Hidden Deck Fasteners For Composite Decking

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Composite Decking is the leading building product used to build decks in America and in many parts of the world. Many composite deck brands also give the appearance of real wood instead of nasty plastic. The appeal of using recycled materials to create an outdoor deck has many builders and homeowners excited and eager to start building right away. However, because composite decking is not real wood, it behaves differently throughout the course of the year.

Heres the first thing you need to know: While hardwood decking expands and contracts on its width due to environmental changes in temperature and moisture levels, composite decking will expand and contract on its length. This is an important distinction to make. Lets just say that if the ends of your composite deck boards butt against your home, you may want to give some breathing room while installing. Not much, of course, but enough to allow the boards to expand and to prevent buckling, warping, and cracking.

Now comes the fun part, installing composite decking. Many builders say that screwing directly through the top of the board is just fine. I couldnt disagree more. Just because composite boards are made of recycled content doesnt mean that theyre cheap. Screwing top down will mean that your finished deck will look decent from far away. And, the closer you get, the more dots aka screw heads youll see. Now the naysayers out there will say that there are composite deck screws that have colored heads that match the decking. Sure enough, theyd be right. However, what those special decking screws or any other brand for that matter cant do is prevent the problems of mushrooming, mold, and decay that this method of deck installation ends up with? Why? Because that method is the one of the causes of those problems!

Lets explore this further. Lets say you rush through your decking installation. Top down screws everywhere! Now, fast forward a few months, a year, maybe two. Theres been a lot of rain, maybe some snow, ice, and a lot of time for water to sit and rest around the heads of each screw. Gravity being what it isat least SOME water will seep into the crevices that arise. Where did these crevices come from? Think about it. Those screws are driven through the deck board into the joist so that your deck board wont move. But, if you remember from above, all types of decking will move. So, with this in mind, the decking moves on its length and the screw…does it stay in place? No, it will move around too. These movements can be incremental, or they can be noticeable right away depending on how well the decking was manufactured and/or the climate you are in. Regardless, the result of water seeping into the screw hole will lead to mold and eventually decay. Two things that will make any deck look horrible and an eyesore.

So, how do you prevent this from occurring? Use hidden deck fasteners tailor made for composite decking. A composite deck fastener will be installed between each board straight down into the joist. You might have to use a biscuit jointer or router to fashion the grooves yourself, or if you bought pre-grooved composite deck boards, all youll have to is lay the board down, straighten it according to your plan, and then install the composite fastener using a screw and drill. Thats it. Simple as pie, not to mention an effective way to make your outdoor garden deck look as good as new for a longer period of time.

Air-Conditioning Tips To Save Your Electricity Bills

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During summer, the average households will need to pay about 45% of their electricity bills for their air-con alone. The reason is that due to the extreme weather, Air-Conditioning has become an essential electrical appliances in their home. They cant live without Air-Conditioning alone, else they will get sick in the hot and stuffy weather. However, do not fret, basic tips can help you to keep your room cool and at the same time, keep your electricity bills low throughout the hot summer.

Portable Air-Con:
In the event that you only are the only one at home and you only want to cool down one particular room, dont switch on the central Air-con system. Instead, spend a little money on portable Air-Con as these units have uses lower energy consumption and with high cooling efficiency. Thus, it will be sufficient to cool down your room adequately and at the same time, save your electricity bills!

Blinds or Window Shades:
Due to the summer, sunlight can transfer the heat to the room easily from the windows of your house. This result in higher temperature in your house and make it more difficult for the Air-Conditioning to cool down your room. Hence window shades or blinds should be installed at all the windows in your house. Those blinds can effectively reduce the high temperature from the daylight by approximately 45%. Additionally, you can likewise hang bamboo shades outside your house windows. This can potentially block up to 80% of the sunlights high temperature from overcoming your windows.

Windows:
Since during the day, the heat is intolerable, try to keep all windows shut throughout the day as the heat outside can easily increase your house temperature. During the evening you can open the windows for ventilation to increase the air circulation in your room and rather than switching on an air-con, you can switch on a fan.

Outdoor Condenser:
The condenser outside your house is also an important factor that will affect your electricity bills. Make sure that the condenser outside your house is decently shaded, not directly expose to the hot sunlight. If the condenser is not shaded, the Air-Conditioning system will require additional energy to produce the same cooling effect, thus increase the power consumption. Also, make sure that the condenser outside is regularly cleaned to increase the cooling efficiency of the system.

Air-Conditioning filter:
It is advised to clean your system filer in any event once a month. Due to the usage of the units, dust can accumulate and can seriously lessen the air stream from the Air-Conditioner.

Size of Air-Conditioner:
The size of the Air-Con system when you purchase is an important factor too. At the point when you are purchasing an Air-Conditioner unit, verify that the units are the appropriate size for your room. If you bought a unit that is excessively small, it will not cool down your room adequately and an Air-Con that is excessively big will lead to considerably higher energy consumption than should be expected. Therefore, when purchasing a unit, you should only buy the right Air-Con size for your room.

Old Air-Conditioning units:
On the off chance that your Air-con is old, think about changing it with a higher productivity unit. Due to the technological advancement, new Air-Conditioning units have higher energy efficiency, thus lower energy consumption than the older units. Hence you may consider a new unit such as the inverter Air-Conditioning system with high energy efficiency.

Heat Generated in Your House:
Household chores such as cooking, drying of shirts, can create a significant amount of heat. Hence, attempt to do these chores until the night when the environment is cooler.

Most individuals simply switch their air-conditioning system anytime they like. It will certainly cool down your room, yet it will cost you higher electrical bills. Other than that, high usage of electricity is not green and will harm our planet. Therefore, by following our straightforward guidance, not only you can reduce your electricity bills but also give a helping hand to save the Earth.

Fun Things to do with Broken Glass

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Someone has put a baseball through your window and now you have a pile of sharp, dangerous broken glass. Before your throw it away, think of it as a learning experience. As long as you don’t cut yourself, broken glass can be a prime art material instead of an annoying drag. Before you do anything else, call a company to come out and replace your now defunct window. The best replacement windows Chicago, Omaha, Oceanside, or any city in the country are only a phone call away. You won’t need a lot of motivation if the weather is particularly cold. Now, don some thick gloves and safety goggles, the kind that cover your entire eye area and wrap around the sides and top. Carefully pick up the glass and put it into a container that won’t be ripped, torn, or damaged by sharp edges. You can either store your broken glass safely away to be used later or get your creative juices flowing right now. There are lots of things you can do with broken glass. You’d be surprised at the variety, and you might just be inspired to come up with your own ideas.

Jewelry

Sea glass is at a premium, but you don’t have to wait for years for glass to be tumbled in the ocean and over sand to get that frosted, smooth, jewel-like effect. You can do the same thing with a glass tumbler. Clear glass works fine, and produces a lovely crystal effect, but you can easily find colored bottles and smash them up for a variety of color saturated beads. Ask your friends to save their alcohol or water bottles. Companies are doing a lot of advertising with glass color, and that works to your advantage. Once you have some tumbled glass that won’t cut you, play around with wire and beads. There are lots of books available on creating and designing your own jewelry.

Experiments with Faux Mercury Glass

Making faux mercury glass out of clear vases is not a new idea, but giving larger pieces of broken glass the same treatment might yield some interesting effects. You could use the mercury glass as an unusual frame for a mirror, glued in layers over a wooden frame. You could also create a mosaic top for a table with the glittery, silver shards and some grout. Use the mosaic table idea on a small scale for a square of framed glass you can lean on a window to add privacy without cutting off the light.

Fusing Glass

While we will not go into the details of fusing glass here, but glass fusing is the process of using a kiln raised to a high heat level in order to fuse separate pieces of glass together. You can only use one type of glass at a time for this kind of project, so don’t mix glasses from different sources. To fuse glass, you will need an electric kiln and kiln wash. You will also need safety goggles and some glass. You can buy kits that include glass specifically designed to be fused, and that might help you learn how to do it initially, but finding and using glass from other sources will produce all different kinds of looks. You can make glass beads, jewelry, and even sculptures using the fusing method. These are just some ideas to get you going. Broken glass doesn’t have to be relegated to the garbage can or recycle bin alone. You can use it as a jumpstart to becoming an artist.

Bullworker Exercises Lamebrained Or Revolutionary

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I wanted to share my thoughts and the thoughts of some experts in the field of exercise physiology on why you should NOT follow the old Bullworker exercise training program.

What we first have to realize is that the Old Bullworker training program was created in the 70’s. Well 30 plus years have gone by and so has the field of exercise and nutrition. The results that the current level natural bodybuilder are achieving are way beyond what was done years ago. So in essence the training protocol that Bullworker uses still is based on what was know about exercising 36 years ago!

Today we know you don’t want to exercise every day.

Muscles need rest. You grow when you are not exercising.

The Value Of Rest

It’s rest that makes you stronger, because it is the rest that allows the muscles that you have broken down to heal and recover. It’s the rest that allows you to recover so you can be strong, and thereby handle the increased resistance and increased number of sets and reps needed to gain further.

Why does rest play such an important role in muscle recovery? It is during sleep where Growth Hormone (GH) levels are at their highest. Physiologic improvement in bodybuilding can only occur during the rest period following hard training. This is also why consuming the proper foods and supplements immediately following such training is key.

I will list SOME of the reasons why you shouldn’t ever follow that old Bullworker exercise program.

Train every day … WRONG!
Use 60% strength … WRONG!
No Advanced Training Techniques, i.e. muscle confusion, cycle training, eccentric movements, split routines … WRONG!
Relying strictly on Isometric Training and ignoring the PROVEN muscle building aspects of advanced bodybuilding concepts … WRONG!
Providing NO education whatsoever to one of the most important aspects of muscle building, Nutrition …. WRONG!
Not using post-Isometric training … WRONG!
The one size fits all school of bodybuilding … WRONG!

So you may say… “hey many people have used the old training program and gotten results!” Right??

Truth be told yes, you can get SOME results using the old Bullworker program, but everyone today knows you don’t train every day!

No bodybuilder, power-lifter, Olympic athlete, NO ONE, today does a complete body workout every day.

That’s just dumb, dumb, and double dumb!

The entire Bullworker training program that is still being preached by the Bullworker people is archaic and ridiculous. I hear it all the time from people using the old Bullworker program that they end up getting “tendonitis.”

Their joint and tendons hurt and they either quit or stop training. Has this happened to you yet? It will!

In part 2 I will discuss the benefits of PIC and how this can increase your strength and muscle building results by up to 300%.

Save Hundreds of Dollars with Solar Pool Heaters

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Since about the 1970s-80s, people all around the world have been using Solar Collectors to heat their water for a number of applications including domestic hot water (for showers, laundry, grooming, and washing dishes), radiant heating through floor or baseboard heaters to space heat their homes, and even to heat their pools to extend the swimming season earlier in the spring and later in the fall.

Heating your pool is a luxury, but that doesnt mean that it should be so expensive that only the very rich can afford it. By using Solar Pool Heaters, the average American Household can heat their swimming pool for only a few hundred dollars, and without the high, and rising costs of traditional fossil fuels and heating sources like oil, natural gas, and electricity. Silicon Solar Inc carries a complete line of Solar Pool Heaters, available for every type and size pool in any location around the country.

For above ground pools, Silicon Solar carries two different pre-packaged Solar Pool Heaters, a 1 panel/40,000 BTU Solar Pool Heater, and a 2 panel/80,000 BTU Solar Pool Heater. If your pool needs a larger Solar Collector to heat the water due to its size, or your climate, you can add more Solar Collectors into the system for higher output and additional heat. For in-ground pools, Silicon Solar offers 2 different Pre-Packaged Solar Pool Heaters, a 1 panel/40,000 BTU Solar Pool Heater and a 2 Panel/80,000 BTU Solar Pool Heater. Solar Pool Heaters for Above and In Ground Pools begin at only $129 each.

These Solar Pool Heaters are easily installed and tie directly into your existing Pool Pump/Filter System. As for installation, Solar Pool Heaters from Silicon Solar simply roll out on your roof, or on the ground next to your pool and are ready to go, heating your pool within minutes of installation and setup. Here are some simple rules to use when choosing the Solar Pool Heater that is right for you.

Use the following table to compare your pool shape and size with the number of collectors needed to heat that pool. [16 Round 2 Collectors (80,000 BTU)], [20 Round 2 Collectors (80,000 BTU)], [24 Round 2 Collectors (80,000 BTU)], [28 Round 4 Collectors (160,000 BTU)], [12×24 Oval 2 Collectors (80,000 BTU)], [15×24 Oval 2 Collectors (80,000 BTU)], [16×26 Oval 4 Collectors (160,000 BTU)], [16×32 Oval 4 Collectors (160,000 BTU)], [18×34 Oval 4 Collectors (160,000 BTU)], [20×40 Oval 6 Collectors (240,000 BTU)]. If your pool size/shape is not listed in the information that I have been able to gather, you can get far more information about Solar Pool Heaters at the Silicon Solar website; www.siliconsolar.com.