Showing posts with label one. Show all posts
Showing posts with label one. Show all posts
One Womans Story A Warning to All DIYers
One Womans Story A Warning to All DIYers
Nine years ago, on November 21, she sat in her doctor’s office and listened, in shock, as he delivered the message that would change her life. She had malignant pleural mesothelioma, a lung disease similar to cancer with a typical life expectancy of 15 months.
She was 36, married, and with a new daughter just a few months old. She had everything to live for.
Today she is a spokesperson working to eliminate this devastating but preventable disease. She contacted me because she knows that DIY home improvement projects can expose people to the dangers of breathing asbestos fibers – the cause of mesothelioma.
Heather lives today because she underwent surgery to remove one lung, plus radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Many who are diagnosed are not so fortunate, and live shortened, compromised lives.
“I was exposed to asbestos as a child. I would wear my father’s work coat to do chores around the yard. Little did I know the coat was chock full of asbestos fibers and I was inhaling them daily.”
Heather’s dad worked in construction. Many homes built before 1970 contain asbestos products. It can take 20 years for you to show symptoms of mesothelioma to appear after a period of prolonged exposure, such as working assorted projects in an old house for years. Don’t put yourself or your family at even minimal risk, however.
When asbestos fibers enter the lungs they stay there and cause inflammation, scarring, and fluid retention. In time, this can lead to lung cancer, tumors and cancers in other organs.
If you are planning any remodeling projects that require disturbing the structure (walls, flooring, cabinets, ceilings, insulation, roofing, siding, ductwork) be aware that asbestos may be present.
If the home was damaged by storms, water, fire, or simple aging, materials containing asbestos may now be compromised to make the fibers breathable – not what you want!
The best way to deal with any existing building material that contains asbestos is to leave it undisturbed. Once the fibers become friable -- the way they would if you begin removing things like old popcorn ceiling, asbestos floor tiles, exterior asbestos siding, or old heating ductwork – you are in danger of inhaling or ingesting the invisible asbestos fibers.
If you are buying a home built before or refurbished prior to 2000, especially if you plan to do home repairs or remodeling, get information about possible asbestos products in the home from a home inspector or from your real estate agent, and the from the present home owner.
When asbestos is a possibility, you should hire a professional asbestos inspector or an industrial hygiene firm to determine where, how much, and how stable the material is. He will advise you on remedial actions to take.
Here is a very short list of just some of the common places a DIY home improver will come across asbestos.
- Vinyl wallpaper
- Spackling and glues
- Cements and plaster
- Floor tiles, wall tiles, acoustic ceiling tiles
- Heating ducts, furnaces
- Roofing felt, shingles, stucco, siding
You can see the complete list of asbestos-containing material used in home construction at this site.
The Environmental Protection Agency does a concise and helpful job of spreading the word about the problems of asbestos. It’s a must read if you are a homeowner.
If the asbestos can’t be contained or otherwise encapsulated, you will have to have certified asbestos removal professional remove the asbestos product, or find a way to leave it in place and safely cover it. For example, you can lay a floating laminate floor or carpeting over asbestos floor tile. You can put vinyl or wood siding over asbestos exterior shingles.
What we once thought was a wonderful product because of its insulating and fireproofing qualities has become a toxic substance. Don’t stay in the dark. Please educate yourself about this issue, because there is a right and a very wrong way to deal with asbestos!
One Womans Story A Warning to All DIYers
Make a Collage for One of a Kind Art
Make a Collage for One of a Kind Art
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| Collage is a popular medium for artists like Nancy Standlee, but can be fun for school children and home stagers as well. |
Instead, you can easily decorate and stage with pictures that are unique. Make the art in your home as special as your home.
And if you think your home isn’t special enough, well, the art you use can help make it so.
One of the easiest ways to create one-of-a-kind works of art is pasting up a group of images from a variety of sources -- or even one source. The result is called a collage. It’s one of the more fun DIY art media we’ll explore in this series.
The Simple Steps
Start with a firm backing such as wood, fiberboard, stretched canvas or foam core. I like to use foam core cut to the size of a frame I already have.
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| Pablo Picasso used fabric, lace, cardboard, leaves and buttons in his Minotaure collage. |
You can have a subject in mind or not when you create a collage. Collect a group of images and papers. Use fabric, construction paper, copy paper, paper bags, magazine cut-outs, plastic, foil, labels, and photographs.
Next, build a background of color. On top of this base of construction paper or scrapbook sheets, add the larger images you have, either torn or cut. Use school glue or a glue stick to paste them down. I like to use rubber cement, and some people prefer Mod Podge. An artist I know swears by UHU glue sticks.
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| An elementary school student created this lovely tissue paper collage using starch instead of glue. |
Feel free to top it off with 3-D and textural add-ons like yarn, ribbons, beads, rick rack, buttons, pebbles, seeds, sticks, raffia, or coins. You are bound to think of other items you have around the house. A collage doesn’t require glass over it, so add-ons can raise the surface if you like.
You can draw lines on the finished collage to give your design more coherence, or to outline favorite images. To accomplish an overall blurry look that ties everything together, I use tissue paper as a wrinkly top layer, brushing it with a 50/50 solution of school glue and water.
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| Some collage works depict realistic scenes like this one by Joseph Cornell, and others showcase abstractions or designs. |
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| Your collage doesnt have to be intricate. This piece by Kurt Schwitters is quite simple in both arrangement and materials used. |
Don’t make your composition so detailed that people touring your home will stop in their tracks. It’s just wall décor. But it’s wall décor that will make your house unique. Happy staging and happy collage-ing.
Make a Collage for One of a Kind Art
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