Command Strips for picture hanging, 3 years later: A couple of failures to report

I�ve written two articles (here and here) about hanging pictures with Command Picture Hanging Strips (the interlocking double Velcro style), and I continue to be pretty impressed by them, but it�s important to come back a few years later and discuss how they have been holding up.  Since these work by non-permanent adhesion rather than by a physical object like a nail in the wall, we basically take it on faith that the adhesive will hold.  

As it turns out, I�ve had three partial or total failures, but don�t panic; they are special cases.  None of the optimally mounted pictures have fallen.  Here are the conditions that have caused problems:

Command Strips on picture mounted in 2017.  The one on the right has
pulled away from the wall due to having been adhered to a warped frame.
(Click the image to enlarge)

#1  Warped picture frame:  I�ve known about this problem since shortly after I mounted the picture in 2017.  The wall is flat and the picture frame was warped, so when I pressed all four corners to the wall (actually the top corners and the bottom about 1/3 up as they suggest), it didn�t take long for the frame�s natural warp to defeat the adhesive of the strip in that corner.  However, part of that strip is still adhered and the other strips are adhered, and it doesn�t appear to have shifted since I mounted it; so I consider it more of an FYI than a failure.  I actually mentioned this in my 2018 follow-up article about Command strips and included the figure that I�m re-using here.

#2  Non-stick backing paper:  Ok, it�s probably not meant to be non-stick, but it basically is.  This is an illustrated flat soft (probably balsawood) multi-panel that my wife has had for years; that is, several panels next to each other with a single piece of backing paper that results in flexible joints between panels, but when it�s completely flat, the panels make one unbroken surface that is illustrated.  My wife had mounted it to the wall by putting a single small nail between the two center panels, and a slight bulging out of the panels had partially pulled out the nail so it was rather precariously hanging� over the toilet in a bathroom.  Since I figured it would not even take an earthquake to make that thing fall, I re-mounted it with Command strips in 2017.  However, I found that it was hard to do because the paper was slightly waxy and it didn�t seem like the adhesive strips were sticking very well.  So, I put duct tape wherever I planned to put a Command strip, and adhered the strips to the back of the duct tape rather than to the backing paper.  Smart, eh?

Multi-panel wood wall hanging with uncooperative backing paper
(Click the image to enlarge)

Except that it turns out that even duct tape doesn�t stick perfectly to that backing paper (I always thought duct tape sticks to EVERYTHING).  The darned thing spontaneously fell a few months ago (the toilet lid was closed, thank goodness) and it turned out that the Command strips themselves were still strongly attached to both the wall and the duct tape, but the duct tape had separated from the backing paper!  The panel with its backing paper had slowly slide down against the duct tape that was adhered to the Command strip, and finally failed.  So without any really optimal way to mount that panel, I started over again, put MUCH larger pieces of duct tape on the back so it will be much harder for it to slip against the backing paper, put the adhesive strips on the duct tape, and put another nail in where the original one had been.  The nail alone was not sufficient originally, but putting it back prevents the panel from sliding down due to gravity, and the combination should work I think.  I neglected to photograph the back while I was doing this, and it�s a pain to get it lined up so you don�t get to see it, but here are photos of what the panel looks like and side views of the Command strips  and the duct tape.  You might be able to see the nail in the close-up; I colored it in so it�s not obvious.

This is a pretty unusual case, and might even be exacerbated by being in a bathroom in which showers are taken frequently; humidity probably did not help.

Poor adherence to plastic trim (Click the image to enlarge)

#3  Frame with a step:  It�s pretty obvious that an adhesive surface works best when completely matched with the surface to which it is supposed to stick.  However, we had two small framed photos in a different bathroom on a wall and I wanted to make sure they would not fall in a quake because Milo the dog actually likes to fluff up the little rug around the toilet and then lie down on the OTHER rug by the sink (don�t ask me why), right under those pictures.  I don�t like having things above that spot that can fall, even if small and light.  These frames aren�t conducive to maze picture hooks, so I originally stuck them up with Command strips (there were photos in my follow-up article to illustrate how black Command strips can be better for black frames even on a white wall).

However, similarly to what I described in #2, they started sliding down slowly and one of them finally failed.  In this case, they had been attached directly to the back of the frame, so this really is an example of the adhesive not being strong enough.  There�s no shower in this bathroom so we can�t blame humidity.

What made this another unusual example was that these frames were odd; the back of the frame was very thin and the picture and backboard were pushed in relative to the frame back, so there was essentially a thin trim and a step.  The adhesive strip thus did not have a full surface to stick to, and I just stuck them to the trim and some of the adhesive was just out in the air.  Apparently, this plastic is somewhat hard to stick to, and the combination of that and the small area actually being attached resulted in them losing their adherence over time.

Leveling out the step to bring the backing into the plane
of the plastic trim (Click the image to enlarge)

My solution was kind of like what I did for #2 but more complex, as you can see in the photos.  First, I put thin boards that I happen to have (they used to be dividers in small drawers) in the areas that I wanted to attach with Command strips.  They are just thick enough to fill the gap behind the frame �step� so now there�s surface area for the entire adhesive strip to contact; and some of the material is the wood rather than the plastic; better adhesion.  I taped them in place with LOTS of duct tape.  I stuck Command strips to the combination trim/boards, and this time, I used larger Command strips than before.  They seem to be pretty stable.

I should also acknowledge what I have heard from a few people, that adherence of Command strips to interior walls is pretty reliable in temperate climates, but places that have more extreme temperature swings can experience shrinking and expansion of the walls that weaken the bond.  I would think that interior temperature control would prevent that, but perhaps it�s a problem where people set their heaters and AC conservatively.

So the bottom line then is that I still like these Command picture hanging strips for sticking items to the walls, but it seems like straying too far from their officially intended use can be risky.  

Hmm, I must be losing my touch; I like to end articles on a pun whenever possible but I can�t think of any I haven�t already used.  I�m stuck�OH!

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Hmm, your plumbing might be out for a while (or, �Quaketips descends into bathroom humor�)

(WARNING: This article contains graphic mentions of bodily functions and should not be read while eating lunch)

I�ve got some uncomfortable news for you.  One of the first shortages in the US during the COVID-19 crisis was toilet paper, so suddenly TP is the must-have emergency supply.  However, in the aftermath of a major earthquake, if your plumbing is out of commission for a while, having emergency toilet paper may not cut it.  I mean, we have needs, if you get my drift.  Without working toilets, what are we going to do, put poop in a bag like our dogs or use litterboxes like our cats?

Well actually, yeah, that pretty much describes what we are going to do!  This is the perfect use for compact foldable camping toilets, which are basically a seat that empties into a bag that contains chemicals that disinfect and deodorize your waste.  If you think that sounds distressing, compare it to the alternatives: NOT having a foldable camping toilet, or not pooping.

I must admit that it took me over 13 years of giving talks and over 9 years of writing this blog before realizing that I hadn�t provided for such eventualities, and I did a bit of research about it.  There are a few different kinds of camping toilets out there, and I was able to glean quite a bit of information about them from simply reading Amazon reviews.

It seems some of them have a high risk of collapsing or falling over as you are sitting on them.  I can�t even� let�s not even go there.

Another distressing feature that should be avoided: Something that reached out and grabbed me in these reviews was that some of these toilets reach out and grab you, and this is not the kind of earthquake-induced injury that sounds impressive to relate to people years later.

(There�s one review in particular that had me absolutely on the floor laughing hysterically.  At the risk of turning this family-friendly blog into a PG-13 feature, I�ll link to it assuming the link is permanent.)

I ended up ordering the GO anywhere portable toilet by Cleanwaste.  (This is not intended to be a product endorsement and I have had no contact with the company, nor do I have any relevant financial interests.)  I�m not suggesting this as part of the portable kit, but it could come in really handy if stuck at home with a bunch of TP.

I think the only disadvantage I can see is that after unfolding the legs, it�s really hard to fold them back into position unless you use a screwdriver or some other similar tool to help you push some plastic tabs into their positions.

Now, longtime readers of this blog will know that I typically like to end articles on a light note with some attempted humor.  It seems like a no-brainer that an article about portable toilets would have some great endings, but actually, I couldn�t think of anything that wasn�t just too obvious (like flushing jokes).  And then I was listening to a radio ad about some short term assistance loan program or something, and heard the announcer say, �There are relief programs available.�  I don�t think I can top that�


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Masks for fires and earthquakes aren't necessarily good for pandemics

I haven't posted an article in a while because I've been spending a lot of time handling various impacts of COVID-19 on my "day job" research, but I wanted to surface briefly to mention an important point.  Many people have face masks in their emergency kits in case they need to deal with rubble and dust after a quake.  In places like California that have had major wildfires recently, even many people who don't prepare for quakes have N95 respirators left over from those smoke episodes, and many of those masks have a "cool valve" one-way vent that opens outward and makes breathing more comfortable.

It's important to realize that these masks protect the wearer from outside hazards (including germs from other people), but do not protect other people from the wearer.

Click image to get full sized version suitable for sharing

This is crucial because the point of wearing face coverings in public, which is becoming common guidance around the world, is not so much to protect you (they don't do a great job of that) but more to protect other people from you if you are infected but don't know it, and are producing large respiratory droplets full of virus.  Many people who have the virus don't have any symptoms and don't realize they have it, but can still be contagious, and this is now being estimated to account for a huge amount of community spread.

If you are exhaling virus, and you wear a mask with a one-way vent, then you are exhaling that virus unimpeded at anyone else who is nearby, and most of the point of wearing the mask is wasted.

(This is not a concern if a healthcare worker is wearing a mask to protect them from an infectious patient; then it's appropriate.)

So please, even if you feel fine and are wearing a mask out in public (and especially if you are wearing a mask because you are sick and want to prevent exposing other people in the home), do not use masks with one-way valves!  Please share the graphic that I put together.  Better to spread the word, than to spread the virus.


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The Western United States finally has an earthquake early warning system, but you have to order your own milkshake

�MyShake� is:  (A) The name of a line dance from the �70s, (B) an earthquake early warning system interface on your phone, (C) an app that places orders for home-delivered milkshakes, or (D) a truly major typo for �asparagus.�  The answer is� B!  Yes, after lagging way behind several other countries that have had earthquake early warning systems for years (like Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Romania, Italy, China, and Turkey), the western United States is rolling out its ShakeAlert� system, which sends alerts to enrolled cells phones using the MyShake� app from UC Berkeley that is available for iPhone and Android phones.

At this point, there�s a lot of information available about the MyShake app, but I was unclear on a few points and contacted the folks at the Berkeley Seismology Lab to clarify.  I figured that it would be worthwhile to pass along what I learned.  So this is not a comprehensive description of ShakeAlert and MyShake, which can be found online, but instead covers these extra points of info.

The short description of how it works is that it is not really a prediction that a quake will occur; it�s a notification that a quake has already occurred somewhere and will reach you soon.  Unless you are right over the epicenter, this should give you at least a few seconds of advance warning to extinguish candles or other flames and to drop, cover, and hold on (getting under something if possible, NOT getting next to something, NOT under a doorway, NOT running out of a building (see also here)).  The US Geological Survey (USGS) has a nice graphic and description that I�ve reprinted here:

�Earthquake early warning systems like ShakeAlert� work because the warning message can be transmitted almost instantaneously, whereas the shaking waves from the earthquake travel through the shallow layers of the Earth at speeds of one to a few kilometers per second (0.5 to 3 miles per second). This diagram shows how such a system would operate. When an earthquake occurs, both compressional (P) waves and transverse (S) waves radiate outward from the epicenter. The P wave, which travels fastest, trips sensors placed in the landscape, causing alert signals to be sent ahead, giving people and automated electronic systems some time (seconds to minutes) to take precautionary actions before damage can begin with the arrival of the slower but stronger S waves and later-arriving surface waves. Computers and mobile phones receiving the alert message calculate the expected arrival time and intensity of shaking at your location. USGS image created by Erin Burkett (USGS) and Jeff Goertzen (Orange County Register).�

This system, which has resulted from a collaboration between the USGS, UC Berkeley Seismology Lab, and several other seismic networks, foundations, and west coast universities (here�s a complete list), has gotten a lot of press coverage in California, Oregon, and Washington as it has taken shape over the years.  The MyShake app itself was created by the Berkeley Seismology Lab and delivers alerts from the ShakeAlert system courtesy of the USGS and the California Governor�s Office of Emergency Services.

Getting the app is easy; just download it for free from the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Android phones.

One common point of confusion is the difference between �notifications� and �alerts,� since MyShake has both of them.  Alerts are specific to your phone�s location and come from the ShakeAlert system augmented by built-in motion sensors in the enrolled phones. They are sent to any phones in the region that is expected to soon have significant shaking.  Notifications are user-specified and let you know when large earthquakes happen anywhere in the world; they are basically just news. So you can choose to have the notifications turned entirely off, and still get the early warning predictions from the app if you are about to experience shaking.

As is pretty obvious from reading the reviews of the MyShake app for iPhone on the App Store, many people are confused about this point, especially since you can set a location preference on Android phones to be notified when quakes hit in specific regions of interest, but on iPhones, you can just have global notifications turned on or off, with no control over the location.  That makes the notifications aspect pretty useless on iPhones (after being notified by my phone that an earthquake had hit Vanuatu, I turned off notifications).  The MyShake folks hope to be able to change that on iPhones; no guarantee.

For more information on this point, here�s what they told me: �Earthquake early warning alerts will only be sent to phones in the estimated area of shaking in California for Magnitude 4.5 or higher quakes. Those are automatic and you don't need to set anything. You just need your location services enabled (so we know the phone is in the shaking area). Notifications are a separate service we have, which you can turn on or off. For those, you can be notified when earthquakes that interest you are published in the global USGS catalog (after they occur). On iOS you can choose to get global alerts, for Android you can also set custom alerts by clicking the green plus button at the bottom of the notifications setting tab.�

Why the strange limitation to only global notifications on iPhones?  ��Apple's OS is very different from Android. We do not want to have to register people with a traditional login that requires email and other personal identifiable information. We don't want that because we want to protect people's privacy. Because we do not require a traditional login like that, we also cannot save user preferences on our backend. I don't know if phone A likes to know about earthquakes in Vanuatu, or if they only care about Florida. All I know on the backend is that phone A was at some location at some point in the last two hours.�

[Matt note: "Earthquakes? In FLORIDA???  Mooooo�. " (Let�s see if anyone gets that reference from an old Berkeley Farms commercial�)]

�So, on Android, I can send a bunch of earthquake notification information to the phone, the app will wake up and decide whether that information applies to the user settings on the phone, and then if it does, the notification will pop up telling the user about an earthquake of interest. Apple does not work that way. You cannot send a bunch of information to the phone and have the phone decide whether it applies. You cannot on iOS have the phone run a bit of code and make decisions if the phone is asleep or the app is not in active use. Thus, no custom notifications possible using the current setup we have.�

�Alerts are different. There are no user settings customizing the experience. We just determine which phones are in the area and send an alert to all of them. The phones do not have to decide if the alerts apply to them, because we already did that on the backend.�

Another point that had concerned me was that even if we have Notifications turned off, I was worried that earthquake alerts, if sent out in situations that the shaking was not going to be terrible, could cause sudden distractions with terrible consequences.  The Amber alerts on my phone got turned off the first time it ever squealed loudly due to a reported kidnapping hundreds of miles away; we don't want to do that to concerts and to situations like Cirque du Soleil shows where a bunch of sudden alarms could cause a surprised acrobat to fall, or while the dentist is holding the drill 1 mm away from your tongue.

The MyShake folks answered my query as follows:  �We do not override user phone volume settings, so if the phone is on vibrate, it will just vibrate.  People hate it when Amber alerts go off when they don't want them to, so we did not want to start messing with overriding people's settings. It also will not override a do not disturb.�

So it's good to know that we can have this active without risking those sudden audible interruptions.  On the other hand though, if only activated when a large quake is actually about to occur, one could argue that the quake itself is already going to have those negative effects, so we might as well all be forewarned.  Perhaps the wisest course is for dentists and surgeons to not have these alerts armed in their immediate procedure space, but to have someone in the next room able to receive these alerts who has the capability to notify the person holding the knife in a gentler way, such as an overhead announcement.  Taken to technological extremes, the alert could even feed directly into such an announcement system, in much the same way that the alerts are envisioned to automatically open fire station doors, slow down public transit trains, etc.

One point that I think is important is that they are not going to be able to satisfy everyone.  When the Ridgecrest quakes hit Southern California on July 4-5, 2019 (magnitudes 6.4, 5.4, and 7.1), ShakeAlertLA had already been rolled out but it did not warn people about the shaking in LA, which was far enough away from the epicenter that the local shaking was under the magnitude for which the app had been set to activate.  As reported by the LA Times on July 15, 2019, �But after the blowback that followed the Ridgecrest quakes July 4 and 5, officials agreed to lower the mark.  By the end of July, the app will send alerts for local quakes with a magnitude of at least 4.5 and for any quake that results in �weak� shaking locally despite officials� concern that too many warnings could lead to complacency.  �We want you to see the alert and immediately drop, cover and hold on,� said Robert de Groot, the USGS� ShakeAlert national coordinator.  �If you see 30 of those a day, you�re either going to get incredible muscle tone and a core workout, or you�re going to stop reacting altogether.��

(I love that quote and simply had to include it.)

I mentioned this earlier, but I�ll say it again here because I think it�s really important:  If you get an advance warning of an earthquake, or even if you don�t and suddenly there�s an earthquake, you are indeed supposed to drop, cover, and hold on, but if you have a candle or other active flame, your #1 priority before all else is to put it out!

By the way, if you go to shakealert.org, you�ll see that seismologists love acronyms.  The page looks like people were playing scrabble when an earthquake hit, and you�re looking at the floor afterwards.  Notably, the USGS and the ANSS with the PNSN and the CISN, which is made up of the SCSN and the NCS (no mention of CSI or NCIS) are sending special messages like CAP for IPAWS/WEA in this EEW system.  I feel better already.


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Earthquake Safety: What about Hanging Art from Picture Moldings?

This month, Quaketips hosts guest blogger Fred von Lohmann.  Fred attended one of my talks and absolutely stumped me with a question about hanging pictures on picture moldings (a.k.a. picture rails) in homes with lathe and plaster walls.  In all these years, nobody had ever asked me about that before, and in all these years, I had never lived in a home without drywall and simply wasn�t aware that these things existed.  Now I know they were the only game in town for a few hundred years, until just about 80 years ago.

Fred said he�d find some more information about the topic for me, and got back to me with basically an entire article, so he agreed to let me run it as a guest article pretty much as is, with no editing on my part other than to stitch together a few of his photos.  So without further ado, take it away Fred, and thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~

Before the 1940s, it was common for houses to have picture moldings (also known as crown moldings, or picture rail moldings) for hanging art, rather than using nails and picture hooks affixed to the wall. And since nearly half of San Francisco�s housing stock was built before 1940, a lot of us rely on these picture moldings today (renters often have no choice, as leases frequently forbid making holes in the lath-and-plaster walls that are common in 100 year old houses). Surprisingly, however, there�s almost no discussion out there of how to secure art hung this way in the event of an earthquake.

Here�s a picture of a small frame hung in my house from a molding hook in the traditional manner. I�ve used fishing line (sorry, hard to see!) tied to eye hooks on the back of the frame. The fishing line then rests on the lower hook of the brass molding hook, while the upper portion of the molding hook rests on the molding itself.

There are several different sorts of picture molding hooks out there (see photo below), but all of them seem vulnerable in the event of an earthquake. First, there is nothing to prevent molding hooks from jumping off the picture molding in the event of a big quake. Second, the wire or cord holding up the picture frame could jump off the molding hook. (The good news, however, is that since the wire or cord is generally attached to the back of the picture frame, at least that connection will be secure.)

So what can be done? Well, one possibility is to screw the molding hook directly into the picture molding. Some brass molding hooks come with a hole to make this relatively easy (see photo below). But this still leaves the problem of the wire or cord attached to the picture frame jumping out of the relatively shallow lower part of the hook. This lower hook could probably be bent to make it deeper and more secure, and the wire or cable could perhaps be looped around the hook twice. But without having any way to close the top of the hook, the risk remains (although friends have suggested using museum putty to fill the gap).

In my case, after doing quite a bit of online searching, I discovered picture molding hardware that seemed to solve most of the problem. A company called Gallery System Art Displays sells a hanging system designed for picture moldings that solves two out of three problems (here�s a UK alternative system that looks similar, but I�ve not tried it). The system consists of a molding hook (you can have brass or stainless steel) that has a captive metal cable that hangs down. A separate secure hook attaches to the cable, from which you can hang pictures (up to 44 pounds) using whatever you would use to attach it to a nail and picture hook. The secure hook slides up and down on the captive wire, allowing you to adjust the height of your picture. This also makes it much easier to adjust than the �cable triangle� that you have to rig up with traditional molding hooks. The bad news is that it�s not cheap: the hardware comes to about $20 per painting. As usual, a few photos make all this clearer than words. (You�ll see that I�ve left the additional wire hanging below my picture to the right, but you can trim the �tail�, if you prefer.)

This system still leaves the risk that the brass molding hook will jump off of the picture molding. In order to mitigate (but probably not eliminate) that risk, I added a pat of museum putty between the hook and the molding, which should help prevent it from jumping off, particularly since the design of the cable system should prevent the picture from putting any upward pressure on the hook itself.

As with lots of things, it�s not perfect, but it strikes the right mix of strengths for me.

~~~~~~~~~~


(As mentioned up top, this article was guest-written by Fred von Lohmann.  Feel free to add comments, but you can e-mail Fred directly with questions at fred@vonlohmann.com.) 


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A novel solution: bracing floor lamps with plants

In 2016, I posted an article in which I asked �Can you seismically brace floor lamps and house plants? Should you?�.  I was addressing the challenges specific to torchiere-style floor lamps, which can be difficult to brace to prevent them from falling over and causing damage or injury with their axe�I mean bowl�on top unless they are the type with plastic bowls; and various challenges with houseplants caused by the drainage saucer that they frequently include.

Well, one company got in touch with me and let me know about a really innovative solution to both of those problems: combine them!  No, I�m not talking about glowing plants or Christmas trees, I�m referring to their SmartFit Planter that is a floor plant pot that wraps around the pole of a floor lamp and weighs it down to the floor (see https://www.sfplanter.com for details and very clear explanations and images about how it works).  They asked my opinion about the concept, and I looked into it and sent them my thoughts, and then realized that my reply to them looked an awful lot like a Quaketips article.

So this is not officially a product review per se, but I do think it�s worthwhile letting you know about this inventive concept and its pros and cons.

The planter is essentially a plant pot that wraps around a central hole, through which the light post sticks up.  So it�s really a solution to the torchiere problems that uses a plant; not as much a solution to the plant problem unless you want to put all of your plants into these planters.  The plant pot has a self-watering mechanism that uses a wick to keep drawing in more water from a 1.5 liter reservoir as the soil dries.  This wicking approach keeps the water away from the lamp power cord.

I would say that with regard to the goal of preventing floor lamps from falling over without attaching them to walls or floors, this is a great solution.  This concept really is ingenious; it looks like it not only adds weight to the base but also increases its footprint, both of which minimize the likelihood of it toppling.  And the self-watering wick/tank concept is really neat.  Coming in 5 colors is a nice feature.

As a plant pot, I did have one reservation [note added in proof, no, I�m not a plant pot]: I had someone at a garden center tell me once about the importance of letting water drain out of plants rather than just evaporating because of waste products that build up in the soil and need to be occasionally removed.  He was suggesting that rather than trying to water sparingly enough to limit water draining into the little drainage moat around the base of the pot, I should be ensuring that a reasonable amount of water comes through; appropriate fertilization would replenish lost nutrients but waste products would be removed.  So there's one disadvantage in a system like this, although I imagine this is more important for some plants than for others, and it would probably just reduce the effective lifespan of the plant rather than killing it outright.

A potential solution to that problem is an interesting variation on the self-watering wick, which is that just as it moves water from a reservoir to drier soil, it can also reverse-wick and remove water from saturated soil if the other end is just hung over an empty pot.  I guess if the build-up of waste products is a concern, one can occasionally water heavily and remove the excess water (and waste products) by reverse-wicking.  Repotting frequently enough is another option.  When I asked the folks at the company about using their reverse wicking strategy for this purpose, they answered, �Yes, this may work, but we haven�t tested whether all the unwanted salts are removed by wicking.  Using salt tolerant plants and repotting every few years is recommended for non-draining planters.  After we accidentally stained a carpet by over-watering a draining planter decades ago, we have used non-draining planters exclusively for a wide range of house plants varieties, with good results.�

One potential problem is price.  For the bracing of a $40 torchiere and even housing a $100 houseplant, the price tag of $257 for the SmartFit Planter is going to limit the inclination of people to get a bunch of them unless they are really doing a major investment.  For example, I have 11 torchiere-style floor lamps in my home, so this moves out of the inexpensive why-not consumer solutions range into the major interior seismic bracing project range; which in itself is not a deal-breaker but certainly changes the equation!  On the other hand, it�s hard to put a price on the ability to sleep at night without worrying about a lamp falling on your dog.

I imagine that even if someone did not want to put a plant in that spot where the lamp is (perhaps there is no natural light, or just for personal preference) the planter could be filled with some stones or even (gasp) artificial plants.  The company folks commented on that piece of feedback and warned about children getting the stones and ingesting them or scattering them; basically, earthquake safety does not get one off the hook from the non-seismic safety concerns when it comes to kids.

One additional consideration is that it changes the aesthetically sleek and minimalistic look of a torchiere into something potentially more visually obtrusive; which would not always be a problem but could be for some people.  The folks at SmartFit Planter replied to that concern by pointing out that the bulkier look is also protective against kids, pets, or clumsy adults, yes indeed!  Also, since the center of the pot is reserved for the lamp pole, you can't use this pot for a central stem set-up as you might want with a small tree; it works better with shorter bushy plants as you can see in the photos at their website.

By the way, there is a super cool animation on that website showing how to assemble the system and how it works.

I might summarize my impressions by saying that this may not be an ideal solution for ALL of someone's floor lamps, but if there are a couple that are in particularly dangerous situations where falling over could be a big problem, it might be worth investing in this as a solution.

Let me just conclude by saying that I haven�t received any kind of compensation for mentioning this product and writing about it, and it�s not an advertisement, but this is the kind of innovative solution that I think deserves being mentioned!  I kind of reminds me of the classic commercials for Reese�s Peanut Butter Cups: �Hey, you got a lamp in my plant!�  �Well you got plants all over my lamp!�  �Hey, looks great!�� while preventing scenarios more reminiscent of the also-classic �Shake �N Bake.�


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Back to back-up lights: An update on currently available power failure back-up lights

Because I�ve been so busy, I haven�t posted an article since a whole 4 months ago, when I wrote about evaluating various canned goods after their expiration dates.  However, I figured that some readers might wonder if my long absence meant that my sampling of expired food had caused me to expire myself, so I�d better post this article that I have been meaning to write for a long time: an update on the latest generation of power failure back-up lights.

I�m referring to lights that are always plugged into your electrical outlet and are off as long as there is current, but if the powers cuts out (or you unplug it), the light turns on and then has several hours of charged internal battery life.

I originally wrote about this topic in 2014, and settled on a particular Greenlite model that was not perfect but that I felt was best specifically for power failures DURING an earthquake.  The nightlight was too bright but I reported that you can dim it by using a simple loop of masking tape to reflect the indicator LED onto the light sensor and trick the light into thinking it�s not in a dark room.  I also pointed out in that article that lights that have piercingly bright unshaded LEDs might be great during a typical blackout, but if everything is shaking and you are trying not to freak out, the last thing you want is to be blinded by the very thing that was supposed to let you keep seeing.  So what might be the best power failure back-up light under most circumstances is not necessarily the best for earthquakes.

Greenlite LED 3in1 Nitelite, the top pick from my 2014 article about power failure back-up lights.

The Greenlite model that I settled on, however, is becoming harder to find, and Greenlite has informed me that they have discontinued it.  This is a problem because the internal batteries and light sensors of such lights have a finite lifespan when plugged in; at some point, they become less discriminating and start getting really bright even when plugged into the wall, which is distracting in most rooms and unacceptable in or near bedrooms.  I was able to get some new ones through eBay, but they are disappearing from most other sources.  Therefore, I decided it was time to check on the current generation of power failure lights and to let you know what I think.

First, I suggest that you read the original article, because even if it is out of date, the concepts are still useful and relevant.  Also, the current article is not an exhaustive list of available options, but these three are the ones that looked most likely to be good on Amazon and are thus the ones that I purchased to try.  I have looked at several brick and mortar stores including Home Depot and Ace, and have not seen any other better alternatives to these.

All of these have one very nice advance over the previous generation.  Even though the earlier ones already had the electrical plug close enough to one end to not block the other outlet in the pair, they only allowed room in that other outlet for a cord plug, so anything bulky like a power adaptor or USB wall plug adaptor still would not fit.  In contrast, the current offerings have the plug blades right at the very end, so the entire other outlet and surrounding space is left open.  They also all have front-facing power-failure lights and separate flashlight LEDs at the top end.

Westek Night Light LED Power Failure

Westek Night Light LED Power Failure

The backup light is extremely bright but its LEDs are shaded by translucent plastic; bordering on blinding but not as bad as unshielded LEDs.  Still, it might be too glaring to eyes in a previously pitch black room when everything is shaking.  In a large living room, it might be ok.  A small red LED lets you know that it is active and plugged in.  I don�t recommend it for a bedroom because you can�t turn off the light-sensitive night light feature and that thing is bright enough to be a power failure backup light on its own!  I supposed you could put some tape over it.


Energizer Power Failure 4-in-1 Night Light

Much to like but it�s complicated.  The front facing emergency light is nice and gentle, not blinding at all.  It has two brightness settings that you can set with the on-off push button on the side, which actually cycles through off, dim front, brighter front, and end flashlight.  The problem is that the dim setting is a bit too dim for my liking, a glow rather than illumination, and if you have it set to be off in the dark, then cutting the power (or unplugging it) puts it in dim mode.  You have to press the side button after that for it to switch to brighter mode; and if you have it on brighter mode and unplug it and plug it back, then it resets and the next loss of power puts it back in dim mode again.  Very frustrating.

Energizer Power Failure 4-in-1 Night Light

You can also press the button while it is plugged into live power and it goes into dim mode even while powered, as a night light.  In this case, cutting power or unplugging it puts it in the brighter mode.  But then you would need to have that night light on all the time, and again, the night light is too bright for a bedroom.  A larger room in which nobody sleeps would probably be ok.  If there was a way to have it be off when powered and bright when unpowered, then it would be the winner for me, but I just felt the process was too complicated and I would not want to have to go to the light to push the button before it was satisfactorily bright.  The lack of an indicator LED means that when the room lights are on, or when the room lights are off but you aren�t using the nightlight, you can�t be sure the thing is actually working or plugged in securely.

The night light is supposed to be light sensitive, but while turning out my room lights made it turn on, turning the room lights back on did not make the night light turn off.  The light sensor seems to be a bit buggy.

Regardless, the thing is just too complicated; they should not have tried to jam so many features into a single button.  Here are the actual instructions, good luck getting through them:

Instructions for the Energizer model

Clearly an example of over-engineering.  I don�t want to have to think that much!


Westek Night light LED Lumi Power Failure Light

Westek Night Light LED Lumi power Failure Light

This Westek is a nice compact pod, smaller than the others and simple and pleasing to the eye when the lights are on.  This one is a little different in that the flashlight is at the plug end rather than the far end, which doesn�t really make a practical difference.  When plugged into the wall, it�s entirely off when the room lights are on, and the two low lumen LED night light setting goes on when the room lights are off.  As a power failure backup light, it�s pretty good; nice and bright with three high lumen LEDs behind translucent plastic.  Don�t put it in a bedroom though because the nightlight is WAY too bright to allow you to sleep; you�ll see it with your eyes closed!


My recommendations:

The Energizer loses; too complicated and too many issues.  The Westek Night light LED Lumi Power Failure Light is fine for rooms in which you don�t sleep, although you can�t cover that night light to make it dimmer because it�s the same light panel as the emergency light.  For bedrooms, the best I can come up with is to use the Westek Night Light LED Power Failure (honestly, can�t Westek do a better job with the product names?  Anyone see Monty Python�s The Life of Brian?  You�ll know what I mean.) with the nightlight panel covered with opaque or translucent tape.

It�s disappointing that none of these seem to have the simple combination of an optional or dim nightlight, a bright but not blinding emergency light, and a simple multi-position switch mechanism.  What have I decided to do personally?  Well, I did get that stash of new Greenlite lights through eBay and I intend to use them until they die, with the masking tape reflecting the central LED to dim the nightlight as I described in my earlier article.  When they are no longer working, then I plan to switch probably to the (deeply inhale) Westek Night Light LED Power Failure with taped nightlight in the bedroom, and either that or the (deeply inhale) Westek Night Light LED Lumi Power Failure Light in other rooms.  Perhaps by that time, there will be still newer and better options on the market, but here�s what I see are the currently available options.

I suppose a good earthquake-triggered emergency light could be created by putting a bunch of fireflies in a darkened jar so that if a quake knocks the jar over, the fireflies escape and fly around the room illuminating it.  Try naming THAT one, Westek!


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