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Monthly Archives: July 2018

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Inlay Tiles

Ahmed Zaki July 15, 2018 Press

The technique of inlay has been applied to wood (known often as marquetry), stone and marble (known often as Pietre Dure or Opus Sectile) and to Metal.

Decorative inlay is a technique whereby different materials, often contrasting are set into depressions in the substrate of the field material and then often ground flat.

Floor Metal Inlay Manufacturers and Floor Metal Inlay Suppliers provide top quality metal marble flooring of stainless steel & copper and brass etc.

RECOMMENDED USE

  • Suitable for indoor floor and wall applications

Metal flooring inlay is an accent that has inspired some of our recent projects.  We are especially love the gold brass inlay marble detail in the entrance lobby.  This house entry boasts a gorgeous brass flooring design that has an art charm. Visually captivating and sophisticated, brass marble inlay tile marries the softly honed beauty of stone with the warmth of brass.

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Insulation Textile

Ahmed Zaki July 15, 2018 Press

You’ve probably heard of many kinds of fabrics, but geotextiles? In this article, we’ll discover this distinctive form of textile and see what it is specifically made to do.

Geotextile Fabrics

When we talk about textiles, we’re talking about fabrics. That’s what textiles are: fabrics and clothes made from weave fibers. Our lives are full of textiles. We wear them as clothing, use them for bedding, and wrap ourselves in them to stay warm, decorate our houses with them and use them to grow corn. Wait, what?

There are more uses to textiles than meet the eye. Textiles are also a big part of agriculture and ecosystem management. Specifically, we use permeable fabrics called geotextiles to help control erosion and maintain soil stability. It’s a textile worn not by us but by the earth. Turns out, Mother Nature likes a good textile as much as we do.

Use of Geotextile Fabrics

Geotextiles are fabrics applied to the soil, but why? These aren’t your average picnic blankets, after all. A geotextile is designed with the specific intent of improving or managing the soil, generally for conservation or agricultural purposes. There’s actually an ancient tradition here; ancient Egyptians mixed natural plant fibers into the soil in order to strengthen it. Since the 1950s, we’ve used synthetic polymers to create modern geotextiles.

Types of GeotextilesLet’s think about some of the situations in which geotextiles would be needed. Imagine being a rancher who is raising cattle. When you introduce livestock to an ecosystem, the hooves can trample and kill off the grass. Without plants, there are no roots to hold the soil together, and the land begins to erode. Geotextiles help hold the ground together, acting almost like synthetic roots while providing a stable base for new plant life to grow on. Geotextiles are used on ranches and farms, as well as eroding river systems, hillsides with homes and businesses, or any other place where soils need a little stabilization.

Geotextiles are made for practical reasons, so there are different types that are designed for different purposes. In general, these can be sorted into two main categories.

Woven Geotextiles

Woven geotextiles are made with synthetic polymers that are woven together, the way that most fabrics are. These take longer to make, but also have a high tensile strength and load capacity. Basically, woven geotextiles are best when you need something very sturdy and durable.

Because of this, woven geotextiles are used for support and stabilization. For example, many roads and parking lots are built on top of a woven geotextile. The fabric holds the earth in place, preventing shifting or movement and creating a stable base for the construction on top of it. Woven textiles are also used to prop up shorelines or beaches that are at risk of collapsing or washing away, as well as to protect grounds from wind damage.

Overall, woven textiles are utilized for their strength. However, this high tensile strength makes the geotextiles relatively impermeable. This means that they will hold, rather than absorb or filter, water. So, if filtration is a big priority for your project, you may consider using something else.

Non-Woven Geotextiles

This is where non-woven geotextiles come into play. Non-woven geotextiles, which have the texture of felt, are often quicker and cheaper to create but also have shorter lifespans and do nothing to help reinforce or stabilize the soil. What they’re great at, however, is altering water. These fabrics absorb water and distribute it across a horizontal plane, reducing the effects of water damage. For this reason, non-woven geotextiles are very often used for erosion control.

Because of this wide variety, they can be applied in at least five different ways:

  1. Separation

Geotextiles will prevent two soil layers of different particle sizes from mixing with each other, as is illustrated the image below.

  1. Drainage

Geotextiles will efficiently collect superfluous water from structures, such as rainwater or surplus water, from the soil and discharge it.

  1. Filtration

Geotextiles are an ideal interface for reverse filtration in the soil adjacent to the geotextile. In all soils water allows fine particles to be moved. Part of these particles will be halted at the filter interface; some will be halted within the filter itself while the rest will pass into the drain. The complex needle-punched structure of the geotextile enables the retention of fine particles without reducing the permeability of the drain.

  1. Reinforcement

Heavy geotextiles can be used to reinforce earth structures by means of fill materials. Thanks to their high soil fabric friction coefficient and high tensile strength, they are an ideal reinforcement solution.

  1. Protection

Geotextiles are an ideal protection from erosion of earth embankments by wave action, currents or repeated drawdown. A layer of geotextiles can be placed so as to prevent leaching of fine material. They can be used for rock beaching or as mattress structures. They can even easily be placed under water.

Geotextile Application by Function:

This chart determines which type we have been used in our last projects:

Function Type of Geotextile Recommended Fabric Weight Recommended Time
Drainage Nonwoven (Light or Medium Weight) 3.1 to 8 oz. Fabrics 4:6 Days
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Soil Injection

Ahmed Zaki July 15, 2018 Press

Chemical Injection or Soil Injection Foundation Repair are when non-toxic, water-soluble chemicals (potassium ions and ammonium salts) are injected into the ground under your building. These chemicals inhibit soil’s ability to absorb water so that when it rains your soils do not swell up.

WHEN IS IT USED?

Water sticks to almost anything including clay.  This attraction causes clay soil to swell.  The trick is to use a non-swelling chemical to stick to the clay before water does.  When an appropriate concentration of the right chemicals is injected into clay, the chemicals stick to the clay molecules and prevent the clays from absorbing water.  Once in place, the chemicals stay attached to the clays. In a way by injecting the chemicals into the soil and “coating” the clay, you create a moisture barrier, stopping water from causing more foundation upheaval.

HOW DO WE DO IT?

In most cases, for existing structures, chemical injection is done around the perimeter of a foundation.  If there are driveways, patios, decks, or other paved surfaces, ¾ inch diameter holes are drilled through the paving to reach the underlying soils.  The chemical solution is injected to depths ranging from 7 to 10 feet.  The solution is injected at relatively low pressures, typically on two separate days.  The solution is pumped from a truck to a manually operated injection wand.

Injections can be done on the interiors of buildings, however, interior treatment requires that holes be drilled though the floor every 2 feet (one hole for every 4 square feet).  While exterior injections are hardly noticeable, this is not true for interior injections.  When interior injections are being done, the contents of a home must be removed because the chemicals do stain and can splatter during injection.

IS IT TOXIC?

The materials used in the solution are not toxic in small quantities. In the ground, in dilute concentrations, they actually act as fertilizers. The materials should not be ingested. If the solution gets on a person’s skin, simply wash it off with soap and water.

HOW DO I PREVENT UPHEAVAL OR FIX UPHEAVAL?

Foundation maintenance can prevent some types of upheaval through the installation of proper foundation drainage including:

  1. French drains
  2. Irrigation
  3. Gutters
  4. Moisture barriers/root barriers

If foundation upheaval has already occurred, the following types of foundation repairs are recommended:

  • Foundation lowering
  • Foundation underpinning

According to the soil report for one of our projects, the soil should be injecting to prevent it from absorbing water. Chemical injection is done around the perimeter of the foundations in rows of three layers. The solution is injected to depth of 4m.