Category: The most important DIY tips from Bayside

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The bathroom is often the most neglected room in any home – are you guilty of this too?

bathroom, diy, home, garden, house, decor, toilet

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The bathroom. We spend hours each day in there. We shower there. We shave there. We perform other bodily functions there. If you look at an average day we’re in the bathroom several times at least. For a room that we spend so much time in how much effort do we put into decorating it? Almost none. Normally the bathroom is the very last place in the home to have any money spent on it. This is despite the fact that it may have visible water damage, a leaky sink with squeaky taps and a bath that is well past it’s sell by date.

Most people will quite happily leave their bathroom in a state of disrepair until they hear that guests are arriving. Panic sets in! That grubby bathroom that you don’t care about may now become public knowledge. Friends and family may get to see how you “really” live. But why let your life progress to the point of utter panic – and always at the last moment. Why not spend a little money and a little time and get your bathroom in order today?

You can choose to make this a DIY Project if you have any skills in that area. If not then don’t take any chances by attempting the work yourself – hire a trained professional to complete your bathroom renovation for you. A word of warning though – make sure you educate yourself on the basic terminology and materials involved by reading a few home remodelling magazines or by asking friends who have completed similar redecorating projects themselves. You need to make sure the entire project is completed in as little time as possible – nothing worse than being stuck without a shower or toilet for days on end.

So where do you start? Well how about expanding the bathroom itself? Is there any square footage that’s not being used to its full extent? Can you knock through an existing wall and lengthen or widen your bathroom? This is the chief complaint of many home owners – that their bathroom is simply too small. Any extra space you can add to the room will benefit the entire house both in terms of usability and in overall value.

If you have a large and bulky cabinet in your bathroom then replace it with a smaller model – normally these cabinets are just filled with crap you never use. If there are any shelves dotted around the room remove these also – again they’re normally just used to hold old soap and shampoo that you “liberated” from that hotel room on holidays. The last step then is to make the most of your window space by replacing any old heavy curtains with small roller blinds – whatever style best suits your bathroom. Just maximize your window space by avoiding clutter.

Color is very important in any bathroom. 90% of bathrooms are decorated using “cold” colours such as blue and very pale creams. Most people use blues because most bathrooms tend to take on an aquatic feel of some kind. The problem is that overuse of blue as a base color can actually make a room “feel” cold. Why not experiment with warmer colors such as yellow, orange and terracotta? These can make even the dingiest bathroom feel very snug and cosy.

The important thing is to create the bathroom you’ve always wanted – with no pre-conceived notions. Let your imagination and creativity run wild and create a bathroom that is truly you!

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The slightest hole, crack or blemish on the skylight, the panels surrounding the skylight or the roof can lead to a leaky skylight so it is important that whoever is fitting your skylight has a good knowledge of all these factors.

Leaky Skylight, condensation skylight, condensation in skylight, skylight

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Why have I got a leaky skylight?

A skylight is an excellent source of both warmth and light for your home and they can enhance the overall appearance of your house as well as giving you a little extra air when required. There are a number of different factors that can lead to a leaky skylight but the most common factor is an improperly fitted or installed skylight. This inadequacy is usually brought about because having a skylight fitted by a professional roofing contractor can cost a lot of money, and people tend to revert to a handyman or, often worse still, doing it themselves. Without proper knowledge of construction regarding the skylight fitting and the roof surrounding it, though, can lead to disastrous results. Even the inadequate fixing of an existing leaky skylight can make things worse.

Use Roofer911 to fix your leaky skylight.

Roofing contractors tend to charge quite a high cost to fit a skylight because they would rather work on better paid, roof installments. That doesn’t mean you can’t find a reputable and highly skilled roofing contractor who will complete the job at a reasonable price. However, because fitting a skylight is a skilled job, as is all roofing, you will need to pay more to have one fitted properly by an expert when compare to paying a handy man to fit it.

Why is my skylight leaking?

The slightest hole, crack or blemish on the skylight, the panels surrounding the skylight or the roof can lead to a leaky skylight so it is important that whoever is fitting your skylight has a good knowledge of all these factors. Of course age, extreme conditions and accidents can also be the cause of your leaky skylight and it is important that you employ an experience and knowledgeable professional to repair the leak as soon as possible to prevent further damage to the skylight, the roof and the inside of the house.

Condensation.

Bear in mind that if you have drip on the inside of your skylight it does not necessarily mean you have a leaky skylight and condensation can often be the cause of sleepless nights and panicking homeowners. This is especially true in extreme conditions. Dryers, washing machines, hot baths and even the occupants of the home can cause condensation to build up on the inside of your skylight and this will inevitably drip off giving the impression that you have a leaky skylight. This becomes even more pertinent when the weather gets colder outside. A build up of ice or snow on the outside of your skylight is a sure fire way to promote condensation on the inside of your skylight and even a small crack means that this condensation can be in between the two panes of glass if you have double glazing.

The damage a leaky skylight can cause.

A leaky skylight causes relatively minimal damage in the short term, however over the long term this damage can become significant so you should make sure that the drops you saw coming off your skylight are actually condensation and not the first tell tale signs of a leak. You may end up having to replace wallpaper, carpets and worse still making structural repairs to the inside of your house (although only usually in extreme circumstances). A leaky skylight may also be indicative that you have bigger problems with your roof so you should get someone out to check it as soon as possible.

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Let’s admit it. Installing hardwood flooring is quite a task and not many do it yourselfers succeed perfectly during their first try.

hardwood floor, hardwood floors

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Let’s admit it. Installing hardwood flooring is quite a task and not many do it yourselfers succeed perfectly during their first try. True, installing hardwood flooring is a skill, but it can be less of a chore and a headache if you go with prefinished hardwood flooring in the first place.

Prefinished means it has already been coated and sealed with translucent film which serves as its protection from daily wear. What finishings can do is shield your hardwood floor from spills and scratches, and make it easier for you to wipe or mop clean.

If you’re thinking of installing hardwood flooring yourself, you can enjoy the greatest ease and convenience with prefinished planks. With prefinished hardwood floors, the task of nailing the flooring to your subfloor ends after the drilling is done.

If you purchased pure hardwood oak or maple (or whatever is available), you will have to apply finishings, sand it down and put on wax and polishers after. The amount of time to perform the task of installing a hardwood floor is halved if prefinished wood is used.

Prefinished floors also have a better finish than most independently finished floors. Because the application is uniform and the volumes of coating controlled and predetermined, you are sure that every prefinished hardwood floor plank is of the best quality. Normally, prefinished floors are thrice sanded and coated with aluminum oxide finish eight times. They are also likely to have been tested for various normal wear situations and made more resilient.

Prefinished flooring is a little more expensive than pure hardwood planks. However, when you do the math on everything that has to be done to make the basic form shine to your liking, you’ll actually eventually spend a lot more with the latter, not to mention the heavy labor that you need to put into it.

Sure, you can argue that you can always hire professionals to do the job for you, but if cost is an issue, then you’ll be thanking the high heavens that somebody had enough foresight to come up with prefinished hardwood flooring. Be a wise and practical consumer. Sanding and finishing entire floorings is a thing of the past. Now that prefinished floors are available, you should spare yourself from the hassle.

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Carpet used to be the most popular floor covering around, but it’s always had it’s problems.

hardwood, floor,laminate

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Carpet used to be the most popular floor covering around, but it’s always had it’s problems. Dust and dirt get trapped in carpet easily, making it difficult to clean, and likely to start looking bad and aggravating people’s allergies over time. It is also difficult to have carpet in nice colours, as light colours are much more prone to being stained by dropped food or drink, necessitating the use of expensive cleaning products that may not even work.

Hardwood flooring solves all these problems. It can be light-coloured while remaining easy to clean, as there is no way for stains or dirt to get attached to it. Wood floors also tend to have interesting natural patterns, which are usually much better than the flowery or swirly-patterned carpets they replace. Also hardwood, as opposed to softwood, will not dent or scratch if heavy objects are dropped or placed on it.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that hardwood flooring doesn’t have problems of its own. To begin with, it is often expensive, as natural materials must be used instead of synthetic ones. It also tends to take longer to lay, as it must be laid in strips instead of being cut to size and laid all at once as carpet can be. Wood floor can lose its shine over time, making it dull in appearance, yet at the same time stays slippery, making it dangerous to walk on in socks.

For most people, though, the advantages of wood floor over other kinds of flooring outweigh the disadvantages. If you’re thinking of getting hardwood flooring, it is usually best to get the highest quality floor you can afford. If you’re not convinced of the value you’ll be getting for your money, have a walk around in a house that has cheap wood flooring compared to one that has gone to some extra expensive: the worst wood floors are little better than laminate, while the best ones can be truly excellent.

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Using hardwood floors for interior design and for home decorating, based on furniture of the eighteenth century may be discussed from different points of view. However, what most people realize is the distinguish details of tables made from that century. Dinner and wine tables were some of those pieces of furniture that could add a different touch of class to your interior decorating. Learn from the history of furniture book, by Frederick Litchfield ideas on how 18th century …

installing hardwood floors,home decorating, decorating, design, interior design, decorating ideas

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Using hardwood floors for interior design and for home decorating, based on furniture of the eighteenth century may be discussed from different points of view. However, what most people realize is the distinguish details of tables made from that century. Dinner and wine tables were some of those pieces of furniture that could add a different touch of class to your interior decorating. Learn from the history of furniture book, by Frederick Litchfield ideas on how 18th century furniture, from the earliest to the present time.

To the latter part of the eighteenth century the English furniture of which time has been discussed on the site belong the quaint little “urn stands” which were made to hold the urn with boiling water, while the tea pot was placed on the little slide which is drawn out from underneath the table top. In those days tea was an expensive luxury, and the urn stand, of which there is an illustration, inlaid in the fashion of the time, is a dainty relic of the past, together with the old mahogany or marqueterie tea caddy, which was sometimes the object of considerable skill and care. They were fitted with two and sometimes three bottles or tea-pays of silver or Battersea enamel, to hold the black and green teas, and when really good examples of these daintily-fitted tea caddies are offered for sale, they bring large sums.

Eighteenth Century Wine Tables

The wine table of this time deserves a word. These are now somewhat rare, and are only to be found in a few old houses, and in some of the Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. These were found with revolving tops, which had circles turned out to a slight depth for each glass to stand in, and they were sometimes shaped like the half of a flat ring. These latter were for placing in front of the fire, when the outer side of the table formed a convivial circle, round which the sitters gathered after they had left the dinner table.

One of these old tables is still to be seen in the Hall of Gray’s Inn, and the writer was told that its fellow was broken and had been “sent away.” They are nearly always of good rich mahogany, and have legs more or less ornamental according to circumstances.

A distinguishing feature of English furniture of the last century was the partiality for secret drawers and contrivances for hiding away papers or valued articles; and in old secretaries and writing tables we find a great many ingenious designs which remind us of the days when there were but few banks, and people kept money and deeds in their own custody.

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Did you know hardwood flooring is better for you than almost any other type of floor covering out there? According to the Environmental Protection Agency indoor air quality is one the biggest health threats people face on a daily basis. Installing a hardwood floor in your home will drastically improve the quality of the air you and your family breath everyday.

Hardwood flooring is healthier in your home because the hard surface does not trap dust and doesn’t provide an env…

wood flooring

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Did you know hardwood flooring is better for you than almost any other type of floor covering out there? According to the Environmental Protection Agency indoor air quality is one the biggest health threats people face on a daily basis. Installing a hardwood floor in your home will drastically improve the quality of the air you and your family breath everyday.

Hardwood flooring is healthier in your home because the hard surface does not trap dust and doesn’t provide an environment for mold and mites to flourish, more at pavingmasonryfloorsworks.paving. Breathing in mold can lead to asthma and chronic sickness in kids and adults. This is better for everyone who lives in your home but especially beneficial to those thirty five million individual who suffer from either seasonal or continuous allergies.

The Environmental Protection Agency also found that toxins like pesticides used in gardens and to clean your home can accumulate on surfaces within your home, most easily in carpeting. This kind of thing is not only unhealthy for you but very dangerous for your children and pets. Too high a concentration of these toxins can cause sickness and also leads to allergies in adults.

When you use natural wood flooring in your home you are also eliminating off-gassing. This is the release of toxins by synthetic materials that can be very dangerous to all in your home. Off-gassing has been known to make people and pets chronically sick.

Hardwood flooring is also a good environmental choice. Wood is a naturally renewable resource and part of the cycle of life. Overall hardwood floors are the best choice for your home, your family, and even the planet. They also add to the value of your home more than just about any other type of floor covering. You can’t go wrong with natural hardwood flooring for you and yours.

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To create great looking hardwood floors in your home requires several important functional and design considerations to get it right. Whether you are considering natural hardwood floors, bamboo, or even laminate flooing – pay close attention to these 7 tips.

hardwood flooring,hardwood floors

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SUMMARY
To create great looking hardwood floors in your home requires several important functional and design considerations to get it right. Whether you are considering natural hardwood floors, bamboo, or even laminate flooing – pay close attention to these 7 tips.

DESIGN STYLES
With thousands of colors and styles to select from today it can seem like a daunting task to make the right flooring choice. To narrow the field down it is recommended that you select a flooring style that complements your overall interior design style. Nothing will look worse that a glaring clash of styles, so make sure your new flooring complements your existing (of planned) interior design. Look here for a quick summary of matching hardwood floors and their design styles.

SITUATIONAL FACTORS
Almost every install will have physical or functional requirements that will further narrow down the scope and selection of an appropriate hardwood or laminate flooring system. Here is a brief summary of factors to consider:

FLOOR TRAFFIC EXPECTATIONS
The quantity and type of traffic you expect on your floors will impact the flooring material you can choose. Laminates offer high durability, as well as wood species that have high “hardness rankings” on the Janka scale. Softer woods are generally not a good selection for high traffic areas.

SUB FLOORING
The quality of any new hardwood flooring installation can only be as good as the subfloor underneath. For the best outcomes, the subfloor should be dry, stable, and level. Concrete subfloors generally are only acceptable for laminate installations, but you should be mindful of installing a quality underlayment the provides an appropriate moisture barrier as well as good sound installation. Poor laminate installations will sound very hollow when walking on it.

HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE
To prevent warping and cupping of floors make sure there is adequate ventilation and regulated temperatures thought the year. Laminates work best in areas that experience higher humidity levels.

INSTALLATION
The time and cost of installation is an often overlooked factor in floor selection decisions. Glueless click-style floating laminate floor systems can be a weekend project for experienced do-it-yourselfers, and can save a lot of installation labor. Other flooring installation methods are generally more complex and will require professional installation in most cases.

WARRANTY
Making a successful claim under a flooring warranty often requires that you can demonstrate the product was installed exactly as per the manufactures recommendations and that the damage is not a product of wear and tear or poor workmanship. Hiring a professional installer and dealing with a large brand name product that has an established track record is your best protection.

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Now you can extend the warmth and look of hardwood floors to your bathroom. All you need to guarantee hassle free use are just a couple of minor precautions in the bathroom.

bathroom remodeling, remodeling, bathroom, hardwood floor, flooring, wood flooring

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When building or remodeling a bathroom, people have shied away from using hardwood flooring in those spaces. The mantra that designers and architects have stuck to is “wood and water don’t mix”.

The inevitably humid environment in a bathroom as well as unavoidable spills and splashes have the power to warp wood flooring, rendering it unattractive and encouraging the growth of potentially destructive and dangerous molds.

However, new finishes for hardwood flooring and creative designs are making wood floors in bathrooms a viable option.

To start with, you have to choose an appropriate wood to use. Choose a hardwood floor rather than a softwood floor, as softwood tends to absorb ambient moisture more, making it more vulnerable to damage. Particularly resilient and strong woods that could work in the bathroom are oak, maple, cherry, ash, walnut and hickory.

Polyurethane finishes on the hardwood floors make the floors resistant to most average bathroom conditions and should work in all but the most unceasingly humid and wet conditions. This finish uses synthetic resin, plasticizers and other film-forming elements to form a watertight seal that remains intact, sans peeling, when the wood expands and contracts.

Even with this finish, certain precautions need to be taken in the bathroom. For example, significant and even small spills should be cleaned up quickly. Leaks from the tub and toilet need to be addressed immediately, something that should be handled regardless of the flooring you choose but particularly important with wood floors.

Other minor additions in your bath could add protection for your hardwood floor and make maintenance easier for you. For example, placing mats with rubber bottoms around the wet areas, like the toilet and the tub or shower, will give a permanent moisture absorber that will save you the trouble of running around paranoid and wiping up every tiny splash. Another similar solution is installing a strip of stone or ceramic flooring around the wet areas and hardwood in the rest of the space. This will provide you with a completely water resistant area in vulnerable part of the bath while adding to the overall design of the bathroom and still giving you the warmth and comfort of hardwood flooring.

Hardwood floors give a space warmth and style that is unmatched by any other material. The physical warmth that the floors provide is also an attractive feature, especially on winter mornings when the cold ceramic tiles make getting up that much harder.

Their unequaled versatility, style and adaptability have made them a prime material for every other room in the home and now new finishes are making them a realistic choice for bathrooms as well.

If you’re not convinced, however, or are unwilling to take on the minor maintenance issues that come with hardwood floors in the bathroom maybe you should consider ceramic tiles made to look like wood. You will still get the warm look of hardwood without even the potential for water related issues.

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Most of us think that because hardwood floors are a rather sensitive and expensive material, we should always seek the help of professionals to get them installed.

hardwood floor, hardwood floors instalation

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Most of us think that because hardwood floors are a rather sensitive and expensive material, we should always seek the help of professionals to get them installed.

Thus, it is comforting to know that with the right tools and the right kind hardwood, it is pretty much a do it yourself endeavor. And because prefinished hardwood floor planks are already available in hardware stores and instructional manuals everywhere, then you really have nothing to worry about.

How do you install hardwood flooring? First, decide whether you want to use oak, maple or cherry, or rustic ash. Oak is the most expensive kind of hardwood material, but it is reputably the best and the sturdiest. If you’re working under a particular budget, maple or rustic ash are also okay and will last as long as oak with proper care and maintenance.

Next, prepare the following materials: the hardwood planks, a vapor barrier paper, a pry bar, a hammer, a speed drill and drill bits, a pneumatic flooring pack (which consists of a nail gun, staples, a mallet, a hose, and an air compressor), a staple gun, a tape measure, a chalk line, and, of course, your how-to manual.

It would be wise to study the manual before you go about hammering away so you don’t waste time. Some hardware stores already have prepackaged hardwood installation necessities so you can avoid the hassle of looking for each piece. Of course, you shouldn’t forget your safety goggles and gloves, as all the drilling and hammering could produce wood dust and can be harmful when inhaled.

Before buying hardwood floor planks, measure the surface where you are going to install them. Order planks that are around 10 to 15 inches bigger to allow room for errors. Expect that your initial attempt will be very challenging, but once you get that first plank in place, the rest should be a breeze.

Get rid of squeaks by tightly nailing the hardwood plank into the subfloor. When cutting, always provide extra space. When you’re dealing with hardwood floors, it’s best to go over and make the necessary adjustments than be left with a space that would look awkward to fill.

If you got a prefinished hardwood floor, then the job is done after you’ve installed the planks in place. But if you bought wood in its purest form, you should also pre-equip yourself with sanding and finishing tools and prepare for another challenging task ahead.

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The type of wood floor you have will determine the type of floor cleaner you need to use. It is very important you choose the right cleaner because the wrong one can cause permanent damage to your wood floors. If you are unsure about the type of wood floor you have there are a few simple ways you can test it to find out. Most likely your floor has either a wax or surface finish.

What you want to do is find an inconspicuous area of your floor to test, usually a in a corner …

wood floor cleaners

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The type of wood floor you have will determine the type of floor cleaner you need to use. It is very important you choose the right cleaner because the wrong one can cause permanent damage to your wood floors. If you are unsure about the type of wood floor you have there are a few simple ways you can test it to find out. Most likely your floor has either a wax or surface finish.

What you want to do is find an inconspicuous area of your floor to test, usually a in a corner of a room. Apply 2 drops of water directly to the floor. If white spots appear under your drops within ten minutes your floor has a wax finish. If the white spots do not appear you probably have a surface finish floor, to be sure take a coin and scratch the surface of the wood. If it does not scratch then you can be sure that your flooring has a surface finish. More details can be found at pavingmasonryoakfloorsupplies.paving.

Cleaners for Wood Flooring with a Wax Finish

You must dust mop and vacuum regularly, usually once a week. You also want to buff the floor every now and again to keep it shiny. Eventually buffing won’t be enough to shine the floor, that’s when you know it is time for a waxing. Before waxing, clean the entire floor with a cleaner made specifically for your type of hardwood. Apply the wax evenly across the entire area and when it is dry buff it out. You should only need to wax your floor once or twice a year.

Cleaners for Wood Flooring with a Surface Finish

Sweep and vacuum your floor regularly. Never use wax on a surface finish floor. Instead, use a surface finish to recoat a dull wood floor. Depending on the amount of traffic on the floor, you may have to apply the finish every couple of months.