If you are building a new home there will be many decisions to make regarding the materials you use. These are important decisions so are worth due consideration. After all, you want your home to be made of durable material that will give value for money, provide good insulation and offer aesthetics as well. If it can be light as well as strong and have low maintenance, so much the better.

Colorbond roofing ticks all of the above boxes. However, there are even more reasons why steel roofing is a good choice.

• With the hot, dry Australian summers bushfires seem to be a part of the landscape, and not only in rural areas. Bushfires can spread into towns and even cities, where there are a lot of trees to provide fuel for them. Colorbond roofing is the ideal choice to help ward off fires, not only because it won’t catch on fire, but because it keeps embers from lodging in niches or under the eaves. This gives your home a better chance of survival if such a disaster should happen in your area.

Moving is a hassle but once you have arrived at your new home and your removalists like Brilliance Removalists Melbourne have left you have to unpack. For a family with smaller children this can be a difficult time, but there are ways to make it easier. It is often mum who bears the brunt of it, if she is home caring for the kids while dad goes to work. But there are some things you can do to smooth out the process for your children and hence, for yourself.

1.Unpack the kids’ stuff first

Most parents want to get the kitchen stuff unpacked first so that cooking a meal is quick and easy, but focusing on the needs of the children will settle them down and help the work to flow without the interruptions of littlies wanting reassurance.

When you unpack their stuff first, they will feel like they belong and will often settle down to play with the toys that they were afraid would not arrive at all. Settling them into their rooms will prevent any squabbling about who is sleeping where or sharing storage space.

2.Make it easy on yourself

Leaving the mess is not what you want to do, but taking them for a walk around the neighbourhood to find the parks, library, cinema, school or local fast food outlet will help them become familiar with the new district and to feel more at home. And to make it easy on yourself, buy a light summer meal each or a big family meal to share as you come home. They are sure to be happy about that and settle in more quickly – and you won’t have to cook or wash up after it.

Carpets are one of the most popular floor coverings for both homes and commercial buildings. This is due to the comfortable warmth and noise insulation they provide. Walking on a hard surface is not only tiring, it is noisy, both to those on the same floor and to those underneath. However, according to Brilliance Carpet Cleaning Perth since carpet cannot be washed like a hard floor surface can, it poses a health hazard if you do not get carpet cleaning on a regular basis.

How your carpets get dirty

• Carpets in the home are exposed to more dirt and germs than those in commercial buildings mainly because pets often live there. Dogs and cats roam outside in the dirt and when they come inside, a small percentage always comes with them. Then they groom themselves to remove dirt and it goes into the carpet, along with their hair and dander, even if you can’t see it. These animals may even have fleas, eczema or other skin conditions, the bacteria from which will be wiped into the carpet as they lie or play on it.
• Birds may be kept in cages, but their feathers and dander drift out of the cage and settle onto the carpet. Those that fly around the house are likely to defecate as they go and if it lands on the carpet it is impossible to get it all out.
• Children tend to run inside without wiping their shoes or bare feet first and so dirt and grime is tracked inside. And it wipes off onto the carpet which acts like a towel, scraping off dirt from passing foot traffic and hiding it deep within the fibres.

Building a home is not always cheaper than buying one, but sometimes either option can seem out of your reach.  If you are thinking of building a home, here are some tips you may be able to use to lower the cost. Even if you use just one or two it will mean some kind of savings.

• Some blocks are quite big, more than you really need for a home. If you have a good friend or relative who is also wanting to build a home, consider going halves with them in a bigger block, then dividing it in half. But remember, it has to be someone you won’t mind having for a neighbour. And you will have to be sure that council will allow the division.
• Some blocks are challenging to build on due to the shape or size, or the fact that they are on steep ground. These blocks can often be priced more cheaply than blocks that are easy to build on. However, be careful of steep slopes because what you save on the block may need to be spent on the construction of the home.

Moving is stressful on its own, but when you add teens to the mix it can be a nightmare. However, it doesn’t have to be. Teens are old enough to help, but even if you hire Brilliance Removalists Perth and they only unpack their own stuff, it will save you having to do it. Here are some tips to help make moving into your new home with teens easier.

• Your teens need and deserve to know why you are moving and what you expect will improve for the whole family. They need to be listened to and so even though you know what they are giving up, listen to them and try to address their fears or concerns. If they know you are on their side, they won’t feel so abandoned.
• Talk to them about your expectations for them and for the family as a whole. It doesn’t hurt to admit your own fears or concerns about the move and let them know how you are dealing with them.
• Give them a moving timeline so they know what to expect. Ask for their help in packing and put them in charge of packing their own stuff. You may have to show them how to pack goods safely, especially breakables. Give them tips on labelling so they can keep track of their stuff.
• Make sure they know what to expect for their own life. They will likely be leaving their school, friends and social scene. Make sure they know what they are heading to. Perhaps they could even choose their new school.

Installing a pool is a wonderful way to get the children out of the house and doing healthy exercise where you can watch over them. When you have a pool, you will know that the biggest headache is keeping it – and thus the water in it – clean, so it is safe to swim in and swallow, since kids usually end up doing this while they are playing in the pool. An automatic pool cleaner will take much of the drudgery out of cleaning the pool.

There are many different kinds of pool cleaners available, so you need to do some small research to ensure you get the best one for your pool. Some cleaners suit small pools, while others are better for larger ones; still others suit a specific shape such as curved or cornered while others will even climb steps.  To get the most effective machine for the job all these things should be taken into account, but there is still another way to get the best cleaner and that is to look at robotic cleaners.

Just like robotic house vacuum cleaners, the robotic pool cleaners work pretty much on their own. You only have to put them in the pool and watch them go to work. In fact, watching is not necessary, but you are sure to want to watch your cleaner working at first, just for the joy of seeing it do all that hard work instead of you.

While living indoors allows us to create a controlled climate that is comfortable year round, there are many benefits to outdoor living as well. Fresh air and sunshine are actually healthy for us. If we don’t get a certain amount of sun on our skin it can adversely affect our health, as health care officials have begun to realise. Sun interacting with our skin makes Vitamin D, an important vitamin whose lack makes us very unhealthy.

Besides the health aspect of being outside, there is the social aspect. When a space for outdoor entertaining, alfresco meals, or just relaxing outside is created, people gather there and chat as well as enjoying their time outdoors. And somehow, it is different from doing the same thing inside.

Teenagers – known for disappearing into their rooms at age 13 and not reappearing until they leave school –  tend to like sitting outside by a fire pit and discussing the world with their peers. It has become a cool thing to do. Children who are couch potatoes exercising only their electronic game finger, actually run around outside with a ball, the dog or a friend, so they get more exercise than they normally would inside. Add a swing, slide or sandpit and they will begin to love the outdoors, too.

When we go outside, especially if there is a place created especially, we can appreciate the sun, the breeze, birdsong and flowers. In a way it’s a bit like being let out of prison. The home can become a prison if we are not careful. Everywhere you look there is cleaning or something else to be done, especially if you work outside the home and don’t get a chance to clean during the week.

Limestone floors are more than just aesthetically pleasing; they are stunningly beautiful.  Not only do they add value to your home; they also create a hard-wearing and durable surface that will last for decades. But just like any other flooring surface, they require care to always look their best.

The main thing to remember is that only a PH neutral cleaning product should be used to wash or mop the floor, or to spot wash a spill. Most household cleansers are acidic, but the acid will have a negative effect on the limestone, eating it away over time.

When the floor is first laid, it will have been sealed, so this will keep the floor in good shape for some time. But when water no longer beads on the top it is soaking into the floor, which means it is time to reseal. Being porous, limestone will absorb moisture – and stains – unless it is kept sealed.

Even when resealing, care must be taken not to use too much of the product in one spot in case it stains. It should be spread evenly, left for about 30 minutes to soak in, then the excess wiped off. The first sealing should occur before the grout is put in as even that can stain limestone. Two coats of sealant may be necessary. However, if the limestone has been crushed and mixed with cement to make the tiles, it will not be as porous.

The supplier will very likely give you instructions on the care of the floor and these should be followed carefully to ensure your beautiful floor is never spoiled.

Mistakes to avoid when cleaning limestone tiles

• Using bleach
• Flooding the floor with water
• Never rinsing the cleanser off
• Not changing dirty water frequently
• Leaving residual moisture in the cracks.
• Not wiping up spills immediately

Few people can purchase a home without getting a loan to do so. That means you have to pay back the loan plus interest – and lots more besides; stamp duty, insurance, solicitors fees and so on. Sometimes budgeting starts off well but you get off track, or extra bills come in unexpectedly and you find it more and more difficult to repay that loan. Here are some tips on how to stay on track with your budgeting.

• If you find it increasingly difficult to pay the mortgage off, it is time to stop and take a reality check. First thing to do is write down everything you spend money on for a whole week – yes, every single thing from that morning coffee to your snack bar or magazine. It may shock you to see just where the money is going.  It will also enable you to find ways to plug up the leak so you don’t have to default on your mortgage repayments. Know what’s coming in and how much is going out. The former should be more than the latter. If not, cut back ruthlessly. People once lived quite well without Foxtel, internet connections, mobile phones, coffee from a coffee shop, going out for meals and going out to concerts or footie games. They had no more than 3 outfits. You can do the same if it means keeping your house.

Buying your first house is an exciting time and you can hardly wait to sign on the dotted line and move in. In fact, even when buying for a second or third time you will feel excited and ready to make that fresh start in a new home that suits you even better than the one before.  However, don’t get carried away be the excitement or the emotional attachment you may feel to a home. Some homes are lemons, having things wrong with them that will have you calling a home maintenance company constantly and will be very costly to fix. How do you spot a lemon?

• Look for damp patches that can signal a problem with the plumbing, the guttering or the waterproofing. These can be in spots other than the basement, so look high and low. Check for fresh patches of paint and suspect that they are there to cover mould that won’t wash out. Mould is very unhealthy to live in so this is definitely a lemon.