Now is common that people has their house renovated. It mainly carried out after house owner has obtained approval from relevant approval agency. Normally we will not know when house defect will be happened. Most of the defects will happen after certain period of time. But it may have sign of immediate effect. Immediate house defects shown mainly due to very poor qualities of workman ship, poor material used, building structure is under designed and ground condition. There are a number of possibilities of house defects will happen. It will depend on case by case basis.

One of the common defects that are the cracks line will be appeared along the joint between new building and existing building. If the building foundation is pile foundation then the effect of cracks will be more significant. It is because most of the extension works that carried out by renovation contractor is using pad foundation. If existing building is pile foundation and new extended building is pad foundation; then there will be significant of differential ground settlement. This differential settlement will make cracks happened.

It is happened because a lot of people who want to renovate house will look for building contractor, but they have forgotten that they need to look for engineer first before engage a building contractor. Un-reputable contractor will not help house’s owner to engage a structural engineer, contractor will build the house based on his owner experience. Furthermore; he only expertise on builder works, he does not has expertise on ground investigation, theory of structure and design of structure. As a result, the finish product will cause the cracks line happen as mention above.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chee_Shai_Choon

Remember when the only way to buy stocks was through a full-service broker? Even if you already knew which stocks and how many shares you would want to buy, you would still need to pay the broker's hefty commission fee. You may not have needed or even wanted his or her advice, but you had no choice but to pay the full fare anyway.

The Internet changed all of that. You can now do your own investing without having to worry which particular stock the broker is attempting to push that day. He or she may have had little regard for you and your needs, but primarily had the need to fatten his or her own wallet.

An area of investing that could be made far more efficient is mortgage lending.

Everyday in America, thousands of consumers are victims of mortgage loan officer schemes that ultimately cost the borrower thousands of dollars more than they originally were led to believe. This is so common, that “predatory lending” and its impact is a growing concern among consumer interest groups and government regulators.

Wouldn't it be nice if, like in the ability to purchase your own stocks, you could do your own research and choose your own loan without having to worry about the needs of a greedy, self-serving loan officer (many of whom have been written up, after the fact, in the press)? Their extreme practices have even led some trusting consumers into foreclosure.

Thanks to a mortgage company in Chicago, the Internet and technology, you now have the ability to go online and within about 15 minutes receive a loan approval for their client without having to go through the traditional mortgage process. The system is so sophisticated that it is predatory lending proof. The computer does not have the ability to charge a consumer more because it thinks the borrower does not know any better. It simply evaluates the client and gives him or her the right program at the right price, saving the consumer’s money and time.

Jonathan Cosie, CEO and founder of MortgageTrends & RealEstatePro News, has endorsed this technology as a 2006 Top Industry Technology pick stating that “This is the first, true self-serve online mortgage solution we have ever seen. Other online lenders state that you can do a mortgage online, but the reality is that you either give them information that they sell as a lead to loan officers or they have a loan officer call you. Both of those scenarios often lead to added costs and frustration to the consumer. Our team is very, very impressed with this concept.”

Once your information has been entered, a loan manager works with you to complete the loan package in a low pressure environment. After the financial information has been evaluated, you simply selects the type and term of loan that they are interested in and the system then immediately begins the underwriting process. You can view all actual (not estimated) closing costs for each loan match presented. This leaves little margin for error and no opportunity for predatory lending practices. Once a loan is selected, the loan manager gets the client to closing on time, with no “packing” of fees. No games and no gimmicks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ted_Janusz

If you are going to build a new house then we have some very important instructions for you. Building a new house is a dream for everyone. When we make it, it brings us happiness, joy and lots of compliments too.

Some people believe that it brings a good luck too. May be you do not believe it but in some countries like India, these people used to believed that your life is very much influenced by the way you make your house.

In ancient India, people used to follow a literature that was called ‘Vastu Shastra’. This literature describes how directions are important while making your dream house. If a house is designed properly, it will surely bring good luck for you and a badly designed home can cast bad vibration on you.

In China also people used to follow certain literature to describe house architecture. However, it is not scientifically proven but there are a lot of incidents when people have to believe that the architecture of a house is very important and influences our life.

Here are a few guidelines about the shape of the house you are going to build. The rule is that the shape of the house should a proper shape. It must not be uneven or zigzag type. Even if you did not pay heed to this thing when you bought the area, the best way is to consult an architect and ask him to give it a proper shape.

The next thing you can pay heed to is which direction your main gate will face. The houses that face to east direction are said to be the best. We recommend you to study more about this Indian literature before you are making your house.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sebanti_Ghosh

The sun is a very powerful source of energy which powers natural cycles on earth like wind, water flow and plant growth.. Solar power is the technology of obtaining energy from the sun. There are three approaches to gain maximum benefit of solar energy in our buildings.

Passive Solar

Passive solar technologies convert sunlight into usable heat without the assistance of other energy sources. Passive solar architecture is a design approach which seeks to:

- maximise solar gains in the building (through orientation such as a south-facing site, layout, glazing etc)
- avoid the loss of heat from the building through high quality insulation
- ensure a high degree of comfort by using controlled ventilation and daylighting

Passive solar systems have little to no operating costs, often have low maintenance costs, and emit no greenhouse gases in operation. Passive solar principles can help reduce heating requirements of a home by up to 80%.

The Passive House Standard can be found at www.passive.de

Active Solar Heating

Active Solar technologies are employed to convert solar energy into usable heat, cause air movement for ventilation or cooking or store heat for future use. Unlike Passive Solar, Active Solar uses electrical or mechanical equipment such as pumps and fans to increase the usable heat. The most common use of active solar in Europe is Solar water heating. It is estimated that a correctly sized solar water heating system can provide for up to 60% of your water heating needs. Indeed, studies have shown that one square metre on your roof receives the equivalent of more than 100 litres of oil in free solar energy per year. Solar panels, generally located on a south-facing roof, transform solar radiation into heat which is stored in a large hot water cylinder for whenever you need it.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a solar power technology that uses solar cells or solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into electricity. Solar cells produce direct current electricity from the sun’s rays, which can be used to recharge a battery or to power equipment. When more power is required than a single cell can deliver, cells are generally grouped together to form “PV modules”, or solar panels, that may in turn be arranged in arrays.

Solar arrays are increasingly incorporated into new domestic and industrial buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power. In a typical installation, an array is incorporated into the building (roof or walls). In this way, Solar PV can be used to provide free solar electricity to houses. Recent developments in regulation mean that it will shortly be possible to connect solar PV systems to the grid, opening up a new era for solar PV in Ireland. Arrays can also be retro-fitted into existing buildings, normally by sitting them atop the existing roof. One new feature of note came in August 2006 when Currys, the major high-street retailer decided to stock PV modules at a cost of a thousand pounds sterling per module.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_O'_Connor