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Asbestos is basically a naturally occurring fibre which, until the 1990s, has been a commonly used material in construction and other industries. There are three major kinds of asbestos fibres in the UK and they include crocidolite or blue, amosite or brown as well as chrysotile or white.

Before it’s life threatening potentials were exposed, asbestos was commonly used across the globe in buildings and structures as a means of insulation, roofing, flooring and was also sprayed on ceiling as well as walls. Upon the discovery of its hazardous features however, it has been swiftly banned in the UK but it may still be discovered in buildings and structures that have been erected before the year 2000.

In the event whereby a building or structure possesses asbestos within them, it can pose only a little risk but only if they remain undisturbed. It’s only when they’re disturbed or damaged that the tiny asbestos fibres are usually discharged into the air and can be easily inhaled into the lungs. Breathing in of asbestos is a very harmful thing as the fibres can have a terrible impact on your lungs and their linings. What’s more? Asbestos-related health conditions’ symptoms normally takes several years to surface which means that an exposure to the deadly substance many years ago may only start to show symptoms today. Therefore, if you’ve worked in a building or construction industry especially within the time period of 1970s to 1990s, there is a real chance that you’ve been exposed to asbestos. This type of jobs include ship building, construction and insulation projects, but this doesn’t necessarily imply that asbestos exposure can not occur in other jobs as well.

On a hot summer’s day, we often seek our garden lawn as a cooling place to sit and get some relief from the sun. However, since artificial grass is made from plastic, lots of people ask whether it gets hot, or whether it stays like natural grass. The answer is, it’s somewhere in between.

Of course, we all know to stay in the shade in midday sun and this is when your artificial grass will be at its hottest. Unless it is an extremely hot say and your lawn is in direct sunlight, you should still be able to walk on your artificial grass. The best thing to do is test it using the back of your hand before anyone walks over it with bare feet or children go to play on it.

In the shade, artificial grass should always maintain a cool temperature, although it will never have that refreshing feel of cold grass on a hot day. It will also cool down extremely quickly as the day goes on, so if your grass does get too hot it shouldn’t be unusable for too long.

Artificial grass has to meet high safety standards and most are UV stabilised, which means that they can withstand high temperatures without melting or getting extremely hot. It’s worth remembering that hot countries like Dubai use artificial grass, so the occasional hot day in a British summer should be enough for artificial grass to handle!

Artex simply refers to a surface coating that’s commonly incorporated for interior decorating. Although it’s usually found on ceilings but it can also be used on the walls as well. The surface coating enables the professional plasterer or decorator add both texture as well as patterns to it. Originally, the name “Artex is the trademark of a UK based company known as Artex Ltd. Over time, the Artex name has been used to refer to all textured coatings, although there are other businesses that manufacture and sell identical products.

You can find Artex on ceilings as well as walls of mainly residential properties. In the 70’s and 80’s, it was pretty much a trend to have either your wall or ceiling ( can be both ) covered with Artex. The surface coating can be incorporated to create raised, textured swirls as well as patterns on ceiling and walls. There are a number of different patterns that can be made using Artex and some of these includes the following: Broken leather, swirl, stipple, fan or shell as well as knifed plaster. It can also provide just a bobbly raised uneven patter appearance from top to bottom.

Artex is main put to use by mainly decorators ( mostly plasterers). This is a skilled job as it’s tedious to create uninformed patterns especially if you don’t know how or where to start. Although the skill of Artex is very much a trade that’s dying rapidly now, but it was pretty much in high demand especially in the 70’s and 80’s. Nowadays, homeowners now prefer smooth plastered finishes over Artex, as they can be easily painted or wallpapered.

If you find out there’s asbestos in your property, it’s not always necessary to remove it. Asbestos is relatively low-risk if it’s contained in a material. This means that, if the material it’s in is in good condition, it shouldn’t be a problem.

However, if a material containing asbestos is damaged, or you want to remove, sand or drill into it, it’s best to have it removed by a licensed professional.

The short answer to this is no! Smart thermostats can still be used without WiFi, however, they’ll be deprived of some certain capabilities and innovative features that comes mainly due to their ability to connect to the internet. As a result, the smart thermostat will only be functional for basic task such as heating and cooling control. In other words, making use of a WiFi connection will be in your best bet to enjoy the multiple juicy benefits that comes with a smart thermostats such as remote monitoring, ability to connect to other devices and display local weather conditions and much more. And what’s the use of purchasing a smart thermostat if you’d not be able to enjoy these remarkable features?

However, even when you have a WiFi, it’s expected for the connection to fail at times. When this happens, what will be the impact on your smart thermostat? Let’s have a closer look!

• As you would have expected, when your smart thermostat is disconnected from WiFi, features that are controlled with the mobile app would all be impacted. And this might be a big headache when you wish to access these features and control remotely when far away from home.

• When your smart thermostat connection to WiFi fails, all live updates and alerts would be affected. This implies that you’d stop seeing updates, reports and notifications on your mobile device. As a result, you’ll not be notified in case of an emergency like electricity cut-outs, water leaks, humidity and temperatures exceeding the set levels as well as thermostat’s low battery.

• The lack of a WiFi connection might have taken away all the juicy advantages of having a smart thermostat, but one function that remains unaffected is the basic one - the control of your home’s heating and cooling system. In other words, if your smart thermostat is offline, your home will still be heated and cooled to the thermostat’s set temperature.

Scaffolding, also known as scaffold or staging, is an impermanent construction used to provide sustenance to a work crew and materials to help in the erection, upkeep and mending of structures, bridges and all other man-made constructions. Scaffolds are extensively used on site to get access to altitudes and parts that would be otherwise hard to get to. Hazardous scaffolding has the potential to result in demise or serious accidents. Another major use of scaffolding is in modified methods for formwork and shoring, concert stages, grandstand seating, access/viewing towers, ski ramps and art projects.

There are five main types of scaffolding today. These are Tube and Coupler (fitting) components, manufactured segmental system scaffold apparatuses, H-frame / facade modular system scaffolds, timber scaffolds and bamboo scaffolds.

Each type is made from numerous components which every so often include:

• A base plate or jack: It acts as the scaffold’s load-bearing base.

• The upright component with its connector joins.

• The ledger: The horizontal brace.

• The transom: It is a horizontal load-bearing component which helps to hold the batten or the decking unit.

• The brace diagonal.

• Cross-section bracing component

• The batten or the board decking component: On which the working platform is made.

• The coupler: A fitting which joins components together.

• The scaffold tie: It is used to tie in the scaffold to structures.

• The Brackets: It is used to extend the width of working platforms.

Particular machinery used to support in their usage as a provisional edifice often comprises of heavy-duty weight-bearing transoms, ladders or stairway units for the ingress and egress of the scaffold, beams ladder/unit types used to span obstacles and rubbish chutes used to eliminate undesirable constituents from the scaffold or construction development.

The European Standard, BS EN 12811-1, stipulates performance necessities and procedures of physical and universal design for access and working scaffolds. Requirements specified are for scaffold constructions that depend on the adjacent erections for steadiness.

How you install commercial rubber roofing is similar to fitting it on a residential property, except that the area that’s covered is likely to be bigger. With commercial properties, you should always leave any maintenance and repair works to the professionals – whether you own or lease the property, you could invalidate any insurance if you try to install rubber roofing yourself. We’ll outline the steps roofers will take when installing rubber roofing on a commercial property.

Firstly, the installers will remove any existing coverings and clean and dry the surface thoroughly. This is vital in ensuring that the rubber will stick. They will then unwrap the EDPM rubber membrane and leave it to rest until it’s fully expanded. On a warm day this may take around half an hour.

Next, the roofers will work with half a sheet of rubber at a time and adhere it to the roof surface. They may use a water-based adhesive which they will spread onto the roof in sections, then roll the membrane onto the surface before moving onto the next section. If they’re using a bonded adhesive, they will apply it to both the roof and the rubber and leave it to dry until it’s tacky before extending the membrane.

Once the EDPM rubber is rolled out, the installers will brush the surface with a large broom to get rid of bubbles and provide a stronger bond. Then they will work of the edges, applying adhesive to roof and walls edges, sealing corners and creating watertight seals. They’ll also tidy up any excess membrane and seal all the trims.

As long as it’s installed correctly, your commercial rubber roofing should last you decades without any repairs needed. It’s always best to inspect your roof regularly to spot any damage before it becomes a bigger problem.

As the heat start to come up especially during the summer months, the swelter will mercifully be kept in check by air conditioning. The technology has made a significant impact on modern life and it can now be considered a norm for all new and modern homes. So if you’re also planning to fit new HVAC air conditioning systems in your home or property, you may also be interested in knowing exactly how it works. In this article, we aim to provide you with an in depth insight into how air conditioning operates. Now let’s take a closer look at the process!

✓ A grille at the bottom of the machine absorbs warm air from the room

✓ The warm air is transmitted over some chiller pipes through which a coolant fluid is circulating. Working in a similar fashion as the chiller cabinet in a refrigerator, this part cools down the transmitted warm air and any excess moisture is duly removed by a dehumidifier.

✓ The air is then transmitted over a heating element which is quite similar to the one present in a fan heater. On a cold day, this part of the unit can be turned up in order to allow the HVAC works as heater.

✓ A fan which is positioned at the top blows the air back through another grilled into the room.

✓ Coolant flows through the the chiller pipes. In the process, it carries heat from the air blowing past the pipes and then it evaporates - converting the cool liquid into a hotter gas. This heat is then transported to the outside of the building from inside the room.

✓ With time, the heat inside the building slowly blows away into the outside air.