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Whether you’re interested in a durable concrete driveway, a decorative brick one or a utilitarian access road topped with asphalt or gravel, the materials you need represent only part of the cost of installation. Cutting and paving a driveway is a labor-intensive job that is virtually impossible without heavy machinery, and the cost of a contractor often surpasses the cost of materials. Get several labor estimates, and remember that compatibility between you and the contractor you choose trumps bargain prices. The cost of new driveway Perth depends on the space of your driveway.

Your cost estimate begins with an accurate measurement of the width and length of the proposed driveway, using a surveyor’s tape. Don’t forget to take into account the garage pad — if it’s part of the project — and any width variations. After multiplying the width and length to find the area to be covered, multiply that by the thickness of the proposed covering, in feet. This gives you the volume of the material you need, in cubic feet.

Multiply this number by .037 to convert to cubic yards, which is the unit most used by materials suppliers.

For example, a standard concrete driveway is usually 4 inches — 0.33 feet — thick. If the driveway is 100 feet long and 6 feet wide, you need 200 cubic feet of material. That’s 7.4 cubic yards.

Before laying concrete, you need to lay a 1- to 2-inch layer of drain rock, and an asphalt coating requires a 4- to 6-inch bed of compacted rock, depending on the terrain and drainage characteristics. Don’t forget to include those costs in your estimate.

Bricks and Pavers — Bricks and pavers come in predetermined thicknesses, so you don’t need to quote a volume when ordering them — just the area of your driveway. Calculate the number of bricks or pavers you need by dividing the dimensions of a single unit into the area of the driveway and adding a 5 percent overage. Driveway Edging — You may want to create a border, using bricks, pavers or rocks — this is recommended for gravel driveways because it prevents material from draining or being thrown off the roadway. Measure the length of the driveway, multiply by 2 and add a 10 percent overage to be sure you have enough edging material. Other Features — If you live in a cold climate, you may want to consider installing a heated concrete driveway.

This involves the installation of pipes under the roadway and a boiler to heat the water. You’ll also need extra materials and labor if you want to stain or stamp the concrete.

When it comes to estimating labor, there’s no single method that works for everyone. Much depends on the availability of qualified contractors with the necessary equipment in your area as well as on the topography of your property. Expect complications, such as large tree roots and the need for culverts or drainage ditches, to add to the labor costs. Get at least three estimates.

Of course, you can always go it alone by renting the excavation equipment you need, which may be the best option if you live in a sparsely populated, rural setting. Don’t forget to include the cost of delivery and pick-up of the equipment in the rental costs.

It’s possible to get a rough idea of the cost of your new driveway by consulting online sources, such as Home Advisor. The best way to use calculations performed by using information from such a site is to present it to a contractor as a benchmark. Even though there’s no such thing as a standard driveway, having a rough cost estimate in hand provides the basis for negotiation.

During the winter months, or if you live in a particularly cold climate, washing your car can prove to be a difficult task as well being an unpleasant one. Water and shampoo solution can quickly freeze onto the surface of the vehicle, literally making it impossible to wash properly. Not only shampoo, but polish, wax and any other cleaning products can easily be affected by cold weather and not perform properly meaning that every part of the car cleaning process can be adversely affected. Detailcentral.com.au car care products supplies professional cleaning and detailing products for the automobile service industry.

During washing, water can also freeze around the car and cause a dangerous area of slippery ice that can be hazardous to yourself and passers by, and generally it can be very unpleasant trying to wash in freezing temperatures as your hands can quickly become numb and prevent you from performing cleaning and detailing tasks properly.

It is important however, to try and regularly wash your car especially in cold weather because there tends to an excess of dirt, grime and salt on the roads that if left sitting on the surface of your car can lead to damage and corrosion. Thankfully, there are a number of different things that can be done to help the car washing process in cold conditions.

To start with you should obviously ensure that you are correctly clothed and properly wrapped up to help conserve body heat and prevent your extremities from getting too cold and wet. Waterproof shoes or boots are a sensible idea to prevent feet from getting wet then subsequently very cold. Thick, lined trousers, a warm waterproof coat and a good hat are all essentials and even though you will need your hands free for the washing, some form of thin latex gloves worn during the washing process will noticeably help to take the edge off the cold and keep your fingers functioning.

Next, it is advisable to try and wash your car during the middle of the day when temperatures are most mild and when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. If the sun is out, even if you cannot noticeably feel any heat from it, it helps to try and position your car in the sunlight as this will help to prevent water from freezing on the surface, as, even if it is just reflected sunlight from a window etc you will be surprised at the effect it can have on the surface temperature of the vehicle.

If possible, you should take your car for a quick run prior to washing, or at least leave it running for a while with the window/mirror heaters and hot blowers turned on as this will, after a little while, help to raise the temperature of the exterior as well as heat from the engine and exhaust adding warmth into the body panels. It is logical to do this as you are preparing your equipment and filling the wash buckets so that by the time you come to put water on the car, surface temperatures will have increased a little. Your wash buckets should be filled with hot water which will further help to raise the surface temperature of the panels as they are being washed as well as keep your hands warm and supple.

It is the pre rinse and rinsing stages of the car washing process that can be the most difficult in cold conditions. Most people will use an outside cold water tap for this which greatly increases the likely hood of surface freezing occurring. The ideal solution to this really is either the use of a hot water pressure washer which can be adjusted to heat the temperature of the water being output accordingly, or by connecting your hosepipe to an interior or exterior converted hot water pipe/tap. These options though, can be expensive or time consuming to implement, so even though they are the best way to deal with cold weather washing, we will assume for the sake of argument that you will simply be using cold water from an outside tap for the rinsing parts of the process and so will focus on the other things that can be done to aid the process.

When washing, the wheels should be cleaned first (using a separate wash bucket) before moving onto the body as this will help to minimize the amount of time water is left sitting on the cold body panels. If the ground temperature is freezing then it would be a sensible ideal to lay down some rock salt prior to wetting the car to prevent your work area from quickly turning into an ice rink. When washing, it may be wise to work a little quicker that you would in more mild conditions to both try and keep your body temperature up and keep standing water sitting on the surface for a minimum amount of time, although, you should ensure that you still wash in a thorough and methodical manner.

If it is excessively cold and temperatures are sub zero then sometimes even all of these methods combined may still not be sufficient enough to prevent water from freezing on the car and the ground and so in these cases it is advisable to not attempt to wash and to wait for slightly milder conditions.

If you know that you are going to be attempting to wash your car in cold weather or during the winter months it is a good idea to properly prepare the exterior of your car before the cold weather sets in. If your car has been properly polished and thoroughly protected with a good quality, durable wax or sealant product then it will make it much easier to wash, meaning it will take less time and also that the surface is protected from road salts and winter grime, and so if you cannot wash for extended periods of time due to extreme cold you at least know your vehicle is protected and that the dirt and road salt cannot bond to and corrode the surface of your car.

If your vehicle is kept garaged you you will have the option of using a waterless wash product or detailing spray on the car while it is in the relative warmth of the garage to maintain it and keep it clean after an initial thorough wash, to prevent it from getting too dirty which means that you will have to rely less on washing outside with water.

If you have no choice other than to wash outside in cold weather then all the techniques mentioned here will help to prevent water from freezing on and around the car and to make the process a little easier and more bearable for you. However, they are not a complete guarantee against the onslaught of excessively cold weather and so if conditions are extremely cold and temperatures are sub zero it is sensible idea to simply hold off washing with water until temperatures pick up and conditions become a little more preferable.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6519320

It is a truth that many people are unable to visualise a scene for a film, TV commercial, training video, sales video, or other type of visual production simply from looking over the script or a text.

Present those same individuals with a photo or image of some sort and they will understand the concept immediately. The old expression is that “a picture tells a thousand words” and for many people that is real. Attempt, for instance to describe the beauty of a Red Admiral butterfly to somebody in words without showing them a photograph. Unless your name happens to be Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, or Colleen McCullough, you may find it very tough attempting to get across to them exactly what it appears like. In fact, you might have a tough time aiming to visualise it for yourself as you attempt to describe it. The creativity of a concept artist Sydney that works at Scenesbydean.com is extraordinary, they are uniquely creative with their ideas and they are interesting to work with.

However, present those very same individuals with a photograph or a painting of a Red Admiral and they will get the message instantly.

The Same With A Film Script

It is exactly the exact same with a film script or a book that you desire to develop into a film. It can be extremely challenging to explain to someone how terrific your TVC or video is going to be when you just have words to explain it. In lots of circumstances, they actually can’t “see” it.

What you need is a method of developing an image revealing your idea in a way where it can immediately be comprehended by the person or individuals to whom you are presenting it.

Enter the freelance storyboard artist. A storyboard artist is somebody who has the ability to visualise the concept of a script or other piece of text and turn it into an image or series of images so that it can easily be understood. In other words, he (or she) can see a photo in his mind’s eye and then draw it so that anyone can comprehend what is going on in a scene.

An Additional Step

Some people think that having actually a storyboard developed before starting production of a movie or TVC is merely an extra action which includes greater cost to the total budget and truly isn’t a needed step. However, this is far from the reality. Definitely, using a freelance storyboard artist adds a little extra cost, but the time and cost savings later can far outweigh this.

Your storyboard will show each shot of the movie or video in the right order and will have notes stating exactly what is going on in the shot and explaining any script that is being used in the scene. This makes it very simple to describe to your prospective customer, your team, or indeed anyone else, how the video will continue and exactly what it is everything about. Many stakeholders find it really hard to visualise something from a script, but your storyboard shows them precisely how the video will play out.

It Will Help Considerably When It Comes To Production

Your storyboard will also assist considerably when it concerns production. In effect you have actually created a strategy for shooting your movie or video which consists of all the various shots, the order where they happen, and how the script will interact with them. It allows you to plan your coverage– the various video camera angles that you will use– and it also makes sure that you don’t inadvertently leave any scenes out and need to go back to film them in the future: that of itself could conserve a substantial amount of money if you are shooting on area. It will also save you time spent on revisions later on if you do not have a storyboard and something doesn’t rather work out the manner in which you prepared.

Some people will tell you that you can produce a storyboard by yourself, but it is a lot simpler stated than done, specifically if you are not good at drawing. It’s real that you don’t have to be a Picasso because a bad illustration is much better than no illustration, but however you require to depict each shot as accurately as possible. You also require to add the script beneath each drawing with notes about exactly what is going on in that specific shot.

Many people just do not have the skills to develop their own storyboard, so it is far much better to employ the services of a freelance storyboard artist such as Dean Mortensen who can visualise what it is that you desire to state and after that draw the shots properly for you.

Producing Storyboards For 30 Years

Dean Mortensen has been an art director of a marketing firm for 30 years, and has been producing storyboards for all 30 of them. He has actually now left the marketing business as a full time art director and is working out on his own as a freelance storyboard artist. He has the special ability to take a look at your script or text and then produce a storyboard revealing each shot precisely as it must look, together with the accompanying notes and script. What’s more, since he has actually been developing storyboards for many years he can produce them really rapidly when there are time restrictions.

Dean has produced storyboards for the likes of Revlon, Y & R Group, Avis, Foxtel, Cuddly, Emirates, NSW Transport Maritime, Colgate, Tabcorp, visitnsw.com, BWM, and many more. He has actually worked in many markets consisting of alcohol, FMCG, tourism, telecoms, retail services, entertainment, automobile, and sport, amongst many others. He has likewise won prestigious awards including Gold & Bronze Cannes Lions, London International, D & AD, One Show, and New York Festivals.

Dean is fully setup to handle local work, and US based assignments with ease. Thanks duly to Dropbox and the web, he is able to work remotely and supply his same exceptional quality and accuracy, as if he were just in the next cubicle in the next room.

Dean’s storyboards can be created in different designs such as quick line basic, graphic pencil, line and a splash of colour, or exactly what he calls line and the entire caboodle.

So now you understand why you must have a storyboard developed and why you should use a freelance storyboard artist in order to get the very best results. You can call Dean at +61-432564690 or email him at [email protected].