Here you will find series of articles written by our featured author Anthony Braun.
Anthony is a civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience in designing residential and commercial buildings in Europe. He generously shares his knowledge with all readers of HomeIown.com.
When we say “home”, we mean the dearest to our heart place, the one that we value more than anything. It is a home where we grew up or our kids are growing up, or a place we’re growing old in.
But this article is about a new home for a new family. When anyone decides to build his own home, the first specialist to see would be an architect.
The ideal positioning of the house is different in various parts of Australia. And if in the north (Darwin) the main concern is hiding from the sun, in the south (Melbourne) we need to think of a way to keep the sunlight in our house.
To keep sunlight in the house means both letting it in and making it stay there for as long as possible.
Building on a difficult terrain
Adjusting the house to the landscape is the first task to be solved when building on difficult terrain. If your block of land has slopes up to 20% - it’s rather regular terrain. The difficulties start to appear on slopes that are steeper than that.
All About Flooring - Wooden Floors
The more civilized a nation, the more materials it uses for flooring. In the rural villages of Central Asia, where people work in their fields and gardens, their houses have no flooring - the floor is made of dense clay. The wealthy cover their floors with carpets made of camel wool, and the poor with thin and cheap rugs.
All About Flooring - Ceramic Floors
In different countries people choose different materials for floor, and their decision is influenced by many reasons - traditions, climate (temperature and humidity), the price of materials and available technology. For example, in the warm coastal countries the climate is hot and the humidity is high. Timber doesn’t like such conditions and also it is not as commonly available as in the countries located further inland.
All About Flooring - Carpets, Linoleum and Concrete
Another type of flooring is wall-to-wall carpets and linoleum. Carpets - soft, warm, easy to handle, varying in colors - should be replaced every 10 years. The reason is that plastics used as a base for carpets start to decompose after that period of time.
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