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A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator, and it also has counters and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher and other electric appliances. The main function of a kitchen is serving as a location for storing, cooking and preparing food (and doing related tasks such as dishwashing), but it may also be used for dining, entertaining and laundry.

Commercial kitchens are found in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, educational and workplace facilities, army barracks, and similar establishments. These kitchens are generally larger and equipped with bigger and more heavy-duty equipment than a residential kitchen. For example, a large restaurant may have a huge walk-in refrigerator and a large commercial dishwasher machine. In developed countries, commercial kitchens are generally subject to public health laws. They are inspected periodically by public-health officials, and forced to close if they do not meet hygienic requirements mandated by law.[citation needed]

The evolution of the kitchen is linked to the invention of the cooking range or stove and the development of water infrastructure capable of supplying running water to private homes. Food was cooked over an open fire. Technical advances in heating food in the 18th and 19th centuries changed the architecture of the kitchen. Before the advent of modern pipes, water was brought from an outdoor source such as wells, pumps or springs.

The houses in Ancient Greece were commonly of the atrium-type: the rooms were arranged around a central courtyard for women. In many such homes, a covered but otherwise open patio served as the kitchen. Homes of the wealthy had the kitchen as a separate room, usually next to a bathroom (so that both rooms could be heated by the kitchen fire), both rooms being accessible from the court. In such houses, there was often a separate small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food and kitchen utensils.

In the Roman Empire, common folk in cities often had no kitchen of their own; they did their cooking in large public kitchens. Some had small mobile bronze stoves, on which a fire could be lit for cooking. Wealthy Romans had relatively well-equipped kitchens. In a Roman villa, the kitchen was typically integrated into the main building as a separate room, set apart for practical reasons of smoke and sociological reasons of the kitchen being operated by slaves. The fireplace was typically on the floor, placed at a wallsometimes raised a little bitsuch that one had to kneel to cook. There were no chimneys.

Early medieval European longhouses had an open fire under the highest point of the building. The "kitchen area" was between the entrance and the fireplace. In wealthy homes there was typically more than one kitchen. In some homes there were upwards of three kitchens. The kitchens were divided based on the types of food prepared in them.[1] In place of a chimney, these early buildings had a hole in the roof through which some of the smoke could escape. Besides cooking, the fire also served as a source of heat and light to the single-room building. A similar design can be found in the Iroquois longhouses of North America.

In the larger homesteads of European nobles, the kitchen was sometimes in a separate sunken floor building to keep the main building, which served social and official purposes, free from indoor smoke.

The first known stoves in Japan date from about the same time. The earliest findings are from the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century). These stoves, called kamado, were typically made of clay and mortar; they were fired with wood or charcoal through a hole in the front and had a hole in the top, into which a pot could be hanged by its rim. This type of stove remained in use for centuries to come, with only minor modifications. Like in Europe, the wealthier homes had a separate building which served for cooking. A kind of open fire pit fired with charcoal, called irori, remained in use as the secondary stove in most homes until the Edo period (17th to 19th century). A kamado was used to cook the staple food, for instance rice, while irori served both to cook side dishes and as a heat source.

The kitchen remained largely unaffected by architectural advances throughout the Middle Ages; open fire remained the only method of heating food. European medieval kitchens were dark, smoky, and sooty places, whence their name "smoke kitchen". In European medieval cities around the 10th to 12th centuries, the kitchen still used an open fire hearth in the middle of the room. In wealthy homes, the ground floor was often used as a stable while the kitchen was located on the floor above, like the bedroom and the hall. In castles and monasteries, the living and working areas were separated; the kitchen was sometimes moved to a separate building, and thus could not serve anymore to heat the living rooms. In some castles the kitchen was retained in the same structure, but servants were strictly separated from nobles, by constructing separate spiral stone staircases for use of servants to bring food to upper levels.[citation needed] The kitchen might be separate from the great hall due to the smoke from cooking fires and the chance the fires may get out of control.[2] Few medieval kitchens survive as they were "notoriously ephemeral structures".[3] An extant example of such a medieval kitchen with servants' staircase is at Muchalls Castle in Scotland. In Japanese homes, the kitchen started to become a separate room within the main building at that time.

With the advent of the chimney, the hearth moved from the center of the room to one wall, and the first brick-and-mortar hearths were built. The fire was lit on top of the construction; a vault underneath served to store wood. Pots made of iron, bronze, or copper started to replace the pottery used earlier. The temperature was controlled by hanging the pot higher or lower over the fire, or placing it on a trivet or directly on the hot ashes. Using open fire for cooking (and heating) was risky; fires devastating whole cities occurred frequently.

Leonardo da Vinci invented an automated system for a rotating spit for spit-roasting: a propeller in the chimney made the spit turn all by itself. This kind of system was widely used in wealthier homes. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, kitchens in Europe lost their home-heating function even more and were increasingly moved from the living area into a separate room. The living room was now heated by tiled stoves, operated from the kitchen, which offered the huge advantage of not filling the room with smoke.

Freed from smoke and dirt, the living room thus began to serve as an area for social functions and increasingly became a showcase for the owner's wealth. In the upper classes, cooking and the kitchen were the domain of the servants, and the kitchen was set apart from the living rooms, sometimes even far from the dining room. Poorer homes often did not yet have a separate kitchen; they kept the one-room arrangement where all activities took place, or at the most had the kitchen in the entrance hall.

The medieval smoke kitchen (or Farmhouse kitchen) remained common, especially in rural farmhouses and generally in poorer homes, until much later. In a few European farmhouses, the smoke kitchen was in regular use until the middle of the 20th century. These houses often had no chimney, but only a smoke hood above the fireplace, made of wood and covered with clay, used to smoke meat. The smoke rose more or less freely, warming the upstairs rooms and protecting the woodwork from vermin.

In Connecticut, as in other colonies of New England during Colonial America, kitchens were often built as separate rooms and were located behind the parlor and keeping room or dining room. One early record of a kitchen is found in the 1648 inventory of the estate of a John Porter of Windsor, Connecticut. The inventory lists goods in the house "over the kittchin" and "in the kittchin". The items listed in the kitchen were: silver spoons, pewter, brass, iron, arms, ammunition, hemp, flax and "other implements about the room".[4] Separate summer kitchens were also common on large farms in the north; these were used to prepare meals for harvest workers and tasks such as canning during the warm summer months.

In the southern states, where the climate and sociological conditions differed from the north, the kitchen was often relegated to an outbuilding. On plantations, it was separate from the big house or mansion in much the same way as the feudal kitchen in medieval Europe: the kitchen was operated by slaves, and their working place had to be separated from the living area of the masters by the social standards of the time.

Technological advances during industrialization brought major changes to the kitchen. Iron stoves, which enclosed the fire completely and were more efficient, appeared. Early models included the Franklin stove around 1740, which was a furnace stove intended for heating, not for cooking. Benjamin Thompson in England designed his "Rumford stove" around 1800. This stove was much more energy efficient than earlier stoves; it used one fire to heat several pots, which were hung into holes on top of the stove and were thus heated from all sides instead of just from the bottom. However, his stove was designed for large kitchens; it was too big for domestic use. The "Oberlin stove" was a refinement of the technique that resulted in a size reduction; it was patented in the U.S. in 1834 and became a commercial success with some 90,000 units sold over the next 30 years. These stoves were still fired with wood or coal. Although the first gas street lamps were installed in Paris, London, and Berlin at the beginning of the 1820s and the first U.S. patent on a gas stove was granted in 1825, it was not until the late 19th century that using gas for lighting and cooking became commonplace in urban areas.

Before and after the beginning of the 20th century, kitchens were frequently not equipped with built-in cabinetry, and the lack of storage space in the kitchen became a real problem. The Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of Indiana adapted an existing furniture piece, the baker's cabinet, which had a similar structure of a table top with some cabinets above it (and frequently flour bins beneath) to solve the storage problem. By rearranging the parts and taking advantage of (then) modern metal working, they were able to produce a well-organized, compact cabinet which answered the home cook's needs for storage and working space. A distinctive feature of the Hoosier cabinet is its accessories. As originally supplied, they were equipped with various racks and other hardware to hold and organize spices and various staples. One useful feature was the combination flour-bin/sifter, a tin hopper that could be used without having to remove it from the cabinet. A similar sugar bin was also common.

The urbanization in the second half of the 19th century induced other significant changes that would ultimately change the kitchen. Out of sheer necessity, cities began planning and building water distribution pipes into homes, and built sewers to deal with the waste water. Gas pipes were laid; gas was used first for lighting purposes, but once the network had grown sufficiently, it also became available for heating and cooking on gas stoves. At the turn of the 20th century, electricity had been mastered well enough to become a commercially viable alternative to gas and slowly started replacing the latter. But like the gas stove, the electric stove had a slow start. The first electrical stove had been presented in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but it was not until the 1930s that the technology was stable enough and began to take off.

Industrialization also caused social changes. The new factory working class in the cities was housed under generally poor conditions. Whole families lived in small one or two-room apartments in tenement buildings up to six stories high, badly aired and with insufficient lighting. Sometimes, they shared apartments with "night sleepers", unmarried men who paid for a bed at night. The kitchen in such an apartment was often used as a living and sleeping room, and even as a bathroom. Water had to be fetched from wells and heated on the stove. Water pipes were laid only towards the end of the 19th century, and then often only with one tap per building or per story. Brick-and-mortar stoves fired with coal remained the norm until well into the second half of the century. Pots and kitchenware were typically stored on open shelves, and parts of the room could be separated from the rest using simple curtains.

In contrast, there were no dramatic changes for the upper classes. The kitchen, located in the basement or the ground floor, continued to be operated by servants. In some houses, water pumps were installed, and some even had kitchen sinks and drains (but no water on tap yet, except for some feudal kitchens in castles). The kitchen became a much cleaner space with the advent of "cooking machines", closed stoves made of iron plates and fired by wood and increasingly charcoal or coal, and that had flue pipes connected to the chimney. For the servants the kitchen continued to also serve as a sleeping room; they slept either on the floor, or later in narrow spaces above a lowered ceiling, for the new stoves with their smoke outlet no longer required a high ceiling in the kitchen. The kitchen floors were tiled; kitchenware was neatly stored in cupboards to protect them from dust and steam. A large table served as a workbench; there were at least as many chairs as there were servants, for the table in the kitchen also doubled as the eating place for the servants.

The urban middle class imitated the luxurious dining styles of the upper class as best as they could. Living in smaller apartments, the kitchen was the main roomhere, the family lived. The study or living room was saved for special occasions such as an occasional dinner invitation. Because of this, these middle-class kitchens were often more homely than those of the upper class, where the kitchen was a work-only room occupied only by the servants. Besides a cupboard to store the kitchenware, there were a table and chairs, where the family would dine, and sometimesif space allowedeven a fauteuil or a couch.

Gas pipes were first laid in the late 19th century, and gas stoves started to replace the older coal-fired stoves. Gas was more expensive than coal, though, and thus the new technology was first installed in the wealthier homes. Where workers' apartments were equipped with a gas stove, gas distribution would go through a coin meter.

In rural areas, the older technology using coal or wood stoves or even brick-and-mortar open fireplaces remained common throughout. Gas and water pipes were first installed in the big cities; small villages were connected only much later.

The trend to increasing gasification and electrification continued at the turn of the 20th century. In industry, it was the phase of work process optimization. Taylorism was born, and time-motion studies were used to optimize processes. These ideas also spilled over into domestic kitchen architecture because of a growing trend that called for a professionalization of household work, started in the mid-19th century by Catharine Beecher and amplified by Christine Frederick's publications in the 1910s.

A stepstone was the kitchen designed in Frankfurt by Margarethe Schtte-Lihotzky. Working class women frequently worked in factories to ensure the family's survival, as the men's wages often did not suffice. Social housing projects led to the next milestone: the Frankfurt Kitchen. Developed in 1926, this kitchen measured 1.9m by 3.4m (approximately 6ft 2in by 11ft 2in, with a standard layout). It was built for two purposes: to optimize kitchen work to reduce cooking time and lower the cost of building decently equipped kitchens. The design, created by Margarete Schtte-Lihotzky, was the result of detailed time-motion studies and interviews with future tenants to identify what they needed from their kitchens. Schtte-Lihotzky's fitted kitchen was built in some 10,000 apartments in the housing projects erected in Frankfurt in the 1930s.[5]

The initial reception was critical: it was so small that only one person could work in it; some storage spaces intended for raw loose food ingredients such as flour were reachable by children. But the Frankfurt kitchen embodied a standard for the rest of the 20th century in rental apartments: the "work kitchen". It was criticized as "exiling the women in the kitchen", but post-World War II economic reasons prevailed. The kitchen once more was seen as a work place that needed to be separated from the living areas. Practical reasons also played a role in this development: just as in the bourgeois homes of the past, one reason for separating the kitchen was to keep the steam and smells of cooking out of the living room.

The idea of standardized was first introduced locally with the Frankfurt kitchen, but later defined new in the "Swedish kitchen" (Svensk kksstandard, Swedish kitchen standard). The equipment used remained a standard for years to come: hot and cold water on tap and a kitchen sink and an electrical or gas stove and oven. Not much later, the refrigerator was added as a standard item. The concept was refined in the "Swedish kitchen" using unit furniture with wooden fronts for the kitchen cabinets. Soon, the concept was amended by the use of smooth synthetic door and drawer fronts, first in white, recalling a sense of cleanliness and alluding to sterile lab or hospital settings, but soon after in more lively colors, too[citation needed]. Some years after the Frankfurt Kitchen, Poggenpohl presented the "reform kitchen" in 1928 with interconnecting cabinets and functional interiors. The reform kitchen was a forerunner to the later unit kitchen and fitted kitchen.

Unit construction since its introduction has defined the development of the modern kitchen. Pre-manufactured modules, using mass manufacturing techniques developed during World War II, greatly brought down the cost of a kitchen. Units which are kept on the floor are called "floor units", "floor cabinets", or "base cabinets" on which a kitchen worktop originally often formica and often now made of granite, marble, tile or wood is placed. The units which are held on the wall for storage purposes are termed as "wall units" or "wall cabinets". In small areas of kitchen in an apartment, even a "tall storage unit" is available for effective storage. In cheaper brands, all cabinets are kept a uniform color, normally white, with interchangeable doors and accessories chosen by the customer to give a varied look. In more expensive brands, the cabinets are produced matching the doors' colors and finishes, for an older more bespoke look.

Starting in the 1980s, the perfection of the extractor hood allowed an open kitchen again, integrated more or less with the living room without causing the whole apartment or house to smell. Before that, only a few earlier experiments, typically in newly built upper-middle-class family homes, had open kitchens. Examples are Frank Lloyd Wright's House Willey (1934) and House Jacobs (1936). Both had open kitchens, with high ceilings (up to the roof) and were aired by skylights. The extractor hood made it possible to build open kitchens in apartments, too, where both high ceilings and skylights were not possible.

The re-integration of the kitchen and the living area went hand in hand with a change in the perception of cooking: increasingly, cooking was seen as a creative and sometimes social act instead of work. And there was a rejection by younger home-owners of the standard suburban model of separate kitchens and dining rooms found in most 1900-1950 houses. Many families also appreciated the trend towards open kitchens, as it made it easier for the parents to supervise the children while cooking and to clean up spills. The enhanced status of cooking also made the kitchen a prestige object for showing off one's wealth or cooking professionalism. Some architects have capitalized on this "object" aspect of the kitchen by designing freestanding "kitchen objects". However, like their precursor, Colani's "kitchen satellite", such futuristic designs are exceptions.

Another reason for the trend back to open kitchens (and a foundation of the "kitchen object" philosophy) is changes in how food is prepared. Whereas prior to the 1950s most cooking started out with raw ingredients and a meal had to be prepared from scratch, the advent of frozen meals and pre-prepared convenience food changed the cooking habits of many people, who consequently used the kitchen less and less. For others, who followed the "cooking as a social act" trend, the open kitchen had the advantage that they could be with their guests while cooking, and for the "creative cooks" it might even become a stage for their cooking performance.

The "Trophy Kitchen" is equipped with very expensive and sophisticated appliances which are used primarily to impress visitors and to project social status, rather than for actual cooking.

The ventilation of a kitchen, in particular a large restaurant kitchen, poses certain difficulties that are not present in the ventilation of other kinds of spaces. In particular, the air in a kitchen differs from that of other rooms in that it typically contains grease, smoke and odours.

The Frankfurt Kitchen of 1926 was made of several materials depending on the application. The built-in kitchens of today use particle boards or MDF, decorated with veneers, in some cases also wood. Very few manufacturers produce home built-in kitchens from stainless-steel. Until the 1950s, steel kitchens were used by architects, but this material was displaced by the cheaper particle board panels sometimes decorated with a steel surface.

Domestic (or residential) kitchen design is a relatively recent discipline. The first ideas to optimize the work in the kitchen go back to Catharine Beecher's A Treatise on Domestic Economy (1843, revised and republished together with her sister Harriet Beecher Stowe as The American Woman's Home in 1869). Beecher's "model kitchen" propagated for the first time a systematic design based on early ergonomics. The design included regular shelves on the walls, ample work space, and dedicated storage areas for various food items. Beecher even separated the functions of preparing food and cooking it altogether by moving the stove into a compartment adjacent to the kitchen.

Christine Frederick published from 1913 a series of articles on "New Household Management" in which she analyzed the kitchen following Taylorist principles of efficiency, presented detailed time-motion studies, and derived a kitchen design from them. Her ideas were taken up in the 1920s by architects in Germany and Austria, most notably Bruno Taut, Erna Meyer, and Margarete Schtte-Lihotzky. A social housing project in Frankfurt (the Rmerstadt of architect Ernst May) realized in 1927/38 was the breakthrough for her Frankfurt kitchen, which embodied this new notion of efficiency in the kitchen.

While this "work kitchen" and variants derived from it were a great success for tenement buildings, home owners had different demands and did not want to be constrained by a 6.4m kitchen. Nevertheless, kitchen design was mostly ad-hoc following the whims of the architect. In the U.S., the "Small Homes Council", since 1993 the "Building Research Council", of the School of Architecture of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was founded in 1944 with the goal to improve the state of the art in home building, originally with an emphasis on standardization for cost reduction. It was there that the notion of the kitchen work triangle was formalized: the three main functions in a kitchen are storage, preparation, and cooking (which Catharine Beecher had already recognized), and the places for these functions should be arranged in the kitchen in such a way that work at one place does not interfere with work at another place, the distance between these places is not unnecessarily large, and no obstacles are in the way. A natural arrangement is a triangle, with the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove at a vertex each.

This observation led to a few common kitchen forms, commonly characterized by the arrangement of the kitchen cabinets and sink, stove, and refrigerator:

In the 1980s, there was a backlash against industrial kitchen planning and cabinets with people installing a mix of work surfaces and free standing furniture, led by kitchen designer Johnny Grey and his concept of the "unfitted kitchen". Modern kitchens often have enough informal space to allow for people to eat in it without having to use the formal dining room. Such areas are called "breakfast areas", "breakfast nooks" or "breakfast bars" if the space is integrated into a kitchen counter. Kitchens with enough space to eat in are sometimes called "eat-in kitchens". During the 2000s, flat pack kitchens were popular for people doing DIY renovating on a budget. The flat pack kitchens industry makes it easy to put together and mix and matching doors, bench tops and cabinets. In flat pack systems, many components can be interchanged.

Restaurant and canteen kitchens found in hotels, hospitals, educational and work place facilities, army barracks, and similar institutions are generally (in developed countries) subject to public health laws. They are inspected periodically by public health officials, and forced to close if they do not meet hygienic requirements mandated by law.

Canteen kitchens (and castle kitchens) were often the places where new technology was used first. For instance, Benjamin Thompson's "energy saving stove", an early 19th-century fully closed iron stove using one fire to heat several pots, was designed for large kitchens; another thirty years passed before they were adapted for domestic use.

As of 2017, restaurant kitchens usually have tiled walls and floors and use stainless steel for other surfaces (workbench, but also door and drawer fronts) because these materials are durable and easy to clean. Professional kitchens are often equipped with gas stoves, as these allow cooks to regulate the heat more quickly and more finely than electrical stoves. Some special appliances are typical for professional kitchens, such as large installed deep fryers, steamers, or a bain-marie.

The fast food and convenience food trends have also changed the manner in which restaurant kitchens operate. Some restaurants to only "finish" delivered convenience food or even just reheat completely prepared meals, maybe at the utmost grilling, a hamburger, or a steak.[citation needed]

The kitchens in railway dining cars present special challenges: space is limited, and, nevertheless, the personnel must be able to serve a great number of meals quickly. Especially in the early history of railways this required flawless organization of processes; in modern times, the microwave oven and prepared meals have made this task much easier. Kitchens aboard ships, aircraft and sometimes railcars are often referred to as galleys. On yachts, galleys are often cramped, with one or two burners fueled by an LP gas bottle, but kitchens on cruise ships or large warships are comparable in every respect with restaurants or canteen kitchens.

On passenger airliners, the kitchen is reduced to a mere pantry, the only function reminiscent of a kitchen is the heating of in-flight meals delivered by a catering company. An extreme form of the kitchen occurs in space, e.g., aboard a Space Shuttle (where it is also called the "galley") or the International Space Station. The astronauts' food is generally completely prepared, dehydrated, and sealed in plastic pouches, and the kitchen is reduced to a rehydration and heating module.

Outdoor areas where food is prepared are generally not considered kitchens, even though an outdoor area set up for regular food preparation, for instance when camping, might be referred to as an "outdoor kitchen". An outdoor kitchen at a campsite might be place near a well, water pump, or water tap, and it might provide tables for food preparation and cooking (using portable campstoves). Some campsite kitchen areas have a large tank of propane connected to burners, so that campers can cook their meals. Military camps and similar temporary settlements of nomads may have dedicated kitchen tents, which have a vent to enable cooking smoke to escape.

In schools where home economics, food technology (previously known as "domestic science"), or culinary arts are taught, there will be a series of kitchens with multiple equipment (similar in some respects to laboratories) solely for the purpose of teaching. These consist of multiple workstations, each with their own oven, sink, and kitchen utensils, where the teacher can show students how to prepare food and cook it.

Kitchens in China are called chfng). More than 3000 years ago, the ancient Chinese used the ding for cooking food. The ding was developed into the wok and pot used today. Many Chinese people believe that there is a Kitchen God who watches over the kitchen for the family. According to this belief, the god returns to heaven to give a report to the Jade Emperor annually about this family behavior. Every Chinese New Year Eve, families will gather together to pray for the kitchen god to give a good report to heaven and wish him to bring back good news on the fifth day of the New Year.

The most common cooking equipment in Chinese family kitchens and restaurant kitchens are woks, steamer baskets and pots. The fuel or heating resource was also important technique to practice the cooking skills. Traditionally Chinese were using wood or straw as the fuel to cook food. A Chinese chef had to master flaming and heat radiation to reliably prepare traditional recipes. Chinese cooking will use a pot or wok for pan frying, stir frying, deep frying or boiling.

Kitchens in Japan are called Daidokoro (; lit. "kitchen"). Daidokoro is the place where food is prepared in a Japanese house. Until the Meiji era, a kitchen was also called kamado (; lit. stove) and there are many sayings in the Japanese language that involve kamado as it was considered the symbol of a house and the term could even be used to mean "family" or "household" (similar to the English word "hearth"). When separating a family, it was called Kamado wo wakeru, which means "divide the stove". Kamado wo yaburu (lit. "break the stove") means that the family was bankrupt.

In India, a kitchen is called a Rasoi (in hindiSanskrit) or a Swayampak ghar in Marathi , and there exist many other names for it in the various regional languages. Many different methods of cooking exist across the country, and the structure and the materials used in constructing kitchens have varied depending on the region. For example, in north and central India, cooking used to be carried out in clay ovens called Chulhas, fired by wood, coal or dried cowdung. In households where members observed vegetarianism, separate kitchens were maintained to cook and store vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Religious families often treat the kitchen as a sacred space. Indian kitchens are built on an Indian architectural science called vastushastra. The Indian kitchen vastu is of utmost importance while designing a kitchens in India. Modern-day architects also follow the norms of vastushastra while designing Indian kitchens across the world.

While many kitchens belonging to poor families continue to use clay stoves and the older forms of fuel, the urban middle and upper classes usually have gas stoves with cylinders or piped gas attached. Electric cooktops are rarer since they consume a great deal of electricity, but microwave ovens are gaining popularity in urban households and commercial enterprises. Indian kitchens are also supported by biogas and solar energy as fuel. World's largest solar energy[6] kitchen is built in India. In association with government bodies, India is encouraging domestic biogas plants to support the kitchen system.

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Kitchen - Wikipedia

What it means: Your house's wiring has no way to safely conduct any stray current that escapes the confines of the wires.

Code violation? No; grandfathered in. (Today's code requires grounded circuits and receptacles.)

Danger level: Minimal, as long as you don't use an adapter to fit a three-prong plug into a two-prong receptacle. Doing so could destroy the device you're plugging in, and increase the chance of electrocution.

Solution: Replace two-prong receptacles with properly grounded three-prong ones, if wiring allows it (see . Also, test all existing three-prong receptacles with a GFCI circuit tester to make sure they're grounded. Rewire any that aren't.

10. Plug Falls Out of ReceptacleWhat it means: Worn contacts in receptacle no longer grip the prongs firmly.

Code violation? No.

Danger level: High. Loose contacts can cause arcing, which can ignite dry wood and dust.

Solution:Replace the old receptacles as soon as possible. (A new one costs about $2.) Many homeowners feel comfortable doing this themselves. Electricians will charge about $8 or $10 per outlet, although there's likely to be a minimum charge for small jobs.

Old Wiring: Is It Safe?Today's standard household wiring is a plastic-sheathed, insulated three-wire cable, universally known by the trade name Romex. But the vintage copper wiring in many older houses works just as well as the new stuff, as long as it's in good condition and hasn't been altered in a way that violates code. Here are some wiring systems you'll find in older homes.

Knob and TubeThe earliest residential wiring system has a cloth-covered hot wire and a neutral wire, which run parallel about a foot apart. Ceramic knobs anchor the wires to the house framing; ceramic tubes are used where wires cross or penetrate framing.

Caveats: Cannot be grounded or spliced into a grounded circuit. Its soldered connections may melt if too much current flows through them. Rewire or disconnect any circuits covered with building insulation; it causes this wiring to overheat.

Armored Cable (Bx)The successor to knob and tube. A flexible steel sheath covers hot and neutral wires, which are insulated with cloth-covered rubber. The sheath provides a ground, so grounded receptacles are easy to retrofit.

Caveats: Sheath must be anchored securely to a metal outlet box. Check condition of insulation every five years or so; it degrades over time, as shown above, or if too much current is allowed to flow through the circuit.

Two-Wire Plastic-Sheathed CableAn early PVC-insulated (Romex) wire.

Caveats: Plastic is easily damaged. Grounded receptacles cannot be retrofitted to this wire.

Where to Find ItElectrician: Allen GallantGallant ElectricWaltham, MA781-862-4636

Aluminum-to-copper connector:Twister #65Ideal IndustriesSycamore, IL800-435-0705www.idealindustries.com

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10 Wiring Problems Solved | This Old House

In their individual capacities and as a collective the partners Jim Bunyan & Denvin Lucas together with Manager Theo Jurgens combine their talents to make your building experience memorable and enjoyable as they make your dream a reality.

Over the past 35 years Timbercraft have built free standing homes in all conceivable sizes ranging from beach cottages and granny flats to multi storey homes.

We work throughout the Cape Peninsula and although we specialize in Roof Room conversions we pride ourselves in being structural timber specialists.

If its been done before weve done it

If its never been done before phone us and it soon will be

We offer a wide range of services:New Timber Homes, One bedroom to complete top floors, Loft Rooms, Parental Suites, Penthouses on apartment building roofs, Granny flats, Studios and offices, Export containerised homes in kit form

Jim Bunyan(Partner) 083 252 2268Over 35 years at the forefront of the timber frame building industry. Founder member, former Vice President and President of the Timber Builders Association.Honaray member of the ITFB.

Denvin Lucas (Partner) 076 074 0763Over 20 years carpentry and joinery experience.Joined Timbercraft in 2008 and is a current committee member of the ITC Western Cape.

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Theo Jurgens (Partner) 082 556 130615 Years timber frame building experienceJoined Timbercraft in 2011 where he is the current manager

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Timbercraft - Specialists in Timber construction. Roof ...

This article is about private rooms for personal hygiene. For toilet facilities outside the home, see public toilet. For private toilet room at a residence, see toilet (room). For washing facilities outside the home, see public bathing.

A bathroom is a room in the home for personal hygiene activities, generally containing a sink (basin) and either a bathtub, a shower, or both. It may also contain a toilet. In some countries, the toilet is usually included in the bathroom, whereas other cultures consider this insanitary or impractical, and give that fixture a room of its own. The toilet may even be outside of the home in the case of pit latrines. It may also be a question of available space in the house whether the toilet is included in the bathroom or not.

Historically, bathing was often a collective activity, which took place in public baths. In some countries the shared social aspect of cleansing the body is still important, as for example with sento in Japan and the "Turkish bath" (also known by other names) throughout the Islamic world.

In North American English the word "bathroom" may be used to mean any room containing a toilet, even a public toilet (although in the United States this is more commonly called a restroom and in Canada a washroom).

The term for the place used to clean the body varies around the English-speaking world, as does the design of the room itself. A full bathroom is generally understood to contain a bath or shower (or both), a toilet, and a sink. An ensuite bathroom or ensuite shower room is attached to, and only accessible from, a bedroom. A family bathroom, in British estate agent terminology, is a full bathroom not attached to a bedroom, but with its door opening onto a corridor. A Jack and Jill bathroom (or connected bathroom) is situated between and usually shared by the occupants of two separate bedrooms. It may also have two wash basins.[1][2] A wetroom is a waterproof room usually equipped with a shower; it is designed to eliminate moisture damage and is compatible with underfloor heating systems.

In the United States, there is a lack of a single, universal definition; this commonly results in discrepancies between advertised and actual number of baths in real estate listings. Bathrooms are generally categorized as "master bathroom", containing a shower and a bathtub that is adjoining to the largest bedroom; a "full bathroom" (or "full bath"), containing four plumbing fixtures: a toilet and sink, and either a bathtub with a shower, or a bathtub and a separate shower stall; "half (1/2) bath" (or "powder room") containing just a toilet and sink; and "3/4 bath" containing toilet, sink, and shower, although the terms vary from market to market. In some U.S. markets, a toilet, sink, and shower are considered a "full bath." In addition, there is the use of the word "bathroom" to describe a room containing a toilet and a basin, and nothing else.

Bathrooms often have one or more towel bars or towel rings for hanging towels. Some bathrooms contain a medicine cabinet for personal hygiene products and medicines, and drawers or shelves for storing towels and other items.

Some bathrooms contain a bidet, which might be placed next to a toilet.

The design of a bathroom must account for the use of both hot and cold water, in significant quantities, for cleaning the body. The water is also used for moving solid and liquid human waste to a sewer or septic tank. Water may be splashed on the walls and floor, and hot humid air may cause condensation on cold surfaces. From a decorating point of view the bathroom presents a challenge. Ceiling, wall and floor materials and coverings should be impervious to water and readily and easily cleaned. The use of ceramic or glass, as well as smooth plastic materials, is common in bathrooms for their ease of cleaning. Such surfaces are often cold to the touch, however, and so water-resistant bath mats or even bathroom carpets may be used on the floor to make the room more comfortable. Alternatively, the floor may be heated, possibly by strategically placing resistive electric mats under floor tile or radiant hot water tubing close to the underside of the floor surface.

Electrical appliances, such as lights, heaters, and heated towel rails, generally need to be installed as fixtures, with permanent connections rather than plugs and sockets. This minimizes the risk of electric shock. Ground-fault circuit interrupter electrical sockets can reduce the risk of electric shock, and are required for bathroom socket installation by electrical and building codes in the United States and Canada. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, only special sockets suitable for electric shavers and electric toothbrushes are permitted in bathrooms, and are labelled as such. UK building regulations also define what type of electrical fixtures, such as light fittings (i.e. how water-/splash-proof) may be installed in the areas (zones) around and above baths, and showers. Contrary to some information provided with bathroom light fittings, sinks and basins do not affect bathroom zones, as a bathroom is solely defined as a room containing a bath or shower, by wiring regulations. It is nevertheless good practice to avoid installing unsuitable fixtures close to sinks, as damage from water splashes may occur.

Bathroom lighting should be uniform, bright and must minimize glare. For all the activities like shaving, showering, grooming etc. one must ensure equitable lighting across the entire bathroom space. The mirror area should definitely have at least two sources of light at least 1 feet apart to eliminate any shadows on the face. Skin tones and hair color are highlighted with a tinge of yellow light. Ceiling and wall lights must be safe for use in a bathroom (electrical parts need to be splash proof) and therefore must carry appropriate certification such as IP44.

All forms of bathroom lighting should be IP44 rated as safe to use in the bathroom.[3]

The first records for the use of baths date back as far as 3000 B.C. At this time water had a strong religious value, being seen as a purifying element for both body and soul, and so it was not uncommon for people to be required to cleanse themselves before entering a sacred area. Baths are recorded as part of a village or town life throughout this period, with a split between steam baths in Europe and America and cold baths in Asia. Communal baths were erected in a distinctly separate area to the living quarters of the village.[citation needed]

Nearly all of the hundreds of houses excavated had their own bathing rooms. Generally located on the ground floor, the bath was made of brick, sometimes with a surrounding curb to sit on. The water drained away through a hole in the floor, down chutes or pottery pipes in the walls, into the municipal drainage system. Even the fastidious Egyptians rarely had special bathrooms.[4]

The Roman attitudes towards bathing are well documented; they built large thermal baths (thermae), marking not only an important social development, but also providing a public source of relaxation and rejuvenation. Here was a place where people could meet to discuss the matters of the day and enjoy entertainment. During this period there was a distinction between private and public baths, with many wealthy families having their own thermal baths in their houses. Despite this they still made use of the public baths, showing the value that they had as a public institution. The strength of the Roman Empire was telling in this respect; imports from throughout the world allowed the Roman citizens to enjoy ointments, incense, combs, and mirrors. The partially reconstructed ruins can still be seen today, for example at Thermae Bath Spa in Bath, England, then part of Roman Britain.

Not all ancient baths were in the style of the large pools that often come to mind when one imagines the Roman baths; the earliest surviving bathtub dates back to 1700 B.C, and hails from the Palace of Knossos in Crete. What is remarkable about this tub is not only the similarity with the baths of today, but also the way in which the plumbing works surrounding it differ so little from modern models. A more advanced prehistoric (15th century BC and before) system of baths and plumbing is to be found in the excavated town of Akrotiri, on the Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). There, alabaster tubs and other bath fittings were found, along with a sophisticated twin plumbing system to transport hot and cold water separately. This was probably because of easy access to geothermic hot springs on this volcanic island.

Both the Greeks and the Romans recognised the value of bathing as an important part of their lifestyles. Writers such as Homer had their heroes bathe in warm water so as to regain their strength; it is perhaps notable that the mother of Achilles bathed him in order to gain his invincibility. Palaces have been uncovered throughout Greece with areas that are dedicated to bathing, spaces with ceramic bathtubs, as well as sophisticated drainage systems. Homer uses the word , loetr, "baths", later , loutr, from the verb , loein, to bathe. The same root finds an even earlier attestation on Linear B tablets, in the name of the River Lousios ("bathing" [river]), in Arcadia. Public baths are mentioned by the comedian Aristophanes as , balanea (sing.: , balaneon, Latinized as balneum, a "balneary").

Throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the use of public baths declined gradually in the west, and private spaces were favoured, thus laying the foundations for the bathroom, as it was to become, in the 20th century. However, increased urbanisation led to the creation of more baths and wash houses in Britain.

In Japan shared bathing in sento and onsen (spas) still exists, the latter being very popular.

Cultural historian Barbara Penner has written of the ambiguous nature of bathrooms as both the most private space and one most connected to the wider outside world.[5]

Bathroom with two sinks and a bath tub in a hotel

Fancy bathroom for private home

An early 20th century bathroom in the Beamish Museum near Durham, England

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Bathroom - Wikipedia

Intro to how to drywallPhoto 1: Fasten backers at corners

Fasten wood backing wherever drywall ends have no support within 4 in. Make sure to check corners and ceiling/wall joints.

Measure from the end of the ceiling to the middle of a joist and cut the sheet to length. End cuts should split framing members. Gaps at ends and splices should be less than 1/4 in. Mark fastening guidelines every 16 in. from end of sheet with a drywall square. Cut overall lengths 1/4 in. shorter for easier fitting.

Be bold! You dont need a truckload of tools, the mind of a rocket scientist or an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like physique to hang drywall. You just need to get familiar with the fundamentals for how to install drywall to gain the confidence to tackle the job yourself.

Drywall is one of the easiest-to-use and cheapest construction materials in the world. Even a serious mistake will make you chuckle, knowing youve wasted little time and probably less than five bucks. And the money you save handling the task yourself will come in handy for furnishing that new room.

Hanging rock (short for Sheetrock) doesnt require a lot of finesse, but it is heavy work. But if you have a strong back and you can climb four steps without wheezing, dont be afraid to tackle one, two or even three rooms on your own. Its sometimes hard to interest a pro in hanging just a room or two, or even get on the schedule. And youll pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege. Besides, defining and covering the walls with a finished material can be satisfying.

This how to install drywall article will demonstrate the basics of hanging drywall. If you do a good job of hanging it, the drywall can be taped and finished smoothly and easily. Taping refers to the process of filling fastener holes, applying joint tape and three layers of taping compound to seams and corners, and then sanding. Poor hanging techniques make it difficult for even a seasoned taper to deliver a flat, uncracked surface thats free of nail pops and ready for paint. Well show you the techniques and tools the pros use to get thehow to install drywall job done fast and in a way that makes taping as painless as possible.

Follow these relatively simple steps for how to install drywall and enjoy that new bedroom, family room or, if youre really lucky, billiard room!

The pros never secure drywall with nails anymore, and neither should you. Screws anchor the rock solidly to the framing, do less damage to the paper face, and are less likely to cause fastener pops down the road. Nail pops are a nuisance to fix and generally wont appear until after youve applied the final coat of paint.

A drywall screw gun is a high-speed, low-torque drill specifically adapted for installing drywall (Photo 11). With an adjustable nosing, it sets screws very quickly at precisely the correct depth. It may be worth buying if youre planning to hang a lot of drywall. If you decide to rent, plan to tack up all the drywall with as few nails as possible, then screw off all the rock at the same time to save rental fees. There are various styles of adapters and attachments for converting conventional drills into screw guns, but the results arent as good. There is no substitute for a drywall screw gun.

Most drywalling calls for three basic types and thicknesses of material:

Door and window jambs and electrical outlets are usually set up for 1/2-in. drywall, so check to confirm. Three-eighths-inch and 1/4-in. are available as well but are rarely used except on curved wall surfaces or areas where thinner rock is required. For example, if youre patching old plaster walls, 3/8-in. may be the only thickness that will match the depth of the plaster.

Drywall usually comes in either 48 or 412 sizes. If you live in an area large enough to support a commercial supplier, itll offer more variety than an average lumberyard. It may have 9-, 10- and 14-ft. lengths, 54-in. widths for 9-ft. ceilings and odd things like flexible drywall for curved surfaces. Drywall lengths dont radically affect overall material cost. If you think you can handle 12-ft. sheets (and if theyll fit through the stairwells), theyre the way to go. Youll have far less waste and fewer seams to tape. Keep in mind that a 48 sheet weighs 55 lbs. and a 12-footer about 82 lbs.

Measure the length needed and score the paper face with a utility knife, using a drywall square as a straightedge.

Snap the sheet, fold it open and cut through the paper on the backside.

Smooth rough edges on cut ends with aSurform tool to ensure tight joints.

This is your last chance to fix any problems that will soon be hidden behind finished walls. Have leaky plumbing repaired and install (or have installed) any additional electrical outlets or switches, dedicated computer modem lines or outlets, and phone jacks. This is also the time to add any missing drywall backers (Photo 1). Youll need to support any ends that are unsupported for more than 4 in.

Estimate materials by adding up total surface areas and dividing by square feet per sheet. A 48 sheet will cover 32 sq. ft. and a 412 sheet will cover 48 sq. ft. Dont deduct for doors and windows unless theyre very large. I usually order just enough to do the job. Id rather go out for a few more sheets than get stuck with extra rock. It doesnt store well and the garbologists arent fond of finding 48 sheets on the curb next to your trash can.

While small quantities are easily carried in a pickup, large quantities (12-ft. sheets, or more than 10 sheets of any size) are best delivered. A good-sized rooms worth of rock can weigh as much as a small beluga whale!

Discount lumberyards and home centers will usually deliver for a fee, but theyll only send out one person, and youll have to help unload the truck. The driver will probably help you carry sheets into the garage, but thats about it. Contractor-oriented full-service lumberyards and commercial drywall suppliers will charge more per sheet, but theyll unload the truck and haul the rock into the rooms youre going to hang. A boom truck (a truck with a small crane for lifting) may even be available for second-floor deliveries if there is a door or window opening large enough to feed sheets through. Coordinate this with your lumberyard, making sure you both understand site specifics, manpower requirements and available equipment.

Set down the drywall with the finished sides facing you. This is the side youll want to lay out on and cut from. It should be stacked on edge and evenly supported. Drywall warps quickly and isnt easily straightened.

Save your back and rent a drywall lift for a day. A lift is fantastic if youre shorthanded or installing 12-ft. sheets. It disassembles easily, weighs about 75 lbs. and will fit in a minivan or small pickup. A lift makes it possible to hang rock solo, but its still nice to have a helper for loading the rock onto the lift. A lift tilts from vertical to horizontal. Wheels allow you to roll it up to the drywall stack, load a sheet onto the rack, roll it back into position and crank the sheet up into place. Although a lift can also be used for wall placement, its strong suit is ceilings.

Highly Recommended:

Nice-to-have stuff:

Hoist the ceiling sheets overhead and tack them into place using a crutch made of 2x2s to support the lions share of the weight. Prenail and position the sheet, tacking it to the joists.

Measure the distance from a wall corner to the center of a framing member, also recording distances for cutouts and door and window openings. Avoid placing joints over doors and window corners, where they may crack.

Cut window and door notches from a single sheet by sawing sides with a drywall saw. A keyhole saw is slower, but it is an acceptable substitute for long cuts.

Score the third side of the notch with a utility knife, snap the section loose and complete the cut from the backside.

For quick rip cuts, drag your utility knife behind the T-square as you slide it along the top (nestle the blade of the knife against the ruler part of the square).

Lift the top wall sheet, holding it tight against the ceiling, and tack it into place with nails. Dont forget to mark fastener guidelines before lifting.

Measure electrical box cutouts from all four sides. Check all layout measurements twice before cutting!

Transfer measurements to the drywall and cut the outlet box openings with a keyhole saw.

Heres where youll appreciate the ease of working with drywall. After scoring the front side with your utility knife, simply snap it open like a dime novel. One last cut along the back edge of the sheet and youre in business.

Professionals always do the lids (ceilings) first. That way, the wall pieces support the ceiling pieces. Now a word for you rookies: Hanging drywall over your head is no fun. Drywall is heavy, awkward and hard to get into position. To make the job somewhat easier, make a crutch (Photo 3). To make it a lot easier, pony up for a drywall lift.

Next, hang the top wall row. This should be pushed tight against the ceiling before fastening (Photo 7). Never break joints at the edge of a window or door. These seams will eventually crack, and the buildup of taping materials will make installing casing difficult.

After installing the top layer, lift in the bottom sheets. Foot lifts work great for prying that bottom row tight against the top row (Photo 10). That all-purpose flat bar will do the job nearly as well.

Whenever I hang drywall, Im always surprised at just how small those doggone switchplate covers are (although larger ones are available if you need them). Take special care in planning and sawing cutouts for electrical boxes (Photos 8 and 9) because if you miss, that oversized outlet hole is a bear to fix. Fixing a poorly cut or overcut hole is tricky, and the repair will never look quite right.

Although we dont show one in use here, pros now use spiral saws to cut openings for outlets, lights and even doors and windows. The basic idea is easy: Just mark the approximate center of the outlet or light, hang the sheet of drywall, and then poke the thin spiral bit through the center mark and follow the edge of the fixture all the way around. For door and window openings, hang the sheet across the opening and then follow the framing with the spiral bitno measuring required, and you get a perfect cut every time. Of course it takes a little practice to get the hang of the tool, it kicks up a lot of dust, and the basic tool costs $70 to $100, but if youre doing more than one room it may be worth the investment. For more information, see How to Use a Spiral Saw on Drywall

Hoist bottom row with a foot lift or flat bar and tack into place. If an opening needs small adjustments, shave the edges with your utility knife.

If you dont have a foot lift handy, just use a flat bar. You may need to use a piece of wood under the flat bar for more leverage.

Screw ceiling and walls with a screw gun. Set screws and nails slightly below the surface of the paper, being careful not to break through into the gypsum core. To hide the fasteners, position them close to openings around windows and doors so trim will cover them.

Selecting fasteners is simple. Use 1-1/4 in. fasteners for 1/2-in. rock and 1-5/8 in. fasteners for 5/8-in. rock. Longer is not better. This might be hard to believe, but longer screws and nails are more prone to nail pops. Use as few nails as possible and only to tack up the sheets until you can get the screws in.

Use five fasteners per framing member, one in each tapered edge and three more spaced evenly every 12 in. (Photo 11). Slightly angle screws on the ends of sheets, where there is only 3/4 in. of wood left to catch screws. If you run them in too close to the end, the drywall core will break and they wont hold well.

Using the framing guidelines youve drawn (Photo 3), prestart a few tack nails in the sheet before raising it into position. In other words, start a few nails into the rock about 1/4 in. deep or so. Theyll stick there, ready to be driven home when the sheets in place. Youll then be able to dedicate one hand to hammering and the other to supporting the sheet.

Any room that is subject to high humidity deserves galvanized fasteners. Conventional drywall screws in these areas may eventually corrode and bleed through the finish.

After installing all the drywall, drag a putty knife over every single fastener. If you hear a click (Photo 12), youve found a rogue fastener that needs to be set. Do NOT use your hammer to set a proud (protruding) screwhead! Blasting it in with a hammer may break the screw, creating a bigger hole to patch, and will cause a nail pop down the road. Just screw it in a tad more with a screwdriver or, better yet, a cordless drill. Also, be sure to remove any fasteners that missed the framing member for this how to install drywall job.

Drive screws correctly! The paper on the outside of the drywall is what holds the sheet tight to the wall. An overset screw has little holding power and may pop in the future. If you do overdrive a screw, first install a properly set screw about an inch away from it and then remove the improperly set screw.

Finish setting underdriven screws with a screwdriver or cordless drill. If setting a fastener results in broken paper, replace the fastener with a properly driven one.

Check screwheads and nails for proper depth by dragging a putty knife over each head and listening for clicks.

Have the necessary tools for this how to install drywall DIY project lined up before you startyoull save time and frustration.

Youll also need a Surform tool, a drywall hammer, a foot lift and a drywall lift.

Avoid last-minute shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of time. Heres a list.

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How to Hang Drywall Like a Pro The Family Handyman

Walls are an important part of every home. Gypsum board, also known as drywall, is an easy and affordable way to create a clean finish on the walls of your home. Follow the easy steps in this article to properly drywall in your home.

Begin with sketches so that you can adequately visualize the workspace. Wallboards must be added in a perpendicular position to the joists. Work from the top down, beginning in the center of the ceiling and extending outwards until you reach the base of the walls. Use waterproof drywall for bathrooms and other areas prone to moisture. Some codes require fire-resistant drywall.

The easiest way to make accurate drywall cuts is to employ a straight edge and a utility knife. Always measure and mark before making any cuts. Start your cut at the paper and slowly score the board until you have complete the cut. Once you have adequately score the gypsum board, it should break easily and evenly. Account for all fixtures around which you must cut the board.

The easiest and cheapest job is to add a single layer of drywall. Use a second layer when you want to protect against flames or sound.

As you plan the layout for your drywall boards, find a way to create as few joints as possible. Use a horizontal arrangement for lower ceilings and vertical arrangement for high ceilings.

It's best to have help when installing the drywall so that you can make the attachments while your friend holds the boards in place. If your on your own, use a T-brace.

Add the top boards first for horizontal arrangements. Put it into place and attach it firmly with screws. If the workspace includes a spot where your find ceiling boards secured directly to the joists, the you should begin the first run 7-inches lower than the ceiling height. When using nails, plan to space them by 7-inches.

Some homeowners prefer adhesive/nail-on style. If that's the kind of board you have selected, then you should stick the boards to the studs before nailing. Sometimes, you'll have a board which bows in the center. To fix it, add a nail until the adhesive has totally settles. For vertical arrangements, align the long edges so that they run in the same direction as the framing members.

Ask a sales associate at your local home improvement store for help finding specially designed metal corner strips and install them according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Apply joint compound over drywall tape to all areas where boards butt against one another. You may occasionally need more than one layer of compound.

When using adhesive tape the best option is to apply the tape first, then add several coats of compound. For non-adhesive tape, you must also apply embedding coal. Once the embedding coat has settled, you can continue to apply several more coats of compound

When applying the adhesive tape, pay special attention to centering it. Apply non-adhesive tape by applying gentle pressure with the knife over the tape into a layer of compound at a 45-degree angle.

Adhesive tape can be coated immediately. Non-adhesive tape must rest for 24 hours and totally dry before you can proceed. Spread the compound wide so that it spreads to a feathered finish.

Once the compound has dried, sand it until it is smooth. Wipe away the dust with a dry towel.

The nails/screws should be slightly recessed into the gypsum board. Spread compound over the dimples and allow it to dry before sanding to a smooth finish.

Continue on to the drywall joints where the boards butt against each other. Spread the compound over these areas in a feathered fashion. Allow it to dry and sand.

Make sure that the metal corners are securely positioned and spread compound over them. Allow the layer to dry, sand it and apply a second coat. Sand the top coat.

When completing the interior corners, spread the compound 1.5-inches in each direction from the angle. Make sure the joint tape matches the area it will cover, and press it into place. Allow it to dry, apply more compound and sand the final layer one it has dried.

Information in this article has been furnished by the National Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) and associated contributors.

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How to Do a Drywall Job | DoItYourself.com

Although we cant give you an exact price, we can give you an idea of what it may cost to remove your tree. The condition, size, diameter, and location of your tree will determine the cost.

A simple rule of thumb: the bigger the tree, the more it will cost.

The height of the tree. In general, the taller the tree the more costly it is to remove it.

Time of Removal: The best time to remove a tree is in their dormant season, which is February or March. Removing trees in the winter when tree service companies are less busy, may impact the price.

Some companies include taking away the tree in their estimate. Other companies make you pay an extra fee to have the wood removed. Look for this when you get an estimate.

As with many services, a company can woo new business with extremely low bids. Transparent and trustworthy tree service companies have licenses to maintain, investment in top-notch equipment to do the job right, and minimum levels of liability insurance to carry. These all factor into their rates. If you get an extremely low bid, it could mean the company might be skimping on something that will prevent them from doing a superb job. Or it could mean that in the event of an accident (e.g. the tree that they cut falls onto your house) there will be a disagreement about who is fully responsible to pay for the damages.

If you venture out and obtain multiple bids, there is a strong likelihood that those bids will not be the same. Every tree removal company will approach a job differently and consequently price their bid differently. Do your research and know what you are getting. It is tough to put a value on great service, but that is one thing we excel at after removing trees for over 30+ years.

Related Articles:The Average Cost for Stump Removal ServicesThe Average Cost of Tree Trimming Services

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The Average Cost for Tree Removal Services | Tips

When youre ready to have a tree on your property come down, its time to call an arborist. The national average price range for tree-trimming costs is $270-$450. Tree removal costs can vary based on the height, diameter, location and health of the tree, and on whether you want to remove the stump. Height plays a major role in tree removal costs. Small trees, no more than 30 feet tall, are usually thinner in diameter and easier and safer for an arborist to manage. Removal of a small tree can cost anywhere from under $150 to over $450. Removal of medium-height trees, from 30 feet to 60 feet tall, could cost anywhere between $150 and $850 or more. Tall trees, typically 60 feet to 80 feet tall, may start at $500 or cost more than $1,000 to cut down. As the height and diameter increase, so does the cost.

Location is critical, too. Removing a tree in an open space is quicker and presents fewer obstacles than removing a tree that is growing flush to your house. Arborists can assess your tree and provide you with quotes based on the variables involved. For example, removing a medium-size hackberry tree that was growing too close to a home the roots were damaging the homes foundation cost $1,500. This price included rope-down, house protection, tree quartering and stacking, and stump removal.

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The 10 Best Tree Removal Companies Near Me (with Free ...