How To Lay Bathroom Tiles

Prepare Yourself

The first step in laying bathroom tiles is to be prepared. You want to start with a clean and smooth surface. If there are even small problems with the flooring, chances are you will not get the tiles to lie correctly. To be sure that this happens, use a sander on the floor to completely even it out. You can then sweep up, wash and dry the floor before you go any further. If the floor is not dried thoroughly, you may find that the tiling can not get a good grip on the floor for stability.

Once the floor has been prepared, the next step is to purchase the correct number of tiles for the bathroom area that you have. Do not underestimate how many you need. It is often necessary to purchase at least 15 percent more than you think you need. This provides you with safety in extras in case of problems with calculations or even if the tiles do break along the way. In addition, this gives you enough to put away in case the bathroom tiles break down the road. You can then easily replace them.

Placing Them Down

When laying bathroom tiles the adhesive step is one of the most important. Purchase the correct type of product for your need. For the bathroom, it is important to find waterproof adhesive for the area. If you use an adhesive that does not provide this protection, the adhesive will deteriorate over time leaving the tiles vulnerable to many problems later. A small crack or even a tiny space can allow water to seep in, causing a number of problems for you. Instead, purchase and use the correct adhesive.

Grouting Correctly

When laying bathroom tiles, the grouting process is just as important as the adhesive. Be sure to wait at least a full day from the time that you lay the bathroom times before you start the process of grouting. This gives the adhesive time to set. You can then apply the grout correctly. Do only a small area of a time so that you can remove excess grout before it dries and you can not remove it later. Use the correct tools to firmly position the grout into the grooves.

Adam Peters is a journalist who writes newsletters on decorating for http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com A focused website that offers the best articles on removing bathroom tiles and home interiors.

Nailing Or Screwing Drywall

Nails versus screws who will become the winner. When drywall first came out the installers used everything from regular steel nails to galvanized roofing nails. After a short amount of time they started to develop major problems from nails popping out of the finished drywall.

Nail popping results when the nail is driven into moist lumber and as the lumber shrinks the house settles and nail can actually pop out to the walls. Hard to imagine the nail could actually pop out of the drywall as the wood was drying out.

How far the nail would actually pop out was determined by how far it was driven in to the framing studs or ceiling joists. Well pretty soon drywall installers started to use ring shank nails to eliminate this problem. This worked great but these nails were hard to drive in and would often break.

As time went on the nails improved and were made out of galvanized metal with cupped shaped heads and came in a few different sizes. The size of the nail used was determined by the thickness of the drywall. These new nails worked great and had good holding power and eliminated a lot of nail popping.

Using nails means driving them in with a hammer. If you miss the nail you damage the drywall. This seemed to be a big problem and was virtually eliminated with the screws.

Well pretty soon people started using screws which had greater holding power and pretty much nail popping. Another advantage to using screws over nails is the simple fact you need less screws than you do nails to attach the drywall to the metal or wood framing.

This means less labor installing and finishing the drywall.

There is one problem with the screws and that is they have to be set perfectly. They can not break the paper surface on the drywall but have to be set enough into the drywall so that it can be finished properly. Most screw guns have an adjustable setting used to get just the right depth for the screws installed in the drywall. But this also was a problem when screwing into a hard piece of wood you can actually snapped the screw head off, strip the screw head or break the screw.

Nails on the other hand can bend while driving them into a hard surface.

Who wins the nails versus screws while installing drywall? I have got to give it to the screws. That doesn't mean the nails just got screwed or the screws just got nailed.

I couldn't resist. I actually preferred the screws over the nails except for when nailing the drywall corner bead on. Some drywall professionals use nails to hang the drywall and go back with a screw gun and some screws to finish the job. The nails sometimes seem handier than the screws when installing the drywall.

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and Carlsbad Home Improvement

Bathroom Fixtures Buying Guide

Bathroom fixtures are available in a broad range of styles, but selecting a fixture always relies on the following:

• Budget
• Material
• Style
• Consistency

Fixtures range from $100 to thousands of dollars depending on the quality, style, and material used. When setting aside money for a bathroom build or remodel, remember a fixture adds another level of style to any room. A simple, bare bath can become classic or modern depending on the style of fixture chosen. Setting a little extra aside for your fixtures will not only wow guests, but also raise the overall value of your house for appraisal purposes.

Bath fixtures are available out of a variety of materials such as copper, silver, platinum, and more commonly brass metal with chrome finishes. Two-tone materials can add some extra complexity to the decor and work with several shade themes. While platinum and even platinum-coated fixtures run in the $1000 range altogether, they add extra sophistication to any room. However, the more affordable fixtures (typically metal with chrome finishes) come in styles that impress any guest or can excite any homeowner.

The styles available are quite versatile. For example, there are at least three main groupings of faucets: single-hole, widespread, and vessel faucets. A single-hole structure allows for one hole where the water is released. The handle is usually part of the larger structure. A widespread is usually 8" long and sometimes longer or shorter. This grouping includes two handles, which are separate from one another and located (separately) on both sides of the spout. The final group is vessel faucets. These faucets consist of one long and lean spout with a handle that can be attached or not. Most often these vessel spouts are seen in Asian-motif bathrooms with the spout looking like a reed over a shallow and rectangular or triangular sink. Some vessel faucets also look like watering pumps over a large round thick basin.

Each of these types of faucets exhibits a certain decorating style. Some styles for your bathroom can include:

• Modern
• Art deco
• Classic
• Country
• Traditional
• Asian
• Tuscan
• Southwest

When choosing a style for your bathroom, remember that it is a place you want your guests to relax in and a space that needs to be kept clean. Clean and straight lines may help your bath area look more sanitized or encourage a guest or member of the household to clean up after him or herself. However, traditional country-themed rooms and traditional floral patterns and fixtures can also help an individual feel relaxed and refreshed while in the bathroom.

Finally, remember when it comes to fixtures, consistency is a must. While your tastes might fluctuate or fixtures may have different styles that you enjoy, plan on purchasing ones that are all the same style, color, or material and are certainly within the same price range or quality range. Without matching fixtures, no matter how attractive they might be individually, the room will look cluttered and unfocused. Instead, you want to create an environment that is consistent, calming, and refreshing.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for Web sites on renewable energy, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background also includes teaching, gardening, and fashion. For more of her useful articles on bathroom furniture and fixtures, please visit Bathroom Accessories, supplier of information about bathroom fixtures, and more.

How Many Bathrooms Do You Really Need? Building New Homes

When my dad was a kid, they lived in a two bedroom house with one bathroom and the family consisted of him, his two brothers and his mother and father. When I grew up, we have it a little bit better. We had the same sized family as my father did, but we lived in a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms.

How many bathrooms do you really need? Think about it. Here's what I would like to suggest, if you have more money than you know what to do with and would love to help the economy, then you should put as many bathrooms as you need in your home.

If you really need to tell your friends, that you have a 250 bedroom house with 275 bathrooms, and you have the money to pay for it, do it and knock yourself out. However, if you are building a new home, I would like you to consider, this question. How many bathrooms do you really need?

If you want each one of your children to have their own bathroom, then go for it. It will require more cleaning, more money to build these bathrooms and is it really necessary.

Here's what I would suggest as a guideline for deciding, how many bathrooms you really need. One bathroom for two or less people, two bathrooms for five or less people and three bathrooms for eight or less people. You could actually add one bathroom for every three people as a general rule of thumb.

Don't get carried away and start installing bathrooms all over your house, it doesn't make sense. Bathrooms are expensive and I have been in the homes, where I was the only person that used at bathroom. Some bathrooms might not ever be used.

Click here if you are looking for some more Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Click Here If your looking for some great Bathroom Ideas or Bathroom Remodeling Contractors

Updating The Bathroom Paint Colors

When people think of updating a bathroom, they normally begin to think of it from a remodeling standpoint, not about bathroom paint colors. This would mean gutting everything, and then replacing everything with new stuff. This cost is almost always more than $3,000. But, if you just want to change the look and give it a clean and sharp look, then a can of paint and some silicon caulk will do the job.

Bathrooms should have clean appearance. Especially if you are going to try to sell a house, this area is one the main areas of the house the wife are looking at, with the other being the kitchen. Knowing this knowledge, you need to keep the paint neutral. A white semi-gloss paint is the best choice.

This semi-gloss is necessary for an area where is will have moisture. The water will just run off the paint, and not soak into it. Also, the shininess of the paint gives it a cleaner look, and even a brighter look, as the light from the bathroom will reflect off of the paint. When painting the bathroom with this white semi-gloss paint, you should paint all of the walls and the trim work in this semi-gloss. As a side note, it is always preferred to keep all of your trim work in a bright white color. This is standard in most houses, and will not required repainting if you change other colors. Now, the bathroom walls are all updated, repainted, and looking especially clean. Next area is around the accessories.

People do not realize they need to replace their silicon caulk around their faucets and toilets periodically. Over time, this seal will break, start to come loose, and even discolor. An easy way to sharpen up the bathroom is with new white silicon caulk.

First, just remove all of the old caulk. You can do this with any sort of knife, and if it is old enough, you can just peel it off. Then clean the area you removed it from with soapy water, and maybe even bleach to make sure it is clean from mildew or mold. Once it is clean, you are ready to apply the new caulk. The caulk you will use is silicon based caulk. It is also labeled as bathroom and kitchen caulk. Make sure you use white. Apply a nice, small, and even line around each of the seals. The seals would be: toilet, faucets, drains, any valves, sink top, and the base of the tub. A nice white line of caulk in these areas will give a new clean look, and better yet, will help to prevent any water damage from leaks.

Just by spending about $20, you can completely reface your bathroom, and give it a brand new look. It will be all white, and white is a first sign of cleanliness. You have also sealed up any potential leaks. Just this simple fix can be an intermediate fix as well, and buy you some more time if you still want to completely remodel. But in the mean time, you now have nice clean and updated bathroom paint colors.

To find more free ideas, visit our Home Improvement Center

How Wide Should I Make My Carport? Planning Your Next Project

Whether you live in a home with or without a garage, you might be thinking about building a new carport. You've came to the right place and by the time you're done reading this article, you should have acquired a little more valuable information for your next home remodeling project.

Some homeowners install carports in front of their garage, on the side of their homes or even in their driveway. Car ports can be built anywhere on your property, as long as you have enough room and access to these areas for a car to be parked safely.

The most important thing to remember, when building a carports, is the width that will be required to park your vehicle underneath it. You will need to allow plenty of room, so that you will be able to access your vehicle comfortably.

There are plenty of carports, all over the country that are built right next to something, like a retaining wall, the side of your home or even another garage. I myself have parked in carports that were too small and over a period of time became an annoying inconvenience.

The minimum width that I would build any carport would be 10 foot wide, if you're going to build your carport next to a building, I would suggest that you park your car, open your door and measure the width of your car, with your door open.

This will give you a comfortable width for building your new carport. This is the best advice I could give anyone, who is planning on building a carport.

Garage Building Tips

If you're thinking about building a garage and San Diego County, we would be glad to help, for more information click on this link San Diego Garage Building

Greg Vandenberge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

Thanks for reading my articles.

Bathroom Perfection Sans Mold

Many people have a real problem going on in their bathroom; the problem is mold. People in humid climates and people who can't keep their template all over the world is able to fester and grow in the bathtub and shower which will create a horribly distinct style and will fester with fungus until you just won't be able to deal with it anymore. However there are ways for you to be able to alleviate this mold problem with a few simple steps.

Open Up Your Perfect Home

Mold grows through a similar environment so long as you're able to get some fresh air running through your bathroom area you should be fine. If you have a window in your bathroom, try to open it whenever possible. If you don't have a window but you have a ventilation fan you should use that as often as possible as well; this can really make a bad situation halfway bearable.

Another step you can take is to get a dehumidifier. This is a bigger instrument you need to plug into the wall but this will help you to remove moisture from the air and it will help you more succinctly evaluate your problem.

Phenomenal Methodology

Getting rid of any excess articles in your bathroom is a great idea as well if you believe you have a mold problem. If you have a rugged your bathroom to trap water and helps spread mold he should get rid of that. One thing to consider in lieu of a bathroom rug may be a rubber mat or something like that which won't absorb the water. You should also not have plants in your bathroom; potted plants will trap water and help mold to grow.

...And Furthermore...

Scope out any leaks in your bathroom as well. Even the most minuscule spot of water at any moment can lead to a phenomenal problem down the road. If your pipes are all running dry and if your shower and bathtub are sealed effectively then you should be fine; you run into issues when water and moisture can get behind the seal in the bathroom.

Even ceramic tile can be a problem in the bathroom where mold is a problem. Tile is typically waterproof but the grout between the tile can retain moisture and be a breeding ground for mold. When the moisture gets sucked into the sealant, the mold just grows and grows. If you are able to spot it time you can use some waterproof paneling which will prevent condensation and help you to stop the mold in your otherwise perfect bathroom setting.

Sam Bettingon's detailed papers can be discovered on quite a few web publications associated with discount window blinds. You can find his work on discount window blind at http://www.shades-blinds-shutters-guide.com and many different sources for discount window blind information.