News – Monica Groop

Maintenance Guidelines for Colorbond Roofs

All homes need maintenance of some kind to keep their value throughout the years. If you don’t maintain your property you will find that when you want to sell it, the price you had hoped for may not be there. Meanwhile, your home is going to pieces around your ears and a big storm could well bring it crashing down.

The roof is one of the most important parts of the home, but unfortunately it is also one of the most neglected, mainly because getting up on it is beyond many people. They either don’t have the agility any more, or they don’t have the time, or the right equipment. This need not be a problem; there are many professionals out there who can do the job.

The cost of having your roof inspected for damage is much smaller than the cost of replacing the ceilings or the frame that has rotted due to leaks that were not found in time. It is also cheaper than having to replace a roof that suddenly blew off in a storm because the screws holding it on were rusted and no one knew.

Maintenance for Colorbond roofing is not difficult. You simply have to keep sticks and debris such as leaf litter off it and check the screws to make sure they are not rusted. If there is a build up of mould or moss on it, this should be cleaned off after wetting, with a soft bristle brush such as a household broom – not a straw broom, though.

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How To Clean Your Kitchen Cabinets Properly

When homeowners have kitchen renovations in their home, perhaps including cabinet makers creating increased storage space with new cabinets, it is certain that on day one after completion, these kitchens look akin to the sort of kitchen layouts you might see in a kitchen showroom.

Doubtless, for the first few days and weeks, everyone in the family will be well-warned to look after the new kitchen and to tidy away any mess as soon as possible. That may even continue for several months as everyone in that home takes pride in their new kitchen.

Part of keeping the kitchen looking as good as it did when it was first completed will be cleaning that kitchen. That will cover several tasks, such as mopping the floor, wiping countertops, and washing and putting away dishes and cutlery after mealtimes.

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How to Choose a Colour Scheme For Your New Home

Colour is a big part of design, whether you’re getting a new landscape design or doing an internal renovation, it can seem a bit overwhelming to choose a colour palette for the whole house. Having the same neutral colours for every room is what you find in rentals. When it comes to your own home, you want something a little more distinctive and up-market than that. Here are some tips on how to choose colours that go well together without being bland and boring.

Walk through the home with a pen and paper and jot down which other parts of the home can be seen from each room. This will ensure the colours chosen for each room will go well together with the colours that can be seen from there. Using a rough sketch of the floor plan is an easy way to keep track of it. It is not only the adjoining rooms that may be seen but places like the hall through to the kitchen.
Choose a colour for the room that is the biggest and most central to the whole house. Feeling stressed? Choose a soft, neutral hue for this room and that will make it easier to choose colours for the other rooms. But if you love colour and want to have at least one room painted in bold colours, start from that room. Then looking out from that room, choose somewhat softer colours for the rooms or spaces you can see from there. That’s not to say you can’t use bold colours next to each other, but there is an element of risk in doing so. You don’t want the colours to clash.
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What Type of Carpet Should You Choose?

Many people choose carpet by the cost, but while this should certainly be considered, there are other important criteria to use to ensure you get the best value as well as a carpet you can live with. It is a good idea to consider these points before choosing a carpet.

What the fibre is made from

There are several choices, and these need to be considered especially in regard to carpet cleaning whether you plan to do it yourself or hire a professional – from wool to synthetics such as nylon, acrylic, polyester and olefin. In many cases, a blend of wool and nylon or another synthetic is favoured because while wool is durable, adding a synthetic makes it even more hardwearing. Usually, blends contain 80% wool and 20% nylon.

The depth of pile you like

The depth of pile is an important factor because it has an effect on the look and wear of the carpet. Long, even pile shows footprints and even vacuum trails, but it is very soft, elegant and luxurious underfoot. It may not be the best choice for heavy traffic areas.

Shorter pile does not feel as soft, but it is harder wearing and ideal for heavy traffic areas. You can also get a combination of short and long which can add visual interest with a self-pattern and texture.

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10 Factors That Create Shade Sails Damage And How To Counter Them

If there is one description that shade sails cannot be labelled with it is fragile. In truth, if you were to ask most people who have shade sails they would describe them as robust, durable, and strong. However, despite shade sails being invariably reliable, they are not invincible. In other words, there are some factors that, if they were to exist, could compromise shade sails and their durability.

Some of these factors occur naturally, others are due to their owners making mistakes, and a lack of care and maintenance of the shade sails is also a major issue. The results can include shade sails looking grubby, them becoming damaged, and ultimately the need to replace shade sails arises long before they would normally have needed replacing, especially if certain preventive measures had been taken.

To know what some of these preventative and remedial actions are, you must first know what damaging factors they address, and so, to ensure that you do know them, based on the advice from the professionals at One Shade, we have outlined ten of the most commonly occurring ones below.

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4 Ways You Can Save with a Colorbond Roof

Most people have a budget when it comes to building a home, so are interested in finding out all the ways they can save. Of course, you can save on the materials you build with, but it is not wise to use inferior materials. You want your home to last in good condition for as long as possible, not fall down in the first storm.

If you are looking to save, think about what you can do to your home that will save you money over the long term – the life of the building. This is where a Colorbond roof comes into its own. When you use Colorbond steel sheets for your roof you not only get a sturdy roof that will last for at least 50 years; you get a roof that will cut down on the running costs of the home for that length of time. How?

A Colorbond roof has thermal properties baked into it along with the colours – most of them anyway. This means that it will cost much less to heat and cool in the coming years. You won’t have to endure a home that is freezing or boiling hot, or pay a fortune to have it cooled or heated, no matter what the weather’s doing outside.

Colorbond roofing is also low maintenance so it is not likely to spring a leak like tiles roofs often do once a single tile gets a bit loose. You won’t have to pay for a tiler to come and repair your roof, or find water damage to the ceiling after a storm, that costs an arm and a leg to repair. You won’t have to repaint it – or if you do it will not be for a long time.
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How to Set Up a Perfect Home Office?

With the changing times, the question arises: why is our generation so different from all other generations when we think about the home office? The answer is that the routines have changed drastically. Our ancestors have to spend their 8 hours of working in an office. They must travel through various transports to reach their office and on the same vehicles after work.

But if we talk about our generation, the paradigm has shifted drastically. We don’t want to get stuck in traffic, weather, and all other hindrances to work as we can work from home. Many have not renewed their office leases, called in the removalists, shed some excess office equipment, and set up offices in their familiar surroundings – at home.

According to a survey, more people are working from home than ever. Regardless of what we do, our generation has figured out how to accomplish our daily tasks from home. The advancement of technology has gifted us with this comfort, and we can even work in our pajamas.

Advantages of Working from Home

We can save time traveling.
We can work efficiently because of the environment and comfort.
The office talks are long forgotten at home.

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How to Ensure Scaffolding Safety at the Building Site

One thing every company that uses scaffolding should be concerned about is safety at the building site. When employees are using scaffolding, their risks increase due to the working conditions being more dangerous. They are usually up high, so any fall is more likely to have disastrous consequences. The working space is limited which restricts their movements to some extent and this can also contribute to injuries or falls. So how do you ensure scaffolding safety at the building site?

- Make sure all employees have proper training for working on scaffolding. This training should be ongoing, not done once and never again. People forget things and situations change. Training should be done so staff can keep up with the latest safety developments.
- Never allow an untrained person to go up on scaffolding. It is quite easy to forget who has had training and who hasn’t. Keeping on top of details like this will ensure a better quality of safety for all concerned.

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4 Ways To Ensure Your Landscaped Garden’s Pavers Look Good For Longer

One of the most common requests landscaping companies receive when discussing a landscape design with their residential clients is for paving. Whilst the local climate is such that the risks of continuous rain making lawns unsuitable for walking on are minimal, there is still a huge demand for paving stones and slabs to be included in landscaped gardens.

The two main reasons for the demand for paving are the practical use of them for walking safely and comfortably through a garden, and the aesthetic value the paving brings to a landscape design. One important point we must alert you to from the outset is that no matter what type, size, quantity, and design of the paving you have in your garden, there is a need to maintain them so that they retain their appearance for longer.

If this is not done, then the risk is that a combination of them being walked on frequently, plus the heat and sunshine can cause pavers to diminish in terms of their appearance. Thankfully, there are ways you can prevent this from happening such as the four we have outlined below.

Ensure Paving Is Laid Correctly

One of the main causes of pavers losing their appearance, or worse, becoming unsafe, is that they were not laid properly in the first place. The issues created by paving stones not being laid properly include them sinking, loosening, or cracking, all of which have the potential to make them unsafe for those walking on them and to make your paving look less than appealing.

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Five Benefits of Installing an Alarm Monitoring System

Alarm monitoring systems are becoming increasingly common across Australia. They provide an added layer of security for your home or commercial premises and help prevent intruders from robbing you or vandalising your property.

There are numerous different types of alarm monitoring systems available, but they are all based on the same core concepts. To put it simply, those using a monitored alarm system will benefit from real-time notifications if an intruder does attempt to break-in or vandalise your property.

In this article, we’ve outlined five major benefits of using an alarm monitoring service. Remember, it’s always a good idea to speak with a security expert to determine what sort of system is best for your property.

You Will Be Notified Immediately if Something Is Wrong

The first, and one of the most notable benefits of installing an alarm monitoring system is that they will notify you as soon as your security system is breached. There are a few different options here.

First, you can opt to have security notifications delivered directly to your smartphone, either via an app or text messages/email. Alternatively, you can contract a security company to take care of things for you. They will be notified as soon as there’s a breach and will be able to respond accordingly.

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