09.5.2010 | 2:28 am | Flooring
When you are considering the flooring for your new home there are many things to keep in mind. Most of us are working on a budget so we want something that looks good, will last a long time, and not require a lot of maintenance. One of the newer trends in flooring is using stained concrete. Here are a few tips on how to decide if using stained concrete is a realistic option for your home.
Not Just Shades of Grey Anymore
When most of us think of concrete we think of a dull grey surface that you use to see on basement floors. This is now longer the case. You can now get stained concrete floors in several colors. Here is how the coloring process actually works.
Acid Stained Concrete Floors
Coloring concrete this way is through a process called acid staining. The entire process of what is done is a little technical but here is how it works. You take your base concrete floor, it can be a new slab, an old floor, and it can already be painted or just plain. Then you apply a mixture of chemical stains, they refer to it as an acid stain, but the acid is not what actually colors the concrete. Stay with me, here is where it gets a little technical.
What actually stains the concrete to create the color is the reaction between a substance in the hardened concrete called hydrated lime and the water based acidic mixture that contains metallic salts. The very top layer of concrete becomes porous when the acidic mixture is applied. This opening lets the hydrated lime and the metallic salt to react. The water in the solution acts like a catalyst for the reaction and it can last up to one month.
There are a lot of different factors that will affect the actual coloring. Most companies that do this process offer shades of black, brown and a blue green coloring. The way your floors will actually take the color depends on the level of lime in the concrete. The more lime, the more rich your color will be.
The Pros of Stained Concrete Floors
Having stained concrete floors has many benefits. If you are building a new home and begin the process as the slab is being poured it will cost you approximately the half the amount as putting in hardwood flooring. But it is important to make the decision to do it before the slab is poured.
The maintenance need for keeping the floors clean is very simple. You only need to sweep them occasional and wash them regularly with just plain water. You will need to periodically wax them so they maintain their look. It is a great feature and helps with the rest of house’s cleanliness especially if you live where it snows a lot or if you live where the conditions are very sandy.
This is a very environmentally friendly flooring option. You are saving trees by not using any hardwood flooring, and you are cutting out the manufacturing pollution that is generated while making carpet. It will also help with your energy bills. Concrete maintains its temperature very well and does not heat up to quickly and it does not cool down to fast.
If you are an allergy sufferer then having stained concrete floors is an ideal situation. It keeps allergens to a minimum. There is no way for the allergens like dust and pollen to get trapped like with carpeting.
The Cons of Stained Concrete Floors
There are not that many cons to having concrete floors. One of the only cons is that if you decide to do this after the slab is poured it becomes very expensive because the concrete now has an entirely different process to go through to get ready to accept the acid stain.
This is also a project that will be quite hard for the average person to do it themselves. It is not like painting a wall where if you don’t like the effect you just go buy some more paint and redo it. If you take this on yourself and make a mistake it will be costly. So make sure that you first seek a professional for advice on how to do it correctly.
Even though you can have several types of designed scored in the floor and different types of finishes stained concrete floors are limited in their color choices. They can use the colors to mix and give you different effects, but they will only be within 3 color tones.
Getting Them Done
If you decided that you want to have stained concrete floors in your home seek the help of a profession concrete contractor. This project is labor intensive so if you are going to try it yourself make sure that you take all the necessary precautions and do your homework.
This article is sponsored by My Dream Home Registry, the gift registry for everything home. Visit them on the web at www.mydreamhomeregistry.com
Comments Off
09.5.2010 | 12:00 am | Bathroom
Making improvements to your home can have an impact on the value of your home. If you plan well and choose a quality improvement the remodeling project can be a profitable investment. This is true with any section or area of your home. If you are considering remodeling your bathroom using quality materials and ensuring quality installation are important factors. A bath vanity can supply the quality materials that you want to use in your remodeling project. A modern vanity design can be found that is made with only quality materials. A contemporary vanity can be found that uses porcelain, marble and wood. These materials are combined in stylish ways that provide an appealing and endearing unit that will be appreciated by nearly all that see it. A bath vanity can also provide a design that maximizes the space in your bathroom. Providing more free space can create the appearance of a larger room and more a more relaxed feel. A modern vanity can help your bathroom design achieve that. Choosing a contemporary vanity that matches an existing design or décor is one way that you can make a significant improvement to your bathroom without completely remodeling the space.
If you want to completely remodel your bathroom choosing the bath vanity you want first may be a good choice. By selecting the modern vanity that you want, you’ll then have the materials and colors that you want to center the bathroom’s design around. Having a central piece, like a contemporary vanity, can actually make designing your remodel easier. You’ll know what colors to match and what materials will be present. These things can alleviate the stress of an overwhelming number of choices. Having that information from the beginning can help you to save money too. You can begin selecting materials far in advance and you’ll know what to choose. It also helps you to avoid piecing something together at the end since you can choose everything and plan the entire remodel before really beginning.
Your bath vanity can offer quality porcelain sink(s). It can also provide marble countertops and wood cabinets. These elements are combined with style and function in mind. Their appearance will delight while their function will please and ease. A modern vanity does take up less space than many full counter counterparts; there needn’t be any lack of space for the things you want to keep handy. Not only do many contemporary vanity designs offer cabinet space and counter space, but a number of the complimentary mirrors that are designed to match the bath vanity’s design can add additional shelf space to your modern vanity. Your contemporary vanity will supply you with the space you need. The space will also be in convenient locations. This can make the things you need to get done easier to accomplish, another benefit of a bath vanity. You can find a variety of modern vanity designs at www.famousdecor.com now. Give an end to your search and be ready to find the best range of vanity designs at Famousdecor.com.
Comments Off
09.3.2010 | 5:57 pm | Garage
Home improvement projects increase the value of your home, while building skills and giving you a hobby to relax with, making something worthwhile with your hands. One of the simpler home improvement projects to tackle this coming summer is building a new garage.
Before building, you need to figure out how big you need the garage to be. Think about not just putting your car in the garage, but what other commonly stored items will be placed there. Checking out floor plans will give you a good estimate to work from.
Once you’ve determined the size of the garage, it’s time to determine what materials you want to use to build it, whether it’s pre-treated or pressure treated wood or a metal frame and siding arrangement. Both metal and timber garages come in pre-fab construction kits, making the selection one that’s driven by your needs.
If you’re in a colder climate, the timber garages will generally have better insulation than the metal ones. If you’re in a climate with a lot of sunlight, the metal garages will hold up better to the extremes in temperatures.
The first step in construction is getting a concrete slab laid down. This will be the anchor point that your garage is built on. Do yourself a favor and hire a good contractor for this – pouring cement is harder than it looks and it’s very easy to ruin your garage with a badly poured slab and the consequent poor drainage that results.
Assembling your garage from a kit is mostly a matter of following the instructions. With some help from your friends, it’s not unreasonable to put up a pre-fab garage or other building inside of a weekend. It’ll take some quality time with hammers and a nailgun, but the end result will raise the value of your property and give you grist for stories along the lines of ‘Yeah, remember when we put up Bill’s garage?’…
Kinds of Garages
While we mentioned that there are pre-fabricated kits for building your garage, it was understating the extend of these things. A brief internet search on ‘types of garages’ will give you an overwhelming number of answers about this type of construction.
While we mentioned choosing space requirements early on, look for garages that have some expansion ability. In particular, several vendors make garages that are modular components, allowing you to customize the covered area to suit your needs directly and even add on to them later.
If you’re building a timber garage, always go for pressure treated lumber. This is lumber that has had a good coating of protective agents applied by high pressure jets of steam, making it resistant to rot, water, mildew and insects. Even better, it doesn’t need an annual coating of preservative treatment every spring, doing so roughly every three years is good enough.
For a more form follows function construction method, nothing quite beats the benefit of pre-fab metal buildings. They’re often enamel coated and built from high grade steel and aluminum and will last for years with no real effort needed to maintain them. Further, unlike a lot of wooden buildings, they usually have cable mounting brackets allowing you to run wiring for power tools or a small office into them and can be insulated in their void space with spray-in insulation. While this is a bit more involved than throwing up a garage, it can have its merits as well – as families or home-based businesses grow, you’ll eventually need either an office or storage space for your records and backups.
Finally, for appearance, look at how the garage will situate in your yard – will it provide shade, a convenient place to hang a basketball hoop? Do your intended color schemes match your house or complement them? Does your local homeowners association have regulations and guidelines for this sort of building?
Always look, when working on improving your property, for the things that will add the most value for the least amount of effort and investment.
Comments Off