The autumn months have an undeniable effect on our gardens – not all trees lose their leaves of course, but those that do end the summer season in a blaze of glory before covering the grass with a crispy or mulchy mass that needs quick attention to avoid it getting trodden into the lawn.
Continue reading Garden waste: prepping the garden for autumn
If your home improvement skills are more ‘don’t it yourself’ than ‘do it yourself’, you might feel reluctant to try your hand at any new projects – but with a few simple DIY lessons to learn before attempting DIY again, you can avoid some of the most common pitfalls.
Continue reading Five DIY lessons to learn before attempting DIY
Loft conversions are a wonderful way to add more space to your home without the need to move house, meaning you can stay put for many years to come. Converted lofts are ideal for an extra bedroom, if you’ve got a growing family, and are also perfect as a living room, a study, or even a games room. While they are a great solution to the problem of space, there are a few things you need to be aware of before any building work begins.
1. Check you can accommodate a staircase
This may seem obvious, but it’s not just any staircase you will need; it’s a permanent one. This means you need plenty of available space for the staircase in the below room.
2. Check if you need planning permission
Most loft conversions don’t require planning permission, but it is still an important thing to check before you get started with researching the idea any further. A quick check with your local council could avoid a legal nightmare further down the line.
Whether you’re having work done to your own house or a commercial property, there are certain things you need to know and do before any work can commence. Read through our five key points and get prepared for any future building work you might be planning.
As the owner of the property, it is your responsibility to comply with all the relevant planning rules and building regulations when undertaking any building work. You may also need to check land boundaries and apply for planning permission. Additionally, you may want to consider extra insurance, depending on the work that is being done.
Continue reading 5 tasks to complete before starting building work
First time buyers are getting older, more families are renting now than ten years ago, and fewer private renters expect to ever own their own home. While this may be bad news for some, for a landlord or lady like yourself, this can only be music to your ears! The rental sector is currently booming. But how do you encourage potential tenants to view and choose your property to rent, instead of the seven other properties on the same street? These tips and tricks should help you to receive a constant cash flow.
If your property has been sat empty for a while, arrive early to open the windows and air the rooms, and collect any post that has arrived. If your previous tenant has just moved out, you have some work to do!
Many of us subscribe to the ‘new year, new start’ way of thinking, even to the extent that some people spend New Year’s Eve itself getting some DIY done – a perfect way to use those long hours until midnight, if you’re not one for partying.
As 2017 gets underway, here are some ideas of how you can prepare projects around the house and get your living space up to scratch for the new year.
Fences aren’t something you need to dispose of very often, so when the time comes to do so, you might be unsure of how to go about it. After all, fences are large and cumbersome. They are often constructed from treated and painted wood too, which isn’t as easily recycled as plain wood.
Before you even consider dismantling and replacing your old fence though, you have an important job to do, which is explained in full below.
