General Articles

Energy-Efficient Home Design 101

Thermal envelope energy-efficient home design tips:

In an energy-efficient home design, great care must be taken to ensure that the thermal envelope is meticulously planned and working as it should to shield the inside of the home from the outside world. The term thermal envelope includes roofs, foundations, insides of walls, insulation, windows, doors, specialized finishes or treatments, air/vapor retardants, and all other barricades against the outside elements.

Air-Sealing: Within the thermal envelope, all air leaks need to be sealed to ensure the proper indoor environment. Areas of concern often include odd-shaped areas around appliance outdoor access ducts and around any pre-fabricated window, skylight, or door installations.

Air/Vapor Retardants: The most common residential water or vapor control systems for the thermal envelope area are the Simple CS system or Airtight Drywall systems. Both types of systems require an airtight installation of drywall and sheet materials, so …

Street sweeping is a fantastic way to keep your property clean. It not only prevents bugs, mold, and bacteria from entering your home but also improves your space’s look and air quality. But did you know that it can even help you avoid getting a cavity?

Improves aesthetics

The art of street sweeping is sometimes equated with cleaning up, but it is a smart choice for any locality that values its public space. It is an excellent way to keep the neighborhood tidy and helps your community comply with a city’s NPDES MS4 permit and other surface water management plans. It also helps reduce the cost of repairing damage caused by stormwater runoff.

In addition to being an efficient and cheap way to clean up your neighborhood, correctly maintaining your streets can make your community safer for pedestrians and motorists. Often, a well-maintained highway can improve the appearance of your …

Downloadable Home Design Software – Envisioneer Express

Cheap and easy. These are the two main selling points of Cadsoft-produced home design software, Envisioneer Express. At only $19.95, users will be able to get their hands on a fully functional home design program that delivers a whole lot of features. Aside from its very affordable price, it also happens to be the easiest design program for residential use – according to its publisher, of course. The latest version of this program, Envisioneer Express 4.5 c2, can be downloaded directly from its site.

Easy as Pie

As mentioned earlier, this program’s ease of use is one of the reasons why a lot of people, both professionals and amateurs alike, are attracted to this excellently designed product. Creating 3D designs are made easier by the use of real world objects which include appliances, furnishings, stairs, windows, and walls – all of which can …

Living Room Design Mistakes to Avoid

Interior designers who are planning to design a living room will put a lot of time and effort into the planning process and for good reasons too. A lot of living room decorations and design mistakes will often be made unconsciously and we will never realize it until it is too late. There are some things that you can try to keep in mind to avoid these kinds of mistakes in the long run.

The number one thing that many people often don’t realize when decorating and designing their living space is that they are doing it so that it matches their focal feature in their home. For many people, this focal point in the living room will be either the fireplace or the big screen flat panel television. This is a mistake that you should absolutely try to avoid. Try taking a different …

Having a Hoot With Interior Design and Owls

Are you looking to introduce a new theme into your interior design or home decor? Choosing something new is all down to a matter of taste and opinion but if you just want to be trendy and current, there are plenty of pointers available in the home sections of high street shops and stores. If you like the idea of having an “owl” theme in your home, then you are in luck, because (at the time of writing) owls are incredibly popular, not just for home items but for clothes, toys and many other things as well.

We are talking about the home, so what you can do to introduce the wonderful owl to your decor? Here are just a few quick ideas.

Hallway – For most homes, the hallway is the entrance to the house and the first place to make …