Choosing colorful granite countertops

Now you can easily search a counter top of an attractive color to enhance the prettiness of your kitchen. It is very simple, just go to the supplier and ask for some samples of granite tops. Take those samples at home, compare and match them with the furnishings of kitchen and then deicide which color matches best with décor of your kitchen. After taking decision, go back to the supplier and ask him to show the slab of same color. If it fulfills your requirements, you can buy it for countertop of your kitchen. “Dark granite best matches with lighter cupboards, cabinets and décor of the place”, say some homemakers.

Granite countertops are available in various shades of white to browns, reds, greens, blues black etc. The most popular choices are brown and beige. Granite counter tops with cool polished surface offer an excellent surface for rolling out pastry dough. These countertops are hard and tough, extremely scratch resistant and keep their luster longer than other materials. They are inflammable and do not let bacteria grow on them randomly.

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Making a trendy master bedroom

You can give ornamental touch to your master bedroom with elegant furniture, romantic lighting, soothing colors, attractive curtains, fireplace etc. Fireplace is a pretty addition to create a romantic atmosphere in master bedroom. It offers a royal look and warm feeling and makes your bedroom a beautiful paradise. You can use fresh flowers to spread fragrance and cheer up master bedroom. Any charming window treatment gives finishing touch to the beauty of the room. Cover windows with curtains to maintain privacy when you need it. You can use valances, drapers for windows as they are of light weight. Wooden blinds add luxurious feel to your bedroom. For warm and cozy feel in master bedroom, lay wooden flooring or laminate flooring. Carpet is another good choice to create luxurious feel in master bedroom.

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How to accessorize kids’ room curtains?

Kids want to seek pleasure from every object inside or outside of the house. They are attracted towards colorful curtains, bright accessories, themed wall papers and playthings. So while you are going to decorate kids’ room, always remember their interests for colors, patterns and themes. Here are some choices of curtains’ accessories in kids’ room.

• Curtain Rods: Curtain rods are used not only to hang curtains but also to enhance the prettiness of your kids’ room. Wooden curtain rods give a cozy look to their room. Since kids like trendy and stylish things in their room so you can choose from a variety of metal curtain rods such as solid brass, chrome and brushed chrome etc.
• Curtain Tiebacks: Curtain tiebacks are used to tie curtains with windows. You can make tiebacks of same fabric for curtains. For a dramatic look, you can make tiebacks of contrasting material.
• Curtain Tassels: Tassels offer stylish touch to kids’ curtains. They are available in different colors. Attractive colors of tassels make your kids’ curtains eye-catching. You can make tassels of same fabric for curtains.

For more options of accessories in kids room, click on this link.

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How to refresh your bathroom?

A refreshed bathroom keeps our body and mind revitalized throughout the day whereas a damp and smelly bathroom increases the growth of bacteria, mold and mildew and creates unhygienic environment. Here are given some tips to eliminate bathroom odor for the delight of bathing.

• Clean bathroom floors regularly: If bathroom floors are not cleaned daily, they become unhygienic and give unpleasant odor. They must be cleaned to remove dust and hair and be mopped with detergent soap and water to remove decaying things. Wash the floors with clean water and make them dry with clean coarse cloth.
• Wash bathroom curtains and floor mats: Bathroom curtains, floor mats and towels give musty odors due to bacteria and mildew. You can avoid this problem by using clean curtains and floor mats in your bathroom. They should be changed daily to keep your bathroom fresh.
• Clean clogged drains: Clogged bathroom drains create odor in bathroom. You can do water flushing daily to prevent drains from clogging. Also flush the drain after 3 or 4 weeks by pouring the mixture of one cup of baking soda and one cup of white vinegar. After one hour of pouring the mixture, also pour some hot water into the drain and flush it thoroughly. You can use plunger to unclog the drain. If bathroom drain still emits odor, pour either bleach or white vinegar down the drain to make it odor free.

For more tips on how to refresh your bathroom, click here.

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Embellish your garden with gurgling fountains

Garden fountains enhance the beauty and functionality of your garden filled with flowers or plants, shrubs and trees. You can choose from various designs of fountains ranging from statues, ornamental platform and wall fountains. Fountains not only increase a beautiful accent to your garden but also refresh the surrounding environment. If you have a large garden, you may choose a large garden fountain. For small garden you can choose a statue fountain or free standing fountain. Garden fountains giving water fall look make your garden more elegant. A statue fountain in water pond looks like a center piece of garden. You can fix fountain in a small pond in garden. Fountains are one of the main attractions and boost up aesthetic sense of the exterior décor of your house.

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Ideas for teenagers’ bedroom décor

While decorating teenagers’ bedroom, remember the taste and needs of your teenage boy or girl. You need to be creative to make their room amusing. Your teens would like to sit on comfy beds and prefer stylish dressers and trendy storage choices. Colorful curtains, appealing rugs and good-looking wall accents enhance the beauty of their rooms.

• Ornament bedroom walls: Colorful paintings, oil portraits, black and white photographs etc. offer a charming look to your teenagers’ bedroom. You can stick their favorite photographs, greeting cards etc. on walls. Also display the artwork of your teens on bedroom walls to give a personal touch to their room.
• Select right bed: Choose appropriate bed for the full comfort of your teenagers. Beds with storage are very useful in your teen’s bedroom. Bunk bed and loft bed are suitable for teenage boy or girl. For small space bedrooms, bunk bed is an ideal choice to save the space. You can add an element of fun and creation with loft beds.
• Place lovely bean bags: Use bean bags and ottomans for sitting purposes in teenagers’ bedroom. Bean bags are available in various shapes and designs such as banana shape, round shape, football shape etc. They offer stylish look to your teens’ bedroom. For spacious feel, you can place a long loveseat sofa in their bedrooms.

For more decorative ideas on teenagers’ bedroom, click here.

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Tips to make a small space bigger

Lots of people live in small houses facing problems due to cluttered space. If you are facing such problems, GharExpert has solution to untidy space. Here are given some easy tips to make your small home comfortable, clutter free and organized.

• Remove clutter in the room: To make the room organized clear unnecessary stuff from small space. Place essential articles on shelves and organize stuff behind doors, table skirts. When the things are neatly arranged, small space looks more open.
• Choose natural or artificial lighting: You can opt for natural or artificial lighting to make your room look larger. Open outside windows to let natural light enter the room. Track or recessed lighting makes small space bigger also. To reflect light and maximize the feel of space, you can use large frame mirror on a wall or stand a large frame mirror against the wall.
• Use plain upholstery and light fabrics: Make use of upholstery of plain color for furniture instead of dark colors, bold plaids or stripes to save the space. To create interest and stick to neutral tones, make use of textures. Apply soft floral vines or simple stripes to keep the space look simple.

For more tips on small space, click here.

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Various features of TMT bars

Thermo mechanically treated (TMT) bars are high strength deformed steel bars which are used in reinforced cement concrete work. TMT bars have strength, ductility, welding ability, bending ability etc. These bars have following features.

• Earthquake resistance
• Corrosion resistance
• High thermal resistance
• More bonding strength
• Economical and safe in use
• Better ductility and malleability
• High yield strength and toughness
• No loss in strength at welded joints

For more features of TMT bars, click here.

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Tips for Garden Pest Control

Garden pests can be killed without using chemical pesticides that harms you and your family. Pesticides pollute air, water, soil, plants, and animals and cause harm to honeybees, butterflies, ladybugs that eat lots of pests also. To kill pests without chemicals is a good way to keep your environment safe. We’ve identified some tips to control garden pests.

• Grow plants in organic soil that does not let pests flourish. Use one or more compost bins for making compost at home.
• Use ‘Orange Guard’, a non-toxic pest killer. D Limonene, an ingredient destroys insect's respiratory system.
• Grow pest resistant plants like daisies, mint, and rosemary that attract many birds eating pests. Also learn about pests that destroy other insects.
• Don’t spray chemicals to save some pests like ladybugs, ground beetles, and birds that eat other pests and fungi.
• Do pruning to remove diseased parts and leaves of plants so that they can grow well.

For more tips on garden pest control, click here.

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Protect your home from bugs

Bugs destroy household items and create unsanitary conditions in the house. They can enter food items and may affect on the health of occupants of the house. During rainy season the number of bugs is increased but the people don’t take them seriously. We are serious about the problem of insects, so we have identified a few tips to keep them at bay.

• Wash dishes instantly: Wash dishes without any delay as soaked dishes can attract bugs. After washing dishes ensure to drain out water and wipe down the sink.
• Fix instant screen door: You can install instant screen door, an excellent bug checking device into each door, especially in doors to family gathering or at places outside the house. The bug screen shuts automatically with two magnetic fasteners.
• Spray anti termite chemical: Anti-termite chemical should be sprayed on all door and window shutters periodically. Also insecticidal spray should be done at regular interval.
• Check leakages in water supply pipes: Any leakage in water supply and sewer pipes should be checked to avoid dampness which attracts bugs. There is no leakage through rainy water pipes and roof slab.
• Remove all debris and garbage: All debris lying around your home should be cleaned. Also wash inside and outside trashes and recycling containers once a month. Put lids on your trash to keep bugs away.

To know more tips on ‘protect your home from bugs, click here.

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How to make bedroom clutter free?

If you want to make your bedroom a place of recreation, remove clutter and organize all items. To enjoy peace, harmony and sound sleep in your bedroom, use comfortable and space saving beds and efficient storage space to keep your clothes. Fix soft and subtle lighting to set up pleasant mood. Here are given some more tips to make your bedroom clutter free.

• Utilize storage bed: Bed with drawers is used to store things and decreases clutter in bedroom. You can store bed sheets, quilts, blankets, towels, garments, extra curtains, pillow covers, seasonal clothes and other items that create clutter in your bedroom. Futon beds are very functional and save space in bedroom. You can use futon bed as sofa during day and turn it into bed during night. Wall folded bed is another choice of bed as it can be folded into the wall during day and be utilized to sleep during night.
• Install shelves: Shelves are space saver and can be used to place books, containers, boxes, CD’s holders, torch, trophies, computer, and get them organized. You can make three or four small shelves which look like a box on the wall and put a decorative item in single box which looks organized as well as decorative.

For tips on clutter free bedroom, click here.

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How to ensure the quality of white cement?

White cement is one of the important raw materials used for construction of your house. It has high degree of whiteness and is mainly used for architectural beauty, interior and exterior decorations. To make sure the quality of white cement you can apply the following tips.

• Check fineness of white cement: After sieving, the cement on IS test Sieve No.9 (B.S. Sieve No 170) should not exceed 10% in case of Ordinary Portland Cement. The specific surface by Air Permeability method should not be less than 2150 sq. cm/ kg in case of Ordinary Portland Cement.
• Ensure the soundness: Alternatively autoclave expansion should not be more than 0.5% when tested according to IS 269 of 1989.
• Check setting time: Setting time of any type or any grade of cement when tested by VICAT apparatus method described in IS: 4031 should confirm following requirement.

a) Initial setting time: Not less than 30 minutes

b )Final setting time: Not more than 600 minutes i.e. 10 hours

For more info on quality assurance of white cement, click here.

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How to keep your home during rainy season?

Rain is a fun but it may affect your health if your home is not ready to face the problems due to rain. To avoid any problem and enjoy rainy weather, make sure you have checked all related elements of your home before the start of rain. Here are given some tips that you can follow before/during rainy season.

• Fix ventilators to remove dampness: the humidity of rain reaches the contents of house and can cause harm to the health of occupants. To remove humidity and ensure enough cross-ventilation and fresh air throughout the house, fix ventilators in high humid areas of the house.
• Protect wooden cupboards and drawers: The moisture of rainwater can destroy articles put in your cupboards and drawers. To protect clothes and other valuable things, put camphor balls in your closet. Also you can place Neem tree leaves in cupboards since it also protects clothes and furniture from silver fish.
• Do regular house cleaning: Clean your house regularly to protect it from moisture present in air. Air conditioners and dehumidifiers are good options to reduce humidity levels inside your home. Upholstery and rugs should be exposed to sunlight to protect them from moisture.

To know more precautions before rainy season, click here.

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What affects orientation of building?

Orientation of building offers maximum ventilation and natural light, provides comfortable living in house and saves energy bills as well. There are many factors that affect orientation of building. GharExpert has identified some of them which are following.

• Solar radiation and temperature: Intensity of solar radiation depends on the direction of sunrays. The temperature of a living space increases due to sun radiation and affects whole environment of the house. Solar radiation acts in two ways i.e. one is when sunrays directly come to the house through openings and the other is when radiation comes indirectly through walls and roof of building by absorbing heat.
• Prevailing winds: winds help create natural ventilation in a building and offer more comfort during high humidity. During orientation of a building and designing doors and windows openings, the direction of wind flow should be considered. Fix windows and ventilators at proper location in building to provide maximum air and light. Maximum air and ventilation can be obtained if the level of opening is at the level of occupancy.

To know more factors on orientation of building, click here.

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Precautions for dampness during construction

Dampness creates an unhealthy environment for inhabitants of the house and gradually spoils affected part of the building. To avoid the problem of dampness, you can apply several safety measures during construction of the building. I’ve tried to identify a few precautions for the treatment of dampness.

• Make proper drainage system and fix water supply pipes tightly. The joints of rainy water pipes are fitted tightly and properly to avoid leakages through them.
• Create proper slopes in floors of kitchen, bathroom, roof and “Chhajja” for smooth flow of water.
• Finish the joints of parapet with tile tracing or with rain water pipes and any expansion joints smoothly to avoid stagnant water which could eventually penetrate into the building. Cement concrete gola in corner ensures proper flow of water and protect building from dampness in long run.
• Ensure if rainy water penetrates through the joints of building. If the joints are treated during construction, the water would flow without penetrating into the building.
• Plaster top surface of “Chhaja” and maintain proper drip course to avoid leakage/dampness.

For more pre construction precautions of dampness, click here.

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What are sources of daylighting?

Would you like to enjoy natural light or daylighting in your home? If yes, fix windows, ventilators, skylights etc. while designing building to get the benefit of daylighting. Daylighting creates productive environment for occupants and reduces 30 to 40 % of total energy costs. It depends on color of walls, ceiling and floors such as light color reflects more light than dark color.

Source of Daylight: The Sun is primary source of daylighting and the sunlight comprises following two parts.

• Direct solar light
• Sky radiation

Direct solar light is not taken into consideration during daylighting. Sky radiation is considered while designing daylighting in homes. The value of sky radiation depends on the position of the Sun defined by its altitude which changes with the change in altitude of the area throughout the year.

Daylight Factor: Daylight factor is the quality of daylight in a room. It is the ratio of outside illumination over inside illumination. The intensity of daylight in a room is subject to frequent fluctuations and harshness. It is found more or less constant when the sky is clear or overcast.

To know more about daylighting, its sources and daylight factors, click here.

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How to prepare & utilize ready mix concrete?

Ready Mix Concrete, known as RMX refers to a concrete mix in plastic or unhardened state. It is prepared in a factory or batching plant as per required specification. The concrete is mixed under computer-controlled operations according to quality control norms. At mixing site the ready mix concrete is prepared by mixing Portland cement, water, coarse aggregate comprising gravel or crushed stone and fine aggregate consisting of coarse sand which are procured separately and be mixed in specified proportions.

How to utilize ready mix concrete?
After mixing cement concrete, the mix is carried through trucks mounted with transit mixer on working site and is placed at required component of building/work with the help of sophisticated equipments and methods. Ready mix concrete is preferred to on-site concrete mixing due to non-availability of good raw materials at site, lack of facilities and non-availability of trained technical staff. However, ready mix concrete prepared at sites of longer distances can reduce the flexibility in supply chain and in actual components of the building.

For more info on preparation and utilization of ready mix concrete, click here.

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How to install oak flooring?

Before you begin to install oak flooring, lay base coat and compact earth properly. Level cement concrete in proper slope in ratio of1:2:4. The floor material should be stored at room temperature at least 24 hours before starting installation. The following tips are useful for further installation of oak flooring.

• Clean and level the surface: Keep the surface clean, dry and in proper level before laying oak flooring.
• Start laying oak flooring using wedges: Begin laying engineered oak flooring boards along longest straight wall in the room and use wedges to maintain 10 mm gap between boards and skirting board or wall.
• Ensure proper joints in rows of boards: Make sure that the joints or offsets do not coincide in the rows instead they are staggered. To obtain staggered joints, use full length of board in first row, start with 2/3 length of board in 2nd row and begin with 1/3rd length of board in the 3rd row.
• Fit boards & do finishing: Cut the ends of boards at walls allowing a gap of 10 mm. To fit boards around corners or odd shapes, draw a cardboard template and trace outline of the template on board and use jigsaw to cut out the shape. To fit engineered oak flooring under a doorframe, use handsaw to cut thin slice from the bottom of doorframe allowing boards to slide under it.

Click here to read detailed installation tips.

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Electric Shock – Causes & Preventions

Electric shock is the flow of electrons, electrical current through body. Electric current gives shock depending on the intensity of voltage. Electric shock occurs due to leakage and earth faults in electrical appliances.

What causes electric shock?
Open electric sockets, fallen high voltage line, or any exposure of an electrical energy source cause electrical shock. If you touch electric wire of low voltage, you will get light electric shock but if you get in touch with high voltage electric wire, you would get high electric shock. Electric shock causes pain to our body, generate heat inside body and can damage our tissues leading to permanent disability.

How to prevent electric shock?
Stop electric supply while repairing: Shut electric supply from the mains before taking up electrical repair work. Make sure the power is off using a simple pocket tester, a multi-meter, or lamp, blow dryer or any other appliances after closing power supply.

Make use of good wiring: Utilize good wiring and change any damaged, rusted wiring immediately. Don’t make joints in wiring. All necessary joints should have proper tapes/insulation. Avoid loose connection in wiring and make use of fuse / MCB’s of appropriate. Keep away from overhead lines and do not touch broken wires.

Utilize safety standards: Safety equipments such as masks for dust, safety glasses for eye protection and gloves to preserve your hands should be used at the time of electric works. Keep your face away from the panel at the very moment you turn on or off a breaker.

For more causes and preventive tips on electric shock, click here.
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How to pick textured paint?

Do you want to add stunning effects to the beauty of your home? Opt for textured paint which makes interiors of your home inspiring. They have different looks like gritty look of sand stone or marble stone, wooden appearance. Premixed form of textured paint contains small, grainy appearance. These paints protect walls/ surfaces from weather changes; withstand extremes of heat, cold and rain. They are extremely resistant to Fungs and Algae, peeling, flaking and fading and stay bright. Textured paints can cover minor defects, uneven surface and imperfection in walls. To get more ideas about texture designs, the best way is to look at model houses, go through magazines or pick sample cards showing different finishes available with paint dealers.

For more info selection of textured paint, click here.

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How to design a cottage garden?

GharExpert has found out some guidelines on “How to design cottage garden”. The first step is to plan layout of garden like pathway, seating area, fences etc. A traditional cottage garden has straight pathway whereas a modern cottage garden has curved pathways and the plants are grown along them. Evergreen shrubs are planted in cottage garden. Cottage garden is rich source of a variety of roses. Grow these plants with annuals or perennials of different colors. The plants having soft colors add to the beauty of the garden. A platform of wood or concrete can be provided for seating purposes. Wrought iron furniture and cane furniture can be placed there. A variety of containers such as an old water pitcher, old flower vase and old basket used for planting tree enhance aesthetic sense of the garden.



For more tips on “how to design cottage garden”, click here.

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