When people consider the materials used in constructing homes, they are most likely thinking about materials such as concrete, wood, metal, and glass. Of the last of those, glass, the most obvious use of glass is likely to be the windows in the house being built. However, whilst glass windows do account for a large proportion of the glass used in house construction or renovation, there are other reasons why glass is required.
Within a home, glass can be used as partitions, as panelling, for use on fitted wardrobes, on cupboard doors, on stairwells, as insulation, for skylights, balconies, and a greenhouse or conservatory. When we say that glass is used for all these, it should be apparent that the type of glass used for each of them is different. For example, the type of glass used for the double glazing in a home is different to the mirrored doors on wardrobes.
To give you further insights into these different types of glass, we have outlined ten of them below, along with their properties and common uses in home construction. We hope you find it helpful.
#1 – Sheet Glass: Molten glass is passed through rollers to create sheet glass. Usually supplied in standard sizes, sheet glass can be cut using glass cutters. It does create a degree of distortion, so it is rarely used for windows but instead on glass structures such as greenhouses or simple glass panels.
If you’re thinking about re-developing your gardens and other outdoor areas, landscaping and garden pots are a great idea. However, it’s also worth thinking about adding a swimming pool. Although they might seem like a lot of work, pools are absolutely worth it in our opinion – especially if you live in one of Australia’s hotter cities.
However, it’s a great idea to speak with a professional swimming pool designer or landscaper, which you could find on Landscape Association before you commit to building a pool. There are numerous design considerations you have to work through before you come up with your final product, and it’s important to make sure you don’t neglect any of these.
Because of this, we’ve put together the following list of things to think about when you’re designing your new pool.
- Its Size
Although this might seem quite self-explanatory, it’s actually not. There is a wide range of things to keep in mind here, otherwise you will almost certainly run into problems.
- The size of your backyard. You obviously don’t want to build a pool that takes up your whole yard. Or maybe you do, whatever, but make sure this is at the front of your mind.
- What you’re planning on using it for? If you want to be able to swim laps in the morning before work, you will obviously need a much longer pool than if you just want somewhere to relax in the evening with a drink.
- Where you want to put it. Again, this is quite obvious, but you need to ensure your pool, along with any paths, fences and garden beds, fit where you want it to go.
Once you’ve decided how big your pool is going to be, you can move on to the next step.
The popularity of glass pool fencing has grown immensely over the past decade or so. It has gained a reputation as one of the most stylish, modern pool fencing styles on the market, which has led to a lot of people using it to enclose their pools.
However, glass is expensive. This means that a lot of people who don’t really have the budget for a decent glass pool fence are forced to use poor quality materials and contractors. This can cause all sorts of problems – not least of which is a poor quality fence that is weak and not durable.
With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of the top 5 reasons why you should always use top of the range glass fencing materials and contractors – even if you can’t really afford them. These reasons include:
- Poor Quality Products May Not Be Legal
All glass products used for building purposes in Australia – including those used to build fences or balustrades – have to conform to the relevant Australian Standards. They have to be toughened, they have to be a certain thickness, and they have to be at least somewhat resistant to impacts and general wear and tear.
However, a lot of poor quality, cheap glass fencing materials simply don’t meet these standards, which means that they aren’t legal. To avoid fines and other penalties in the future, make sure you use top quality glass products that conform to Australian Standards.
When it comes to the question of fencing for your block of land, it is important to choose a style to suit your lifestyle. While the choice may be somewhat restricted by council regulations, there is sure to be some kind of leeway to allow you to choose a fence that will suit both the property and your needs.
Before contacting fencing contractors, think about what you need that fence to do for you. Here are some suggestions: –
- Provide security from break-ins
- Keep children and pets inside
- Match the style of your home
- Be decorative enough to give street appeal on the front boundary
- Provide privacy on the other boundaries
- Keep foot traffic off the lawn
- Designate areas for vehicle access
- Enclose garden areas, especially vegetable gardens
- Keep pets off certain sections
- Simply mark the boundaries
Once you know what the fence is to do, you’ll have a better idea of the kind of fence that you need. For instance, if you want to keep pets off the vegetable garden, you’ll need to have wire netting that goes right into the ground so that dogs can’t dig a hole under it. Cats are rather more difficult to contain since they can climb and jump over fences without much trouble. However, older cats or those that are overweight may be kept away by a netting fence.
There is no doubt about it, and home design has improved exponentially over the last several years. This means that many homes built over a decade ago will be lagging behind not only in looks but also in efficiency and even in value if they have not been upgraded since then. This can be especially noted in the kitchen, which is the home hub and needs to be streamlined and efficient for today’s busy lifestyle.
If you are feeling irritated with your kitchen renovation where nothing seems to be in the right place, here are some tips from Kitchen Professionals to help you update it.
- Replace that short, narrow splashback with one that reaches as high as possible for your particular design. It can be a decorative feature done with bespoke tiles, or choose the layout for the pattern and allow the colour to merge in with the rest of the walls.
- If you have a landline phone nook in your kitchen, you’ll probably want to replace it with a mobile device charging station, like all the most modern kitchens have, with all the cords hidden away.
Statistics show that Australia in general has a love affair with air conditioners and why wouldn’t we when temperatures soar into the 40s and 50s Centigrade each summer? With this summer being the hottest for some time, many more people are turning to get advice from electricians such as Electrician Perth Experts and organizing the split system air conditioner to get a little coolness into their homes.
That brings up the question; which is better, a single split system or a multi head system? Since most people understand the single split system has one outside unit consisting of a compressor and fan, and one inside the head, usually up on the wall, let’s take a quick look at the multi head system.
The multi-head system, as its name suggests, has from 2 to 7 heads that can be on the wall or in other positions, but only one outside unit. This is a bigger, stronger compressor than the single system since it has to run more inside heads. For this reason, you can’t just add extra heads to your single system as it’s not strong enough to make them work.
When you live in a hot, sunny environment, shade is an important factor in keeping cool. Being able to access shade is essential to stay healthy and preventing dehydration and sunburn. According to One Shade these days, shade sails are preferred in many applications to provide shade before greenery such as trees for many reasons.
- Sails offer ‘clean’ shade. That is, they don’t drop leaves, sticks, or flowers over the shaded area. This is an important point if the sail is over the end of a swimming pool since no one wants their pool inundated by unwanted debris that can alter the pH of the water and send you scuttling for the pool scoop.
- The shade provided by sails is even. Trees and other plants provide dappled shade, which means there are spots where the sun gets in. If you lay out in the dappled shade, you’ll get sunburned. Sail material does let through a small amount of sunlight, but it is more even and there is less likelihood of getting badly burned.