Monday 29 June 2015

How to Avoid Bedbugs When You are Travelling?

Bed bugs are commonly found in accommodation facilities such as hotels, rental apartments, motels and inns. So, when travelling, you need to be very careful that you don't bring bed bugs home. It is thus always wise to exercise a few precautionary measures when travelling to keep bedbugs away.

Tips for packing

In order to avoid packing up some nasty bed bugs with your luggage, use a suitcase with a hard shell because it has less seams and folds for the critters to conceal themselves. Put all your belongings including clothes, shoes and toiletries in plastic bags with seals.

Prior to unpacking at the booked room

Most travellers will throw their luggage on bed or zip it up and place it on the floor for keeping out wandering insects. But this trick does not work all the time. Consider placing all kind of baggage that you may be carrying on a baggage rack or inside the bathroom, where activity of bed bugs is more unlikely.

Inspecting the room where you are staying

Look for crevices, cracks, folds, and ruffles in your room, as these are common hiding places of bed bugs. Pull back and thoroughly check the bed covers and pillow, and also the corners of the mattress, bed frame and box spring. Complement your hunt with a flashlight. Sometimes the bloosuckers may also hide behind mirrors, paintings or wall hangings.

If you detect an infestation

Instead of taking things in your hands, inform the concerned person so that he or she can contact the pro who provides bed bugs pest control. Also keep one thing in mind, when changing the room, do not accept one that is directly above, below or adjacent to the infested room.

When you are back home

If you accidentally carry back even a few bed bugs with your luggage, they can quickly initiate a full-fledged infestation. Do not bring in your baggage immediately after coming back from your trip. Take them to the garage, shed or any other suitable place away from your abode and perform a thorough inspection. Wash all your clothes and place them in the dryer for around 30 minutes. In case, even after so much precaution, you catch sight of a bug or two at your house, sought the services of a residential pest control in Melbourne specialising in beg bugs removal


Wednesday 17 June 2015

The Advantages of Computer Aided Designs

Whether it is a simple porch, a grand addition to any home or a cavernous conservatory, detailed and appropriate architectural drawings are important for the successful implementation of any construction project. They play an important role in transforming any building design into an expedient structure. These drawings also help a local council to decide whether the building project should receive a planning permit or not. In the modern times, rapid advancement of technology has led to a decrement in the popularity of the traditional practice of drawing plans and most architects are now favouring computer aided online architectural design drawing in UK.

Some of the major advantages of computer aided design (CAD) software are as follows:

  • The plans created using a CAD software are more accurate and may be produced in 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional formats, thus allowing to view the plan from multiple angles and perspectives. Drawing according to a scale is also easier as one just needs to decide on the units of calculation that are to be used and then draw the model at a scale of 1:1.

  • Creating a draft of the proposed structure using CAD takes less time than traditional blueprinting because everything required for the planning are just a few clicks away. Also, any mistake can be rectified more quickly than in the case of traditional drawings.

  • Working with CAD also solves the issue with availability of storage space for large number of architectural drawings in the case of traditional drafting. Everything can be safely in the computer, in a pen drive, in a cloud storage or even in a memory chip. Searching and sharing is also easier, even if there are thousands of plans to go through.

  • For designing multiple blueprints with fairly similar features, all it requires is creation of a single template with all the common elements and then, it can be readily used as the foundation for the other blueprints as well.

  • Nowadays, there are various software suites available, each made for fulfilling a specific task in the designing field or targeted to a particular group of professionals. One can either use one specific program or a consolidation of different programs to achieve the desired results. Thus, CAD software are highly adaptable to individual needs.


The use of CAD has increased the productivity of architects and made the construction of intricate and complicated structures possible. It has also eliminated the room for any mistake, besides making the process of architectural designing less time-consuming.

Thursday 4 June 2015

What Are the Different Kinds of Building Plans?

A building is an intricate composition of various mechanical systems, structural members and finishes. To transform the ideas of an architect into a building, a proper set of different building plans is necessary for builders. Organisations responsible for issuing building permits also need suitable plans, and therefore building drawing plans in UK are legal and practical requirements. The different types of building plans are as follows:

Floor & Foundation Plans
A typical floor plan consists of the building's overhead view with the upper floors and roof excluded. It displays the position of major elements of the construction such as the interior and exterior walls, staircase, windows, doors, major appliances and plumbing fixtures, names of rooms and their dimensions. A foundation plan is almost the same as a floor plan, except for the fact that it shows specifics of the building’s foundation.

Framing Plans
Framing plans also provide an aerial view of the construction, but exhibit details of structural members of buildings like trusses, roof rafters, floor and ceiling joists, headers and support beams. These kind of building plans are beneficial for builders to comprehend and design complicated structures of floors and roof.

Mechanical Plans
Just like framing and floor plans, mechanical plans are also drawn from an aerial viewpoint of the building. But in general, it shows the position and specs of the mechanical systems of the construction. A mechanical plan typically shows location of smoke detectors, relevant appliances, and other perpetual fixtures. Some mechanical plans may also depict location of plumbing, air conditioning and heating system, ductwork, electrical wiring, and gas lines.

Cross Sections and Elevations
Both elevations and cross sections provide side-on perspectives of the construction, as if someone is looking at the building while standing beside it. Elevations depict the exterior part of a building and offer details about the exterior finishes, windows, doors and roofing. Sometimes they can also encompass details pertaining to the slope of ground around the foundation. Cross sections present cutaway views, drawn to offer an interior view of the building. These plans help builders to understand the location of interior foundation and framing of the building, and also allow them to include upright structural members which are generally inconspicuous in aerial views.

Site Plan
A site plan provides aerial view of the whole site and encompasses information about utility services, sewers, septic systems, boundaries, dimensions, drainage systems, pavement, landscaping and elevation and grade alterations.