Which Piers Should Be Used For Foundation Damage Repair? Steel Piers or Concrete Piers?

Steel piering and concrete piering are two different approaches for piering or underpinning of a building. Before talking about steel piers and concrete piers, you should know what underpinning is.

 

What is piering or underpinning?

There are different approaches to go for when the foundation of a building weakens. One of them is underpinning. 

If the inspection team feels that the soil below the house is losing grip, they construct the service team to use the soil underneath. As the deeper soil still has the strength to grip the piers, steel or concrete piers are dug deep up to the hard soil. The piers are then made to support the building.

 

Steel Piers Vs. Concrete Piers

If you are planning to improve the support of your weakened foundation, you should get underpinning. Here is the comparison between steel piers and concrete piers, so that you can choose the one most suitable for your house.

 

Steel Piers 

Steel piers are long rods made up of steel. They are pilled up under the required strength is gained.

They should be used when the required depth of the soil is deeper because they have the ability to pass into thick soil. Steel piers can be made to dig as deep as 70 feet.

 

They can lose strength or deviate at higher temperatures. The process to install steel piers is considerably simple and easy. There is no need to dig huge holes, or to use heavy machinery.

If your house is built over a rocky area, or if the soil under your house is hard, you should use steel piers for the underpinning of your house. It is because the steel piers are able to penetrate rock and thick clay.

 

Steel piers are further available either as straight steel piers or helical steel piers. The effects are long-lasting.They are preferred by most experts when talking about building stabilization.

 

Concrete Piers

Concrete piers are actually pressurized cylinders of concrete. These pressurized concrete cylinders provide exceptional strength to the foundation of your house.

Concrete piers should not be used for deeper underpinning. The longer the concrete piers are, the more will be the danger of their breakage. Still, you can go as deep as 50 feet.They can withstand high temperatures.

Large holes and heavy machinery are required to install concrete piers under the foundation of your house.Though concrete piers can pass through small rocks, you should not use them if you are living in a rocky area. Any large rock can break the whole pier.Always hire experts from Richmond foundation repair company.

Pressurized concrete piers are not used for stabilizing buildings but for bridges also. Concrete piers are cost-effective. Though concrete piers provide higher load capacity and water resistance, other factors render them less preferable for building. But they are the only option for bridges and other structures.

Conclusion

Both steel piers and concrete piers have their own plus points. But if you are looking forward to underpinning your house, you should use steel piers. 

 

Fox News Boss Lachlan Murdoch Is New Owner Of Cheryl Tiegs’ Home

Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation, co-chair of the Wall Street Journal and son of Rupert Murdoch, has purchased his supermodel-neighbor Cheryl Tiegs’ Balinese-style home for $14.1 million. The home was listed at $18.5 million.

Lachlan Murdoch, Cheryl Tieg, home, house, real estate, photos

Although Murdoch has not explained why he bought his neighbor’s home, it was likely for more privacy as Tiegs’ 1.5 acres adjoins his 10-acre estate, Chartwell Mansion, that he bought last year for $150 million. When it was the most expensive home on the market in the United States. Chartwell, seen as the TV home of the oil-rich Clampett family in the 1960’s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, was originally priced at an eye-watering $350 million. Murdoch now owns a massive statement property and added Cheryl’s home with its tropical touches.

The Tiegs home, both inside and out, has the look and feel of an island in the tropics with its own koi pond and lily pads at the entrance behind gates that open to a long drive adding more privacy. Palms, huge Monstera vines and tropical flowers abound in the landscape and along paths. The house itself is a study in bold natural elements, textures and colors from fabrics, floors, glass walls opening to vegetation and stunning hilltop views.

Visit TopTenRealEstateDeals.com for more real estate news, spectacular homes and Celebrity Home Video Tours.

Lachlan Murdoch, Cheryl Tieg, home, house, real estate, photos

Understanding Property Jargon Checklist

Buying a home is one of the most exciting times of a person’s life. Similarly, selling up to move into a bigger or more practical house, or perhaps dipping into the investment market by snapping up a buy-to-let property, are also moments to savour.

However, for those unfamiliar with the many terms of the housing market it can also be a linguistic nightmare, from the initial research through to contract exchange.

The guide below can help clear up some of the jargon associated with property. It’s perfect for either the aspiring homeowner or the seller moving on to their next home, a person aiming to make money as a landlord, or perhaps someone wishing to learn more about property and investment but unsure about some of the key terms and expressions.

property jargon checklist

By Patrick Vernon.

Is there a right way to sell your home?

xfactorhouse2015homefinal

So you’ve decided to put your house on the market, and you’ve had numerous people offering advice while you manically type ‘The Mirror reckons you can save around £4,621 when using an online estate agent, which could go towards the deposit on your next home or the renovation work needed.

Bear in mind: You’ll be spending a lot of time doing most of the work yourself but if you can manage, it’s worth it for the cash saving. You could also see a lower sale price, because estate agents work to sell a property for higher than its market value, so they receive more commission, but in this case it’s just you.

 

By Patrick Vernon.

Work in London, but can’t afford to actually live there? Work out exactly which commuter town is best for you

Work in London, but can’t afford to actually live there? Frost loves TotallyMoney.com’s brilliant new property ladder calculation tool. It lets you work out exactly in which commuter town you could own your first home…

London property, property outside London, affordable housing, where to buy, property, homes, owning

Many of us have had our dreams of actually owning a property in London firmly shattered; lack of affordable housing in the capital coupled with pay freezes and mortgage company demands for increasingly large deposits means that most people in their 20s and 30s have accepted it might never happen. In fact, recent figures show that the number of families on a modest income owning their own home there has more than halved over the last decade, falling to just 13 per cent.But London is still where most of the work is – so what’s the answer?

 

If you don’t fancy paying cripplingly huge amounts of rent to unscrupulous landlords, many people look to buy or rent just outside of the big smoke, in a town with a reasonable commute. But where do you actually start? There’s bound to be a lot of research to be done into finding out what average house prices are elsewhere, how long a particular commute would be, which towns are even desirable (and have at least one local pub) – the list is endless, and in the meantime, house prices are only going to be ticking steadily upwards…

 

Well, panic not, for help is at hand. Money comparison site TotallyMoney.com has just launched its new online tool for people who want to get onto the property ladder, and work in London, but can’t afford to buy there. In one simple process, you can set parameters to reflect the maximum time you’d be happy to spend on a commute, how much you can afford to spend on train travel, the value of the property you could afford to buy, and the amount of your disposable income. Then you’ll be presented with a selection of towns which match your criteria – meaning you can start searching for a new home in earnest.

 

TotallyMoney.com has even put together a list of the top ten best commuter towns, and High Wycombe – with a London commute time of only 30 minutes, travel costs of around £4,180, and suitable for those with a disposable income of around £23,341 – is in first place. If you’re keen to keep train time to a minimum, however, Esher, in Surrey (ranked 8th), is a mere 27 minutes away from London, with annual travel costs coming in at about £2,124. If you’re looking for a bargain in terms of property, Erith, in the London borough of Bexley is ranked at number 7, with the cheapest average property price at £238,459, and an annual travel cost of only £1,912 (although it would take a little longer, at 44 minutes).

 

# Town County House Price Season Ticket Time Average Disposable Income Per Head. Per Year
1 High Wycombe Buckinghamshire £346,197.00 £4,180.00 30 £23,341.00
2 Woking Surrey £433,235.00 £3,080.00 27 £21,437.00
3 Staines Middlesex £349,604.00 £2,484.00 35 £21,539.00
4 Amersham Buckinghamshire £542,856.00 £3,368.00 34 £23,341.00
5 Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire £792,177.00 £3,328 28 £23,341.00
6 Walton-on-thames Surrey £524,145 £2,412 33 £21,437.00
7 Erith Outer London North & West £238,459 £1,912 44 £21,539.00
8 Esher Surrey £878,831 £2,124 27 £21,437.00
9 Redhill Surrey £338,593 £2,696 38 £21,437.00
10 Horley Surrey £340,407 £3,208 35 £21,437.00

 

 

 

Win Tickets To The London Homebuilding & Renovating And Home Improvement Show

The London Homebuilding & Renovating and Home Improvement Show makes its national debut at Olympia with new feature highlights and experts and Frost Magazine has tickets to giveaway. 

London, 26-28 September 2014

 

Credit: Steve Burden

Credit: Steve Burden

http://london.homebuildingshow.co.uk

 

As the property market regains its confidence, the UK’s fastest growing home show is coming to London for the first time as a combined event designed for both self-builders and remodelers. The new London Homebuilding & Renovating and Home Improvement Show will take place from the 26-28 September at Olympia, London. The exhibition will offer visitors the chance to benefit from an extensive range of products and recommendations from more exhibitors than ever before and tips and bespoke advice from an extended expert panel on how to successfully complete a project from start to finish.

 

Credit: Steve Burden

Credit: Steve Burden

Piers Taylor, award-winning RIBA architect and co-presenter of BBC2 series ‘The House that £100k Built’ will be making his first appearance on the London expert panel to inspire visitors with quality interior design and architecture recommendations to help homeowners make the most of their projects. Charlie Luxton, sustainable architectural designer and presenter of More4’s ‘Building the Dream’, will be making his awaited comeback to the London event and will also appear alongside other homebuilding and home improvement professionals including Michael Holmes, editor-in-chief of the Homebuilding and Renovating Magazine.

 

Another new feature for this year’s event is the updated Interior Design and Decorating Clinic, brought to you by Dulux Design Service. Visitors will be provided with insightful ideas on how to decorate their homes through the use of appealing colour schemes, wall coverings and furnishings. Dulux consultants will be offering free one-on-one appointments to bring attendees one step closer to their aspirational house.

 

The Ask the Architects area will provide a space for dialogue between certified RIBA Architects and visitors curious about the design and construction process of their project. After a consultation with a member of the team, homeowners will leave with the assurance that their plans will be ready to be implemented by well-guided contractors.

 

For attendees undertaking major works, changes and additions to their property, a meeting with planning permission expert, Sally Tagg, is vital to ensure that they understand the complex application process. Sally will be waiting at the Planning Clinic for individual consultations with visitors to offer them professional advice.

 

Come prepared with your plans and ideas and benefit from the wide range of experts that can offer individual sessions at the Ask the Experts zone. This year, the panel of property specialists includes: Michael Holmes (editor-in-chief of Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine); Jason Orme (editor of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine); Piers Taylor (award-winning RIBA architect and co-presenter of hit BBC2 series ‘The House that £100k Built’); Charlie Luxton (sustainable architectural designer and presenter of More4’s ‘Building the Dream’); Julia Kendell (Interiors and Decorating expert from DIY SOS and ITV1’s Daybreak); Matt James (designer and expert on ITV’s ‘Love Your Garden’); David Snell (Homebuilding & Renovating magazine’s self-build and plot finding expert); Tim Pullen (eco expert at Homebuilding & Renovating magazine), Bob Branscome (chartered surveyor and builder); Chris Reeves (Homebuilding & Renovating magazine’s Legal Expert and chartered builder and lawyer) and Roger Hunt (award-winning writer and eco expert).

 

Standard tickets are £12 in advance or £17 on the door (children under 16 go free). For further information visit http://london.homebuildingshow.co.uk or call the ticket hotline on 0871 231 0824.

 

To be in with a chance of winning these fabulous tickets follow @Frostmag on Twitter or Instagram, or like us on Facebook. Alternatively, sign up to our newsletter. Or subscribe to Frost Magazine TV on YouTube here: http://t.co/9etf8j0kkz.Then comment below saying what you did. Competition closes mid-September.

 

 

 

 

Property Tycoon: A Simple Seven-Step Guide To Becoming a Property Millionaire Book Review

Property Tycoon: A Simple Seven-Step Guide To Becoming a Property Millionaire by Ian Samuels Property Tycoon: A Simple Seven-Step Guide To Becoming a Property Millionaire by Ian Samuels couldn’t have come at a more relevant time. Property is booming in the UK today, and particularly in London. So can this book help you to become a property tycoon in seven simple steps? I would say so, it certainly has all of the information you would ever need and is easy to read.

I really enjoyed this book and it made me want to start a property business of my own. Baby step by baby step. This book is a good read and is very well-written. It is enjoyable despite its business like subject. It is a good, complete guide to every aspect of  property management. It is full of ideas and things you never even knew you didn’t know. Highly recommended. I will certainly be keeping it to hand.

 

What they say:

Property Tycoon offers a complete and incredibly revealing guide to EVERY aspect of residential property investment: whether you’re looking to just dip into buy-to-let or want to use property to build up a substantial and life-changing income.

Covering buying, managing, maintaining, financing and selling UK property, this book is written by someone who has made a success of buy-to-let investment for more than 20 years and through two booms and busts. Written in plain English, and filled with real-life case studies, it reveals the secrets of:

– the questions every successful property investor asks themselves before buying a property

– how to secure capital for your investment properties

– where to get tradesmen, agents, mentors and tenants you can rely on

– what it takes to manage and maintain different kinds of property portfolio and how to take your portfolio to the next level when the time is right

– when to buy and sell, and how to make sure you get your way in auctions and off-plan deals.

With housing in ever-increasing demand, and UK values showing an average rise in value of 9% a year for the last 60 years, today represents a great opportunity for anyone interested in entering the buy-to-let world. Property Tycoon is the friendliest and most up-to-date guide available.

Property Tycoon: A simple seven-step guide to becoming a property millionaire is available here.

 

 

14 Facts About The Queen

  1. HM_The_Queen_and_Prince_PhilipThe Queen owns no property outside Britain.
  2. She owns at least 30 furs. They are worth a reported £1 million. There is a refrigerated fur store at Buckingham Palace.
  3. Her estimated worth is more than £100 million.
  4. Her investments are held by a company called Bank Of England Nominees. It allows heads of states to buy shares anonymously.
  5. Under the ancient law of Bona Vacantia, The Queen is entitled to the property of those who die without heirs within the Duchy’s realm, the Country Palatine. The Queen still gets this money but apparently gives it to charity.
  6. She earns at least £1 million a month minimum.
  7. The Sovereign Grant, the amount of money the Queen gets from the government, was £31 million in 2012/13.
  8. The Royal Collection consists of 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawing and 150,000 Old Masters prints.
  9. The royal cars at Sandringham are worth an estimated £7.1 millionfacts about the queen, Queen
  10. She doesn’t need a passport and is the only person in the United Kingdom who is not required to have a driving licence in order to drive. She also does not require number plates on any of her cars. The official website of the British monarchy says, “As a British passport is issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is unnecessary for The Queen to possess one.”
  11. William and Harry just call her ‘granny’
  12. No alarm clock: she wakes to the sound of her personal bagpiper every morning.
  13. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms.
  14. She met Prince Phillip when she was just 13.