Traditional Architecture

The Size of Wall Molding

Conventional wall moldings are sized based on taste. There are some guidelines that will help keep your moldings in scale with one another to give it a classically”balanced” look. Most homes feature at least baseboard and window and door casings, while others have as many as four moldings on a single wall, with the inclusion of crown and chair rail. Selecting the right size may greatly impact the visual impact of your own trim. Baseboard Baseboard molding runs across the base of the wall, against the floor. Typical baseboard moldings possess a detail cut across the upper edge, with a cove, or quarter round molding at the bottom edge. Many baseboards have been 1/2 to 1 inch thick and 3 to 8 inches tall. Quantify baseboard size by its relationship to crown and casing. Baseboard is typically taller than casing is wide, and about as tall as the crownmolding. The…

Saving Water

Are Lawn Auto Oil & Mower Oil Exactly the Same?

In Mediterranean-type climates, mowing the lawn may be a proposition, making lawnmower maintenance a project that is continual. Draining and replacing oil is particularly significant because oil absorbs away the carbon and ash brought on by combustion in the whirlwind of the mower’s little engine. Not all motors use the identical oil. As always, the manual of your mower’s owner should be your guide in selecting what type of oil to put in your machine. Two-Cycle Motors Lawn mowers may be a system that requires a mixture of oil and gas to operate two-cycle motors, or a closed system including an extremely small air-cooled vehicle engine. Two-cycle motors cannot use motor oil. A lightweight oil to lubricate all parts of the engine is required by mixture with petrol. Brands that produce mowers that are two-cycle typically sell oil to their generators. They also specify lightweight oil with designations such as…

Furnishings

Stripping an Oak Fireplace & Staining It Darker

It’s unavoidable that the finish on an oak fireplace may cling to grime and smoke. The finish becomes irreparably cluttered, dries out, cracks and flakes away. As awful as it may seem, It’s not the end of the world. Don’t even think about spending hours using a sanding block in your own hand. It’s not hard to strip oak fireplaces using chemical strippers. With a minimum of sanding, your fireplace is ready for staining and finishing. Never Reduce the List Collect a few supplies and tools before stripping. A drop cloth is on top of the list — you will be creating a mess. Set safety glasses and rubber gloves on the list next. It’s also a good idea to wear long-sleeved shirts and a hat. Insert masking tape for the walls, or anyplace else required to shield areas you don’t need stripped. Get an assortment of paintbrushes for the…

Home Cleaning

How to Clean a Microfiber Couch With Rubbing Alcohol

Durable microfiber couches may take a beating, but as anyone who’s ever spilled a drink about one understands, the material is more prone to watermarks. Cleaning with water or fluid upholstery cleaners might remove dirt, but you are likely to be left with unsightly watermarks. Because rubbing alcohol dries fast, it eliminates dirt without leaving telltale signs. Vacuum the couch with an upholstery attachment to remove loose dirt. Pour 1/2 cup of isopropyl rubbing alcohol to get a spray bottle. Spray a small part of the couch. Spray a white or white dye-free all-natural sponge with sufficient alcohol to dampen it. Scrub the damp section of this couch vigorously. Dry the part with a blow dryer set to low heat. Continue cleaning the couch in small parts, drying each part after scrubbing. Brush the dry microfiber with a nylon-bristled scrub brush to restore the nap of the fabric. See related

Furnishings

Can an Epoxy Floor Finish Be Recoated?

Epoxy floor paint makes a durable, impermeable surface that’s harder than the concrete or wood substrate, but it does not last forever. You can recoat a epoxy finish that has lost its shine or otherwise been damaged, but you’ve got to correctly prepare the brand new epoxy won’t adhere. This preparation must include careful cleaning with a grease-cutting detergent to remove the thin, oily layer that has likely constructed, but might be invisible. That isn’t all, though. In addition, you need to etch the surface to make it tough enough to bond with the brand new finish. Repair chips and holes in the floor. If you use fresh mortar, then allow the repairs to heal for at least 60 days prior to recoating with epoxy. You can also create the repairs using epoxy patching compound, which cures in a matter of days instead of weeks. Mix a way of grease-cutting…

Home Painting

A Steam Rug Cleaner vs. a Spray Foam

Cleaning carpets is a huge chore, with various methods available to help you get the task finished. Steam rug cleaners and spray foam cleaners are the two main possibilities, each with its own benefits. Suck It Up Steam cleaners are the most effective way of cleaning carpets. The cleaners inject a cleaning solution mixed in warm water to the carpet fibers, then eliminate as much of the water as you possibly can using a vacuum. The solution can reach deeper into the fibers compared to foam cleaners, which makes it the ideal alternative for deep stains and built-in dirt. Spray It Away Spray foam cleaners are sprayed directly into the carpet and worked in with a brush before vacuuming with a typical vacuum cleaner. Chemicals added to foam cleaners help prevent future stains and smells, brighten fiber colours and accelerate the time it takes for your carpet to dry. However,…

Tropical Style

Late Summer Flowering Plants

Late summer is the time when most flowers are completing their season. Arranging a long-season booming garden involves planting flowering plants with different seasonal blooms. Late summer flowers fill in the gap between fall and summer flowering plants. Many plants start flowering in late summer and continue through fall. Annual Flowers Summer-blooming annuals grow, blossom and perish in a single growing season. 1 example is the blue shrimp plant (Cerinthe major “Purpurascens”) with green leaves and powdery purple bracts above hanging purple blooms. This cottage garden plant falls seeds after flowering. Tickseed sunflowers (Bidens aristosa) grow to 5 feet tall creating tens of thousands of 2-inch-wide daisy-like flowers with yellow petals surrounding a dark eye. The green leaves are covered with the flowers from late summer through the fall. Remove fading blooms before seeds form to prevent self-seeding. Flowering Bulbs Most bulbs are thought to blossom in the spring, however,…

Tropical Style

Planting Companion Bushes & Perennials for Trees

Planting incompatible companion bushes and perennials around a tree often ends in disappointment and frustration. To avert this irritation, choose shrubs and perennials with soil requirements similar to the tree. Adjusting the soil to suit the companion plants often turns into a struggle that ends without needing to replace them and may have a harmful influence on the tree. The companions should also be short enough to get to their mature height without growing into the tree canopy. Companion Bush and Perennial Requirements Trees, shrubs and shrubs perennials have soil pH requirements. The soil pH should be tested prior to purchasing companion plants to determine whether it’s acidic with a pH of 6.9 or lower, neutral with a pH of 7 or even alkaline with a pH of 7.1 or above. If the tree is booming, the soil pH shouldn’t be adjusted to adapt accent plants. Soil texture also has…