Saturday, October 3, 2009

Retaining Walls Suffer From Moisture Problems

Whether you're driving down the road or through a neighborhood and you notice a retaining wall that has large cracks in it, or is severely discolored, or one that has white calcium deposits from moisture covering the entire wall, you've got problems with moisture.

The retaining wall is designed to hold the dirt back, that's it's sole purpose. It's not going to hold any moisture back unless someone has installed a waterproofing membrane to separate the soil from the concrete block wall. If the soil isn't ever going to get wet, then you probably don't need to waterproof the retaining wall.

However that's normally not going to be the case. So we need to waterproof the interior of our retaining walls to eliminate future moisture problems that could eventually, deteriorate as moisture starts to accumulate, inside of our block wall for a longer periods of time.

If you don't know anything about waterproofing, I would suggest that you hire a waterproofing expert. Waterproofing looks easier than it actually is, and might be out of your scope of work.

I'm not going to suggest that you use waterproofing paints, because I haven't seen great results with these products. However, if you're not that concerned about your retaining wall and are looking for a cheaper way to apply any waterproofing materials, these paints might not be a bad idea. Sometimes, Something is better than nothing.

If you live in a relatively dry climate, it might not be necessary to waterproof your retaining walls. But if you live in a damp or moist area, especially an area where the ground is moist all year round or more than six months out of the year, I would suggest that you waterproof the back of your retaining walls.

If you're really interested in basement remodeling and repairs, you should click on this link House Basement Repair Ideas. Get some great home repair advice that can make a big difference on any of your home remodeling projects.

Dryer Vent In Basement Window.

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Bath Vanities at an Affordable Price

Many homeowners across the nation are stuck in their homes do to the tightening of the Credit Industry and the dropping of house prices. However, I have always been taught to look at the bright side of everything and what better way to do this then remodeling. Remodeling is a great way to increase the value of your property and what better place to start the renovations than in the bathroom.

I have been searching high and low for great deals on Bath Vanities that offer quality product with very affordable pricing. There are many places on the internet to buy Bath Vanities, however BasinsAndBathMirrors.com has grabbed my attention for several reasons:

  • quality craftsmanship
  • great pricing
  • unbelievable customer service
  • user friendly website
  • secure transactions

Most of the selection you will find on their site consists of a very sophisticated look. These vanities will give your bathroom a uniquestyle that you have always dreamed of. I just purchased the Mia bath vanity with mirror and not only does my wife love it, but all of our house guests are constantly complimenting us on it's gorgeous style.I have to agree,adding thiseloquent piece of furniture truly made our bathroom one of a kind. I can'twait to see the return we get onour house withthis wonderful upgrade. It'ssure to bea profitable renovation andeye appealing one as well.

I surely hope you are now giving thought to doing some renovations to your bathroom. I promise you will not be disappointed with this vanity selection. These are truly one of a kind fixtures that will add the charm you have always been looking for to your otherwise boring bathroom.

Eric Liddic
LB Trading Company
Bath Vanities

How to Protect Foundation Plumbing Pipes?

If you install any underground plumbing pipes, in your concrete building foundation, you will need to protect them, from the concrete. You can use a variety of products and the most common of them will be a Styrofoam wrapping that can be purchased at most plumbing supply stores.

Let's start with the waste pipes, that are made out of plastic. The concrete could actually start to put pressure on the plastic pipes as the concrete starts to expand and this pressure could actually damage your new waste pipes.

You don't need to wrap all of the plastic waste pipes, only the parts of the waste pipes that will be exposed or in direct contact any concrete, but you do need to protect every copper water supply line that will be buried under the ground or exposed to the concrete, with a plastic sleeve. These products can be purchased again at most building supply or plumbing supply stores.

If these pipes aren't protected properly, you could find yourself within a short time, repairing the pipes that are either inside of your concrete foundation or buried underneath your concrete foundation. Either way, this isn't going to be a good thing.

You definitely need to wrap a plastic sleeve around the water supply pipes that are going to be buried or in direct contact with the concrete. This is a must and most building departments will require your plumbing pipes to be wrapped, before it they will sign off on your rough foundation plumbing inspection.

However, for the waste pipes, you can actually use cardboard to protect them. If you're short on funds, why not grab some cardboard boxes, dismantle them and start using cardboard to wrap the pipes, with a little duct tape.

There are plenty of ways to save money in the construction business, buy a few books, read a couple of articles, with a lot of pictures in this can provide you with lots of construction information, from experience building contractors.

Check out some of the best selling Home Building Plumbing Books all on one website

If you're really interested in basement remodeling and repairs, you should click on this link Home Repairs. Get some great home repair advice that can make a big difference on any of your home remodeling projects.

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Thanks for reading our articles

Tithing Education - Giving From Guilt

If you're part of any organized religion and donate money on a regular basis, do you know where your money is going? Have you ever asked what they are spending the money on? Are you one of those people who feels that your pastor and church leaders know best and never even ask them, because you might feel inferior to them? Have you asked in the past and were told not to worry about it but still would like to know.

Before you give your hard earned money away, whether you're doing it out of guilt or pleasure, make sure you're supporting the right organization. You should never feel the need to donate money if you don't have it to give.

I went to a church that had funds for everything, building funds, starvation funds, church funds and even funds to fund of funds if they ran out of money. Okay I just threw that last part in their but all kidding aside, there's plenty of stuff to be done in our country, to help the starving, the poor and the needy. Why do we need to go to other countries?

I want to make a suggestion to people who can't afford to give their money away but feel guilty if they don't. In the Bible it tells you to give away 10% of your earnings to the church. The part that it doesn't tell you is what to do if you can't afford to give 10% to the church. I personally have known quite a few people who give money out of guilt and fear but will tell you that this is a requirement of their religion and its okay. God will take care of us and he always does.

I don't really believe God, the all powerful all-knowing and loving creator, wants us to suffer, if we just don't make enough money to survive. If you're planning on sending your child to a Christian private school and could only afford to send them to that school, using the money that you were going to tithe to the church, what will you do? Tithe the money to the church so that they can use it to feed hungry people in other countries or build a new church somewhere or help with your child's education.

Some of these decisions are made difficult by religious doctrine and these are the parts of organized religion that I have problems with. When do we use common sense, combined with a little education to seek the truth. Does your religion ask you to seek the truth but not to gather your information beyond their religious boundaries?

Only give what you can afford to give and feel good about it. If you don't feel good about giving your money away, don't do it. Take care of yourself, so that you can take care of others, if you choose to. Living a life of fear and guilt doesn't make sense.

Question Your Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a religious help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

How to Create a Rustic Bathroom

These days, everything is so immediate, futuristic and ahead of the curve. We oftentimes find ourselves caught up amongst the whirlwind of advancing technologies and the endless battle to be fashion-forward and owning the right cars, appliances and gadgets. It's time to stop, take a deep, relaxing breathe, and calm down. Not everything in life needs to be constantly updated. If our past shapes who we are today, why cover it up? Now is the perfect time to "update" your bathroom with rustic style cabinet handles that bridges the gap of old to new.

Go Green
Everywhere you turn, there is a "go green" commercial, green grocery bags or eco-friendly appliances. Adding a bit of green to your bathroom might be the perfect option for you. While to some this means purchasing recycled toilet paper, to others, going green in your bathroom literally means going outside and incorporating your available landscape.

For homeowners with access to lumber, creating more storage space with your local hardware is a great solution. Not only will this limit the resources needed to purchase wood from a store (such as gas money and cost of production), but also, this do-it-yourself project can involve your entire family in a creativity exercise. By utilizing what you have around you, you are literally using your bucolic countryside to redesign your bathroom.

Look To Your Roots
America is known as a melting pot, rich with culture, heritage and tradition. Why not incorporate your ancestors in your new "old style" bathroom? Whether Irish, Italian, Native American, Polish or English or a mixture of everything, you should include a little piece of "you" in your bathroom. For many, a code of arms signifies you and your families' past; by pairing this with a bit of the present, you can create a comfort zone of history.

Get Wild in Style
If you have always wanted to get a little bit wild or exotic when it comes to decorating, your bathroom is the ideal place to express yourself. Using small elements, such as cabinet pulls or cabinet door knobs, you can express yourself in a unique way without overpowering the entire room with conflicting stripes, polka dots or too bold paint colors. Bathroom cabinet knobs nowadays can come in a variety of metals such as copper, iron, chrome and nickel. Additionally, these small elements also come in interesting shapes and sizes. For the outdoorsman, adding fish knobs on your towel rack or shower curtain will certainly compliment any room. Pair this with a soft blue or green paint, and you've got yourself a rustic interior almost instantly!

Be Safe and Secure
Like any good home design, safety and security should always trump design and aesthetic appeal. Be sure to install proper cabinet handles and locks to keep hazardous materials away from children, pets or guests. Ideally, harmful chemicals, prescription medications, sharp items and should be stored in a high storage area, secured with drop latch locks or other child-proof mechanisms. Additionally, hand-held electronic appliances should also be removed from plain view. Not only will this help keep you organizes, but also keeping hair dryers, radios and other items away from water should always be a priority.

Scents Make Sense
What's a bathroom without a fresh scent? If you live in the countryside, the fresh scent of cotton, lavender or chamomile will work perfectly. For the more woodsy or earthy homes, pine needles or cinnamon is a great choice to stimulate your olfactory sensors. If you just simply want a clean, crisp room, light citrus scented candles or soaps help cut through tough odors. Remember, when it comes to the smells in your bathroom, you want to help clear the air, not compete with too many fragrances. If you cannot decide what works best, just use the tried by true method: cracking open.

Jim Richardson is Vice President of Your Home Supply (YHS), the definitive website for Home and Garden products and information on a variety of home improvement products. Your Home Supply offer selections on rustic antique cabinet knobs to help customers design and create their own rustic bathroom. Visit them now at http://www.YourHomeSupply.com

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Rocking the Foundation of Christianity

Whatever you build a house, you start with the foundation, if you're writing a book, it might be an outline for the table of contacts, but when were talking about Christianity, rarely do any Christians ever research the origins or how Christianity began.

Most Christians assume that Jesus was the one who started Christianity, however, he was Jewish and there is a good chance that he never even thought about starting a new religion. I know, Jesus is God and he knows everything and he knew that he was going to start Christianity. Okay, but what if.

That might not be entirely true. We don't have any proof that Jesus was actually a superior god like being. We can speculate or assume all that we want to, however there is very little evidence to support, that Jesus did anything that the writers of the New Testament, suggested he had done.

I would like to challenge most Christians, to do a little research and quite possibly start rocking the foundation of Christianity. It's much more important to understand Christianity than to call yourself a Christian. Will a little bit of research help or hurt you, as you study Christianity.

You can start by looking at the origins of the Bible, the Council of Nicaea, the Emperor Constantine, the missing years of Jesus in the early Roman Catholic Church.

To understand anything, you must understand its origins. Take some time out of your busy life, to start studying the foundation of Christianity.

Do Christians Believe Everything
You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:
Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a Christian Article Library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.
Thanks

Foundation Maintenance Repair

The most important and most commonly ignored type of maintenance repair in the home deals with the foundation. Ignoring this part of your house can be a very dangerous, as well as costly mistake. Proper maintenance will prevent costly repair work in the future.

Steps You Need to Take:

This type of work needs to be done with a trained professional contractor. You will need to call a few different contractors and have them first inspect the area and prepare am estimate on how much it will cost. Most contractors generally give free inspections to potential customers. Getting estimates from at least three different contractors, as well as have your home inspected by a professional engineer is the best way to accurately know what is exactly wrong with your foundations, in any at all.

An important thing you will need to know when dealing with these contractors is to never sign any contract without reading it first. Before you sign a contract you need to know exactly what is in it. If there are parts you do not understand you need to ask them what it means. Do not let anyone pressure you into signing without knowing all of the facts. They may add into the contract other expenses that you are not told about. You will also need to let the contractor know what exactly you want them to do.

This type of repairs can be a major inconvenience, as well as expensive expense for homeowners. However, this is necessary for the prevention of potential major problems with your home. Ignoring this type of maintenance will cause your home to be susceptible to major foundation damage. These types of damages will cost you more time and money to repair than the preventative maintenance, especially in older homes.

Foundation Repair provides detailed information on Foundation Repair, Concrete Foundation Repair, Foundation Repair Costs, Foundation Leak Repair and more. Foundation Repair is affiliated with Fine Home Buildings.