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Why Should You Install A Deck In Your Backyard?

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A big backyard can be like a blank canvas.  Unfortunately, though, you may not feel creative enough to fill that canvas!  If you’re looking for a great way to turn your backyard into a fun, stylish place to be, you need outdoor decking.


Wonderful for Backyard Barbecues

A deck can be the perfect centrepiece for your yard.  Once it’s installed, you can surround it with landscaping or even a garden, so that you can inject all of the various colours and textures that you want.  The area will look great, and it will be practical, too!  After all, everyone loves hanging out in the backyard for a barbecue, and outdoor decking gives you the perfect space to host all of your friends and family.  From it, you’ll be able to enjoy warm afternoons and great sunsets!

Best of all, outdoor decking is so versatile that you can fit it into any decor.  No matter what type of home you have, what type of yard you’ve got, or what type of budget you have to work with, a deck can match it.  Even if you’ve got a ton of hills or uneven patches in your yard, you can make outdoor decking work!

Think you can’t enjoy a deck because your yard isn’t big enough?  Think again!  Sure, you may not have a sprawling area to host giant parties, but you can definitely create a spot that injects a little bit of life into your plain ol’ backyard.  In fact, it could be just the thing you need to add some dimension and some much-needed extra space to your smaller home!

OK, so you want outdoor decking… But does that mean you have to spend a ton of money on a professional builder?

No way!

Outdoor decking is so versatile that you can build it yourself if you want.  If you’ve got some woodworking experience, building your own deck can be a great way to spend your free time.  All you need is a pencil and some paper to draw out some designs.  Once you measure your yard, you’ll be able to figure out how much wood you need to build the deck of your dreams.

What if you’re not that handy?

There are tons of timber decking specialists out there, who can give you the expertise you need, without charging you an arm and a leg.  They can help you figure out which type of wood is right for your deck — soft or hard — along with the perfect level of treatment you need to create a deck for the long haul.

Whether you decide to do the work yourself or call in an expert, you’ll be happy to know that the outdoor decking possibilities are endless.  As long as you plan ahead carefully, you can wind up with the perfect finished product.  In fact, an addition like this can add some serious value to your home — not to mention all of the “style points” you’ll get from it.

Bottom line — a deck can make your house feel like home again!

Sam Nathan is a freelance writer. His interests include sports, travel and health.

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Get The Professional Chef Look In Your Kitchen!

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If you love cooking and are always whipping up recipes designed by your favorite chefs, or concoctions of your own design, then chances are you have high standards when it comes to your kitchen at home. Whether it is having the very best in knives and other cooking tools, the freshest ingredients or the latest and best gadgets, cooking enthusiasts relish the chance to fit out their kitchens with the best in professional quality gear. But, when it comes to the layout of the kitchen itself, you may find yourself working with something that is a little more cluttered and homely than your Michelin starred heroes might have to use. If you are a serious cook in your own home and are thinking about remodeling your kitchen, why not take some kitchen design ideas from the professionals and get that pristine, efficient top chef look?

Maximum Room to Work

In a professional kitchen, one of the most vital concerns is keeping everything extremely clean and avoiding cross contamination. While in your own kitchen you will usually not be preparing as diverse a menu on a given day as a restaurant, cross contamination between different types of food and raw and cooked food is still an issue, so one thing to make sure of is that you have plenty of work space. Don’t waste counter space on things that are purely decorative or which can go somewhere else, like wine racks or bread bins, and give yourself as much room to work with when it comes to cutting, mixing and preparing as your kitchen can afford you.

Counter Tops

When it comes to counter tops and other work surfaces, in a professional kitchen stainless steel is normally used because it is very easy to keep clean and is resilient and long lasting. If you want this look in your own home then go for it, however most people prefer the more domestic look or granite or marble. These can take a bit more work to clean, however they do look good and also offer a strong surface to work on – just make sure you are always using clean cutting boards rather than putting food directly on the counter.

A stainless steel sink is always the best sort to have in a kitchen, however, and even if you use a dishwasher for the main washing up work, it is good to have a large one where you can quickly rinse off knives and other tools between uses for the same meal. A large sink is also a good place to defrost things and do various other food prep tasks, and will also give your kitchen more of the professional look you want.

Storing Equipment

Storing all your pots and pans in cupboards is the obvious way to keep the kitchen looking tidy, but you can create a cool ‘chef’ look by having some of your most used things out in the open, hanging on hooks over your oven for pots and pans or standing, ready to be used in a nice knife block for some of your other utensils. This not only makes the kitchen look like it belongs to a serious cook, but also makes it easier for you to grab the things you need as you prepare food.

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Richard Maxwell works for AB Restaurant Equipment, a restaurant supply store. He enjoys interacting with people and helping them out with his useful tips and suggestions.

Walk-In Shower Enclosures Versus Wet Rooms

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Shower enclosures are becoming more typical in new construction and remodeling projects, replacing the old fashioned wet room. Remodeling a bathroom suite to include one can add cost to a project, so it is important to consider the actual advantages of an enclosure over a wet room. Surprisingly, one of the things to look most closely at when making your choice is not design or cost, but the age of the persons in your household.

Is There An Advantage To A Wet Room?

Wet rooms were the standard for so long the natural question is to look at whether there was an advantage to having one in the house. The answer is both yes, and no. A wet room can sometimes be ideal in houses with small children. It can make the bathing process easier on the parent because it opens up the area available. While this may seem a significant advantage, children only need help bathing for a few years and householders use their bathrooms for decades. The sacrifice in space that is required to have a wet room quickly undoes its momentary advantage of allowing more room to chase slippery toddlers.

What Are The Advantages Of A Walk-In Enclosure?

Walk-In shower enclosures have several advantages to them that quickly reveal them to be a better choice than a wet room. While wet rooms make it easier for parents to supervise their young children whilst bathing, using a walk-in can also make the process more controllable. For youth and adults, a walk-in shower can save significant time in the bathing and maintenance process. With an enclosure, there is only the shower screen to wipe down rather than a large space. Also, the privacy accorded to the bather allows for others to use the bathroom suite, which can be helpful in houses with teens. One thing that is not often mentioned is that a walk-in enclosure is easier for elders to use. There is less a chance of slip and fall injury as wet tile is limited and there is no climbing in and out of a bath. Lastly, walk-in shower enclosures can save space when designing or re-designing a bathroom suite in a home.

Things To Look For In A Shower Enclosure

To make sure you get the best for your budget, there are things you should look for when shopping shower enclosures. A movable shower head, one on a braided hose, can be best as it allows the shower to accommodate persons of all heights. There are also other styles and designs of shower heads available that you may want to consider such as soft, large heads and massaging styles. The wet pans of the enclosure are another important consideration. They should have an easy means of draining and not be plugged or stopped in any way. The height of the wet pan is also important, especially in homes with older residents. Also, consider the enclosure itself and what it is made of. Glass can be expensive and very heavy. Acrylic screens have become the new norm for enclosures. Acrylic is lighter, cheaper and easy to clean.

Louisa Jenkins is a Grimsby-based blogger. She regularly produces advice pieces on bathrooms, guiding people on which shower enclosures to buy, the flooring they should install and so on.

Spring Tips For Cleaning Your Basement Like A Pro

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If you are like most homeowners, you probably have a lot of clutter in your basement. Spring always brings about a sense of renewal which can motivate you into cleaning out your overloaded basement. If the job seems to overwhelming to tackle, there are some helpful tips that will get your basement organized in no time.

Learn to Let Go

The basement often becomes the catchall place for everything you no longer use, but can’t seem to throw out. You should bring down several large trash bags and some cardboard boxes to sort your items into bags you can discard and boxes you can sell or donate. If you have items you don’t use that are in good condition, selling them or donating them will make you feel better about letting them go.

Create Organizational Spaces

You might have a lot of items stored in your basement that you do use on occasion. Creating areas to properly store these items will not only free up space in your basement it will make your items easier to find when you want them. Both large and small objects can be placed in plastic containers so they can be set on shelves. Shelving units can be purchased for very little money and come in styles made of rust resistant metal for use in basement areas. Plastic storage containers with lids are easy to stack and make create storage bins for out of season clothing.

Scrub Away the Dirt

One reason you might put off cleaning your basement could be due to the amount of dirt and cobwebs that accumulate there. Once you have the items you want to discard, donate or sell out of the basement you can start cleaning some of the areas. A broom is a good tool for getting rid of cobwebs that can form along the ceiling beams and in the corners of the basement.

You can also sweep the concrete to pick up all of the dust that often accumulates over time. You can also use a shop vac if you have one on hand. This type of vacuum can pick up some of the debris often found on basement floors such as discarded screws, sawdust or leaves. If your concrete floor has stains, you can sprinkle some kitty litter over them to help absorb the oils.

Watch Out for Mold

Basements are notorious for being breeding grounds for black mold. This is because they are damp and dark spaces which can be ideal for the growth of mold. If your basement is prone to flooding, you want to pay particular attention to mold growing on walls, floors or even on items stored there. Any items that have mold growing on them should be discarded immediately.

If the concrete floor or walls in your basement have black areas on them, you can use bleach to clean and kill the mold. Take precautions to never touch the mold by wearing rubber gloves. You can use a sponge or sponge mop to distribute the bleach over the affected area. To reduce the risk of mold in humid areas, you can place a humidifier in your basement to collect the water from the air.

Once your basement has been cleaned and organized, you will find it is a better environment to be in. You might even choose to add some flooring and turn it the space into a home office, gym or craft area.

Ben S. is often blogging about home improvement. here he shared with us his recent tips about how to clean the basement, which he did in April this year.

Why There Is Damp In Your Home?

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Having damp in your property is a serious problem and one that most people underestimate. While it might not seem like the end of the world to have moisture on your windows in the morning, this can actually be a sign of much more severe problems and can lead to a number of other issues. Here we will look at why there might be damp in your home, where it comes from and what you can do about it.

Cold

One of the biggest causes of dampness in the home is cold. While the cold doesn’t actually attract moisture as such, it can cause it to condense in the air thus meaning that a slightly damp atmosphere can become wet walls and windows. In this form the moisture is much more noticeable and much more likely to cause problems – and it can quickly become a vicious cycle too as the moisture on the walls and windows begins to ‘steel’ heat energy from your property in a bid to evaporate.

If you want to reduce moisture in your home then, one of the most important things to do is to make sure that you are using your heating properly and not trying to save money by leaving it off for too long.

Integrity

The integrity of your property can also be the cause of moisture problems, and there are many ways that dampness can get in from outdoors. For instance, if you have a leak or some kind of seepage in any of the walls or ceilings, then this can of course allow water to directly enter your rooms where it can begin to cause damage.

If you have any such problems, then the best thing to do is to use a waterproofing service which will help you to stop such leaks and seepage. Note as well that certain aspects of your property might be making it more likely to develop leaks – for instance a flat roof can encourage water to collect and pool which can then create a lot of weight. Likewise single glazing is less effective at keeping out cold and water.

Steam

Not all the moisture in your property is necessarily coming from outside though – some of it may be coming from indoors and from the way that you are living. If you often have hot baths and showers for instance and don’t then open the windows or run an extractor fan, the steam created can settle all around your property.

Likewise you can also generate steam in a number of other ways – whether that’s boiling the kettle or even just breathing. This is why it’s so important to occasionally open the windows in order to allow your property to ‘air’. As you get some movement in the air you will find it helps to clear moist patches that form in ‘air pockets’, and that it prevents the formation of mould as well.

Make these changes and you should find that you start living in a drier property. If this doesn’t help, add a dehumidifier and consider calling in the experts.

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Daniel Lorenzo is a freelance writer and blogs about a number of home improvement techniques. He writes on behalf of City Wide Group, a leading waterproofing company and suggests that they are the most reliable companies in the field.  He likes to take part in different sports activities like football and rugby.

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