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Simple DIY Toilet Repairs – Checking Your Cistern Water Level

Carrying out repairs to your toilet can be quick and easy with minimal cost. Problems such as blockages, insufficient amounts of water in the cistern and toilets that won’t stop flowing can often be solved easily saving you a call out charge and enabling you to get your toilet back in full working order in no time, even if you don’t have experience of DIY plumbing. If in doubt however, it is always best to speak to a professional so you know the repair has been carried out properly.

How to check the water level in the cistern

This can be done by lifting off the cistern cover, and looking to see if the top of the water in the cistern is level with the waterline mark. This waterline mark can usually be found either on the overflow tube, or on the actual cistern itself. If there is too little or too much water in your cistern, you will need to adjust your loo to rectify this.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design,Plumbers - posted by Sarah on May 9, 2010

Deva Launched 2010 Trade Brochure

Bathroom accessory manufacturers, Deva, have just launched a new brochure for their trade customers which includes over 45 new products. With 280 pages of information about the different bathroom and kitchen tap, shower fixture and waste accessories on show in the catalogue, the increasing popularity of greener living has also had its impact on the company’s product brochure.

The 2010 brochure differs from the 2009 version with a new section taking customers through information about the Code for Sustainable Homes and Part G building regulations, as well as providing a specific section detailing all the water saving products for bathrooms and kitchens that are on offer for 2010.

Claire Stokes, Deva’s marketing and sales manager commented on the new brochure, saying that it offers customers more information about Deva’s environmental policies, as well as providing technical information and advice about the best products to use with specific water and heating systems when installing a new shower.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design,Plumbers - posted by Sarah on April 28, 2010

Support Earth Day By Making Your Home Greener

Green living and sustainable homes are becoming more popular as people’s consciences tell them going green is the right thing to do for the planet and their common sense sees the added green in their wallets from money saved by reducing waste.

The options for reducing your carbon footprint are always increasing and taking steps to make your home more sustainable and energy efficient can range from a big investment to small steps which when added together can make significant reductions in your home’s carbon emissions.

Today, 22nd April 2010, is Earth Day, and forty years on from the first ever Earth Day, what better day to start making a change to the way you live and what your home consumes? Below are a few ideas ranging from small steps to bigger projects, but whatever you decide to go for, localtraders.com can help you find a reliable and reputable tradesperson who can help you green your home.

Step 1: Up on the roof

Water shortages could be a big problem in the future and for an island that is renowned for its rainfall, it seems such a shame to let it all go down the drain. The first simple step is to harvest rainwater from your roof and use it for watering the plants in your garden, helping keep your shrubs and vegetables growing strongly in summer and saving a precious resource. Speak to a roofing specialist to ensure your gutters are clear and connected properly so you can ensure you catch every last drop.

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The Bathroom of the Future

According to projections made in exhibits at the Ideal Home Show 2010, bathrooms, and indeed other rooms in our homes, are likely to incorporate a great deal more technology including innovative products that take advantage of wireless broadband connections.

Although not two words you would expect to hear in the same sentence – broadband and bathrooms – over the course of the next decade, product development will see the launch of some new bathroom products that you may only think would exist in a dream (or nightmare!).

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Sarah on April 11, 2010

Demand for New Kitchen Appliances Set to Soar

According to research conducted by Mintel, the next five years are likely to see an upsurge in the number of small kitchen gadgets and appliances people begin to invest in for their homes. The effects of the economic downturn has resulted in a large number of people holding on to older appliances where they may previously have popped out to their local electrical retailer and purchased a new item.

In addition, people have held back on paying out for non essential work on their homes such as changing colour schemes, however people are now beginning to look towards replacing their outdated kitchens and this usually means upgrading appliances to match new colour schemes to provide an all-round co-ordinated effect for their home.

The research has also shown that people are more aware of choosing kitchen products that last longer, both from an environmental perspective, but also because it is often cheaper to pay out more for a higher quality appliance initially than end up paying out twice for a product with a shorter lifespan.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Sarah on April 6, 2010

Making Your Own Chrome Shower Curtain Rail

If you’ve just redecorated your bathroom, want to enhance your existing bathroom by updating your accessories without the expense of a new bathroom suite or are completely renovating your bathroom, you may be looking to replace your old shower curtain rail, or fit a new rail if you didn’t have one previously.

There are a number of different types of shower curtain rails in different colours and finishes, but one of the most attractive types is a chrome shower curtain rail. They can be a very attractive addition to any bathroom, especially if you have silver taps and bathroom accessories, however the big drawback with chrome shower curtain rails, both the smaller round shower curtain rails, but even moreso with the larger oval rails, is the cost. Chrome rails are very expensive, with the cheapest options around £100-£150, but the majority are between £250 and £400 – not the sort of money most people would want to pay out for something to hang a shower curtain from.

All is not lost however if you have set your heart on a chrome shower curtain rail. There is a cheaper option available to you as long as you’re happy to make two compromises; the DIY option. A DIY chrome shower curtain rail can be put together for £50 and only takes around 1.5 to 2 hours to put together and screw into the ceiling. The compromises you will need to make in order to benefit from the saving are the time and effort of making the rail yourself, and that you will be limited to a rounded rectangle rather than an oval for the shape of your shower curtain rail, but when you could be saving yourself £350, this doesn’t seem like too bad a compromise!

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Sarah on March 16, 2010

Different Types of Shower Curtain Rail

When doing up a bathroom, apart from the obvious expenses of flooring and wall tiles and a new bathroom suite including toilet, pedestal sink or a basin in a vanity unit or storage cupboard, shower and or bath, there are a lot of smaller items that also need to be considered but that can add a significant amount to your budget when added together.

If you have decided to have a shower over the bath, whether it’s to save space or because there isn’t room for a freestanding shower as well as a bathtub, one particular accessory you will need to purchase to prevent water spraying out into the bathroom is a shower curtain rail.

There is a lot of choice in plumbers merchants, bathroom shops and DIY stores, and even the likes of IKEA, when it comes to shower curtain rails. The main limitation you have is the position of your bath dictating which sort of rail you can choose to fit. Shower curtain rods, like shower curtains themselves, are available in different materials, but are most commonly available in either white or grey plastic or chrome.

Straight shower curtain rails

If your bath is positioned between two walls, it is quite easy to find a shower curtain rail which will fit neatly between the two walls, screwing in at either end of the bath to provide a secure hanging rail for your PVC or polyester shower curtain.

‘L’ shaped shower curtain rails

If your bath is positioned in a corner of your room but does not have a second wall at the other end, straight rails will not be practical as there is nothing to fix the second end of the rail into. This is where an ‘L’ shaped shower curtain rail can come in handy. ‘L’ shaped rails, as the name suggests, have a bend in them so they can follow the shape of your bath and be fixed to the wall the back of your bath runs along.

Although there are ‘L’ shaped shower curtain rails on the market that just fix into each wall, it is advisable to choose a rail which has a third support, usually screwed into the ceiling. It is best to try and screw this into a joist or stud running in the ceiling above, but if this is not possible, the additional support should still be enough to prevent the rail from pulling out of the wall or dropping under the weight of the shower curtain, especially when it gets wet.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Sarah on March 15, 2010

Brits Spend More Time in the Kitchen Than the French

Whether it’s the influence of the many celebrity chefs and cookery programmes occupying the TV listings or a bid to save money rather than eat out or purchase takeaways, new findings from research conducted by the BBC Olive Magazine and French magazine, Madame Figaro has shown that Brits spend more time in the kitchen preparing home cooked food than the French do.

As well as looking at the different foods each nation thought best represented each other’s cuisine and the amount of time people tend to spend in their kitchens, the research looked at the types of food that people tend to cook in their kitchen. Both nations lean towards cooking Italian food as their preference, however Brits also venture into other international cuisines and recipes, such as Indian, Spanish and Chinese. In each case, more British people experimented with broader menus, however the French tend to cook Morrocan food more frequently than Britons.

Olive magazine’s editor, Christine Hayes, said,

“Although the French have an enviable food heritage, it’s fascinating to see how much British people have embraced home cooking and international cuisine over the past few years.”

If you are among those who enjoy spending time in the kitchen, either experimenting with food and different cooking methods, cooking with the kids, baking, preserving, pickling or perhaps more adventurous hobbies such as cheesemaking, it can make life much easier if you have a kitchen that is designed around your needs.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Sarah on March 12, 2010

How to Measure and Scribe a Kitchen Worktop

Fitting a kitchen worktop is fairly straight forward if you are experienced at DIY. You would need to set aside around four hours to complete the job of fitting new kitchen work surfaces, but because worktops can be quite heavy depending on the material they’re made from, it might be a good idea to have an extra pair of hands available.

The most important thing is to make sure that you take accurate measurements before you start to cut the wood as mistakes can be expensive and waste time. The hardest part is how to measure up to be able to cut edges, especially when the wall might not be at a right angle or if there are pipes to cut around.
If you already have a worktop that you are replacing then you can just draw around that, which will probably be the easiest thing to do, or you could simply take the measurements from the old worktop.

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Filed under: Kitchen & Bathroom Installation/Design - posted by Teresa on February 28, 2010

Report Reveals 55,000 New Construction and Building Jobs Could Be Created

A report launched today by Experian for the ‘Cut the VAT’ coalition, an alliance of 21 organisations including the Federation of Master Builders, the Modern Masonry Alliance, the Clay Roof Tile Council and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, has unveiled that as many as 55,000 new jobs in the building sector and construction industry could be created if VAT on labour for building work and home improvements was cut to 5%.

Creating Building Jobs

The Cut the VAT coalition believes that by cutting the percentage of VAT paid on labour for renovation and property maintenance work from the current 12.5% to 5% would help the current economic situation of high numbers of unemployed people, and would also have a number of social and economic benefits for the UK as a whole, including helping the Government reach its carbon emission reduction targets.

The report anticipates an additional 24,000 construction jobs could be created in 2010 alone, with this rising to nearly 35,000 building sector jobs by 2019. In addition, the report explains that the additional demand for tradespeople to carry out work in domestic properties will have a knock on effect for companies who supply materials to the trades as people decide to upgrade central heating systems, repair roofs, build extensions and rewire homes. As a result of making building work and renovation of properties more affordable for homeowners, this will in turn help people make their homes more energy efficient, reducing energy consumption and saving them money.

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