Posts Tagged ‘House’

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How To Prevent Termites Invasion

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Termites generally lay their eggs in spring season. They give eggs in the moist soil and then enter the house in order to provide some nourishment to them. Therefore, it is better to control termites before the beginning of spring season. However, be careful as termites can attack in any season.

Two of the first places to look for termites are the kitchen and the bathroom because in these two areas there is maximum use of water. Regularly check the pipes and taps for leakage.

If you own a house or farm made of wood then controlling termite infestation should be your top most priority. In fact, it is one of the crucial issues or problems faced by homeowners.

Primarily, start with termite prevention. If you do not have termites, it does not mean that you cannot have them. So, stop them from invading your crops or properties. In order to prevent the termites, you have to make your home not a favorable hideout for termites. Following are the some ways of preventing termites to invade your house:

Trim all dense greenery, bushes and shrubs away from your property’s foundation.

Never leave firewood around your house; it works as a magnet for attracting termites. If you have to keep firewood outside your home during the winter season then keep it at some height off the ground.

Remove all loose woods, tree stumps and lumber from the boundary of your home.

Keep downspouts and gutters free of accumulated debris and leaves. As termites cannot survive on wood only, keeping these areas clean will prevent termites from invading your house. Obstructions and clogs attract termites.

Seal all the holes and cracks in the foundation of your home.

Termite prevention is possible only if you keep your house ventilated, particularly the attics of the house. Your rooms should be spacious enough to have the right circulation of air else, moisture attracts termites. Never aloe water to be stored anywhere around your house as it may lead to serious house damage.

It is always better to opt for termite prevention before the construction of your property. If you plan to construct a house completely with wood then ensure to use treated wood. Borate is one of the most common treated woods that prevent the termite from invading them as their food. Do not allow the wood to have any contact with the earth because this will work as an easy access to the termites.

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Knowing About Soil In Your Garden

Monday, September 28th, 2009

We all know that our flowers and plants gather their required nutrients for growth through their roots from the soil. This means each of us, as the gardener, must be the steward of our garden soil. Our neglect and abuse can ruin the soil. Indeed, in many parts of the country our farming and ranching soil has been so depleted as to make growing crops require ever increasing amounts of synthetic chemical amendments.

If you should dig into your soil, you will see that it is divided into topsoil and subsoil. The topsoil is where you will find most of the organic material and living organisms. However, plants draw minerals from the subsoil and it is important to our flower garden as well.

Soil differs in different parts of the country based upon the kind of minerals it is derived from and the size of the particles that make up the soil. These can range from gravel to clay. For most flower gardening situations, we are usually concerned with sandy soils to clay soils. This is important to know, as it has to do with the amount of air available within your soil for your plants to access. As well, it concerns how fast water is drained away from your plants.

Perhaps the best thing one can do with any flower garden soil is to add organic material. Some gardeners believe adding sand to any soil but already sandy soil is also of benefit. But organic matter is perhaps the most elegant solution for just about any type of soil problem. Organic matter can:

-help the soil hold more water

-help it drain better

-add important nutrients to the soil

-give bacteria and other beneficial organisms “food” to work with to the benefit of our flowers and plants

-changes the structure of our soil over time as we keep adding it.

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Log Home Design is the Foundation to a Beautiful Log Home

Monday, May 11th, 2009

In the construction of your new home you will come in contact with many disciplines such as developers, design and planning professionals, builders, inspectors, and all the disciplines in between such as plumbers, electricians, excavators, etc.

It is a common belief by a lot of people that by eliminating some of these essential processes that somehow money will be saved. One of the most targeted areas for people believing they will save money is the elimination of plans from the process.

Most areas of the country require construction plans to obtain a building permit.

A building official’s responsibility is to ensure the safety, energy efficiency, and accessibility of the project. We demand these basic things in every automobile we purchase, so why do some people go to great lengths to avoid these same basic safety, efficiency, and accessibility standards in our homes by not having quality professionally prepared plans?

During the construction process, simply put, quality plans pay for themselves many times over.

Material estimates are next to impossible to do from simple sketches on graph paper or napkins. Clients with sketches on napkins for plans! Estimating materials without any plan detail amounts to one thing, A GUESS. And you can be certain that the “guess” will not be in your favor or save you any money.

Tens of thousands of dollars are wasted in this area by not having a competently detailed set of log home plans, with lost dollars increasing in magnitude with the cost of the project.

Builders rely on log home plans to do their job which is assembly. Without competent log home design a builder like the estimator has to “guess” on how to assemble your home. Guessing costs YOU money.

Imagine the floor system in your new home. There are numerous ways to build a floor and the costs could range from $4,000.00 to $10,000.00. A builder without a set of plans assembles the floor at a cost to you of $10,000.00. However, a professionally prepared set of plans could have detailed a way to assemble that same floor for $4,000.00 saving you $6,000.00! Would you pay $3,000.00 for a set of plans that saves you $6,000.00? You bet you would! Now multiply those efficiencies in design throughout every component in the home!

Imagine a builder having to guess how you want your home to look and function. You either live with the builder’s interpretation of your home or you make the builder change what you don’t like through a change order. Change orders cost YOU an enormous amount of money, thousands of dollars in expense, all of which could be eliminated in the log home design process prior to construction!

There has always been a huge misconception in residential construction that because a builder can assemble a home, log home design and plans become trivial and unnecessary. Think about the individuals that assemble automobiles on an assembly line. Sure these individuals can assemble and build cars just as a builder can assemble and build homes. But imagine an automobile plant with no design team or plans to follow, where each assembler decides how to put the parts together.

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