PLANNING BEFORE CONSTRUCTION
1. Do a lot of labor on paper work before doing actual work. It is said that Taj Mahal was built twice- First on the paper and then on the earth. Lack of due diligence will cost you very high.
2. It will always take more money and time, what you have estimated, in constructing or renovating your property.
3. If you will hire the person on daily wages basis, he will make the work linger on; he will do the work too much slowly.
4. If you will hand over the job to the person on contract basis, he will make too much haste. And haste makes waste.
5. Always remember if a responsible person is not supervising, even the single nail will not be stricken in the right manner by the artisan.
6. Before construction, measure the space of your house (or future house) inch by inch and now measure the dimensions of your furniture inch by inch. This measurement of space and furniture will save a lot of problems.
7. If you can not design your home yourself according to your needs and furniture, it is better to hire an interior decorator.
MASONRY
1. If you need more space in your building, wherever possible get the walls of 4 inches instead of 9 inches. If possible you can cut the existing 9 inches wall to 4 inches, but do not compromise with the strength of the building.
2. Thinks of the option of having of shelves, as many as possible, for increasing space in the house
3. Thick skirting of floorings wastes space, get it slimmer.
4. Avoid using the stones of small cut pieces because after grinding different pieces will show different colors and patterns .So always opt for stones of single sheet.
5. Please note that while fitting tiles or stones the gap between them should be the minimum. All the stones/ tiles should be in proper lines. While fitting the tiles design of the tiles should be in an order, masons often spoil the order of the tiles.
6. The mason should start fixing the tiles on walls from Upside and on floors from entrance. Thus the odd sizes of the tiles may be hidden from the eyes of the visitors as they will be either on the lowest/last line on the wall or floor respectively.
7. Get the tiles fitted in kitchen and toilet up to the ceiling because if you will fit exhaust fan near the ceiling where no tiles are fitted, a use of exhaust fan for a few days only will make that area dirty. Afterwards it becomes very difficult to clean it.
8. To check that whether the tiles or stones have been fitted rightly on your floors and walls, tap them lightly with something hard. If there is not proper material behind the stones and tiles they will sound like a hollow thing and if there is proper material behind the stones or tiles they will not sound like a hollow thing.
9. A Flooring built with a mixture of plain stones and stone- chips, in contrast colors looks very good. It looks better than flooring which is built altogether of stones or marbles chips.
10. It is better to use general stones than tiles because if the tiles get broken afterwards it becomes almost impossible to find the tile of same color and design again, and even if you succeed in getting one, you will have to buy a whole box containing nine to twelve tiles, whereas it is easier and cheaper to replace an ordinary stone.
11. If, while having a lintel, your shuttering is not proper or if faulty and imbalanced Ballies are used or if mixture of material is thrown forcefully on the roof, the whole lintel may fall down and cause a major accident.
12. Use the white cement very carefully because it becomes very difficult to remove the extra cement afterwards. Avoid the application of white cement as much as possible. It gets dirty, stained, and discolored very soon
13. If Harpic (a toilet cleaner) is used with tooth brush on the extra cement, you might be successful in removing it.
14. Adhesive solutions used in wood work should also be applied very carefully. It is also very difficult to remove the extra adhesive afterwards. We got success in removing the extra adhesive from the wood by using hot iron and thinner on it.
15. Application of P.O.P is a must because masons generally do not plaster the surfaces evenly. But if the plaster of your walls and roofs are almost even you can go for small applications of P.O.P on the uneven area only and avoid the expenditure of getting POP on all the surfaces.
16. Use special jaalies on drainage holes of kitchen/ toilet through which no cockroaches/rats can pass.
17. If you are to have some holes in walls for wiring or any other purposes, get small pieces of the plastic pipes fitted in those holes and mouths of those pipes be covered with iron jallies.
18. Only the toilet seats, with bigger openings should be used. The ones with small openings are not suitable to all.
19. The gap between the doors and the floor should be the minimum. It will prevent the entry of the insects, lizards and mice etc. Toilet door fitted in this manner will not allow the unwanted water out of the toilet.
20. If possible do not take the building material by rickshaws, get the material in bulk by truck, it will cost you very less.
21. Use only the branded cement.
22. Try to have a separate store room in your home. Store room is as much important as kitchen room/ toilet room. This store room should be on the same floor where you are living. A store room constructed on the roof or on some other floor is neither safer nor useful as much compared to the one built on the living floor.
IRON WORKS
1. Please note that all the iron grills should be dense but the welders generally cheat in density of iron grilling. They also cheat on density of iron sheets and rods. You can use a screw gauge or Vernier Calipers for calculating the thickness of iron sheets or rods. Please take care that the welders might not skip grinding the welded spots, which they do many times.
2. Iron net should be also dense one. Tiger brand is a good one.
3. Ask your welder to fit the removable iron nets in your grills.
4. Wherever you fit the A.C, have a dense iron grill behind it for safety purpose.
5. You must have exhaust fans in kitchen and toilet and there must be iron grills and iron nets on these exhaust fan holes.
6. Try to have the inter-locks and all the other locks, of Godrej company only. But get these locks fitted by Godrej company only. Local welders generally fail in doing this work properly. Harrison is the second best.
7. Interlocks are available for even the doors with two parts.
8. Shutter locks (With hardened rods) are better than pad locks.
ELECTRIC WORKS
1. The pipes used for underground electric wiring should not be of secondary plastic. Use only the best quality of pipes for this purpose.
2. Screws should be driven only with screw drivers, never be hammered.
3. If possible the main wire of cooler, exhaust fan, geyser should be fitted underground. Not plug and socket system should be used for such objects.
4. Modular electric fitting is better than ordinary one. These fitting look more beautiful and are safer than others. Even if a child will touch the socket of a modular fitting he will not be electrocuted.
5. Instead of using switches, use MCB’s for coolers, geysers and AC’s etc.
6. Have bigger sheets for electric switch/socket fittings, for future enhancements.
7. Apart from getting proper MCB,s fitted, ask your Electrician to give proper earthing in the whole premises, it can save electric shock problem.
8. Electric switches and the sockets fitted on sheets should be in a special order, switches of the toilet light should be towards the toilet, and switches of the kitchen light should be towards the kitchen, sockets should be fitted towards the side from where the plug is to come.
9. The switch of room light should be nearest to the entry,
10. If particular things are to be fitted on four screws, the mechanic would try to fit these on two screws only and many times those two screws would not even match with each others. So take care that the things which are to be fitted on two/four screws should be fitted on two/four screws and all those screws should be matching with each other.
11. To prevent the family members from electric shocks, check that your house must be having proper earthing.
12. Try to have a designer door bell if possible; it will enhance the look of your house. You can opt for the wireless bells also. They are compact ones and no need of wiring is there for them. Even their push button is better looking than that of the ordinary ones.
13. Never fit straight bulb holders on the walls, straight bulb holders are made for ceilings only and angle bulb holders are especially made for walls.
14. A.C should be fitted near the ceiling because it emits the cool air which is heavier than the normal air; it will come automatically downwards and will make the whole room cooler.
15. The Coolers can be easily fitted on iron grill without the stand.
16. Never buy an A.C with heater. Hot air is lighter than the normal one, it will automatically go upwards. So heat convector kept on the ground is the best option for winters. Why to pay Rs.4,000/--5,000/- for A.C with heater, while with an expense of Rs.700/--800/-a better effect can be gotten.
17. Do not live in under lights as most of we Indians do. Have ample lights every where in your home.
18. If possible have celebrative lights through out the year.
19. Keep a wooden stick in bathroom to switch on/off the switches.
20. Exhaust fans are very useful in expelling the moisture of the bathrooms.
TOILET WORKS/ PLUMBING
1. Try to have a urinal pot in the toilet of your house as the ones used in public toilets.
2. Curing seepage:----
Tiles, paints, waterproofs-------------------No/No
Plumbing & masonry ------------------------Yes/Yes
3. Use the modern taps, having jaalies fitted in their mouths instead of the ordinary ones. Water passing through modern taps does not strike back.
4. The tab fitted for the washbasin should be little a bit higher than the ordinary one only then you will be able to wash your hand properly, without striking with the tab.
5. Except flush cistern, have the arrangement of warm water everywhere in the house, other wise you will feel trouble in winters.
6. Space below washbasins and sinks can be used easily. You can have shelves of acrylic or toughened glass under the wash basins or sinks. It will look better if you will cover the opening with aluminum and fiber fitting.
7. Color of the buckets, mugs should be matching with the color of your kitchen or toilet. Either uses the entire bucket and the mugs of plastic or steel only. Some people use mixtures of steel and plastic accessories. It does not look good. Either go for steel or go for plastic only.
8. During each use of the toilet, get the exhaust fan switched on for a few minutes. It will not only expel the bad odors but the extra moisture also, which can make the tiles and whole toilet moist and wet. This is more needed in winters.
PAINTS
1. Get the previous paints removed as much as possible before application of a new paint and to make the surfaces even use P.O.P (Plaster of Paris).This advice is applicable only, if you are not getting a complete POP surfacing in the house.
2. Have a good color sense. We have used cream, brown and mustard shades only.
3. Every room consists of four walls and one roof. Each of these five surfaces can be painted with different colors and textures.
4. The walls which are to be in more usage should be painted in dark colors and other ones should be painted in lighter shades.
5. Royal Play/ Textured paint are good option other than plain paints. You can get front wall painted in Royal play, the opposite one painted in Rustic texture, the other two and ceiling spray dotted. (Just suggestions, to give you an imagination).
6. Apart from the area which is to be painted, painters spoil a lot of adjoining area by scattering the paints. It becomes a troublesome job afterwards to remove 0these stains. Instruct the painter in the very beginning to use waste newspapers or use some other methods so this problem may not arise.
7. If you have got some thing of iron that is looking very bad due to rust, apply aluminum paint on it to make it look good.
8. If possible save all the paints applied in your house for “touching” purposes. You should also save some tiles and some pieces of stones used in your home.
SPECIAL TIPS—HOUSE TO HOME
1. Have letter box and name/number plate on the entrance of your home.
2. Get a magnetic stopper or rubber stopper fitted on the rear of the door to avoid the BANG BANG of the door while striking with the wall.
3. After fastening the door fasteners beat the bolts in such a way that it may become almost impossible to unscrew them.
4. Aluminum doors/ windows -----------no/ no
Wooden doors/ windows -------------yes/yes
5. Designer/Picture glasses can also be used to enhance beauty of the house.
6. Have ample cupboards and slabs to decorate and store the house hold goods.
7. Have Acrylic sheets fitted for longer life of paints of walls, especially on those areas where paints are prone to be damaged easily.
8. Try to use walls as much as possible but let not the whole house look like a museum or a shop.
9. Getting your pictures laminated is better than getting them fitted in glass.
10. Before getting a scenery hanged in your office or home. Check the theme of the scenery. It should be suitable to environment. For example a picture showing breasts of a female will not be suitable for office. Similarly pictures of violence, preying and gaming are not good for any place.
11. If there are some holes in wooden furniture’s and door etc. Use particles of wood mixed with Fevicol instead of chalk soil.
12. Cockroaches, especially small kitchen cockroaches and other insects prove a very irritating nuisance. In the market you can easily find some powders which prove very effective in getting rid of this problem. A paste of this powder is to be applied on the different places of your home. Laxman Rekha is also very effective. If these steps do not solve the problem then you can go for the proper pest control.
13. Keep the dustbins where ever possible, in drawing room, kitchen, and toilet etc.
14. Carpet is very useful in winter but have in mind that most of visitors will come with shoes on them.
16. Having a portable aluminum staircase in home is good idea.
17. Remove stickers and remaining of gums of the stickers from your house hold goods.
