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• Basement Finishes and Installing a Ceiling

  28Apr
  Categories: Interior decor Comments Off

  If the walls in your basement are damp, they need to be cleaned.  Once they have thoroughly dried, you can treat them and paint them with a cold wash, or oil paint. If the floor is below grade, however, you should not use oil paint, even if the floor looks dry.

  If this is the case, you can treat with aluminum sulfate or sodium silicate. When applied properly, such treatments create a harder surface that is bright, consistent, and easy to clean.

  Better Lighting Facilities

  Extension wires make possible the use of portable lamps all over the basement. Frosted bulbs are the most efficient for basements, because they emit more uniformly dispersed lighting. For basement lighting, you can use similar kitchen or bathroom fixtures as used elsewhere. The same plumbing (toilets, etc.) may also be used.

  Installing a Ceiling in the Basement

  Although the omission of ceilings is common, a ceiling in the basement of the house improves the appearance significantly. There will be fewer corners and spaces where cobwebs and dust can collect, as well as protection from dust passing through the floors from rooms above.

  More importantly is the usage of tight-fitting fire-resistant ceiling materials, which will resist the spread of any fires in the basement to the other rooms in your home, as well as reducing smoke damage.

  If your basement is dry and well insulated, it can easily be built into quite the appealing room, simply by adding in a ceiling, cleaning and painting the walls, installing carpet, wood, or tile for the floor, and partitioning off any obstructions such as a furnace. It can then be used as a home spa, complete with hot tub or swim spa.

  Before installation of the ceiling, every hazardous opening should be sufficiently fire proofed. Examples of such openings can be seen near service pipes as well as between joists or studs, where they are joined to the foundation.

  If you plan to install working plumbing for a bathtub or steam shower, or perhaps a steam generator for a sauna, you should do this before fire proofing.

  Obviously, you will want to use non-flammable material for fire proofing. This could be plaster, cement, porcelain tile, gypsum block, brick rubble, and just about any other similar material. Whatever material you choose to use should be composed of enough fine substance to fill voids. You can support the fire proofing material with wood strips (no less than 2 inches thick) or by chicken wire.

  There are several different materials that you can use to build a ceiling. Plaster, gypsum board, or even furred metal can be utilized. It all depends on the taste of the homeowner and the limitations of the budget.

  Whatever you decide to use, any kind of material within 2 feet of the top of a furnace, or other object which emits such heat, should be protected, at least by a loose-fitting metal shield, arranged in such a way that an inch or two of space for air is reserved between the two objects.

  You can create this extra space through the use of small blocks of non-flammable material, either placed between metal and joists, or by hanging sheets of metal with hooks fastened to the joists. If you decide to use tin as a shield, make sure it has locked joints rather than soldered, as these are unreliable.

  Woodwork and plaster should be protected in a similar way. A covering should be placed within 4 feet of the sides of the heat source, which should extend four feet or more from the floor and three or more feet past the object on all sides. It is a good idea to have a professional come to inspect all installations.

   

  Tags: bathroom fixtures | bathroom fixtures | steam generator | steam generator | steam shower | steam shower | swim spa | swim spa | plumbing | plumbing | home spa | home spa | toilets | toilets | bathtub | bathtub | kitchen | kitchen | hot tub | hot tub | sauna | sauna

• The Advantages of Water Stains

  17Apr
  Categories: Interior decor Comments Off

  The principal advantages of water stains may be enumerated and discussed briefly, as follows:

  ·     Water stains penetrate much more deeply into the wood on surfaces such as wooden bar rails, fireplace mantels, and ornamental pediment than do either oil or spirit stains.   The preliminary treatment for water staining is sponging and resanding. Sponging opens up the fibers of the wood, and sanding removes the broken fragments of cell walls that have become matted into the cell cavities thru scraping and sanding.

  ·     Water stains enter very easily into the open pores of wood that has been sponged and resanded. The wood substance also seems to be more permeable to water than to other solvents used in making stains.

  ·     Water stain powders are very soluble, especially in hot water. They generally are moderately soluble in cold water, but for deeper colors hot water is preferable. Some water stains are improved by straining through filter paper or cloth having a fine mesh.

  ·     The dipping process can be used safely with water stains, whereas dipping in a spirit or oil stain is dangerous, and greatly increases the fire risk of a building. Many furniture factories have large vats filled with water stains. Chairs, tables, plinth blocks, door toppers, corner guards, and other articles are completely immersed
  in the liquid for a short time, and then removed and wiped in order to secure as even a tone as possible.

  ·     It is very easy to secure darker or lighter shades and tints with water stains. For a lighter tone all that is necessary is to dilute the stain with water.  For darker shades more powder may be added to the stain. In case additional powder will not dissolve, one or more coats of stain may be put over the first attempt at staining, each application making a darker effect or tone. It is possible to secure very dark or deep effects with water stains.

  ·         The color of a water-stained article can be changed to a large extent by applying a coat of a different color over a stain that is not suitable or which does not match the required color. Mottled effects, or uneven tones of the same color, can be produced by adding color with a brush before the first coat is absolutely dry. A similar effect can usually be produced by wetting a water stained surface with a brush or sponge and then applying more color before the dampened surface dries out.

  ·         It is possible and safe to apply water stains hot, thus ensuring greater penetration.

  ·         The greatest possible variety in colors, shades, and tints is obtainable in water colors since the advent of water soluble coal tar dyes. Fewer colors, and less delicate hues, are obtainable in oil and spirit than in water stains.

  ·         Permanency, at least equal to that of other stains, can be secured with Dakalite and coal tar water stains. Some authorities state positively that coal tar water soluble stains are more permanent than oil-soluble colors of similar origin. A large proportion of all the stains used for wood are now made from aniline and non-aniline dyes which are coal tar products. The dye manufacturers recommend acid colors that are water soluble coal tar dyes for use in wood staining, especially for items such as wood fireplace mantels, wood fireplace inserts, and wooden bar rails; as they are far more permanent in light than are basic colors which are frequently very brilliant but, unfortunately, quite fugitive.

  ·         More transparent, clear effects can be secured with water stains than with any other kind, with the exception of some of the chemical stains, and possibly a few of the volatile oil stains. When water-stains are used, no visible pigments remain on the surface of the wood to obscure and spoil the beauty of the grain.  Clear, brilliant effects can be obtained with water stains which penetrate into the wood fibers and change the color of the wood to an appreciable depth.

  ·          Brushes are easier to clean and take care of when water stain is used, because they can be washed out in water. Brushes that are used in oil or spirit stains require cleaning in turpentine or alcohol, a more difficult and slower process.

  ·          In general, water-stains are cheaper, gallon for gallon, than any other kind; because the solvent, water, costs less than turpentine, alcohol, and other solvents used to dissolve oil and spirit stains.

  ·          Water stains dry quickly.

  ·          Water stains will usually penetrate through one coat of linseed oil, or will even darken a filled surface to some extent. The grain is not usually raised appreciably when water stains are applied to surfaces that have already been oiled or filled. Much less water stain is absorbed by the wood, however, under such conditions.

  Tags: wood fireplace mantels | wood fireplace mantels | wood fireplace inserts | wood fireplace inserts | ornamental pediment | ornamental pediment | fireplace mantels | fireplace mantels | wooden bar rails | wooden bar rails | corner guards | corner guards | plinth blocks | plinth blocks | door toppers | door toppers

• Getting Down to the Basics of a Rock Garden

  13Apr
  Categories: Landscaped Comments Off

  Professional contractors sometimes use an artificial stone made on the spot, by plastering colored cement over a basis of rough brickwork when designing a rock garden. Some clever work of this kind is indistinguishable from a natural outcrop of rock and it may serve the purpose well. However, unless this is done by skilled hands accustomed to imitating the form and stratification of the natural rock, it would be a failure.

  There are good imitation rocks may be made by coating brickyard waste with Portland cement. The objection to these processes is the liability of the artificial surface to be flaked off by frost or rough usage, thereby exposing the fraud. Some types of large fountains, patio statuary, or other large water features sometimes incorporate artificial rock as well, which would be ideal accent pieces for a rock garden.

  With regards to the soil of a rock garden, you cannot do better than follow nature. In alpine regions the crevices in the rocks become filled with fine debris, the disintegrated particles of the rock itself, and therefore containing small stones and sand, with which, of course, is associated humus derived from decaying plant   life. This, then, suggests an artificial mixture for your rock garden in which similar ingredients find place. Such a mixture may be made as follows:

  Good friable loam—6 parts

  Chips of sandstone—1 part

  Sand or road scrapings—2 parts

  Leaf mould—1 part

  To this mixture you can add a moderate proportion of well-decayed stable manure. The whole should be well mixed and is then ready for use. Although the above compost will suit the greater number of plants usually grown in a rock garden, it is unsuitable for bog plants and for those which thrive best in a calcareous soil.

  To meet the needs of these it is desirable to reserve a place where some peat may be introduced for the benefit of the bog plants, and to add a limy constituent to the compost (lime or broken limestone) for those parts of the garden in which you intend to grow lime-loving plants. In between outdoor statues, large fountains, or patio water features are ideal locations for these plants. Beyond that it is hardly feasible or worthwhile to go in specializing the soil.

  The prepared soil must be entirely free from clay, and to ensure this care should be taken to obtain the proper kind of loam. Once you have selected the site and prepared the soil, you can get started with actually making the rock garden. This involves forming the actual contours of the garden. In most cases a path will pass through it, but this will have to be made last.

  Bearing in mind the importance of drainage, the gardener must first decide whether his rockwork shall stand above the general surface or be partly sunk below it. On heavy clay soil the former plan is best; on gravel, or other kind of porous soil, the latter. A sunken garden has the advantage that the excavated soil is useful for building up the banks, provided, of course, that it is suitable as an ingredient in the compost just described.

  You can then proceed to mark out the plan, by pegging or otherwise, and then barrow the soil into place. Now comes an important part of the operation, for the final effect is controlled by the way in which you arrange the heaps. You should try to avoid a formal or symmetrical distribution of masses, which is never seen in nature, by throwing them up as if their shape and height were a matter of chance, especially when patio waterfalls, a wall fountain, or an outdoor fountain may be introduced.

  You should not start adding any rocks until you have completed the base work of the rock garden. This is because as the work proceeds you may find it advisable to raise the ground here or lower it there to improve its contours, which you should view from various standpoints to make sure that you have obtained a good general effect.

  That much accomplished, now you can start to place his rocks by outlining with them the foot of each slope, thereby defining his path at the same time. For this part of the work you should select rocks of various sizes, here and there introducing a bold mass to accentuate some angle, and avoiding the effect of an artificial edging.

  The edging of the rock garden must be well done, with the rocks in close contact. Otherwise much of the soil will be subsequently washed out on to the gravel; but no cementing medium should be employed. Such crevices as remain may be well rammed with compost, and will then offer temptation to the plants to thread them with rootlets, by which the soil will be sufficiently held in place.

   

  Tags: large water features | large water features | patio water features | patio water features | patio waterfalls | patio waterfalls | outdoor fountain | outdoor fountain | large fountains | large fountains | outdoor statues | outdoor statues | patio statuary | patio statuary | wall fountain | wall fountain

• Popular First Aid Fixes for Dogs

  13Apr
  Categories: Pets care Comments Off

  Human beings have love for dogs, and the dogs have love for us. This spending time with your pets is very soothing. You can play, talk or run with your pets in your leisure time. However, even though faithful, loving masters take good care of the pets, there may be some outings like hikes, runs and all-out romps that may put your pet at a higher risk of injury. In such cases, fortunately, similar kinds of first aid fixes work for your pets, as they do for human beings.

  Here are some basic and common injuries and the quick fix that you may use on them to give the animal relief:

  • Lacerations- If your pet get cuts, cracks or scrapes on the body, the first thing you should do is clean the injured areas carefully and allow them to dry thoroughly. Use superglue cyanoacrylate to mend the cracked paws or the body cuts.
  • Poison- Sometimes dogs may ingest dead animals or toxic pond plants and pond water. This results in poisoning. The symptoms that can be noticed here are excess salivation, vomiting, trembling, and twitching. In such cases, place 5 tsp. of activated charcoal granules in a cup of water. Mix it thoroughly and then feed it to the dog.
  • Punctures- Sometimes when dogs go out for a walk, they accidentally pick up some thorns, quills, sticks, cactus spine, or an insect sting, puncturing a paw or claw. Here, you can use a needle nose plier to pull the puncture from the wound. Pliers are very useful in case of a porcupine’s quill, but you must see the vet if it is in the throat or mouth of the animal. In case of animal bites, wash the bite with soap and water. If the bleeding is profuse, then only apply direct pressure.
  • Heat Stroke- In summer seasons, some dogs may face heat stroke. You can analyze this through the following symptoms in the animal: rapid heart rate, excessive panting, passing out, etc. You need to cool the body of the animal using water, ice packs or wet towels. Shift them in to a shady and a well-ventilated area. Keep on feeding water to him in order to decrease the chances of dehydration. 

   
  Making a first aid kit for your dog helps to ease the anxiety when your dog is injured or ill. You can make this first aid kit even at home. Your first aid kit for the dogs should include the following supplies:

   

  • Gauze pads and gauze bandages, self adhering athletic bandage
  • Thermometer
  • Hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, white petroleum jelly
  • Vet wrap bandage, bandage scissors, custom splints
  • Buffered aspirin
  • Eye wash
  • Ear syringe
  • Instant cold packs
  • And a first aid booklet

  These are some of the essential supplies that you may need in an emergency, before taking the dog to the vet. They can help to ease his pain, to some extent. In severe cases, you may need to visit the vet immediately.

  After the animal returns home form the vet and to good shape, bathe it and use your dog grooming supplies to get your pet back to normal condition, gently brushing or combing over any healing areas.

  Find a supply of basic dog grooming tools at local pet stores. Or save yourself the hassle of running around town plus the expense of gas and shop online for them.

  One last and very important item is to show your dog how much you care during these possibly trying, painful times. Head to the dog treat jars and give happily!

  Tags: dog grooming supplies | dog grooming supplies | dog grooming tools | dog grooming tools | doggie first aid | doggie first aid | dog heat stroke | dog heat stroke | puppy first aid | puppy first aid | dog lacerations | dog lacerations | dog first aid | dog first aid | puppy health | puppy health | dog health | dog health | dog poison | dog poison

• Food Feeding Tips for Your Dog

  13Apr
  Categories: Pets care Comments Off

  Just as you shouldn’t eat a McDonald’s Happy Kid’s Meal every day for your nutritional needs, your dog shouldn’t just open a bag of dog food and feed about the same amount of it each day to your dog. Like people, dogs need nutrition, too.

  The problem is, though, that dogs cannot simply stop eating whatever junk food is served, like people can. Dogs reply on their owners to provide healthy food alternative for them. So to help dogs – - and pet owners who may not be in-the-know on this stuff – - here are some tips.

  1. Offer Well Rounded Solutions 

  A dog’s diet, or lack of one, can affect dogs just like human diets affect humans. So you want to provide healthy food that has plenty of vitamins and minerals. Because deficiencies in any of these areas can results in health problems, similarly to those in humans, like dry or oily skin, stomach aches, brittle bones, weight problems, even death. The right nutritious, balanced diet helps your dog fight off diseases and infections. So help establish a healthy eating plan, consulting with your family vet for advice.

  Use raised bowl dog feeders to help regular portion control, too. And use dog food storage containers to safely store your foods. You wouldn’t leave your own food out in the open air all day, so don’t do it with your dog’s food.

  2. Vary the Meals

  On the whole, off the shelf packaged dog food offers the basic nutrition for the dog’s diet.  However, you need to vary the choices and not simply grab the same old same old each week, month, year…

  Alternate offering dry food with canned food, raw organic dog food, varying ingredients, food textures, and nutritional content value. Look at the facts about canines: wolves are carnivores, and this meat-eating instinct is basic even today in their species line, dogs. Dogs love to attack whatever moves, especially if it runs through their territory, be it squirrel, groundhog, cat, bird or neighbor (generally male joggers).

  So offer them meat-flavored dog treats from the stores, loaded with other nutritional value than regular dry dog food offers. Vary their diets.

  3. More Fillers

  Other ingredients are needed besides meat, too. Help build up your dog’s energy and growth mechanisms with plenty of carbohydrates and fiber, to help with digestion and over-all well-being. Do this my substituting a bowl of canned dog food instead of serving the dry food once a month.

  4. Human Food

  Pioneers didn’t have dog food, but they had domestic dogs. Let’s face it, you can feed dogs scraps, just carefully. They love eggs and healthy foods (NO chocolate!) Just think "healthy" and see what they can eat in small amounts at a time.

  5. Go Green.

  Ever see your dog eat grass when his tummy is upset? Dogs do eat greens and enjoy veggies. So give them some.

  Nutri-Bars

  Enjoy making and sharing this treat with your favorite dog. It takes about 30 minutes to prepare, 20 minutes to cook and makes roughly 10 servings.

  Ingredients

  •    1 L (4 c) brown rice
  •    60 ml (1/4 cup) oatmeal, dry
  •    2 eggshells, ground to fine powder
  •    2 L (9 c) water
  •    5 ml (1 t) salt
  •    150 ml (1/2 cup) milk
  •    100 g (3 oz.) liver, chopped
  •    45 ml (3 T) vegetable oil
  •    2 cloves garlic, chopped
  •    30 ml (2 T) fresh parsley, chopped
  •    225 g (8 oz.) ground meat
  •    2 eggs
  •    250 ml (1 c) carrots, chopped
  •    250 ml (1 c) broccoli, chopped
  •    150 ml (1/2 cup) cottage cheese per serving
  •    250 ml (1 c) brewer’s yeast
  •    45 ml (3 T) kelp, powdered
  •    250 ml (1 c) wheat germ
   
  Preparation & Cooking

  Boil first five ingredients. While stirring, add next nine ingredients, set heat to low, and continue to cook until all moisture is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Spread into flat airtight containers, cool, and cut into half-cup squares. In separate container, combine yeast, kelp, and wheat germ. To serve, crumble square over cottage cheese, stir, and add 5 ml (1 t) yeast mix for each 30 pounds of weight.

  Tags: feeding your dog | feeding your dog | dog health | dog health | dog food | dogs | dog

• Landscaping Pictures: Using Other’s Ideas In Your Own Design

  13Apr
  Categories: Landscaped Comments Off

  If you are a beginner at do-it-yourself landscaping and gardening ideas, then you are probably having a hard time starting out from scratch. Brewing up ideas for landscape design can be rigorous, especially if all you have to start with is a piece of lifeless, barren land.
  
  Sure, you already know that a manicured lawn accompanied with some well-positioned flowers can make for a fairly eye-catching landscape. But how can you have ideas to make a unique landscape? – By using other’s ideas in your own design course!
  
  Yes, it is possible for you to use a mishmash of great garden and landscaping ideas to construct an exceptional landscape design for your very own land. And no, it’s not the same as duplicating. Making replicas would not be part of finding inspiration from other’s ideas to make your landscape unique, since the unique factor would be automatically crossed out in the first place.
  
  Look: The Key To Brewing A Unique Idea
  
  The first thing to do is to look. Go on, there’s no harm in looking. Try to look at various landscaping examples that you can find. The question is, where can you find landscape designs to look at? Well, there are various sources available for you, and all you have to do is know them.
  
  Landscaping Pictures
  
  There are a lot of landscaping pictures for you to view. You can easily find pictures like these on the Internet, and view them at the comforts of your own home. You can also browse for landscaping pictures in magazines or catalogues.
  
  Coffee table books for gardens are also a great source for landscaping pictures.
  
  Photography books showcasing landscapes as its theme is another great option, although these last two sources may be a bit expensive.
  
  Experience The Real Thing
  
  Another cheap way to view different landscaping designs is by taking a trip in your neighborhood. Your can actually pick up a thing or two from the design of your neighbor’s front yards that might be useful in your own landscape design.
  
  If you can go to places with beautiful gardens, then that is even better. Not only do you get fresh ideas, but experiencing the beauty of the place itself also rejuvenates you. You can take some pictures of the place and review them when you get home.
  
  What To Do With Landscaping Pictures?
  
  Of course, you don’t stop at just looking at landscaping pictures. Active participation is also required from you. As you view each landscaping picture, decide on which ones that you like best.
  
  Then try to make a list of the different features and characteristics of each landscaping picture that you personally think is unique, beautiful, or just simply fits your taste. You should also take note of the characteristics that you don’t like.
  
  See the different elements like water features, lighting designs, types of plants, arrangements and the presence of statues and other decorations. Also try to find out if the maintenance of the features you’ve picked suits your expected level of maintenance.
  
  Wrap It Up
  
  When you’re done picking out your favorite landscaping and garden design features for the different elements, you now wrap things up by combining all of them to brew up your own idea. Try to make something from these various features and some of your own personal ideas. You can also make variations from the features that you decided upon.
  
  The decision is all yours to make. Don’t be afraid to explore and experiment on different combinations since this is the key to making your design have the touch of "you" factor in it!
  

  Tags: landscape design ideas | landscape design ideas | landscaping pictures | garden design ideas | garden design ideas | landscape pictures | landscape pictures | landscape design | garden pictures | garden pictures | garden design | garden design | landscaping | landscape | landscape | gardening | gardening | garden | garden

• Mistakes to Avoid When Planning a Garden

  09Apr
  Categories: Landscaped Comments Off

  The picturesque character of a garden may be marred as much by sins of commission as by sins of omission. There are gardens in which no expense has been spared to ensure a splendid succession of bloom, that have been utterly ruined by the introduction of garish and incongruous accessories. The smaller the plot, the stronger the temptation to import these eyesores seems to be.

  The garden maker cannot be too careful about being aware of the features of the property that may not be in harmony with the garden. Such accessories as summer houses, large fountains, patio statuary, wall waterfalls, arches, pergolas, dials, and garden seats should be designed to suit the garden. Their details and mode of construction should be simple and unostentatious. Paint should be sparingly used, if at all, and its color should be chosen so that it does not compete with the flowers.

  One example of inharmonious features in a garden is that of a wide expanse of trellis painted canary yellow, which in itself is crude and in bad taste. To add insult to injury, the owner then plated nasturtiums on the trellis, unaware that this is one of the outrages of the canon of art.

  The so-called “rustic” work in a garden design is rarely in good taste. If you want to decorate the summer house, what better way to do so than to allow some pretty creeper to scramble over it? This softens its outline and loads it with bloom. Or perhaps consider a patio statue or wall water fountain that could be either a wall mounted fountain or some other type of wall water feature.

  Terra-cotta, china, and cast-iron vases should be used with caution. They are generally out of scale in a small garden, and never quite satisfactory unless associated with a terrace wall, or some similar structure. In most cases they should be replaced by stout oaken tubs, with advantages on the score of appearance.

  The gardener must be hopelessly depraved to allow such objects as minerals, mechanical models, and sea-shells into his garden. The proper place for any of these curiosities let him find a place for them apart in a special museum.

  Given discretion in excluding the inartistic and incongruous, there may be still room for mistakes in the use of garden accessories. They may be selected so as not to be in proper scale with the garden, or with that part of the garden in which they are to be installed. In these matters the designer’s instincts must guide him to the attainment of what is correct.
  Good proportion in a garden is largely a matter of intuition, though a sense of fitness may come from knowledge and good sense. A garden designer should use an equal amount of both when designing and laying out a garden. The golden rules of garden design are:

  ·         Use before ornament

  ·         Simplicity

  ·         Appropriateness

  ·         Sound construction

  ·         Scale

  As every garden picture must have a focus, or, in other words, a point of interest to which the eye will naturally direct itself before it can properly appreciate the general effect, the summer house has a lot of value as a suitable device for the purpose. It makes a very natural terminal to the principal path, and is therefore “led up to” in such a way as to enhance its usefulness for this purpose.

  Again, the pointed roof is admirably adapted for constituting the apex or summit of the garden picture. This particularly applies to new gardens, before it is possible to utilize the trees, large fountains, or other garden water features as conspicuous elements in the picture.

  A well-constructed summer house, weather proof, and placed so that its open side is in shade, is a most desirable addition to any garden, however small, both as a picturesque feature in the design and as a useful retreat in hot or rainy weather.

  Tags: wall mounted fountain | wall mounted fountain | garden water features | garden water features | wall water fountain | wall water fountain | wall water feature | wall water feature | large fountains | large fountains | wall waterfalls | wall waterfalls | patio statuary | patio statuary | patio statue | patio statue | gardens