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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10 Landscaping Tips For Those Who Live In Dry Climates

10 Landscaping Tips For Those Who Live In Dry Climates

One thing that anyone who loves gardening, and landscaping, in particular, knows is that the climate they live in, and the prevailing weather can have a huge impact, both positive and negative, upon your activities. Too cold, and your plants are at risk of being attacked by frost. Too wet and they can literally drown. Too hot and dry and they can wither through lack of the life-giving water and moisture they need.

If you’re a expert on landscaping in Australia, it is likely the latter of those three scenarios that you are facing most often. Whilst we Aussies like to boast to those from overseas about our sunny weather and how we love spending much of our life on the beach, having the baking sun and intense heat for most of the year-round, which some states have, is not something that most landscapers will be thankful for.

It means the work and the maintenance you need to do to ensure your flowers, shrubs and grasses remain healthy, is increased enormously. No doubt you have often wondered if there is an easier way to look after the plants which grow within your landscaping designed garden. Whilst we cannot do much about the hot sun and dry days, we do have 10 great tips that should help.

Tip #1 – Do Some Research: If you want to do landscaping in a part of the country where rainfall is minimal then research the sort of plants that are well known to thrive or at least survive well in those hot and dry conditions. You can ask Adelaide Building Supplies on advice for what materials suit dry climates.

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How To Compare The Different Soil Types Available For Your Landscape Garden

How To Compare The Different Soil Types Available For Your Landscape Garden

Whilst landscape designers have excellent skills when it comes to designing the layout of a landscaped garden, their knowledge also extends to matters related to horticulture. By that, we are talking about them knowing which plants are suitable within a design and the best conditions for each one.

If they did not have that knowledge, whilst they might initially create a great-looking garden, it would fail due to plants not growing, lawns looking discoloured due to poor drainage, and any other problems that can occur in gardens. Thankfully, most landscapers are reputable and will ensure any landscape design they create will produce a park that is an aesthetic joy and that everything that grows within that garden will thrive.

A garden that thrives is only possible if the soil within it is suitable for the plants that grow there, which brings us to one of those specific areas of knowledge that landscapers have. It is essential to know the types of soil within a garden and, where necessary, what soil needs to be added to allow the plants that are planned for it to have the best chances of thriving.

Although we cannot cover every possibility, we have highlighted below some soil types you might find in your garden and their various facets. This should allow you to compare them to ascertain which suits your garden and your plans.

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5 Ways to Add Value to Your Property with Limestone

5 Ways to Add Value to Your Property with Limestone

People have been using stone of various kinds for hundreds of years as building supplies. There are many types of stone and each has a distinctive look and colour to it that creates a beautiful surface and enhances its surroundings. Limestone blocks especially have a unique texture and colour that make it one of the most popular stones for building, even though it is not as hard as some other types.

In fact, limestone is so popular that it has been developed into a more durable and hard stone by crushing it and mixing it with cement and sometimes an aggregate such as small pebbles is added to the mix. These then show up through the surface adding texture and interest and creating a mix of colours that are pleasing to the eye.

There are many ways to add value to your home with limestone, but not only will its use add value to the property; it will also enhance your lifestyle by adding pleasure and purpose to many areas. This can be an even more important reason to go ahead with building a project using limestone bricks or blocks.

  1. Adding an outdoor dining and entertaining area with pavers of limestone will not only look beautiful, it will give you and your friends many hours of pleasure as you enjoy alfresco meals or simply relax in the cool of the evening. To add life and colour back into the paved area you can use big or small garden pots with a variety of plants, this makes it easier to maintain and gives you the chance to move them around when needed.

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A Guide To Making An All-New Green Kitchen

A Guide To Making An All-New Green Kitchen

With changing times, changes our responsibilities as well. Cooking is no more just about manufacture and consumption of food; rather, cooking is one of the most necessary components for survival and should be performed accordingly. What is a home without a kitchen? The answer is incomplete. Therefore, in order to make your home a place you feel most comfortable in, it is important to take care in designing of your kitchen.

With increasing workload, the cacophony of an industrial work life seems to get onto our nerves at certain times; and during these times what we crave for the most is a little bit of nature, a little bit of green, a little bit of pure organic life, that would give you the comfort of a mother, unadulterated.

As responsible and conscious human beings, it is not just enough to survive; it is important to ensure a healthy survival of the generations to come. To be precise, sustainability is essential, and it requires us to live in a more environment-friendly manner so that we do not affect the plants/animals/atmosphere around us adversely.

Why should I have a Green kitchen?

An environment-friendly kitchen is a kitchen that cooks eco-friendly manner so that balance is retained between our lifestyle and the outer environment we are living in. In respect to that, an eco-friendly kitchen deserves proper cleaning in a manner that would not disturb the ecological balance of our nature.

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Basic Tools for Gardening

Basic Tools for Gardening

If you have just moved into your first home you’ll be thrilled and elated that finally you can have everything the way you want without a landlord breathing down your neck.

However, if you’ve only lived in rentals before, you may not have had the chance to do much landscaping, so to keep your new yard looking pristine you’ll need at least a few .

To keep your new yard looking pristine, you’ll need at least a few different garden tools, something Garden Spec often sees new homeowners discovering as they begin shaping their outdoor spaces.

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Maintenance Guidelines for Colorbond Roofs

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 Choose a Colour Scheme For Your New Home

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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10 Pool Enhancement Errors to Avoid

10 Pool Enhancement Errors to Avoid

To save you from figuring out all the pool remodeling mistakes after completion of the task or while you are halfway through it, we have lined up 10 errors. Read on to avoid yourself from committing these pool enhancement mistakes and save ample time and money.

Error 1: Forgetting the Work Permit

Yes, proper work permit is a must and cannot be avoided at any cost. Before beginning any work, make sure you avail a permit that confirms with all the necessary formalities of your locality.

Error 2: Purchasing Cheap Supplies

One of the worst money-saving tactics is buying cheap supplies. In the long run, you will end up spending double the amount on repairs and automatically regret your decision. Best quality materials will make your pool last long and look fabulous.

Error 3: Not Employing a Contractor

A professional pool builder plays a significant role. He is acquainted with the right permits to have, the right supplies to purchase and to apply the accurate solution whenever there is a problem.

Error 4: Overlooking Home Design

Overlooking your home design isn’t a great idea. Your pool should be an extension of your home style rather than being something so different that it ends up looking odd.

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Are Eco Friendly Pools Really Safe for Humans?

Are Eco Friendly Pools Really Safe for Humans?

If you have a pool that uses chlorine or salt as a sanitiser you may be wondering if there is a more eco friendly alternative as you plug in your robotic pool cleaner and skim leaves from the top of the pool. There are several alternatives but are they really safe for humans to use? There are at least four alternatives for swimming pools, but you may not like all of them.

For instance, take what is touted as an all natural pool. This is made with clay and gravel and uses water plants to keep the water clean, so you won’t need an automatic pool cleaner. If you are designing your own garden, it is certainly good for the environment as the pure water offers insects and frogs a place to live. Frogs may be attractive and relatively harmless if their name is Kermit.

Otherwise they will croak all night and keep you awake. And they may well come and visit your house. Then there is the problem of snakes, who love to eat frogs and will chase them wherever they go; into the pool or towards your house. Don’t think snakes can’t swim because they are very good at it.

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