Through my whole experience as a plasterer, I’ve always been lucky to work with people who knew what they were doing. I’ve been shown the right tools to use, the correct ways to prepare a job, and more importantly, I’ve been shown how to put the plaster onto the wall! But what do you do if you're new to plastering or DIY and have no one to show you how to plaster a wall? What happens if you want to try to improve your home but just don’t know where to start? It’s just so expensive to pay a professional to do a job in your own home sometimes. Well, I’m here to say you can do it yourself! You can plaster those walls! In this article, I'll explain how to prepare and plaster a … [Read more...]
DIYers Guide to Tiling a Bathroom
Tiling a bathroom is not a simple task. There are tonnes of different scenarios which may require different skills and techniques to create a flawless finish. However, if you have a good idea of the processes involved, how long they're likely to take and some of the problems you might encounter along the way, there's every chance you'll do a great job of tiling your bathroom. First things first. You’ll need to know what equipment is required for the job. You may need some or all of the following tools, depending on your circumstances: Goggles Spirit level Chisel Hammer Adhesive Grout Spacers Spacer clippers Grout saw Rotary cutter Utility … [Read more...]
15 Essential Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Building Contractor
This is a guest post by Grant Findley. Choosing and hiring the right building contractor for your latest home project is no easy task. The last thing you want to do is hire a cowboy builder or con artist, so you’ll need a way of vetting potential contractors until you’re feeling confident and comfortable with your selection. I’ve been a contractor for many years now, taking over the family business Findley Roofing and Building from my father. Over that time I’ve been asked hundreds of questions, all of which I’ve been happy to answer with complete honesty. Like all contractors should. People who ask me a ton of questions are savvy and feel completely confident they’ve made … [Read more...]
How to Paint Skirting Boards
Painting skirting boards isn’t difficult. But it’s one of those essential jobs most people don’t enjoy because it involves lots of crouching and crawling around the floor. Typically, there are two scenarios - painting new skirting boards or repainting your existing skirting boards. If you’re painting new skirting boards, it’s better to do it before fixing them to the wall. You’ll need to make sure they’re prepared and primed before painting. Here's a list of the tools you'll need to do this job. Some of them are optional depending on your circumstances. Good quality 2" paint brush Paint Primer (optional) Painter's tape Low tack floor protector (optional) … [Read more...]
How to Maintain Timber Decking to Prolong its Life (plus Infographic)
Adding timber decking to your garden can significantly enhance its appearance, but it’s not enough just to throw down a deck and leave it as is thereafter. It requires due care and attention throughout the year so that it doesn’t lose its visual appeal, nor is the timber’s quality compromised. Here’s a few tips and pointers on how to keep your decking looking its finest all year round. With the spring months almost upon us, it will soon be time to wash and seal timber decking. This will entail removing any debris that accumulated over winter, sweeping and cleansing the deck comprehensively, rinsing it with clean water, and sealing and sanding the deck. Once summer arrives, conditions … [Read more...]
How to Make the Most of a Dark Room in Your Home
Having a dark room in your home can leave you reluctant to decorate it. You can’t change it, so what’s the point in trying to make it look nice, right? Wrong! There are some really simple ways to brighten up a dark room and make it look less cave-like. Here are some of the best tips to make the most of a dark room. Take the first step If you’ve been living in your home for a while, you’re probably used to the dark areas. It could be that one room just doesn’t have enough natural light, whilst another has dark furniture which makes it look gloomy. Before you can brighten up a room, you need to walk through it and assess what is causing the darkness – is it the furniture? Is it the walls? Or … [Read more...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Japanese Joinery and How It’s Taking the Internet by Storm
What is Japanese Joinery? Centuries before the invention of screws and fasteners, Japanese carpentries created their own beautiful and effective woodworking joints (known as joinery), closely related to Japanese architecture. It is the work of tightly slotting together pieces of timber or lumber to hold together and produce more complicated items. Joinery does not require materials such as stitching, glue, and nails because of the elaborately carved interlocking wooden joints. The advantages of having Japanese joinery is the fact that they are incredibly durable, tough, flexible, visually appealing and material efficient. These characteristics depend on the properties of the materials … [Read more...]
How to Make a Dovetail Joint
Perfect dovetail joints are a thing of beauty. They're also mighty strong and hard to make well. The most basic dovetail joint is called the through dovetail. It's generally used to join together two pieces of wood at a right angle. You'll find them in drawers, boxes, chests and the like. Creating a through dovetail by hand requires patience and skill. In the above video, woodworking expert Paul Sellers guides you through the process from start to finish and shares some of the tips he's learned from working with wood for over fifty years. if you enjoyed this video and want to learn more about woodworking, check out Paul's 100+ videos on his YouTube channel. … [Read more...]
How to Choose the Perfect Bath
From freestanding baths to corner baths and more, there are many styles, shapes and sizes available to suit any requirement. Choosing a new bath that’s perfect for you can be difficult and you can easily feel overwhelmed, but hopefully the following information will help you make the right decision. Where do I begin when choosing a new bath? Whether or not you plan on creating a designer bathroom, the bath will always be the focal point of the room. The bath isn’t something you will replace very often, so that’s why it’s important to find one that’s right for you. When choosing a new bath, the first thing you should take into consideration is to work out the size of your bathroom. … [Read more...]
6 Easy Ways to Convert Your Spare Bedroom into Something More Useful
Do you have a spare bedroom going to waste? Maybe it's the most neglected room in your home, jammed with washing, unwanted furniture and last year’s Christmas decorations. I urge you to not to let this valuable space go to waste. Your spare bedroom is an opportunity to provide guest accommodation for visiting friends, a separate play area for your kids or even a space to work from home. Once you upgrade, it should be able to take on any of these functions with ease. If you’re on the lookout for easy ideas to make use of your spare bedroom and upgrade it into a welcoming and responsive space, check out these simple hacks. 1. Rent It Out As A Guest Bedroom Do you like the idea of a … [Read more...]
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