Tag Archives: floor

Natural wood is ecological, but it has to be treated if you want to keep it looking good for a long time, especially if the woodwork has to face the rigours of the weather. Indoors, bare parquet could be dangerous for obvious reasons.

You always have the option of buying prefinished parquet, which will save you the finishing work: manual labour, odour of the product used, long wait before walking on the floor.

If you decide to treat your wood on your own, it’s preferable to avoid synthetic products in favour of natural products, such as varnish without solvent. Don’t play with your health. A toxic product can release noxious vapours for several months, even if your nose can’t detect them.

There are four major type of wood finish: varnish, lacquer, oil and wax.

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Varnish stays on the surface of the wood. It has a strictly protective role. Perfect for furniture, applicable for parquet. However, you have to be patient when the time comes to refinish, because you have to sand the entire surface.[……]

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Using concrete as a decorative element or simple insulator requires knowledge, precision and unlimited patience. It’s often better to rely on the support of a professional. But if you prefer to do it yourself for your own pleasure, you’re going to be spoiled.

Here’s a bit of advice.[……]

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Do you not like concrete? It’s grey, cold, ugly, uniform, old fashioned. You don’t even like the word “concrete”. But concrete has come a long way in the last few years! The proof: there is concrete that generates light because of the luminous fibre optics it contains. Want to hear more?

There is translucent concrete which allows the natural light to shine through, self-cleaning and depolluting concrete, concrete that sparkles, concrete that reproduces photos, concrete that changes colour. All of this could be flooding the market soon.

Good old traditional concrete is easy to maintain, resistant, waterproof, solid. Originally reserved for industrial buildings and architecture, concrete has become a popular decorative material in the last few years.

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Concrete is not a noble material, but it highlights natural materials like wood, stone and slate. As a floor covering, it fits easily with any of these materials to ensure variety when it comes to flooring. It has even been used to complement terra cotta tiles. [……]

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Many of us dream of expanding a room the easy way: by knocking down a wall. It’s not a bad idea, but it does require a careful examination of the building structure.

A loadbearing wall is an outside wall that supports a building’s roof structure—the gable wall for example—and the floor structure. When the wall is part of the frame, it’s called a loadbearing wall.

Loadbearing walls are built solidly with resistant materials. Their static function forces them to bear weight at all times.

Used only to separate rooms, interior walls are generally called partitions. For obvious reasons, they’re built lighter than loadbearing walls.[……]

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