How to Decorate Floors with Concrete Concrete floors do not have to be drab and grey. Oh No! There is a South African company that manufactures and supplies specialised coatings especially for you to give your floors that million dollar look. Fairly easy to mix and to apply it is …

Great Kitchen Layout and Design Ideas The kitchen, say the experts, will sell the house: an axiom that can’t be proved but which nevertheless rings very true. It is part of today’s house that, more than any other, will yield handsome dividends on your investment – providing you plan sensibly, …

A Table for Concrete Mixes by Weight in Kilograms, by Bag, and by Cubic Meter, for Various Strengths We have had numerous requests for concrete mix ratios by weight, by volume, and by mass. Here is a table that was released by the Cement and Concrete Institute for trial concrete …

The Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act 95 of 1998 Updated 2008 – EXPLAINED 1. The main purpose of the Housing Consumers Protection Act is to give protection to housing consumers. At the same time it created the NATIONAL HOME BUILDERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL (NHBRC), whose objective is to stand for the …

By-Law Definitions for Planning, Building and Zoning These definitions are mainly, but not exclusively, extracted from the Greater Metropolitan Area of Cape Town’s By-Laws Planning and Zoning definitions and explanations. They do and can relate to terms and phrases used nationally by other Municipalities and planning departments. We will be …

Definitions that are used in the Home Building Industry Words and definitions that are used in the home building industry are sometimes a little difficult to understand what is meant. Here we have a list of some terms that are used with an explanation of what it is the person …

The Town Planning Scheme  for the Tshwane Region 2008 We have included these Tshwane Planning Scheme Regulations to assist you with accessing the the correct information so that you can make the right decisions when it comes to planning any construction, building and renovation or the purchase of property with developement …

City of Cape Town Zoning Scheme Regulations We have included this Cape Town Zoning Scheme Regulations document to assist you with accessing the the correct information so that you can make the right decisions when it comes to planning any construction, building and renovation or the purchase of property with …

The Assessment of Alternate Building Technologies This article from the latest issue of AKHANI, the quarterly magazine of the NHBRC, addresses the use of alternate building materials and the legal process as well as the pending changes to their manuals. It is well worth a read. Assessment of ABT Any …

How to contact your Local Authority and Municipality in your District   We get requests almost on a daily basis about “How do I  contact my local Municipality?”,  “Where is my local Authority?”, “Where do I take my plans?”, “Where can I contact the building Inspector?” Well here is the …

Consolidated Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme, 2011 We have included this Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme document to assist you with accessing the the correct information so that you can make the right decisions when it comes to planning any construction, building and renovation or the purchase of property with developement in …

A List of Definitions and Terms Used in Town Planning Schemes Includes Land Use and Zonings Terms The Johannesburg metropolitan area is the largest, most diverse and most cosmopolitan in South Africa, so we have based this list on definitions from their Town Planning document, see: town-planning-scheme-jhb. These are not …

 An A to Z list of Environmental phrases and words Thanks to the City of Cape Town for providing the basis for this list to which we have added more entries. We will expand the list as and when we find more interesting and useful words and phrases. There is …

Articles & Product Reviews Please come back to this page often as we are starting a review of products that will be of interest to anyone in the building industry. If there are any articles or category of product that you would like to see featured and reviewed here please …

Building drywall system is not environmentally friendly The American timber and drywall construction method is brought under the spotlight in a Wikipedia entry “Drywall”. You just have to look at the sulfur dioxide emmission figures never mind the mercury released during manufacture. It appears that this method is NOT good …

Electric Cables – What is Legal We get a lot of questions about which electric cables are legal and how they must be installed. So here is a brief rundown of the different types of legal cabling available and the way an installation could be done. There are various accepted …

A to Z Glossary of Definitions and Terms Used in the National Building Regulation Code of Practice   Every industry has terms and definitions that are specific to that industry, and the building industry is no exception. These Building Regulation definitions form part of the National Building Regulations and Building …

Innovative home design, building  and decorating ideas. This is where we will post a selection of good innovative building and home design ideas for you as well as decorating ideas for your house as we find them and pass them on. Western Home Awards explore and give out awards after every couple …

A garden structure is not just a wendy house. I am just going to post a few pictures of things in the garden including a wooden shed or two so that you can get a few good ideas. Here is a small wooden shed that I built for a step-by-step …

What is “Minor Building Work”? Whatever you construct on your property needs plans, unless it is defined as “minor building work”. Even so the Act states very well in Part A: General Principles and Requirements (this was previously Part A: Administration), that any structural building work that is defined as …

Stormwater Disposal-Part R, What the Regulations Say Property owners are responsible for the removal of storm water from their property. They may NOT simply discharge excess water onto adjacent land or into the street unless this is permitted by neighbors and/or the local council or municipality. SANS 10400: Part R …

Understanding the Concept of Competent Persons & Competency When South Africa’s National Building Regulations were updated in 2008, several new definitions were added to the legislation, and some were rewritten. One of the most important changes was to the term competent person, because a “competent person” is now required to draw …

New and Innovative Building Materials   OMNI BLOCK Even though this innovative building material product was designed and patented by Denny Miller in 2003 it is still an innovative and up-to-date building product. Omni Block is an insulated “stand-alone” structural wall system. It does not require furring strips, additional insulation, …

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