How To Choose The Right Lighting Fixtures For Your Home Or Office
There are three ways that lighting is used in the home: general, task and accent lighting. General lighting provides the room with an even background of even light. Task lighting focuses light for doing certain jobs, and accent lighting adds drama to any room.
The lighting choices available to today’s home decorators and do-it-yourselfers are virtually endless because lighting manufacturers are continuously designing new products to match any decor and budget. The most difficult installations are best left to an electrician, but there are many home lighting projects that can be done yourself.
Basic Lighting Fixtures
Portable/freestanding: These include floor lamps, desk or table lamps. Basically it refers to any lighting that can be moved.
Pendant Lights: Pendant lights are hung from ceilings and cast light down. They are used as general lighting and task lighting. Pendant lights include everything from a basic single bulb to extravagant chandeliers.
Track Lights: Track lights are sets of lights attached to a ceiling or wall on a track. The individual lights are movable, which makes track lighting a good option for use as task or accent lighting.
Fluorescent Panels: Fluorescent ceiling panels produce general light with few shadows. Newer-style tubes cast a warmer and more flattering light than the older tubes.
Strip Lights: Strip lights have rows of incandescent bulbs and are very effective when used over bathroom mirrors.
Ceiling Fans: Ceiling fans are available with lights and can compliment any decor. Ceiling fans are easy to install and use only modest amounts of electricity.
Sconces: Sconces are wall mounted units that cast light up or down the walls for a more muted look. Sconces are used for accent lighting.
The type of lighting that you use in your home can also make a difference in your energy consumption and energy bills, so choose wisely. Incandescent bulbs are still the standard in home lighting. The bulbs are very inexpensive and cast a nice warm toned light, but they waste a lot of electricity by generating excess heat. Fluorescent bulbs produce a cooler looking light, and are available in “cool white” “warm light” and “daylight” tones.
Because fluorescent bulbs don`t produce very much heat, they are especially good for areas where air conditioning is used.
Halogen is actually a form of incandescent lighting. The bulbs are filled with halogen gas, which produces light that is very white and much closer to real daylight than either fluorescent or incandescent lighting. Halogen bulbs are quite expensive but they last a very long time.
Hire a Repipe Pro For Your Home Repiping Project
Repiping your home is a job that belongs to a repipe expert and not a regular plumber. This repiping task is a niche in the plumbing industry and a fairly new niche that has been created in the late 1980′s. A regular plumber would not complete your repipe in a timely manner and will not patch your walls back to seamless perfection at a cost effective price. The regular plumber is not buying his repipe materials at a bulk quantity to pass the discount to you. The regular plumber is not trained to repipe houses only, he does it all from cleaning your drains to fixing toilets and everything including the kitchen sink. Compare this scenario to the physician that is a general practice doctor compared to a heart surgeon that only works on hearts. The repipe expert must be fully screened to verify that you get the best possible job at the best possible price.
The repipe expert has a glossy folder that with represent his company and he will charge for his glossy folder a large premium for the credentials and references that he acquired over the years in his glossy folder. The repipe expert should NOT charge you anything for the glossy folder. The glossy folder with the company profile should be only a prerequisite for him to provide you an estimate and not a determination on how you should decide to go with him upon his high-pressure tactics. Please perform your due diligence and make sure that the contractors license, workers compensation, and general liability ( million) are in good standing. Make sure to check at least 10 previous clients in your general area that have used his service and are satisfied. Make sure that the repipe expert will pull permits, call for city inspection, patch your walls to paint ready condition and provide a 100% lifetime warranty on the work because that is the repipe industry standard. The most important factors is to always demand to pay for your job upon 100% completion, avoid paying a single dime until the job is completed and you are 100% satisfied with the entire job from the water pressure condition, wall patching quality, and a final city inspection sign-off.
The repipe expert should give you two choices of materials to use for repiping your home. Copper repiping is the oldest and most popular known in the repiping industry. PEX repipingis a modern alternative to copper repiping and not as known in the repiping industry. Copper comes in three grades, Type M, Type L, and Type K (MLK-Martin Luther King). Make sure that the pipe is USA made and it says it on the actual pipe “MADE IN USA”. There is also soft and hard copper-make sure that only hard copper is installed. Type L is the most popular for a single-family dwelling application and will last between 40-50 years if installed properly with the proper water quality running through the copper pipes. All three grades of copper are the same chemical composition, however, the wall thickness of the pipe is the difference. Type M is a very thin wall pipe and tract home builders use this to save money on the materials. Type L is perfect for a repiping application for a home given the water quality is good with no reaction between the copper and the water components. Type K is a very thick wall copper pipe that can with stand aggressive water and aggressive soil conditions. Copper is an expensive pipe because it is tied to the commodity exchange and the price is determined by supply and demand. The price is very unstable and very hard to predict what will the price be for your repipe because you are the consumer of the material and the repipe expert will provide an estimate according to the price he paid for the commodity at the time he purchased his warehouse stock.
The other material that the repipe expert should educate you on is PEX piping. PEX stands for polyethylene cross linked to make PE(polyethylene) X(cross linked). PEX has three different types, PEX-a, PEX-b, and PEX-c. PEX-a is the Engel method and is the most widely used in the world with thirteen billion feet in service. Pex-a is the most flexible, least likely to kink, has thermal memory, highest degree of cross-linking and the best track record for 40 years worldwide. PEX-b is the Silane method, which does not have a high thermal memory nor a high percentage of cross-linking. PEX-c is the radiation method is a stiff with a low percentage of cross-linking. PEX-a is an American product made by Uponor in Apple Valley, Minnesota with a 25-year warranty. Uponor PEX is 8 times quieter than copper, 100% price stable, and retains the heat within the pipe, will not freeze, good for earthquakes, 100% non-toxic, reacts very well to aggressive water or highly chlorinated water, 100% leak-free. This product requires no torches, solvents, glues, nor chemicals with fewer joints than copper due to its flexibility for a 100% leak-free system that will last at least 50 years.
A repipe expert shall provide a flat rate price for repiping your home with PEX due to the price stability of the product. The repipe expert will be able to
repipe your home quicker with PEX as than copper. All 49 US States allowed the use of PEX pipe for over 30 years, however, California had a long battle with the copper unions to pass legislation 2009. PEX is going to surpass copper in repiping projects by 2020. PEX’s life expectancy will outlast copper because PEX reacts very well to harsh water, temperature conditions, and price stability.
PEX Plumbing or Copper Plumbing? repipe cost? Repipe 1 the repiping specialist has answers for you.
This article was written by Daniel Zilberberg of REPIPE 1, Inc.
Remodeling a Small Bathroom For Less
Bathroom remodeling can be an expensive endeavor but with a little paint and elbow grease, you can give your old bathroom a much needed face lift for a fraction of the cost.
Using paint is the most inexpensive way to change the look of a room. Instead of painting a one color on the walls, try using a faux method like ragging or sponging to give a texture look. Buy 3 colors of coordinating paint and also you try Murals and Faux Painting kit for less labor and work. The end result is beautiful and elegant.
Another idea is to paint a border with one of the coordinating paints and then use a stencil to create a pattern on the border with the second paint.
Instead of changing out your old wood cabinets, repaint them with one of the coordinating colors. You will have to sand them , prime them with latex enamel paint and then add the paint color. A nice accent is to use the same stencil pattern that was used on the wall, on the doors of the cabinets.
To change the formica sink top, just remove the sink, then the top and take it to a carpenter. They can remove the old formica and update it with a new formica that matches the colors of your bathroom.
Use Mr. Clean’s magic eraser to remove old layers of soap scum from you tub, shower and sink. It works wonders and it’s safe too. Car wax the fiberglass walls of the shower or tub to return it to it’s original condition.
Just a few money saving tips and your bathroom will be completely transformed!
Tags: Bathroom, Less, Remodeling, Small
5 Useful items to have around your kitchen
I hope this list gives you some ideas on other ways to prepare your food.
Water
One of the single most important ingredients, yet so often left behind. When you microwave food, add just a little touch of water, enough to put a thin layer on the bottom the dish, cover the whole lot with cling film, then microwave as you normally would. The water will gently steam whatever is with it, and hydrate it. Therefore, your food will not have that nasty dryness that usually comes with microwaving. This works VERY well when microwaving vegetables. If your sauces are a little too thick, then add some water. This may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many people don’t think about it.
Water is also useful for cleaning your microwave- but not just for scrubbing it. Pour out a plastic container full of water (about a butter tub full), but make sure you put it into a very sturdy container (Not a butter container!). Microwave it for about five minutes and the water will evaporate, soaking the inside of your microwave. Take a sponge, and just wipe that grime away!
When pan frying food in a sauce, add a little water very slowly (Too fast and you risk a fire). This will keep your sauce from burning dry quite nicely.
Butter
Try pan frying chicken using butter instead of oil- the change in taste is dramatic. This also works with many other meats, including burgers, mince and pork. You’ll get a much richer taste, but be warned this can make your food much more filling.
Butter is also the basis of many sauces, including rue. If you heat it up and melt it, you can also use it for greasing baking tins and other kitchenware. Adding a nice layer of butter onto a joint of meat before you roast it can also ensure your meat does not become too dry (also called basing). This works especially well with poultry, but I’d advise against using it with red meat.
Salt, Pepper, Vinegar, and Sugar
These are great for altering the basic taste of your food. For example, if you are making a tomato sauce and find that it’s a bit too bitter (as tomatoes can often be), adding a little sugar (which is sweet), can kill the bitterness outright. Remember, the tongue only tastes bitter, sweet, sour, salty and umami (the rest of taste comes from smell). If you can’t get these quite right, then the taste of the food will be off. All you need to do is add the “opposite” taste. For example, if something is too bitter, add a little sugar.
Always put a little salt into everything as it helps preserve food, and also brings out the flavor. Just a pinch is needed, no more.
White Wine, Red Wine, and Beer
A little expensive for some kitchens, but the flavor that can be added to food when using these is extraordinary, especially when used with sauces. Red wine can turn a passable tomato sauce into a delight, adding some white wine to pork can have a similar effect. Adding a good strong beer to just about anything can improve the flavor. As a rule of thumb, never roast food with wine unless you have already put it into a sauce and prepared that sauce. Wine does not have a very high alcohol level, but at the temperatures involved in cooking it can quite easily ignite- especially on a gas cooker. To avoid this, we burn off the alcohol in a controlled fashion:
When frying food, add your wine slowly, then shake the pan a little. You should see a large jet of fire leap out of the pan as the alcohol burns off! This is called flambéing.
If using wine in a sauce, provided you boil the sauce for long enough, the alcohol should just burn out nice and slowly.
Naturally, as the alcohol is burnt off, this means even drivers and teetotalers can enjoy the taste of food enhanced with these drinks- you will not get drunk from eating this food, and if you do, then you’ve done something very wrong (or possibly very right…) somewhere along the line.
Beer is far less likely to ignite and so is safe for oven cooking. Don’t use cheap lagers though, go and buy a strong ale, stout or porter. Try slow cooking a joint of beef and vegetables with a bottle of beer poured into the mix. You will find the result pleasantly surprising. Another good use of beer in the kitchen (apart from fuelling the cook) is as a liquid base in gravy. Simply make your gravy as you normally would, but instead of using meat juices or water, use a bottle of beer. Depending on the type of beer you use, you can get many flavors.
Garlic
Many top chefs and chefing styles say that onions are vital to cooking. I personally despise the damn things; they actually make me physically sick. So I found a much better substitute- garlic.
I love the flavor of garlic, but I’m aware many people are not big fans, so if you’re not you can stop reading now. Garlic works well in adding subtle flavor to foods when included in a marinade. To strengthen the flavor further, cook the food with a clove or two of garlic, crushed and diced. Cut it into slightly larger chunks and it will add a nice crunchy texture when mixed in with things like burgers.
