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I was about to place an order for the 'Happy fins' silicone for my first DIY fish tank based on Youtubers recommendations. Are you saying it didn't hold ?What silicone did you finally use for your tank ? The 789 appears to be black color and i'd prefer to go with clear silicone.

I'm looking for new Marble finish/wood finish tiles to do up our older house. The 3 decade old tiles are in perfect condition, (but it's mosaic and the house looks dated). Found a great range in Simpolo (Chabsons, Shivajinagar), but no 2X2. This was Rs 215 psft. They're large sizes 4X6, in the design I loved. Seen other top brands too but liked nothing. Are there any showrooms in Bangalore that offer an exhaustive range? How much do real classy marble - Like Carrara, Calacatta etc cost really? Thanks in advance.

Sir,
Every aquarium maker uses only DOWSIL Glass Silicone Aquarium Sealant (300 ml) Happy Fins. Dow is the Manufacturer, Dowsil the brand. The price printed on genuine Happy Fin is ₹240.

My failure was result of using copy cat inferior product, that was all available at physical stores near me. Stores near me may have less demand for silicone, hence carried lower price products, than higher priced reliable brand.

I was avoiding buying Online as I could not wait, my mistake. I never received fake products from Amazon, always got genuine products.


https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07RT4Q2VG/..._p5DqFb0SHC1PP

Sealants, waterproofing chemicals, water proofing tapes etc are mostly fake on Amazon as I found out multiple times. Try to reach out to authorised dealers. Dow is good, so are Rustoleum products

In my experience the Termites travel from the bottom, through any crack in the foundation and/or walls. You have to find these "passages" and seal them.

The best method is to do the following to deny access to termites :

1. Check the floor for any cracks.
2. Check the outer peripheral walls for cracks.
3. Now call the waterproofing people and ask them to seal all the walls and floor. This is usually done by dilling holes in a 1m grid (upto 20cm deep) and then pressure injecting the water proofing compound. The compound will spread through the area and seal all the micro cracks. That deals with the passages that termite may take.
4. If feasible, add anti termite chemicals to the water proofing compound.

The current anti termite chemicals are pretty benign as the older ones that could be effective for ten years are banned. One method that is detrimental to plants but works is to dig a ditch 1m or deeper all around the house. Pour a lot of anti termite chemicals in the ditch and fill it with stones and rubble. Finally cover it with soil. The chemicals will poison the adjacent areas, preventing termite intrusion.

Just take note of the fact that termites travel through hair line cracks, and will go all the way up. Here in Delhi I have seen them active on the fourth floor, while the lower three floors are not affected.

Hi Aroy,

Thanks for the detailed response.
This sounds like a huge task and the fact that I have a basement does not help.
I will have to call in a experienced contractor and see what he can do.

Thanks again.
SS

Hi Samaspire,

Thanks for the quick response.
They have even attacked my door frames and other wooden items!!

Having a metal cupboard in a house in Goa would be more practical but would spoil the look of the house completely.

Regards,
SS

Ok sir. I asked as I read a few reviews on Amazon with pics where the instructions said not to use for aquariums. I was wondering how so many are happy with it despite the manufacturer saying its not for aquarium use!

Here's a pic

Chief, ask any skilled aquarium maker, anywhere in India, they will vouch for this red colour tube of Dowsil silicone for glass (MRP - ₹240)
My assumption : For warranty issue they may have listed not for aquarium. On cover it is mentioned, Dowsil Glass sealant or specifically made for glass.

You may get more feedback if you or Moderators link your post in 'My Fishkeeping hobby' thread.

I wrote a very elaborate post on termite control here some time back.

Use 35% Imildachloroprid chemical most contractor push old generation chemicals in powder form also try to hind what exact chemical they are using.

1 ml per liter of Imildachloroprid is usually sufficient however read the label for dilution to be used.
There is no need to saturate the land with the solution unlike previous generation chemicals which required complete barrier and any gaps will give access to termites.
Usually termite treatment is done at foundation stage and before laying the floor.

As that is not possible inn your case, you will have to drill holes between tile gaps and in the corners and pump inject the solution as Aroy suggested.

As you have a basement start with baement floor and on ground floor make holes or remove little soil along the foundation walls and spray. Also inject from side of door frames.

Use a garden pump sprayer and spray the solution around your house on vacant land as well.

Bayer, Tata Rallies are some good brands. I used a PSU manufactured one with name Hillmida. The pricing of insecticides is similar to pharma, MNC branded ones are costly compared to Indian generic vendors. Bayer was around 3500 rs per liter whereas Hilmida I got for 900rs for same concentration.

Will this solution work for ants?

We have an ant infestation in our house. We have ants of different varieties. During the summer, it's the small red and black ants. This monsoon, I mostly see big red ants.

The small red ants reside in the electrical ducts I think, as we see a line of them coming in / out of switchboards. They don't bite, but I'm sure they are digging out the sand from under the tiles and inside the boards. A few years ago they had shorted one geyser line.

Background: Ours is a ground +1 independent house built on 7 cents of land (it's not a pillar structure). There is an empty plot of 20 cents behind our house. When the house was built 10 years ago, we had put some chemicals into the mud at the foundation stage

The ant problem started about 5 years ago.
Last year I had pest control treatment done, the effects of which lasted for about 6 months. Now we are back to square one.

Hi All,

I wanted to check with the gurus here on any possible solutions to this problem I have in my family home.

We have a large window overlooking the staircase midway between the Ground and 1st floor of the house (pics attached).

This window lets in a lot of heat so that even during months like these (Aug) the heat in the 1st floor of the house is almost unbearable. We might need to insulate the roof of the house later but for now I am just looking to block the radiant heat through this window.

Has someone used this product from 3m (https://www.3mindia.in/3M/en_IN/comp...0229461&rt=rud)?

I am not sure how effective these are besides the cost involved (need to see if there is a local dealer for this though I don't expect it to be cheap).

I did find a video from a home owner claiming that while the film blocks solar energy it tends to heat up itself and has a convection oven like effect by radiating heat into the room.

https://youtu.be/1Zfo297NsXk

Since I would like to retain the light coming through (otherwise I am sure my Mom will complain about the house being too dark) stuff like blackout curtains are not viable for my use case.

There are reflective films available. These are like one way windows and used world over in office buildings. These are primarily designed to reject heat by reflection and not by absorption.

https://www.solargard.com/in/about-h...ness-products/

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=reflective...ref=nb_sb_noss

Talk to their representatives and get detailed specifications from them.

You can go for Garware polyfilm instead of 3M to control costs.
Choose darkest tint, Garware is lot cheaper. Tinted film is more effective compared to heat reflective transparent sheet as it cuts more radiations.

In our house in hometown my father got filming done with garware in 1990s at that time there was no other brand available at our place.
It is still working fine although film is cracked and colour is little changed now.

One more thing you can try is to make top pane of window near to ceiling openable so that heated air can escape from top instead of building up in the greenhouse.

Is your window South or west facing ? South side receives maximum radiated heat and thats why traditionally ( even in Vastu Shastra) south wall should be thicker.

We do have these films on the windows in the ground floor of the house. I am not a 100% sure of how effective they have been in rejecting heat but I guess they have to be designed for this purpose too.

Thanks. I will look into any local distributors/reps they have.

The window is west facing (basically it's at the front of the house facing the main road and is more of a design element I guess).The top segment of the window can't be opened as far as i can see but the middle sections can.

Thank you. I can see Garware has distributors in Kerala but they are not near to me.

I will call them up and see if they have someone closer to home.

Called up a Garware distributor near my home town and got a quote of Rs.500/sqft along with a minimum order of 500sqft (Product: https://www.garwaresuncontrol.com/hhr-grey-80.html).

The guy actually asked to take a look at Ice Cool Grey (which is car suncontrol film) since it has almost the same specs and costs Rs.240/sqft (Product: https://www.garwaresuncontrol.com/ex...l-grey-70.html).

All these charges are inclusive of fitting. As such, with a window of around 46 sqft give or take this will easily go above Rs.10,000.

I am currently under quarantine after travelling to home town from Bengaluru and once this is done will need to see if getting these or new double pane glass (with heat resistant coating) makes more economical sense.