Real Christmas trees are a wonderful addition to your holiday celebrations. It makes your home smell fantastic and adds an organic touch to your decor.
But the risk of a house fire is really high with real trees, but there are two ways to avoid needing our fire restoration services: keep the tree well-watered, and make sure it’s freshly cut. Keep reading to learn just how much water you need and how to get the most out of that fresh cut.
Freshness
When you go tree shopping, the first thing you need to know is whether or not the tree will be cut down right when you buy it, or if the trees have been pre-cut.
With pre-cut options, you run a greater risk of buying a tree that is already partially dried out. Even with plenty of water, trees can dry out within four short weeks, and you don’t necessarily know how long those trees have been sitting there, pre-cut, without any access to water.
The best rule of thumb is to go with a tree that’s cut at the moment you choose it.
But, if you can’t get one of those, choose the freshest tree you can find with this simple trick: grip a branch lightly and run your hand along the branch. If no needles fall off, you’re good to go.
Set Up
Once you’ve chosen your tree, take it home and then grab a saw. When a tree is cut, it secretes sap to close up the wound, and that sap can keep the tree from soaking up that much-needed water!
So cut off an inch or two right before you place the tree in its base.
Water
A fresh tree can drink up as much as a gallon of water per day! So if you make the choice to have a fresh tree, you’ll need to also make the choice to refill the base with water on a daily basis. The best rule of thumb when it comes to water levels on your real tree is to never let the water level get below the base of the tree.
You don’t necessarily need to worry about which kind of water you use, your tree will drink up anything! Just make sure to keep the levels high because a well-watered tree has an almost 0% chance of catching flame and causing a house fire.
Basic Safety
So you’ve picked a healthy tree and made plans to keep it well-watered. Now, all that’s left to do is make plans to keep flames (like ones from candles) away from the tree and don’t place it right next to a heating register (which could dry it out prematurely, and driving up your risk of fire).
Of course, if your holiday festivities go south with a tree fire, don’t hesitate to call us. We’re available 24/7 on our emergency line and ready to help with fire restoration services if you need us!
