Bathroom Flooring Ideas

Most of the time, bathroom flooring is not the element that receives much attention from homeowners and decorators. This is understandable because it only has your feet to attend to, unlike sinks, toilets and shower enclosures that have crucial specifications affecting their performance and usage. However, if you are considering a complete bathroom renovation, you should give the flooring some attention, it adds more to the overall appearance of your bathroom than you realize.

The list of bathroom flooring ideas is actually long; including familiar and unusual choices, but the bottom line in making the selection is safety and cleanliness. The bathroom floor material that you should choose must not cause much slippage when wet, which means that it has to have the friction of some sort. Also, it should be easy to clean and inhibit odor. Whether you are considering luxury bathroom designs or a simpler one, you should …

Hardwood And Laminate Wood Flooring – What You Should Know!

I can’t deny that wood floors are lovely to look at, warm and inviting, but the same effect can be obtained with laminate wood for a lot less money and headaches! And in many cases, laminate wood may be the better choice. Not only does it look like “wood”, under most situations it will out-perform real hardwoods…

Since the very beginning of laminate wood floors, improvements have already been a constant endeavor with manufacturers, like Alloc, Mannington, and Dupont, to produce this flooring material a “perfect” product. The “wear” (prime) layer is made of aluminum oxide, a shield about as robust as steel and penetrating it is near not possible.

With hardwood flooring not much has changed since the 70s to improve its tolerance of normal living conditions. Other than developing a new type of finish to give it more protection, there’s not much that can be done to change …

Backyard Fence: I Hate It, But I Needed One

Being from the country, I was never inclined to like nor need a backyard fence. I thought they were ugly and made me feel locked in and shut other people out. After I moved into an urban area, I started to feel differently about them and saw more of a need for a backyard fence.

While I still didn’t like them, I was forced to come up with a backyard fence plan of some sort, if for no other reason than to keep my pets in my yard and my neighbor’s critters in theirs. I really didn’t know where to start. I knew I needed a backyard fence for privacy, but what kind? I certainly didn’t know how to build a backyard fence. Should it be made of wood? Brick? Chain link? On top of that, I didn’t know anything about fence gate hardware!

I didn’t even want …

The Best Way To Maintain Your Backyard Fence

Your fence should provide you with many years of service; more if you make certain that it is adequately preserved and you carry out routine maintenance check-ups.

Wood Preservatives

If at all possible, buy fence timber which has been factory-impregnated with preservative, as this is considerably more effective in infiltrating below the surface of the wood than home applied treatments. When erecting a fence, any cut ends must be soaked in preservative for a day before use.

Unless fences are built of natural rot-resisting timber, like cedar or oak, you\’ll also need to treat them regularly with a wood preservative. Re-apply solvent-based products every two or three years and water-based preservatives or creosote every four years.

Creosote

Creosote is an effective and popular treatment for preserving fencing. Nevertheless, it’s got a very strong smell, which many people may find objectionable. It’s also poisonous if inhaled, ingested or absorbed …

Your Pre-Spring HVAC Checklist
Your Pre-Spring HVAC Checklist

Spring will be here before you know it. Among other things, that means preparing your HVAC system for warmer weather. Since there is more to this than simply turning down the heat and turning up the AC, here’s a checklist of ways to prepare your heating and cooling system for the spring.

Change Your Air Filter

You should at the very least check your air filter every month to see if it needs to be changed. After running your heat throughout the winter, your filters probably need to be changed more often, so take the time to do that if you haven’t already this month.

Clean Up Around Your AC Unit

Since you probably haven’t needed your air conditioner in the last few months, you might have piled up boxes and other things around the unit without thinking about it. To ensure that everything will work properly when you need …