Bathroom Construction - Some Useful Tips

Bathrooms - they eat up a lot of money during construction, if one decides it to make a style quotient. But rather than spending a lot to make it look beautiful or exquisite what is important in the long run is its usefulness and ease of maintanence.

(Click here to view Interlocking brick based construction)

Here comes some useful tips on bathrooms. Detailed Description given after these brief tips

1. Rough piece of stone inside the bathroom for cleaning feet and as a washing aid!!

2. Height of wall tiles.

3. Level of bathroom floor should be below the room floor.

4. Wall tiles at ground level

5. Bathroom doors - No wood - Go for PVC

6. Openable and fully closable windows rather than windows with permanent small openings.

7. An exhaust fan works wonders

8. Closet first, followed by bathing area.

9. Shower curtains, Go for it

10. Keep it dry !!

(Click here to view tips on Door hinges)

A little more detailed description on these tips

PLUS TWO - Music Review !!!

Of late Malayalam movies has shown a drastic fall in quality, a sure reason which keeps people away from theatres. Most of the people are waiting for a good movie to come to flock the theatres. Even if the film is very very mediocre, people come to theatres especially on weekends only to go back disappointed as is the trend with some super star movies.

But are we going to see a new trend??

Can the newcomers rise to the occasion and fill the void created by the ageing super stars of Malayalam filmdom.?

Two movies have raised lot of hopes. One is “Plus 2” and the other is “Malarvadi Arts Club”. Let us watch these movies and then decide on the future of Malayalam cinema.

Aranmula Kannadi - A Visual Tour.

Aranmula kannadi or the Aranmula mirror is not just another mirror. It is part of history.

Aranmula is place in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. This town is famous for two more reasons.

The Aranmula boat race, when the traditional Kerala snake boats race for the crown during the Onam season and the Aranmula Parthasarathi temple

Aranmula Kannadi is not glass, it is metal !!! The creation formula of this metal mirror is known to a single family in Aranmula and is passed on to their next generation. It is made to order. I too got one made for me and I will just take you through a visual tour of the same.

Door Hinges - Auto Lock Vs Non Auto Lock

Product:  Door Hinges

When I was in the market for purchasing door hinges, I was particular in buying the best quality ones, especially for the front door, bedrooms and kitchen. The reason was simple. It was something which will be used to the maximum.

The hardware shop vendor showed me two versions

1 - Door Hinge with AutoLock: This hinch has some spring mechanism between the rolling section. This spring ensures that the hinge will remain in two positions. One in fully open position and other in closed position. So when the door is opened, one can apply only the slightest pressure to close it since the springs in hinges will also aid to close the door. Similarly for opening too.

2. Door Hinge without AutoLock: This was the normal Door Hinge.


I chose the AutoLock version (only for the front doors) since it seemed to have superior technology.

A premium Helmet at a non premium price - The Studds Helmet.

Product: STUDDS HELMET
Type: Full face helmet
Purchase price: Rs 2000 (Indian Rupees)
Purchase date: 2008 August

Ever rode a motorbike without this gadget on your head, then you are committing a crime as per legal laws and even more important is the fact that you are risking your own life and it is a suicidal mission

NEVER EVER RIDE A MOTORBIKE WITHOUT A HELMET ON YOUR HEAD EVEN IF THE JOURNEY IS FOR A SHORT DISTANCE.

It is not enought to just wear any Helmet. The Helmet should be satisfying certain quality standards. In India it should be ISI certified.

A full face helmet is the most recommended one.

A real good quality helmet is surely different from other low cost ones. In the premium segment, we used to get only AGV Helmets which are of real high quality, but the prices starts from INR 3000 and above. So normally people buy other ISI Helmets available whose price is in the range of INR 500 to INR 1000 (for full face helmets)

Concrete Door and Window Frames - Serves Purpose, Saves Money!!

People who are in the process of constructing their dream homes will be in a constant thought process on different ways of constrution. Some will be oriented to find ways to save on construction cost and some others will be thinking on where they can get the unique things which no one else has used so that he can show off to others no matter what the cost.

This post is for those who want to save some money, and who looks for lowering their construction cost by reducing the usage of wood. But when you are going to gain in the money front, you should also ensure that you are not losing too much on the quality front.

Wood as a major raw material

Traditionally Keralites use a lot of wood for construction and in the early years it was the major raw material for buildings, but then the supply of wood was abundant. As the supply went down and demand increased prices shooted up and people opted for different construction mechanisms which ensured that usage of wood is minimum and some times the alternate method was more strong than wood based mechanism. A good example is the building's roofs.

Even now most of the people spend a lot of money on wood which forms the primary raw material for doors and windows. One alternative which has come up is the aluminium and steel windows, but it has not been hugely popular since 

1. Most of us have grown up seeing the traditionals thick frames of windows made of wood and we are resistant to changes.
2. People suspect that the strength of aluminium and steel windows are less compared to wooden counterparts.

An alternative which compensates for the above two shortfalls of aluminium and steel door and window frames is the usage of concrete doors and window frames.

A window frame of size 5ft x 5ft, including grills and three partitions will cost only 10% of the cost of the same window pane made of wood (Teak).

For door frames also the cost saving will be on these lines.

Some precautions need to be taken while selecting concrete doors and window frames which are listed below. Whatever mentioned here is my suggestion only and it is solely based on my usage of the same in my house and I am no technical expert in construction.

1. Integrated wood block for hinges and locks.

It is difficult to drill holes for screwing in nails in concrete frames. So for fixing the hinges and locks which is to be screwed tight, wooden blocks will be inserted the areas where these need to be fixed. These blocks will be inserted in the mould itself so that when the concrete hardens this forms an integral part of the system.

Normally good blocks are kept for hinges, but for the locks only small piece of wood is kept. One has to demand to keep a bigger block of wood so that he has the flexibility to fix the position of lock in a larger area and the small block of wood has the tendency to come out of the concrete.

2. Don't use concrete frames in areas which can come into regular contact with water directly or indirectly.

Paint tends to peel off. I did not use it for doors of bathrooms, but for bathroom venitilators I used concrete frames, thinking that since it is high up it will not come in direct contact with water. But my assumption proved wrong and the ventilator window's paint peeled off after 6 months or so. On a lighter note, now it looks like a different design

Same thing happened for door frame near the kitchen sink.

3. Where to use concrete frames and where to use wooden frames.
Wooden frames for
a. All the doors which had access to outside, I used wooden frames
b. All the window panes in drawing room, dining room,
c. Bathroom ventilators
d. Kitchen and Workarea doors

Concrete frames for
a. All the bedroom doors
b. All the bedroom windows.

For bathroom doors, plastic is the best. (I will write about it soon)

4. Painting of concrete frames

While painting, ensure that enough putty is applied so that the irregularities or imperfections of the surface are completely hidden. This will give is a more wood like appearance for those who loves wood.

5. Decide on what kind of Grill you want before ordering the concrete frame.

Specify the grill design that you want before moulding the concrete. Once the concrete frame is created you cannot simply put a new grill. Even if is a simple grill design ensure that cross bars are present for added protection. A typical concrete window view from inside my bedroom.

6. Carpenters opinion.

Will people ever agree to an option which will reduce their income. Just because of this reason carpenters will always give verdict agains the concrete frames since they stands a chance to lose the labour of making the wooden frame.

Reduce wood usage, Go Green, Protect the environment, Save hard earned money too !!!!

The All New Honda Activa - Another reliable machine from Honda

  

Month of purchase: June 2009
On Road Price: 47000/- (including accessories, road tax and insurance)

Dealer: EVM Honda, Kaimanam, Thiruvananthapuram

The decision

Once in the market for a gearless scooter the following were the options considered

1. Kinetic flyte

Has lot of good reviews online and people has been recommending the kinetic flyte in all online forums. A test ride revealed that, eventhough it has a good engine, the vehicle seemed too small, like a scooty and the seats were narrow. There was only one service centre in city and it was not selling in good numbers. Kinetic's past history also helped to decide against it.

2. Hero Honda Passion

A good scooter with the proven honda engine, lower price than honda activa, good wide seats, slightly better mileage than Activa, lesser power than activa. The moment you step into the dealership one will experience the most horrid time ever, with the sales persons least interested and will have an attitude like no questions please, just buy and f*** off. An attitude created by the belief that they are the no 1 two wheeler seller of the country.

3. Suzuki Access

The recently launched suzuki access with 125 cc engine promised a lot, but with the dealership unable to specify a time for delivery and not allowing a test drive, how can a customer buy it. One of the reasons why you don't see many of them on road.

4. Honda Dio

Step into the honda showroom and you will feel a world of difference. Even with the heavy rush inside they are managing their level best to treat each of the customers well and will not get irritated by the questions. Dio has the proven 100cc honda engine and has a stylized shape. Body was fibre and the whole body kit costs something in the range of 2k, which means we can changed the color of vehicle when we want. The slanting foot rest in the front and a feedback on body vibrations by the existing customers put me off buying this one even though this model was readily available.

5. Honda Activa (old generation)

The proven old generation activa was still available. But when anything new has been launched, there is no point in buying an old version, when both of them is having the same price tag and the new one is having more powerful engine without any compromise on mileage.

Booking and Delivery

The All new Honda activa was booked on April 2009. They had specified a delivery date after 90 days. After 90 days when they could not deliver the vehicle, I wrote to their customer care email id, and was promptly attended to by a representative from bangalore, who kept on following up things until I got delivery within the next 10 days. What a way to keep to the customer happy !!! I was impressed. The vehicle was delivered on June 2009.

The vehicle in detail

One look at this vehicle will reveal that the cosmetic changes made is making this one look different from the older generation activa.

  

Looking from the front

The curvature in the front panel has been modified. The number plate can be fixed separately or the number can even be painted on the front panel. There is an option for putting a Honda sticker on the front. But it costs Rs. 500 extra. I prefer the neat clean look without stickers.

  

The headlight assembly with those integrated indicators is the one which is causing the feeling of a drastic change. The design is elegant.

  

The Back

If the front is different, the back side is also different too. Just one quick look at the back and you will know that it is not the old honda activa.

  

Again the major difference is in the back light assembly.

  

In the old generation one there was an option for putting the spare tyre in the back rail. But in all new honda activa the metal grabrail has been changed to a funky aluminium one which adds to the looks

  

The Seats

Wide, comfortable seats has been a trademark of the old activa and it is no different in this one either.

  

The Dashboard

The quality of items used is good. There are no panel gaps. The mirror position is good.

  

The speedo console is simple and elegantly designed.

  

The Locks

As is the precedence in modern scooters, handle lock and ignition are in the same lock.

  

The choke lever

The choke lever is ideally positioned in the front left side. Needed only sparingly especially during a cold start.

  

  

The Engine

What is a point in telling "All new" without a change in the heart. The heart of All new honda activa is 110cc engine. Start the engine and you will know the change from there itself. The engine feels more refined and silent. Eventhough one feels like it is slightly less powerful, the change in power is quite evident in the steep inclines with two heavily built souls on the seats.

  

The kicker lever also can be seen in the above pic. Honda has carried over the bad design of the kicker lever to the new Honda activa too.

One has to stand behind the scooter to operate this. Standing behind means he don't have anywhere to hold when he is kicking this to life. Wonder what is the logic behind such a design.

The silencer compartment has an additional padding as a protection from the heat.

 

Another thing to note down here is that hot air tends to blow out to the left ankle when you are resting your left foot on the ground from the engine compartment. Honda engineers could have slightly diverted its flow such that it don't directly blow into our legs as it will too hot in start stop city conditions and for people who have to put both legs on ground for stopping. When one is wearing pants and shoes it is not a problem though.

Footrest

The footrest, rests neatly under the side panel when not in use.

  

This is quite easy to operate too

  

Storage space.

This is quite amazing. Just see this.

Open the storage space using the key on the left side panel

  

The seat which doubles up as the lid opens up completely

  

Watch the space inside

  

Now see a full face helmed. Will this one go in

  

The helmet is now inside the compartment

  

Close the lid and fits well too.

  

The storage space pretty is pretty amazing one of the reasons why I did not opt for the optional glove box in the front.

Braking

The brakes are effective too. But remember to apply both brakes simultaneously.
The brake locks are a pretty useful when parking in inclines

  

The Tyres

The tyres are puncture resistant, tuff up tubes. The company itself says that it is not 100% puncture resistant, but can resist to a certain extent. The suspension thingy also is good.

  

6 months - 4000 km experience.

The ride has been smooth so far. The service experience is good. No complaints to report.

Not good as a long distance tourer, but a more than effective city commuter, it stands tall among its other competitors. Buy it and forget all woes related to the machine. It will serve you loyally.

  

Handle bar for Royal Enfield Bullet

Most of the passionate Royal Enfield owners will have faced the dilemma of chosing the proper handle bar for their ride.

Some makes there selection based on aesthetic appeal and some selects it from a usability point of view. My take is to give priority to the usability part without losing out on the aesthetic appeal. The experience gained by me in chosing my bull's handle bar is shared here



The bullet which I bought came with a short handle bar, which has a touch of classic feel associated with it.

I just loved the majestic appeal which it gave to the Royal ride.

The seats were of the low slung type for the rider and slightly raised one for the pillion

A close up view of the handle.

and the seats

After one month of usage in this mode, I felt some uneasiness in the wrist after some long rides. But I felt this might be the initial syndromes. After six months or so I started developing severe pain on my right elbow, for which I have to consult a doctor, who rightly advised me to find the activity, which when done is causing maximum pain. I soon found out that it is while twisting the accelarator, I am feeling this. This pain was aggravate after my solo ride to Idukki (Click here to read the trip log). My wrist was bandaged and it was diagnosed as tennis elbow and the doctor advised me not to activity which aggravates this. I was horrified to hear this as I could live without my bull.

After a careful analyis of different elbow positions while twisting the accelarator, I found out the following

1. When the hand is dead straight, the twisting action of wrist is sure to exert the elbow muscles. I was feeling pain, when I kept the hand straight and tried to twist the elbow

2. When the elbow is bend, the twisting action is not straining the elbow. I noticed that the low slung seat, resulted in a relaxed riding position and we tend to either sit straight or lean backwards, which eventually increased the distance to the handle. So we have to keep our hands dead straight for giving the throttle.

So now I had two options

1. To change the seat to a flatter one. This will increase the height of the rider's seat. In this seat, people often tend to lean forward, so that the elbow will have a slight bend. But the higher seat means, the Centre of Gravity will also be high and high speed cornering is sure to take a hit. I don't want to lose out on the sitting comfort offered by the low slung seat during my long rides through those beautiful ghats where I enjoying scratching the footpedal on floor.

2. To increase the height of the handle bar. This will bring the handle bar closer to our body and hence we our elbow will be bend. For high rise handle bar there are a lot of options.

1. The bullet electra handle bar
2. The RD 350 handle bar
3. The bullet thunderbird handle bar
4. The aftermarked buttlefly handle bar which resembles a thunderbird handle, but is slightly wider.

I decided to try out any one of these and then if found not good will select the next one.

The first one, I got hold of was the RD handle bar, which was slightly wider than the standard bullet electra handle bar.

Fitted this on my bull. Just see the difference in height between the two bars

Even with the bandaged hand, when I rode with this handle bar, I was not feeling any pain at all. I was releived and decided to keep this handle for my next long ride.

This was closer to me as well.

The low slung seat and the high rise handle

After the next ride (Click here to read about this ride) which covered about 500km a day, I was extremely convinced about this handle and I did not test the other high rise handle bars.
But during this ride I noticed that there is excessive vibrations on the handle bar, which was not there with the short one. This vibrations start once I take of my one hand from the handle. The moment I keep my hand it will die down.

Then I understood the importance of handle bar weights which is normally screwed to the ends of the handle. The original short one had handle bar weights. In this handle I had put a handle bar grip with a chrome cup at the end. Soon I put the original handle bar weights to the ends of the handle and voila the difference was amazing.
I am wondering about the worth of small and simple things in solving real world problems. What I thought of was having a mere cosmetic item was having such an importance was not known to me.

The weights were screwed in after welding a nut inside the hole of the handle bar.

The things I learnt are
1. Low slung seats needs high rise handle bar
2. High RD handle bar is adequate because of it height and also due to its increase width and lean towards the rider.
3. Handle bar weights is a must

I did many long rides and never did the pain in elbow came again. You can read about my rides here (http://subups.blogspot.com)

Interlocking Bricks - Save your construction cost

Product: Interlocking Bricks (update in 2013 posted at the end of this write up)

Interlocking bricks - as the name suggests locks itself with other bricks and it is these interlocks which give strength to the wall. No cement mixture is needed for the bonding.

This is a concept which many people of my State (Kerala) is not well aware of. People often tend to reject anything which is new. Same was the case with Interlocking bricks, as was evident by the response of people whom I approached to get expert opinion on the usage of these bricks.

It was my architect who introduced this concept to me. After visiting two or three houses built by the architect using these bricks, I decided that I was going to use this for construction.

 

Click here to get some useful Bathroom construction tips

The major difference with the normal bricks used for construction and the interlocking bricks are

1. Interlocking bricks are not baked, it is just mud in high density pressed using a pressing machine and allowed to solidify by drying naturally. Some chemicals are added for increasing the bondstrength. Normal bricks are baked ones
2. Size of interlocking brick is more. Approximately it is 2.5 times more in volume than the baked bricks. (size is 10" x 8" x 4")
3. Weight of Interlocking bricks is more than equivalent volume of baked bricks.

Method of Construction using interlocking bricks

1. Normal basement is to be laid down first. Since the interlocking bricks have more weight than conventional bricks, a more stronger basement is needed.

2. Once basement is laid, one layer of normal baked bricks is placed over the basement. Width of this layer shall match with the thickness of the wall which is going to be built using interlocking bricks.

Quick fact: the windows you see in the above picture are concrete frames. to know the pros and cons Click here to learn my experience.

3. The Interlocking bricks are neatly arranged over this layer. (Experienced labourers are a must, since any irregularities in their placement cannot be corrected at a later stage.

4. While concreting the roof, ensure that the edges of the roof projects out a little more than the wall. This is to ensure that rain water do not flow through the walls.

5. Once the construction is complete the corners of the wall are completely plastered using the cement. This helps to have adequate pressure from the sides of the building for the bricks bonded together. The pressure from the top is from the concrete above. So it is as if the interlocking is placed with adequate pressure from all the four boundaries.

Before plastering the edges

after plastering the edges

A close up view of the plastered edges

6. The external wall can be left as such without painting. But the gaps have to be filled with like colored cement.

If painting need to be done, it can be done directly over this wall. (I chose not to paint)

7. If internal wall need to be plastered, it is better to make the surface rough before plastering, since the surface of this brick is relatively smooth.

Advantages of Interlocking bricks

1. Cost saving in terms of cement, sand and water.

2. Design is more blended with nature as arificial bonding mechanism is completely done away with

3. The walls have more strength than the normal walls. (just hit the wall and listen to the sound of walls made by interlocking bricks as well as by normal bricks)

4. These bricks does not heat up as fast as normal bricks, hence the room will remain cooler.

5. Since no painting is required another cost saving


Disadvantage of Interlocking Bricks

1. The space between the interlocks of these bricks is enough for insects and ants to set up there homes. (To avoid this point the gaps using cement mixed with redoxide and do periodic mainteance once in 6 years)

2. If rain water flows through these bricks, the color of the brick changes very fast.

3. It is difficult to ensure availability of the same coloured bricks for the entire construction. If painting is not planned, all the bricks should be having the same color. For this all these bricks have to made from the soil of the same place.

4. Not suitable for buildings having more than 2 floors, if it is not supported by pillars. Pillars are not needed for double storeyed buildings.

Cost of one brick is approximately Rs. 12/- (In 2004)
Purchased from Sal Interlocks Thumba

Update on Nov 2010:
Sal interlock is closed now
Two more units are there in Thiruvananthapuram. One is near Puliyarakonam and other one is in MC Road near Venjarammood.

Update on Oct 2013
Current cost of brick is Rs. 28 (add Rs 3 for unloading too)
Initially when I constructed my house using interlocking bricks, I had plans to plaster and paint the exterior, after 5 years. Now 8 years completed. Still the exterior having fresh looks that I need not think of plastering or painting. Thanks to my architect who suggested to leave the exterior without polishing, and to the design which ensured that water doesn't flow through the walls during rains, it is still holding up good.  The plastered interior is due for a repaint now though.

Recently I fixed up some more cupboards (read showcase) using PVC and aluminium. The fixing of these by screwing was also not a problem. The brick doesn't break up. You can read about the low cost solution for wardrobe and kitchen cabinets by clicking here.


If you want to have more information on these bricks please post your question as comments or email me.

My architect was Mr.G Sankar of Habitat Group.

To read my experience of entire house construction , click here

Why don't you have a look at my Travel blog tooo? You can find exclusive coverage of exotic locations in and around Kerala - God's own country. Click here to view my travel blog