Monday, October 5, 2009

Keep Your Bathroom Safe With a Walk-In Bathtub

Even though it may look harmless, the bathroom is actually one of the most dangerous rooms in your home. There are all kinds of dangers in there, lurking with your cosmetic creams and shower necessities. That's why you can take a few precautions to make your bathroom a little safer space, so you don't have to worry about it. Just follow these simple tips and make your bathroom as safe as possible.

One of the biggest hazards in the bathroom is water on the floor or shower floor when there is no grip. Slipping on a wet bathroom floor or in the shower is a very real danger, so you should make sure that you minimize the likelihood of this accident. Using bath rugs not only protects the floor, but gives you a safe place to step when you are exiting the shower or bathtub. Your bath rug will also capture that stray water that may escape and soak it up, lowering the possibility of you slipping on the floor. In your shower or bathtub, make sure to buy a non-slip waterproof bath mat that you can put on the shower or bathtub floor so that you won't slip while bathing.

Another way to really protect yourself and your loved ones is to take out the old standard bathtub and get a walk-in bathtub instead. The hazard with standard tubs for kids and for those with limited physical mobility is that you have to climb up and over the side of a bathtub to get in. A walk-in bathtub takes this accident waiting to happen balancing act out of the equation, so that you can just walk right in and walk right out of bathtub like you do the shower. If you have an elderly parent at home, a family member with physical limitations, or you don't want to worry about your children slipping on the way in or out of the bathtub, then a walk-in tub is a great investment for your family.

Keep everything organized and put away in your bathroom, because another common accident in the bathroom is tripping over things on the floor or slipping and not being able to grab anything to steady yourself for fear of bringing a bunch of stuff crashing down. A clean and tidy bathroom helps prevent accidents, so make sure to keep your floors clear and your toiletries and necessities organized and put away.

If you would like more information on walk-in bathtubs or any other kind of bath tubs, please visit the Simply Bathtubs website.

How Many Bathrooms Do You Really Need? Building New Homes

When my dad was a kid, they lived in a two bedroom house with one bathroom and the family consisted of him, his two brothers and his mother and father. When I grew up, we have it a little bit better. We had the same sized family as my father did, but we lived in a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms.

How many bathrooms do you really need? Think about it. Here's what I would like to suggest, if you have more money than you know what to do with and would love to help the economy, then you should put as many bathrooms as you need in your home.

If you really need to tell your friends, that you have a 250 bedroom house with 275 bathrooms, and you have the money to pay for it, do it and knock yourself out. However, if you are building a new home, I would like you to consider, this question. How many bathrooms do you really need?

If you want each one of your children to have their own bathroom, then go for it. It will require more cleaning, more money to build these bathrooms and is it really necessary.

Here's what I would suggest as a guideline for deciding, how many bathrooms you really need. One bathroom for two or less people, two bathrooms for five or less people and three bathrooms for eight or less people. You could actually add one bathroom for every three people as a general rule of thumb.

Don't get carried away and start installing bathrooms all over your house, it doesn't make sense. Bathrooms are expensive and I have been in the homes, where I was the only person that used at bathroom. Some bathrooms might not ever be used.

Click here if you are looking for some more Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

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.

Click Here If your looking for some great Bathroom Ideas or Bathroom Remodeling Contractors

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Which Shower Will Be Better For Your Home?

If you're planning to buy a shower for your home but do not have any idea on what type and design is suitable for the plumbing structure of your house, do not worry. This article will help you in knowing some features of modern showers and in making a comparison among the different types of showers that are widely used. Definitely, everyone would like to have a shower of good quality that operates well and can add beauty to the bathroom.

Before installing a shower, there are several things to consider and questions to answer before one is guaranteed of a wise investment. The design and area of the bathroom must first be considered among other things. Others things may include:

-Budget for the shower and installation cost.
-Any previously installed heating system.
-Pressure provided by the main water supply.
-Is there any existing system providing hot and cold water?
-Is the electricity suitable for electric showers?

Answering these questions can help you find the most suitable type of shower for your home. The next section contains a list of different types of showers to aid you when choosing the features you are looking for.

Electric shower:

Electric showers have become more popular these days because of the convenience it offers. Electric shower is directly connected to the main water supply and must be connected through a 10 to 15mm water pipe. To ensure reliability, it is recommended that an isolation valve must also be installed. The water pressure at the main entry should be at least 1 bar.

Before the installation, it is necessary to check the capacity of the electric fuse. Electric fuse above 60 amps is recommended. Fuse, switch, and cable should also be considered when installing the system. A10 mm cable will be appropriate. In all cases electric circuits must have a double pole switch used to turn the electric shower on and off for daily use and emergency purposes.

Mixer shower

Mixer showers are designed to mix hot and cold water in a special valve where the desired temperature is regulated before reaching the shower head. Such showers are compatible on both high and low pressure water source. There are two types of mixer showers: thermostatic mixer shower that can maintain water temperature in a selected degree and manual mixer shower where water temperature is determined by the flow of water. The rising and falling of the water dictates the water temperature.

Today, thermostatic mixer showers are a lot cheaper making it affordable for everyone to own. A disadvantage when using mixer shower is the design of the installation. It is connected to other point from the water supply. Sharing the water in various points will change the water temperature dispensed by the shower.

Power shower

Power shower is a modified mixer shower that has an integral pump that maintains the pressure of water and helps increase or decrease the force of spray through shower head. This type of shower can be installed even with low pressure water supply.

Choosing the best design to suit your needs will definitely give you the best return of investment. Not just that. A well designed and suitable shower will enhance the look of your bathroom adding relaxation and warmth on every bath.

If you are looking for more information then feel free to visit electric showers and electric power showers.

How Wide Should I Make My Carport? Planning Your Next Project

Whether you live in a home with or without a garage, you might be thinking about building a new carport. You've came to the right place and by the time you're done reading this article, you should have acquired a little more valuable information for your next home remodeling project.

Some homeowners install carports in front of their garage, on the side of their homes or even in their driveway. Car ports can be built anywhere on your property, as long as you have enough room and access to these areas for a car to be parked safely.

The most important thing to remember, when building a carports, is the width that will be required to park your vehicle underneath it. You will need to allow plenty of room, so that you will be able to access your vehicle comfortably.

There are plenty of carports, all over the country that are built right next to something, like a retaining wall, the side of your home or even another garage. I myself have parked in carports that were too small and over a period of time became an annoying inconvenience.

The minimum width that I would build any carport would be 10 foot wide, if you're going to build your carport next to a building, I would suggest that you park your car, open your door and measure the width of your car, with your door open.

This will give you a comfortable width for building your new carport. This is the best advice I could give anyone, who is planning on building a carport.

Garage Building Tips

If you're thinking about building a garage and San Diego County, we would be glad to help, for more information click on this link San Diego Garage Building

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 my articles.

Discount Hotels - On the Internet

Everyone loves to travel and everyone loves to travel cheap! While traveling, you tend to spend the maximum on transportation and lodging. A hotel is one thing you cannot even compromise on, even if there's a dearth of resources. Everyone longs for a comfortable stay when he ventures out of his home and at a rate that suits his budget. Discount hotels heed to all your wishes and make your stay and vacation an occasion to remember.

To find discount locations was a cumbersome task earlier. Not any longer. With the proliferation of internet in every household of UK, life has taken a turn for the simple. Things are accessible to you by a mere click of the button. Similarly, keying in the words 'discount hotels' will present before you a plethora of websites that will offer you a list of budget hotels, fulfilling your requirement in the destination of your choice.

Hotels give discounts to its customers for various reasons. Sometimes, because of the negotiation power of the guests and sometimes due to the off-season. Moreover, internet users are given a special preference and status these days by the hotel owners. They keep a reserved quota of rooms for the online guests and these rooms are not made available to the regular guests. Also, a special discount is offered to the online customers by various hotel chains.

Also, reserving discount hotels through the internet also has one more benefit. If you happen to make the transaction through a cashback portal, you would end up getting richer! Book your discount hotel through a cashback portal for your next vacation and you would get back a percentage of the amount that you spend on their site!

Avail great discounts offered by various hotel chains throughout the year. For that, you just need to research a little and a hotel of your choice in the destination that you wish would be offered to you at a rate that suits you budget.

Adam Jaylin provides you best and latest info on Discount Hotels and Travel Package Deals

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Plumbing Problems and Solutions - Repair Manuals

If you've owned a home for over 20 years, there's a very good chance, that you've had a water pipe break, a drainpipe clogged, a toilet that wouldn't flush right, or a water leak that damaged part of the home. If you don't know, what you're looking for and you have no idea what damage can be done, over time, this could mean trouble for the homeowner.

Plumbing problems like these have been around and will be around for many years. Knowing what to do about them, how to repair them and what materials will be needed, can be found in plumbing repair manuals for books. How would you like to have a professional plumber to advise you on your plumbing repairs. What if I told you that you could have a plumbing professional on hand at all times. Is this something that you might be interested in.

Well I can't guarantee that, so let's forget about what I just said and go to the next best thing. Plumbing repair manuals are full of tips and advice that when needed can sometimes be priceless. If water is leaking from the ceiling in your home and you have no idea, where the water is coming from or how to stop it from leaking, any information could be priceless and I mean priceless.

Plumbers, usually charge over $100 an hour for emergency service. I've seen plumbers come to peoples homes, turn the water off to the house, stop the water from leaking and now it is no longer an emergency. The plumber quickly pulls out an invoice for the plumbing repairs and it could be over $1000, if you decide that this is ridiculous and choose not to pay it, the plumber can hand you a bill for stopping the water leak. Some of these bills are what I would consider quite ridiculous, for just shutting the water off.

You're not paying the plumber for the amount of time it took him, you're paying him for his knowledge. If you knew where to shut the water off, you wouldn't have an emergency situation and could contact a plumber during normal hours. This could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

With a simple home repair manual or a home plumbing book, you could prepare yourself for a situation like this and other plumbing problems. Most home repair manuals have general solutions and advice and can solve most of the problems around your home. If they can't solve all of the problems, they can probably save you from major catastrophes like a water leak.

Most of the time it's not the water leak that will cost the most money, it's the damage the water will do to your furniture, carpeting, wood flooring, walls or ceilings. A little information and preparation can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Home Plumbing Books

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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.

Designer Bathroom Ideas

It is hard to believe that seventy-five years ago most people in the country went outside to use the toilet. In fact there was a dedicated folk-lore attributed to the outhouse or "biffy" and presently there are outhouse museums sprinkled across the country that attest to this interest. Morning washing was performed in the bedroom in front of a basin filled with hot water from the stovetop. The weekly bath was in a tub pulled in the middle of the living and filled in the same way. These scattered rituals were drawn together into one room after the Second World War that became a three-fixture room dedicated to it all.

In recent years the modern designer bathroom has expanded from the basic rectangular ensuite. In fact the different functions of the bathroom have been expanded into two or more rooms that show that bathroom's metamorphosis into an end-use area of the home instead of the transient, functional place. In other words the bathroom area has become a living space.

Relaxation and privacy are two of the new functions along with a lot of other, new bathroom ideas. It is a region of the home that can be completely cut off from the noise and hustle of the other areas like the kitchen and games area. In many ways the new bathroom is the reward at the end of the day's work or workout.

Shower

The early showers were hand-held wands that hooked up to the faucet. The bather sat in a deep tub and held the wand overhead to get the effect. Later the wand was clipped to the wall or a long, vertical extension pipe was attached to the faucet with a showerhead fastened at the top. In both cases a circular, shower curtain bar was also fastened to this attachment so that the bather could stand up in the tub. From the outside-the-wall shower systems to single-unit, fiberglass shower-tubs the new bathroom began to take shape within a generation. The shower of today is an enclosed cabinet that performs basic shower applications but closes tightly to allow for a steam bath and a vaporous, rainfall shower. In addition there are fold-down, cedar seats for two and foot massaging tanks. These functions as well as chromatherapy lighting and an entertainment center are operated from a "smart panel" where each function can be pre-programmed. This makes showering a multi-staged operation with its own soundtrack. In the new bathroom shower the curtains are missing but not missed.

Soaker Tubs

Like showering, bathing has seen a transformation as well. Taking a hint from the Japanese large soaker tubs are replacing whirlpool or jet spas in new bathroom remodeling projects. Rather that shooting torrents of water these tanks operate in a more "zen" application using hundreds of bubbling ports on the bottom of the tub to release hot air. The result is a tingling sensation of millions of bubbles as if the bather is immersed in a glass of warm, carbonated water. Overhead a water feature directs a solid beam of water from the ceiling to the soak tub and chromatherapy lights in side the tub slowly change scenes in a preprogrammed format. And for those who do not want to be entirely cut off from the world and LCD screen is there for movies or sports.

Relaxation Room

After a long soak or steam bath there is a small room complete with a massage table and heat lamps to relax and read or watch television while automated fingers knead and soothe. There also can be a small library or magazine stand in order to get caught up on articles that would be missed during the busy lifestyle. A separate cot or single bed is also an option for a nap and this can double as a guest bed.

Lighting

In conjunction with the chromatherapy lights the ambiance of the whole space can be preprogrammed to dim or brighten at intervals. This "scenic" application adds to the relaxation and is instrumental in providing a complete recharging of the body and mind. So instead of spending money on patios or kitchens homeowners are looking to expand the bathroom area. And in their zeal to get this added space many are not opposed to cannibalizing, that is pushing into other spaces like walk-in closets and guest bedrooms.

For more articles on bathroom remodeling and many others, visit HandyAmerican.com. Your one stop online resource for home renovation and landscaping articles. And a great asset for finding just the right service provider to help with all your remodeling needs. With free project posting services for homeowners requiring the services of a reliable contractor in their locality.