Over half of the population allows their dog to stay inside the house, sleep on the couch or in their owner’s bed.

For those of you who are interested in building a dog house for you beloved pet here are some simple rules to follow when considering what kind of shelter you want to provide.

3 Great Tips On Building A Dog House

1. You should start your dog house building process by making sure the house is big enough to accommodate your animal’s potential adult size. Humans enjoy having about 2 feet of air above us in a room in order to live without feeling claustrophobic. Your dog will probably also enjoy having that much room.

The comfort zone for both humans and dogs is about 1/3 of their standing height. To figure out how much room the dog will need get out a tape measure and measure your dog. Measure him standing straight up, sitting on his haunches and above all measure the full dimension of the dog when he is the most comfortable, relaxed and stretched out position he can get into.

Your dog should be able to look out the front entrance while both standing up and sitting. So the dog will not have to significantly lover his front shoulders or scrape his belly make sure that entrance is high enough. Stand over the dog and measure the width of the widest point of the animal’s shoulders.

2. Remember to raise the dog house several inches from the ground to allow air and water to flow underneath. To dissuade pests from invading the dog house and taking your dogs health into consideration remember how important ventilation is. Put in a few nickel-sized holes in the walls under the eaves. Install a wind block inside the house so the dog can use the heat of its own body to warm up the area if it is really cold or windy outside.

Consider adding a partial wall which will allow your dog to escape the bad weather. Your animal can choose to just sleep in the entry room or go around the inner archway maze wall into the inner sanctum. Your beloved pet would probably love having a pillow or some sort of dog bedding to sleep on.

3. To avoid rain coming into the dog house make the floor just a bit slanted toward the doorway and build the roof a little bit slanted, as well. Make sure the house is well insulated but you should not paint the inside.

In the United States most storms come from the south and west so make sure the dog house faces a different direction. Most dog house plans suggest that the dog house door faces east. The cold air will not be able to whip through the entryway then.

It is suggested that you put hinges on the roof of the dog house. This makes it easier for you to clean out your dog’s home. You should clean the dog’s house as often as you give your dog a bath.

If your dog lives outside then he deserves to have a comfortable place to sleep and get out of harsh weather. Hopefully these easy tips on building a dog house will help you get started.

For more Information,

Next, Click HERE –>> Build a Dog House plans



For many years now, steel buildings have become popular not only in the commercial and industrial fields; steel buildings are these days being used in the community for building houses as well.

Steel buildings offer many benefits and advantages. And in this article, we’ll try to discover the amicable things that can be associated with having steel buildings instead of the traditional building construction processes.

1. Standard Frame Models

- Gable Symmetrical
A steel building frame model that has up to 200 inches wide clear span

- Gable Unsymmetrical
A steel building frame model that has up to 175 inches wide clear span

- Single Slope
A steel building frame model that is up to 175 inches wide and are mostly used as retail/commercial store fronts as well office/warehouse

- Lean-to
A steel building frame model that is up to 75 inches wide and are mostly used as low-cost add-on to building frame, office space or additional storage

- Multiple Span
A steel building frame model that has unlimited width with interior columns and are mostly used as large manufacturing and warehouse commercial applications

2. Available Colors:

- Light stone
- Pearl Gray
- Polar White
- Slate Gray
- Sand Gold
- Burnished Slate
- Sahara Tan
- Hawaiian Blue
- Rustic Red
- Fern Green

3. Advantages of Steel Buildings

Clearly, steel buildings offer many advantages and benefits that it has fast become so popular in the construction industry. The many options it offers the customers are so enticing that most construction builders nowadays prefer them; steel building offers strength and affordability that you cannot get from traditional building construction methods. Steel buildings also offer any options and usage. You can use steel buildings as:

- Airplane hangars
- Garden sheds
- Church buildings
- Gymnasiums
- Recreational Buildings
- Retail Steel buildings
- Steel Riding Arenas
- Steel School Buildings
- Self-Storage Buildings
- Steel Strip-Malls
- Steel Sport Arenas
- Steel Warehouse Buildings

4. General Benefits:

- Quick and Easy To Erect
There are some steel building dealers that offer steel buildings in the form of pre-engineered structures. These can be sent directly to the site where you intend to have the building erected for instant assembling

- Versatile
Steel buildings are available with adjustable panels thus you can changed the size of each unit as per individual requirements. These will also allow expansion easier than in traditional building construction methods

- Strong
Steel buildings, since they are made of steel, can withstand unfavorable weather conditions like hurricanes, high winds, heavy snow and even earthquakes. They are also resistant to termites, creeping, cracks, splitting and rotting

- Cost-effective
Though sometimes, steel buildings don’t come exactly low in price, it is much cheaper than traditional methods since it has a reduced risk of fire and is easy to maintain

- Environment-Friendly
Using steel as building materials will undoubtedly save those trees in our forests. Aside from these, steel building frames can be recycled so there’s no need to cut more trees for expansion or remodeling

There’s A New Garden In Town

The rain garden is pretty easy to install, looks good year-round, requires almost no maintenance and has a terrifically upbeat impact on the environment.

No wonder rain gardens are such a great new gardening trend!

Storm water runoff can be a big problem in summer during heavy thunderstorms.
As the water rushes across roofs and driveways, it picks up oil and other
pollutants. Municipal storm water treatment plants often can’t handle the
deluge of water, and in many locations the untreated water ends up in natural
waterways.

The EPA estimates as much as 70 percent of the pollution in our
streams, rivers, and lakes is carried there by storm water! By taking
responsibility for the rainwater that falls on your own roof and driveway, you’ll
be helping to protect our rivers, streams and lakes from storm water pollution.

To reduce the excess water runoff, many towns are encouraging businesses and
homeowners to install rain gardens in their yards. Rain gardens are specially
constructed gardens located in low areas of a yard where storm water can collect.

The idea is to have the water naturally funnel to this garden. The rain garden
collects water runoff and stores and filters it until it can be slowly
absorbed by the soil.

Rather than rushing off into a storm sewer or a local
waterway, the rainwater can collect in a garden where it will be naturally
filtered by plants and soil.

Installing a rain garden is easy.

You simply dig a shallow depression in your yard and plant it with native
grasses and wildflowers; things that are easy to grow and maintain in your area.

What makes a garden a rain garden? First, the garden will be designed with a low
spot in the middle to collect and absorb rain water and snow melt.

This depression can range from a few inches in a small garden, to an excavated trough that’s
several feet deep. Second, rain gardens are usually located where they’ll catch
the runoff from impermeable surfaces like sidewalks and driveways, or from gutters
and roof valleys.

Third, rain gardens are usually planted with native wildflowers
and grasses that will thrive in tough growing conditions. Finally, rain gardens
are designed to channel heavy rains to another rain garden or to another part of
the garden.

Your rain garden should be located at least 10 feet from the house. The garden’s
size and location depends on the yard. The ideal situation would
be to locate the garden in a natural depression.

You also can funnel water from downspouts on gutters into the garden. The soil should be well drained
so the water doesn’t sit in the garden for more than two days. A special
“rain garden” soil mix of 50 to 60 percent sand, 20 to 30 percent topsoil,
and 20 to 30 percent compost is recommended. You can dig this mixture into
the soil to depth of 2 feet before planting.

Once you’ve identified the new garden’s location, remove the sod and dig a
shallow depression approximately 6-inches deep. Slope the sides gradually from the
outside edge to the deepest area. Use the soil that you remove to build up a
slightly raised area on the lowest side of the garden. This berm will help contain
the storm water and allow it to percolate slowly through the rain garden.

If your rain garden is no more than about 6-inches deep, storm water will usually
be absorbed within a one- to seven-day period. Because mosquitoes require seven
to 10 days to lay and hatch their eggs, this will help you avoid mosquito problems.

Your downspout or sump pump outlet should be directed toward your rain garden
depression. This can be accomplished by a natural slope, by digging a shallow
swale, or by piping the runoff directly to the garden through a buried 4″ diameter plastic drain tile.

Plant Selection.. The final touch.

The most difficult part of building a rain garden (if it can even be called that)
can be plant selection. Plants need to be tough enough to withstand periodic flooding,
yet attractive enough to look good in the garden. Deep-rooted, low-care native
plants, such as asters, and tough non-natives, such as day lilies, are best. If
properly designed, the rain garden can consist of a blend of attractive shrubs,
perennials, trees, and ground covers. Planting strips of grass around the
garden and using mulch also can help filter the water.

New plants should be watered every other day for the first two weeks or so.
Once they are well established, your garden should thrive without additional watering.
Fertilizers will not be necessary, and only minimal weeding will be needed after
the first summer of growth.

Rain Barrels

Thanks to the other review of this product, we chose to get this rain barrel out of the many offered. It was easy to set up and after just one steady half-hour rain, the barrel is half full, so I’m back to order another one to link with the first one.

The information said that there is a linking “kit” include

d with each barrel, but I didn’t get one of those with the first order- if it isn’t included in the second one, we’ll have to rig up a link between the two. Shouldn’t be too hard.

The flat shape sits against the wall and doesn’t look bad at all and takes up less space than a round barrel.

Excellent price and with Prime, an even better deal.

By vcastro “kahli_6″