Archive for the ‘Home Construction’ Category

In earthquake prone zones, industries usually spend a lot in creating their structures. Their buildings stand on a horde of steel piers and beams on all four sides. If you want to make your house earthquake proof, make it side-light; i.e., with thin walls.

Use layers of clay under concrete construction. All your appendages like water pipes, chimneys should be connected straight to your foundation. If your house is multi-floor, place all your hard objects in the ground floor. The technique replicates a double-decker bus.

You should also go for lightwood furniture, placed near inner walls. Do your earthing well as during earthquakes, wiring takes a beating and chances of short-circuits abound. Give additional scrutiny on your sewage. You may invest in Asian bamboos for floors that provide natural resistance during earthquakes. Strengthen steel girders with solid plinths. Also try to space your house with equal weights in all directions for equilibrium.

If you would go to Eastern temples, you would find them adorned with massive porticos. Portico is basically a pillared lead to the entrance of a building. It is generally built high and with parasol roof. It is almost an addition to the majesty of a house.

There are tetrastyle, hexastyle, octastyle and decastyles prominent even to this day. These are fragments of Roman and French imagination. Palaces would opt for hexastyles in earlier times. To create a portico, you need to first have a grand gateway. Raise your bars from there in a straight line, bracketed by a line of pillars. These pillars should be sturdy enough and not with too much joints.

You can use your garden space to create a walkway to your main entrance. This is however odd-looking for a bungalow or smaller houses. This colonnade is supposed to lend support to the actual columns of your home.

Those who have a spanning house and decks to beautify their terrace must also spare a thought on deck railings. Its official use would be to safeguard from accidents, especially if there are kids at home. They can also be chosen wisely to add just that bit of glamour.

People often go for hardwood railings and fix it to the terrace. You can try out customized railings too. These are largely retractable and can be stored at home when you are off o a holiday. Vinyl extractions also work out well since they repel water and are quite safe during rainy seasons.

Metal railings can also be installed; however they may be slightly expensive at the outset. You should not go for mismatch fusion unless it is a theme home you are working on. Try imagining a Titanic ship and which deck railings would have suited it? You can also go for fabrications while constructing your deck railings.

Now, whenever colonies or complexes are being built, green initiative is usually considered. There are spaces left for gardens. Water filtering is installe to reduce pollution. Even in homes, ventilation is given serious thought. There is space for pots in terrace; so on and so forth.

On your side, you can leave some space in house empty. Use electric appliances minimum. Keep your fans closed if only for a couple of hours daily and survive on natural  endowments. Use ENERGY STAR appliances to save energy and emit less pollution. Keep upgrading your instruments.

Certain plants like asparagus and bougainvillea have brilliant symbiosis with others and should be planted in every complex. Constructors are increasingly advising home owners to go for bamboo floors in bungalows or ground floors. Rainwater harvest is another natural method of generating enough water for usage without applying any electronic instrument. Wallpaper hangings and upholstered ceilings are another efficient way to store warm air within.

Your gardens can be beautified sizably by installing fountains. Although there are normal fountains available in the market, they would induce hidden costs as days go on. You can install specialized fountains with higher initial costs but little else then on.

A comfortable example is creating solar fountain. With a solex, it will operate using solar energy. At nights, charged batteries will act as alternatives. You can  also go for slate fountains for beautiful outlook. You can place small fishes in its auspice or place musical systems to upgrade the look.

You can add jets and sprinklers which will ensure automatic watering of garden plants. You can also be innovative and use rainwater harvest to work up your fountain. Just check out that your fountain should not be too noisy and water circulation is adept so that minimum water is required to put it into top gear. You can add flutes and statues for grandeur.

Prefabrication of house or mobile home is a terminology used for the technique creating the house structure in a factory and then transporting it via a tractor-trailer to the desired place. This way, the square-foot work of the conventional kind is being improvised upon. It is cheaper and can also have great many additions like glass rooms porches, cabinets and so on, just when you require.

Mobile homes are based on futuristic designs giving it a post modernist shape and outlook. Today, prefabricated homes are considered costly and also not meeting the market preference because they bring the winds of change. Also, futuristic designs do not match the conventional psyche. People like brickwork and masonry. It gives them an idea that they are living in strong homes. Another issue that crops up is assuming a loan. Prefab houses are not seen leniently by the lenders and thus the interest rates are much higher for them.

Specialized construction can also be referred to as individualized, personalized or customized construction. Much like haute couture or high fashion, it shies away from any mass style only dealing in the intricate and garish. It is being undertaken at the behest of the rich and the famous, those who have money to fork out. To explain, rich people hire architects, contractors and interior decorators for the purpose of giving a business or residential construction their intended vision.

They do not mind what money it takes and they do not care. This way the buildings are made full of lavish super structures, with a great eye to detail, creation of illusory space, intricate patterning and a look of resplendence. To turn the definition on its head, specialized construction can also mean a group of niche constructors, looking for lower volumes but customized work to bear the brunt of recession better.

9/11 has changed the way the society perceives itself today. Apart from all the lessons that have been learnt, and at a fairly great price, there are construction lessons to be had too. Construction policies and guidelines have drastically improved to shy away from anything close to what happened to the Twin Towers.

For instance, it has been directed that all those building which rise up to more than 420 feet need to have in excess of 3-hour fire resistance rating. Earlier, it was 1 hour. By undertaking the study, National Institute’s of Standard and Technology has ensured that mishaps are partly minimized in future. All the alterations planned in building policies have been incorporated since 2009 in the International building codes. In excess of 3000 deaths and brutal agony has alarmed the environment. But once the hatred has been stifled, safety of buildings has been pondered upon. In this light, the present regulations and new construction ethics seem like a watershed.

Seismic catastrophe result in earthquakes; places that lie in the top seismic belt are more vulnerable to be handicapped by this natural calamity. Thus, it becomes even more important to safeguard structures against earthquakes in those areas. Making the buildings sturdier may seem to be the best idea but then what happens when the earthquake measures a lot on the Richter scale- obviously it will have enough force to turn the construction into rubble. Thus it is wiser to minimize the forces that propel the earthquake in the first place.

Energy dissipating gadgets can be used for enhancing the damping of the system. Secondly, base isolation methods can be used for increasing the natural period of a given structure. The structural members need to be tightened as well for their interplay in the earthquake scene. Girders, columns, beams and the corrugated framework have to be right up to the order.

Constructions need to be guarded against weather reverses. In beach areas, the hurricanes and typhoons play havoc. In temperate areas, the freezing cold and snow create trouble and in the tropical areas, heat and monsoon catches one unawares. Thus it is quintessential to shelter your construction against any such weather debacle.

When the term is used jointly, the connotation becomes different. Weatherproofing refers to flashing or roof flashing techniques employed to cover the passage from where water can leak. Generally, this is done with layering of impervious, non-porous material at incongruous surfaces like chimneys and conduits from where water can jut at a ferocious pace.

Roof flashing or weatherproofing can assume the form of exposed flashing and concealed flashing. The materials generally used for the purpose are bituminous fabrics. Also, the climate and structural framework of a particular construction are also judged prior to using a material.