Posts Tagged ‘DIY’

How Lighting Can Provide Atmosphere And Save Money

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

There is no doubt that lighting has the greatest influence on atmosphere and. Soft lighting in a bedroom or at an intimate dinner results in a romantic ambiance; bright, purposeful lighting in the office or kitchen shows that you mean business; dimmed lighting in the living room creates a relaxing atmosphere in which to watch a film or read a book.

Understated, back lighting behind flowers or a waterfall creates a magical atmosphere, whereas severe floodlights turned on by a motion sensor would freeze most criminals in their tracks.

Getting the lighting wrong can have a gravely adverse effect on any room or occasion. Imagine a romantic dinner for two by candlelight and then imagine it by a bare 100 watt bulb hanging from the ceiling or a fluorescent tube.

It is said that the average household can save at least twenty-five percent on its electricity bills by using lighting more effectively and therefore more efficiently. More importantly, you could save more than sixty percent, if you swap from the normal incandescent light bulbs to high-output compact fluorescent lights. Sixty percent is a massive saving for you, your country and your planet.

Here are some of the means that you can achieve savings on the energy you currently expend on lighting.

Make the addition of dimmers wherever you use lighting. You can put a touch lamp dimmer into the wiring of any lamp, so that when you touch it, it changes from low, to medium, to high, to off. You will be surprised how often you will lower the light once you are able to, particularly in the case of desk or table lamps and standard floor lamps.

In a similar vein is the touch switch that you can utilize to control lighting that traditionally hangs from the ceiling. You will be able to dim the lights in any room and on the patio or deck too.

Photosensitive devices turn whatever they regulate off or on when the sun comes up. This is useful if you have motion-activated anti-intruder lighting. There is absolutely no need for it in the daytime, but you do not want to have to remember to switch it off in the mornings and reactivate it every night either.

Another use could be to turn the fishpond fountain off when it gets dark. All of these photosensitive switches can have over-ride switches too. These photosensitive devices will virtually half the cost of running the systems to which they are attached.

It is very easy to make quite substantial savings if you put your mind to it. Just moving your furniture to take full advantage of natural light can help a lot as well. Sitting near a window or in the garden to read the newspaper is much better than having to put the kitchen light on to read it in there.

In the evening it is better to switch off all the main lights in the living room if you are watching television or reading a book and place one standard floor lamp just to one side behind you. It is sufficient to read by or to save your eyes from the strain of watching TV in the dark.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several topics, but is at present involved with researching wrought iron floor lamps. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Wrought Iron Light

ph in Swimming Pools – is it important?

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

It’s critical to maintain the pH of any pool at the acceptable value, monitoring it consistently, and altering once necessary. Observing every week utilising trustworthy test strips or test drops is especially important. In the perfect situation you wish the pH of any home pools to read 7.2, or alternatively as similar as feasible to the figure, even though something through 7.0 – 7.6 will be thought a suitable limit.

In the situation that ph is over 7.6 then the pool is too alkaline, which can instigate a variety of concerns. The swimming pool will quickly turn out to be filthy for the reason that ph makes nearly all of the sanitizer ineffective – in actual fact, it may well require eight x the usual sanitizer addition when the ph level is too excessive. The water usually will be milky, rendering it extremely unappealing for bathing.

Ca buildup can even crop up, that may begin staining, and if it isn’t corrected, high pH can cause black stains to develop in the region of the waterline in the swimming pool. For people with Home swimming pools using a sand filtration system, you may find it does not perform as successfully as normal.

In the event that pH in the pool is below 7.0 then your pool water is excessively acidic, which may in addition produce harm to your pool and components. The amount of related problems will depend upon any materials your pool is made from. Walls may become grooved and bumpy, and also the acid can unfortunately instigate rust to metal machinery in the Swim spas. In the long run you’ll have to change components. A lot of acid can also absorb the chlorine used, making your swimming pool water turn cloudy, as well as allowing microbes to develop .

There may in addition be a strong odor of chlorine sanitiser in the water, which sometimes can be a factor to red eyes along with the skin epidermis drying out. Some home pool owners suppose they have to supplement ever more sanitiser however the problem can often be thanks to the wrong ph level.

We haven’t had enough space to enter into too much detail, even so from this quick post it really is clear ph level is often rather significant in making sure your Endless swim spa, pool water and users keep delighted and strong. It’s imperative to keep an eye on ph level conscientiously and consistently, to make sure you may escape any issues sooner than they have got a chance to happen. Shrewd, repeated preservation usually is preferable to costly overhauls that could possibly be compulsory once long-term issues are brought on as a result of inappropriate home pool stability.

This author is a ardent fanatic, and writes many posts about this and similar topics including endless swim spas. To find out more about the topics mentioned, don’t hesitate to click on one of the links somewhere within the item content. Please do to take a peep at even more of their posts regarding swimming pool spa, house and garden topics.

How To Keep Cats Out Of Your Garden

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

It is very difficult to keep cats out of your garden, but do not give up, it can be managed. Cat owners may not understand why gardeners want to prevent cats gaining access to their gardens, but there are justifiable reasons, it is not always that gardeners hate cats. Cats are ferocious hunters and can also be very destructive.

For example, my next door neighbour had a cat, but felt lonely when her daughter moved away, so she allowed the cat to breed. Now she has six cats. But cats are not like dogs. My dog stays in my garden not bothering anyone apart from by barking if a stranger walks past the house However, that is his job and he is not only warning me but the neighbours as well. These six cats do not stay in their own garden though, so we have all acquired six cats whether we want them or not.

The first issue I noticed was that birds stopped coming to pick my dog’s bowl clean in the afternoon. Then I saw a cat killing a lizard, a beautiful nine inch adult and then I remembered not seeing many lizards recently. There is one lizard, the Tokay, that they have totally wiped out – I used to listen to them calling at night, but no longer.

Cats also dig up plants when they defecate and use furniture as scratching boards, so I do not want these destructive animals in my garden. But how do you keep cats out of your garden?

Walls are rarely protection against cats, but cats will often prowl along the bottom of walls and if they come across a gap, they will probably go in out of inquisitiveness, so repair all low-level opennings in your fences. There is not much you can do about the top of your wall short of putting broken glass or electrified wiring up there, but that is not a nice idea.

Some dogs are good at keeping cats away, but not all. My dog got a nasty and completely unexpected swipe of claws across his nose one day. He used to chase them when they were kittens, but now they have grown up, he only growls to tell me a cat is on the premises. I cannot blame him.

In Australia, many gardeners reckon that transparent bottles full of water confuse cats, so they stay away, but in my experience, only Australian cats react in that way.

A row of prickly bushes or flowers along the base of a wall where cats regularly come in works. At the base of high walls too, where the cat cannot see them until he is on top of the wall. I often see cats mewing (in frustration, I hope) on the top of one of my walls. The only route down is to go back.

If you still cannot keep cats out, then you will need to train them not to come in. This is easiest accomplished by using a few methods. If cats are using your flower pots are conveniences, try smearing the pots with pepper, lavender, lemon, mustard, or tobacco. Or you could leave a mothball in each pot. Some of these will have the desired result for you, others will not.

Then there are industrial repellents, but I do not want to resort to them. However, if you have a big garden and a big problem, it might be the only way. There are also high frequency sound emitters. Humans cannot hear them, but almost all animals can, so I think that that is deplorable as well.

At night, motion-activated exterior lighting is a huge upset to cats. Cats have very sensitive night vision so a sudden flash from a floodlamp really puts them off a garden.

The best disincentive is water. You can get motion-activated sprinklers, which are excellent at keeping cats out of your garden, but I like to sit in my office or in the garden with a powerful water pistol and squirt them by hand. The lizards have not come back yet, but nor do the cats quite so often either.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is at present involved with visual comfort lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.

Bamboo Flooring Vs. Traditional FLooring

Monday, June 27th, 2011

If you are looking for an attractive yet effective alternative to your regular run-of-the-mill flooring, you will want to look into bamboo flooring. Bamboo flooring looks similar to traditional wood floors, and it comes in both vertical and flat grain patterns. If you are looking for a diverse range of colors, bamboo flooring may not be for you. It usually comes in a light honey colored variety, but if you want a darker offering you may be able to get your hands on the carbonized color.

Bamboo can be installed in one of two ways. It can be nailed down like a traditional wood floor. But at the same time it can also be floated, and put into place to make a perfect fit.

Many people worry that bamboo is not as strong as traditional options that are available, but this is definitely not the truth. Bamboo flooring offers about the same level of strengths and stability of regular hardwood floors.

One of the best advantages of bamboo is that it is dent resistant. So if you are looking to lay a floor where there is a lot of traffic, you will want to look into bamboo flooring. It can withstand a high level of traffic without ever compromising its overall strength.

If you live in the United States, you will have to get your bamboo flooring from a retailer that imports it from the Pacific Rim. There are many flooring retailers that carry bamboo and would be happy to supply you with what you are looking for.

Overall, bamboo flooring is a great alternative to other more traditional options. The only drawback is that you may have a hard time finding this material. But if you devote time to your search, you will eventually find the perfect match for your home.

Want to find out more about wood floorings, then visit Moises Perez’s site on engineered wood flooring and bruce hardwood floors.

how To Get Rid Of Garden Pests

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Gardening would be a lot easier without interference from garden pests. The majority of garden pests are small, but they sure are a big hassle. The most common garden pests are insects, of course and it is a funny thing that these insects are apt to prosper in conditions that are not quite correct for flowers. Most garden pests do not actually live on the plants themselves, they live in rotting rubbish nearby or in sodden soil and go to the plant to feed. Some insects live in the roots if the earth is too wet.

So, one of the first things to do is to try to reduce the number of harmful insects in your garden. You can go a long way down this route by clearing away any old decaying rubbish and decayed wood. Make sure that your soil is well drained and keep cats out of your garden by squirting them with a water pistol until they get the message. Cats discourage birds and many birds eat insects.

You should also encourage insects and other animals that eat garden pests. Ants can be a pain, but they do eat a lot of insects. Ladybirds do too and so do spiders. Larger animals such as frogs, toads and lizards eat loads of insects, so a small open-ended garden pond could be used to breed frogs and toads. Lizards will appear on their own, if the conditions are perfect.

It is worth taking active steps to encourage the right sort of garden animals. Never use strong insecticides on your garden as you will destroy all the insects that are on your side too and the spray may kill the earthworms that are helping to aerate and dry out your top soil.

A small pond will encourage birds, frogs and toads, but frogs and toads also like a nice rock to shelter under during the day. Place a few rocks the size of a loaf of bread around your garden in the shadow of trees or bushes. Erect a bird table. Birds that eat bread and nuts do not usually feed on insects, but some do. However, the sight of other birds in your garden may encourage insectivores to come in and have a look.

There are basically two types of garden pests: the ones that actually eat the plant and the ones that extract the sap out of it. Caterpillars can be picked off and destroyed of or you can spray the leaves that are being eaten with a poison for the caterpillars to feed on. Many of the sap-suckers can be seen with no trouble, others cannot. A solution of washing-up liquid and water such as you use to wash dishes will kill the majority of of these including greenfly (aphids).

Slugs and snails do a lot of harm, but some birds including chickens and thrushes find them a delicacy. Chickens can be helpful allies in a garden, but they can be destructive too with all their scratching. Otherwise, you can reduce the population of slugs and snails by killing their eggs.

They tend to lay their eggs in rotting leaves or rotting compost, but not in compost heaps which are normally too hot for them, so a good clean up will eliminate a lot of the next generation.

You can exterminate the adults by placing a few low containers of beer by your plants. The slugs will drink the beer and drown. It is extremely effective. Slug pellets should finish the t-totallers off. Taking these actions will greatly reduce the number of garden pests attacking your plants.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present concerned with exterior wall lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.

The Traditional Use Of Dairy Produce: Part 3 – Eggs

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

The Basic Preparation Of Foods: Dairy Produce.

EGGS: Part 1

Eggs can be fresh or dried, the latter being only hens’ eggs without the shell and water. Dried egg should be stored in a cool, dry place – not in the fridge! Store eggs for a few days – up to a week – in a cool place away from strong-smelling foods. An egg stand is ideal for this. If the eggs are dirty, wipe them clean – washing will remove the natural oils which help preserve the eggs.

Pickled Eggs: eggs laid in the Spring keep better than those laid in the other seasons. Eggs that will not clean-up, must be rejected. Waterglass or the special preparations should be used. If an egg floats to the surface, use it immediately. Try to maintain the ambient temperature between 2 and 8 C and they should keep for 6 to 9 months.

Preparing Eggs for Cooking: break each egg singly into a cup, before adding it to the other ingredients to ensure it is still fresh. If you wish to separate the white from the yolk, tip the egg back and forth between the two egg shell halves and the white (albumen) will run off. Beat eggs with a whisk or a fork in an appropriately sized bowl, but whip egg whites with a knife on a large plate – a pinch of salt will help.

Raw eggs used to be prescribed for invalids as they are easily digestible, but, this not advisable these days due to the ubiquity of salmonella. One method, presented here for the curious was to strain a beaten egg into a mug and slowly add a cup of hot milk (or tea, coffee or lemon water; add sugar to taste. Sherry was often added too.

Cooking Eggs: eggs should be cooked very slowly because the albumen cooks at a temperature which is lower than that of boiling water and becomes ‘tough’ at higher temperatures. By the same token, if you use raw egg to thicken a sauce and the liquid is allowed to boil, the sauce will ‘curdle’, i.e. the egg will solidify into small specks, spoiling its texture.

Coddling: produces easily digested egg-whites, making it an ideal meal for invalids and children. Lower the eggs into 3″of boiling water; replace the lid and remove from heat. Let it stand for: 7 mins for medium-, 5 mins for soft- and 20 mins for hard-boiled eggs .

Boiling: lower fresh eggs gently into 75mm boiling water with a spoon. Cover and boil gently for 3-3″ mins for soft-, 4-5 mins medium- and 10 mins hard-boiled eggs.

Place in egg cups and tap the shell to crack it, allowing the steam to escape, thus preventing further cooking. For sandwiches, salads etc: boil the egg for 12 mins and plunge into cold water. This allows the shell to be easily removed and prevents a black ring forming around the yolk.

If you want to know more about Welsh food, food in general or cooking eggs in particular, just go over to Traditional Welsh Recipes

Diet Secrets Of The Stars

Monday, June 20th, 2011

The stars always look so marvelous, do they not? Both sorts of stars do. Celebrities as well. OK, we do not see them while they get up in the morning or with a severe hangover, but if we do see them, they always look at the pinnacle of physical fitness and dressed in perfectly tailored clothes. It is their job not just to act and remember their lines but to look good too.

most if not all of them have personal fitness coaches, dietitians and even chefs in order to help them tackle the flab, so it is not really so difficult for them as it is for us, but the penalty for gaining weight is more severe, they might not be offered much more work, which would mean falling out of the limelight and that would be a serious matter for any celebrity.

Therefore, it is not astonishing that most stars have their own favourite tips for staying on top of the weight difficulty that faces most individuals each day of their lives. Here are seven celebrities’ pointers on how they accomplish it.

Jennifer Aniston: follows the 40:30:30 method of counting sorts of foodstuffs. That is:

40% of what she eats has to be slow-burning, low glycaemic foodstuffs like beans, root vegetables (like swede and potatoes), dark-green leaves (like cabbage) and fruit (like bananas).

30% of what she eats has to be lean-to-fatless protein such as skinless chicken, tofu, turkey, ostrich, veal, fish and low fat dairy produce.

30% of what she eats must contain essential fatty acids such as oily fish, nuts, seeds and olive oil.

Kate Hudson; placed on 60 pounds during her pregnancy but was determined to lose it especially after the media was so cruel to her about her size. She did it in four months by concentrating on eating only high protein, but small meals often and training rigorously. This sounds a lot like the Atkins diet, but it worked for her and now she looks better than ever.

Oprah Winfrey: uses a similar plan to Kate Hudson’s. She works out at least five days a week and tries to consume predominantly fish, nuts, fruit, beans, seeds, chicken and vegetables. She is especially cautious to avoid, but not completely cut out, white sugar and white flour and last but not least, she does not eat anything after 19:00 hours.

Gwyneth Paltrow: has a regimen that is comparable again. She too avoids white sugar and flour, but follows a macrobiotic diet of vegetables, brown rice and very lean meat and fish. She does not eat any dairy produce at all and does yoga every day.

Madonna: also does yoga every day and follows a macrobiotic diet of organic vegetables, brown rice and fatless protein. She has given up junk food entirely.

Claudia Schiffer: will eat only fruit before noon and after noon she adds salad and steamed vegetables to her diet, She drinks lots of tomato juice and herbal tea and is particularly fond of black grapes.

Christie Brinkley: is a strict vegetarian, who has also eradicated all forms of junk food from her diet. She snacks on sweet potatoes and if she puts on a couple of pounds, she goes on a crash diet of fruit juices.

Do not forget that these celebrities have paid and almost certainly still are paying thousands of dollars for this advice, so if one of these outline diets appeals to you, do some more research and test it out free of charge. It works for them as you can clearly see.

If you would like to know more about Welsh food, food in general or the essentials for a healthy diet in particular, just go over too Traditional Welsh Recipes

Choosing Your Patio Garden Furniture

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Once you have finished making your patio, your deck or your lawn, you will unquestionably start thinking about how you can enjoy more time in the garden. Therefore, you will need some garden furniture. Many places sell garden furniture. You can try home improvement centres, large department stores and garden centres. There are also companies on line that will deliver. The hard job is picking your garden furniture.

There is a very broad choice of designs of garden furniture – a style to suit every person and complement every garden. So, before rushing down to the garden centre, it is worth considering for a while what you would like to accomplish with your open-air seating area. Do you want a theme? Do you want to entertain or dine there? Or do you just want to sit peacefully, take pleasure in your garden and read a magazine?

Indeed, the answer may well be a permutation of all those things. If you simply want to sit there with a drink and a book, you may be satisfied to just buy a couple of chairs and a small table, but if you want to have guests or eat family meals outside, you may prefer a more substantial table. A large oak table would be quite costly, but it would look magnificent and last for a ten years or more.

If you choose a table, you will have to have chairs to match, but do you want loungers as well? They could be of plastic and kept in the shed until wanted.

You will probably need some type of shade. This can be given by folding, even removable umbrellas or by overhanging trees or shrubs. Wisteria or clematis can do the task as well and cost you next to nothing.

Do you intend cooking in this space? If you do, what and how? Do you fancy a barbecue pit or a proper hob and oven? A lot of people in regions where the climate permits are doing a great deal of cooking outside in a carbon copy of an indoor kitchen, but without all the walls.. If you plan the outdoor kitchen carefully, you will be able to use it in the rain too. I find it lovely not to have kitchen smells in the house and cooking out of doors is a good experience as well.

If it gets nippy in the evenings then you can consider getting some patio heaters. They are not expensive to buy or to run and one standard patio heater can keep quite a crowd of people warm. (By the word ‘standard’ here, I mean upright, like a lamp post).

Lighting is the last major consideration in the list when deciding on garden furniture. There are actually two sorts of garden lighting to mull over: lighting to see by and lighting to lure insects away. Again, you could use standard lamps to light up your patio. They cast their light far enough so that you can still look at your garden after dusk or you could have individual wall light on dimmers.

The one light I would definitely have is a mosquito lantern. Hang this away from where you sit, because they do draw insects to them which they then electrocute with a pleasing zap.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present involved with visual comfort lighting. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Outdoor Wall Lamps.

How To Safeguard Your Financial Life

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

The first step on the road to financial stability is clearing your short term debts, which is basically everything except your mortgage. The second is to have some sort of emergency fund, what individuals used to call ‘savings’. I read somewhere not so long ago that the average bank account has less than 300 in it – it seems to be a very sorry state of affairs, when a new set of tyres for the car can put most of us in debt.

My father used to say: “If you can not afford the tyres, then do not buy the car”.

That has always seemed a decent rationale for running my financial life and has always stood me in pretty good stead. Saving is a good habit to get into and should be encouraged in children even to the point of letting kids purchase Premium Bonds (in the UK), which is nationalized gambling (the combined interest on the bonds nationally is given out every month as prizes).

The next question is how much do you need to be safe. Well, there is no real answer to that question. At least not in real monetary terms because we all have different financial needs and responsibilities, but you could say enough to support you ‘in the lifestyle that you would expect’ for at least three months. Perhaps even six months, if you do not have a right to social security payments in the country where you live. It would be nice to have a year’s worth would it not?

So, if you can do that, why have a credit card, you may be wondering. Well, a credit card saves you having to carry your gold around with you like the rich men of old had to and it makes Robin Hood’s task more difficult too.

It also makes financial sense to be given thirty days free credit on purchases while you are earning thirty days interest on your money. Credit card purchases over a certain amount usually confer additional rights on the purchaser too – advantages like free insurance against loss for a year.

If however you are only beginning down the road to financial independence, the first thing you should concentrate on is paying off your credit card debts. Mortgages are a financial tool that can save you tax, so do not worry about them too much, just make certain that you never- ever – miss a payment. In fact, stay one or two payments in advance, if you can.

I know that this all sounds terribly simple and I know that you are thinking that it is not, but you are wrong. It is simple and the earlier you begin, the easier it is. Learn to put money away every week. If it is too late for you, teach your children. You might think that the banks are ripping you off – I think they are as well – but what else can you do?

Put money away each and every week and be proud to see the amount rising. Be proud that you can afford a new set of tyres, but hoping that you do not have to buy them is all right too.

Have you had a few financial knocks recently? Should you be Safeguarding Your Financial Future? If you do, please go over to our website called DIY Credit Repair

Putting Down Hardwood Floor

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Hardwood floors nowadays are being used to replace the use of carpets in different homes. Aside from the fact that carpets are so hard to clean when it gets dirty, it also looks old easily. So instead of using carpets, many homeowners switch to installing hardwood floors in their homes. Aside from being convenient, hardwood floors are also very easy to clean and to take care of. Here are some of the steps to guide you in installing your new hardwood floor.

The installment of your new hardwood floor includes two parts namely the preparation and the installment proper. With the preparation, you have to start by clearing out the whole area. Remove all the furniture, rugs and the like situated on that part where you will be installing your floor. You also need to remove your carpet and you have to make sure that you also removed the tack bars there.

After clearing the area, you still need to sweep off the floor to get rid of the dust and debris left. You may opt to use a vacuum cleaner if you think that the sweeping does not do the work so well. With the use of a regular glue gun, you need to apply the OSB or the Oriented Strand Board onto the sub-floors. You have to attach then the red rosin paper to the OSB.

To proceed with the installing proper, place a 3/8-inch mark away from the baseboards where every floor joint is located. This is to prevent the expansion or contraction of the floor due to temperature and weather changes. You will then have to place your hardwood flooring over perpendicular the baseboards where you placed the marks at. You have to start on the longest wall.

Through the use of a hammer, nail or tack bars, attach the hardwood flooring by nailing it into the sub-floor. Always make it sure that you won’t nail into the surface of the floor as it will damage the appearance of the hardwood. You have to continue with the construction of the tongue and groove flooring. You have to use a pneumatic nail gun to ensure that they will hold in place tightly.

You can do in your home the installation of the new hardwood floor of yours in replacement of your looking old and very hard to clean carpet. It’s as easy as this process and you can do it without the help of paid assistants.

Learn more about wood floorings. Stop by Hazel Mccoy’s site where you can find out all about cleaning hardwood floors and hardwood flooring reviews.