Monthly Archives: January 2011

Bamboo has fast emerged as a popular flooring choice in recent years.  Its distinctive pattern formed by the nodes of the bamboo plant make bamboo only one of its kind Bamboo flooring is a good choice when you are on the market looking for appropriate flooring material.  Many people are suggesting bamboo as an alternative to traditional hard

wood flooring and this is for good reason.  But don`t necessary listen to what everyone else has to say, make an assessment for yourself identifying the pros and cons of choosing bamboo flooring above traditional hardwood timber.

What are the types of Bamboo?

In comparison to hardwood timber bamboo also comes in different grains and overall appearance.  Deciding on the right floor for you will be determined on your taste and requirements.  Bamboo flooring is made from the thin strips of the bamboo pole then laminated forming the planks of flooring.  There are 3 main distinct types in bamboo flooring:

Horizontal – were the strips have been placed horizontally giving a large node pattern throughout the board.
Vertical – were the strips have been place vertically giving a smaller bamboo node pattern throughout the boards
Compressed/Woven – the strips have been made more refined and compressed giving the appearance of a woven effect, however this way of manufacturing makes the board very strong & durable whereas the Horizontal & Vertical has a reduced hardness compared to compressed.

The Pros and Cons of Choosing Bamboo Flooring:

Even though there are some disadvantages of using bamboo flooring the advantage outweigh them by far.

Pros of choosing Bamboo Flooring are:

Great for people with allergies

Durable and hard wearing for everyday living

Compressed bamboo is 73% harder than traditional Jarrah

Cost considerably less than traditional hardwood timber

Pre-finished, no need for messy sanding and toxic fumes after lacquering

Can be easy installed over existing sub-floors

Eco-friendly

Renewable resource

Fast growing, bamboo plant only takes 5-7 years to grow and get the require strength and durability to be used as flooring

Some manufacturers are opting for safer resins and lower formaldehyde emissions

Higher resistance to moisture, though not waterproof

Easy to maintain & clean

99% resilient against infestation

Disadvantages of Choosing Bamboo Flooring are:

Not everyone likes the appearance of the bamboo pattern throughout the boards

Horizontal &Vertical is softer than some of the traditional hardwoods

Colour is unique and there you will not get a comparable match with other traditional hardwoods

If your product is not purchased from a reputable supplier you may have flooring issues after installation

Therefore it is important to consider your options in regards to choosing a bamboo floor or not.  However in the scheme of things, you cannot ignore that bamboo flooring has become a sensible choice.  From its general easy maintenance, to its durability and appearance this option is only going to increase in its popularity.

Architectural design has undergone through deep changes with the help of arrival of modern computing technology. Now a day’s architectural design occupy a wide range of modern architectural design software to achieve latest and creative building design. With the help of these architectural design firms execute projects of such flawless quality and at extremely fast turnaround times. These latest software allow quick amalgamation of adaption to the entire architectural design project so that you can avoid repetition of work and it can save your valuable amount of time.

Architectural design is a creative art where an architect uses his imagination to create the wonderful structures. When you will contact some professional architect you will see that the creation of the Architecture Design is a long and complex observable fact in which every step is carried out in a regular way. It has become ever more complex because of greater flexibility allowed by technology and building materials. Standard architectural design firms give the supreme in modern architectural design styles inspired from creative movements preference by architectural design firms.

Architecture design covers many different elements such as layout, construction and the lighting. Architects sometimes also deal with the ways to craft practical and functional spaces using available materials.

At present architectural house plan design is also become very important in construction business. It can be defined as a symbolic presentation or a diagram which contains dependencies between rooms, spaces, windows and related building components of a building structure. It can help you to create effective building structure without difficulty and successfully. You can say that architectural house plans designs are essential in the process because it contain each and every important aspect required while constructing a building.

Outsourcing architectural house plan design is best option available which can help you to save your valuable amount of time and money. It can also help you to get expert services with the help of latest tools and technology.

If you will give your kitchen a complete overhaul or if you have decided to make some updates, you will see that with the right choices, you can get a return on your investment rate of about eighty to one hundred percent. In layman’s terms, this means your home should increase in value in just the amount you put into it. The most important thing is to make the right choice in your kitchen design ideas.

One of the most important aspects of your kitchen to be considered is the layout. Cooking zone is often overlooked when it should be your top priority. Generally, you want to center all around the stove and bring to a boil. Along with the microwave oven, a few other important tools, such as Toaster, should close, as well.

When designing your kitchen, you should also be thinking about where your spice drawer will be held, as are the boxes where you plan to keep your pots and pans. These items will all have to be kept close to your cooking zone. If not, you’ll find yourself wandering around the kitchen and wasting precious time.

Another aspect of kitchen designs be considered is whether you need your kitchen to be child friendly. If you have small children in your home, you may want to create an area that makes your child easy access to space on the disk so they can help you and learn from you when you’re cooking. Often work one kitchen island space both for this and if your kitchen does not allow an island, creating a space that is not close your cooking zone.

Ask the manager what the most important aspect of their kitchen is, and they will most likely say that it is organization. You will want to implement some major organizational ideas for the design of your kitchen. Also remember that you do not want to interrupt your work triangle (the imaginary triangle between the stove, refrigerator and sink) with a lot of foot traffic. In other words, if people will be running to the pantry all the time, you must put on the center area.

For those who are concerned about the environment, you will also find a lot of good ideas that you can implement in your design and help you save energy. Your lighting should contain lighting systems and you can choose energy efficient appliances, as well. Another good idea is to use recycled cabinets, and flooring in your design.

Ensuring that your kitchen is easy to clean is also an important factor in your decision. Choosing worktops made of easily cleaned materials and worktops with raised edges to prevent spills are just a few ideas that you can use in your designs. This is especially important when you have small children and your time in the kitchen is limited.

Design your new, updated kitchen to be a bit overwhelming sometimes, because there are many things to be considered. But if you do research and make a list of your needs, you will find the task to be exciting as well. Because there are many kitchen design ideas to choose from, take your time considering each one, before you make your decision.

Here are useful tips learned during more than 40 years of installing epoxy urethane floor seals and coatings on Fortune 500 company concrete floors, as well as in basements, garages, and decks. These tips can help you avoid mistakes that can limit the life of your floor.

There are three broad steps to doing your floor project: planning and preparation, repairing, and applying the coating. This article is the third in a three part series, and deals with applying the epoxy paint to the floor.

General guidelines for applying an epoxy coating to your floor:

Do no harm.
Investing in preparation produces the most years of service.
Let the chemicals and equipment do the work.
What can go wrong, will go wrong, unless you think ahead.
Technique is what separates mortals from Rembrandts.
An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Now let’s get started with tips on how to coat your floor with an epoxy or urethane floor paint.

Plan the job.

Good floor prep is key to a long lasting floor.

Take a break.

Mix 200 strokes.

Easy work makes for a better job

No one is perfect

Don’t worry about tricks of gravity

A rag may not save you

Technique, technique, technique.

This is an application pattern I like to teach and can serve you very well. Tip your roller and remove it quickly before it fills with liquid. Apply a quick wet line 3 or 4 feet back from where you had stopped coating. Now fill in the area between that wet line and your previous rolled area. As you overlap the new wet part, . The strong two-part coatings you are applying are not the water-based latexes that wipe easily off with a rag or a little water. If you get the coating on something you did not want to coat, it may be less harmful to leave it than to smear it all over the place. You may be better off chipping it off once it dries a little, or coating over it with paint that matches what you got it on.
. As you put your first coat down, you will find things, bugs, sand, water, lint, and the like. What was in the air eventually will be on the floor. Remember this is a two-coat process. Yes, remove what you can as you go but those small bits of debris may be easier to remove when you screen between coats and sweep before your second coat.
. I do floors lots of floors and still have misses, marks, and errors. I just can’t rely on myself to be perfect all the time. That’s why two coats are always planned.
. Tape your cutting brush to a broom handle, use a wheeled bucket for 18-inch rollers, and several pails if using 9-inch rollers, and wear a mask if using solvent based products. Save your back and let yourself move quickly. Moving fast is more fun but it also sets a rhythm, which keeps a repetitive job interesting enough to maintain focus.
Two-part flooring products can produce floors that click when you first walk over them. That clicking often means that the two parts were not mixed well. Clicking is sucking dust off your feet and could cause both lifting and discoloration problems down the road. Yes, the floor will usually stop clicking and harden, but it may come from aging rather than a strong chemical change. Mixing is not a science, but you must be able to count to 200.
I always take a break after floor preparation to let the floor dry. Putting down a coating can be smooth and uniform or splotchy with misses. A little rest before the artistic part of the job will improve the quality of your application process.
For this article, we will assume that you have done a good job of doing you’re preparation and repair work already.
Two-part coatings harden in the can once mixed, so it is best to have everything you need at the start of your job. A useful first step is to go to a website like www.concrete-floor-coatings.com for a free cost analysis report that also lists everything you need to do your job including step-by-step instructions.
you re-wet your roller
and as you overlap the previous area your roller is re-moistened. When you get to the end, roll back over the same area a second time. This re-rolling will spread any lines that may have come off your roller edges as you move across the floor.

Push the roller on, not off.

I always flip my roller so that I move towards the open end. This little step pushes the roller onto the frame not off it. Each time the roller moves on the frame you have the danger of opening a gap at the end that fills the roller with coating as you dip. Soon you are getting lines as the liquid drips out of the ends of the roller. And soon the roller is sliding back and forth on your frame because the interior is now very slippery.

Don’t hit the roller.

If your roller cover starts to slide off the frame, don’t tap the roller, tap the frame. If you tap the roller, you often get dents in the roller that show up as marks as you roll. If you tap the frame end of the roller, it will slide on without changing its shape.

There is dirt in that pail.

I can’t say how often I have compromised the quality of a job by pouring my last amount of coating out of the pail onto the floor as I exit. The problem is every piece of sand, lint, or bug that had stuck to the roller is resting at the bottom of the pail. Right where I have wanted the floor to look its best (at the entrance or exit), I have poured out all my debris on the floor so that I can use that last 3-oz. of coating. Don’t do it! You will be sorry.

Screen the floor after your primer coat repairs are made

. By screening your floor with a 60 grit screen after any additional repairs are made, you can usually shave your floor flat. This screening removes bubbles, lint, sand, bugs, leaves, and fillers that are above the desired surface.

Sweep your floor with a kitchen type broom before coating.

Push brooms just don’t pick up enough of the small grains. A kitchen broom takes a little longer but does a better job.

Vacuum the corners

. It is just too hard to get grains of sand and other small particles out of corners and along baseboards or out of holes unless you use a vacuum.