The 2x2 floor tiles

Most new houses are installed with 2" x 2" floor tiles nowadays. These large surface tiles make your floor having less lines, and bring the visual effect to make the room looks more spacious.

Workmanship is very important for 2x2 tiles flooring. The tiles should not have any hollowness, the lines between tiles should be very slim and straight, and all tiles must be evenly laid flat and smooth.

Here are a few considerations for choosing and laying the 2x2 tiles:

• Feel the edges and corners of the tiles with bare hand or foot. The edges of good quality tiles won't give you much "cutting feeling".
• Good quality 2x2 tiles are normally thick and firm. The thicker the tile, the less likely it is to crack or break. However, the actual robustness is determined by their modulus of rupture measurement.
• The tiles should have satisfactory level of resistance to stain, abrasion and chemical.
• Avoid too slippery tiles. Use only non-slip tiles in kitchen, washroom, etc.
• Use light colour tiles for living room.
• Use dark colour filling for the gap lines between the tiles. If you use the white colour filling, it will eventually turn black when dirts are collected in it, and that would make your floor looks ugly.
• Most building materials contain minimal radioactive elements in them. Some poor quality tiles made in China have higher level of radioactive elements, which is bad to your health.
• Insist to use contractor with good workmanship to install the tiles.

Timber stripes floor

The upstairs of my house come originally with timber stripes floor. The timber stripes are 4 times larger than parquet, making them to have more glueing surface and stick firmer with the floor. But other than that, they are just like parquet, having the same weaknesses.

Special care need to be taken to the timber stripes, to protect them from scratches, termites, water, direct sunlight, etc. I only use roller chairs upstairs to prevent the timber stripes from scratches when pulling or pushing the chairs. The floor need to be mop as dry as possible. It is advisible to mop it with a mixture of some white vinegar or methylated spirits with cold water.

I spent RM500 to polish and wax the whole timber stripes floor before moving in. There are 2 types of wax applicable, the glossy one (which is used on the timber or parquet floor of most houses) and the matte one. We'd chosen the matted finishing, and the floor looks more natural and resillent.

Inverter technology

Nowadays, inverter technology has been vastly used in electrical appliances working on compressor, such as air-conds, fridges, etc.

Inverter systems can help to save on electricity cost by optimizing the compressor efficiency so that it consumes just as much energy as needed at any given time.

How the non-inverter compressor works?

• it turns itself on and off to maintain the temperature level. When the temperature is above the preset level, the compressor starts working until the temperature is slightly below the preset level, where it will automatically turn off itself.
• whenever the compressor start up, more electricity is needed to bring it to work.
• its capacity is constant, and will consume the maximum amount of energy to produce a maximum amount of cooling at all times.

How the inverter compressor works?

• it will speed up and slow down to maintain the conditioned space temperature level.
• the compressor is always on.
• its capacity is variable and changes as needed. The amount of energy consumed by the inverter compressor is directly related to the amount of cooling required.

As a result, the inverter technology brings the following benefits:

• the electricity consumption is optimized.
• due to the inverter efficiency, overall electricity cost is lesser, especially for long hour usage.
• temperature fluctuation is maintained within a smaller range and kept uniformed.

Therefore, it is a wise choice to buy air-conds and fridge with inverter technology.