Sunday, May 27, 2012

Picking Pressure Washers For Cars

Most people who have not really dealt with pressure washers, tend to believe that when you pressure-wash a car, you just use train a jet of water on every surface. But that's not true really.

You see, cars are not built to be as hard as concrete - the kind of surfaces that a proper pressure washer is built for. Car pressure washers are typically built to deliver low pressure levels that won't damage your paintwork.

But even with such a pressure washer that is built to supply controlled pressure for use on a car, you can't just use it anywhere on a car. You are supposed to use it on the metal parts - the bodywork, the engine and so on.

The 1500 pounds per square inch that car pressure washers are capable of delivering (which would be approximately 100 bar, to express it in another common unit), could blow a hole in the plastic parts of your car or just blow your windshield wiper right off.

Before you set out to buy a pressure washer that's built for cars, you want to try to make up your mind the exact kind of use you will put it to.

They usually sell models for different kinds of purposes. The lightweight models are best for the occasional car cleaning project at home. The electric motor won't be a heavy-duty one, and itwon't stand up to continuous use. A lightweight model is not the kind of thing for instance that they would use in a car garage where they would need to clean cars all the time.

For home use, to simply buy a lightweight unit would serve your purpose and it would save you a lot of money.

Now pressure washers that are used to clean driveways and other such tough surfaces, do deliver a high level of pressure. But they do so with very little water. Since you're using low-pressure on your car, you want to make up for it with a system that delivers a lot of water at that pressure. Typically, you should look for a unit that delivers about 2 gallons of water a minute. The higher you go, the better.

If you're trying to choose between a no-name brand and an expensive European import like Bosch, you have to understand that you probably won't notice any difference in performance at first. Both units will probably work exactly the same for a couple of years. It's the area of durability that the expensive models will do a good job in.

Friday, May 25, 2012

How Important Is It To Buy Commercial Pressure Washers Anyway

Managers at large public buildings, when they are requisitioned by the cleaning department for a pressure washer, often hesitate or stall. With $5000 as the entry price, commercial pressure washers can be  pricey big-ticket items to buy. They do realize that public buildings see lots of traffic and there can be some pretty challenging cleaning duties around. They do realize that heavy-duty cleaning equipment might be called for. But it can be worrisome all the same. Perhaps a little introduction to how commercial pressure washers could really help could set their minds at ease.

Even industrial buildings don't have the kind of cleaning needs that commercial buildings usually do. Schools, government buildings, offices, shopping malls, hotels - these places see thousands and thousands of visitors every day. Industrial buildings don't usually see any more than the workers who usually come and go. Where there are lots of people walking by, there is usually be associated filth, debris, vandalism and so on.

There's a good reason why labor movements in the past used to vehemently oppose anyone bringing in machines. They felt it would displace actual workers. They were right. The reason businesses usually like to get machines in place of people is that machines are things you only have to buy once. People, you have to pay wages to every week.

Buying commercial pressure washers should be considered financially viable because in its place, you would have to hire a bunch of people painfully scrubbing away at dirt forever. And lots of dirt there will be.

Any kind of place that sees a lot of people traffic will inevitably have to deal with grease, food spills, chewing gum, stains, and just plain old grime. Only high-pressure washers can get rid of these in a short period of cleaning time.

Mostly, commercial pressure washers with high-pressure cold and hot water, are highly effective on hard concrete and tile. They can put out some pretty scary pressure levels that only very rigid surfaces can actually take. But when they are matched to the right kind of surface, these washers can truly be effective. It doesn't matter how hardened, baked on or stubborn the stain is. There isn't a stain that is resistant to this kind of pressure.

Mostly, a purchase decision needs to take in account the kind of area that the washer will be deployed at. If it has access to electrical power, it's easy to buy an inexpensive electric-powered appliance. Otherwise, a gas-powered on would be completely appropriate.

Perhaps the best reason to buy commercial pressure washers is this - they are environmentally friendly.  with this kind of pressure involved, you don't need to use any environmentally harmful chemicals in the cleaning process. It's just water. And you can put a sign out there that proudly declares "These premises are cleaned through the green cleaning processes"!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Very Small House Plans

There are many reasons why people want a small home. A couple without children may not need or want extra rooms. Small homes are cheaper to buy, heat, and furnish. Some people want to live alone and have no plans to marry. In other cases, small homes are all that families or couples can afford. Whatever the case, you may not find a house small enough, as many are built with families in mind. You can find very small house plans that may be just what you need and you can build it from the ground up just the way that you want it.

You will be surprised about how tiny very small house plans might be. What you should think about before you choose or even look through plans is what you really want the most. For some people, a dining room, even a small one, is a must. For others, they would prefer to have a small eat-in area in a kitchen. Some want a pantry separate from the kitchen and some want to have a walk in closet more than they want a larger bathroom. These are just a few of the things that you should think about as you choose.

If you are not sure what you want, you may see it when you search through ideas for very small house plans. It could be that what you really want in a home will jump out at you when you find the right plans. Consider not only your life now but also what you may want in the future. You may be happy with one bedroom right now, but what if you want space for guests, craft or hobby endeavors, or even a home office? Consider finding the perfect one for now, but make sure the plans allow for room for expansion if that is what you need on down the road.

At times, very small house plans are like typical homes but they just have a limited number of rooms and those rooms are small. On the other hand, some come with some very unique functions that may please you if you really want to save space. There are some that have rooms that can double as one thing or another depending on your needs. What if you could have a large table in your living room when you wanted to entertain? You can find some plans that offer a way to hide a table or perhaps a table doubles as something else when not in use. These ideas are out there if this sounds good to you.

Overall, very small house plans mean a small budget when building and less space that you have to worry about cleaning. You can save on your heating bills if the house is done right, and you can save even more by going green. Consider solar panels in your roof, if you can afford them, which can save you tons in electric bills in the future. Perhaps you have a love of gardening. Your small house on a typical plot will give you the room to plant the garden of your dreams.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Chewing Gum Removal - Bring In The Machines

To those who haven't been in a situation that calls for chewing gum removal on a regular basis, it could be difficult to understand why you would need specialized  equipment for it. In Singapore they are so fed up seeing their subway doors sticking because of chewing gum that will send you to prison if they so much as see you chew gum while in the system. That's how seriously gum can gum up the works.

You just have to do a quick search online, and you'll find such a range of specialized machines for this. But they can be expensive, and it can be difficult knowing how to go about choosing a machine like this for your needs. It's hard enough knowing how to buy a machine as familiar as a vacuum cleaner. Who has ever heard of a chewing gum removal machine? How do you buy one?

Now basically, there are three kinds of specialized cleaning machine that you could use for chewing gum removal. You could either use a carpet cleaner, a pressure washer or a steam cleaner.

Chewing gum can be very tenaciously sticky. For instance, if you get it on your hair, the only way out is to cut your hair off. That's how tenacious it is. Nothing short of boiling your hair will get rid of it. When it comes to chewing gum on carpeting or another surface, nothing short of a steam cleaner will do.

Steam cleaners wash over the surface to be cleaned with high-powered steam at high temperatures - temperatures as high as 400°F. Once you've managed to heat chewing gum to that temperature, it can easily be taken out by other methods.

Steam cleaners don't usually have a vacuum attached. The only thing a steam cleaner will do for your chewing gum removal project is to heat it and loosen it. You'll have to use one of the top end models for that. Or else, once the steam has managed to loosen it up, you have to remove it with a paper napkin or something. It isn't by any means an automatic process. You can't expect to just turn the machine on have it just take care of it.

While you don't get steam cleaners purpose built for gum removal, they usually come with a few attachments and accessories for the job. If you're looking for a machine that's really been built with gum removal in mind, look for something that comes with gum dissolver enzymes. Those should do the trick.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Is there such a thing as a Tornado Proof House?

As destructive hurricanes and tornadoes become commonplace across the country, America is beginning to awaken to the fact that in this country, tornadoes maybe the thing that cities are built to accommodate - the way in Japan, earthquakes are the thing to accommodate. Year after year, we keep seeing how hurricanes and tornadoes with pretty names just come in and uproot entire towns in a matter of hours. It's about time that each one of us made up our minds that the next time we choose to build, we build a tornado proof house.

It really doesn't make any sense to build a regular house. Hurricanes and tornadoes are just so common these days. A regular built house just doesn't stand a chance in 200 km/h winds. Regular houses are built to withstand forces that are only about half as powerful. You don't even need a full-blown hurricane to see your house disappear. Even when winds attack your house that are just slightly more powerful than what it is built for, they can cause extensive damage.

If you've already built your house, and you notice that you are in an area that is known for these storms once in a while, is there a way you can tornado proof your house?

A tornado proof house is just a very strong one that's properly attached to its foundations. It's also a house that's built like a bomb shelter. The thing is, when a tornado strikes your area, it isn't just the powerful winds that you need to protect yourself against. Tornadoes are known to pick up stuff and toss them around.

If it picks up a wheelbarrow and flings it at your house, your house is going to have to be strong enough. You actually need to really build your house like a bomb shelter to protect against these things. Your roof would have to be about eight times as strong as the roof of a regular house. It's fair to say that it isn't really realistic to build a house to be tornado proof.

The best you can do is to build yourself a hurricane shelter underground. You need to do that to protect your family, you need to find a way to protect your Windows and barrage doors and so on - the weakest spots in your home.

A good strong garage door isn't just about protecting your garage and its contents. It's about protecting your entire house. When a week drive store collapses in the face of a powerful hurricane force wind, the sudden letting in of pressure will find an outlet in your entire house. With the sudden rise in pressure in your house, it'll be in what's been compared to the effect of a bomb. Your house will suddenly become pressurized and blow up.

The best you can do to tornado proof your house would be to buy the strongest garage door you can afford and to build the strongest windows your budget will allow.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

What You Probably Never Knew About New Home Builders

Most of the desirable places to build homes in, happen to already be taken these days. New home builders most choose from among the leftovers - places where the soil isn't what it should be. When a home they build a home on expansive soil or soil that is known to expand and swell when it rains, your home could fall prey to a number of problems. If the soil under the back porch begins to expand, it will begin to pull your back porch away from the rest of your home.

About half of all new homes in Southern California are built on soil like this.  in a litigious society like California's, that's a lot of construction lawsuits waiting to happen. And some of them are not even waiting.

Building on unsuitable soil isn’t the only kind of construction mistake that new homebuilders can make. About five years ago, as was widely reported, a bunch of hillside homes in La Jolla in California just slid off their foundations and went down the hill after a landslide occurred. In other words, if you're buying a new home today, you have to really do that soil test first and make sure that the builders using the right building techniques for the soil.

New home builders have forever depended on the old "slip a few poor quality materials in" trick to make a little extra money on the side. Ever since the housing market collapsed five years ago though, it's grown worse. They've built homes with very thin roofs that are not sealed against rain water leakage, they’ve built them with the drinking water pipes cross-connected to the drainage pipes, they've built without hurricane straps that keep the house bolted to the foundation when a hurricane blows by, they'll use substandard uncured wood and so on. When there is a hurricane, people just find their homes blowing away. And it isn't just the small building companies that do this. A major company like US Home has been caught doing this kind of thing.

It's surprising, you're thinking, that new homebuilders could cut corners in such serious ways and get away with it. Aren't they afraid of all the regulations they're violating and how the’ll be sued out of business?

Well, that that's the thing - those regulations aren’t as serious as you might think. Did you realize that only one out of three US states even have any regulatory body to oversee who gets to be a builder? A builder doesn't need any qualifications, any experience or anything at all in most states. Louisiana, Utah, Arizona and Maryland for the best states for enforcing standards. With the others, just about anything goes.

Monday, May 14, 2012

How to Hire a Home Inspector - If You Are a Home Inspection Company

It can be difficult building an honest home inspection business that offers the customer value for money. Why is it hard to run an honest home inspection company?

The thing is, US law doesn't have any provisions in place yet to certify qualified home inspectors. Just about anyone with a bit of experience around buildings can call himself an inspector, start a home inspection company and get into business.

If you're interested in running an honest business, you don't really have much help from an established system. While there are a few certifying schools and bodies for home inspection out there, there are no rules that say that one has to be qualified. And so, it's rather hard for any home inspection company to find qualified and experienced team members.

If you run a home inspection company, you should of course first start out by looking for potential candidates who are members of the American Society of Home Inspectors - a strictly opt-in membership.

It isn't just about right qualifications when you look for someone who's a member the ASHI. It's also about hiring an ethical inspector. Membership rules require that member inspectors never have a vested interest in the homes they certify. They have several employees because it's been known to happen that inspectors will on the side, agree with local realtors to come in and pass a bad house just for a cut of the proceeds they get later.

Considering how most people find a home inspection company to hire through their realtor, this is a possibility that everyone needs to be careful about. The ASHI isn't the only home inspector certifying body. But it's the biggest one. Andno inspector is offered membership unless he has a couple of hundred inspections under his belt, is willing to sit for an exam and is willing to submit himself to the regular training to keep up with new building techniques.

Before you hire a new team member for your home inspection company, you would do well to ask him the kind of questions you have seen clients ask home inspectors before hiring them. You do need to make sure personally, that the person showing up for the interview actually is a home inspector.

Ask him about the building techniques he is familiar with. Ask about the kind of experience he has with residential buildings and commercial buildings. Ask if he's willing to put himself through the membership requirements set up by the National Society of Professional Engineers , to National Institute of Building Inspectors or another body.

It could take a while to discover someone who is just right. When you come upon the right kind of person though, he should be a real asset to your business.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Dads -- 3 Crucial Ways To Love Your Kids In Christ

Dads...

By loving your children in the following ways, you will be taking important steps toward the goal of turning the hearts of your children to Christ.

Is it a guarantee that all will go well in terms of seeing your children respond by loving the Lord, your wife and you in the process?

Answer: of course not. Nothing is: but it most definitely reflects three worthwhile efforts.

Put these on your high priority list not only as ways to love your children as a Christian father should, but as practices that will serve to love your children *to* Jesus:

First: Love the Lord.
Second: Love your wife.
And Third: Love your children.

--- Love The Lord ---

You love your children by loving the Lord first. In other words, model a priority way to live.

Model as much as you can according to what you know at any given time in your life.

Do what you can,
When you can,
While you are involved in the learning process.

--- Love Your Wife ---

We model the love of Jesus to our children by loving our wives as Christ loved the church (See Ephesians 5).

And here are five ways to model such love.

1. Honor.

Honor her so the kids know and feel that you honor her.
In other words, you want them to feel the honor in their hearts.

2. Compliment.

Be complimentary toward your wife “from the inside out.” That is, compliment your wife both inside and outside of the home.

And do not forget to get rid of those “cut down wife jokes.”

3. Defend.

Defend her in relationship to others. Let your children see you defend her in public.
Defend her within the confines of your own home.

4. Pray.

Pray for her.
Let the kids know you pray for her.
And initiate prayer for her with your children.

5. Remember.

Remember her “special things.”
Her special things could be special days, events or concerns.
Show the kids that “When its special to mom, its special to me.”

--- Love Your Children ---

Remember these key concepts as you seek to love your children to Jesus. Meaning: love them in such a way so as to prompt their seeking to love the same Jesus you know and love.

Key Concepts

1. "Admit and Ask." Admit when you are wrong. Ask forgiveness when you are.

2. "Forgive." Forgive your children when they fall short.

3. "Affirm." Affirm your children at all times!

** Admit and Ask **

Putting it simply, you will be loving your children to Jesus when you:

Admit you are wrong,
Ask forgiveness when you are,
And truly ask with no excuses: just ask.

** Forgive **

Forgive your children when they fall short -- truly forgive.

Don’t bury them alive by degrading them,
Being on a rampage,
Or not listening in anger.

** Affirm **

Affirm your children like crazy.

Affirm what they try,
When they fail,
And everywhere in between.

Just affirm.

--- How Are You Doing? ---

Why take a reflective moment and rate yourself on the 1 to 10 scale below?
(1 = awful; 10 = excellent!)

“Am I modeling Jesus as I should?”

I would rate myself here as ____.

“Am I loving my wife as I should, realizing that in doing so I am modeling love for Jesus in the process?”

I would rate myself here as ____.

“Am I loving my children to Jesus by ‘admitting, asking, forgiving and affirming?”

I would rate myself on “admitting” as ____.

I would rate myself on “asking” as ____.

I would rate myself on “forgiving” as ____.

I would rate myself on “affirming” as ____.