Buckled tiles prompt closure of chapel near MRT work site

Ongoing tunnelling work for the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) along Upper Thomson Road appears to have forced the Church of the Holy Spirit to close its chapel indefinitely, after some floor tiles within buckled.

The Catholic church revealed this in a post showing the affected tiles on its Facebook page on Thursday, preceded by another post of pictures of a long crack on the exterior of its building.

"The floor tiles on the left side of our chapel have buckled, possibly due to extensive TEL MRT tunnelling work next to the parish. Some tiles have cracked. For safety reasons, our chapel is closed indefinitely," the post said.

The church, which is more than 50 years old, is located next to the construction site for the Upper Thomson MRT Station.

The contract for the station's construction was awarded to Sato Kogyo Singapore. Work began in the first quarter of last year and it is expected to be completed in 2019.

TODAY saw that the buckled tiles ran along the left side of the chapel during a visit yesterday. There were also some chipped tiles between the pews and loose tiles along the main aisle of the chapel. However, the cracks on the exterior of the church building have been patched up.

Mr Joseph Bong, the church's head of pastoral care for the Sick Ministry, said it discovered the issues about two to three weeks ago. The road beside the chapel was also cracked, but has since been repaired by Sato Kogyo, he said.

Mr Bong added that it is in close contact with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the construction firm. Both have been informed of the problems and have been to the church to take photos, he said.

The three parties have also been meeting monthly since September last year to discuss the effects of the MRT work as well as traffic management, he added.

Mr Bong said he does not feel that the issues are serious and the church will commence repair work soon. It is sourcing for quotations and hopes to reopen the chapel by the middle of the year, he added.

Hudson Tiles launches huge January Clearance Sale

HudsonTiles announces its popular January Clearance Sale, offering both homeowners and tradespeople great deals on the latest walling and flooring products and trends.

To run throughout the month of January 2015, the January Clearance Sale offers a great opportunity for those planning indoor or outdoor makeovers in the New Year to save substantially on Hudson's extensive range of mosaic tiles, natural stone floor tiles, porcelain floor and wall tiles, bathroomware as well as outdoor products such as retaining walls and stone pavers.

Prices on Hudson's Spanish pool mosaics including the stunning Caribbean, Bali and Bermuda ranges will drop from $24 per square metre to just $17 per square metre. The popular Sunrock series, which combines the aesthetic appeal of natural stone with the strength of porcelain, will drop from $43.25 per square metre to just $39 on a range of colours.

Discounts are also offered on Hudson's chic, cutting-edge Italian Percorsi Quartz range, which will be available at just $33 per square metre, while the Athena range will drop by 20% and the unique timber-look porcelain tile range, Atelier, will be reduced by up to 42%.

Hudson's Marketing Manager Nathan Downs explains that the January Clearance Sale will help locals transform their homes affordably with huge reductions offered on their walling and flooring products.

New Research Proves that Iron Was an Important Medieval Building Material

The Gothic cathedrals of the middle ages have long been respected as sites of significant architectural and structural experimentation. Hoping to reach ever closer to God, the master masons of the period took increasingly daring structural risks, resulting in some remarkably durably buildings that are not only timeless spaces for worship but miraculous feats of engineering. However, according to new research by a team of French archaeologists and scientists, we still haven't been giving these historic builders enough credit.

Though iron components feature in many Gothic buildings, often forming structural ties to stabilize tall stone buttresses, it was previously assumed that these were later additions to shore up precarious structures. However, thanks to a highly sophisticated carbon dating technique, the team consisting of the Laboratoire archéomatériaux et prévision de l'altération, the Laboratoire de mesure du carbone 14 and "Histoire des pouvoirs, savoirs et sociétés" of Université Paris 8 have shown that iron fixtures were an integral part of cathedral construction techniques from as early as the late 12th Century – meaning that many buildings from the period were essentially hybrid structural systems.

While it is impossible to chemically date iron itself, the team developed a method to extract trace amounts of carbon deposited during the smelting process, allowing them to date the smelting of individual iron components. In Beauvais Cathedral, famous for having the world's tallest choir, the team dated the iron to around 1225, the starting date of the cathedral's construction – suggesting that the lateral supports for the cathedral's flying buttresses were not only included in the original construction phase, but also planned from the very beginning.

The discovery sheds new light on the construction process behind these historic structures, arguably overturning the popular image of the Gothic masons as bold improvisers. What's more, the team is planning to apply this technique to structures in other parts of the world such as Angkor Wat, potentially adding a new twist to the established history of building materials.

Bylaws drafted for three city monuments

KOLKATA: Within the next month, three of the city's premier heritage buildings, will get their own bylaws to protect them from encroachment and visual pollution. Key persons from National Monuments Authority (NMA) were in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the draft bylaws and suggest changes for the Currency Building, Metcalfe Hall and St John's Church. The draft has been prepared by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), in consultation with Archaeological Survey of India.

The area within 100 metres of the heritage buildings will be declared a 'prohibited zone', debarring new construction within the area. The next 200 metres will be declared a 'regulated zone' where constructions, if allowed, will be monitored by civic and urban development authorities so that it doesn't clash with the look of the protected building.

The draft bylaws have been agreed upon in spirit, but NMA has asked them to check with Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which has its own heritage laws so as to ensure there is no clash between the bylaws and the KMC laws.

Details regarding height of new buildings in the regulated area, the floor area ratio, the usage of these buildings, facade design, building colour, building material, roof pattern and design, usage of open spaces, drainage systems, electric poles, underground constructions, parking and street lighting have all been attended to in the draft bylaws for the three buildings in question.

The draft specifies that in case of reconstruction within the regulated area, the maximum height of the building should be 18m and the floor area ratio should be 2.75.

"The facade of new constructions shall be in line with the existing facades of heritage buildings on Old Court House Street, Hare Street and Council House Street to suit the colonial architecture of the period. New constructions have to be brought to the street edge with no front, the dimensions of windows and doorways shall be in conformity with dimensions of the colonial period," the draft said.

NBMDA Announces 2015 Board Of Directors

The North American Building Material Distribution Association (NBMDA) has announced the organization's Board of Directors for 2015. The NBMDA Board is comprised of industry executives from both distributor and manufacturer member firms within the specialty building material, kitchen & bath and woodworking industries.

"In an improving economy and housing market, it is critical to have a strong leadership base to guide the organization," said NBMDA Executive Vice President Kevin Gammonley. "We are excited about the creativity, knowledge and vision that the 2015 board will bring to NBMDA and the industry."

The 2015 NBMDA Board of Directors includes:

Officers: 2015 NBMDA President Rick Turk, Metro Hardwoods; President-Elect Bill Sauter, OHARCO; Vice President Ray Prozzillo, A&M Supply; Treasurer Wayne Moriarty, Atlantic Plywood; and Immediate Past President Don F. Schalk, C.H. Briggs Company.

Distributor directors: Jamie Barnes, McKillican International; Jon Minnaert, Aetna Plywood; Bill Stokke, Holdahl Co.; and David Sullivan, Meyer Decorative Services.

Manufacturer directors: Tim Atkinson, Wilsonart LLC; Matthias Bulla, Grass America; Mark Carlisle, M.L. Campbell; Jim Jacquemard, C.A. Technologies; Greg Simon, Far East American; and Todd Vogelsinger, Columbia Forest Products

NBMDA would like to thank the following outgoing directors for their service to the organization and industry: Michael Darby, Capital Lumber Company; Ken Hager, Amerhart; Jeff Muller, Panolam Surface Systems; and Dan Pickett, Knape & Vogt Company.

NBMDA is a trade association representing wholesale distributors of wood panels, surfacing materials, cabinet hardware, finishes, and related products. Membership is comprised of distributors and manufacturers that serve the independent building material, lumber, and kitchen and bath dealer, regional and national home centers, as well as those that serve production companies involved in cabinetry, architectural woodwork, stock woodwork, store fixtures, solid surface fabricating, plastics fabricating, general and specialty woodworking industries. For more information, visit www.nbmda.org.

Fake building materials are endangering lives

A Swedish company has expressed concerns over counterfeit materials being used in construction that should provide protection in the event of fire.

Borealis, a company that manufactures plastic connectors for communications cables, had ordered a flammability test on competitors' products bought through a building materials wholesaler and approved in accordance with the EN 61386 standard that includes tests and requirements for flame resistance.

The purpose of the test was to investigate how the cable conduit affected the wires inside in the event of fire, the assumption being that the result would be smoke limitation and flame inhibition. Most of the cable trunking performed as expected, but in one unit, the fire did not die out, but spread quickly, giving off an extreme amount of heat.

Presenting the results of the tests on Fire Safety Day at the Technical University of Denmark, James Robinson, chief engineer at Borealis, said that further examination of the conduit in question showed that it was composed of polypropylene, a flammable material which becomes almost liquid when it burns and requires non-flammable additives to be used when producing plastic cable trunking.

However, these were missing in this case, leading Borealis to conclude that this wasn't simply a production fault, but a copy designed to look like a non-flammable and certified product. The test showed, the company said, that counterfeit cable conduit that is not fire resistant can contribute to a rapid spread of fire and, together with the emission of poisonous smoke, can ultimately lead to possible loss of life.

It was only by chance testing that it was discovered that the conduit did not comply with the safety certification stamped on the units. It is not known how much other counterfeit product has been sold or to whom.

Anas Sallam, a researcher at the Danish Institute of Fire and Safety Technology (DBI), also contributed to the debate, saying: "Counterfeit goods and materials can be found in all industries, but is particularly worrying when they are found in, for example, the building and transport industries, where the consequences could mean loss of life.

The Danish Energy Agency undertakes around 100 spot-checks a year but have, as yet, not uncovered any counterfeit materials, although that does not mean that they don't exist. Another DBI researcher, Michael Lund, said: "If the same cable conduit as those found in Sweden appeared on a Danish building site, it would never be discovered that they were counterfeit. Especially with the correct standard stamped on them, the only way would be by a test, and because the counterfeit cable conduit may still possess the requisite properties for use by builders, the only way they will be discovered is if there is a fire."

Original source

CFPA Europe

For further information on faulty, counterfeit and non-approved cables, visit the Approved Cables Initiative website. The ACI was established in March 2010 to address the issue of unsafe, non-approved and counterfeit cable entering the UK marketplace.

Commercial buildings, non-domestic and multi-occupancy premises in England and Wales are already forced to undertake a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of premises do this, if the assessment is thought to have been carried out to an insufficient extent, the Responsible Person can face an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.

Clean Bathroom Tiles With These Easy Tips

Bathroom floor tiles get messy and ugly within a week of their cleaning. They need special attention as dirt gets accumulated in the corners making it difficult to clean. There are some easy tips on how to clean bathroom tiles. Cleaning of bathroom floor tiles is the second most time-consuming task after kitchen work. It has different types of surfaces. It is a place that needs frequent cleaning. Moreover, if you have children, then the cleaning task becomes more challenging. 

How To Keep Your Bathroom Dry? 

Grout and dirt around shower tiles are mostly prone to mould growth. This can be harmful to health. You do not need to spend long hours scrubbing the grout and dirt. Read these simple tips we have listed for you. These are some of the simple tips on how to clean bathroom tiles.

Dry the Surface that Needs to be Cleaned 

Before you begin bathroom cleaning, wipe the floor and wall tiles with a dry mop or cloth. This will help you clean the excess dirt and grout. This is one of the effective bathroom floor cleaning tips. 

Cover the Area with Tile

Cleaner Cover the area that needs to be cleaned with tile cleaner. You can keep applying the solution regularly. However, make sure not to overdo it. Leave it on for 30 minutes.

Clean with Hard-Bristled Brush 

Get a hard-bristled brush to scrub the tiles. You can also use your old toothbrush to clean corners or grout efficiently. This is one of the best ways on how to clean bathroom tiles. 

Clean with Water 

After the dirt and grout is loosened with hard-bristled brush, wash the tile cleaner away with water and let it dry. Here are some home tips to clean the tiles around washbasin and bathroom windows.

Vinegar 

Make a solution by mixing 1 part vinegar and 5 parts water in a spray bottle or bucket. Spray it on the tile and other similar surfaces in the bathroom. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes so that the dirt goes into the solution. Scrub away the surface and wash it with water. This solution can also be used to clean tiles, counters, cabinet fronts and soap dirt in the shower. 

Baking Soda

Sprinkle baking soda on cloth or sponge and on stains on the tiles. Scrub the area and rinse it with water. You can also make baking soda paste by mixing it with water to clean the dirt in the shower and tub.