This is the 3rd post in the newly started series here on BRICKS-n-MORTAR, tag-labeled as -  "SNAPSHOTS". This series is being published here on this blog every Friday to start with. You may also send in some of your splendid photographs relating to our theme and may earn value points adding up to our ongoing BnM's blog promotion contest - 2010

Today's snapshot is from our own archives. We would love to receive your very own caption(s) for this snapshot in the comments section below and/or by email / 'contact us' form.

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BnM's Caption:

Home improvement  --  'Buildings with wholesome beauty'

BnM

About the snapshot:

Some of old readers of BRICKS-n-MORTAR must have seen this picture earlier also in one of our earlier posts. Though already published, we find it imperative to share this pic with our readers again because of a reason.

The reason is to highlight the advantages of having a beautifully planned, constructed and maintained building... be it one's home, office building, commercial complex, etc. The wholesome goodness is attained if and only if details of each and every corner of the building is given the needed emphasis and attention to. Giving one's valuable time in maintaining even the usually lesser visited nooks and corners is what enhances the value and integrity of one's place.

This is what we emphasized in our mentioned earlier post too. Check out that post clicking here if you may feel like. And do provide us your valuable feedback, comments, suggestion, etc. as it helps us bettering our website and endeavor to serve the common man and the professionals alike  :-)

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Original Post: [Snapshots]: Home improvement  --  'Buildings with wholesome beauty'
Related earlier post: 'Buildings with wholesome beauty'~~ Does your dwelling looks all-round beautiful like this?

Suggested related stuff of interest:

                 

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A recent USA visitor to your favourite blog BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com posted a message to us asking about the merits and demerits of HOME INSULATION, and to have our opinion whether she should go for it or not? Team B-n-M, therefore, hereinbelow this post explores various related ifs and buts, dos and don'ts, merits and demerits, etc. on this issue so as to provide ample information to our reader who asked question about 'home insulation' besides sharing the outcome of the analytical findings of Team B-n-M with all other readers and visitors alike.

What is home insulation / building insulation?

To proceed any further with this article, let us first ponder upon a while on the dictionary meaning of the term 'insulation'.
The term 'Insulation' is usually used in Civil Engineering / Architectural jargon to refer to the infill and/or applied material that provides the parent body (on which insulation is done) a sort of blanket cover so as to not let the main weather indicators (heat, cold, temperature variations, etc.) change the near-ideal comfortable environs of a dwelling - be it a home or an office or any other constructed or fabricated unit.

Benefits of getting home insulation done

In simpler practical terms, getting the buildings properly and adequately insulated is the perfect way of providing an effective and continuous barrier between the conditioned indoor spaces and unconditioned outdoor spaces of any particular building. This makes sure that the insulated boundaries of a home (or any building in that matter of fact) will not allow the soothing heated-up environs within during the winters to loose heat, while ensuring that the air-conditioned cool ambiance is not leaked to outsides in summers. Thus without losing the useful inhouse radiant heat in winters and/or gaining the unwanted surroundings heat in summers, it thereby helps a household to maintain a more consistent level of comfort throughout a house, thereby lowering the extents of power / energy / utility bills up to considerable levels.

A few key benefits, therefore, of getting the buildings insulated being:

• reduced energy bills due to reduced variability in radiant (ambiance) inhouse temperatures and thereby reduced usage of air conditioners.
• reduced carbon emissions, also known as greenhouse gas emissions, due to less usage of air conditioners and fuels.
• reduced variability of inhouse temperatures in various parts of the homes (like not too much difference between ground floor and attics and basements, etc.)
  
• efficient energy management
• enhanced life and stability of building due to lesser effects of temperature variations on intrinsic construction and interiors related materials.
• enhanced fire protection of building components.
  
• better mortgage and/or resale value for the building.
• almost nil demerits of the system.
  
• last, but definitely not the least, a sense of safety and completeness to your beloved and cherished home showing you care for it.
  

Conclusion and suggestion to the readers

All in all, referring to all the benefits of housing insulation besides insulating all kinds of buildings in general, it seems prudent to go for it taking services of the suppliers/ providers of repute in one's region who have long standing credibility behind their names. Based upon our extended online and offline search in your region in the United States of America (i.e., the region where the reader who posted this query lives), one such credible party that is having a good name for insulation for houses is sent to you by private email too, as you had desired. You may consult them for a free evaluation of your home and take an appropriate decision thereafter. As for our advice, we would advise you to go for insulation of your home, as it would surely reduce your annual energy bills for one since as per one recent report, heating and cooling account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home, and you can very well comprehend what kind of figures it would translate into; isn't it? 
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All of us must have heard of this common day-to-day life usage- "Wholesome goodness"!

A healthy body within and outside is wholesome goodness. The same applies to our buildings, homes, office spaces, structures constructed in bricks and mortar, etc. The exteriors of a building should no doubt be very beautiful, clean, nicely conceived, well executed besides being structurally and architecturally safe.

But, its the wholesome clean and tidy finishing and up-keeping of the entire building, which makes it truly and wholesomely beautiful. Then no matter if its your building's rooftop, or your home's backyard, or your office's nooks and corners; all should be well planned and kept neat and tidy.

Getting our point??
Look at the picture of this building herein below and judge for yourself if your dwelling looks all-round beautiful like this or not.

If the answer is a big  NO, then do the needful and make it beautiful. And, do send your dwelling's pictures to us so that we can share the same with all of our readers too.

BnM

[PS: This picture shot and shared by one of our core team members is of a building in the heart of Cochin city, in the state of Kerala, India]

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Technorati Tags: home improvement, buildings, civil engineering

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Imagine this...
You--- in the capacity of an owner, developer, promoter, partner, realter, stakeholder, buyer, etc--- got a wonderful building constructed putting into precious hard-earned funds and hiring services of the best of the architects from the region.

Imagine this...
You are so very proud and happy to see your dream come true of constructing one beautiful and elegant piece of architecture, which in all terms is no less than your Taj Mahal by your own means no matter how meagre the funds-input might have been as compared to the actual Taj Mahal.

And, now visualise this...
Just like the backwaters on the banks of the Taj being utterly polluted and defaced come out as no less than an eyesore, visualize some of your lack of planning and/or oversight and/or some unauthorized/illegal structure springs up in the very foresight of the building elevation, then what would your dream do? What would happen to your immaculate planning and wish of presenting a marvellous piece of architecture to the world?

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Something of the same sense happened to this beautiful creation of civi engineering, which is located in the very heat of the Delhi - NCR. It is being told that nobody took notice of this illegal hoarding and temporary hut being erected while the building was being completed, and the same has now become an utter eyesore in the view of this beautiful building besides being a sour battle of litigation with ghost parties (illegal compensation claimants).

Take notice and practice care if you also are planning or making your very own masterpiece. Ensure no one props an unwanted eyesore there. The good old adage says...'Prevention is better than cure'.

[Post Tags: "Buildings, Construction, Architecture" ]

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WITH THE ONGOING TUSSLE OF THE MANKIND WITH THE MOTHER NATURE IN ALMOST ALL SPHERES OF MODERN LIFE, THE MAN IS HELL-BENT ADAMANT TO RUIN ALL THE GOOD THINGS THE NATURE HAD PRESERVED FOR HIM, THEREBY RUINING ALL THE RESERVES AND VALUE SYSTEMS. THE SAME HAS GONE TRUE FOR ERECTING BUILDINGS ALSO WHERE MAN HAS PUT ENDLESSLY ENORMOUS LOADS OF CONCRETE, STEEL AND MULTITUDES OF DEBRIS ON EARTH'S FACE.

The practices deployed over the period of years aspiring to reach the zenith of his Architectural and Design skills, and not understanding the true importance of saving the grace of the mother nature, the mankind has now put itself in danger of destabilizing the nature's harmony and balancing character. Floods, droughts, green-house gases, ozone depletion, melting of polar ice, etc. are just a very few examples how the mankind has now been at the receiving end.

However, understanding the importance of living in harmony with the nature, a few individuals/ corporates/ organizations have lately started thinking of maintaining the ecological balance going hand-in-hand with the increasing skylines. The concept of Designing and Constructing the 'GREEN BUILDINGS' has become a positive and welcome start.

Acknowledging the importance of Going Green, BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com will essay some valuable webspace writing some stuff on this topic, enabling our readers to understand the basic requirement, necessity and uniqueness in adopting the 'GREEN-BUILDING-REVOLUTION'.

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WHAT IS A 'GREEN BUILDING'?

In this first article of this series- "GO-GREEN!", let us first let our readers understand what a green building is?

Wikipedia defines a Green Building as:

Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal.

Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:

• Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
• Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity
• Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) defines a Green Building as:

A green building uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste and is healthier for the people living inside compared to a standard building.

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In the next article on this "GO-GREEN!" campaign of BRICKS-n-MORTAR.com, we shall discuss the various facts and requirements of green buildings concept vis-a-vis the further developments in this field of Civil Engineering.

Do post your suggestions/ feedback/ contributions to us.

[Filed under "Go-Green, Buildings, Construction, Architecture" category(ies) by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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This photograph was taken in the South-Indian city of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, where the reader who has sent this across went visiting.

The house in picture looks nice, but has one very prominent Architectural feature, which technically speaking, is some sorts of a flaw (in terms of designing the structural elements.)

Can you identify?

[Hint: Look near the slanting red roof]

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Connect2BnM 4 LiveBuzzZ!!

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An interesting Article on 'List of Tallest Buildings in the World'

[Source: Wikipedia]

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As discussed one previous time here before also on bricks-n-mortar.com in another web-shared post, The beauty of Wikipedia is that if one feels the content is not correct, or if one wants to add to the content, then the article can be edited/ enhanced/ modified (of course subject to step by step approval).

So if you think you can add more precise and/or realistic content, GO ON! Click the link below (or here) and make the article better. You can be the useful contributor enabling other readers to get more specific and truthful details.



In the same context, Wikipedia quotes that:

Due to the disagreements over how to measure and classify structures, engineers have created various definitions for categories of buildings and other structures. One measure includes the absolute height of a building, another includes only spires and other permanent architectural features, but not antennas. The tradition of including the spire on top of a building and not including the antenna dates back to the rivalry between the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street. A modern-day example is that the antenna on top of the Sears tower are not considered part of its architectural height, while the spires on top of the Petronas towers are counted.

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[Filed under "Web-Share, Buildings, Construction, Architecture" category(ies) by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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An interesting Article on 'List of Largest Buildings in the World'

[Source: Wikipedia]

The beauty of Wikipedia is that if one feels the content is not correct, or if one wants to add to the content, then the article can be edited/ enhanced/ modified (of course subject to step by step approval).

So if you think you can add more precise and/or realistic content, GO ON! Click the link below and make the article better. You can be the useful contributor enabling other readers to get more specific and truthful details.

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[Filed under "Web-Share, Buildings, Construction, Architecture" category(ies) by Team@Bricks-n-Mortar.com]

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