You have been in the market for days, and finally, you have found the concreter your instincts trust, and the one you believe will provide you with the best services while still complementing your budget.

However, before you sign a contract with him, below are a few questions you should ask;

When will the project start?

The fact that you want to hire a concrete contractor means that you are ready to kick-start your project. Therefore, you need to know whether the concreter is ready to start. The biggest mistake you can make is to hire a concreter who is too busy, and will only start your project as soon as he is done with the others.

This question will help you determine the reliability of the concreter you are working with. If he tells you that he will start in a month or so, then this professional is not reliable. Go for the one who has enough equipment and manpower to start working on your project as soon as now.

How long will the project take?

Remember, the concrete contractor will be working in your home or business. As such, his activities might cause a lot of inconveniences. You don’t want this to go on for long. Therefore, ensure you analyse what is required of the project, and come up with a deadline for the project. If the concreter cannot meet the deadline, then go on with your search.

What happens if you need something that wasn’t quoted in the initial estimate?

Of course, a good concrete contractor gave you a quote free of charge. However, you know that there are some unexpected charges that might arise for your project to be completed successfully. Therefore, ask whether you will be required to meet these costs yourself, or you will be given a separate quote for it.

Do you subcontract?

A professional concreter has all the equipment and manpower to ensure that they complete the job from start to finish. Therefore, asking this question will help you determine the professionalism of the concreter you are working with. If he subcontracts, this means that he hasn’t invested well in his business; thus he lacks some measures of professionalism.

Also, subcontracting can extend the time required to complete your project. Therefore, don’t sign a contract with a concreter who will answer this question in the affirmative.

Can I see the qualifications of the technicians who will be working on my project?

For a fact, the concreter you are talking to might not be the one who will undertake your project. Therefore, to get peace of mind, ask to see the academic qualifications and accreditations of the technicians who will be working in your home or business. This will also ensure the company you are working with is super professional.

Do you offer warranties on products and guarantees on workmanship?

By offering warranties on products and guarantees on workmanship, it means that a concreter is highly confident with his services. Also, it ensures that in case of any issues that might arise within the warranty period and under the warranty terms, you will not incur any repair costs.

Well, if the concreter you are working for has given you the answers to these questions, even going to an extent of showing proof to back up the answers, go ahead and append your signature on the agreement!

It goes without saying – concrete flooring is a common type of flooring that is applied for residential and commercial use. Before choosing concrete flooring, however, you need to know its pros and cons.

Pros of concrete flooring

Concrete flooring comes with a host of benefits which include;

Durability

When you build a floor in your home or business, you want it to last for a lifetime. You don’t want a floor that you install today, and be forced to spend thousands of bucks for another floor in a year or less. As long as concrete is well installed, it can serve you diligently for many years. In fact, if you give it the best maintenance, it can withhold all the traffic in your premise for over a decade before demanding a major repair.

Versatility

If you want to build a one-of-a-kind floor, you need to purchase high-end building products such as marble, Riverstone, tiles, natural stone, or bricks. Well, if this is what you think, you need to reconsider your thoughts.

With concrete, you can build anything you want, and replicate any material you can think of. If you hire a good concrete contractor to lay your concrete floor, you can even think of a design, and your dreams will be converted into a reality using concrete.

Speed of construction

Most materials in the market such as natural stone and bricks are labour-intensive. To put a concrete floor together, it can take a days or even weeks. This is not the case with concrete. This material is less labour-intensive, which means that your project can be completed in a few days. In most residential projects, most concrete contractors install concrete floors in a day.

Damp resistance

A well-installed and sealed concrete floor is resistant to dampness. This means that even if it comes into contact with moisture, it will not retain water; hence mould and mildew, which can be detrimental to human health cannot grow.

Affordability

Concrete is one of the cheapest building materials in the modern market. Apart from the fact that it isn’t labour intensive; hence you will not need to pay a lot of money for labour, this material is also relatively cheap. Even if you use thousands of dollars for construction, the ease of maintenance and the longevity it will provide you makes it cost friendly in the long-run.

Fire resistant

Concrete is a non-combustible material. Therefore, even if your home or business is affected by the worst fires, you can rest assured that your concrete flooring will provide protection to everything around it.

Cons of concrete flooring

The fact that concrete floors come with various benefits doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its fair share of disadvantages. Some of the most common include;

• Patch work cannot satisfactorily repair concrete flooring
• It doesn’t provide the best insulation to heat and sound

Just like everything else, a concrete floor has its drawbacks. But the fact is that its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. Therefore, the next time you think of building a quality floor in your home or business, think concrete!

Concrete is one of the most durable, versatile, and affordable building materials in the market. It is used for a wide array of application in residential and commercial areas. In homes, it can be used in the construction of floors, patio areas, pool decks, countertops, walkways, and driveways. Simply put, concrete is a material that can be used in building all elements around your abode.

But there is one quality that concrete has, which is not present in most building materials – it is less labour-intensive.

Thanks to this fact, most homeowners don’t call concrete contractors to undertake their projects. They wait until when they have time, such as during their summer holiday and do the job themselves. Some have even found working with concrete to be an exciting hobby, and they never think of an expert, regardless of their needs, or the problems they face with concrete.

But is concreting a DIY task?

We cannot shun away from the fact that concrete is easy to use. You don’t need to be an expert to use it. As long as you buy the best products, follow instructions, and pay attention to detail, you can use concrete to construct anything you can think about.

But it is not always easy.

Sometimes, you want to build a patio or a walkway in a particular design, but when you complete the project, you are not wowed by the outcome.

In other times, you patch the cracks you have been seeing on your concrete surfaces, but after sometime, the problem reappears.

This simply means that you are not creative enough, and the problems you face with your concrete surfaces lie deep within, and can only be fixed by a professional mind.

Below are some of the benefits you will get by working with a professional concrete contractor, as opposed to undertaking concreting projects yourself:

You needs are fulfilled

You might think of certain design for your concrete element, but since you dint have the know-how and the necessary equipment, you might not be able to meet your needs.

However, a professional concreter has been in the market for a long time, and knows his way with concrete. Therefore, even if you imagine your design and put it in paper, you can rest assured that he has the skills and the equipment to fulfil your needs.

You save money in the long-run

Installing concrete elements in your home might be cheaper when you install them yourself, but have you thought of the cost of repair?

With a good concrete contractor, you get a limited warranty on products and a guarantee on workmanship. This means that if an issue occurs during the warranty period, you will not spend your money on repairs. They will be done free of charge.

Also, there are specialised equipment and tools that are required to complete concreting projects. If you don’t have them, you may need to spend thousands of bucks to buy them, which will further increase the cost of construction. Nonetheless, a concreter has all these tools and equipment; thus this is a cost that you will not incur.

Working with a professional concreter is the best decision you can make, even if you are the best DIYer in the neighbourhood. Get one today and have his contacts in your speed dial. Best of luck!

Get minimal-servicing property flooring that produces large affect and performs with home styles from classic to modern day.

When you to begin with believe of concrete flooring, you probably think “chilly, ” “jail like” or “industrial.” But with its capacity to take on color and a polished sheen, coupled with its several advantages, concrete might turn out to be your new preferred on potential initiatives. Be prepared to have your thoughts blown by how beautiful, classy and heat a concrete floor can seem.

Here are just some of the benefits of concrete floors.

Sustainability. Concrete flooring are a sustainable choice if you use an current concrete slab, staying away from the intake of new materials. And they require not be relegated to basements or garages. After the concrete is sanded down and polished or sealed, it seems perfectly refined in a classic kitchen area or residing space, particularly when layered with Oriental rugs and fairly furnishings and fixtures.

Easy care. The only servicing needed of concrete flooring is weekly mopping with soapy h2o. I suggest setting up a baseboard alongside with the concrete floor as effectively, even however you think you might not need to have it. Just think about what a filthy mop would leave powering in the crevice in which the floor fulfills the wall if there ended up no baseboard. And it will make your selection seem completed and intentional.

Economical. The price of concrete floors is very lower, about $2 to $six for every sq. foot to polish a basic gray slab, giving it a lustrous sheen. The concrete’s tonal differences, subtle cracks and aggregates consider on a stonelike, normal really feel.

More elaborate finishes price about $five to $8 per square foot. Staining concrete flooring has been a well-known option for many years, since the end result is identified by the homeowner’s imagination — different hues and software strategies combine to create a complete that’s unique to the house, with subtle versions throughout the flooring.

Other attractive consequences, like scoring in grid sample traces, cost close to $five to $eight for every sq. foot. These are nonetheless very extraordinary. With a substantial-gloss seal, the floor can be remodeled to seem like limestone. An acrylic sealer could be employed in the interior software to give it that wet seem.

In the range of $7 to $fifteen and up for every sq. foot, you can get very decorative faux finishes, this sort of as a marbled effect.

Longevity. A floor that has been polished and preserved can be predicted to previous a hundred several years or far more. In this residence, let us enjoy how an aged and cracked concrete flooring was not hidden beneath new tiles or carpet. Instead it is celebrated for the history it retains, and has been place on display together with other architecturally salvaged supplies.

Versatility. For exterior apps, silicone-dependent penetrating sealers can be utilized to avoid the wet search. We can see right here how concrete is a excellent flooring materials for indoor-out of doors transitions.

Concrete also seems nice with true stone veneer partitions. It accentuates their rustic charm.

Concrete can be an inexpensive and crafty option in lieu of salvaged wood flooring. Stamping damp concrete with plank-like wooden-grain imprints creates a wonderful influence.

Polished concrete flooring is secure to wander on when kept cleanse and dry. It also tends to be less slippery than waxed surfaces or surfaces that have flooring finish, because concrete is not slippery when it is damp. In substantial-targeted traffic amenities with polished concrete, avoiding slip-and-tumble incidents need to nevertheless be a leading precedence. Right here are some tips for strengthening the slip-resistance of polished concrete floors:

• Preserve polished floors totally free of oil, grease and standing h2o. Comply with a routine maintenance program, and cleanse spills and stains from the flooring as before long as possible.

• Apply an antislip conditioner. These goods have special additives developed to enhance traction and make moist surfaces safer. They can basically be mopped on for the duration of program cleansing, periodically.

• Apply a sealer coat that consists of an antislip grit additive. These merchandise are blended into the sealer just before application to increase traction with no using absent from the visual appeal of the polished floor.

• Use adequate wander-off matting in substantial-traffic areas, especially in entryways.

There is no doubt that people who engage in construction projects are going to be using concrete one way or another. This is basically the go-to material in construction in this day and age. Aside from that, it’s also pretty affordable as well. You want to make use of concrete sealers that are high quality, of course. This is going to affect the outcome of your project in so many ways. You need to install the sealer in the best possible way. This article will show you how important it really is to apply these steps properly.

Here are the benefits of concrete sealers that you need to know about:

• A concrete sealer will make the surface of the concrete look a lot glossier.
• Using these sealers would block the dirt from getting into the concrete in more ways than one.
• There would be a reduction of spalling, cracking, musty odors, crumbling, efflorescence, and many more.
• Concrete sealers will make your concrete a lot easier to clean and at the same time more durable as well; all the factors that could possibly corrode would be kept from taking any effect at all.
• Be sure to protect your concrete in the best possible way in order to ensure the ideal results. It would be easier to add colors when you have these sealers to use.

You have to do your research on the various types of concrete sealers so that you would be able to know the best one to use. Secondly, you have to know which works best for the kind of concrete you are using as well (take note that there are a lot of them). You may have some things to factor in that would affect your venture in certain ways. You have to be aware of them so that you can choose the ideal type of sealer as much as possible.

There are various types of sealers which you can take advantage of. People have to be aware of what the best coating is so that it would create the ideal results in their projects. It will make your project so much more durable and a lot more attractive at the same time. Using an acrylic sealer will truly help you achieve this goal in more ways than one. These sealers are very popular because lot of people prefer them more than others. You need to know about all these important things. Take a look at all your options online to ensure good results. You have to be aware of how toxic the material is. Once you are aware of this, you would be able to maintain them in the best possible way.

There are kits that would help you achieve this in more ways than one. You can choose from the many sealers that are available in the market. Some of the sealers are actually pretty cheap, however, if you ever choose from among these options, you need to select high quality ones at all times. The surfaces of your concrete have to look the best and this is how you would be able to do that in more ways than one. Make sure to check reviews and feedbacks from these concrete sealers online.

What can pavers do to your American home? This is a question commonly asked by many home enthusiasts. Here is a perfect answer;

• They can increase the resale value of your property by over 60%
• They add an aesthetic feel to your premises
• They complement your landscape in a great way
• They make your premises stand out among many in the neighborhood

The above are just but a few benefits that pavers can offer. One important thing to note, however is that you can use different materials to construct your pavers, based on your personal taste and the results you want to achieve at the end. You can decide to use bricks, natural stone, or concrete. The decision purely lies in your hands.

Concrete has however surpassed all the other materials as far as paving is concerned. Most Americans are preferring concrete pavers for their homes and business premises. Whereas this is the fact on the ground, let us analyze the pros and cons of concrete pavers.

Pros

They are economical

You don’t have to break your bank just because you need pavers in your outdoor space. Compared to other paving materials, concrete pavers are less expensive, and will help you achieve all your desires within your budget. With them, you don’t need to always disturb your family and friends that you need a loan to complete a project, you can do it at an affordable price.

They are flexible

With concrete pavers, you can achieve any design you want. In fact, you can mimic any high-end building material you can thing of using concrete pavers such as brick, marble, natural stone, flagstone, wood and many more. You can make whatever you can imagine with concrete pavers, as long as you make effort to work with a professional concrete contractor.

They are easy to install

Concrete pavers are uniform, and can easily be cut and installed. For a fact, they are a perfect choice for people who are DIY projects fanatics. Instead of paying hugely for a top-notch concrete contractor to come and lay them, you can call your family and friends and do it as a fun event.

Cons

Color might fade

Decorative concrete pavers are dyed with color pigments, hence they are prone to fading especially is hot areas. This means that with time, your good-looking pavers can eventually turn to be the ugliest elements in your outdoor space.

They might need regular sealing

In an effort to help maintain their color for longer, home owners might be forced to apply sealants on regular basis. This is not only inconveniencing, but it also makes their maintenance an expensive venture that can be difficult to live with.

Quality varies

Concrete pavers don’t come from one manufacturer, like their counterparts that are naturally sought. They therefore vary largely in quality. Having many brands in the United States, choosing the best is not an easy task. Some concrete pavers will even crack and crumble even before they reach the site.

PS: all the cons of concrete can be taken care of in three easy steps;

1. Through proper sealing and using the best sealants in the market
2. Through staining and stamping
3. Through purchasing them from renowned brands at reasonable prices

Those who own construction companies have probably experienced having loads of wet concrete delivered to the site. What do you think happens when concrete gets too wet? Is the answer really to throw them out? You can’t make that decision just yet; you have to at least think it through.

You have to keep in mind that it takes time to deliver concrete of that volume to the jobsite and that non-productive labor is going to cost you a lot of money. There are some companies who manage to make these decisions pretty easily while there are some that take time decide what to do. Whatever the case, you need to read this article for more information on such matters.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with rejecting the load. It’s a bit harder for residential contractors to make these decisions though. The thing about wet concrete is that it’s going to affect the result of your project and if it’s something that has anything to do with decoration then that simply won’t end well.

Concrete basics

Concrete will shrink when it’s too wet and the quality will be reduced in more ways than one. When you do your research, you would be more familiar with these rules of science that helps you know what happens to too-wet concrete. You need to be aware of this information before you make decisions on using a particular kind that you’re planning for a project. You will have to know the entire purpose of the concrete as well because if it’s a big time project, you cannot make do of anything less than the best quality. Losing the strength in concrete will affects its value in more ways than one so be sure to take the utmost care in making sure the material you are using doesn’t get too wet at all.

While water is generally part of cement mixing, you cannot allow the concrete to absorb too much moisture. The slab will become easily breakable when it gets to a point where there is simply too much water in it. If you are expecting high quality results with concrete that is simply too wet then you won’t be getting. What you will get, however, is a loss and that would truly disappoint you to no end. This is an expensive project which you can’t take for granted because it would set you back thousands, quite possibly even millions of dollars depending on the magnitude of your project.

Always remember that you cannot allow concrete that is too wet to be delivered to your site. You have to choose a concrete contractor in Atlanta that will provide you with excellent services which include delivering concrete that isn’t broken or wet at all. This kind of material is what you’d be able to use for your project because it will guarantee an excellent finish in more ways than one. You will definitely get the ideal outcome when you accomplish this.

There have been so many arguments and debates on whether spray foam rots away the roof. Even more confusing is the fact that the argument is being supported and disputed by well-respected and learned professionals. Before going deep into this burning question, it is important to quickly differentiate between the types of Spray Foam available.

There are two types of spray foam, the first is the open-cell spray foam insulation while the second is the closed-cell spray foam. Each of the them has its own advantages and disadvantages which plays a major part on their effectiveness at different parts of the world.

The advantages of the open-cell spray foam lie in its low cost of installation, plus, is very easy to install. However, its disadvantages lie in its low effectiveness in the cold climates due to its inability to be used during low temperature associated with the cold climates.

The closed-cell foam spray, on the other hand, can be used anywhere due to its effectiveness in times of low temperature. The major drawbacks of the closed cell are that: it is very expensive to install; difficulty in installation and; high material usage.

Therefore, unless the complaints about spray foam leading to the rotting of the roofs is analyzed objectively and without bias, one may not be able to really ascertain whether spray foam can lead to the rotting of the roof.  If you want confirmation, get a good roofer to check out your roof first.

Taking a closer look at the bunch of complaints about the rotting of the roof as a result of Spray Foam will show that the rotting of the roof as a result of Spray Foam is not universal and is subjective, in fact, the issue seems to be a climatic one in nature.

As a result of the fact that indoor moisture can diffuse through the foam and get access to the roof sheathings leading to the rotting of the roof, open-cell spray foam is not advisable in cold climates. This is due to its low water vapor permeability. Therefore, higher density closed-cell spray foam is the preferred method amongst majority of qualified professionals in the cold climates of the world.

Some have even argued that in cold climates, installation of a water retarder ensures that open-cell spray foam can be utilized. Also, the improper installation of close-cell spray foam in the cold climates can lead to water permeating the foam and its consequent rotting of the roof.

However, the open-cell spray foam is widely accepted in the warmer and equatorial climates of the world because precipitation is not common like it is in the colder climates.

Therefore, it should be noted that spray foam can lead to rotting of the roof if it is not effectively done. It is advisable to use close-cell spray foam in the cold climates but if open-cell spray foam must be used then the following should be followed:

• Do not use open-cell spray foam unless you are using a water vapor retarder.
• Ensure you hire a professional who will install it as building codes demand.

The notion that spray foam can lead to the rotting of the roof is wrong as there is no way the effective installation of spray foam can rot the roof, check out Insulation Wizards for more information on Insulation.

One of the more positive developments following the recent string of high-profile natural and man-made calamities is the awareness it has raised among enterprise executives for the need for robust disaster recovery  programs. Traditionally, disaster recovery was seen as primarily a cost center — and an expensive one, at that.

Fortunately, at the same time concerns over business continuity and service integrity were growing, a number of technological developments were converging to not only improve enterprises’ ability to keep functioning after an outage, but to lower costs and even utilize DR resources during normal operating periods without compromising their ability to step up in times of emergency.

One of these, obviously, is virtualization. By decoupling data and applications from underlying physical infrastructure, enterprises gain tremendous flexibility in provisioning new operating environments and balancing data loads across available resources. As enterprises gain more experience virtualizing server environments in the drive for greater consolidation, it is widely expected that DR will emerge as one of the technology’s first secondary applications.

While (virtualization) has made its way into 90 percent of the medium and large business market, only 37 percent of servers in that market are virtualized,” says Nathan Coutinho, solutions manager for virtualization at systems distributor CDW. “So customers are going to focus on trying to virtualize the rest of their servers, which means looking closely at as-yet unvirtualized applications to determine if they are compatible with a virtual platform. Following more widespread implementation or adoption the next phase will be to build out disaster recovery (DR) plans and to start looking at both desktop virtualization and building private clouds.

In a way, disaster recovery and virtualization form a symbiotic relationship. If virtualization simplifies and enhances disaster recovery capabilities, DR also provides for a safer, more resilient environment in which to virtualize. Multiple surveys have shown that one of the primary reasons enterprises are not extending virtualization into mission-critical systems is that they fear for the integrity of that critical data. As a key piece of the data availability pie, a robust DR architecture can go a long way toward alleviating those concerns.

Whenever the subject of disaster recovery comes up, there is a tendency to invoke images of hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes and nuclear annihilation. But more mundane outages caused by system failure or human error are far more disruptive to enterprise productivity, and profits, than a major disaster.

Evidence suggests, though, that most enterprises don’t take the problem of smaller outages very seriously, or at best consider them part of routine data center operations.

“In general, enterprises are probably not doing enough to protect themselves from more mundane outages,” says Paul Egger, vice president of global operations at contact center provider TELUS International. “Unfortunately, there is not a lot of industry statistics on disaster recovery effectiveness due to the fact that many business interruptions are rarely reported and if they are, they are highly underestimated. Much of the loss of productivity and revenue may go unnoticed in many enterprises.”

This is surprising because gearing a disaster recovery program to more typical outages would help leverage the cost of the system and the resources it consumes, and it would help keep it in good working order through a series of mini workouts.

Many of the newest DR platforms are taking a closer look at correcting the smaller problems, while still keeping any eye on catastrophic failures. Marathon Technologies, for example, recently released the everRun MX Extend system that combines fault tolerance and DR technology with CA’s ARCserve replication system to create an end-to-end application availability system that kicks in during all types of outages. The system features localized failure protection as well as remote failover that by-passes compromised infrastructure.

Virtualization also vastly improves the functionality of off-site backup infrastructure through technologies like cloud computing. Once enterprise users are adept at provisioning their own environments using a range of geographically disperse resources, the loss of one data center, or a cluster of centers for that matter, won’t bring operations to a standstill.

One critical component of off-site virtualized disaster recovery is WAN optimization. When systems go down, a sudden influx of traffic on the wide area network can be nearly as disruptive as a general failure. That’s part of the reason the top virtualization platforms have embraced a range of optimization technologies. VMware and Microsoft users, for example, can take advantage of the HyperIP optimizer from NetEx, which maintains transfer speeds up to 800 Mbps. An added bonus is that the system can streamline routine operations like physical-to-virtual migrations, putting what would otherwise be an idle cost center to good use.

No matter how DR facilities are set up, we are talking about an entirely new data environment that must be maintained and managed in both good times and bad. As these environments become more complex, so do the management responsibilities.

“Even though DR has come a long ways, enterprises still face several management challenges, beginning with initial configuration and setup,” says Vish Mulchand, director of software product marketing at 3PAR. “Particularly in scenarios where a multi-site, multi-mode disaster recovery configuration is concerned, implementing a DR strategy typically requires professional services for configuration and testing, and deployment can take months.

“Once a DR strategy is in place, regular testing, which is needed to ensure that the implemented DR strategy will actually work in the event of a disaster, can also pose problems,” he added. “Testing is necessary to ensure protection, but it is often time-consuming, and figuring out ways to perform routine testing without disrupting production can prove challenging. Another major challenge is configuring and testing the DR program as it applies to the entire data center, not just the storage piece of the puzzle.”

Many of these hassles can be alleviated, if not outright eliminated (for the user, at least), by outsourcing it to a third-party provider, as long as you’re comfortable hosting data outside your own infrastructure.

“We are now seeing many hosted service providers (HSPs) offering Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) leveraging the cloud, and this trend will continue to grow,” Mulchand says. “Disaster recovery issues will evolve, however, the challenges will remain,” says TELUS’ Egger. “As enterprises architect to include terminal services and thin client workstations, the workstation dependencies of many applications are removed, which can simplify the recovery challenge. In a way, it goes back full circle to the days of mainframe centralized computing — but with virtualization, the playing field gets flatter and cheaper. With cloud computing, your ability to outsource some of the risk and complexity is enhanced, further aggregating scale and reducing the cost of high availability.”

The BIG PAYOFF, however, is the minimal downtime should the unthinkable occur. Visit TFCBooks for the latest technology tips.