Stone Fire Pits: Increase Your Relaxation Value

There are certain wonderful smells that define summer and good times. Camp fires and roasted marshmallows have to be on the top of that list. There is something almost magical about sitting around a crackling fire with friends and family on a cool summer night. Now many homeowners are increasing the value of their homes and improving the relaxation potential of their backyards with permanent fire pits. Now a backyard in Rhode Island can be as warm and inviting as a New York campground, but you don't have to burn gas to get there.

Concrete and stone fire pits have inspired artists and designers. There are dozens of different styles to consider for almost any landscape. You'll want to check on local fire codes for regulations - then let your imagination soar.

There are many designs and materials to consider. Let's take a look at some of your choices

Shape - Although the round concrete campfire may be the most popular, don't limit yourself. They can be round, square or rectangular. The long, flat fire hearth design creates an organic feel that blends with other landscape elements.

Size - The size of your outdoor fireplace can include the pit itself, the ledge around the fire area, and the ground area around the stone structure. Do you want this area to be intimate or a social center?

If you are planning on having a wide edge, don't build it too high. If you plan to put up your feet, keep the edge low enough to optimize circulation in the legs. This will prevent your legs from getting drowsy and overheated.

Placement - A fire adds charm to almost any setting, but some locations can also create drama and extra visual dimensions. A fire pit at the edge of a pool or lake will be reflected on the water's surface and create dramatic effects. Consider placing the fire near other landscape elements such as a pond or water fall to enhance existing features.

Water and Fire - If you are in search of a landscape centerpiece, consider combining water and fire with a fountain fire pit.

Materials - As you page through magazines or surf the web, you'll discover many different looks for these concrete campfires achieved by using various materials. Stone masons are stone experts, so use their expertise to choose the best combination of stone for your project.

The base of the pit may be prepared with sand and gravel then filled with concrete. Square sandstone or other stone bricks may build up the walls or a smooth even basin can be built with concrete.

You can change the color and intensity of the flame by adding different material into the pit. Lava rock will create a yellow hot flame. Crushed glass on the other hand will produce a cooler blue flame. Ask your stonemason about the advantages of incorporating a metal fire bowl or stainless steel ring into the design.

Don't forget the ground around the fire pit. You can go for a natural or patterned design using gravel or patio stones.

Reinvent Mosaic Love With Mosaic Tiles

So you love mosaics? Mosaics have a very crafty appeal to them. It is the basically an art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of a particular material. Mosaics can be made out of stone, glass, and every other material. Mosaics have for years been used as a part of decorative art and have been ingrained as a formidable part of interior decoration. There are places where they are even used for spiritual and cultural purposes. Pick up any era from the Romans to the Turks and you will see how rampant the usage of mosaics was and still is at this time.

Mosaics are usually made out of small pieces that when amalgamated and placed together form a certain pattern or picture. Now for all those who love mosaics there are many varieties to choose from. Usually mosaic tiles are made out of ceramic which are cut of different colours and then mounted on a mesh of plastic to form the different sizes. There usually are a lot of cera developers who develop these ceramic mosaic tiles for the large tile companies. Now you would wonder why does this happen? Well, because making these tiles takes a lot of time and human power. It's a pure man-power thing and you require a lot of labourers to do it so people prefer outsourcing to the small developers to do the initial work.

With mosaic tiles you can decorate your walls, ceiling, and floor with a symmetrical or non-symmetrical pattern all to your liking. You can add your own creativity and sense of decoration in your personal space. Mix colours, mix sizes and form any pattern that you feel you want in a particular space. It can also reflect on your mood, your personality, your liking etc. Mosaics are one of the best ways of lending your own personal touch to the house. Like you choose what will stay at your place, what furnishings would adorn your space, the same way you could choose whatever pattern and colour you want your space to have and reflect.

These hap-hazard mosaics are available in different colours and different sizes to suit everyone's choice. There are standard sizes though like such as 3cmx3cm, 6cmx6cm etc. These mosaic tiles are also made from the porcelain material. These tiles are being made of almost every material like the ceramic, porcelain, glass, marble, granite, basalt, limestone and more. There are a whole lot of varieties to choose to from.

Significant Features and Uses of Black Stone Tiles

Black stone tiles is considered the ultimate choice for homes, commercial centers and offices as it is both elegant and sophisticated. These stone tiles are seen in most of the contemporary homes as it exudes an aura of opulence and beauty. It is considered to be the ideal choice for beautifying any area in your home including kitchen countertops, bathrooms, dinning rooms, kitchen floors, walls and living rooms. It is known to give a new tone to your rooms and improve the decor of your home.

Features of Black Stone Tiles

These are among the most widely used tiles in most of the places today. As it is hard in texture, it has a number of advantages compared to the other tiles. These tiles are available in different varieties including various shapes and sizes. It is available in round, square, hexagonal and triangle shapes to suit individual purposes. Most of these tiles are customized according to the needs of the consumers. There are many uses of these stone tiles and some of the most significant uses are mentioned below.

Some Significant Uses

Flooring purposes: These are mostly used for flooring purposes as it is tensile and durable in comparison to the other flooring options. It can be used for both indoor and outdoor flooring purposes. A large number of people prefer to use these stone tiles as it requires less amount of maintenance. So it is often used in areas of high traffic such as kitchen floors, commercial centers, hospitals and restaurants. Moreover, it is easy to clean these kinds of tiles as it seldom retains any type of scratch or dirt.

Walls: It can also be used for decorating walls. There is quite an array of attractive varieties of wall tiles in black color. Today most of the people prefer to use these wall tiles as it radiates an elegant appearance. Moreover, both the online and the offline markets are flooded with a variety of tiles of different shades and patterns to suit different types of homes and commercial centers. These tiles are also used on the walls of bathrooms and kitchens as it adds a touch of style and opulence to the rooms.

Kitchens: Most of the home-makers prefer to use black tiles in kitchens too. Different varieties of tiles in varying designs and patterns have compelled millions of consumers to choose these on kitchen floors and walls. These are also used on countertops in some homes.

Outdoors: These stone tiles are also used for outdoor flooring purposes. It is often used in areas around swimming pools and lawns as a popular flooring design. With a plethora of designs and patterns available in most of the online stores, buying the best variety is not difficult any more.

Black stone tiles are a perfect blend of contemporary style and natural texture which is both durable and chic. With its incomparable versatility, it is considered to be the best material used in homes and offices.

Stone Counter Tops That Create Atmosphere

There is much talk today with concrete products that last a lifetime, have less harmful effects to the environment and is a way to stay green in your remodeling project. While concrete is a good source of material for longevity there are limits to what it can do. If you are looking to update your kitchen and have been introduced to new green products on the market for counter tops, consider using manufactured stone. Made out of stone but much lighter, the quartz-bound process uses resin, pigments and other types of filler then heated to a tough durable slab. Stone is beautiful and natural but also expensive to have installed.

Cultured stone is in the class of cast polymers. By using the precise blend of polyester resin, fillers, catalyst and pigments, a desired texture can be created with chemical reaction and curing. Molds are used to shape the mass and bonding guarantees a hard strong material. Workers trim, polish, grind and inspect each piece then coat with a clear gel to further the durability. Inlays can be done to produce a unique style and enhance the counter top area.

Manufactured stone or engineered stone counter tops are a natural composite of 93% quartz and 7% binder and filler. Unlike marble type compositions, you will not find the distinct designs of swirls in the material as left by marble. You also won't find any pits associated with stone because the quartz is ground down to a powder while also containing bits and pieces for a strong surface. Molds are used to create an entire counter top or sections that can be sealed together with very little minimal seam visibility. Some manufacturers offer an antibacterial agent that is included in the composition process.

You can have your counter top designed with pigments of color to mimic marble or any other type of style you like. The colors and designs of counter tops made with manufactured stone are endless. Glass or mirror chips, mother of pearl, colored veins or larger pieces of quartz that adds depth and clarity are all ways that companies come up with endless possibilities to a stylish counter top. The surface can be polished to a deep shine or honed for a matte look. Colors vary from white, pastels and even the deepest reds or blacks.

Matching pieces can be used as back splashes, inlays in cabinets, or perhaps a desktop. Manufactured stone has many forms that it can take in addition to counter tops that are beautiful and solid. Pieces can be cut to any shape, like rectangular, curved or oval. Visit different companies and discuss your ideas for the perfect natural kitchen. You may have to visit a few manufacturers in order to find just the right artistic style that you are thinking of but anything is possible with manufactured stone. Stay green but with the flexibility of being creative.

How to Get Your House Exterior Rendered

The external walls of all buildings are by far the most important part of the structure.

The roof of course has to be THE most important part of a house because if there was not a roof on the house, the occupants would get very wet!

A big problem with dwellings of all types in northern Europe is the fact that the outside of the property has to be kept in good condition at all times, and in the current recession, the average person cannot generally afford to spend what little money they have, on essential tasks such as repairs and, occasionally, painting and rendering the exterior.

The weather attacks houses all year round.

The walls of houses generally come under constant pressure from the elements and they are guilt in a certain way to repel them, however over time this resistance to the weather is degraded and problems start to appear which usually require some form of expense.

The walls of a house, even if they have something like paint or pebbledash, are buffeted by winds and soaked by the heavy rains at certain points in the year, and even the summer, with the hot sun, can bring its own problems.

The effects of the weather against the walls of houses

When cold weather arrives with the addition of the typical British rain, if houses do not have a good "sound" covering of render and/or a protective wall coating, then the rain water will soak into the house walls and cause more problems.

This is a process that is very similar to a sponge.

A normal sponge that is used in the bath or shower has billions of tiny holes, and they of course soak up the water we use for washing. If the external walls of a house are not generally in good condition and/or freshly painted, the wall itself will soak up water, via billions of tiny holes, and this is called osmosis.

The water will stay inside the walls, waiting for the temperature to plummet towards zero, and when it does, the moisture trapped inside the wall will freeze.

This is the same as when water is put into something like the ice cube tray in a freezer, and after it has frozen, the water expands and that is what happens in walls that need rendering repairs.

This is because as the water expands, the render or pebbledash gets "pushed away" from the bricks and that enables more water to come in, and then ultimately damp will occur in the house

A damp house will need urgent repair.

If damp starts to penetrate through a render coating and inside a house, black mould spots and wet patches can appear inside the rooms. The mould spots are often black or green, but the dangerous part is the fact that they release spores into the atmosphere inside the house, and although they cannot be seen, the spores are inhaled by the occupants and become stuck in the lining of the throat and lungs. In bad cases, this can cause breathing problems and disease.

The solution to damp?

Most surveyors will suggest that if you have damp in the house you should call a rendering contractor or an exterior wall coating company, and there are loads in the UK who can help with this problem of mould.

Typically their work involves identifying the source of the water ingress, curing it, and then repairing or replacing the external render or pebbledash coating.

Render must not be left bare though, because it needs extra protection to stop it cracking again, and causing mould to re-appear, so the application of a spray applied external wall coating, or a waterproof render, would be the best approach, giving a weatherproof finish that in most cases, require little or no maintenance for a very long time.

Advantages of Using Cement Bricks

CEMENT BRICKS

Cement bricks are generally seven and ten MPa strength and are used in all applications such as:

• Residential housing

• Walls where the wall will be plastered

• Small DIY jobs,

• Where it is unlikely that anyone will see the wall.

Advantages of using cement bricks

Using cementbricks to build your house or to extend your house is the smart way to go. Because of their strength, they last a long time. With every building built with it is likely to last longer than other buildings.

The advantages are:

• They last longer

• They are extremely strong

• You can custom colour cement bricks

• More affordable

It allows you to build with ease, and they can be made according to your liking and size. General Size: 220mm x 100mm x 70mm Weight: 2.3kgs Quantity per pallet: 500 Strength: 7 MPa and 10MPa

It takes about 5-7days to create and mould a cement brick, with the right hydraulic pressure and vibration. The cement never stops curing so thus is constantly increasing in strength.

CLAY BRICKS - (Stock, Semi Face & Face bricks) Standard Clay stock bricks are classed by NFP or NFX.

NFP stands for non-facing plaster which basically means it is a wall or building that is going to be plastered. NFX stands for Non facing extra. This means that you could use this as a semi face and it is not required to be plastered.

Ithas very low water absorption and are known for their consistency in quality and shape. These clay bricks exceed the minimum specifications of standards authorities will respect the brick strength,water absorption,efflorescence and dimensional stability to be.

General Size: 220mm x 100mm x 70mm Efflorescene: Nil to slight Water absorption: 10.9% Strength: 14MPa - 41.1MPa

Advantages of using clay bricks

Clay bricks provide a good solid foundation when you are building. They come in handy, for any building project, whether you are extending your house or building a new one. Clay bricks are very reliable, and are used,loved and come highly recommended by most builders. The reason why builders use clay bricks, is because of the great advantages. These are the advantages:

• Fire resistant

• Low carbon footprint

• Claybricks are very strong

& reliable

• Highly affordable

In general, your project will determine whether you will be using face, semi-face or cement bricks. If you want the more affordable option, you will need to plaster the wall with the face/ semi-face bricks being more expensive.