you thinking about attending home renovation technician school?

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Working with HVAC equipment isn’t dangerous when you know what you’re doing. Good training programs instill in graduates a healthy respect for the risks that are present in the HVAC industry and teach foolproof habits to help avoid them.

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in HVAC maintenance, it’s never too early to start getting in the safety-first mindset that is common among the top professionals in the field. Here’s an overview of some of the most important safety habits that are taught to students in HVAC training programs.

HVAC Training Teaches the Value of Checking & Maintaining Equipment

One of the most important things an HVAC repair student will learn is that it’s important to have the tools necessary for the job. This means ensuring all the standard tools are transported to the job site, and that work is postponed if a necessary tool is missing. Attempting to improvise with tools that are unintended for a given task is, at best, ill-advised. At worst, it could lead to a serious accident that damages the HVAC system or even hurts someone.

Maintenance is another important consideration in HVAC repair. Broken, worn down, or otherwise substandard tools should not be used, as they make it more likely that something could go wrong. Taking preventative action and regularly inspecting your toolkit for flaws is considered good practice among HVAC professionals.

Safety in Working With Chemicals is a Critical Lesson in HVAC Technician Training

One of the most important things taught in HVAC training is that coolants and other chemicals must be handled appropriately. This means, among other things, not leaving open chemicals in confined spaces, not mixing chemicals, and always wearing protective gloves when handling them. Maintaining the attitude that chemicals should be treated with respect and caution is one of the best ways to avoid accidental misuse that could have unfortunate consequences.

Training programs like the one offered at North American Trades Schools ensure students get plenty of practice working on real HVAC systems in a supervised environment, so that expert guidance is always at hand while this important habit is still being formed. Given time and practice, you can expect chemical safety planning to become second nature.

HVAC Technicians Take Measures to Avoid Getting Shocked

It’s not impossible to get an electrical shock while working on HVAC equipment, which is why the smartest graduates of HVAC technician training don’t leave things to chance. As a first step, they cut off the breaker for the unit they are going to be working on.

As a second step, they use a multimeter to double-check that the wires are not live. This is because any professional who works with or around electrical devices knows that wiring is sometimes done differently than expected, meaning disabling the “right” breaker might not actually eliminate the current. Taking both steps can help HVAC repair technicians be sure that there’s no chance that they’ll get shocked.

Thanks to their access to instructors with many years of professional HVAC maintenance experience, students in HVAC repair training can learn about these and many other useful safety practices that can help prevent harm. This is a good way to begin your career with wisdom far beyond your years, and stay safe in working with HVAC systems.

Do you want to learn more about how to work safely with HVAC systems?

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To the average person, electricity is electricity. It all keeps the lights on, gets motors running, and performs thousands of other tasks at home, at work, and out in the world. Professionals with electrician training, though, know that there’s a bit more to the story, with significant differences existing between the electrical setups in different environments.

Want to get better acquainted with different electrical setups before you start your electrician training? Here’s a look at some of the differences between industrial and residential electricity.

Become a Maintenance Electrician and You’ll See How Powerful Industrial Electricity is

The main, and perhaps most obvious, difference between industrial and residential electricity is that industrial setups are usually far more powerful than the ones connected to a home. They use what is known as “three-phase electric power,” which allows a far greater amount of power – up to 600 volts – to be transmitted.

Single-phase electricity like you would get at home hits a maximum of 120 volts. The extra capacity allows for more to be done in an industrial setting, since big machines need a lot more power than your everyday stove or TV.

It also means amateur handymen should never work with industrial electrical setups. Instead, they should leave that kind of work to individuals who have received proper training at electrician school, both in how to work with the specific capabilities of industrial electricity and in the correct safety protocol for industrial work.

Electrician School Graduates Work With Specialized Equipment in Industrial Settings

Different kinds of components are required to enable and accommodate the difference in industrial electricity’s capabilities. One prime example is the industrial circuit breaker. It operates according to the same basic premise as a residential circuit breaker, set to trip and break off the flow of electricity when an overload is detected by the system.

The main difference is, of course, in the level of risk present when something goes wrong. With industrial and commercial electrical setups carrying a current that is many times more powerful than those designed for homes, it’s absolutely vital that the breakers be able to both handle much stronger loads and be able to work flawlessly in shutting down currents that are threatening to overload the system.

Specialized circuit breakers and other components are used in industrial electrical setups

To become a maintenance technician who is able to work in the industrial sector means becoming familiar with these and other specialty components. A good electrical training program will provide expert guidance and hands-on experience working in this area, ensuring graduates leave fluent in the skills and knowledge required in all sorts of electrical work.

Complexities in Industrial Electrical Costs Mean There’s Great Desire for Better Efficiency

Inefficient energy use means more cost for the same result, which is of course something that no client wants. Combine that with complexities present in the industrial energy pricing model, in which it is not just total energy usage that affects a bill, but also sometimes the maximum amount of power the client might draw at any one time, and the need to keep energy costs lower gains renewed importance.

Today, there are also other factors, like carbon taxation and other energy reduction measures, which might also place pressure on organizations to cut down on energy usage. By comparison, homeowners and renters tend to enjoy a relatively simple, consumption-based bill, and shouldn’t directly experience quite as much pressure to cut down.

What could this mean? For one thing, it’s likely that clients will see the value in acquiring the services of well-trained electrical technicians who can service their machinery, keep it running in tip-top shape, and keep energy costs as low as possible. Complete training that includes an education in industrial electricity, and you could be poised to take advantage of these opportunities.

Training in repairing industrial electrical equipment could help you meet demand for greater efficiency

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