Build Your Own House Quickly And Easily
So you have decided you need a new house. You have looked high and low for one that fits your wants, needs and budget. And while you have seen some very cute houses, you have yet to find one with the fabled `it` factor. You wonder if you ever will. Then the idea comes like something out of the blue. Why not build a house?
Following is a brief overview on how to do just that. Of course, this is a very brief overview. There is more to building a house than any one person can write.
Now, let`s assume that you already have your land picked out, bought, cleared and you are ready to begin the actual planning of your dream house . First, take a blank sheet of paper on which you write the items that must absolutely be in the new house. Then make a second list of the things you would like to have if the budget or other relevant considerations makes possible.
When rooms are mentioned, write down the approximate size desired, either in square feet or give the desired dimensions in feet. These will be only approximate, as they must all eventually be fitted into the completed plan.
You might begin with something like this:
Living Room
350 to 400 square feet
fireplace
large picture window
space for grand piano
wall space for furniture
quiet corner for reading
The second list of things that would be desirable should be consulted once in awhile to see if any of those items can somehow be included in the plan. Possibly, a few luxuries will not carry you too far beyond your budget. For example, the quiet corner for reading may be the bench under the large picture window.
Every successful house plan is made to fit a specific lot. First consider the approach to the property. How will the driveway and the car affect the arrangement? Think of the drainage, the utilities, the use of the land, the public lawn, the private outdoor living, the swimming pool and all the features desired in a modern, up to date establishment.
Final planning is admittedly difficult. We have to begin to make choices, to make definite decisions. Do we want a separate dining room or is a breakfast nook adequate? What kind of roof will be used? What kind of exterior walls will we finally build? These questions and hundreds more will have to be given definite and specific answers before the plans can be completed.
In order to draw the plans accurately and quickly, you will need a few pieces of equipment:
A drawing board at least 18" x 24", preferably 24" x 30",T square and a 12" rule.
Drawing to scale is not difficult to understand. If 1/4" = 1` 0", take a rule and measure off one inch. This will represent four feet of house, ten inches will represent forty feet of house. A little figuring will show that 1/16" on the drawing equals 3" of house. A wall is drawn 1/8" thick, to represent 6".
As you refine your sketches, a pad of graph paper with lines 1/4" or 1/8" apart each way would be easy to work on as you can follow the lines on the graph paper and will not need any other equipment than a pencil to work to scale.
As with anything else, if you are unsure as to what you are doing or have questions, consult a professional.
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Landscape Lights Put Your Home In A Good Light
When a guest arrives at your home for the first time it is likely that the first thing they will notice is the way you have landscaped the areas around your home. And if that guest arrives at night, then only landscape lights can illuminate the care and creativity you have put into your home's surroundings.
It is true that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. That axiom holds true whether we are talking about job interviews or going on a first date, and it holds equally true when talking about our homes.
Having an impeccably appointed home interior is sure to make a great impression on friends and guests, but it is important to remember that by the time our guests enter our home the first impression has already been made.
When a guest arrives at your home for the first time it is likely that the first thing they will notice is the way you have landscaped the areas around your home. And if that guest arrives at night, then only landscape lights can illuminate the care and creativity you have put into your home's surroundings.
Landscape design has become a multi-billion dollar industry. From gardens to hedges, fountains to benches, the landscape business has seen a constant rise in the attention to detail demanded by homeowners. So it is no surprise that landscape lights have an important role to play in that evolution.
Gone are the utilitarian days when a porch light or street lamp provided the supply of lighting for our yards. Today there is a specialized light for nearly any application that your can imagine. The modern lights are versatile, functional, well engineered, and most important, aesthetically pleasing.
There are several broad categories that can be used to describe landscape lights. Accent lights are usually one-piece lights that are used to illuminate a single, broad area. Accent lights come in many forms, from a fixture that resembles a small spot light, to low profile lights that are hidden from view inside a faux rock. No matter what their shape, they can be seen illuminating gardens, trees, flower beds , or even an entire section of a home.
Area lights are a form of landscape lights that fill the roll of the traditional lantern. Unlike accent lights - where the fixture is often hidden from view - area lights are themselves part of the design. The ever familiar post-lantern, or the ubiquitous porch light, are both area lights. And when their design possesses as much form as function, they can rightfully take their place in a well designed landscape.
Bollards are vertical posts that provide lighting , typically used to illuminate pathways or driveways. However, if you want a low profile and sleek way to highlight a pathway, brick lights allow you to take your lights to a higher level. Brick lights are recessed, low voltage lights that lay at ground level or even embedded in a brick themselves.
Accent, area, and path lighting are the most prominent lights on the market; but there are other more specialized options available to those who want to stand out in the crowd. Low voltage garden lights can do what accent lights can not; light a very small area in your garden, like one plant or group of flowers. Flood lights can be used to illuminate a large area, such as an entire yard, as if it were daytime. And do not forget underwater lights to highlight your water features. A lighted waterfall looks even more spectacular at night!
Remember, first impressions are everything, and we entertain in the evenings more often than not. Landscape lights provide you with a means to not only illuminate your home, but to accent, highlight, and frame your home and landscaping in a functional yet artistic way.
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Still looking for the perfect landscape? Try visiting www.landscapediscussion.com , a website that specializes in providing landscape advice, tips and resources including information on landscape lights.
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Window Shopping: Front Yard Landscaping
Plants, trees and shrubs, oh my! There are so many options for your front yard landscaping that, at times, it can seem like the options are too many. From layouts, to designs, to whether you want the sidewalk to go down the middle of your front yard or wrap around the side; the choices for your front yard landscaping are literally endless.
Where To Begin?
Well, the best place to begin is to brainstorm an idea - think about how you really want your front yard to look like. Is this something you want instantly, or are you willing to work on it for a few years? Do you want pre-historic jungle or a more conservative brick walkway lined with flowers? These are the questions you need to ask to start you front yard landscaping project.
Next, after you have a general idea, start laying out what you want to see in your front yard. A lot of what you are going to want to see depends on where you area - but shrubs are a fairly common choice that often looks good, the staple of landscaping if you will. Outside of that, it's a good idea to try and match your landscaping to compliment the front of your house with colors, designs, and various other criteria.
Now, for those of us with negative fashion sense or color coordination, there is a plethora of designer help tips on the internet to help us with our front landscaping deficiency. From what plants to use, to the best arrangement, to how to place the plants that match the house - if you want it, they've got it.
The first stop is Better Homes and Gardens, or bhg.com. This is essentially the one stop shop for all your front landscaping needs in terms of materials, but also in less tangible materials, such as general guidance do's and don'ts for landscaping and, of course, the ever present helpful tips.
If you want some great ideas of places to start, check out servicemagic.com, which has a large database of photos from other's front yard landscaping. This can be a great resource of ideas, materials, tips, and basically anything else you want for your front yard landscaping project. The best way to learn is often to observe those who are already proficient at what they do, and this is no exception. Learn from the best and adapt their ideas to your own.
Article Source : http://www.article-emporium.ca
For more information on front yard landscaping visit www.LandscaperBasics.com/ or LandscapingBasics.blogspot.com/
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Planting A Tree That Will Last For Generations
Many people like to enhanced the appearance of their home by planting trees in their yard. Trees can be a wonderful way to add depth and interest to your yard as well as provide shade and shelter. But planting a tree is not just as cut and dried as going to the local nursery, throwing a tree in your car, digging a hole and sticking the tree inside. In order for you tree to grow up to be a healthy vibrant piece of your landscape, you need to make sure you choose, plants and care for your tree properly.
Before you even go to the nursery to pick out your tree, you need to decide what types of trees to planting a garden where. When deciding this take into consideration how tall the tree will eventually grow. Even though the tree might be very small when it Is baby if you are playing a tree that grows to 40 feet tall you probably don't want it right next to your front steps.
Once you've decided which types of trees you going to plan and we're going to plant them it's time to go pick them out. The key here is to pick healthy plans to start so that your trees will grow up to be healthy and last for generations. Go to your local nursery and take a look at all the trees on the lot. Do some look more healthy than others? Are the leaves the right color for the season? You want to inspect the tree that you are considering buying carefully. look over the trunk and leaves for signs of disease and pests. are sure to turn the leaves over and make sure there are bugs. Make sure that the leaves are not falling off prematurely or discolored.
When you bring your tree home, always make sure to protect the roots during transport and while replanting. In particular make sure that you do not let the roots freezer dry out if you are not putting them in the ground right away.
Once you get it home, you want to dig a hole. The hole should be two to three times wider than the size of the root ball and the same depth. You want to be careful not to plant your tree to deep, so keep the ground level right away the ground level was originally on the tree. Gently remove the tree from the container or burlap again being sure not to damage the roots. when you get your tree into the hole, fill in the extra area with the dirt that you don't have a whole. It's always a good Idea to dig a little well around outside of the dirt that you just put in and you can fill this up with water which will allow the water to drain into the hole where the new roots are instead of running off to some other part of the yard.
When you trees very young you may need to speak it and give it some additional support. Eventually your tree will become strong enough so that no longer needs the stakes. You want to be sure to prune the tree as necessary and maybe even put some mulch around it to protect it a bit in the winter. Otherwise, if you choose a healthy tree and plant it correctly it should not require too much maintenance to become a thriving watch part of your landscape.
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Lee Dobbins writes for floweringtrees.garden-g8way.com where you can learn more about enhancing your landscape with flowering trees .
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Landscape Your Yard With Rose Trees For Stunningly Beautiful Views
If you are an amateur gardener who is looking for a project to enhance the look of the area that surrounds your home, you should consider rose trees. The colorful blooms that come every year will liven up any landscape!
Rose trees, which are at times also called rose standards, are a bit different from your typical rose plant or rose bush. They are actually created by grafting a central cane to rootstock at the bottom, and to a grandiflora or floribunda rose bush at the top. This presents a single, thin cane that protrudes from the ground by about one meter without any leaves. All the flowers grow, or more aptly, burst, from the top of the cane. Miniature roses, you will note, are fashioned by the same process. But whether a rose tree is regular or miniature sized, it will always look like a floral balloon stretched up to the sky.
In order to ensure that the cane that supports the rose crown does not collapse, it is most often necessary to use stakes. This will be even more important for you if you live in an area that is subject to high winds. You must also be wary of sun burning or scalding on the cane, since it lacks any foliage to protect it from the sun's rays. Care must also be taken to shield rose trees from the temperature extremes of the winter. While regular roses only need a layer of mulch applied around their base, rose trees must be mulched all the way up the cane. To do this, you can make a sort of rose tree coat out of chicken wire or some other material, and then line it with mulch, or you can simply relocate the tree somewhere were it will be warm enough, like a green house.
It can also be rather difficult to keep rose trees healthy and growing optimally. Much care must be exercised in their pruning , you must never prune the central support cane, but only the flowering crown. Whatever rose varietal is grafted to the crown will determine how you prune, so find out which one is on top before you begin. If you do not you can harm the rose by pruning incorrectly, making it susceptible to disease.
When you are choosing your rose tree, you will be able to choose from several different varieties. The most recent arrivals on the market are the double decker trees, so-called because they contain two decks of flowers. You might also like to consider a weeping tree, which may be named for the weeping willow. Weeping rose trees have a profusion of flowers that pour out toward the ground, in a series of beautiful tears. For striking views, you might choose the Roseberry Blanket Weeping Rose Tree, whose fuschia blossoms are sure to catch your eye.
In spite of all the extra care that goes into them, rose trees can be a worthwhile pursuit. The views they offer will grab people's attention and provide you with portraits of beauty. Placed well they can turn any normal garden into a magical place.
Article Source : http://www.article-emporium.ca
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as fresh cut flowers at www.freshcutflowersdelivered.com
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Simple Ways To Lower Your Utility Bill
Many water heaters are set way too high. Lowering it even a little bit can save you a lot (from 3% to 5% for every 10 degrees!) Your tank temperature should be at least 130 degrees if you don't have a dishwasher and 140 degrees if you do. Keeping these temperatures low can save you a lot of energy.
Repair Those Leaky Faucets
A leaky faucet, though seemingly small, can amount to lots of wasted water. According to some estimates if you have a faucet that drips 30 drops/minute, you're losing 84 gallons a month, and 1,008 gallons a year! Fixing leaky faucets is quite easy.
Clean Those Washer and Dryer Filters
Most people know to clean the dryer lint filter after every load, but it's also important to keep the washer filter clean. Washer filters, just like dryer filters can clog, making your washer work harder, thus using more energy. Cleaning them regularly will help reduce energy usage.
Use Shorter Dryer Cycles
Most people just turn the timer on their dryer and go. What they don't know is that most of the time, the dryer continues to run long after their clothes are dry! Make sure you know exactly how long it takes your dryer to dry your clothes, and turn it off when they're dry.
Line Dry
An oldie but goodie, line drying can save you big bucks. It also can help keep your house cool in the summer by not bringing in heat from the dryer. Plus it gives your clothes that fresh air smell.
Bulk Cook
If you cook several things in the oven at once (like 3-4 days worth of dinners), it can reduce the energy you use considerably. Another good tip is to don't open the oven door unnecessarily while it's on. This let's out heat and uses more energy.
Use Portable Appliances
Portable appliances like toaster ovens and electric skillets take considerably less energy than turning on the stove or oven. A good thing to remember next time you make pancakes!
Turn Off That Burner
Before item is finished cooking, turn off your electric burner. Residual heat will finish cooking it for you. A small tip, but if you can turn your burner off 2 minutes early every day for a month, that's a full hour of energy you're saving!
Delay Heat-Producing Tasks
In the summer, delay using your stove, oven or dryer until the day cools down a bit. This will help by not making your A/C work so hard, and saving you energy.
Move That Freezer
By moving your freestanding freezer to the basement or garage in the summer, you avoid heat being put out in main living areas. Again, this helps you're A/C not work so hard.
Have your Doors Blower Tested
Many utility companies offer blower door testing. They can bring in a blower door that depressurizes your house. This helps measure the amount of air leakage and shows even the air leaks that you can't see. Contact your utility company to see if they provide this service.
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