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The bathroom is the most importance part of the house. There are many plumbing services & accessories in the bathroom that we take for granted: the tub, the shower stall, the sink, the commode, the shelves and other aspects. It is very difficult to imagine a bathroom that doesn’t have any of these. It is a matter of not just comfort but also hygiene.

Modern bathrooms host a very wide range of accessories that have become synonymous with comfort. Even the most ordinary articles like soap bowls, weighing scales, bath rugs, towel racks, toothbrush holders, first aid kits and dispenser bottles, can become an eyesore if they do not have their own place in the bathroom. Furthermore, it is very important that they blend in with the rest of the décor in the bathroom, and not stand out like an oddity. Presently, every house holds as many bathrooms as the number of bedrooms, with each person having their own personal space. This means as many accessories as per the different bathroom styles.

Modern bathroom accessories ought to include beautifully designed bath and shower curtains in different fabrics. They can feature exotically designed taps, shower fittings and other plumbing; modern wall-mounted or countertop accessories, such as a weigh scales that also show body mass index; stunningly carved mirrors, gorgeous lighting fixtures, and specially designed toiletries; matching towels and robes made of organic materials; plastic bag dryers and recycling bins designed to blend in with the décor; decorative glassware and potted plants; bath and shower filters; wooden carvings, hemp throw rugs, and even duvets. Throw in some furniture and you have the ultimate in bathroom comfort.

Most of these products are available in organic and eco-friendly materials. You can find these items in furnishing stores, or in stores that specialize in bathroom accessories. They can also be ordered online. Finally, some plumbing manufacturers even design products as per the customized requirements of their valued clients.

So you’ve decided that it’s time to update your bathroom. Whether you’re planning to sell your home or you’ve simply decided your family needs a more updated space, there are a few important decisions you should make before you start.

First of all, consider what needs to go (no pun intended). Are you remodeling because all of the fixtures- tub, shower, toilet and sink- are outdated? Or is there a specific area of the bathroom that doesn’t work for you? Maybe the floor is outdated or peeling, or the mirrors are in inconvenient places, or you’d like to knock out a closet or install some shelving. Before you start, pin down the exact things about your bathroom that need work. Don’t immediately assume you need to overhaul the entire room. You may be able to save yourself big bucks by starting with the problem areas. If your bathroom seems too small, you might not need to tear out a wall. Maybe you just need a pedestal sink instead of a cabinet one.

If you’re more than ready to just tear the whole thing up and start from scratch, you’ll have to make some decisions about what’s going to replace the current fixtures. Take some measurements of your tub, sink and toilet, the replacements you’re considering, and the size of the room. Keep in mind that just because you want a claw foot bathtub doesn’t mean you should have one- your bathroom may be too small for anything but a tub that fits closely into the wall. Draw some diagrams, and move things around until they seem to fit. But keep in mind that the layout of a bathroom is fairly limited. The water pipes only come out of the walls in certain places, so unless you’re planning on tearing up the walls and the plumbing, your toilet and shower will probably stay where they are, even if you replace them with new ones.

Making decisions about what new items to buy should be the easy part. Look into purchasing a low-flow toilet. If you haven’t had a new toilet in awhile, you will be amazed at the savings on your water bill once a new, water-saving model is installed. This is also a huge plus to potential buyers, who will love the idea of saving on plumbing and utilities each month.

Safety in the bathroom is also a consideration. Consider handles around the tub and a non-slip floor covering specifically designed for bathrooms. Many older bathrooms are lacking in safety features, and that’s a down side when it comes time to estimate a home’s value.

Remodeling your bathroom is going to be a job that requires some forethought. Whether you’re doing it to sell the home or for your family, it’s best to take space, safety, and convenience into consideration. You spend an awful lot of time going in and out of your bathroom. It might as well be comfortable!

The cost of keeping cool is on the rise. Energy prices, at historic levels last year, continue to climb as global demand for energy increases and the country recovers from hurricane-related disruptions to domestic oil and natural gas production.

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) manufacturers are responding to the challenges of increased energy costs by offering homeowners air-conditioning units that deliver new energy efficiency standards and reduce your energy usage. For example, York®, a Johnson Controls Company, encourages consumers in search of an energy-efficient HVAC system to consider the York Affinity™ series of air conditioners.

The innovative scroll compressor technology in the Affinity series offers energy-saving efficiency in units with a seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) of 13.

The 15 SEER model has an even higher-performing scroll compressor featuring a two-stage design. This means when the air conditioner senses the need for maximum cooling, the compressor automatically shifts into two-stage operation. And as the demand for cooling decreases, the compressor automatically reduces to a single-stage operation, requiring substantially less energy. In fact, this unit is as much as 60 percent more efficient than a traditional air-conditioning unit.

The two-stage design also contributes to unusually quiet operation. The unit can reach as low as 71 decibels (dB). This is much quieter than a typical hair dryer, which operates in the range of 76dB. For every three decibels quieter, perceived sound is cut by 50 percent.

Humidity control also increases with the two-stage design, air circulation improves and hot and cold spots disappear.

The York Affinity unit comes in a choice of seven colors or up to 77 different college logo panels to complement your home, landscaping and lifestyle.

There are additional ways you can keep your utility bills down:

• Make sure your indoor furnace or air handler filter is clean and free from debris, which could obstruct airflow and place a strain on your system, causing it to work harder and use more energy.

• Seal any air leaks, such as those near doors and windows and places where plumbing, ducting or electrical wiring goes through exterior walls.

• Make sure your home is properly insulated, including the hot water heater and hot water pipes, the attic, ceilings, exterior and basement walls, floors and crawl space.

If you live in the northern part of New Jersey and are looking for a professional plumber, we have connections with a few plumbers.  We recommend Jersey Home Renovations & Plumbing in Wayne New Jersey.

In order to ensure an even distribution of hot water to the radiators in a system you’ll need to ‘balance the system’. Often the radiators near to the boiler/pump would tend to be warmer than the radiators further away, balancing the system will even out the flow of the hot water.

To do this we use the lockshield valve which is normally hidden under a push on cover at one end of the radiator. Adjusting these valves will regulate the flow of water to the radiator. By partially closing the valves, flow to the radiators nearest the boiler can be more limited than to those further away. To reduce the water temperature at the outlet pipe, the lock shield is closed; to increase the temperature the valve is opened up.

The idea is to get temperature drop across each radiator to be about 12 °C (20 °F). The easiest way to measure the temperature drop across the radiators is to use a set of radiator thermometers. These clamp-on thermometers have springs which hook around the inlet and outlet pipes of a radiator. They can be found at any DIY story.

Before you begin make sure the system is turned off and let the water cool down.

Open the lock shield valve and the control valve using an adjustable spanner closed small. This is the valve you use to turn the radiator on and off.

Fit the radiator thermometers to the Inlet and Outlet pipes of the radiator which is nearest  to the boiler and switch the heating back on.

Close the lockshield valve on the first radiator to almost closed, as the temperature of the systems comes up, gradually open up the valve until the temperature difference between the two radiator thermometers is about 12°C (20°F)

Move the thermometers to the next radiator away from the boiler. Close down the lockshield valve and adjust it until the temperature difference increases to about 12°C (the temperature difference will probably start at less than 12 degrees as both valves are fully open).

If you repeat this for all of them in order, you should have a balanced system so that all radiators heat up efficiently.

Once the radiators in a system have been balanced, the valves should not need to be adjusted again unless the radiators or the pipes are changed.