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.
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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On Thursday 29th April 2010, potential students interested in studying at Great Yarmouth College will be able to attend for a taster session taking place between 4.30pm and 8pm. The college, which offers courses in engineering and the construction industry has more than 500 students studying there.
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.
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Two new underfloor heating products have been added to the ranges available from Danish international company Danfoss. The products enhance the current heating and cooling equipment supplied by the global manufacturer, one being manufactured by Devi, part of the Danfoss group, and the other under the Danfoss name.
The first product is a high output underfloor heating mat which gives customers a solution to heating rooms with poor insulation such as cellars and conservatories. The electrically powered mat heats up at a much faster rate than other electric underfloor heating products available on the market, and is also suited to installation in smaller spaces such as downstairs toilets, utility rooms and small bathrooms.
The cabled underfloor heating mat is designed to keep the room it is installed in at a comfortable temperature, even in rooms that usually lose heat more quickly due to having cold concrete floors or insufficient insulation. They are also designed with easy installation in mind, being constructed from an open mesh with the heating cable running through it. The mat is simply rolled out onto a tile or concrete floor before being covered with a flexible tile adhesive which a new tiled floor can then be laid on. The mats come with the standard Devi 10 year guarantee and can be teamed up with thermostats from the Devi range for easy temperature control.
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Cheshire police are urging local tradesmen in Sandbach to remove their tools from work vans and vehicles overnight after a large number of thefts have occurred. Tradespeople, in particular roofers, building firms and plumbers, are being targetted by thieves breaking into vehicles and business premises and stealing tools and equipment, leaving tradesmen unable to carry out their work.
The tool thefts are having a negative effect on an industry that has already been badly affected by both the recession hitting the amount construction work contracts available, but also the recent bad weather that started the year off. The snow and cold temperatures stretching into the new year prevented a lot of building firms and roofing contractors from being able to begin new building jobs, so this latest attack on their businesses and livelihoods is most unwelcome.
One local Sandbach roofing firm, Sandbach Roofing Contractors Ltd, was hit last week and saw the company lose £2200 worth of tools. In order for the company to continue the jobs they have lined up, the stolen professional tools had to be replaced, however the impact on the company is that employees had to suffer 2 days without pay to fund the purchasing of replacement tools.
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The UK’s largest builders merchants, Travis Perkins, have announced that they have seen a change in customer trends which indicate that property developing and self building are becoming more popular again in the weeks since Christmas, whereas DIY seems to be taking more of a back seat.
The news comes as the demand for DIY equipment such as screwdrivers and paint brushes is decreasing; they are being purchased less frequently in DIY stores such as Wickes which is owned by Travis Perkins, compared both to the weeks and months before Christmas and the trends the building firm saw this time last year.
Last year, there was an overall decline of 3% in the number of retail purchases for DIY home improvement equipment, but this was lower than the sector expected considering the country was in the grip of a recession. People had still preferred the DIY option, choosing to improve their homes rather than move house, mainly due to the lack of public confidence in the housing market.
As the UK has finally moved out of recession and the housing market it beginning to turn, confidence in property prices and investing in bricks and mortar is beginning to be a more attractive prospect. This seems to be what is happening as Travis Perkins are seeing more sales to tradespeople coming out of the woodwork, who make up 70% of their customers, purchasing building materials such as bricks and timber to renovate properties for resale or as rental properties.
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Despite reductions in the cost of wholesale gas an electricity, customers are still seeing price increases when their gas and electricity bills land on the doormat. In addition to this, energy companies have announced increased profits, which energy watchdog Consumer Focus has slammed, saying that energy prices should be cut in order to pass on the reduction in the price of wholesale electricity and gas to their customers.
Energy companies have, it has been unveiled in an Ofgem quarterly report, made profits of £105 for each dual-fuel customer in February 2010 compared to £75 for each customer in November 2009. In addition, with British Gas having announced profits for 2009 of £595 million, a £291 million increase from 2008 profits; and Scottish Power having confirmed pre-tax profits lying at £1,293 million, it is understandable that consumers who are struggling to pay their energy bills will be less than pleased with this news.
Consumer Focus is therefore calling on energy companies to be fair to their customers and pass on the benefits of reduced energy costs to reduce their energy bills. British Gas have advised however that if they were to cut their energy bills by 5% they would not be making any profit. Their managing director, Phil Bentley, commented that if this was the case, British Gas would not be able to offer services such as installation smart meters, assisting with insulating people’s homes and creating more jobs.
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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.
The World Plumbing Council, an organisation which aims to promote the importance of plumbing in public health and in preventing damage to the environment while at the same time bringing together the world’s plumbing organisations and industry bodies, have launched World Plumbing Day which will be held for the first time on 11th March 2010.
World Plumbing Day will become an annual diary date which will help raise public awareness of the health and safety aspects of the plumbing industry in reducing diseases carried by water, ensuring safe and clean water supplies and the disposal of waste water and sewage, as well as the ways in which the plumbing industry can help reduce different countries’ carbon footprints. In addition, the World Plumbing Council hopes to increase people’s knowledge and understanding of the important roles many people play in the plumbing industry, including plumbing engineers and inspectors, plumbing equipment manufacturers and academics with industry expertise.
The World Plumbing Council has also launched a website to promote World Plumbing Day and help both plumbing organisations from around the world, and other interested organisations who want to help promote the importance of plumbing for health and safety reasons or because of its role in protecting the environment and natural resources such as water supplies, to find information about the day and advise on the sorts of activities that people could organise for the day.
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The boiler scrappage scheme, which was introduced by the Government in order to reduce UK carbon emissions enables homeowners in England whose boiler is an inefficient G rated boiler or worse, to apply for a grant of £400 towards the cost of installing a new energy efficient boiler.
Boiler manufacturers, Worcester, who are part of the Bosch group, are backing the Government boiler scrappage scheme by offering a further 12 month guarantee on their boilers.
There are a number of things you can look out for which will indicate whether your boiler is G rated or less:
- gas fired boilers 15 years or older
- oil fired boilers 25 years or older
- a constantly lit pilot light
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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.
