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Florida Roofing Contractors - Finding The Ones Who Will Do A Good Job

The sunny state of Florida is considered as one of the most or hurricane-prone areas in the Continental United States. Given this, it is imperative for many homeowners and builders to consider major engineering improvements and upgrades in ensuring that a home's roof holds it own during severe storms. Hence, priority should be given to every component of the roof, as well as the rest of the house's structure, to enable it to withstand the extremely violent wind speeds that hurricanes bring.

A House Needs A Good Roof

A roof refers to the uppermost covering component, or structure of a home or building. The main purpose of the roof is to primarily protect both the building itself and its interior material and content from the standard elements of weather, such as rain, snow, sleet and heat. However, depending on the nature of the structure, a roof may also protect against heat, sunlight, cold and wind.

If the roof is the covering for a house, then all of the mentioned protective functions should be considered. Other building types, like garden sheds, conservatories or greenhouses will need to guard against rain and wind and frost, but allow the entry of light.

A house's front porch could be installed with roofing materials that mainly protect against sunlight but also admit other natural elements. The different types of structures and homes that require roofs range from the size of a letterbox to that of a synagogue or cathedral, or sports stadium, with these structures being the most socially significant.

Get Info On Which Roofing Material To Choose

Installing a new roof is one of the most significant and expensive aspects one will run into as a homeowner, since a home's roof is the first line of defense against the different forces and elements weather brings. It is imperative that a homeowner hires the best roofing contractor possible. Depending on where you live, roofing contractors are aplenty, therefore, it is important that one follows the basic rules of roof construction and repair to help you find the most qualified contractor to do the job.

A homeowner should also have adequate information on what roofing materials to consider. The owner should have a keen eye on what type of weather proofing material to utilize; should you use shingles, membrane roofing or metal roofing, for instance.

Shingles, also called shakes in North America, is the generic term for roofing material that comes in many overlapping sections, irrespective of the nature of the material. More specifically, it can be used to mean wooden shingles.

Membrane roofing is in installed large sheets, commonly fused at the joints to form a continuous surface. Metal roofing is considered to be an affordable roof material, and could be either corrugated, mechanically seamed or flat seamed in form and structure.

Picking The Right Contractor

Before commencing on any major home improvement project, such as roofing, it is best that you first consider talking to several roofing contractors to make sure you are getting a fair deal before hiring the services of one. For roofing repair or installation, it is advisable to obtain at least three bid offers from different roofing contractors to enable you to compare prices, methods used and experienced required.

It is also imperative to take note that the least expensive wouldn't necessarily be the best one. It would be wiser to be cautious about any contractor that dives below the other bids by a large amount, since it is likely that they will offer shoddy service or are not being honest with what the total price should be, or if there are any hidden costs. Aside from getting bids from at least three different roofing contractors, it is also important that the owner also does a little fact-finding work on the contractor.

Do Your Own Research

The homeowner should take note that reputable roofing contractors are licensed and are willing to provide at least three to four references vouching for their good work record. Having done good research on your prospective roofing contractor gives you the peace of mind knowing that you're hiring a credible professional for your roofing requirements.

Florida has a wide array of roofing contractors, and among these are Spilker Roofing and Sheet Metal, of Merritt Island in Brevard County. The company's services include new or re-roofing projects, and installation or repair of commercial, industrial and municipal structures, sheet metal fabrication, roof maintenance programs, leak repair, and designing wind vented roofing systems for resistance against hurricanes.

Another Florida roofing firm is Innovative Commercial Construction, Inc of St. Petersburg, Florida. Innovative Commercial Construction has 20 years of experience in roof renovation and restoration services, paint and waterproofing and roof design services.

Whichever of the Florida roofing contractors you choose to commission for your roofing job, take heed of the tips mentioned above to make sure that you get maximum value for your time and your money. Remember, your roof is your first defense against the intermittent Florida weather.

Ernest Jarquio is a dedicated family man hopelessly addicted to do-it-yourself projects. For more information, visit Flooring2Roof.com, where he discusses various subjects such as Florida roofing contractors, roofing contractors in the UK and Orange County roofing.

posted by 4414 @ 10:48 AM 0 comments

Why Does Cold Air Fall and Warm Air Rise?

cold air falls and warm air rises. Why? Discuss!

Many of us experience the effects of falling cold air and rising warm air on a regular basis. It is happening all the time in the air above and around us and is one of the components in our weather systems. You may notice that when there is no heating or air conditioning operating in your house, the rooms upstairs are slightly warmer than those downstairs. Another example is the hot air balloon that works precisely to this principle. By heating the air inside the balloon, the craft will be lighter than the surrounding air and will rise. This is actually the result of cold air gushing downwards around the balloon at the same time as it is rising.

So why does cold air fall? That is simple: it is heavier than warm air. And why is it heavier? That is slightly less simple, but only slightly. As with any gas, the air (a generic term for the mixture of the gasses in our atmosphere), contains molecules that move (or agitate). This movement (or agitation) is greater as the temperature rises. The molecules move in ever greater orbits, taking up more space. This causes the mass of the air to expand. Although the total mass of a lump of air has not changed, the mass is more spread out and so any given cubic area of it will be lighter. An analogy is found with popcorn. A half pound of popcorn before being popped may fit into a cup. After popping, the same corn would fill a large saucepan. Its total weight will be more or less the same half pound that it always was, but if you filled up the original cup with the popped corn, it would weigh less than the unpopped corn as the rest of it would no longer fit into the cup. Expanding hot air is similar. A cup of cold air would weigh more than a cup of hot air.

As we are playing the why game, let's continue. Why do the molecules move about more when it is warmer? They absorb energy through electro-magnetic waves that smash into the molecules. In short, this is energy transfer by radiation. So we have a collection (several trillion, lets say) of molecules that are very agitated and another collection which are far less agitated. The agitated collection is spread out and thus light. The collection that are less agitated is heavier. The heavier stuff falls downwards, while the light stuff rises.

As well as being the main process behind hot air balloons, the movement of air according to its temperature is a critical factor with the weather. forecasters must ensure that these movements are factored into their modelling systems in order to produce a decent weather forecast. Air conditioning designers and must also take these factors into account as must architects. In order to preserve valuable heat, warm air must be prevented from escaping through the top of a building. As well as conserving heat, the movement of colder air downwards must also be considered when designing refrigerators and refrigeration systems.

If you have a few minutes, try this experiment. Firstly make sure nothing has been put into your refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Then, leave a thermometer inside the refrigerator, making sure it is placed at the bottom and then close the door. After 10 minutes, open the door and straight away and note the reading on the thermometer. Then place the thermometer on the top shelf and close the door. After 10 minutes, take the reading as soon as you open the door. You will notice a difference - perhaps as much as 1 to 2 degrees. This may not be such a big issue for us at home most of the time. For commercial kitchens, however, this difference maybe critical when ensuring food is kept at an optimum temperature. Commercial fridges are often fitted with a fan that evens out the colder and warmer air, thus negating the tendency for cold air to fall and warmer air to rise.

If you take large freezer stores - the ones that hold thousands of boxes of stock - the movement of air around the facility is an extremely important factor. The fans that blow frozen air into the store are always situated near to the ceiling, allowing it to diffuse downwards. Eventually, of course, the goods in the freezer store will need to be taken out and moved to another location, typically loaded onto a truck. If frozen goods are loaded onto a frozen truck this is no problem. Occasionally though, only a small quantity of frozen goods may be needed and the use of a large truck whose temperature is set at a frozen temperature would be wasteful if only a few boxes were being despatched. This is where insulated pallet shrouds or roll cage covers come into play. These enclose the pallet or roll cage, protecting frozen goods for up to 8 hours within an ambient environment (they also protect ambient goods such bakery products and bananas in a chilled or frozen environment). When a roll cage is used, the insulated roll cage cover works at its best when the cage is full of products. When it is half full then - you guessed it - the cold air falls to the bottom. This is fine at first (assuming the goods are in the bottom half), but after a while the warmer air that has risen to the top will start to affect the top layer of goods. This is where a temperature insulated divider must be used to make a seal and protect the goods in the half full roll cage.

So now you know the whys and hows of cold and warm air and now you also know why your feet get cold in winter!

Vernon Stent is the content writer for 5es.co.uk, where you can purchase or rent roll cage insulation covers and dividers and pallet covers.

posted by 4414 @ 2:59 AM 0 comments