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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First off you will need to decide whether to fit the blind inside or outside the window recess. If you choose to fit the blind inside the recess, ensure that it is cut to the right size so that it doesn’t catch on the wallpaper, paintwork or other wall coverings inside the recess, otherwise you could end up damaging the blind and needing to redecorate more often because of the friction as the blind is lowered and raised.
If you have a fabric roller blind, this should be easy to cut, but it is better to cut the blind once, even if it ends up still being slightly too wide, then remeasure and trim to the final desired width of your window. Once you have cut fabric away, you cannot add it back on after all. Alternatively, you could hang the roller blind on the outside of the window recess, usually attached above the window, which is often a more practical approach because it means you will have more room on the window sill for things like pictures, plants or ornaments. You will just need to ensure that when you fit the blind, there is an equal amount of the blind at each side of the window, unless you cut it to fit.
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If you’ve decided to redecorate your home and want a new blind to add the finishing touch around your window, first and foremost you need to find what type of blind is best for you. If you are looking for a soft fabric look then ideally you are going to need roller blinds, these blinds can be adjusted to fit your window if slightly too wide.
Then there are venetian blinds that can be moved up or down dependent on the amount of light you want to have coming through them; upwards for a soft light and downwards for a reverse effect, or at times when you want privacy or you want to block out direct light from shining into the room, you can tilt the blind to achieve this. Venetian blinds come in a number of materials from wooden blinds to PVC and aluminium.
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Knowing exactly what type of chimney your property has can be important, not only if you ever need to find a roofing contractor to carry out repairs, but if you’re planning a project such as installing a new fireplace. The type of chimney your property has may dictate or narrow the options available to you.
There are four different sorts of chimneys that you may find in your home, and you can identify which your home has by looking for certain features. The different sorts of flues are:
- brick chimney
- pre-cast flue
- pre-fabricated flue
- no flue
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If you’ve decided you want to redecorate a room in your home and need new flooring, and have decided that carpet tiles or vinyl floor tiles are the best option for your home, the next step after choosing the tiles themselves and ordering them from a DIY store or carpet shop is to begin making preparations to lay your new floor.
One main consideration when planning to lay floor tiles is the surface that you will be laying them over. If you have removed your existing flooring such as old carpet, and will be laying your new flooring onto floorboards, you will need to lay hardboard sheets over the floorboards first, with the smooth side facing upwards. Even if you use hardboard however, you should never use treated timber as a sub floor.
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When you are looking to fit a new shower into your bathroom there are now more options on the market than you may be aware of. When either redecorating or refurbishing your bathroom most people are used to seeing the standard power shower in the tub or shower head attachment on the bath taps that can be mounted on the wall, but now there are different showers and shower enclosure styles which can provide different effects for your new bathroom design so I am going to be telling you of just a few which could be suited for yourself.
Walk in showers
If you’re considering installing a walk in shower, there are some great positives, one being that it is the complete opposite of an enclosed shower cubicle. Without any sliding doors, a walk in shower can made to any design you like and in all shapes and sizes so can easily fit into any bathroom design.
When deciding the size of your shower, make sure you know where your toilet, sink, bath if you wish to install one and any bathroom furniture of fixtures such as radiators and heated towel rails will be situated and this should then give you a good idea of the space available for your shower.
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Whether you need a bigger kitchen or an extra bedroom when your family has out grown your home you have 2 options, extend your home if you have land available or move house. Both are valid options but which one is best for you?
First we will look at extensions and what they entail. Taking on an extension can be quite daunting when you think that you may not be able to use your garden or drive for a few months and you may be living out of 1 room and bathing in the sink, but a well planned extension can not only add value to your property but transform your cramped house into your dream home.
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Painting your home can be a long and laborious task, often putting rooms out of action while furniture is piled up under dust sheets and relocated to different rooms of the house to give space to paint. Applying multiple coats of paint can often be a pain too, because the job takes even longer, but if an even paint finish is desired, or if a bright coloured paint was used for a previous coat, you can’t always avoid second or even third coats of paint.
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Carpet tiles and vinyl floor tiles can be an effective flooring solution for your home, especially in busy family areas of the house. Floor tiles are easy to lay by yourself, requiring minimal DIY skills, and if you are redecorating an average sized room, you shouldn’t need to set aside more than an afternoon to complete the job.
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