About admin

Posts by Gary Roberts:

misc_image_3899csfd5ac6ce50

Top four tips to protect your home against radon?

For decades, radon has been called a silent killer. However, there is a reason for such a name. This is a type of invisible gas which is odorless and tasteless and can cause severe health disorders.

It comes from the natural breakdown of uranium soil, rock, and water, which slowly creeps into our homes. According to annual statistics, radon contamination causes nearly 20,000 deaths every year.

This is one of the reasons why all homes should be tested to radon, regardless of your location. In this article, we will discuss the dangers of radon gas, and help you find ways to protect your property.

Check your house

If you haven’t checked your home in the last couple of year, or since the previous remodeling, then you should purchase a radon test from a local home center. This gadget is available for short-term and long-term monitoring. It’s easy to use and requires minimal setup.

The test is cheap and reliable, so don’t waste time on the excuse and pick one. If you find a high concentration of radon, above four picocuries per liter of air, contact EPA office immediately. While these are some solutions online, this is not a DIY job you want to tackle.

Build a radon-resistant house

If you are building a new home, then you can save a lot of money along the way by installing a passive radon control.

First of all, you should install a layer of gas-permeable aggregate. This can include the four inches of gravel beneath the flooring system. Cover the gravel with plastic sheeting to stop the moving of radon.

Make sure to seal all the cracks in the foundation and walls. This will not only prevent the entry of radon, but it will contain energy within your home.

You can also install a four-inch gas-tight pipe from the crawlspace to the roof. The tube can serve you as ventilation.

gas-header

Install a radon sump

If you want to use some advanced solutions, then you should install a radon sump, or use some form of ventilation. A radon sump is a pipe which runs from roof level and goes below the floor.

It’s also known as a passive radon sump. However, to make it more effective, you should place a small electing fan inside.

accuweather

Talk to an expert

If you are experiencing radon issues, then you should hire a qualified independents professional. He will inspect your home and tell you the most effective solution. Also, having an active radon sump installed by a certified professional will save you a lot of money in the long run, and give you peace of mind.

Considering the number of deaths radon causes every year, it also responsible for many life-threatening diseases, such as lung cancer. However, it’s essential to take necessary action which will protect your family.

Finding out whether you home is at risk, should be one of the first steps. And, positive action can only lead to a solution.

Gardening-with-Turf

Gardening with Turf

As we are progressing, we are harming our home, which is Earth. People don’t think too much about the environment and how to make a difference. You will, often, hear a person, say that they as an individual can’t be of any help. If they stop doing something bad, other people won’t, and the situations won’t change. Of course, it won’t if everyone thinks that way. Start from yourself, don’t pay attention to others. In reality, you can be the one to affect others around you. You can motivate them to change exactly as you did. You may wonder how to do so, but it doesn’t have to be something enormous. Start small. That should be the best advice. For example, you can start with your garden. Gardens are beautiful and a great way to bring more plants into the world.

Gardening


Try to be eco-friendly, help your environment. If you already are, that is amazing. We hope that you can influence others to be like you. Show them ways to live a green and healthy life. If you are into gardening or simply into having a nice looking grass in front of your house, consider having turf. Turf in Newcastle is a good option. They are professional and offer a great deal. This is, of course, if you live in Newcastle since they only deliver there. It is not a surprise because what you get has to be in the best shape.

What Can You Expect?

As mentioned previously, they deliver turf in Newcastle, and they do it all year long, five times a week. In other words, it doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter, you will get your turf at any time. They will deliver it to you with the help of wagons and forklifts which are detachable. Because of that, they can put turf on drives, directly. Another pro of delivering with a forklift is the access. Naturally, a large wagon can be a problem since it has limited access. On the other hand, with their way of transport, access doesn’t represent a problem at all.

What Do They Offer?

The turf you can get from them has certain measurements. Those measurements will help you in planning how much you need. One roll measures 1 square meter. The width is 40 cm, while the length is 250 cm. Other than that, they usually cut the turf around 15 mm deep. This information can be of help if you are preparing the area you wish to flat. Also, if you are thinking about a complete pallet, you need to know it has 68 square meters. If you are wondering how much it weights, the answer is 1.2 tones.

The Condition

The condition of the turf you get, is nothing less than excellent. They harvest turf one day before they deliver it to you. That will leave you enough time to put it, before the process of deterioration stars. When the temperatures are high, they will harvest the turf that same morning, before delivery.

beautiful-lawn

Four ways to establish and grow a beautiful lawn

When the spring comes, millions of homeowners around the world, spend too much time to maintain a lush and green lawn. This might seem like a modest goal, but it’s more challenging than you would think. Even though the shape of the grass will mostly depend on the sun and rain, there are other factors you should take into consideration.

For instance, choking weeds and voracious bugs, taking care of the plants if you have any, and growing beautiful and soft grass. That’s why, Andrew Stambulich lawn mowing contractor in Perth, decided to share a couple of tips with us, and help us stay on top of the task.

Have appropriate tools

Regardless of whether you use a walk-behind lawnmower or a riding lawn tractor, it’s is essential to keep the blades sharp. If you are dealing with the dull mower blades, then they will rip the grass, leaving the jagged ends, that will later turn brown.

So, when the spring comes, sharpen your blades, and they will cut grass throughout the summer. Occasionally, you will hit the rocks, or other objects in your yard, so, make sure to sharpen the blades more often.

Trim the grass a bit

Before you start the mowing, you should adjust the mower’s deck to the top, or the second-to-top position. It should be placed at the height that will help you remove one-third of the grass. This indicates that in early spring you would have to mow your lawn every four or five days, while in the summer once a week.

You should avoid cutting too much because that will result in a weak and sickly lawn. On the other hand, frequent mowing to the appropriate height will produce the small glass clippings which you can leave on the grass and they can act as fertilizer when they dissolve.

Test the soil

If you want to have a beautiful lawn, then you should check the acidity or alkalinity of your yard. You can but a DIY soil kit in a garden shop or hardware store. It will cost you around $15. If the soil is slightly acidic, then you have to raise a pH level by applying a drop of the spreader to add pulverized lime to the lawn.

If you want to lower down the pH level, then you should add organic material, like peat moss. If your soil is exceptionally high in pH, then you can amend it with Sulphur or iron sulfate. When you are fertilizing the lawn, make sure to choose products that will strengthen the root, not the grass itself.

Water regularly

For example, turf grass requires 1 in of water a week. If this isn’t supplied by rain, then you have to provide it. It is best to perform two watering seasons. Otherwise, the water will run off, especially during the summer months.

You can also but sprinklers with a measure irrigation gauge. This tool will help you determine the amount of water you need for your lawn.

eco-home building

Three reasons to build an eco-home

Eco-friendly homes have become quite popular in the last couple of years. They involve the use of materials and processes that are efficient and environmentally acceptable. In the past, this type of constriction has been dismissed as being costly, but the green building has seen a surge in popularity thanks to many advantages.

If you are planning to start a similar project, then you must be aware of a couple of facts, which are essential for this type of construction, also its benefits that are cost-effective.

Low maintenance

Green building incorporates unique construction features that enable the use of recourses such as water and energy. For instance, you can utilize the energy of the sun during the day, to reduce the amount of commercial power. This can save you the third of water and energy bills.

Low maintenance

Considering the operating and maintenance costs can account for as much as 80% of the lifetime expenses of the building, this can significantly increase the earnings for property owners who collect rent from their real estates. With various eco-friendly materials, such as foam insulation board, you can cut down costs and enhance the performance of your home.

Energy efficiency

The designers of eco-buildings and homes try as much as possible to reduce the dependency on energy, such as coal. In this case, they install solar panels to use the power of the sun and design windows to enable the access of natural light as much as possible.

In this case, you are decreasing the use of artificial light and at the same time the amount of traditional power. These and other methods provide your building with the efficient use of energy. Energy efficiency is crucial, not only for homeowners but also for the whole world.

We are using non-renewable energy recourses, which are expensive and pollute the environment.

Eco-home

Better health

Health should be your primary motivation for switching to green building. People who live in these type of homes have a chance to experience many health benefits because of the safety of materials used in the construction.

You get to eliminate all the toxins from your living space. Substances like carcinogens don’t only cause breathing difficulties, but also can increase chances of getting cancer. You should ensure a safe and healthy environment for your family. This is one of the main reasons why people choose this type of building. Our world is already polluted, we don’t need any more pollutants surrounding us.

How to save your plants from ants in your ecological garden

How to save your plants from ants in your ecological garden

, , , , ,

If the ants are near the plant, the plants will no longer grow and will slowly collapse. If they settle below the fruit tree, they can dry it in 2-3 years. At the place where they settle down, the acidity of the soil increases, and this affects the plants negatively. The ants always find a place on the untreated soil to make a home. They do not like harassment. If they have already chosen your garden or an anthill pot, then it’s time for you to take action.

Ants do not tolerate strong and sharp smells like parsley, larvae, anise, tomato leaves, oregano, garlic, cinnamon, lavender, marigold, vinegar, coffee pot, lemon, cucumber, tobacco. Various types of ants react differently. Sometimes it’s enough to crush the tomato branches or the leaves of the parsley deep into their home and they will leave it.

Ants

Ants do not like the scents of vegetable oils. You should combine 10 liters of water, 2 cups of vegetable oil, a little detergent for dishes or shampoos and a little vinegar, and thus overflow the scattered ant. The procedure should be repeated after a few days.

Natural preparations useful in the fight against ants:

Tomato preparation

The preparation of young leaves or tomato sealants is an excellent tool for treating ants from the garden. The ants do not like tomatoes so much that they never build ants near the tomatoes.

Preparation of hot peppers

Corn pepper will act as an antelope repellent. It’s enough to spray the place where the ants come with a solution of hot peppers.

Wormwood preparation

First 300 g of fresh leaves and flowers should be immersed in 10 liters of water and left to stand for 3 days. After that, the preparation should be poured there where you have ants.

Sugar and yeast

The yeast is naturally found in the soil and the ants regularly rout it from it. In order to accelerate the development of yeast, we can fill their home with an aqueous solution of sugar or a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water. It is necessary to leave this solution for some time to let the yeast activate and then pour it all over, and then the anthill should be restless. Make sure you dug a little into the earth so the solution will fill all the gaps. This will force the ants to stay away.

What plants should you cultivate on your terrace

What plants should you cultivate on your terrace?

, , , , ,

The ideal garden on the terrace would consist of vegetables, spicy and medicinal herbs. It is desirable to insert a flower pot, for the bees, and they will pollinate to improve yields. That is not hard to do, just put in some sunflower, a riverbed, and they will regularly come to you on the terrace and pollinate your vegetables.

Vegetables from the terrace

Depending on what you like, take into account the depth and size of the pots, because the different plants have different depths of the root so you need to choose carefully which plant and vegetable will go in wich pot. The salad is advised to plant on several occasions and not ripen at the same time, so when you eat one of them, you could latter again have some ready salad in your garden. It is recommended to cultivate cherry tomatoes because it is easy to maintain them and they only need a little more water.

The vegetables you can plant into your terrace garden are cucumber, radish, paprika, tomatoes, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and many more. You just need to be careful how you choose pots and places for them where they will spread and grow.

Medicinal and spicy herbs

Of medicinal plants, parsley, marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil can be cultivated, but remember that oregano, rosemary, and basil like a pause in watering. That’s why it’s better to plant them in one pot, so when they are watered, it’s done once. Then you should skip for four to five days, and then water again, while parsley prefers moist soil, and it needs to be watered more often.

Make homemade compost

When it comes to a substrate, you can make your home compost from household waste. There is mainly waste when vegetables or fruits are peel. They will be placed in a bucket in which you should drill holes to make water leak. Sometimes water is poured, and you can insert leaves of flowers or wood. Egg shells can also be inserted. So, all you have in the kitchen, put it in that bucket to decompose. It would be ideal to insert a handful of Californian worms as they speed up the process. Compost is broken down for 12 months.

Another option is to find someone in the countryside and buy it from them. These are the two most natural and best variants. It is not recommended to buy a substrate, and if you really need to, you can buy a classic vegetable substrate, which is available in several packages.

Herbs

Plant protection on the terrace

For the protection of plants, you can use a nettle, which can be sprayed on leaves and also by a daze preparation. Whoever wants to protect plants can use various herbal mixtures, for example, to smash the hot peppers in the water and thus spray plants. Everything needs to be tried, in the best case, it is best learned. We advise future gardens to experiment.

Application of solar energy in the household

Application of solar energy in the household

, , , ,

Solar energy is the energy that is obtained from the Sun. It is an abundant and renewable source of energy. Since ancient times, solar energy has been used in various ways. Nowadays, due to concerns about global warming, climate change and the constant rise in energy prices, new ways are emerging and new technologies are being developed to use this energy in the best possible way.

Passive utilization of solar energy

Solar energy

Passive utilization of solar energy involves not using any mechanical or electrical devices, but using solar energy in a passive way, for example, the orientation of the house towards the south. The system for passive solar energy recovery most often relies on south-oriented windows that act like a collector and collect solar energy. The energy collected is distributed according to the basic laws of thermodynamics, which say that heat passes from warm to cold surfaces and spaces.

Active use of solar energy

Active solar energy utilization systems use additional devices and additional energy sources for starting the fan, pumps or other equipment necessary for solar energy to collect, preserve and convert to heat or electricity. When solar energy is absorbed, that energy is stored so it can be used later. Smaller solar systems can supply households with electricity and hot water, while larger solar systems can be used to supply electricity and hot water to entire cities.

Active systems are much more complex in the way of functioning is from passive ones, but their installation and application are simple and highly reliable. Solar panels and solar collectors are used in active solar systems. Solar panels are used to produce electricity and solar collectors for water heating.

By combining solar panels, solar collectors, and other equipment we get solar systems. There are several types of solar systems: stand-alone photovoltaic systems, network-connected photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems, hybrid solar systems. Solar power plants are also a type of solar system but are not intended for household use but for the sale of electricity produced.

Solar photovoltaic systems

They are used to produce electricity when it is necessary to provide complete autonomy and independence. They consist of solar panels, voltage controllers, solar batteries, inverters, and accessories. They are ideal for distant objects such as cottages, boats, watering systems and the like.

Network-connected photovoltaic systems

They are used for electricity generation but are also connected to the electricity distribution network. For their installation, it is necessary that the building is connected to the mains power supply network. They are mainly used to reduce the electricity bill. They consist of solar panels, network inverters, and accessories.

Solar thermal systems

They are used for domestic hot water heating, household heating, pool heating … They consist of a solar collector, solar water heater, solar controller, circulation pump and related equipment.

Hybrid solar systems

They are combined systems for electricity production and water heating. In practice, there are actually two independent systems, one solar thermal for water heating and another standalone photovoltaic system or a network-connected photovoltaic system for producing electricity.

How many solar panels do you need for your house?

How many solar panels do you need for your house?

, , ,

Many people believe that the number of solar panels they would need for their household is determined by how much their house is big. But that is not true. The required number of solar panels is not calculated on the basis of the square of the house, but on the basis of current consumption. This is explained through the example:

Solar system Imagine two identical houses, which are exactly the same. Then imagine that in the first lives a man of 30 years, alone without a family. In the morning he goes to work, he returns in the afternoon. When he comes home he normally opens the refrigerator to eat something, showers and then turns on the TV. Always went to see her friends. In the house is rarely when cooking and storing food and besides TV. He regularly uses a computer and charger for the phone.

In the second house, there are a man, a woman, and three children. The man in the garage holds a workshop with many electrical machines that he uses daily, a woman keeps children and prepares meals daily, and besides a fridge, they also use a freezer for storing food, children use their laptops and the boiler is always on. From this story, you yourself see that the family consumes far more power than one man, although they all are living in two identical houses.

How many panels do you need?

How many solar panels do you need for a household depends on which devices you use and how often do you use them in the household – the size of the house is not important. On the basis of monthly electricity bills, you can see how much you spend an average on electricity, so the system is tailored to your needs. When you calculate how many solar panels your household will be needed, you can buy either that whole number so you can live free from an electric bill, or you can buy a smaller amount of panels which will help you lower your electric bill. Either way, your household will become more eco-friendly.

How do solar panels work

How do solar panels work

, , , ,

Solar panels are used to generate electricity from solar radiation. Many people mix solar panels and solar collectors designed to generate heat from solar radiation. Solar panels collect solar radiation and convert it into electricity. They are able to exploit only a part of solar radiation and convert it into electricity.

The efficiency of solar panels is only significant if the object is limited by the roof or another surface where the solar panels are installed so it is necessary to extract as much energy as possible with as little surface as possible, if there is enough room for the installation of more solar panels, efficiency is not so important. For example, a 250W solar panel with an efficiency of 20 percent will be physically smaller than a 250W panel with a 15 percent efficiency but will produce the same amount of electricity.

Weather conditions

The extent to which solar panels produce electricity will have the greatest impact on weather conditions. Tropical climates are ideal for solar panels, and they will produce more electricity when exposed to direct sunlight than when it’s cloudy. However, solar panels can be used in all climate zones. Solar panels require direct sunlight when it’s more exposed to direct sunlight, more electricity it will produce.

Another important thing in determining how many solar panels will produce electricity is the length of the day. For example, summers are much longer than in winter. This is actually the main reason why solar panels in winter generate less electricity than in summer, although it’s a common misconception that this is due to heat. Solar panels do not work on heat but solely on solar radiation.

Solar panels on building

An orientation of solar panels

Ideally, the solar panels should be placed on the south side. On this side, the sun’s light is the longest during the day. If they are located east or west, the utilization is almost twice as low as in the south.

What does it mean when we say that the solar panel has a 250W?

Each solar panel has its maximum power which indicates how much power (W) will produce in ideal conditions. This is called maximum power. The amount of sunlight is different and of course, it varies depending on the period of the day, the season, the weather conditions. For these reasons, solar panels give output power which is less than the maximum output power.

What are complete self-sustaining households

What are complete self-sustaining households?

, ,

Self-sustainability is a lifestyle that aims to reduce the individual or social use of natural and personal resources. Self-sustainability methods try to reduce the emissions of carbon compounds by changing the mode of transport and use of energy and food. Those who advocate for self-sustainability live lives in accordance with the “ecology of nature”, following its cycles.

Self-sustaining life is an ability and practice in securing all personal needs and needs of households without taking any help or resources beyond that household. It relies on a multitude of skills and knowledge, as well as on the desire of the individual and the community towards autonomy.

“On the spot”

From a socioeconomic point of view, such “bioconstruction” is more profitable than a house built by conventional materials, because raw materials from the face of the place are cheaper while creating the need for more labor. Maintenance costs of these structures are reduced because its materials are natural and adapted to changes in temperature and humidity. Savings in this way of a building are over 35 percent.

Building materials are everywhere. Their transmission from large distances is not environmentally sound, as it requires excessive energy consumption. Building materials must be easily accessible to an ordinary person and their use must have a small impact on the planet’s energy situation. The process of its modeling in the form of use should consume little or no energy.

Thermal mass

In order to maintain a favorable temperature for the lives of people and plants, a self-sustaining house with its construction and materials must be like a battery for energy storage. The materials must be charged and massive to maintain the temperature.

self-sustaining house

Stamina

Wood is organic and biodegradable. It disappears over time, and we have devised a variety of toxic chemical products to “mend” its longevity. In your surroundings, you should look for materials that can last in their nature. Wood is a good material where the mass does not play a role and where it will not be exposed to destructive factors, so it does not need to be secured further.

Resistance

Earthquakes are a major problem in many parts of the world. As earthquakes cause horizontal shifts or chiseling of the structure, highly resistant materials or those with sufficient flexibility to move with these movements are recommended. Fragile materials such as concrete, are prone to cracking and breaking.

Load More