Using Patterned Concrete as a Design Element

Most people take great pains when it comes to creating a look for their home. Color schemes are carefully chosen, landscaping is artfully designed, and patios are situated for both maximum efficiency and visual effect. So many people, though, overlook the use of patterned concrete to tie all of the design elements together and maximize the effect of the look.

Patterned concrete costs roughly the same, or perhaps even slightly less, than other building materials such as cobblestones, brick, tile, or stone. Yet it is far more durable and will last years longer without the need for replacement or repair. Especially when price is considered over the course of many years, patterned concrete is far more cost effective than the more traditional building materials.

Great for Residential or Commercial Use

In trendy regions, such as Ontario, patterned concrete is being used with more and more frequency by homeowners, businesses, and municipalities. In homes, patterned concrete is now being used as part of exterior home design on driveways, walkways, garden paths, patios, balconies, and pool surroundings. On the interior, patterned concrete is used for flooring, countertops, and even for some walls.

Examples of patterned concrete used by municipalities include sidewalks, driveways, pathways, and sign monuments. Look for it in front of businesses, in public parks, in front of public service buildings such as fire and police stations, and through sections of cities to tie an area together.

Commercial businesses taking advantage of the beauty enhancing benefits of patterned concrete include shopping malls and theme parks.

Mimic Any Design Element

The concrete is stamped in such a way that it has the same look and texture of many popular flooring or paving products, including flagstone, cobblestone, brick, river rock, natural stone, temple stone, slate, and even weathered wood. Color can be added to the concrete before it is poured so it not only has the look and texture of your favorite surfaces, but the same coloring as well. Yet concrete will give you greater durability and last many years longer than any of these other products.

Custom patterned concrete has become so popular that the coloring, pouring, and stamping processes have been streamlined and perfected, making it much easier than ever before to include it in your own home or business.

If you are interested in adding the lasting beauty of patterned concrete to your home, office, or commercial business, look for a qualified patterned concrete specialist in your area. They will take great pains to see that the concrete is mixed, colored, poured, and stamped according to exacting standards, ensuring you achieve exactly the look you want with the durability to last decades.

Custom design elements such as stone, brick, wood, or rock add so much to any home or business in terms of beauty and value. Yet they can be costly and require ongoing maintenance and repair. Instead of going the more traditional route, keep with modern times and try custom patterned concrete for yourself. The long-term value and enjoyment you receive from it will be well worth the investment.

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Avail The Applications Of Granite

Granite has wide applications created specially to meet the desire of business people and general customers around the world. The use of granite can be seen every where and most of the people finds its requirement in the world. As most of the people knows that it is created by nature’s progression and upgraded techniques, huge number of them are interested in installing the product in their houses, building and other galleries. It can be used has building stone, sturdy surface material.

High resistance, durability, long lasting, ever glowing material are the specialty of granite and its countertops. Wide number of products can be extracted from the natural stone for making unique installation in the building to enhance excellence, attraction and sophistication for the property. It can be used for public, private building like libraries, courts with effective polishing. Most of the decorative designers suggest that for interior and exterior designing granite is said to be excellent choice. The remuneration by each of the installer will varies as per the service and quality provided for the customers in competent manner.

Huge number of sub products is available in granite like tiles, slabs, countertops, sinks and even more, the customer can make use of it as they required. Best outsourcing and full satisfaction is the result of granite installation. Well experienced installers are available in the market and most of the natural stone companies will be offering such kinds of experts to the people. As people’s requirement, quality installers can be chosen for the prices charged by them.

Nowadays, it fetches more demand in the market and huge numbers of people are engaged in offering the services fruitfully to them. It can be used in bathrooms, kitchen, hall and other rooms which are to be decorative and need luxurious feel. Generally, in most of the houses it will be used in tubs, kitchens to enhance excellent feeling while making use of it. It can be used for wide applications it is designed especially to meet the requirements of the people around the world. So, make use of the granite products like granite countertops, sinks and tiles with applications provided and enhance excellent decorative home as per your desire.

About the author:
Shijina is an expert author for Granite Countertops Houston Tx. She written many articles like Granite Countertops, Granite Houston, Granite Texas, Granite New Orleans and Marble Countertops. For more information visit our site. Contact me at shijina.seo@gmail.com.

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Hemp Building Materials

Hemp can make a cement-like substance that is stronger & lighter than traditional cement

How Are Marble Tiles Made?

Author: Vanessa Doctor

Marble tiles are some of the best materials that you can use in to create aesthetically pleasing but functional architectural designs. These marble tiles are more commonly used in residential areas such as the bathroom, fireplaces, even the hallways of your home as well as the countertops on your kitchen. Marble tile is definitely a remarkable material, one that is difficult to imitate.

Marble, which is a metamorphic rock, conveys different characteristics indicative of its development stage. Marble is usually formed from a re-crystallization process whereby different elements from the rock, such as fossil material and other sundry minerals combine under extreme heat and pressure, resulting into the new rock which is marble.

The re-crystallization process of the marble tile also helps create the unique and aesthetic designs of the marble surface, which are the vein-like virulets that run along the marble slab. These virulets differ in their patterns and designs. No two marble tile or slabs have the same pattern and design, thanks to the virulets, making each marble tile unique.

Each marble can vary in color and size, which is also the same for the vein-like virulets that give the marble tile its pattern. Once these marble slabs are cut into whatever size they are needed for, they will bear the design patterns that the vein-like virulets have left on them.

Once the marble has been formed from the combination of elements, it is now ready to be quarried and used to form the marble tiles that we all love to use in our homes, whether as décor or as an integral part of the house. Marble is usually quarried in large amounts and size, whereby it will be removed from the bordering rock that it is connected to by cutting large chunks of the marble rock, separating it from the bordering rock.

Once the marble rock has been removed, it is then placed in nearby mills wherein it is delivered to be sized. The largest of the marble slabs are usually the first ones to be cut down first since it is the largest. The process continues on until you reach the smaller marble tiles. These small marble tiles are the ones that are used as flooring tile and wall tile in your homes.

In order to give your small marble tiles a well-worn, antique look, you must need to subject it to a process wherein the tile undergoes a tumbling process with sand inside a large drum. It is during this period that the marble tile chips its edges and corners slightly, giving the marble tile a more round appearance. The chipped corners, along with the sand in the tumbling large drum, the marble tile is now processed to have a finished look which is called a tumbled marble.

Once these processes are done, they are immediately polished to give them an elegant look. They are also checked for cracks and “faults” which should be filled by pigmented resins immediately in order to avoid the materialized small fissures to grow in size and damage the marble tile.


Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://tilenet.net
http://www.jump2top.com/%3c/a>

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Natural Stone creates proficient structures

Author: Agnesuma

Natural stone is one of the most durable for all types of floorings. When correctly installed, it would last the lifetime of a house. This durability, combined with the natural beauty of stone, creates it the material of choice where quality and personality are important considerations. In tune with ecological awareness, more architecture nowadays designs around booming geological forms to get connected with natural environment. Creating a fragrant symphony in stone, harmonious and in tune with the elements, modern design blends few forms into a find structure, building upon it to make a quality, which evokes a lasting sense of beauty.

With profound perceptive of natural stone and its reminiscent language, aided by insights into technical structure and intend, architects uses the inherent potential of natural stone to its greatest advantage. To say that natural stone evokes a sense of authentic beauty is, maybe, an irony, but its natural properties in this technology driven age allow its use in many applications more economically than any other material stone.

Benefits of Natural Stones

Natural stone purely fascinates.
Natural stone is normally ecological.
Natural stone is environmentally friendly.
Natural Stone is also varied.
Natural stone is individual.
Natural stone usually ages well.
Natural stone is suited in three dimensional.
Natural stone is appealingly priced.
Natural stone is actually practical.
Natural stone is durable.

Sophisticated mining methods like water-jet-cutting progresses recovery rates of granite and decreases operational costs of quarrying everyday. This, together with advances in production and finishing styles and aggressive global trade make natural stone very cost effective. Synthetic, manmade is just not enough to value a compromise on aesthetic and qualities of natural stone.

Natural stone tile, a comparatively affordable choice to other stone, is made from real stone collective suspended in a polymer binder. All stone flooring tile should have a nonskid, stain-proof surface. If it's only stain-resistant, it should be preserved and routinely resealed for protection. It is extremely significant to clean all spills and avoid leaving unpacked foods on natural stone surfaces. Using coasters under glasses, chiefly if they have citrus juices or alcohol would also assist with the avoidance of staining. You could use a paper towel to blot up spills as soon as possible, and avoid wiping a spill since it would spread the spill. Use a soft cloth to dry the area completely.




Uma is a copywriter of http://www.cangelosi.com/Natural_Stone_Suppliers_Links.html. She had written various articles in different topics on Granite table tops. Contact her at cangelosi2@gmail.com
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A Brief Introduction to Brick and Tile

Author: PaulGlover

Although brick and tile are two of the oldest construction materials, they remain favorites among homebuilders and home improvement specialists today. And there's a good reason for it! Not only is brick and tile beautiful, they're strong and resistant to high winds and they're responsive to temperature - making them premium textiles for shelter and insulation.

Brick and Tile Have A History

Brick has a history that's at least six thousand years old. Made of clay, bricks are made by burning them in a kiln for a specific length of time. The end result is a collection of 2 1/4 × 3 3/4 × 8-inch blocks of heat resistant, strong, and hard block of building material. Their simple production is what lends to this material's historical and cultural expansion.

Tiles of the past were made of clay as well. Only recently have we begun tile production with synthetic plastic. Historically, facing tile is the most common and you've surely seen this style of tile as a flat glazed square. Another style that you might be familiar with is terra cotta - hard-unglazed brownish-red earthenware. Terra cotta is usually applied to brick or plaster.

Brick Types

Different types of brick serve different purposes. The most widely recognized brick is a reddish clay and sand combination that might have a hole in the middle of it. This kind of brick is known as a Kiln Brick. Facing brick is kiln-burned also; however it has a smoother and more attractive surface. As a result, facing brick is used on visible parts of buildings where kiln bricks are reserved for non-visible parts - just like the common brick. You will typically find the common brick along sidewalls. As decoration, brick veneer is thinner (shallow) than the others and is used (with mortar) to surface interior walls.

Brick veneer isn't the only type of brick that's used for aesthetic purposes however. You can create an interesting atmosphere within your home with tapestry brick, which is impressed with a design, or with molded brick, which is shaped into interesting forms (curves, arches, etc.).

Tile Types

Interestingly, you'll find a lot more different kinds of tile than you'll find of brick. We've already introduced terra cotta, but we haven't touched on facing tile (otherwise known as flooring or wall tile). Like facing brick, facing tile is meant for visible areas.

Italian Faience tile is known for it's opaque glazes whereas Spanish Majolica tile is known for its bright surfaces. Dutch Delft tile shows off an oriental appearance with white or blue hues.

You Have A Wide Assortment to Work From

As you can see, you have a wide selection of both tile and brick to pick and choose from when you're thinking about laying out a new floor or wall or even counter top. You're limited only by your imagination and your contractor can help you decide which type of tile or brick is suitable for your climate, lifestyle, or creative goals!

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Bio

Author Paul White represents FloridaHomeBuild.com. A site designed to help home owners from Florida locate local home contractors with their home improvement projects.
Visit Our Site: http://www.FloridaHomeBuild.com


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Timber News for Wood Professionals

"• At the beginning of July, German beech sawmills hinted to an increase in prices for beech sawn timber. The price increases were justified by rising log prices for the coming cutting season and also by strong demand.


• North American hardwood mills and distribution yards were confronted to more difficult market conditions in June. On top of the problems experienced by the red oak market, hard maple was also increasingly difficult to sell. Also, walnut lumber importers expected the market to break down before the end of this year.


• On July 1st, the Russian export tariff on softwood logs increased to 20 percent, but not less than 10 euros per cubic meter. The change in the export tariff for unprocessed wood products is expected to have a long-term impact for Russia’s main trade partners. Russian logs are exported mainly to China, Finland, and Japan.


• The German market for woodworking machinery has shown a surge in growth in 2006, with double-digit increases on all key indicators. Production of stationary woodworking machines rose to a record high of 2.6 billion euros in 2006. That equates to a remarkable increase of 18.8 per cent.




These excerpts only partially show what the wood industry experienced over the past few months. A more complete view over the industry’s evolution can be gained by constantly checking the daily reports on logs, timber, lumber and other wood products on www.fordaq.com, as well as information on forestry and woodworking machines on www.fordaqmachinery.com.



Video reports are an exciting development recently introduced by Fordaq. In a first phase, a series of video reports from Ligna+ 2007 were made available on Fordaq and Fordaq Machinery. Exclusive interviews, product launches – companies were offered the opportunity to learn what was new in the machinery world in video.



Although Fordaq has gone a long way in expanding its client base throughout the world, it does not plan to stop. Different projects are currently underway in Russia and Ukraine, but also in the United States and in China.

Besides consolidating its current activities on different markets, Fordaq is also striving to improve and extend the services it offers on its website.

The categories of products that can be currently traded on www.fordaq.com are: logs, sawn timber, mouldings, parquet, machinery, panels, veneer, wooden houses, solid wood components (bent wood, curved wood, woodturnings etc), structural composite lumber products (glulam bent beams, LVL – laminated veneer lumber etc) and laminated flooring, home decking, exterior cladding, furniture, machinery and equipment, services etc. A job section for wood professionals has also been introduced in the marketplace.



Fordaq’s websites hit a milestone in May, recording over one million visits during a single month. That is a great new record for the websites which have been on a stable growth path ever since their creation, drawing 32,000-50,000 daily visits from wood professionals worldwide.



Fordaq has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. It also has offices in Romania, Italy, Germany, Spain, China, Croatia and Bosnia.

For additional information, please visit http://www.fordaq.com .
"

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The dangers of asbestos

Author: Jeff Lakie

If you read the newspaper or watch the nightly news, chances are you've heard about some of the dangers of asbestos. What is often ignored in these messages, however, is that asbestos also has a number of useful properties. If used responsibly and maintained in good condition, asbestos can be beneficial without causing harm.

What is asbestos? The term refers to microscopic, naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals. These minerals have been used for years by the construction industry. The three most common types of asbestos are chrysotile, amosite, and crocidolite. Asbestos is commonly used in insulation, fireproofing, roofing, flooring, and other building materials. The strength of the fibers and asbestos's resistance to heat make these materials very useful.

Why, then, are people afraid of asbestos? Well, asbestos is a carcinogenic, toxic substance. Asbestos-containing materials are not a health risk if they are left undisturbed. However, if these materials become damaged, the asbestos fibers separate and become airborne. This is when human exposure is likely to occur, as asbestos may be inhaled into the lungs.

While no "safe level" of exposure has been determined, health problems are more common with greater and longer exposure to the fibers. Some of these health problems include asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. It is not true that asbestos causes headaches or sore muscles, as many once believed. Immediate health issues like these are rarely seen. In actuality, most damaging health effects of asbestos exposure don't surface until many years later. Perhaps this is why building buyers prefer to err on the side of caution when asbestos inspections are done.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a program for schools and other building owners in order to keep asbestos fiber levels low. In an effort to protect students and residents, the program aims to teach people how to recognize asbestos-containing materials. It also educates people about how to manage these materials and how to avoid exposure. With proper education and careful management, health risks from asbestos can theoretically be prevented.


About The Author:

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Asbestos Resources a website providing information on asbestos

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