Posts Tagged ‘Bathroom Accessories’
June 12th, 2010
Tiles offer durability and are a cost effective option for flooring; with minimal maintenance requirements, tiles can enhance the entire outlook of the room. In case you are planning to install floor tiles to upgrade your home, you must be aware of certain facts before you start working on it.
These are available in different shapes, sizes, colors and varieties, such as glass, terracotta, brick, cement, porcelain, terrazzo and quarry tiles. Among the various types, stone and ceramic tiles are generally preferred more for the floors. Ceramic tiles are available in glazed as well as unglazed options in different varieties of color. Further, the tiles are classified in four groups from I to IV depending upon durability. Group IV tiles are most durable, strong and sturdy withstanding more pressure and hence preferred for heavy traffic floors, such as patios and drive ways. Therefore, selecting the right kind of tile for flooring would depend upon the area such as kitchen, hallway, bathroom, basement or patio.
The most important thing you must have, before installing tiles for making the floor, is a proper layout, in order to execute the installation properly. For a correct assessment, measure the dimensions of the flooring area and divide it by coverage area of the tile; this will provide an estimate on how many tiles you would require for tiling your floor. It is advisable to re-evaluate your calculations, in order to avoid any inconvenience while doing the job.
Always get a few extra tiles to make for the loss, if any, during installation. Moreover, this also helps you in having matching tiles in case you need to replace it in future, because finding matching tile pattern can be difficult. Planning, patience and labor are the key ingredients that will help you cruise through this task effectively.
You should also be aware of the fact that installing a tile floor is a tedious process which may take days or weeks to complete the job. For a small bathroom floor, it may take two or three days, however installing tiles on the floor of your living room may stretch beyond a week. The time frame also depends upon your skill. Moreover, choosing the material, estimating the cost and finally purchasing the supplies consumes few days initially.
Before starting off with the tiling process, it is essential to lay out the sub floor. Sub flooring forms an integral part of the whole tiling process; hence make sure that you have strong sub flooring to prevent the grout from cracking. In addition, you must select the right type of grout depending upon the type of the tile. There are primarily three types of grout, namely epoxy, furan resin and Portland-cement based grouts. Among these, though epoxy is more expensive, it is highly water resistant and spreads out easily. In case of moist areas, you can use cement fiber-board for under flooring.
Once the sub floor stabilizes, it is time to lay out tiles. To hold the tiles in place make use of thinset and leave the tiles overnight. All this information will help you make all the necessary arrangements beforehand and have the perfectly tiled floor for your house.
Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com
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June 3rd, 2010
Bathroom is an integral part of every house and generally these are designed keeping functionality in mind, thereby most of the bathrooms are cramped and small. Sometimes, it is so cramped that there is not even enough space to move around. Most of the bathrooms are stuffed with tub, shower, sink, shelves and other necessary things in a small area. As a result, the place looks cluttered, probably the most disorganized room in the entire house.
In case, your bathroom is also small and cramped which you wish to renovate into a beautiful and functional bathroom, then there are several steps which can take, without having to incur heavy expenses. Foremost, for the walls of the room, choose light colors where stripes can do the trick as it help elongates the walls’ appearance and the space seem bigger. Moreover, you must choose an even lighter shade for the ceilings, as compared to the walls, as it will make surface recede from view and enlarge small space. You can use light colored tiles, paints or wallpapers with small prints as large, bold prints can make the place look cluttered. The most important factor is to keep it simple or otherwise it will impede all the efforts to maximize your bathroom space.
Another simple way to address the lack of space in your bathroom is maximize the storage around sink where you can add vanity or shelves under the sink for cosmetics, toiletries and other belongings. In case you already have a vanity, then you can increase its storage capacity through simple modifications. Add shelves or half shelves, wire racks on the inside of cabinet doors, built-in nooks and include pullout elements, similar to the kitchen cabinetry, such as towel rods, shelves and wastebasket.
Apart from vanity, another simple option is to use shelves for placing pretty much everything you need. You can either mount it on the wall or recess it into the walls, without taking up the limited floor area. Amongst the different shelf options available in the market today, corner shelves are your best bet, which can easily hold all the indispensable items. In case there is scope for some space, you can even opt for free-standing shelves as these can be easily moved around for your convenience.
In addition, you can even use a lot of mirror in your bathroom as it easily creates an illusion of space. To further camouflage the lack of space in the small bathroom, you can use two mirrors placed opposite to each other as it creates an illusion of a never-ending room. Further, instead of shower curtains which clutter the view, you can use clear glass shower doors as it does not obstruct the space or its view. Moreover, keep the doors, trims and accessories in soft colors, such as pastels which reflect light or better yet, of the same color as that of walls so as to make the space appear wider.
Hence, these simple steps can help you maximize your bathroom space, without having to compromise on utility or aesthetic value.
Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com
May 25th, 2010
Modern construction designs have rendered space to be a premium commodity, so it has become all the more important to make maximum utilization of the space that is available to you. Utilization of space is especially important in a bathroom since it is one of the most important areas of a house. One of the most effective ways to ensure that you are able to effectively utilize the available space in your bathroom is by using shower recess and niches.
Earlier when a separate space for keeping accessories in a shower was required people used to install either a ceramic soap dish or a corner shelf. Although effective, this method used up a lot of space in the shower area; therefore, a more effective storage solution was required. It is in order to effectively utilize the space in a shower that the uses of shower recessed shelves have gained popularity. Most people use a variety of cosmetics and accessories while showering and cluttering in the shower area has become a common problem that is faced by many.
Not only can shower niche prevent cluttering in your shower; it can also act as an essential part of your shower’s decoration theme. These recesses and niches can be easily installed in your shower area thereby ensuring that there is no damage to the surrounding areas. Further, these porcelain recesses and niches are available in a variety of colors, shapes and designs to suit to the specific theme of your shower. You can even use these recesses and niches to create a special theme in your shower area thereby enhancing its aesthetic appeal.
For those who like to fix things on their own; while installing these recesses & niches would face the problem of effectively waterproofing it. Since even a minor leak in the shower area could significantly damage the walls, it is of prime importance to ensure effectively waterproofing the installed recesses and niches. This problem has been effectively solved by high quality shower recesses and niches such as those offered by FlooringSupplyShop. These recesses and niches do not require any waterproofing so you can easily install them within a matter of hours rather than days.
Manufactured using high quality porcelain, these shower recesses and niches are highly durable and offer longevity. You can easily clean these porcelain recesses and niches without using any special chemicals thereby ensuring ease in maintenance.
It is due to the high utility and ease of installation that these porcelain recesses and niches are widely being preferred. You can go through the website of flooringsupplyshop to get access to the various porcelain recesses and niches that are being offered. Available in a wide range of colors and designs, you can select the one that best suits the specific theme of your shower area. The unique feature of these recesses and niches is that you will be able to create space for all your shower accessories, thereby ensuring an effective showering experience.
Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com
May 16th, 2010
The showers that we find in most homes these days are far from what the early Romans and Greeks used. The first experience that man had of a shower was not under a man made structure, but under a natural one: a waterfall. However, the desire to have a personal shower led to the creation of customized shower areas inside the house.
The Greeks were probably the first ones to invent a shower by creating aqueducts made of lead, and a sewage area. This was an effective system that allowed pumping of water both in and out of the communal shower rooms. Similar to this system were the boathouses created by the Romans. The remains of these boathouses can be found around the Mediterranean as well as in the modern day England. However, after the fall of the Roman era, showering almost became a religious taboo and was completely abandoned until the Victorian era.
It was during the Victorian Era that the famous ‘English Regency Shower’ was invented. This shower was made out of metal, but was painted to make it appear like bamboo. The structure of the English Regency Shower consisted of a basin at the top and a drain at the bottom. A pump like arrangement at the drain forced the water to the top basin, from where it was pumped over the occupant through a nozzle. The English Regency Shower even had a basic shower curtain for the privacy of the occupant. Although the design of this shower was effective, the only drawback to it was that the same water had to be reused while showering. A number of modifications were done to this shower, including a hand pump, several sprayers and nozzles that could be interchanged.
It was after the invention of the English Regency Shower that plumbers started experimenting with new showering tools. It was during this time that the shower moved indoors and was being used only by a few privileged homeowners. Lead plumbing was introduced around the 1850s, and it was around this time that it started looking similar to what it is today.
Today, you can find a number of advancements in this domain, thereby leading to the creation of high utility showering structures. One such structure is a combination of a shower and a bath tub. This combination is generally used in small bathrooms where there is not enough space to construct a separate shower and bath tub. Such a combination not only results in maximum utilization of space but also leads to a significant saving in plumbing costs.
The ultimate in showering luxury these days is a sauna shower. A sauna shower provides a spa like experience to the occupant and ensures complete relaxation while showering. A typical sauna shower consists of jets, ceiling rain, Personal Massager and radio.
Thus, we can see that the shower has evolved in a significant manner over the years. Not only is the shower structure more effective, but the plumbing as become more reliable as well.
Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com
April 16th, 2010
All you ‘do-it yourself’ enthusiasts who have tried building a shower area would know about the time and effort that goes into the process. Technicalities such as the pan liner slope, depth of the mortar bed and the shower floor slope can get tricky and can easily ruin your showering area. It is for this reason that most people prefer using the services of professional tradesmen to take care of all the technicalities and to build a perfect shower area.
One way to reduce all this time and effort, and to ensure that all the technicalities are taken care of effectively, is to use a ready to tile shower pan. Reputed ‘ready to tile‘ shower pans such as ProPan can be conveniently installed within a matter of hours, and can also be tiled within the same day. This is in sharp contrast to the time taken in installing a pan liner, mortar beds and tiles using the traditional methods.
Ready to tile pan liners are highly effective since they ensure a completely waterproof shower sub floor. Although installing a pan liner is considered to be the most effective ways of waterproofing the sub floor, there have been instances of a leakage in the pan liner damaging the plywood sub floor. Since ready to tile shower pans eliminate the need to install a pan liner, there will be no chance of a leakage to the sub floor. Further, these ready to tile shower pans are manufactured high quality polystyrene to ensure high durability and a longer working life.
Ready to tile shower pans such as ProPan also eliminate the need to slope the shower pan manually, thereby reducing the time involved in building the shower area. These ready to tile shower pans have a pre-formed slope of 1/4” per foot to ensure that any water that seep under the tiled floor is directed effectively towards the drain weep holes. Thus we can see that not only do ready to tile shower pans floors reduce the time and efforts involved in building a shower area, they also make the shower area more effective.
All those of you who are looking for a curb entry into the shower would find these ready to tile shower area to be of high utility. ProPan comes with an attachment for a curb, which can be installed on the site of the shower. Since building a curb involves a lot of time and a lot of precision, this facility of a curb attachment ensures that you are able to build an effective curb by spending a fraction of the time and energy that is involved in building a curb the traditional way.
Finally, in case you are worried that your shower area is not of standard size and that these ready to tile shower pans will not fit in your shower area, ProPan offers the ideal solution. ProPan can be cut or extended on the site according to the specific shower area size, thereby ensuring that you are able to use these ready to tile shower pans irrespective of the size of your shower area.
Copyright © 2010 FlooringSupplyShop.com
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