Home Landscaping

Do-it-yourself-landscaping tips

Home landscaping does not just involve sticking plants into your vacant front or backyard and making it look “green”. When designing and landscaping your own home, you need to invest some time and put in a lot of creativity to beautify your front lawn or backyard.

Here are some do-it-yourself tips to landscape your lawn: First, clear the general area that you will be designing and start from scratch. This will give you a better ‘canvass’ to work with. Then, sketch the general look that you would like to have for your garden. Make a list of the plants, trees and shrubs that you can plant. When deciding on the type of plants, make sure that there will be a plant which will flower or bloom for each season of the year – winter, spring, summer and fall. For example, perennial flowers will bloom in May, but after that it will just look like an ordinary plant. Having a plant which blooms in a different time of the year would make your garden have a focal point even when other plant variants are not in season.

As much as possible, make a layered planting bed. At the back row which is the farthest from your house, plant the variants which grow the tallest. This will serve as the base of your landscaping. In the middle and front rows, put the shorter plants. Make sure that you apply this rule in every area of the garden where you plant to put in plants for a more ‘trimmed’ look.

You can also vary the design of your walls and fences.  When choosing ‘furniture’ for your garden, like a table and chair garden set, place them in an area where they can best be viewed and enjoyed. Installing a water fall is a great idea to add to the main attractions of your landscaped garden. With some hard work and a lot of creativity, you will feel great once you look out your window and you see the landscaped lawn which you designed and built yourself.

Choosing the Right Kinds of Wood

Look around your home. The floor may be oak or maple; the baseboard and window sills may be clear-finished pine, poplar or cherry. Kitchen cabinets could be solid or laminated, from knotty pine, oak, maple, or cherry. With so many types of wood available, it's important to learn how to recognize and evaluate basic types of woods to recognize their strengths and weaknesses.

For a quick primer on how various types of wood compare to each other, check out this handy wood species chart.

Kinds of Wood identify

From Cherry to Walnut, learn the special characteristics of different wood types. This handy matrix is a great addition to any wood enthusiast's workshop.

Name	Type	Uses	Weight	Strength	Grain/Texture
Alder, red	hard	inexpensive furniture, brittle millwork, interior trim	light	moderate	indistinct, fine
Ash, black	hard	furniture, veneer	medium	strong	figured, coarse
Beech	hard	furniture, flooring	heavy	strong	uniform, very little figure, fine
Birch	hard	furniture, cabinets plywood, doors, veneer	heavy	strong	uniform, fine
Cherry	hard	furniture, veneer, paneling	heavy	strong	delicate figuring, fine
African Mahogany	hard	furniture, cabinets, veneer	medium	moderate	figured, coarse
American Mahogany	hard	furniture, cabinets, veneer	medium	strong	figured, coarse
Philippine Mahogany	hard	plywood, furniture, cabinets, flooring	heavy	strong	figured, coarse
Maple	hard	flooring, furniture	heavy	strong	delicate, figuring, fine
Oak, red & white	hard	flooring, furniture, millwork	heavy	strong	figured, especially when quarter-sawn, coarse
Pine, knotty	soft	construction	light	weak	straight, fine
Pine, ponderosa	soft	rim, doors	light	weak to moderate	uniform, fine
Pine, white	soft	pallet, trim	light	weak	uneven, fine
Poplar	hard	furniture, cabinets, siding	medium	moderate	delicate figuring, fine
Rosewood, Brazilian & Indian	hard	veneer, furniture	heavy	strong	figured, coarse
Teak	hard	veneer, furniture, flooring	heavy	strong	figured, coarse
Walnut	hard	furniture, cabinets, woodwork	heavy	strong	delicate, uniform, figuring fine

Wood

At Wikipedia

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers (which are strong in tension) embedded in a Category: :wikt - :matrix|matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of trees (and other woody plants). In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up for themselves. It also mediates the transfer of water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

The earth contains about one trillion tonnes of wood, which grows at a rate of 10 billion tonnes per year. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy. In 1991, approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction.Horst H. Nimz, Uwe Schmitt, Eckart Schwab, Otto Wittmann, Franz Wolf "Wood" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2005, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

Kinds of Wood to Use

There are many Kinds of Woods and each one has its special use in the arts and crafts. For carpentry and cabinet making you will probably not use more than half-a-dozen woods and these are:-

(1) pine

(2) cedar

3) mahogany

(4) oak

(5) birch

(6) walnut.

Types of Wood

Softwood And Hardwood

Softwood is a generic term used in woodworking and the lumber industries for wood from conifers. Conifers are needle-bearing trees from the order Pinales.
Softwood trees are often harder than hardwood trees. Douglas fir, a softwood, is harder and stronger than many hardwoods. Balsa, a hardwood, is much softer than most softwoods.
Softwood trees usually grow very fast. Some environmentalists recommend purchasing goods made out of softwood because it is fast-growing and more readily renewable than hardwood.
Softwood is also called Clarkwood, Madmanwood, or fuchwood.
Which trees produce softwood?

Softwood is produced by pine, spruce, cedar, fir, larch, douglas-fir, hemlock, cypress, redwood and yew trees.

There are a few differences between softwood and hardwood. Hardwood trees produce seeds with some sort of covering. The covering be a fruit, such as a peach, or a hard shell, such as an acorn. Softwoods seeds fall to the ground as is, with no covering.
Another difference between softwood and hardwood is found in the microscopic structure of the wood. Softwood contains only two types of cells, longitudinal wood fibers and transverse ray cells. Softwoods lack vessel elements for water transport that hardwoods have; thesevessels manifest in hardwoods as pores.
Which products contain softwood?
Softwood is usually easy to work with. Softwood forms the bulk of wood used by man. Softwood has a variety of uses. Softwood is often used as a prime material for structural building components. Softwood is also found in furniture and other products such as moldings, doors, and windows.

Uses of Hardwood

Common Uses for Hardwoods

Hardwood flooring
High quality furniture
Boat-building
Wooden toys
Fixtures, fittings, and moldings.

Uses of Softwood

Common Uses for Softwood

Wood turning
Outdoor decking (redwood)
Outdoor cladding, siding
General construction, building frames
Ladders and masts.

Kinds( Types ) of Hardwood Lumber

Birch

This is why hardwood is more often used for flooring, finished projects and paneling.

-Birch
Birch is a lightly colored hardwood that is a good substitute for the more expensive maple in terms of appearance. Birch features a closed grain and is resistant to swelling and shrinking. Birch is a good choice for making doors, cabinets and cupboards.

DESCRIPTION Birch has light yellow sapwood and reddish brown heartwood. Once stained, the color differences are less pronounced. It has straight, close grain and a fine, even texture.
Weight is about 44lbs per cu. ft.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN North America
BOTANICAL NAME Betula Lutea
OTHER NAMES Betula Wood, Grey Birch, Silver Birch, Hard Birch, American Birch
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES High bending and crushing strength. Very good steam bending characteristics. High shock resistance.
WORKING PROPERTIES Works fairly easily with hand and power tools. Moderate dulling effect on cutters. Curly or disturbed grain wood requires reduced cutting angles. Glues well. Takes stain and polish extremely well.
DURABILITY Perishable and susceptible to attack by common furniture beetle. Heartwood is moderately resistant to preservative treatment. Sapwood is permeable.
SEASONING Dries slowly with little degradation. Large movement.
USES Furniture, high-grade joinery and flooring, upholstery frames, high-grade plywood, paneling, veneers.

Cherry

Cherry is a closed-grained hardwood that darkens with age to become a very beautiful reddish-brown color. It is often used to make everything from expensive furniture to caskets. It should never be stained, but it can be varnished.
From the United States, Switzerland and Canada.
The popularity of cherry in the furniture market is reported to have increased over the years because of its warmth, personality, and ease of use. The narrow sapwood is whitish to reddish brown or creamy pink. The heartwood varies in color from reddish brown to deep red or light reddish brown, usually with brown flecks and some gum pockets. Cherry is reported to be very sensitive to UV light, and changes to its characteristic reddish-brown, mahogany shade upon exposure. The grain is fine, but material with dark wavy streaks which are described as striking in appearance are frequently found. Texture is fine and uniform, and the wood often has narrow brown pith flecks and small gum pockets. Luster is rich and satiny and finishing characteristics are good.
Common uses include boat building, cabinetmaking, caskets, fine furniture, musical instruments, scientific instruments, sculpture, figured veneer, interior construction, handles and wainscoting.
Specific Gravity is .54 (medium density). Turns very easily.
Weight: 35
Grain: straight, also found as curly.
Figure: color is a light red to pink which darkens with age.
Texture: is close, firm and uniform.
Properties: the wood is very stable in use with little to no warpage or movement. Capable of a smooth surface. Works easily with hand and power tools, carves nicely with a clean sharp edge.
Use: a good wood for hull framing and timbering. Suitable for small fittings and hull planking.

Mahogany

Mahogany is highly resistant to decay and offers a finely textured closed grain. Mahogany is one of the softer hardwoods, making it much easier to work with than some others. Paneling is often made of mahogany. It can also be used for fine veneers and some types of furniture.
The Tree: In the natural rainforest, Mahogany is a very large canopy tree, sometimes reaching over 150 feet in height, with trunks sometimes more than 6 feet in diameter above a large basal buttress. It is a generally open-crowned tree, with gray to brownish-red fissured bark.

Status: Mahogany is perhaps the most valuable timber tree in the whole of Latin America and has been heavily exploited for most of this century. Mahogany is becoming increasingly rare, and is already extinct in parts of its original range. It is listed as threatened in "Arboles Maderables en Peligro de Extinción en Costa Rica" and is listed in CITES Appendix III.

The Wood: Mahogany varies from yellowish, reddish, pinkish, or salmon colored when freshly cut, to a deep rich red, to reddish brown as the wood matures with age. Mahogany is fine to medium texture, with uniform to interlocking grain, ranging from straight to wavy or curly. Irregularities in the grain often produce highly attractive figures such as fiddleback or mottle. Mahogany polishes to a high luster, with excellent working and finishing characteristics. It responds well to hand and machine tools, has good nailing and screwing properties, and turns and carves superbly.

Uses: Mahogany is regarded by many as the world's premier wood for fine cabinetry, high-class furniture, trimming fine boats, pianos and other musical instruments, sculpture, joinery, turnery, figured and decorative veneer, interior trim, and carving.

Maple

Maple is one of the traditional American hardwoods and has been used for furniture making since Colonial times. One species of maple, which is known as rock or hard maple, is denser than regular maple. Hard maple may be a good choice because of the added strength, but it is more difficult to work with. Many bowling alley floors and old-time dance hall floors are made of maple.
Characteristics
Traditionally light color. The sapwood is creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge. The heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. Must be careful during finishing and sanding because sanding line and finishing streaks will show.

Where it Grows
A cold weather climate tree. look for maple in the Eastern US, the mid-atlantic and lake states.

Main Uses
Maple Wood lockers, flooring, furniture, gym floors, kitchen cabinets, butcher blocks, toys, millwork, doors, moldings.....

Physical Properties
Maple is hard and heavy and has good strength properties. it has a high resistance to abrasion and wear.

Availability
Maple is widely available. the higher quality grades are selected for white color.

Oak

Oak is a very durable hardwood that features an open grain. The coarse grain can make oak very difficult to carve or shape, so it is best used for simple furniture designs. When you sink posts into the ground to build a fence, you are very likely working with oak.

Red Oak
The sapwood of red oak is white to light brown and the heartwood is a pinkish reddish brown. The wood is similar in general appearance to white oak, but with a slightly less pronounced figure due to the smaller rays. The wood is mostly straight-grained, with a coarse texture. Red oak is the most abundant wood from the oak family.

White Oak
The sapwood is light-colored and the heartwood is light to dark brown. White oak is mostly straight-grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than red oak. White oak therefore has more figure.

Teak

Teak is a hardwood that hails from Southeast Asia. While it is similar to rosewood due to its golden-brownish color, it lacks the black highlights. Teak is very expensive, so it is often used as a veneer to cover up less expensive, less attractive woods. Teak has an open grain with medium texture. Power tools or very sharp hand tools are needed to work with teak because it is very hard.

DENSITY
Teak is a medium weight timber with a density of 610-750 kg/m3 air dry.

NATURAL DURABILITY
The heartwood of teak is rated as durable to very durable depending on the condition of exposure. Stake tests show an average service life in contact with ground of more than 10 years (5.6 years in Malaysia) under tropical conditions and more than 25 years under the temperate conditions. The sapwood is susceptible to attack by powder-post beetles.

PRESERVATIVE TREATMENT
The heartwood is difficult to treat with preservatives.

TEXTURE
Texture is rather coarse and uneven. Grain is straight, wavy or slightly interlocked.

STRENGTH PROPERTIES
The timber is moderately strong.

MACHINING PROPERTIES
Teak is not difficult to work, but requires some effort, mainly because of the presence of silica in the cells. Tools tipped with tungsten carbide are recommended for sawing and planing operations. The wood turns well.

USES
The favourable properties of teak make it suitable for a wide variety of purposes. The timber has been used for ship decking and other constructional work in boat building such as furniture and interior fittings of boats. Being classified as very resistant to teredo activity, teak is an excellent timber for bridge building and other construction in contact with water such as docks, quays, piers and floodgates in fresh water. The timber has also been extensively used for house construction like interior and exterior joinery (window, solid panel doors and framing) and is used for floors. Other uses of teak include musical instruments, toys, carving, laboratory and kitchen tables, vats and plywood.

Walnut

Walnut is a dark hardwood that features a striking black and brown grain pattern. Although walnut is quite hard, it is easier to work with than similar hardwoods like maple or cherry. Staining is almost never an issue since it is already dark. Walnut is also a popular wood because it resists decay and is not subject to easy warping or swelling. Walnut can be used to make furniture and is very suitable for paneling.

The sapwood is creamy white and may be three inches wide. Heartwood is a rich chocolate or purplish brown in colour, with a dull sheen. Black walnut is normally straight grained and is noted for its beautiful grain character, producing more figure variation than any other wood. Over the years the wood develops a lustrous patina. It is the only dark brown domestic species, so it has a large following of devoted woodworkers, that enjoy its rich colour and ease of use.

Finishing:
Walnut takes any finish and most complement the lovely satin sheen of the wood. It polishes well. Rarely do you find sap pockets that cause difficulty.

Uses
Walnut wood has many uses. It is used to make furniture, wood crafts and musical instruments such as piano. It is also ideal to use for panels, gun stocks and flooring. The highest quality of walnut lumber can be made into veneers. Veneers are slices of wood with a thickness of approximately 1/28 inch. They are typically pasted to cheaper wood that serves as framework. These veneers can also be used as panels. Using veneers is the economical way of enjoying the luxury and stability of walnut furniture.

Kinds of Soft Woods

Soft woods are best for whittling.

- Pine
Pine cuts very easily but isn't able to hold detail well.
Basswood and Balsa are also very popular.

Build your Wooden sheds

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Build Your Own Houseboat

Some uses of wood

Our Dream was to build a boat and vacation on it! Not just any boat. We wanted to build a boat that could be trailered, have room and amenities to live aboard during vacation and use as a camper along the way.
After looking at factory built boats it was plain to see that a family with children just did not have money for luxuries like a houseboat.

So, we built our boat right in our back yard and you can too! The hull was constructed of local lumberyard materials and covered with fiberglass. The end result was a craft that out performed factory built boats at a fraction of the cost. Plus, there is a special feeling knowing you built your boat yourself. It becomes more than a boat, it becomes part of your family and I can not think of a better family or school project.
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Uses of Woods in Buildings

          Wood in building is too important . You can found it at evry place (Foundation, Floors, walls, Ceiling and Roofs, Domes, Sound Control ,Frames ,Furniture, etc.... )

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