Blog Archives

Learning from Your Fellow Volunteers

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

WHEN VOLUNTEERS SHOW UP to

build a Habitat house, they often find themselves being assigned to jobs they’ve never done before. Still, with the proper training and supervi­sion, they’re almost always capable of rising to the challenge and making a significant and meaningful contribu­tion to providing another family a decent home. And sometimes in the process stereotypes are broken and we learn from one another.

On the second day of a six-day blitz in 1993, during which we built 20 houses, I was roofing with Bunny Church and her friend, Stuart Phillips, it was a hot, steamy day,

and we had just half a day to start and finish shingling a roof, so we set to the task energetically and with great focus...

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Furnishings

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

Residential furniture is rarely included in the construction contract. The owner will typi­cally select the furniture and have it installed on her or his own or with the guidance of an architect or interior designer. Nevertheless, we are including some guidelines and resources for the selection of healthful furniture because new furnishings can have a major impact on indoor air quality.

Most standard furniture is built like most standard housing. It is mass-produced with little or no thought about the health of the buyer. For those of you who have gone to great effort to create a healthy home, shopping wisely for healthy furnishings is the next logical step. Once again you will find yourself in the role of a pioneer...

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Tiling

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

Tile surfaces arable,

and—if you’re patient—fairly easy to install. Yet although tile has a hard finish, the ultimate dura­bility of the installation depends on the integrity of what lies beneath.

Choosing Tile

There’s a riot of tiles to choose from, including slate, white porcelain hexagonals, ruddy Mexican pavers, tumbled marble, glass mosaic, brick veneer, cast cement, limestone quarry tile embed­ded with fossils, and so on. You can even paint your own designs on unglazed tiles and then have them kiln-fired. Although some types of tile are better suited to certain uses than others, finding a tile you like is rarely a problem.

SEVEN TIPS FOR SELECTING TILE

► Where will you use it? Does it need to be waterproof? Does it need to withstand kitchenware?

► Sketch the area to be tiled...

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STEP 2 INSTALL THE CEILING PANELS

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

It’s best to drywall the ceiling before you do the walls. This way, the top edges of the wall panels can butt up against the ceiling panels, support­ing them along the edges. The long edges of ceiling panels run perpendicular to the joists or joist chords. In bedrooms and other small rooms, you’ll probably be able to cover the full length of the ceiling with 12-ft. panels. If the ceiling is more that 12 ft. long, stagger the end joints where the panels butt together, just as you do on floor and roof sheathing panels. Try not to have a drywall joint land on an electrical or heat outlet, because this makes it harder to tape and hide the seam.

Measuring and cutting drywall panels

If you watch professional drywall installers measure and cut panels, you’ll be impressed with the speed and a...

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Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

The phenomena considered in this section are much more complex as they associate multiphase fluid flow and hydro-mechanical coupling (cf. relevant sub-sections of Section 11.3.2) as well as temperature effects. All the features described in the pre­ceding section are to be considered here, associated with some new points.

Heat diffusion has to be modelled. Temperature variation affects fluid flow, by a modification of the fluid specific weight or viscosity. Moreover, if the two fluids concerned are a liquid and a gas (e. g. water and air), then equilibrium between the phases has to be modelled: dry air – vapour equilibrium.

Heat transfer is governed not only by conduction but also by advection by the liquid and gas movements...

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Soundproofing

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

Most noise-related problems can be solved inex­pensively, without major architectural remedies. Basically, you can install materials that absorb sound or try to reduce the sound’s transmission by isolating it.

SOUND-ABSORBING MATERIALS

Within a room, use materials that absorb sound. Absorbent materials are often soft, porous, or bulky, such as carpet, cork, cloth drapes, furni­ture, or a shelf full of books. Conversely, avoid hard, highly finished surfaces that reflect soundwaves.

Fiberglass batts stapled between wall studs and ceiling joists are perhaps the most common means of absorbing sound. Two layers of 58-in. drywall, 358 in. of fiberglass, and the air trapped in the wall will muffle sound effectively...

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Flow of Two Fluids in Rigid Porous Media

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

The coupled flow of two, different, fluids in a partly saturated rigid media is now considered. Unsaturated soils provide a common example, where the two fluids are water and air. Often, the air phase is considered to be at constant pressure, which is generally a relevant approximation as air pressure doesn’t highly affect the water flow. In such an arrangement only one d. o.f. per node is sufficient, and the classical diffusion equations (see Eq. 6.10) are relevant, with parameters depending on the suction or saturation level.

Mixing between different fluids is sometimes possible. Then two or more d. o.f. per node are to be considered. The permeability and storage equations of each phase depend on the suction or saturation level, and so the problem may be highly non­linear...

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Results of SMA Compactability Tests

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

SMA is a hard-to-compact mixture, and as a gap-graded mixture, it is characterized by a higher compaction resistance than materials with continuous gradation. The conclusions of tests carried out in Germany (Renken, 2004) on an SMA mixture revealed the following:

• An increase of the filler content brings about a drop in compaction resistance.

• An increase of the coarse aggregate content (particles larger than 2 mm) causes a sharp rise in compaction resistance.

• An increase of the binder content slightly reduces the compaction resistance.

Additionally, practice has proved that an increase in the manufactured sand content results in an increase in compaction resistance and that the opposite is true for the quantity of binder (those are commonly known relations)...

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RESTORING PLASTERWORK

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

Think twice before trying to restore damaged crown molding, medallions, or other plaster ceil­ing ornaments. Plastic or composite reproductions of plaster elements are good-looking, lightweight, easy to install and—once painted—indistinguish­able from plaster ornaments. Given the hourly rates of a skilled plasterer, replacing plaster with plastic repros is often more cost-effective.

However, if your plaster ornament has a repet­itive pattern with only a few damaged sections, you can cast replacement sections by creating a mold from an original, undamaged section.

Removing an ornamental section. If you want to make a casting, you need to remove an undamaged ornamental section. First, support the section that you will remove...

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FREEWAY LIGHTING CONSIDERATIONS

Posted by on 22/ 11/ 15

Freeway lighting can substantially reduce accident frequency and increase capacity. Lighting is of additional benefit in freeway operations by providing motorists addition­al warning time of stalled or disabled vehicles on the roadway. A listing of the specific conditions considered by most authorities to warrant lighting is included below.

7.16.1 Warranting Conditions for Continuous Freeway Lighting

Continuous lighting along the freeway is warranted in the following cases:

Case CFL-1. On those sections in or near cities where the current average daily traffic (ADT) is 30,000 or more.

Case CFL-2. Where three or more successive interchanges are located with an average spacing of 1!/> mi (2.4 km) or less and adjacent areas outside the right-of – way are substantially urban.

Case CFL-3...

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