Everything from extensions, loft conversions, basement conversions, property development and everything else will be covered with experts on hand to discuss any issues regarding planning permissions, local law, costs, expenses and regulations. The experts  confirmed so far are architects: Opinder Liddar & Trevor Avery, design, planning, building regs specialist: Neil Davey and basement conversion expert: Mike Edwards & Sovereign Chemicals to name a few are ready to guide and advise you in any property matter you could possibly have.   The event held in Swindon is going to give you all the information and insight you could neeed into anything property related. Along with all the on hand expert advice and information there will also be hundreds of exhibitors with features that you will not find anywhere else. From audio tours and hundreds of home design ideas to the trade village exhibitor area with over 200 stands.

This is the only place to be if you own your own home, are looking to develop property or just have a general interest in property development or trades. Tickets are available free onlne and it is advisable to book early to save disapointment.

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Johnstones have a massive range of wood finishes ensuring perfect colour matches for any ongoing or planned task. They also have a range of opaque wood finishes with added tints giving different colour options with inspired primary and secondary colours. Johnstones technology is that well advanced in regards to their tinting system, it means that it’s possible to tint the woodwork to any colour or shade on request.

Johnstones are constantly updating and improving their already massive and impressive range of quality products. The bases and colourants offer a massive amount of coverage, opacity, vibrancy and colour retention. In addition to adding even more choice the tinting system also offers a consistant high level of paint quality across all finishes and colours, making this the ideal product for any ongoing project.

The tinting machines the company uses are so state of the art that they work by mixing the chosen colour pigments using either a white opaque base or clear stain base, which in turn then produces the relevant tone. The tinting machines are available to the contractor in every single one of Johnstones centres across the UK which includes over 80 independent stockists.

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Craig Martin aged 22 from Longton is in his third year and is now one of the young apprentice stars winning Johnstone’s young painter of the year award in 2008 and 2009. The determined artist through his creativity has now got himself a place in the Dulux Decorator apprentice of the year’s regional final. Craig said that the only reason he started entering the competitions in the first place was to prove his dedication to his employers.

Another young artist is Darryl Smith from Meir, he is now currently in his second year as an apprentice with the reputable company J&S Seddon. Darryl was up against 23 other students in the Johnstone’s young painter of the year regional competition and took first place. Dave Harris aged 21, who is also a second year student from Oakhill took second place, Dave currently works for his father as an apprentice at Harris decorators. The two young artists are a master piece in progress, and if this is what they are achieving at this early stage in their careers then they should have a great future ahead of them in the painting and decorating industry.

If you need a quality local  painter and decorator to carry out some work then let local traders help take the hassle out of finding one and submit details of your painting requirements at www.localtraders.com.

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Things like carpets in patient’s bedrooms are due to be removed and replaced with vinyl flooring, walls are to be re-plastered and re-decorated to ensure they can be cleaned down as easily as possible to make sure there is very little chance of spreading infection like MRSA.

It was announced last week that beds at Ross-Shire Hospital are to close temporarily while work is undertaken to improve cleanliness and patient safety on the ward. After having an internal environmental inspection carried out, as part of the NHS Highlands programme, the decision was made to make sure that all walls, floors and surfaces are made easier to clean.

The NHS Highlands have announced it is not possible to say when the beds will be ready to reopen and the exact work on the relatively old building is not known until an assessment is carried out by the estates department staff but it will almost certainly involve work being carried out to the floors, walls and ceilings including plastering and painting and decorating.

It will be a total of 5 beds from a 13 bed ward that will close, which are usually home to patients sent over from their GP or transferred from Raigmore Hospital. However a spokes person has said,

“The required repairs are urgent but we must ensure that the patients are not put at risk.”

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The key colour identified by Dulux as the season’s must have colour for interior decorating in spring/summer 2010 is Spring Breeze. The bright sunshine yellow colour is great for brightening up any room and with a varying depth of tones available as indicated on the Spring Breeze paint card available alongside the custom mix paint machines in most large DIY superstores, such as Homebase and B&Q, choosing the exact shade of colour to suit your taste is easy.

Having made the transition from catwalk colour for designer clothing, to highstreet fashion last year, the bold yellow colour is an excellent choice for paint and accessories, whether you choose to paint feature walls, highlight alcoves or recessed areas or pick out areas of a room with block colour for a stunning effect. Lamps, cushions, throwovers and smaller decorative ornaments and accessories can add the finishing touch to bring the overall design together.

Summer Breeze can be combined with a range of other paint colours, whether using paler shades of the same paint tone to complement the bolder statement of darker colour, or contrasting it with crisp white walls, shelves or furniture in a bedroom, living room or dining room. Alternatively for a more daring but effective use of colour to continue the bright summery feel, choosing pink or aqua can really pay off.

Design consultant, Naomi Cleaver, who is also an interior designer and is well known for television appearances, said,

“These shades are fresh but knowing, with a slightly retro glance. They are unfailingly seductive when combined with caramel and white.”

So if you fancy letting a bit of Spring Breeze blow through your home to get rid of winter cobwebs and revive your tired paintwork, check out the colour charts at your local DIY store and set your imagination free.

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The sofas, which had been manufactured in China and treated with a chemical, DMF, to prevent the fabric of the leather settees from going mouldy whilst in storage before shipping to the UK , had been sold by stores such as Homebase, Walmsley furniture, Land of Leather, who have subsequently gone into liquidation, and Argos, as well as some smaller retailers.

The offending chemical is an antifungal product, however it is now banned in the EU. Customers experienced a range of health problems ranging from breathing difficulties and eye problems to skin rashes and burns. One victim, Jo Hill from Cornwall, started with a rash which developed into a more severe skin condition with weeping sores causing a burning sensation during the night. She said,

“Every evening I was sat on the chair watching TV and then going to bed and waking up at 3am and my skin was burning. The only way I could stop it was to sit in a freezing cold shower.”

It was only after it was realised that the new leather furniture was causing the problem that Jo stopped sitting on the settee and found that her skin began to recover.

So far £20 million has been agreed as a ‘claims handling agreement’ which will compensate up to 2000 people with non-severe injuries and health problems resulting from the use of the chemical in the furniture products. Further action is being taken surrounding around 3000 further cases which are being classed as severe.

Richard Langton of Russell Jones & Walker who are leading the case believes that there may still be further sofas, chairs and settees in people’s homes being used without people being aware that they contain DMF.

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The college has recently invested £6 million in a new Centre for Construction and Manufacturing Technologies which opened in January and the open evening will be an opportunity for students looking to learn a trade to explore the college’s facilities and see the new equipment the college has to offer.

Courses that are on offer at the college include joinery, painting and decorating, electrical work, bricklaying and plumbing and the awards appeal to a number of different age groups, from conventional students who have left school and are looking to train to begin a career as a qualified tradesperson, to mature students looking to learn new skills and retrain to take their career in a new direction. This could be due to a lack of jobs in their current industry due to the economic down turn or interest in learning a trade for reasons such as better job prospects, more interesting roles or better pay than an existing role.

The head of the centre, Daniel O’Callaghan, said,

“Although we are now in a recession new students can take heart from the fact that there is invariably a skills shortage when you come out of recession because of older people retiring.”

If you’re interested in finding out more about studying opportunities to become a qualified tradesman, places on the taster sessions at the college can be booked by calling 01493 419213.

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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.

Step 2: Dull as dishwater

If saving water is up your street, you could go one further and speak to a drainage specialist about installing grey water harvesting to collect water from your sink, bath, shower or washing machine which then gets stored in a tank buried underground and can be used instead of fresh drinking water from the mains supply when watering veg or flushing your loo.

Alternatively you could install a low flush toilet and supply the water to it from a rainwater harvesting system, which again, a drainage expert can advise on and provide a quote, and bathroom fitters can help you design a low water using bathroom with water saving taps, showers and toilets.

Step 3: The great outdoors

As well as being a haven for you and your family, an easy way to green your home is to start with the outside. There are a number of options which a landscape gardener could help with by designing the ideal garden to incorporate as many or as few of the ideas below as you fancy:

1. plants to attract beneficial insects and bees
2. a wildlife pond to attract frogs
3. wild areas or shelters for creatures like hedgehogs
4. bird houses
5. vegetable plot
6. plants like buddleia to attract butterflies
7. install a composter or wormery

Step 4: A touch of glass

The windows in your home can be responsible for a lot of heat loss, especially if they allow drafts around ill-fitting frames. Single glazed units are poor at insulating your home and you can be wasting a lot of energy by not replacing old single glazed windows.

Investing in double glazing can be a good option; you can save money on your energy bills because you won’t need to have the heating on as high to keep the house at the same comfortable temperature.

If you already have double glazing but have drafts around your windows, filling holes can help keep your home warmer and is a cheap and easy problem to solve. If you want to go one further however, fitting triple glazing can keep your home warmer, or choosing energy efficient windows next time you replace your windows can make your home even greener.

Step 5: The heat(ing) is on

Whilst on the subject of energy efficiency, the next big area where inefficiency can waste a significant amount of energy and money is central heating. Upgrading an old inefficient boiler to a newer model such as a condenser boiler, or even looking at options such as solar water heating, ground source heat pumps or wood chip boilers can dramatically reduce your carbon footprint, increase the value of your home and reduce your energy bills.

Another option is installing a wood burning stove. Wood burners are able to improve the efficiency of a conventional open fireplace by up to 400% depending on the fuel you burn and the type of stove you choose. If you don’t want a lot of building work changing the structure and look of your fireplace, don’t dismiss wood burners straight away because there are a number of inset wood burning stoves on the market such as the 301 range from Esse. They can be installed in the opening of a fireplace, usually with the fire bricks removed, causing very little disruption, and depending on the age of your property, you usually don’t even need to line your chimney.

Step 6: A lick of paint

The brighter spring sunshine often highlights the dirty fingerprints on doors and walls in your home and puts you in the mood for a good old spring clean and fresh coat of paint for your home. An easy way to make your home greener is to choose eco-paint. There is increasing choice in environmentally friendly paint products, from clay paints such as the range from Earthborne, to the new range of more sustainably produced paint from Dulux, Ecosense. The reduced fumes and more sustainable production using more natural pigments and ingredients mean the paints have a lower impact on the planet.

Step 7: Take the floor

The range of eco flooring products is on the increase too, not only with environmentally friendly carpetting options such as seagrass, coir, sisal and paper, but the amount of wood flooring products and laminates that use FSC wood is growing.

When buying tiles, try and find tiles that come from closer to home to reduce transportation emissions, and where possible, find out if you’re buying red tiles other than terracotta how the pigment was added. Some tiles are produced using chemicals that can cause damage to both the environment and the health of the people making them.

Ideally support UK producers such as Johnson’s based in Stoke-on-Trent. They have a good environmental policy and recycle waste from the nearby ceramics industry in the tiles they produce at the factory in Stoke.

One last flooring option is reclaimed timber flooring or reclaimed terracotta tiles. This option can be more expensive but speaking to a flooring specialist can help you find out what the best options for eco flooring in your home are, and recycling old materials is one of the most environmentally friendly steps you can take.

Over to you

Whatever steps you decide to take to make your home greener and support Earth Day, you can be confident that you will be making your home a more healthy place and more sustainable place for you and your family to live.

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People often forget about small rooms such as studies, downstairs toilets and box rooms or choose plain simple colours because they don’t think a small space can take a strong design, but it is often the case that using a busier wallpaper or more extravagant floor covering can transform a small space making it look effective or even make it look bigger.

There are a number of wallpaper ranges that are on the market providing a more luxurious option for fully wallpapering a small room. They are often more expensive but can add a contemporary designer wallpaper look to your home. Some include LED lights which provide atmospheric lighting in the small room too, or can feature crystals or glitter adding sparkle and reflecting light around the room, or even hollograms and thicker piles with soft flocked designs.

Sometimes being brave and adventurous choosing a bright, individual designed wallpaper can pay off providing a very effective interior design option which you can enjoy or can help sell your property if you’re thinking of moving house.

In addition to attractive and bold designer wallpapers, floor coverings can also help make small rooms look bigger and the options for bolder and more individual flooring are increasing. Metallic finishes can be good for bouncing light around a room and can be combined with metal mosaic tiles for a co-ordinated effect to travel the effect from the floor onto the walls.

Another option which can add colour in a very modern and unusual way is to use resin bonded aggregates. This is where lots of tiny stones are set in a resin on the floor and can be in a range of colours which is ideal for picking out a colour scheme or being highlighted by accessories.

Whatever choice you go for when decorating a small room, choosing a more luxurious high end wallpaper may cost more money but when being used to paper walls in a small space, it is more affordable so gives you the chance to have a taste of luxury and expense in your home.

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Parents are recommended to choose hard wearing products such as textured carpets that can easily cope with things such as spilt paint, dropped food and stains from muddy football boots. Another consideration when choosing carpetting would be picking one that is hardwearing and easy to keep clean. Darker coloured carpets are often most effective at hiding general dirt, but it is certainly a good idea to avoid light coloured carpets such as beige and cream. Choosing thick carpets, especially for teenager’s rooms, can also provide good sound insulation to reduce the amount of noise escaping from the room. If you’re still unsure of the best flooring material to choose, speaking to a reputable carpet fitter to get expert advice can often be the best approach.

When it comes to choosing furniture to decorate your child’s room with, there is a lot of choice out there. When choosing children’s beds and mattresses, go for the more hardwearing options. Storage is also a big concern – the more storage options available, the more chance your child might keep their room tidy!

It is believed also buying neutral coloured furniture is a great plus because as we know, as time goes by, the luminous bed stead may not be something that is suitable or continues to be a popular choice for your children.

Getting onto the walls, a popular method of dealing with changeable teenage or children’s taste is to paint the walls with neutral colours, and taking advantage of new paint products such as wipeable paint will help reduce the amount of work repainting the walls if they get marked or your child changes their mind about their preferred colour scheme. Favourite colours can be incorporated through use of accessories to jazz up the bedroom design.

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