Tips

A good family entertainment

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I’m writing this email after watching a Tamil movie in Kannada language on Amazon Prime Video.

An OTT app which I recently subscribed to watch movies…

After subscribing, every week, all our family members sit in our first building hall and watch movies together.

Sitting with all family members and spending time together is a really good feeling.

Earlier, it was not like that.

It’s just parents who used to watch regular dish TV channels and movies, which are always filled with plenty of Ads.

Now, with OTT apps, it’s way better experience.

You can enjoy new movies with little or no ads with family…

Isn’t it a good feeling?

It is for me.

That’s why we are all spending time together now. If it’s not OTT apps, we will be minding our own business in front of a computer 24*7.

It’s a boring life. Life is meant to be enjoyed… not just work always.

Oh, we don’t watch movies quite…, as my younger brother and my kids will always be disturbing. We still somehow manage and watch in that disturbance as well by keeping a little high volume.

Apart from that good disturbance, we thoroughly enjoy movies.

Luckily, in our house, we don’t manage a few of our day-to-day tasks, which we need to manage ourselves.

For example, Outdoor lights? It works in Auto mode. We no longer spend time to manage it.

Sump taps? It also works in Auto mode. Our auto unit inside the sump stops water when the sump is full. If your tap is a little below the sump, I have a solution to fix the float value issue as well.

Overhead tank? That also runs with a motor controller unit. Anytime our overhead tanks get empty, it does the job.

If you think you need to spend lots of money to do all this automation… then you are wrong.

All the above automation setups can be done for 1000 to 3000 rs if you plan well during construction time.

If not planned, then it’s a different story.

I shared all such preliminary setups that you need to take care of during house construction time inside my guides. And I recommend that everyone implement those suggestions to make their lives easier.

For security 24*7? Our CC cam takes care of everything in the building.

If students need to brun crakers on Terrace, they will first ask me before they do so. Because they know I can see all those activities.

There is nothing they can hide outside their unit.

All are covered under surveillance cameras. If you ask me, it is one of the most worthy investments for any house.

This email is written right after watching a movie. This means it was written yesterday, unlike any of my emails, which I usually write on the same day. Because I was in a good mood to write so.

That’s all for today’s email.

Tomorrow, I will share some different thoughts I got an idea from today.

Till then, take care.

Arun

I locked the room, keeping key inside 🙁

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A few months back, I went to our relative marriage. For staying, they gave us 3 room Keys.

The management installed a Europa cylindrical lock for the main door.

While in a hurry, I turned the lock knob inside the room and pulled the door without verifying the door key.

For this cylindrical lock, you don’t need a key to Lock.

Before pulling out the door, I checked my pocket. I had one Key with me. I thought the key was this room key itself and locked the door.

After some time, I came back and noticed the door was not opening with my key.

It’s the other room key.

I mistook this key for my room key, and now I locked the door by keeping my room key inside the room.

Now, I need to look for the management guy to ask for the duplicate key to open the door.

Fortunately, after waiting some time, I got the guy in charge.

I informed him I kept the room key inside, and now the door is locked. I need a duplicate key to open the door.

He asked, “What’s the room no?”

I informed my room no…

His face immediately turned dull as soon as he listened to room no.

I asked why? What happens?

He replied, “Someone lost that room key a few days back. Now, we don’t have a duplicate key for that room.”

I also felt a little upset. I thought maybe I needed to call a locksmith to open the lock.

He replied no need. I will open it.

How? I asked.

He said, “With a screwdriver.”

Hmm… come, let’s try then.

He came. Within 3 min, he opened the lock with only a screwdriver without damaging the door or lock.

I was surprised watching this scene.

I informed him to get a duplicate key from Europa. He was also shocked to hear that he could get an original duplicate key from the company.

I explained the application process, and he thanked me for sharing this information.

I also thanked him for opening the room key.

When I came back to Bangalore, I searched YouTube about cylindrical locks. Multiple people showed different ways to unlock them very easily.

So… I want to remind you that if you plan to install a cylindrical lock for the backside door or any outside door, keep in mind that — it is dead easy to open the lock without key.

Avoid installing Locks that don’t require a key to lock. You may accidentally get locked out. Which is not something anyone wishes to be in the situation.

In fact, in the lock box itself, they say don’t install outside door kind of warning.

If you install it, use it only for convenience. Not for security purposes.

Things to Keep in Mind while Shifting Materails with Gang team

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A few days back, a new construction building near my house shifted materials with a Gang/Machine to the 2nd floor RCC.

This method is what I recommend for 2nd-floor and above-floor construction.

They were shifting Concrete Blocks for the construction of the 3rd floor.

I remember once my dad and I roughly calculated the cost of material shifting with the Gang team and with manual labour. We noticed both costs are almost the same.

So, going with the Gang team, you lose nothing.

But with a gang team, you should know a few good and bad things.

Good things –

1) You don’t need to watch the gang team. They will shift whatever material they want to shift without monitoring

2) As they use machines, it’s a faster way to shift materials

3) If all construction materials are readily available, construction speed also increases

Bad things –

1) Blocks can get damaged

2) If you don’t plan properly, you will slow down construction work

3) Stress on RCC is something you should keep in mind

The good thing is there is some workaround to prevent those bad things.

The building, which was shifting blocks, made 2nd and 3rd mistakes. 1st mistake, I cannot see it from home, so I cannot confirm that.

After seeing those mistakes, I added a Material Shifting Tips at 4.69 section inside my Building Contractor Guide.

In this section, I shared a few things you should keep in mind before and while doing material shifting with the gang team.

Download the latest guide to see the updated content if you have access.

Ok my daughter came now. I need to play cartoon on my PC now.

Arun

how to plan during rainy days

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Today it’s raining here…

If you are constructing your house during rain, it causes a lot of disturbance, especially during plastering time.

I remembered one of my personal incidents during rain. Due to limited knowledge, we did not plan properly during the construction of our first building. 

We were simply going with the standard construction flow.

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went extra mile in securing materials at a best price

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The guy who contacted me a few days ago on the phone who is going to start his house construction soon is smart.

Why?

He does many extra things that most homeowners don’t get such an idea for the first time.

He has done a lot of groundwork on securing important house construction items at a much cheaper price. 

When he called me, he discussed how to find such suppliers, what their minimum order requirement is, and the price he will get, etc. on the short call.

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A Foot Care Tip for all house construction users

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Today, around 4PM, I casually spoke with the opposite house aunty. The topic is diabetes…

While speaking, they shared one incident that I want to share here.

She is explaining how one of our neighbour’s aunty who had diabetes got hurt during their house construction and how long it took to cure the infection, & how it happened.

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Seller directly quoted double the price

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At the end of our house construction stage, we went to buy drainage slabs.

Me and my dad went to shop for it…

The problem is that only one seller is selling the type of slab we are looking to buy in our area.

He doesn’t have any competitors for that product. So we got no chance to ask for prices from different shops.

When we asked the price, the seller quoted a price.

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