Donnette

One of the first things home owners think of when embarking on a home improvement project is pulling up that dusty, stained and frayed old carpet. The next step is deciding what to put in its place - new carpet or some other type of flooring.

A trendy new craze sweeping the country is to replace existing carpet with environmentally friendly flooring such as reclaimed wood, linoleum, cork or bamboo. Such types of flooring are not only helpful to the environment, but are also coveted for their exquisite beauty, texture and form.

People are fast realizing the dangers of using products for the home that can be detrimental to the environment and to the residents who live in the home. Jumping on the bandwagon, architects, builders and decorators are suggesting flooring products that protect the environment and the people who live and work in the buildings.

Advantages of Choosing Environment-Friendly Flooring Over Carpeting

If you've ever pulled up used carpeting in a home or other heavily-trafficked area, you've probably been aghast at the debris and filth hidden in the carpet and padding. The truth is that no matter how fanatical you are about vacuuming and shampooing your carpet, residue, mold and mildew will accumulate in the fibers beneath. The carpet then becomes an allergen magnet, hording germs that can affect humans and pets who come in contact with it.

Besides the advantage of avoiding allergens, the durability and beauty of wood or other environmentally correct floorings remains undisputed. It is easily cleaned and comes in a wide variety of patterns and colors to fit any dcor.

Linoleum is resilient and is made from renewable substances of the earth or recycled remnants, but linoleum itself cannot be recycled because of the glue used to install it. Still, the long life gained from using linoleum has made it a popular choice for homes and offices.

The use of "reclaimed" wood found in old buildings such as barns, hotels or railroad cars is an emerging trend across the country. While the obvious character and patina of these woods are lovely and desirable, the cost can be somewhat prohibitive at around $30 per square foot. Furthermore, shoppers need to be careful to ensure they buy from a trusted source. There is also the danger of running out of wood before the project is completed if you aren't sure to measure correctly and buy the right amount of materials.

Newer products, such as cork and bamboo are excellent choices to use in buildings that have energy savers such as radiant heat. Besides saving on energy costs, cork and bamboo can be bought for much less than wood and still have the "green tag" of being friendly to the environment.

Transform Your Home or Office with Cork or Bamboo Flooring

The rapid disappearances of our forests and rainforests have led to the research and development of new products in flooring and the reemergence of some old favorites. Cork and bamboo are forerunners in this endeavor.

Cork flooring has been popular in the United States since the 1950s. The avocado and gold colored carpet of the 70s temporarily replaced its prominence in the flooring market, but cork has now found new acceptance in environmentally conscious homes.

Anti-microbial and cushiony soft, cork is an ideal choice for parents who want to keep their homes free of allergens and also enjoy a tranquil existence by diminishing noise.

Bamboo flooring is both resilient and beautiful. Its colors, ranging from natural to amber, create an excellent background for any style of furniture or accessories. The durability of bamboo makes it a superior choice, and because of its rapid growth, bamboo usage helps to preserve our forests.

While bamboo is lightweight, it is as hard as oak, maple or redwood and has the added advantages of expanding and contracting less. It comes in tongue and groove planks for ease of installation. What's more, bamboo's natural imperfections lend an air of exclusivity to its look.

Jump On the "Build Green" Bandwagon When You Build or Renovate

Almost every decorating or architectural magazine that you see on the stands contains at least one article about being environmentally conscious when you build or renovate.

Indeed, there are many types of flooring that you can select to conserve energy and preserve our forests and other resources while avoiding excessive costs or future problems. Choosing the appropriate flooring for your home or office is a major decision - one that you will probably live with for a long time.

Choose wisely and "build green" whenever you can. It's a great way to show that you care about our earth and its future.

Wills Thomas is the proprietor of the Bamboo Flooring and Cork Flooring consumer guides to environmentally friendly floor coverings. Visitors to either site will discover a wealth of information covering all aspects of purchasing, installing and caring for bamboo and cork floors.

Although the application of CCTV security have not changed very much over the past years, the tools and equipment have significantly. Cameras became smaller, cheaper and better, but the major breakthrough happened in recording equipment.

Therefore many customers shopping for complete CCTV monitoring and recording systems are confused by such a verity of available products. Goal of this article is to guide buyers toward best possible and most economical type of CCTV equipment, based on intended implementation and requirements.

Selecting the right cameras.

It is virtually impossible to describe all types of available security cameras in this short article. We will focus our attention on most popular and widely used camera types instead.

CCTV security cameras produce images using CMOS or CCD (Charge Couple Device) chips. Tiny, very low price CCTV cameras usually use CMOS technology, produce poor quality images and have very poor light sensitivity. Decent quality CCTV cameras use CCD technology. The size of the CCD chip is normally 1/4", 1/3" or 1/2". As a rule of thumb, the larger the size, the higher the quality of the image produced and the higher the price. However, higher density 1/4" and 1/3" CCD chips can now produce as good an image as many 1/3" or 1/2" chips.

The number of TV lines in the security camera image is a measure of picture resolution (sharpness). The larger the number of TV lines, the better the resolution and hence, overall picture quality. Standard resolution camera may have 350-380 lines, over 400 TV Lines is generally considered good resolution while over 500 TV lines is considered high resolution. B/W chip cameras produce greater resolution and better light sensitivity, therefore suitable for use in dark areas where light conditions are poor most of the time.

On the other hand color cameras offer more realistic and natural picture. CCTV cameras are usually divided into different types based on the body of the camera used.

Professional grade cameras.

Have box type body with the ability to use different types and size of lenses. Exchangeable lenses enable this camera, to monitor objects from virtually any distance.

Although for indoor use, they can be used for outdoor when combined with weatherproof housing. They are considered to be the most flexible and widely used by professionals for commercial installations.

Bullet cameras.

Bullet cameras are, as the name suggest contained inside bullet shaped housing.

Most bullet cameras are weatherproof and sealed without the ability to use different lenses. Great advantage of bullet camera is the small size and integrated design, some bullet cameras will even have infrared LED future built-in. Infrared technology is simply LED light in infrared spectrum (not visible to human eye). This light will illuminate viewing area, making possible monitoring in complete darkness. This is great future, but it only works up to certain distance (usually between 10 and 50 ft. depending on model) Vary simple to install and estheticly designed, bullet cameras are great choice for residential and do-it-yourself installations where monitoring objects are within about 25ft from the camera location (with standard 3.6mm lens).

Board Cameras.

Board Cameras are basically fixed lens mounted on a circuit board. These cameras may be packaged in a small case (Mini Cameras) or dome (Mini Dome) or simply sold unpackaged, for mounting by the purchaser. Lenses in these cameras are either of a normal industry aperture or a "pinhole" lens of very small aperture. Pinhole lens cameras are often called "spy" cameras and may be mounted in a concealed way for covert surveillance purposes. The most popular examples of covert board cameras are smoke detector and motion detector cameras.

Since the lenses in board cameras are pre-mounted, have a fixed iris and are usually of a short focal length (i.e. wide angle), their flexibility of usefulness is limited. However, this type of camera can provide a low cost solution in the right situation, particularly in a home environment.

We have shortly described most popular types of cameras, lets now discus, how and where they mite be used.

Professional type cameras with C/CS mount lens attachment generally offer best performance and many important futures, like lens control output, Back Light Compensation and many more

Distance from monitoring object to the camera is not an issue, that is why ability to select different lenses, based on camera location is so important. Installation is bit complicated and professional installation strongly recommended. We recommend this type of security cameras for commercial installations.

Most Bullet cameras in comparison, do not offer high resolution and lens selection flexibility, but are likely to be weatherproof, some will have infrared light built-in and most of all they are relatively easy to implement.

Bullet cameras usually come with 3.6mm lens witch are considered to be suitable for most standard installations (good for covering small to medium size room or equivalent).

For larger roomsor longer distances, cameras with 6mm or higher lens may be required.

They are great choice for any do-it-yourself installation.

Board cameras in contrast are widely used in covert camera installations, sometimes called Spy Cameras. Many wireless cameras are basically board cameras with built-in transmitter.

We are not going to go into wireless cameras right now, as this would be enough material for completely new article.

Board cameras are sold as plain circuit board, for integrating into hidden camera devices. They are also available in dome housing, as vary popular Dome Camera or integrated with Smoke Detector, Motion Detector, Exit Sign and so on.

Most board cameras also come with 3.6mm lens although some will allow lens to be replaced.

Over the time, most practical design has been Dome Camera with its esthetic appearance it blends into surroundings, especially with drop down sealing, great for use in stores, lobbies, gas stations and other public places. Practical solution for covert installation are also, Motion and Smoke Detector cameras, they are absolutely not substitute for your security alarm or fire protection.

Cameras should always be selected based on the location of the camera (inside/outside), distance from the monitoring object, light condition and budget.

When shopping for security cameras, customers are faced with the fact that they will need to select one or another recording device.

The days of well-known CCTV time-lapse VCR recorder are almost over.

Although some customers still prefer this old fashioned recording solution, it is well worth to invest some extra money to purchase a good quality digital video recorder (DVR). Digital recorder transfers analog camera video feed into digital format, and stores it on hard drive. There are two major types of digital recorders on the market right now.

PC Based Systems.

A special board and software installed on the computer will allow camera inputs and store video on the hard drive.

Many people are under the misconception that personal computer with additional hardware installed, will do the job. This explains the hundreds of companies that have hung up a sign, taken out some ads and begun working out of basements and garages, holding themselves out to be DVR manufacturers and security specialists. The main problem with this type of CCTV recorders lies in the main component of it Yes, it is a computer, designed to do unlimited tasks, but non well. The truth is that any computer based digital video recorder is, and will always be vulnerable to software crashes, hang-ups, system instability, virus related problems etc

Stand Alone Systems.

Very similar in appearance and control functions to standard VCR recorders, are truly remarkable devices. Most video processing is done by hardware, therefore eliminating system crashes, video is also stored on hard drive in digital format. The basic operating system, usually Linux, is permanently stored on special processor, witch is impossible to overwrite or corrupt. Designed and manufactured with single application in mind, it is by far better in performance and reliability to its PC based rival.

Some DVR systems will even have remote monitoring capability, useful when monitoring is required in different locations thru Internet or network. Most important futures to look for when selecting the right DVR recorder are motion detection and frame speed. The higher the frame speed the more fluent video recording. Motion detection will allow recording video from each camera only when motion is detected; this is great for extending video recording time.

Security Monitors.

Video from Security recorder could be displayed on regular TV monitor. It is OK to do it this way, for baby monitoring or residential application, when quality of the picture is not that important. However for professional installation, security monitors are as much important as cameras. They offer extended life of picture tube (necessary with any static picture, that can cause picture burnout) and much grater resolution.

Cables and wiring.

Finally any camera installation will require proper wiring. Good quality cable will prevent video degradation over long distance runs. It is recommended to use RG59 or RG6 coaxial cables as it is fully shielded and will prevent video loss up to 400 ft. Coaxial cables will require BNC connectors and proper installation possibly done by experienced technician. In short runs plug and play non-coaxial cables with factory installed BNC connectors may be used (up to 150 ft.). The plug and play cables are easy enough to install by not experienced users.

Cables for CCTV cameras consist of two cables bundled in one jacket. One cable for video and one for power delivery.

Conclusion.

Every CCTV system is as good and reliable as its weakest component. With this in mind, investing on highest quality and performance cameras, while purchasing low performance recorder, from economical and practical standpoint just does not make sense.

For example, why use cameras with 500 TV lines of resolution with monitor that offers only 380 or less. All the benefit of high-resolution camera is affectively sacrificed by limited capability of monitor. Asking questions is important before purchasing video security system, and your vendor will probably be able to give more details and recommend equipment for specific needs and requirements.

Robert Moskal is Technical Department Manager at V2Comp,Inc, a major distributor of security equipment located in Chicago area. More information about new products can be accessed at http://www.amazingcameras.com or http://www.v2comp.com