A little bit of home maintenance before winter sets in can save a lot of unecessary repair costs so its worth spending a few hours checking over your home to see if anything requires attention. Outside the home : - Remove all debris and leaves from gutters, downspouts and grids. Check paving and driveways for cracks and repair as necessary to avoid frost causing more damage. Clean paving and driveways of leaves and moss to prevent slips and falls. Check fencing panels and posts are in good condition and have been treated with a wood preserve. Repair any loose or missing pointing … [Read more...]
CREATE A STEPPING STONE PATH
Tools required :- Spade, spot board, trowel, markers i.e. sticks, rubber mallet Placing stepping stones across a garden lawn is a great way to create easy access to sheds, flowerbeds and patio areas, with the minimum of disruption to the lawn itself. First walk the route you wish to cross your lawn and at each step leave a marker such as a short stick, stuck in the ground. This will give you the number of stepping stones you will need and a guide for where to eventually lay them. Now you can spend some time at your local DIY store choosing some suitably coloured / shaped … [Read more...]
USING A PRESSURE WASHER TO CLEAN PATIOS AND PAVING
Over a period of time, especially the winter months, patios and paving can become coated in very unsightly dirt, slime, moss and fungus. Using a high pressure water washer is an ideal way to remove it all, leaving your patio / paving looking almost as good as the day it was laid. There are a lot of pressure washers available in most DIY stores and garden centres in a wide range of prices to suit most budgets. One of the more popular manufacturers is a company called Karcher, who as far as I recall were one of the first suppliers of pressure washers. Before you start to use … [Read more...]
USING CLEANING SOLUTIONS ON PATIOS AND PAVING
Summers on its way (hopefully), so now it is time to start tidying up and cleaning the patio and paving, removing the weeds, moss and stains. Weeds can be removed from joints in paving simply with a knife or treated with weedkiller. Brush away and remove any loose debris from the patio / paving surface. If the patio / paving is badly stained there are cleaning solutions available from the larger DIY stores and garden centres for around £6 - £10. The solution usually comes in a 5Ltr container and contains an anti fungal additive to reduce further fungal growth. Safety tip :- … [Read more...]
LAYING FLAGS OR DECORATIVE PAVING
Tools required :- Spade / shovel, spot board, trowel, 1000 / 600mm spirit level, tape measure, wood saw, rubber mallet and plate vibrator (whacker plate). There are two common ways DIYers lay flags, the first is the spot method where five dollops of mortar are put on the ground and the flag is positioned level on top. This method, which is used a great deal usually leads to problems with the paving / patios after a few months. The flags are not fully supported and may be prone to breaks if any load is placed on them, also water underneath the flags can cause them to start to rock and … [Read more...]
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