Livingston MI HVAC

Livingston MI HVAC services to be offered by the Baker family.

Colton has always called Livingston Michigan home and is proud to announce that he will be opening a new heating and cooling service company just two miles from his home town. The Baker family is known for providing excellent service to Florida residents and business owners and is thrilled to extend the same level of quality to the Livingston community.

Heating and cooling systems maintained by the Baker family consistently provide the reliability that you have come to know and trust. For more information about the services that we provide, contact Diane at White Sands. She will be happy to tell you about economical ways to maintain your HVAC system. Our work is always guaranteed and the consultation is absolutely free.

Livingston MI residents are also invited to inquire about products offered at a fraction of the price that competitors. Livingston HVAC will match any price.

For a list of references email or call Livingston HVAC.

Mexican Tile, Dogs & Family Feuds

Saltillo or Mexican tile is manufactured in several different ways in today’s world. Years ago however, all of these tiles were created in the same manner which was by packing clay into wooden framed cut-outs in mexican fields. Once packed, the clay would bake in the sun until dry. This is why Saltillo is so brittle and subject to the elements prior to being sealed. The firing temperature was nothing more than sunlight.

I have had the occasion to visit many of these fields over the years due to the generous nature of one of Mexico’s most established tile plantation families. Each year I visit the Barrera family in late July and hear stories of tile plantation life.

The best story is told year after year and is known as the family feud and wild dog years. It seems that some time ago all of the families destroyed any Saltillo tile product with dog prints in tile clays. One year in the late 1980′s was especially bad when it came to dog prints resulting in substantial losses to Barrera’s who owned a majority of the culprits as pets. It is rumored that the Barrera’s cared for as many as 60 Chihuahua’s during this time. Unwilling to part with even a single of their beloved dogs, the Barrera’s simply did the best that they could to reduce damaging the tiles. Unfortunately, for a neighboring tile family, on a holiday honoring the dead, fireworks and children’s laughter frightened a stamped of tiny dogs across fields of tile that were just a hint too soft to support the trot of countless 3 pound dogs. Losses for the neighboring family quickly escalated to threats of feud unless the paw marked tiles were paid for by the Barrera family.

Being a man of honor, Mr. Barrera purchased almost 1500 paw marked tiles and stacked them neatly by various drainage ditches throughout the village with the intention of crushing and placing them in the path of water flow in order to prevent vegetation erosion.

On the day prior to scheduling his sons to destroy the tiles, both tile plantation families were visited by a representative of a newly formed company that was purchasing Saltillo tile in great quantities. Apparently, consumers in this corporate buyers country were thrilled to lay tile that occasionally bore the mark of a dogs paw on it’s face. So much so that Saltillo brands rumored to contain print marked tiles were flying off the shelves and being re-sold at inflated prices.

The gentleman tile buyer explained that his corporation would pay unbelievable prices for tile where each pallet was guaranteed to contain at least two unique dog paw printed tiles.   The subsidiary or Home Depot still buys tile from the Barrera’s today and from the same American tile buyer.

Tile-Jim

*Be sure to visit my good friend Robert at his new re-done tile cleaning website.

Fort Lauderdale Tile – Tips to Reducing Costs

Knowing your project’s exact dimensions will help you choose a tile size that harmonizes with your room’s dimensions and best creates a pleasing pattern. Generally speaking, a tile installation looks best (and will require less labor and thus less money to install) when it’s planned so that the fewest number of tiles need to be cut. For example, if you’re installing an 8-in.-wide trim on a fireplace surround, choose 2-in.-, 4-in.-, or8-in.-wide tiles rather than 3-in.-or 6-in.-wide tiles. If you’re tiling a narrow hallway, avoid using large tiles laid on the diagonal, which results in very few “field”(uncut) tiles, requiring a lot of cutting and substantial waste.

In addition to size, tile shapes can be used to create interesting borders and other patterns. Shapes range from every geometric pattern imaginable to more organic shapes custom-made to suit your unique vision.

Tile Texture

There’s a big difference in texture between the highly polished surface of a smoothly glazed tile and the rougher, irregular surface of an unglazed tile. Smooth or highly polished surfaces suggest more formal and dramatic spaces, and because they reflect light, they can help brighten areas that are dark and make colors more vivid.

 

Matte or textured finishes absorb light and give a tile more depth and can be used to create an intimate, informal look. Another advantage to richly textured tiles is that they hide dirt and fingerprints much better than a smooth tile, though they can also be a bit harder to clean.

White Sands Tile on Mosaic

In the past decade we are seeing more and more mosaic tile work in homes and businesses. This is due to the fact that inexpensive tools make it easy for anyone to create beautiful and artistic mosaic tile works into their flooring. This exciting form of self expression adds a profound element of uniqueness to your home or business. What was once reserved only to skilled artists is not available to everybody.  White Sands Tile in Broward County Florida carries all of the latest mosaic tile programs for both Windows & Mac. For information or questions on creating a mosaic tile pattern, contact our Broward County tile experts. We will be happy to help.

Grout Color & Lines – Tile Cleaning in Broward County by White Sands

The tile cleaning experts in Broward County are always being asked for opinions regarding grout color in relation to tile color. One good rule of thumb when it comes to choosing a grout color is to simply match the colors to a modest degree. The appearance of tile floors where grout lines are not apparent is magnified to a great degree when the floors are devoid of the grid effect. Many people are tempted to used dark grout colors in order to avoid grout staining. Considering that regular grout sealing prevents staining entirely, compromising the design quality of your floors is not necessary.

Grout sealing products have advanced to being so effective in protecting the porous nature of grout, that light colors are once again becoming the status-quo in many modern American homes.

Fort Lauderdale tile experts remind you to take time considering design & color

The Fort Lauderdale tile experts at White Sands often state that laying and setting tile is the easy part of creating a beautiful floor.  The choice of design and tile color are what really gives professionally set tile the opportunity to shine.  Never rush to choose the materials. Consider that radical styles or fads may not be as alluring in a few short years. Once careful consideration has been given to the design aspects of your tiling project, it is time to begin framing or laying out the tile project. Never begin laying tile with the intention of following guidance from the tiles just placed. Remember, tile floors create a grid. Even where grout lies fade appropriately into the tiles, slight imperfections are easily noticeable once tiles are placed.

If you have any questions about framing out a tile project, call the Fort Lauderdale tile experts at White Sands.

Trim & Specialty Tile

Trim Tiles – Tile Installatiom Tile cleaning, Broward County Florida

All tiles that are not field tiles are referred to as trim tiles. They are used to create smooth, finished edges and corners for specific areas. In tile catalogs, manufacturers usually picture the available sizes and shapes of trim pieces for different tiles in their line.

• Angles. These tiles include inside and outside corners that create sharp turns instead of rounded edges.

• Aprons. Half-size tiles called aprons are used to fill in narrow areas, such as along the front of a countertop.

• Bases. Tiles designed specifically for the floor line, called base trims or runners, have a finished top edge. They are used in areas where the floor has been tiled but the wall has not.

• Beads. These trims are sometimes called quarter-rounds, and are used to finish off corners and edges. The narrow pieces turn a rounded, 90-degree angle.

• Bullnose. These are regular field tiles with one curved and finished edge. They neatly trim a course of tile that ends without turning a corner. Often, a bullnose tile is paired with an apron tile meeting the bullnose at a right angle. The result is a smoothly turned corner and edge. There are surface bullnose tiles designed for thin-set installations and radiused bullnose designed for thicker, mortar-bed installations.

• Countertop Trims. These trim pieces are set on the outside edge of a countertop. The raised lip is designed to prevent drips. Many V-cap tiles have this feature.

• Coves. These pieces are used to gently turn corners at a right angle. The corner can turn either inward or outward. Cove base turns a corner at floor level. Special cove pieces that have a finished edge turn a corner at the top row of a backsplash. Other cove pieces do not have finished edges.

• Miters. Two miter pieces together form a corner separated by a grout joint.

• Rounds. These trim tiles create a rounded corner instead of an angular one.

• Swimming-Pool Edging. These tiles are designed to cover the coping on swimming pools. They require a thickset mortar bed.

• V-caps. Although they are called V-shaped, these edging tiles often are more L-shaped to cover the perimeter of a counter, for example, and wrap around the front edge of plywood and backer board.

• Windowsill Trim. Windowsill tile has a finished edge on one side and a rounded corner on the other. It covers the sill itself and turns to meet the tile on the wall. Without this trim piece, you would need two tiles: a flat field tile for the sill itself and a quarter-round to turn the corner. Sill trim simplifies the installation.

Broward County Tile Cleaners on Chemicals

All tile installation or repair projects require excellent preparation in order to result in good quality work. An adequate foundation followed by routine maintenance will ensure that your tile floors will remain beautiful year after year.

If you have any questions about tile cleaning or installation, do not hesitate to call our Broward County tile experts if you need answers before starting your do-it-yourself project.

When it comes to cleaners, there are numerous different materials used for tiles and thousands of customizable patterns, styles and other variables that may effect your cleaning methods. That’s why it’s important to know what you’re working with and what the best ways to go about cleaning your tiles are. Get to know your tiles. What are they made out of? Are they glazed or unglazed? How have you been cleaning them in the past? What are some manufacturer’s warnings or tips you might know? Asking yourself these questions can be a good way to avert damage and avoid repairs and replacements that could result from using the wrong products or cleaning methods. After all, you don’t want to take a scouring pad to your beautifully customized ceramic tiles regardless of their condition. Before you start any tile cleaning project, you should take extra care to make sure the products or methods you’re using won’t cause damage, discoloration or grout erosion or removal. Always test a cleaner on a small, inconspicuous area first so that even if there is a problem, it won’t be all over the place! More importantly, you don’t want to use any chemicals on marble or unglazed stone or unglazed ceramic tiles and remember: no matter how bad the stains and grease might be, you never want to use bleach for fear of grout and tile discoloration.