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.
Home Improvement tips by a registered draughtsperson.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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
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