Disclaimer

Short, and worth reading once.

General information, not advice

Everything on this website, in our videos and emails, and in The Household Book, its second volume, the Winter Volume and the Drawer Cards is general information about running a household. It is not medical advice, and it is not legal, financial, or professional trade advice of any kind. It does not replace a doctor, a pharmacist, a licensed plumber, electrician or contractor, or any other qualified professional who can see your situation.

Not medical advice

Nothing in our products treats, cures or prevents any illness, and there is no dose anywhere in them. If something is wrong with you, that is a doctor's job. If you take a prescribed medicine and are thinking of adding anything at all to it, ask your pharmacist.

Follow the label

Follow the directions and warnings on the label of any product you use. For pesticides, including products like boric acid sold as an insecticide, the label is the law. Never mix cleaning chemicals, and never use anything in a way its label forbids.

Safety

• Poison Control: if someone may have swallowed, breathed in or splashed something harmful, call 1-800-222-1222, day or night. In an emergency, call 911.
• Licensed work: gas, electrical and structural work is for a licensed professional. Our products contain no gas work and no electrical work beyond unplugging.
• Ladders and roofs: two feet on the ground, or ask someone.
• Fuel-burning appliances: nothing that burns fuel is used indoors for heat unless it is installed for that purpose and vented to the outside. Keep working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Children and pets: where a method is unsafe around small children, pets or birds, the page says so. Take that line seriously; some methods are not for every house.
• Food and water: where a method gives food-safety or drinking-water numbers, they come from the USDA, CDC or EPA. Where our products ever disagree with current tested guidance (for example, a current tested canning process), follow the tested guidance.
• Local rules: check your local codes, your landlord, and any rules where you live (for example, on burning, pesticides or water use) before you start.

Old does not mean safe. The old household books we drew on contain instructions that would injure you. The age of a method is not evidence for it.

What the marks mean, and what they don't

Every method carries a mark:

• CHECKED means checked against named sources (an extension service, a federal agency, a standards body or a peer-reviewed study), and it holds up. It never means we tried it ourselves or tested it in a laboratory.
• REPORTED means widely used, with thinner evidence. What the sources say, and where they stop, is on the page.
• FOLK means handed down, and we cannot vouch for it.

The sources are named so you can check them yourself. Naming a source does not mean that organization endorses us or our products; we are not affiliated with any of them.

No guaranteed results

Houses, climates and materials differ. We don't promise any particular result or saving. Where we give a figure, such as an amount of water a leak can waste, it is the source's figure, not a promise about your house. Our only promise is the 30-day refund in our Refund Policy.

Use your judgment

You are responsible for how you use the information. If a method doesn't suit your home, your health or your situation, don't use it, and ask someone qualified.

Contact

If you think a method is wrong or unsafe, write to contact@harlanfenton.com. We will check it against the sources and correct the book if we got it wrong.

Harlan Fenton is a brand operated by Ilai Spak, 353 Lexington Avenue, 4th Floor, Ste 505, New York, NY 10016.