Here are a few tips on buying paint brushes.
(From Audels painting and decorating manual)
Make sure the brush you buy
1. Contains bristling (the hair on the brush) material as indicated by stamping on handle.
2. Is designed for the specific job
3. Has a soft, and properly tapered, painting edge.
4. Has a full body of bristling for long wear.
5. Has a balanced mixture of bristling material lengths for good paint pick – up and working capacity.
6. Has firm snap and elasticity.
7. Has proper over – balance, and comfortable handle for easy, pleasant painting.
8. Is free of excessive loose bristling material and dust (test by twirling handle rapidly between palms as new brushes will release several strands.
9. Is made by a reputable manufacturer to insure proper content, long life, dependability, and service.
For more tips and tricks in and around the home, visit http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Home Improvement tips by a registered draughtsperson.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Pitfalls of building without building plans
Pitfalls of building without building plans
With the new consumer protection act being in place, I have been to a couple of clients who have recently sold their houses, only to find out that the building plans are not in order.
Between these clients, I was amazed at the amount of problems I found that will have to be rectified before the building plans can be approved. As you’ll see, some of this can be very expensive to fix.
Remember that in each case where a building plan is not up to date, it will delay the sales process by as much time as it takes the building plan to be approved, something that might give many buyers a legal loophole to pull out of a sale should they want to.
In one case, the building was over a building line that was stated in a title deed. If a building line is stated in a zoning certificate, you can apply to go over the building line at the local council, but not so with a title deed building line. This client will have to have the title deed restriction taken out, something that can only be done by a lawyer. But that is not where the story ends, because remember the house is in the process of being sold. To have the title deed changed takes a couple of months and the sale cannot proceed until this is done. So instead, they are going to let the sale register, and then the seller is going to have the title deed changed, once it is in the buyer’s name. Very messy indeed!
Another title deed example is where the title deed prohibits the building of wooden or steel buildings on the premises. This might sound weird because it prohibits the building of steel carports and wooden stores (Wendy houses). But many of the older title deeds around Pretoria have exactly this restriction. Once again, these restrictions will have to be lifted before a building plan can be approved.
At one of my other sites I found that the outbuilding’s walls had been built as single leaf walls, in other words only half as thick as they were supposed to be. Apart from posing a danger, the building plan would never be approved with single leaf walls, so I have to draw the walls as double leaf, and the seller is going to have to foot the bill to have these walls built to standard.
At the same site, I found that the sewer lines had been built over. This is a major problem, because the cleaning and inspection eyes were under the building. This left the seller with a choice – either remove the offending building and drop the selling price, or re – route the sewer line, a costly operation. It’s easy to see how this problem could have been avoided with a decently drafted building plan.
With the new consumer protection act being in place, I have been to a couple of clients who have recently sold their houses, only to find out that the building plans are not in order.
Between these clients, I was amazed at the amount of problems I found that will have to be rectified before the building plans can be approved. As you’ll see, some of this can be very expensive to fix.
Remember that in each case where a building plan is not up to date, it will delay the sales process by as much time as it takes the building plan to be approved, something that might give many buyers a legal loophole to pull out of a sale should they want to.
In one case, the building was over a building line that was stated in a title deed. If a building line is stated in a zoning certificate, you can apply to go over the building line at the local council, but not so with a title deed building line. This client will have to have the title deed restriction taken out, something that can only be done by a lawyer. But that is not where the story ends, because remember the house is in the process of being sold. To have the title deed changed takes a couple of months and the sale cannot proceed until this is done. So instead, they are going to let the sale register, and then the seller is going to have the title deed changed, once it is in the buyer’s name. Very messy indeed!
Another title deed example is where the title deed prohibits the building of wooden or steel buildings on the premises. This might sound weird because it prohibits the building of steel carports and wooden stores (Wendy houses). But many of the older title deeds around Pretoria have exactly this restriction. Once again, these restrictions will have to be lifted before a building plan can be approved.
At one of my other sites I found that the outbuilding’s walls had been built as single leaf walls, in other words only half as thick as they were supposed to be. Apart from posing a danger, the building plan would never be approved with single leaf walls, so I have to draw the walls as double leaf, and the seller is going to have to foot the bill to have these walls built to standard.
At the same site, I found that the sewer lines had been built over. This is a major problem, because the cleaning and inspection eyes were under the building. This left the seller with a choice – either remove the offending building and drop the selling price, or re – route the sewer line, a costly operation. It’s easy to see how this problem could have been avoided with a decently drafted building plan.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Lighting inside the home.
Light and lighting can be obtained either naturally through windows or through electric lighting.
Obviously windows are restricted in that they are built into the house and it takes a major effort to change them, so unless you are building a new home or you are doing major renovations, you will basically be stuck with what you have.
Note however that you still need to think about your windows when planting trees, buying curtains and placing furniture and paintings.
Electric lighting is much different off course. Changing the position of electric lights is not too difficult, and if you don’t feel like moving the lights in the ceiling because of the hassle of fixing the ceiling afterwards, you can always make use of lamps to get the desired lighting effect that you want.
When it comes to interior decorating, the use of lighting cannot be overstressed. The placement of objects, especially paintings, should be so that they get maximum benefit from both natural and artificial lighting.
Personally I do not like spotlights, as they only light a small part of the room, and you get very light for your money’s worth. Rather go for a light that gives you the most light, so that you do not end up with parts of the room draped in shadow.
Rooms that are functional in nature, such as office or study space, should be especially well lit, while if you have a dedicated T.V. room, you can tone down the lighting in there a bit. (Remember though that the T.V. room should always have a bit of lighting to protect your eyes. The ambient light in the T.V. room should at least match the light output of your T.V. screen).
Loose standing lamps are ideal in that they can be switched on and off, and they can be moved around to match the lighting you may need for a specific occasion.
When next you look at your rooms with your eye on interior decorating, remember to have a critical look at the lighting, and you might be pleasantly surprised at what you can do.
Remember to check out the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Obviously windows are restricted in that they are built into the house and it takes a major effort to change them, so unless you are building a new home or you are doing major renovations, you will basically be stuck with what you have.
Note however that you still need to think about your windows when planting trees, buying curtains and placing furniture and paintings.
Electric lighting is much different off course. Changing the position of electric lights is not too difficult, and if you don’t feel like moving the lights in the ceiling because of the hassle of fixing the ceiling afterwards, you can always make use of lamps to get the desired lighting effect that you want.
When it comes to interior decorating, the use of lighting cannot be overstressed. The placement of objects, especially paintings, should be so that they get maximum benefit from both natural and artificial lighting.
Personally I do not like spotlights, as they only light a small part of the room, and you get very light for your money’s worth. Rather go for a light that gives you the most light, so that you do not end up with parts of the room draped in shadow.
Rooms that are functional in nature, such as office or study space, should be especially well lit, while if you have a dedicated T.V. room, you can tone down the lighting in there a bit. (Remember though that the T.V. room should always have a bit of lighting to protect your eyes. The ambient light in the T.V. room should at least match the light output of your T.V. screen).
Loose standing lamps are ideal in that they can be switched on and off, and they can be moved around to match the lighting you may need for a specific occasion.
When next you look at your rooms with your eye on interior decorating, remember to have a critical look at the lighting, and you might be pleasantly surprised at what you can do.
Remember to check out the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Photovoltaic Roof Tiles
The latest issue of EasyDIY magazine has an article on photovoltaic roof tiles. These roof tiles can replace your existing roof tiles or can be placed over your existing roof, and with enough tiles, it can produce enough electricity to power almost everything in your house except the geyser, which can be solar powered by itself.
The tiles need a strong roof, because they are heavier than normal tiles, and of course they need to face the sun where there are no trees so that they can make maximum use of the suns rays. Another thing to consider is that they have to be washed every few months, and they also have a lifespan which means they have to be replaced at some stage.
According to the article, the overall cost of the PV tile installation would be R50 000, but they don’t actually say how many tiles this would be, and if it includes things like batteries, wiring and converters.
If it would take you off the grid, it might be a good option to look at.
Remember to check out the home improvement forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
The tiles need a strong roof, because they are heavier than normal tiles, and of course they need to face the sun where there are no trees so that they can make maximum use of the suns rays. Another thing to consider is that they have to be washed every few months, and they also have a lifespan which means they have to be replaced at some stage.
According to the article, the overall cost of the PV tile installation would be R50 000, but they don’t actually say how many tiles this would be, and if it includes things like batteries, wiring and converters.
If it would take you off the grid, it might be a good option to look at.
Remember to check out the home improvement forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Just how much space can you get when getting rid of junk in the garage?
I am in the process of moving home, and was amazed at the amount of junk I threw out. Going through the garage and packing away the tools and stuff, I started finding things that I never even remembered having. Honestly, if I had needed some of this stuff I would have gone out and bought new ones, instead of thinking that I’ve got some of it, brand new, in the garage.
These items included things like curtain pelmets, those steel strips that connect ceiling boards together, pieces of ceiling boards and loads and loads of old paint tins, all of them with rock hard contents!
Between my two storage spaces I threw out two whole trailers full of trash, stuff that had simply been taken to the garage and left there.
Just think, in a house of 120 square meters, that was about 4 square meters worth of trash, so obviously a huge waste of space. Yeah ok I’ll admit, most of that stuff was hidden behind cupboards and toolboxes in the garage!
I think it can be a valuable challenge to pick a day out of the year to carry everything out of the garage and then be very careful when taking the stuff back. Leave out those empty paint tins and bag of rock – hard cement, and see how much space you can claim back in your life.
Remember to also check out the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
I am in the process of moving home, and was amazed at the amount of junk I threw out. Going through the garage and packing away the tools and stuff, I started finding things that I never even remembered having. Honestly, if I had needed some of this stuff I would have gone out and bought new ones, instead of thinking that I’ve got some of it, brand new, in the garage.
These items included things like curtain pelmets, those steel strips that connect ceiling boards together, pieces of ceiling boards and loads and loads of old paint tins, all of them with rock hard contents!
Between my two storage spaces I threw out two whole trailers full of trash, stuff that had simply been taken to the garage and left there.
Just think, in a house of 120 square meters, that was about 4 square meters worth of trash, so obviously a huge waste of space. Yeah ok I’ll admit, most of that stuff was hidden behind cupboards and toolboxes in the garage!
I think it can be a valuable challenge to pick a day out of the year to carry everything out of the garage and then be very careful when taking the stuff back. Leave out those empty paint tins and bag of rock – hard cement, and see how much space you can claim back in your life.
Remember to also check out the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Monday, June 27, 2011
Grooming your home to sell
Grooming your home to sell
When it comes to selling your home, you must remember that lots of people are going to come looking at your place. Here are a few tips that you can keep in mind when getting your place ready to sell.
• Keep the pets out of sight as much as possible, and make sure there are no signs of pets having been in the house. Some people don’t like pets in the house at all. Remember that pets do have odours, so be sure that your house is odour free.
• A coat of paint will make the house look great.
• If you smoke, stop smoking in the house and get rid of the smell of smoke in the house. Most people today don’t smoke, and a house that smells of ashtrays is a put – off.
• Remove all the clutter from the rooms. Seeing as you’re going to be moving out soon, it will be a good idea to start packing away all those little things that you have collected over the years, and getting rid of all the clutter will make your house more presentable. It will also help prospective buyers see how their own furniture might look in the house.
• Remove any fixtures that you might want to take with you when you move from the house and replace them with good quality parts. For example, if you want to take the chandelier in your living room, replace it with a good quality piece. This will eliminate problems later when the buyer might lay claim to the fixture as part of the house. A new fitting will also show up as new, and will make the house presentable.
• Keep your sidewalk and the garden as neat and tidy as the house. For some buyers, the garden is as important as the house, and an unkempt garden will be a drawback.
• Minimize personal items such as family photos. You want the prospective buyer to see themselves living in the house, and removing your personal photographs will help them with this.
• Ask your estate agent to do a critical walk – through and inspection of your home to see if they can pick up any details that you might have missed.
• If the value of your house deserves it, consider hiring a professional stager to come in and get your house ready to sell.
Lots of luck with selling your home!
Remember to check in on the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
When it comes to selling your home, you must remember that lots of people are going to come looking at your place. Here are a few tips that you can keep in mind when getting your place ready to sell.
• Keep the pets out of sight as much as possible, and make sure there are no signs of pets having been in the house. Some people don’t like pets in the house at all. Remember that pets do have odours, so be sure that your house is odour free.
• A coat of paint will make the house look great.
• If you smoke, stop smoking in the house and get rid of the smell of smoke in the house. Most people today don’t smoke, and a house that smells of ashtrays is a put – off.
• Remove all the clutter from the rooms. Seeing as you’re going to be moving out soon, it will be a good idea to start packing away all those little things that you have collected over the years, and getting rid of all the clutter will make your house more presentable. It will also help prospective buyers see how their own furniture might look in the house.
• Remove any fixtures that you might want to take with you when you move from the house and replace them with good quality parts. For example, if you want to take the chandelier in your living room, replace it with a good quality piece. This will eliminate problems later when the buyer might lay claim to the fixture as part of the house. A new fitting will also show up as new, and will make the house presentable.
• Keep your sidewalk and the garden as neat and tidy as the house. For some buyers, the garden is as important as the house, and an unkempt garden will be a drawback.
• Minimize personal items such as family photos. You want the prospective buyer to see themselves living in the house, and removing your personal photographs will help them with this.
• Ask your estate agent to do a critical walk – through and inspection of your home to see if they can pick up any details that you might have missed.
• If the value of your house deserves it, consider hiring a professional stager to come in and get your house ready to sell.
Lots of luck with selling your home!
Remember to check in on the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Monday, June 6, 2011
Insulation Revisited
Insulation Revisited
If you live in an area that receives some frost, here is an easy way for you to see just how well your home is insulated.
Check the top of your roof for frost in the morning, and compare it to the houses in your area. If there is frost on the lawn, there should be frost on the roof too. However, a badly insulated ceiling will let a lot of heat through from your house, and this will unfreeze your roof.
So if your roof is nice and white with frost on frosty mornings, the chances are you have a well insulated ceiling space and all the heat is staying inside your house.
If your roof is clear of frost on frosty mornings it means your heat is escaping from the house into the roof and heating up the tiles enough for the frost to disappear. In that case, it’s time to call the insulating people.
But that is not the end of the story. Even if your house is well insulated, you can look for patches on your roof where there is no frost. This will indicate where you have a heat leak. Typically, this will be right above a trapdoor. By sealing up those leaks, you can get your house to be a lot warmer without blowing the bank.
And of course if you have air conditioning, this winter exercise will save you a load of cash when summer comes along and your new insulating stops the cold air from escaping from your house.
I hope this helps you to have a cosy and warm winter inside.
And there are lots more tips available on my website at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
If you live in an area that receives some frost, here is an easy way for you to see just how well your home is insulated.
Check the top of your roof for frost in the morning, and compare it to the houses in your area. If there is frost on the lawn, there should be frost on the roof too. However, a badly insulated ceiling will let a lot of heat through from your house, and this will unfreeze your roof.
So if your roof is nice and white with frost on frosty mornings, the chances are you have a well insulated ceiling space and all the heat is staying inside your house.
If your roof is clear of frost on frosty mornings it means your heat is escaping from the house into the roof and heating up the tiles enough for the frost to disappear. In that case, it’s time to call the insulating people.
But that is not the end of the story. Even if your house is well insulated, you can look for patches on your roof where there is no frost. This will indicate where you have a heat leak. Typically, this will be right above a trapdoor. By sealing up those leaks, you can get your house to be a lot warmer without blowing the bank.
And of course if you have air conditioning, this winter exercise will save you a load of cash when summer comes along and your new insulating stops the cold air from escaping from your house.
I hope this helps you to have a cosy and warm winter inside.
And there are lots more tips available on my website at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Monday, May 23, 2011
Energy eficiency - SABS 204 and 10400XA - Be Warned.
I wrote a small introduction to the SANS 204 and 10400XA draft documents at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php?topic=73.0 for those who might be interrested.
These docs are all about energy efficiency in buildings, and contains the new rules of how things are going to be done once they come into effect.
These docs are all about energy efficiency in buildings, and contains the new rules of how things are going to be done once they come into effect.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Timeline for a building plan
Timeline for a building plan
I often get asked the question, how long is the building plan going to take? This is an important consideration, because if you want to start building at a specific time, you will have to get the ball rolling long before the first foundations are dug out.
While there is no obvious answer, there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind concerning building plans that will give you an estimate of how long your building plans are going to take.
Firstly, you need to get a quote or even a few quotes, and you have to accept one of these. Most small (read ‘one – man’) firms will be glad to come and see you at your house after hours so you don’t have to take time off work if that suites you, but that means it could take a week or two just to get the quotes in, and then another few days to decide on who to appoint.
Once you have appointed a person to do the plans, you will usually explain what your requirements are. This person will also go and draw your existing plans from the council if you have not done so already, so that you can see what exactly needs to be changed and added.
How long it is before the draughtsman comes up with an initial design depends on work load and how complex your requirements are.
I have found that a big time – waster here is trying to get an appointment going between myself and the client. If the client is married, it is essential that both husband and wife sit in on briefing sessions so that both can have their say, or otherwise the plans will keep on being changed by the party that was not at the briefing session, and I will have to keep on changing the plans.
So to save time, make time for your draughtsman to come see you as soon as possible. Also, scrutinize the plans carefully and make sure that it is exactly what you want. Ask your draughtsman to leave the plans with you for a day or two so that you can check which changes you want, then spend the time to make sure the plan is what you want. This is much better than making changes to the plans once the plans are completed and ready to be handed in.
How long the plans really takes to finalize will now depend on how quickly you are satisfied with the plans.
As soon as you are satisfied with the plans, it will usually not take the draughtsman more than a few days to a week to actually finalize the plans.
Is that it, can the plans go to council now?
No, not yet. Depending on what exactly it is that you are building, your draughtsman will need to have an engineer check the plans at some stage.
For very complex plans, you will have to appoint an engineer right at the beginning, and the engineer will have to be part of the planning sessions.
For less complex plans, you can send the plans to the engineer once the plans have been finished. Whatever the case may be, find an engineer early on in the process to avoid wasting a week while trying to find an engineer once the plans are completed. Your draughtsman should know at what stage he will be needing an engineer.
Once the engineer has signed off on the plans you are ready to hand in to council. Obviously, the amount of time taken by different councils will vary a lot. In Tshwane the waiting time is about one month, but then the plans are not approved yet.
After a month, your draughtsman will be contacted and told that the file is ready for circulation, meaning that different departments will have to sign off on the file. Often there might also be some changes they will want on the plans.
This process of circulating the file can take anything from a few hours to a few months. If you have to apply for building line relaxations, you will need to get the signature of your neighbours, and that can be a lengthy process in itself. If yo need to apply for a second dwelling you will need to approach a town planner, you will need to advertise and there are some other things you will have to do, and this process can take a long time.
If you don’t have to apply for building line encroachments or second dwellings, and provided there are no major problems, your building plans should be approved within hours, and you can start building!
Remember to check the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
I often get asked the question, how long is the building plan going to take? This is an important consideration, because if you want to start building at a specific time, you will have to get the ball rolling long before the first foundations are dug out.
While there is no obvious answer, there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind concerning building plans that will give you an estimate of how long your building plans are going to take.
Firstly, you need to get a quote or even a few quotes, and you have to accept one of these. Most small (read ‘one – man’) firms will be glad to come and see you at your house after hours so you don’t have to take time off work if that suites you, but that means it could take a week or two just to get the quotes in, and then another few days to decide on who to appoint.
Once you have appointed a person to do the plans, you will usually explain what your requirements are. This person will also go and draw your existing plans from the council if you have not done so already, so that you can see what exactly needs to be changed and added.
How long it is before the draughtsman comes up with an initial design depends on work load and how complex your requirements are.
I have found that a big time – waster here is trying to get an appointment going between myself and the client. If the client is married, it is essential that both husband and wife sit in on briefing sessions so that both can have their say, or otherwise the plans will keep on being changed by the party that was not at the briefing session, and I will have to keep on changing the plans.
So to save time, make time for your draughtsman to come see you as soon as possible. Also, scrutinize the plans carefully and make sure that it is exactly what you want. Ask your draughtsman to leave the plans with you for a day or two so that you can check which changes you want, then spend the time to make sure the plan is what you want. This is much better than making changes to the plans once the plans are completed and ready to be handed in.
How long the plans really takes to finalize will now depend on how quickly you are satisfied with the plans.
As soon as you are satisfied with the plans, it will usually not take the draughtsman more than a few days to a week to actually finalize the plans.
Is that it, can the plans go to council now?
No, not yet. Depending on what exactly it is that you are building, your draughtsman will need to have an engineer check the plans at some stage.
For very complex plans, you will have to appoint an engineer right at the beginning, and the engineer will have to be part of the planning sessions.
For less complex plans, you can send the plans to the engineer once the plans have been finished. Whatever the case may be, find an engineer early on in the process to avoid wasting a week while trying to find an engineer once the plans are completed. Your draughtsman should know at what stage he will be needing an engineer.
Once the engineer has signed off on the plans you are ready to hand in to council. Obviously, the amount of time taken by different councils will vary a lot. In Tshwane the waiting time is about one month, but then the plans are not approved yet.
After a month, your draughtsman will be contacted and told that the file is ready for circulation, meaning that different departments will have to sign off on the file. Often there might also be some changes they will want on the plans.
This process of circulating the file can take anything from a few hours to a few months. If you have to apply for building line relaxations, you will need to get the signature of your neighbours, and that can be a lengthy process in itself. If yo need to apply for a second dwelling you will need to approach a town planner, you will need to advertise and there are some other things you will have to do, and this process can take a long time.
If you don’t have to apply for building line encroachments or second dwellings, and provided there are no major problems, your building plans should be approved within hours, and you can start building!
Remember to check the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Building that flat – do you know the rules?
Building that flat – do you know the rules?
Many people build, quite often without approved building plans, a flat onto their house. Exactly how the building works, be it attached to the house or detached from the house, is not the issue. As soon as it is a flat, you have built a second dwelling.
So how exactly is a second dwelling defined? Broadly speaking, once you install any area that can be seen as a kitchen area, Tshwane will see it as a second dwelling. And don’t think you are going to fool them by calling the building an entertainment area either, remember that they check these buildings for a living and know all the tricks in the book. They will have you sign a statement saying that you will not use or sell said part of the building as a flat. And as for selling a house with a flat without building plans, remember that the new Consumer Protection Act is now upon us, and you need to keep it in mind.
So where does it leave you if you either have built or would like to build a flat? Well you are going to have to apply for permission to build a second dwelling. For this you will need a building plan or at the very least (if you haven’t actually built yet) a site development plan. You will also have to decide who is going to do the application.
Most architectural people won’t do this for you, as they are into architecture, not endless paperwork. So it’s going to be you or someone appointed by you that does the work. Take some advice here, appoint a town planner. They know what needs to be done, can give you expert advice and tell you if what you are planning is feasible or not.
Remember that these rules apply to Tshwane, and might be different to your council. If you are at all unsure, I suggest you give your local councils’ building office a call and speak to them, they will inform you of exactly what it is you need.
Remember to visit my Online Forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php to learn more about making your home a great place.
Many people build, quite often without approved building plans, a flat onto their house. Exactly how the building works, be it attached to the house or detached from the house, is not the issue. As soon as it is a flat, you have built a second dwelling.
So how exactly is a second dwelling defined? Broadly speaking, once you install any area that can be seen as a kitchen area, Tshwane will see it as a second dwelling. And don’t think you are going to fool them by calling the building an entertainment area either, remember that they check these buildings for a living and know all the tricks in the book. They will have you sign a statement saying that you will not use or sell said part of the building as a flat. And as for selling a house with a flat without building plans, remember that the new Consumer Protection Act is now upon us, and you need to keep it in mind.
So where does it leave you if you either have built or would like to build a flat? Well you are going to have to apply for permission to build a second dwelling. For this you will need a building plan or at the very least (if you haven’t actually built yet) a site development plan. You will also have to decide who is going to do the application.
Most architectural people won’t do this for you, as they are into architecture, not endless paperwork. So it’s going to be you or someone appointed by you that does the work. Take some advice here, appoint a town planner. They know what needs to be done, can give you expert advice and tell you if what you are planning is feasible or not.
Remember that these rules apply to Tshwane, and might be different to your council. If you are at all unsure, I suggest you give your local councils’ building office a call and speak to them, they will inform you of exactly what it is you need.
Remember to visit my Online Forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php to learn more about making your home a great place.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Subdividing an Erf
Subdividing an Erf
I have found that many people hear stories about making some extra money by cutting off a piece of their yard and selling off that piece, and over the past few years while the property market was booming, I have seen a few of my clients burn their fingers in this way.
Although some money can definitely be made by doing this, property owners have to realize that it is not as simple as deciding to sell a piece of their property. Apart from the consideration that your property is now going to be much smaller than what you are used to, there is a big capital outlay needed to section off a piece of your erf.
So what would this money be needed for? Well a few of the things are
• Water connection
• Sewer Connection
• Electrical connection
• A surveyor to survey the existing site and buildings, and to then draw up a Surveyor General diagram.
• Council fees for the application
• It is possible (i.e. I have seen this happen) that the council might want building plans to be handed in for both the sites, or they might want just a Site Development plan.
• Advertising fees (if applicable).
If your sewer line runs through the piece of erf that you want to sub divide, you will also have to have this moved to the new sewer connection point that the council will supply. This alone might cost a considerable amount of money.
If you are considering doing such a division of your erf, I suggest your first port of call should be a town planner. Although town planners will cost you a large amount of money, these people have the expertise that you need so that you don’t have to re – invent the wheel.
I have found that many people hear stories about making some extra money by cutting off a piece of their yard and selling off that piece, and over the past few years while the property market was booming, I have seen a few of my clients burn their fingers in this way.
Although some money can definitely be made by doing this, property owners have to realize that it is not as simple as deciding to sell a piece of their property. Apart from the consideration that your property is now going to be much smaller than what you are used to, there is a big capital outlay needed to section off a piece of your erf.
So what would this money be needed for? Well a few of the things are
• Water connection
• Sewer Connection
• Electrical connection
• A surveyor to survey the existing site and buildings, and to then draw up a Surveyor General diagram.
• Council fees for the application
• It is possible (i.e. I have seen this happen) that the council might want building plans to be handed in for both the sites, or they might want just a Site Development plan.
• Advertising fees (if applicable).
If your sewer line runs through the piece of erf that you want to sub divide, you will also have to have this moved to the new sewer connection point that the council will supply. This alone might cost a considerable amount of money.
If you are considering doing such a division of your erf, I suggest your first port of call should be a town planner. Although town planners will cost you a large amount of money, these people have the expertise that you need so that you don’t have to re – invent the wheel.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
How to check your gas for leaks
How to check your gas for leaks
If you are using gas in the kitchen, and especially if you change the gas bottle yourself, you will need to check for gas leaks after fitting the gas bottle. This will not only prevent costly gas leaks, but will also safeguard you against fires or explosions caused by leaking gas connections.
Checking for gas leaks is actually a simple and easy operation. You just take a dish with some very soapy water and use a paintbrush to get lots of it onto the connections. Any leak will show up as bubbles blown into the soapy water.
If you have a professional company change your gas bottles, make sure that they also check for leaks.
If you are using gas in the kitchen, and especially if you change the gas bottle yourself, you will need to check for gas leaks after fitting the gas bottle. This will not only prevent costly gas leaks, but will also safeguard you against fires or explosions caused by leaking gas connections.
Checking for gas leaks is actually a simple and easy operation. You just take a dish with some very soapy water and use a paintbrush to get lots of it onto the connections. Any leak will show up as bubbles blown into the soapy water.
If you have a professional company change your gas bottles, make sure that they also check for leaks.
Monday, March 7, 2011
First go at LED lighting
Ok I couldn’t take the suspense anymore so I bit the bullet and went and bought an LED globe.
The package states that ‘2W = 15W’. I wasn’t sure if that meant 15W incandescent or 15W florescent, but I was going to take the chance.
The bad news is that it meant 15W incandescent. That means you will need 4 of these 2W globes to light a room. (IE get you to 60W incandescent) At the price I paid, R99, it would cost you R396, plus you would need 4 light fittings. Ok my room has two light fittings, but that is still 2 short.
Then you are also up to 8W, so now the energy saving is not so super anymore.
According to the package the bulb will last for 25 years, but I cannot help wondering if the whole thing will last for 25 years, or just the LEDs? Time will tell. I will have to find somewhere else to use this light, somewhere where it will be used often. I am thinking that the light outside the front door might be a good place. That light burns all night, but doesn’t need to be super strong.
More testing is needed!
Remember to visit the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
The package states that ‘2W = 15W’. I wasn’t sure if that meant 15W incandescent or 15W florescent, but I was going to take the chance.
The bad news is that it meant 15W incandescent. That means you will need 4 of these 2W globes to light a room. (IE get you to 60W incandescent) At the price I paid, R99, it would cost you R396, plus you would need 4 light fittings. Ok my room has two light fittings, but that is still 2 short.
Then you are also up to 8W, so now the energy saving is not so super anymore.
According to the package the bulb will last for 25 years, but I cannot help wondering if the whole thing will last for 25 years, or just the LEDs? Time will tell. I will have to find somewhere else to use this light, somewhere where it will be used often. I am thinking that the light outside the front door might be a good place. That light burns all night, but doesn’t need to be super strong.
More testing is needed!
Remember to visit the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Thursday, March 3, 2011
LED lighting – the new revolution
LED lighting – the new revolution
In the past few years, lighting has come a far way. From the simple incandescent bulb, we have now reached LED lighting, and a revolution in lighting has suddenly hit us.
We all know the incandescent bulb that blew every few weeks and then had to cool down before you could swap it out or it would burn your hands. These bulbs were typically 60 or 100 Watt bulbs, and almost gave off more heat than light. As energy wasters they received a lot of bad press lately, but they were the first lights that we had in our homes, and they lit the way for decades.
With the advent of the fluorescent light however, I must say I was only too glad to bid the incandescent light goodbye. Suddenly a bulb did not need to be changed every few weeks. Instead they would burn for months or even years at a time. And of course they used only a quarter of the power, and less than that. A 14 Watt fluorescent globe gives off a lot of light, much more than a 60 Watt incandescent globe. They are also much cooler, meaning that less energy is wasted.
Writing this without diving into the world of mathematics to explain how much power is saved is difficult, but let’s keep it simple, shall we?
Even though the Fluorescent globe has only been with us for a few years, we are suddenly hit by a new phenomenon, the LED.
The acronym LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. They are the same thing as those little red or green lights on your TV which tell you whether the TV is on or off. These lights first made their appearance in hand held torches, and were loved because they gave off a massive amount of light, while using very little battery power, so now the batteries in a torch would last a long time. For a long time though, they were not used for indoor lighting because of the poor quality of the light they gave off. The light from the LED had a strange blue shine, and was not considered to be good for household use.
Now, however, all that has changed. The lighting companies have cracked the LED secrets, and you can now have LED lighting in your house. Although the initial installation costs of LED lights are huge, you will probably never have to replace them.
On top of all these good things, the LED uses a fraction of the power that a fluorescent bulb uses, so you get an immediate saving on your electricity bill. And the good news does not stop there.
Because LEDs uses so little power, they are a viable option of alternative energy. With incandescent or fluorescent lights, backup battery systems would soon run down if the main power source was lost, meaning that power had to be used sparingly.
LEDs use very little power, meaning that even if the power is down for hours at a time, you will still have a lot of light.
The LED lighting technology, like all new technologies, is still quite expensive. Like new technologies however, the price will keep on coming down until it stabilizes at an affordable level. But now is the time to start doing your homework, and be one of the first ones to make use of this great new technology.
Don’t forget to visit the website at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
In the past few years, lighting has come a far way. From the simple incandescent bulb, we have now reached LED lighting, and a revolution in lighting has suddenly hit us.
We all know the incandescent bulb that blew every few weeks and then had to cool down before you could swap it out or it would burn your hands. These bulbs were typically 60 or 100 Watt bulbs, and almost gave off more heat than light. As energy wasters they received a lot of bad press lately, but they were the first lights that we had in our homes, and they lit the way for decades.
With the advent of the fluorescent light however, I must say I was only too glad to bid the incandescent light goodbye. Suddenly a bulb did not need to be changed every few weeks. Instead they would burn for months or even years at a time. And of course they used only a quarter of the power, and less than that. A 14 Watt fluorescent globe gives off a lot of light, much more than a 60 Watt incandescent globe. They are also much cooler, meaning that less energy is wasted.
Writing this without diving into the world of mathematics to explain how much power is saved is difficult, but let’s keep it simple, shall we?
Even though the Fluorescent globe has only been with us for a few years, we are suddenly hit by a new phenomenon, the LED.
The acronym LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. They are the same thing as those little red or green lights on your TV which tell you whether the TV is on or off. These lights first made their appearance in hand held torches, and were loved because they gave off a massive amount of light, while using very little battery power, so now the batteries in a torch would last a long time. For a long time though, they were not used for indoor lighting because of the poor quality of the light they gave off. The light from the LED had a strange blue shine, and was not considered to be good for household use.
Now, however, all that has changed. The lighting companies have cracked the LED secrets, and you can now have LED lighting in your house. Although the initial installation costs of LED lights are huge, you will probably never have to replace them.
On top of all these good things, the LED uses a fraction of the power that a fluorescent bulb uses, so you get an immediate saving on your electricity bill. And the good news does not stop there.
Because LEDs uses so little power, they are a viable option of alternative energy. With incandescent or fluorescent lights, backup battery systems would soon run down if the main power source was lost, meaning that power had to be used sparingly.
LEDs use very little power, meaning that even if the power is down for hours at a time, you will still have a lot of light.
The LED lighting technology, like all new technologies, is still quite expensive. Like new technologies however, the price will keep on coming down until it stabilizes at an affordable level. But now is the time to start doing your homework, and be one of the first ones to make use of this great new technology.
Don’t forget to visit the website at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Monday, February 28, 2011
Winter is coming
Winter is coming
The seasons are fast busy moving from summer to autumn, and already some of the bigger trees in the neighborhood are starting to show their autumn colors. One of these days it will be time for jerseys and jackets and hot chocolate.
And, of course, it will be time to carry the fan to the store and bring out the heater, with all the electricity consumption that will imply. To save some money this winter, check out some tips on the Going Green board at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php, where you can learn how to insulate your home and keep your electricity bill down. And remember of course to leave your tips there for others.
One of my favorite energy saving tips is to use a foot heating pad. These are pads that work like an electric blanket, but they are just big enough to put your feet on. With these pads, the heat comes up from below, and keeps you warm from the bottom up. Because heat rises they also warm the area that you are sitting in, so you will be comfortable without having to use a heater to warm the whole room.
Out in the garden it will soon be time to add all the fallen leaves to the compost heap, prune the trees that need pruning and have a relaxing cup of coffee on the patio while you give the lawnmower a well deserved break.
Well, we’d better enjoy the winter. Ours is a short and mild winter with barely enough time to get things in order before summer will be back, so make the most of it!
The seasons are fast busy moving from summer to autumn, and already some of the bigger trees in the neighborhood are starting to show their autumn colors. One of these days it will be time for jerseys and jackets and hot chocolate.
And, of course, it will be time to carry the fan to the store and bring out the heater, with all the electricity consumption that will imply. To save some money this winter, check out some tips on the Going Green board at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php, where you can learn how to insulate your home and keep your electricity bill down. And remember of course to leave your tips there for others.
One of my favorite energy saving tips is to use a foot heating pad. These are pads that work like an electric blanket, but they are just big enough to put your feet on. With these pads, the heat comes up from below, and keeps you warm from the bottom up. Because heat rises they also warm the area that you are sitting in, so you will be comfortable without having to use a heater to warm the whole room.
Out in the garden it will soon be time to add all the fallen leaves to the compost heap, prune the trees that need pruning and have a relaxing cup of coffee on the patio while you give the lawnmower a well deserved break.
Well, we’d better enjoy the winter. Ours is a short and mild winter with barely enough time to get things in order before summer will be back, so make the most of it!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Selling your house – A world of new pitfalls
Selling your house – A world of new pitfalls
An estate agent, I won’t say right now which company she is with, gave me an interesting list yesterday. So according to new legislation in SA, a house cannot be sold “Voetstoots” anymore. Sellers must make everything known, and if a buyer finds fault with the house, he can get the seller to fix those faults. Some of the things that the seller has to acknowledge now include
• Are the building plans up to date? Do you possess copies of the building plans?
• Are there any electrical faults?
• Faults relating to drainage.
• Leaking taps or ruptured pipes.
• Are there keys for all the doors?
• Are there damp problems of any kind?
• Are there any roof leaks?
• Are there any structural problems?
These are just a few of the points on the list. The list goes on to mention the condition of many things in and outside the house, such as carpets, cupboards, pool and even the position of the boundary fence.
One of the most common answers I get when I tell clients that they need building plans for things like garden sheds and lapas is that they bought the house with these things already built. Many of them, in fact most of them, are not even aware that you need building plans for things like swimming pools, garden sheds and lapas. I’m not even sure if many of the estate agents out there realize that you need building plans for these things, and I can see it is only a matter of time before a building inspector from the council will have to inspect a house before it can be sold.
Now all of this is of course great news for the building industry, especially for us people doing building plans, as more and more owners will be forced to get building plans approved whereas in the past they would just add pools and lapas and stuff to their homes without plans.
For the buyers this will also (hopefully) be of benefit, and I can just imagine how the quality of homes on offer is going to pick up.
Remember there are many more tips to be found at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
An estate agent, I won’t say right now which company she is with, gave me an interesting list yesterday. So according to new legislation in SA, a house cannot be sold “Voetstoots” anymore. Sellers must make everything known, and if a buyer finds fault with the house, he can get the seller to fix those faults. Some of the things that the seller has to acknowledge now include
• Are the building plans up to date? Do you possess copies of the building plans?
• Are there any electrical faults?
• Faults relating to drainage.
• Leaking taps or ruptured pipes.
• Are there keys for all the doors?
• Are there damp problems of any kind?
• Are there any roof leaks?
• Are there any structural problems?
These are just a few of the points on the list. The list goes on to mention the condition of many things in and outside the house, such as carpets, cupboards, pool and even the position of the boundary fence.
One of the most common answers I get when I tell clients that they need building plans for things like garden sheds and lapas is that they bought the house with these things already built. Many of them, in fact most of them, are not even aware that you need building plans for things like swimming pools, garden sheds and lapas. I’m not even sure if many of the estate agents out there realize that you need building plans for these things, and I can see it is only a matter of time before a building inspector from the council will have to inspect a house before it can be sold.
Now all of this is of course great news for the building industry, especially for us people doing building plans, as more and more owners will be forced to get building plans approved whereas in the past they would just add pools and lapas and stuff to their homes without plans.
For the buyers this will also (hopefully) be of benefit, and I can just imagine how the quality of homes on offer is going to pick up.
Remember there are many more tips to be found at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Drilling – Pointers for the newbie
Drilling – A few pointers for the newbie
Not all of us are brought up around power tools, and some may need a few pointers on how to use certain tools. These power tools make our lives a pleasure, but use them wrong and they can turn around and bite you.
Here are a few tips on using the electric drill.
Two types of drilling
There are two types of drilling, and most electric drills will have these two settings. The slower setting is for drilling into concrete or masonry.
Masonry drilling requires special masonry drill bits. They have a larger and usually harder tip than normal drill bits, and are usually silver in color. When drilling into concrete, stone or brick, set your drill to the slower speed setting, and switch it to ‘Hammer’ action. Hammer action will cause the drill to punch the drill bit forward, as if hammering it into the wall.
For drilling wood or steel you will use the faster setting of your drill, and remember to make sure your drill is not on hammer action. Steel and wood uses the same drill bits, although there are specialized wood drill bits that should not be used on steel. Steel drill bits are usually black.
When drilling into steel, first mark the spot where you want to drill with a punch, this makes the drill bit less prone to skidding all over the place when you get going.
Drill bits tend to get hot, and this shortens their life span. Stop drilling from time to time to give your drill bits a while to cool off, and you will make them last a lot longer.
Remember to wear your safety gear, this should be, at the minimum, goggles and a sturdy pair of gloves. The drills rotate at an enormous speed, and when a drill bit breaks they tend to fly off in any direction, so a little protection is called for.
When drilling walls in your home, try to make sure that it is not a wall in which either water or electricity is embedded. If it is, make sure you are not drilling in line with the pipes. Having to open up a large part of your wall to fix a hole where you accidentally drilled into a water pipe is no fun at all.
Not all of us are brought up around power tools, and some may need a few pointers on how to use certain tools. These power tools make our lives a pleasure, but use them wrong and they can turn around and bite you.
Here are a few tips on using the electric drill.
Two types of drilling
There are two types of drilling, and most electric drills will have these two settings. The slower setting is for drilling into concrete or masonry.
Masonry drilling requires special masonry drill bits. They have a larger and usually harder tip than normal drill bits, and are usually silver in color. When drilling into concrete, stone or brick, set your drill to the slower speed setting, and switch it to ‘Hammer’ action. Hammer action will cause the drill to punch the drill bit forward, as if hammering it into the wall.
For drilling wood or steel you will use the faster setting of your drill, and remember to make sure your drill is not on hammer action. Steel and wood uses the same drill bits, although there are specialized wood drill bits that should not be used on steel. Steel drill bits are usually black.
When drilling into steel, first mark the spot where you want to drill with a punch, this makes the drill bit less prone to skidding all over the place when you get going.
Drill bits tend to get hot, and this shortens their life span. Stop drilling from time to time to give your drill bits a while to cool off, and you will make them last a lot longer.
Remember to wear your safety gear, this should be, at the minimum, goggles and a sturdy pair of gloves. The drills rotate at an enormous speed, and when a drill bit breaks they tend to fly off in any direction, so a little protection is called for.
When drilling walls in your home, try to make sure that it is not a wall in which either water or electricity is embedded. If it is, make sure you are not drilling in line with the pipes. Having to open up a large part of your wall to fix a hole where you accidentally drilled into a water pipe is no fun at all.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Drawing a house – Common mistakes owners make
Drawing a house – Common mistakes owners make
I often get calls from people who want to build on, and have drawn up plans for what they want. This helps a lot, since the owner can visually show me what he expects of a building plan. However, there are a lot of mistakes that these owners make, and often this impact hugely on their expectations.
Forgetting that walls have a thickness
As a first example, the owner will go into the yard and measure up how much space he has to work with. So let us say that there is ten meters of length to work with. When drawing, he will draw a line of 100 millimeters long, representing this length. Now he makes the crucial mistake of forgetting that walls have a thickness. In 10 meters, he sees that he can fit in a room of 3 meters long, another of 3 meters long and another of 4 meters long.
Allowing that the original house will probably just be extended and there is thus already one wall (of the original house) in place, it still means that he must build two interior walls and one exterior wall, and this can mean as much as 460 mm. That is almost half a meter of space that is going to go missing from his plan, a disaster if he thought he was going to have a large main bedroom.
Not taking stairs into consideration
Another common plan that owners have is to build up, especially if their garden is small and there is not much room to go sideways. Here I have seen elaborately concocted plans, often with the fatal flaw of not taking into consideration that you need stairs to get to the upper floor, and stairs take up a lot of space.
Depending on how high your ceiling is going to be, you will need about 18 stairs. With a stair tread of 340 mm and a width of 900 mm, that is a lot of space you need. (You can get stairs with less tread, but it makes for very uncomfortable walking – Beware!)
Roofing and rainwater
Whether your garden slopes or not, you are going to have to deal with rainwater, and it is all too easy to design a house with large areas where the rainwater has nowhere to go. This means the rainwater will either go through your house, or it will dam up somewhere and cause damp. Check the fall of your garden carefully, especially during rain storms, to see what the water does, before you build yourself an unwanted and expensive dam.
Toilets that are visible
This really is one of my pet peeves. I have been in a number of very new and very modern homes that looks fantastic right up to the point where I notice a door leading off the lounge and/or dining room, only to discover that on the other side of that door hides a toilet.
There is no amount of fancy interior decorating that is going to make an unsightly toilet go away, so if you are designing your own place, please remember that there should not be a line of sight from family gathering areas to a toilet.
Forgetting about the sewer system
I know that sewer systems are not something that people like thinking about, but it is and remains one of the most important features of your house. If your sewer system stops working, your whole house becomes a nightmare.
When planning your additions, take careful note of where your current sewer system runs. Ensure that you don’t plan on building over cleaning eyes, that there is enough space for the new system, and that any gulleys and vents are not closed over. If needs be, you might have to move some parts of the system completely.
Any other problems?
Walk around your existing house and yard, and try to imagine your new additions already in place, with an eye on seeing where the pitfalls might be. This will stop some frustration on your part when the draughts person gets to see your plans, and giving you some nasty surprises!
I often get calls from people who want to build on, and have drawn up plans for what they want. This helps a lot, since the owner can visually show me what he expects of a building plan. However, there are a lot of mistakes that these owners make, and often this impact hugely on their expectations.
Forgetting that walls have a thickness
As a first example, the owner will go into the yard and measure up how much space he has to work with. So let us say that there is ten meters of length to work with. When drawing, he will draw a line of 100 millimeters long, representing this length. Now he makes the crucial mistake of forgetting that walls have a thickness. In 10 meters, he sees that he can fit in a room of 3 meters long, another of 3 meters long and another of 4 meters long.
Allowing that the original house will probably just be extended and there is thus already one wall (of the original house) in place, it still means that he must build two interior walls and one exterior wall, and this can mean as much as 460 mm. That is almost half a meter of space that is going to go missing from his plan, a disaster if he thought he was going to have a large main bedroom.
Not taking stairs into consideration
Another common plan that owners have is to build up, especially if their garden is small and there is not much room to go sideways. Here I have seen elaborately concocted plans, often with the fatal flaw of not taking into consideration that you need stairs to get to the upper floor, and stairs take up a lot of space.
Depending on how high your ceiling is going to be, you will need about 18 stairs. With a stair tread of 340 mm and a width of 900 mm, that is a lot of space you need. (You can get stairs with less tread, but it makes for very uncomfortable walking – Beware!)
Roofing and rainwater
Whether your garden slopes or not, you are going to have to deal with rainwater, and it is all too easy to design a house with large areas where the rainwater has nowhere to go. This means the rainwater will either go through your house, or it will dam up somewhere and cause damp. Check the fall of your garden carefully, especially during rain storms, to see what the water does, before you build yourself an unwanted and expensive dam.
Toilets that are visible
This really is one of my pet peeves. I have been in a number of very new and very modern homes that looks fantastic right up to the point where I notice a door leading off the lounge and/or dining room, only to discover that on the other side of that door hides a toilet.
There is no amount of fancy interior decorating that is going to make an unsightly toilet go away, so if you are designing your own place, please remember that there should not be a line of sight from family gathering areas to a toilet.
Forgetting about the sewer system
I know that sewer systems are not something that people like thinking about, but it is and remains one of the most important features of your house. If your sewer system stops working, your whole house becomes a nightmare.
When planning your additions, take careful note of where your current sewer system runs. Ensure that you don’t plan on building over cleaning eyes, that there is enough space for the new system, and that any gulleys and vents are not closed over. If needs be, you might have to move some parts of the system completely.
Any other problems?
Walk around your existing house and yard, and try to imagine your new additions already in place, with an eye on seeing where the pitfalls might be. This will stop some frustration on your part when the draughts person gets to see your plans, and giving you some nasty surprises!
A Note On Color
With the newest mixing techniques being used by paint shops, you can choose from almost any color and tone that you can imagine, so it is little surprise that choosing a color is becoming more and more difficult.
When choosing a color, you should take into consideration that different colors mean different things to different people. Bright pink, for instance, is the perfect color to paint your one year old daughters’ bedroom. And of course blue is a good color to paint your sons’ bedroom.
Yet common sense and logic tells us that bright pink would probably not be the right color for your dining room. When choosing a color for your dining room, lounge or other areas that will be occupied from time to time by a wide range of people, try to pick a color and tone that will be neutral to most of these people.
As you move away from these areas where many different people will congregate, you can start applying personal tastes. Your kitchen can be more colorful, but remember that a kitchen must look clean and neat, and will sometimes still be visited by other people.
A guest bedroom will once again be visited by many people with diverse tastes, so you want to keep it neutral, whereas your own master bedroom and bathroom will be a very private space and can be subject to the fancies of you and your spouse.
Remember to log on to the forum and share your ideas at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
With the newest mixing techniques being used by paint shops, you can choose from almost any color and tone that you can imagine, so it is little surprise that choosing a color is becoming more and more difficult.
When choosing a color, you should take into consideration that different colors mean different things to different people. Bright pink, for instance, is the perfect color to paint your one year old daughters’ bedroom. And of course blue is a good color to paint your sons’ bedroom.
Yet common sense and logic tells us that bright pink would probably not be the right color for your dining room. When choosing a color for your dining room, lounge or other areas that will be occupied from time to time by a wide range of people, try to pick a color and tone that will be neutral to most of these people.
As you move away from these areas where many different people will congregate, you can start applying personal tastes. Your kitchen can be more colorful, but remember that a kitchen must look clean and neat, and will sometimes still be visited by other people.
A guest bedroom will once again be visited by many people with diverse tastes, so you want to keep it neutral, whereas your own master bedroom and bathroom will be a very private space and can be subject to the fancies of you and your spouse.
Remember to log on to the forum and share your ideas at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Monday, January 31, 2011
Helpful Interior Decorating Ideas
Helpful Interior Decorating Ideas
Firstly, document everything that you want on paper. This will make sure that small things don’t get left behind when the big things happen.
Don’t forget to budget. It doesn’t matter if you have a big or a small budget, but you have to know how much you can spend on your interior decorating. Budgeting will help to make sure that you don’t blow all your painting money on a couch, or all the money you need for a couch on paint. Know your budget, and check that each item you want falls into the right price for your project.
Decide beforehand in which order you are going to decorate your rooms. You will have to move stuff around, so doing up all the rooms at once is probably not going to be a good idea. Decide where the lounge suite is going to be when you paint the lounge, and where the bedroom furniture is going to be when you do your bedrooms.
When working on your plan, set yourself a target for completion. Many projects drag on for months and years and some never get completed because there is no target date for completion. Set that date!
Decide beforehand what scheme you want to use. Do you want to set a theme?
Before you begin, check which jobs you will be able to do yourself, and which jobs you will need a professional for.
Draw each room to scale including the window and door sizes and positions, and use this to decide what furniture to purchase. Even when buying carpets, televisions etc, draw it in on your scale drawings.
Go through your house and make a list of anything that is broken, and make sure that these are replaced or repaired during the decorating process.
Painting the walls and ceiling does a lot for a room; it is one of the easiest ways to get a room to be fresh, clean and neat.
Before choosing the final color, patterns and textures, obtain some samples and check what they look like in your home. Each house has a unique natural light feel to it, so the color as you see it in the shop will look different in your home. Paint large swatches on the walls and leave them there for a week so you can see how they change with the natural light during the day and with lighting at night. Do the same for materials.
And don't forget the forum, at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Firstly, document everything that you want on paper. This will make sure that small things don’t get left behind when the big things happen.
Don’t forget to budget. It doesn’t matter if you have a big or a small budget, but you have to know how much you can spend on your interior decorating. Budgeting will help to make sure that you don’t blow all your painting money on a couch, or all the money you need for a couch on paint. Know your budget, and check that each item you want falls into the right price for your project.
Decide beforehand in which order you are going to decorate your rooms. You will have to move stuff around, so doing up all the rooms at once is probably not going to be a good idea. Decide where the lounge suite is going to be when you paint the lounge, and where the bedroom furniture is going to be when you do your bedrooms.
When working on your plan, set yourself a target for completion. Many projects drag on for months and years and some never get completed because there is no target date for completion. Set that date!
Decide beforehand what scheme you want to use. Do you want to set a theme?
Before you begin, check which jobs you will be able to do yourself, and which jobs you will need a professional for.
Draw each room to scale including the window and door sizes and positions, and use this to decide what furniture to purchase. Even when buying carpets, televisions etc, draw it in on your scale drawings.
Go through your house and make a list of anything that is broken, and make sure that these are replaced or repaired during the decorating process.
Painting the walls and ceiling does a lot for a room; it is one of the easiest ways to get a room to be fresh, clean and neat.
Before choosing the final color, patterns and textures, obtain some samples and check what they look like in your home. Each house has a unique natural light feel to it, so the color as you see it in the shop will look different in your home. Paint large swatches on the walls and leave them there for a week so you can see how they change with the natural light during the day and with lighting at night. Do the same for materials.
And don't forget the forum, at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Sunday, January 30, 2011
A few more gardening tips
A few gardening tips
Let's start the week off with a few more gardening tips.
When planning your small garden, place the bright colored plants at the front of the garden, this will make them stand out, instead of hiding them behind other plants.
Use a pergola to create a view. By using a pergola to ‘frame’ your garden, you are putting accent on it.
Take the view into consideration. If you have a great view, you won’t want to spoil it by hiding it. If your view consists of the back of the local engineering works or something like that, you might want to plant higher growing trees to shield out this view.
Create a focal point by using something that sticks out, like a birdbath or statue or something similar.
Remember to log on to the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php for many more excellent topics on home improvement.
Let's start the week off with a few more gardening tips.
When planning your small garden, place the bright colored plants at the front of the garden, this will make them stand out, instead of hiding them behind other plants.
Use a pergola to create a view. By using a pergola to ‘frame’ your garden, you are putting accent on it.
Take the view into consideration. If you have a great view, you won’t want to spoil it by hiding it. If your view consists of the back of the local engineering works or something like that, you might want to plant higher growing trees to shield out this view.
Create a focal point by using something that sticks out, like a birdbath or statue or something similar.
Remember to log on to the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php for many more excellent topics on home improvement.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Outdoor entertainment areas
Outdoor entertainment areas
Linking your outdoor entertainment area to your home will make it much more inviting. Instead of just having your lawn between your lapa and your home, put down a few paving stones and border these with a few small ornamental trees. You can also cover your paving stones with a pergola to provide a bit of shade in the summer.
If you are till planning to put up something like a lapa or other roofed structure in the garden, be careful of making it too small. A two by two meter lapa will be barely big enough for two people to sit under and keep their drinks out of the sun. It will not really add value to your home. If you are going to go through all the trouble of building something, make sure you make it big enough to house a few quests.
Although thatched lapas might look nice, they have several drawbacks such as fire danger and high maintenance. On the other hand, they are cool in summer and warm in winter. If well maintained, they look good.
Concrete tiled roofs are low on maintenance, they look good and don’t have the risks of thatch.
Steel roof sheets such as IBR are cheap, but they look cheap and they don’t do much for heat in summer or winter. They also need maintenance in that the steel supports and frame need to be painted regularly to keep them tidy.
Louver decks are also great. These can open up by degrees, so in winter you can allow the sun in, while in summer you can keep the sun out but still open them up a bit to allow a the hot air to escape. They look good too, and could be an inexpensive option for your outdoor roof.
If you like having a braai (BBQ), a prep sink in your outdoor area is just the thing. Now you can wash your hands and utensils without having to run into the house all the time.
Get an electrician to install a quality electrical outlet or two in your outdoor entertainment area. These are great for everything from cooling fans to bar fridges, lighting and what have you, and they just look so much better than that red extension cord running from the house.
Linking your outdoor entertainment area to your home will make it much more inviting. Instead of just having your lawn between your lapa and your home, put down a few paving stones and border these with a few small ornamental trees. You can also cover your paving stones with a pergola to provide a bit of shade in the summer.
If you are till planning to put up something like a lapa or other roofed structure in the garden, be careful of making it too small. A two by two meter lapa will be barely big enough for two people to sit under and keep their drinks out of the sun. It will not really add value to your home. If you are going to go through all the trouble of building something, make sure you make it big enough to house a few quests.
Although thatched lapas might look nice, they have several drawbacks such as fire danger and high maintenance. On the other hand, they are cool in summer and warm in winter. If well maintained, they look good.
Concrete tiled roofs are low on maintenance, they look good and don’t have the risks of thatch.
Steel roof sheets such as IBR are cheap, but they look cheap and they don’t do much for heat in summer or winter. They also need maintenance in that the steel supports and frame need to be painted regularly to keep them tidy.
Louver decks are also great. These can open up by degrees, so in winter you can allow the sun in, while in summer you can keep the sun out but still open them up a bit to allow a the hot air to escape. They look good too, and could be an inexpensive option for your outdoor roof.
If you like having a braai (BBQ), a prep sink in your outdoor area is just the thing. Now you can wash your hands and utensils without having to run into the house all the time.
Get an electrician to install a quality electrical outlet or two in your outdoor entertainment area. These are great for everything from cooling fans to bar fridges, lighting and what have you, and they just look so much better than that red extension cord running from the house.
Monday, January 24, 2011
A few more tips for your home
A few more tips for your home
Let’s start the week off with a few more tips on making your home a great place.
Hang a lower bar
To get more space in your cupboards, add an extra bar, so that you can hang tops on the top bar and pants from the lower bar. You might have to move the existing bar up a bit, but doing this will increase your space a lot.
Increase the lighting
Dark corners are difficult to work in, and installing a light can dramatically change the way you view your house. Lighting can make a lot of difference, especially in dark cupboards or dark corners of the home.
Painting
A fresh coat of paint on walls will make them good as new. You don’t always have to do the whole home, instead you can just do those places that get dirty quickly, like where the dog rubs himself or where the kids keeps on bumping into walls.
Wooden furniture can also be given a new lease on life by simply sanding them down and applying the correct coating.
Replacing those tiny features
Go through your house and make a note of all missing damaged or missing or even mismatched moldings, and replace them.
Check those switch plates and switches
Because switches and the plates that cover their electrics are often touched, they are often dirty. Sometimes they can do with just a bit of cleaning, sometimes they need to be stripped and repainted. In the worse cases they might have to be replaced. Whatever your case may be, making sure your switch plates are clean will improve your house a great deal.
Knobs and pulls on drawers
Like switch plates, these tend to get greasy and grimy with use, so check to make sure they are clean, and clean or replace them if needed.
Window shades
Check your window shades regularly. They live in an environment where steam and water are abundant, cooking oil splashes around and other so does other foodstuffs. Make sure they are clean and neat, and replace if needed.
Coat racks
Coat racks are great things to have near the front door, as they keep the place neat. If you have one, check to make sure that there are not unnecessary stuff hanging on yours though, as they do tend to get cluttered up with things that are only used once in a month. If it is summer, make sure the winter coats are not still hanging there, and check that the kids aren’t using it as an easy place to put their football togs or other gear.
Entry paths
If you have a front lawn between your parking area and your front door, make sure there is something for people to walk on so that they don’t ruin your lawn. Choose your pavers carefully though, because you will have to mow the lawn between them. For big areas, a paved walkway might be a better idea.
Door hardware
Clashing or poorly operating door hardware can be easily replaced, and will make your home so much more comfortable to live in.
Remove Kludges
A five minute fix can look bad for years. Make sure you don’t have any unsightly kludges around the home.
Remember you can find lots more advice on the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Let’s start the week off with a few more tips on making your home a great place.
Hang a lower bar
To get more space in your cupboards, add an extra bar, so that you can hang tops on the top bar and pants from the lower bar. You might have to move the existing bar up a bit, but doing this will increase your space a lot.
Increase the lighting
Dark corners are difficult to work in, and installing a light can dramatically change the way you view your house. Lighting can make a lot of difference, especially in dark cupboards or dark corners of the home.
Painting
A fresh coat of paint on walls will make them good as new. You don’t always have to do the whole home, instead you can just do those places that get dirty quickly, like where the dog rubs himself or where the kids keeps on bumping into walls.
Wooden furniture can also be given a new lease on life by simply sanding them down and applying the correct coating.
Replacing those tiny features
Go through your house and make a note of all missing damaged or missing or even mismatched moldings, and replace them.
Check those switch plates and switches
Because switches and the plates that cover their electrics are often touched, they are often dirty. Sometimes they can do with just a bit of cleaning, sometimes they need to be stripped and repainted. In the worse cases they might have to be replaced. Whatever your case may be, making sure your switch plates are clean will improve your house a great deal.
Knobs and pulls on drawers
Like switch plates, these tend to get greasy and grimy with use, so check to make sure they are clean, and clean or replace them if needed.
Window shades
Check your window shades regularly. They live in an environment where steam and water are abundant, cooking oil splashes around and other so does other foodstuffs. Make sure they are clean and neat, and replace if needed.
Coat racks
Coat racks are great things to have near the front door, as they keep the place neat. If you have one, check to make sure that there are not unnecessary stuff hanging on yours though, as they do tend to get cluttered up with things that are only used once in a month. If it is summer, make sure the winter coats are not still hanging there, and check that the kids aren’t using it as an easy place to put their football togs or other gear.
Entry paths
If you have a front lawn between your parking area and your front door, make sure there is something for people to walk on so that they don’t ruin your lawn. Choose your pavers carefully though, because you will have to mow the lawn between them. For big areas, a paved walkway might be a better idea.
Door hardware
Clashing or poorly operating door hardware can be easily replaced, and will make your home so much more comfortable to live in.
Remove Kludges
A five minute fix can look bad for years. Make sure you don’t have any unsightly kludges around the home.
Remember you can find lots more advice on the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Thursday, January 20, 2011
A few tips on windows
Windows
Windows, doors and skylights that do not shut properly and allow in air are some of the biggest energy wasters in the home. Buying or installing double glazed windows will do nothing for your comfort or energy bills if the frame is not airtight.
Double pane windows will reduce both noise and heat transfer, keeping your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Replacing normal steel window frames with double pane frames is going to be messy though, so it will be best to consider this when you are in the planning phase of home renovations. Include these changes in your building plans and make sure your builder knows what is expected of him in this regard.
Skylights are an excellent source of free lighting during the daytime. If correctly installed they really add to the comfort of your home.
In South Africa, many houses have burglar bars in front of every window. Make sure you have an escape plan in case you need to get out of the house, for instance in case of a fire.
Wooden windows look great and add value to the house, but they are costly, require a lot of maintenance and are subject to swelling in wet weather and contracting in dry weather.
Aluminium is strong, low maintenance and affordable, but does conduct heat. The modern look for aluminium frames is a definite winner.
Remember that as panes of glass becomes bigger, you will need to use shatterproof glass or similar. In fact the SABS codes insists on special glazing, and by using the SABS codes you can make your home a much safer place.
Add visible markers to large panes of glass, especially in sliding doors, but also in any other piece of glass where a person might not see the glass.
If you found this piece informative, remember to visit the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Windows, doors and skylights that do not shut properly and allow in air are some of the biggest energy wasters in the home. Buying or installing double glazed windows will do nothing for your comfort or energy bills if the frame is not airtight.
Double pane windows will reduce both noise and heat transfer, keeping your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Replacing normal steel window frames with double pane frames is going to be messy though, so it will be best to consider this when you are in the planning phase of home renovations. Include these changes in your building plans and make sure your builder knows what is expected of him in this regard.
Skylights are an excellent source of free lighting during the daytime. If correctly installed they really add to the comfort of your home.
In South Africa, many houses have burglar bars in front of every window. Make sure you have an escape plan in case you need to get out of the house, for instance in case of a fire.
Wooden windows look great and add value to the house, but they are costly, require a lot of maintenance and are subject to swelling in wet weather and contracting in dry weather.
Aluminium is strong, low maintenance and affordable, but does conduct heat. The modern look for aluminium frames is a definite winner.
Remember that as panes of glass becomes bigger, you will need to use shatterproof glass or similar. In fact the SABS codes insists on special glazing, and by using the SABS codes you can make your home a much safer place.
Add visible markers to large panes of glass, especially in sliding doors, but also in any other piece of glass where a person might not see the glass.
If you found this piece informative, remember to visit the forum at http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
When do you need a building plan?
Do I need a building plan for this?
You will not believe how often I get asked this question.
It will differ from area to area, but for the most part things will be pretty much the same.
If you plan to make any changes to the structure of your home, you will need building plans, even if you only plan on making changes inside. Changes to the sewer system will also need building plans.
Then there are additions. Anything that is covered by a roof will need a building plan, and yes, that includes the common garden variety Wendy House. What is more, is that most people situate the Wendy house in the corner of the yard, and therefore over at least two building lines. When the building inspectors see this they become really interested.
Lapas, lean – to’s and other types of sheds all need building plans. You might be surprised to learn that even shade – netting, those big shade – nets that people pull their vehicles under, need building plans.
Even if you are repairing or replacing an existing part of a building with something that is going to be exactly as the old part was, you might need a building plan, such as when you want to replace your roof.
The best thing would be to contact your local council and ask them. Tell them about your plan, and get clarity on whether you will need a building plan on not.
You will not believe how often I get asked this question.
It will differ from area to area, but for the most part things will be pretty much the same.
If you plan to make any changes to the structure of your home, you will need building plans, even if you only plan on making changes inside. Changes to the sewer system will also need building plans.
Then there are additions. Anything that is covered by a roof will need a building plan, and yes, that includes the common garden variety Wendy House. What is more, is that most people situate the Wendy house in the corner of the yard, and therefore over at least two building lines. When the building inspectors see this they become really interested.
Lapas, lean – to’s and other types of sheds all need building plans. You might be surprised to learn that even shade – netting, those big shade – nets that people pull their vehicles under, need building plans.
Even if you are repairing or replacing an existing part of a building with something that is going to be exactly as the old part was, you might need a building plan, such as when you want to replace your roof.
The best thing would be to contact your local council and ask them. Tell them about your plan, and get clarity on whether you will need a building plan on not.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Building lines and servitudes
Building lines and servitudes
Most yards in urban areas have building lines, and many of them have servitudes.
A building line is a piece of land the municipality does not want you to go over when building a house or adding to your house. This is mostly for aesthetic reasons. In Tshwane, for instance, the building line is typically 5 meters from any street, and two meters to the sides and rear. (Although there are many exceptions).
Usually, you can apply to have a building line relaxed, meaning that you can build over a building line. For this there is a nominal fee, and you will need the consent of your neighbours.
To find out what the building line for your erf is, you will need to get your zoning certificate from your local council. This document tells you what kind of erf you have, and from there you can use diagrams (also supplied by your council) to work out what your building lines are.
If you have any problems, your local council should be able to tell you exactly what the building lines for your erf are.
Servitudes are rights of way that other people or entities have over your erf. Mostly, a servitude will be held by the municipality for services, such as sewer lines. This means that the municipality is allowed to use the area to put a sewer line in. These servitudes are usually 2 to 3 meters wide, at the rear or sides of your erf.
Less common servitudes would be a right of way, a road that some person has to use to get to his property. There are also other servitudes, but these would be the most common.
Servitudes are usually to be found in your Deed of Title, or Titledeed as they are commonly known. Unlike a building line, you cannot simply apply for a relaxation, you have to have the servitude written out of your title deed. This is a long process and involves lawyers. So before doing any building or planning, get your Deed of Title (usually held by the bank that holds your bond) and scrutinize it for any servitudes.
To find many more tips on improving your home, go to http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
Most yards in urban areas have building lines, and many of them have servitudes.
A building line is a piece of land the municipality does not want you to go over when building a house or adding to your house. This is mostly for aesthetic reasons. In Tshwane, for instance, the building line is typically 5 meters from any street, and two meters to the sides and rear. (Although there are many exceptions).
Usually, you can apply to have a building line relaxed, meaning that you can build over a building line. For this there is a nominal fee, and you will need the consent of your neighbours.
To find out what the building line for your erf is, you will need to get your zoning certificate from your local council. This document tells you what kind of erf you have, and from there you can use diagrams (also supplied by your council) to work out what your building lines are.
If you have any problems, your local council should be able to tell you exactly what the building lines for your erf are.
Servitudes are rights of way that other people or entities have over your erf. Mostly, a servitude will be held by the municipality for services, such as sewer lines. This means that the municipality is allowed to use the area to put a sewer line in. These servitudes are usually 2 to 3 meters wide, at the rear or sides of your erf.
Less common servitudes would be a right of way, a road that some person has to use to get to his property. There are also other servitudes, but these would be the most common.
Servitudes are usually to be found in your Deed of Title, or Titledeed as they are commonly known. Unlike a building line, you cannot simply apply for a relaxation, you have to have the servitude written out of your title deed. This is a long process and involves lawyers. So before doing any building or planning, get your Deed of Title (usually held by the bank that holds your bond) and scrutinize it for any servitudes.
To find many more tips on improving your home, go to http://www.sahometalk.com/index.php
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