diy, do it yourself, house, home, maintenance

Along with cooking programs, DIY and property shows are currently some of the most popular programmes on British TV. Turn on the TV, and you’ll likely be bombarded with shows that show us how we can improve our humble abodes. Changing Rooms, Room for Improvement and Property Ladder are all programmes that reflect the British public’s thirst for home improvement knowledge and inspiration.

It seems that not only are the Brits obsessed with owning their own property, but also transforming it into the home of their dreams. There is also the attraction of increasing a house‘s value; there are many changes that can be made that will not only make your home a nicer, more functional place, but will also up the sale price.

A loft conversion, for example can make use of otherwise largely wasted space, creating an extra bedroom, study or workshop. A new kitchen can add considerable value to a home, as it’s often said that a kitchen can sell a house. Although getting a complete set of brand new units can cost several thousands of pounds, a cheaper alternative is to just replace the handles and doors of cupboards, thereby getting a whole new look, without unnecessary spending.

The garden is another area of the home which is easily transformed into a useful and valuable space. By planting quick growing trees and shrubs, gardeners can create an oasis of calm even in a busy city. Other ideas include patios and wooden decking, (ideal for BBQs and sun bathing) or a tree house for the kids, which can be designed and built by professionals if your carpentry is not up to the task. More and more people are opting for hot tub and saunas in place of a garden shed and fire pits provide a warm and light focus to a garden party.

Though home improvements cost money and often time, if carefully considered, this is money well spent, as it can add to the overall value of the property. Many people are seeing such improvements as an investment, and therefore are borrowing small amounts of money to pay for work, in the hopes that this will produce a return on their investment.

Loans are very easily available from banks, building societies and even supermarkets these days, in fact there’s no need to even leave your home to borrow money these days, as online loans can be applied for from the comfort of your computer.

And there’s one final benefit of home improvements – the satisfaction of leaving your mark on your property, making it your own and being safe in the knowledge that you’ve made your home a better place.

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One of the best approaches you can take before you invest in a DIY solar panel is to make your home more energy efficient by checking for air leaks. Cold or warm air leaking into the interior of a house will cause the air conditioning unit to work harder therefore increasing your home electricity bill.

Many home owners will look for air leaks inside their house. There is one area that many people do not check for leaks. It is outside the house. The following is 5 places you should check for leaks outside your home.

1) Look around the electrical fitting, faucet, pipes and electrical wiring – Cracks will often form around the junction where a pipe goes through the foundation. The sides of electrical fittings tend to develop holes after being exposed to the environment for a long time. In these cases, fill the cracks or holes with caulk.

2) Check the interface between two building materials – When two types of building are joined together, they tend to develop cracks because of different expansion and contraction properties. For example, places where brick is lined up with a wood panel, cracks will develop. Fill the cracks with caulk.

3) Look for cracks in mortar, siding or foundation – To be safe, just fill up any cracks you see with caulk.

4) Check for holes around the exterior of windows and doors – Due to the movement and vibration of exterior doors and window, cracking may develop around the frame. Prevent air seeping in by squirting a generous amount of caulk on it.

5) Check storm windows – Make sure the storm windows have good seal integrity. Any damaged or loose components should be replaced.

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A well planned home has electric sockets at every pre-determined spot in the house, allowing for ease of use anytime of the day. Unfortunately, only 1 or 2 houses out of a hundred have been designed this way. This is the reason why many of us make use of long extension cords that snake around the house – bringing electricity to un-serviced regions of the house. Sometimes it’s convenient, oftentimes it’s not.

To make the picture more complicated, extension cords are not recommended for heavy or power-intensive appliances, such as washing machines and automatic dryers. In these instances, you really have to install new electric sockets. But how does one do it?

DIY socket installation

Who says it can’t be done? “Can’t” should be removed from the vocabulary of a competent DIY-er or do-it-yourselfer. If you can follow simple instructions and you know the basic skills of do it yourself home repair, home improvement and renovation, then there is no way that you’re going to fail.

Note of warning

If you think that the power cables in your house have already been battered too much by overuse, misuse or by it general age, then leave the task to a qualified electrician who can do it professionally. Losing a finger or a whole hand to electricity is never a pretty sight. Don’t bite off what you can’t chew, especially if you’re dealing with electricity.

The steps

1. Safety first : turn of the main switch, and make sure that all the lines that you would be touching have absolutely no power. If you think some lines are not controlled by an automatic main power switch, use a small volt tester to make sure. If you can, remove the wounded wires inside the automatic switch to completely render the lines inside the house power-less.

2. Install the sockets one by one. Make sure that you know what kinds of circuits you are dealing with. For example, radial circuits have more than one wire in them. There are earth wires, positive and negative wires, etc. Make sure that you attach these properly to the new sockets before anything else.

3. Remember that sockets should be well above possible flood levels. Flood levels vary from region to region, as well as country to country. As a general rule of thumb, electric sockets and electrical appliances should be placed at least 170 mm above the base ground level. Adjust accordingly, based on your own calculations. But do not place the electric sockets too high up that they become unusable.

4. If you plan to install surface-mounted electrical sockets, then you are in luck. These are relatively easy to install and far easier to observe for defects than other types. Though a bit bulkier, surface-mounted electrical sockets can be easily installed and just as easily removed.

5. Surface-mounted electrical sockets should have “safe boxes” that have been screwed in place before the actual socket is placed inside. Never install “naked” surface-mounted electrical sockets as these can cause immediate shock or even death, especially to small children and pets.

6. Flush-mounted electrical sockets are more difficult to install; you actually have to install it behind the wall. But if you do choose flush-mounted over surface-mounted, you would have the benefit of having a neater installation, minus the bulk.

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When you finish reading this article, you will have learned what you need to know before building a dog house for your dog. You will also learn where you can go to download a great – and free – plan. Be sure to read this article clear through to the end or you will miss some of this very important information.

Free dog house plans

If you want to build a dog house but are not a carpenter, don’t worry. There are free plans available from a number of websites.

But before you order any plans, make sure you have done your home work and know what to look for, such as.

1. Make sure the plan you order will keep your dog comfortable in any weather. If your area has cold winters or hot summers, you should probably build an insulated dog house.

2. Measure your dog’s height and length — so you can to build a house that will be the right size. If your dog is a puppy, make size adjustments in the plan so you build a house that fits the dog when fully grown.

3. Are there building codes in your area city or town? If so, be sure you understand them before ordering any plans.

4. How about your skills as a carpenter? If you are not an experienced do-it-yourselfer, you might want to choose a plan for a fairly simple house, such as a snoopy style house. On the other hand, if you’re a skilled carpenter, you could look for something moor complicated, such as a custom dog house plan.

5. The best plan should either include a partial wall or be large enough that you can add a partial wall. This is so that the dog can escape the elements as necessary.

6. Does the plan you’re evaluating have a hinged roof? If not, would it be easy to add hinges? This is important because it makes for easy cleaning. You see, when you clean your dog, you should make sure you also clean the dog’s house and bedding.

Some good sources for free plans

There are several sources for free plans I think are worthwhile. They are:

Lowes

Lowe’s has a nice free plan but it is rated Skill Level: Advanced, so treed carefully unless you’re a pretty experienced carpenter. This plan has a complete bill of materials, a cut list, information about the paint recommended, and a list of roofing, fasteners and the tools required. There are good instructions for constructing the house and a downloadable PDF of the actual plan.

All-about-dog-houses

This site offers a free plan rated “intermediate,” so the house should be easier to construct than the one offered by Lowe’s. It’s called the “Sparky I,” and features an insulated floor, roof, and walls, a removable roof for ease of cleaning, a cedar deck with roof, and an optional inner wall. The plan includes a drawing and materials list, and information on the four steps required to build it.

DIY network

This page from the DIY Network consists of a free dog house plan and instructions for building it. There are photos illustrating the various construction steps and a list of the materials required. However, there is no cut diagram so I would rate this plan as more for the advanced DIYers.

Georgia-Pacific Building Materials -

Georgia-Pacific has a free plan for a dog house designed to provide a sturdy shelter for a medium sized dog. The G-P dog house plan comes as a PDF documents and includes a materials and cut list, a cutting diagram, helpful good illustrations, and step-by-step instructions for building the dog house.

A custom dog house

If you’re a serious DIYer and feel up to tackling the construction of a custom dog house, this site offers a free plan may be just what the doctor ordered. Landscape architect Louise Leff created this plan. There are instructions for building this custom dog house and photos illustrating the various steps.

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To keep chickens is so easy and to build a simple DIY chicken coop to house them is the perfect solution to be able to meet yours and their housing requirements. There is so much information for you to use to your advantage and you can really make sure that your simple DIY chicken coop will be very practical and better still very affordable.

You do have another housing option and that is to purchase a readymade coop but, I have found them to very expensive and I am not sure that less should cost more. By that I mean that looking at the amount of materials involved in their construction, there is no way that you would pay that much at a DIY store for the same amount if you bought them yourself.

So, number one advantage in building your poultry accommodation yourself has to be the cost. If you want to provide the best you can for your hens and why not? Then being able to source quality materials from a DIY store for a reasonable price has to be a bonus. Less can definitely mean more and in this case we are talking more cost efficient.

Why pay over the top for a readymade coop that has been mass produced and machine cut and measured when you can guarantee your own satisfaction and craftsmanship by putting a coop to be proud of in your backyard? Not only that but you have built it with your own two hands and you know it will be hard wearing and good to look at.

There is a huge amount of chicken keeping knowledge all available at the touch of a button for you to access and make use of very easily. There are any number of hints, tips and poultry housing ideas that are simple to understand and implement. How fantastic to be able to follow a step by step guide and end up with accommodation that you can rightly be proud of.

The flexibility you get in your housing by being so involved from the initial planning stages right through to the finished coop really is second to none. You can customise in any way you like and add any quirky extras you want to make the coop unique and of course you have the versatility to be able to extend the coop at any time too.

Lighting and ventilation issues can all be taken care of very easily making sure that the coop stays as light, airy and ammonia free as possible. By providing any number of ramps and walkways you are benefiting your chickens overall welfare in an unseen but positive way by keeping them stimulated.

You can address their hygiene needs by making sure that you remove waste quickly, efficiently and with minimum of fuss to either you or your hens, another bonus that should not be under estimated.

So, when I say to house your chickens by building a simple DIY chicken coop is the perfect solution, it really is. You will be able to provide more than adequate accommodation to help keep your poultry safe and secure from predators and give yourself peace of mind. Also, you know that the simple DIY chicken coop really was not complicated to build and is durable, economical housing and what could be better?

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Believe it or not, small chicken house plans have recently become a highly sought after item on the internet. In fact, the market has become so saturated that you’ll probably have to spend hours searching for the right plans. This article provides a general outline about self-made chicken coops, and shows you where to download building plans quickly and easily.

How Small Do you Want It?

Chickens will lay significantly more eggs each week if they have adequate room to run around a bit. If you’re planning on keeping a small flock of 2-4 birds, you should be able to get away with a movable-type chicken house. However, if you’re planning on expanding your numbers in the future, building a mid-sized coop might be worth it in the long run.

Positioning For Maximum Egg Yields

Healthy chickens can lay 5 or more eggs each week in the right conditions. However, they are very susceptible to severe climate conditions (heat, cold, rain, etc), and may stop laying if they are too stressed out. Try to place your chicken house in an area that gets good sun exposure in the morning.

Chicken House Designs

If you live in an urban area, you might want to build a chicken house that is aesthetically pleasing and easy to keep clean. You might be surprised at how far a decent coat of paint will go! There are plenty of different styles and designs to choose from, and a good chicken house guide will outline them all for you.

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Getting a Quote for Your Sunroom

In the decision to add a sunroom onto your home, you may flirt with the idea of a DIY kit (or do-it-yourself kit) to cut down on the cost of labor, a huge expense when it comes to the construction of a sunroom. DIY kits are fairly inexpensive and generally come in ready to build standard sizes; however, for a bit more custom DIY kits are also available to suit the needs of each individual case.

A company that provides DIY kits will need precise measurements of your home and other criteria in order to provide you with a kit that will have the correct dimensions. You will need to know everything about your sunroom before you begin ordering. You will need to know the style of sunroom you want, the materials you want to build with, how many windows will be in the sunroom and where they will be placed, the types of windows you want to use and the glaze they will have…the list goes on and on. This may sound overwhelming but companies who manufacture DIY kits have developed a system that can help make the process easier. If they didn’t, no one would buy their product! Many of these manufacturing companies have design pages available on their websites for this specific reason.

Possible Problems with Do-It-Yourself Kits

The most common problem with DIY kits is not the kit itself but with the person who made the order. A majority of the time the level of work involved in installing a DIY kit is underestimated and not realized until the kit arrives. While installing a kit does not require changing the line of the home or electrical or duct work as it would in a four seasons sunroom, it can be a daunting task for one who is not on the ‘up and up’ when it comes to home improvement projects. Although the material will be covered under a certain level of guarantee, the construction will not. It is a good idea to check with your homeowner’s policy about what is covered and what is not when it comes to doing these types of projects yourself. You may be completely liable for any damages to your home or accidents/injuries that occur in the process of installing your DIY kit. In any case, installing a sunroom will be rewarding in itself. With the added space and the chance to use the room for any desired purpose, a sunroom becomes a great way to enhance a home, inside and out.

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Building a self build conservatory is actually quite a straight-forward task and if you are a competent DIY enthusiast you will find adding a new conservatory to your home is relatively easy and not as daunting as it may first appear.

The following is designed to provide a general guide to the process of installing a new DIY conservatory and whilst not intended to be a detailed construction guide should provide you with the basics.

1) CONSERVATORY BASE

You have two choices with regard to the type of conservatory base. You can either select a traditional excavated base or you can use a pre-fabricated steel base which will speed up the installation process.

Traditional Base

If you choose the traditional base route you may prefer to employ a local builder to build the base for you as the accuracy of the brickwork is vital in ensuring that your new conservatory can be installed easily and efficiently. Your DIY conservatory supplier will provide you with the base plans to suit your selected conservatory and the base must be constructed exactly to these plans. Using an experienced builder to build the base should ensure that the base is built square, to the correct dimensions and that the footings are excavated correctly. If drains need to be re-routed your builder will have the necessary experience to do this for you during the course of construction. Always agree the cost before work commences and ensure you check the base yourself when the builder has finished to make sure you are happy with the finished result. It can be difficult to get a builder back on site once he has moved onto his next job and any discrepancies in the brickwork could cause problems during the conservatory installation.

Of course you can construct the traditional base yourself and many of our customers have done so but it is time-consuming and very hard work so the savings you will make here by doing-it-yourself will need to be justified against the amount of free time you have to do the job and your expertise in building the foundations and laying bricks.

Steel Base

Installing a pre-fabricated steel base is much quicker and easier than constructing a traditional base as there are no large excavations to undertake so there is minimum disruption to your garden and no need to move any drains. These bases are normally made to order, delivered in kit form and are quite straight-forward to install by two persons over a couple of days or so. If your conservatory features dwarf walls, these will normally be provided as steel cassettes with a variety of external finishes including brick tiles or alternatively, supplied ready for rendering. The base itself is fixed to the wall of the house and sits on adjustable legs that are seated onto concrete pads making it very easy to level the floor which will normally be supplied with insulation and often comes complete with flooring. A steel base can be a cost effective alternative base for your new self build conservatory, especially when you compare construction times and the fact that there is little disruption to your garden. Once completed, these factory built conservatory bases are often very difficult to tell apart from a traditional constructed base. You could even take the conservatory with you when you move house!

2) INSTALLING YOUR NEW DIY CONSERVATORY

Most DIY conservatories are supplied complete with installation instructions that are designed for the novice installer and will cover fixing the walls of the conservatory, installing the conservatory roof and glazing the conservatory structure.

In general terms these instructions will walk you through fixing the French door, the welded cill, the conservatory windows, the corner posts and the conservatory roof. The most important factor to continually check when installing any conservatory is to ensure the frames and cill remain plumb and level throughout the construction. All screw fixings and their positions should be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the DIY conservatory supplier.

The roof structure will include an eaves beam that will sit on top of the window and door frames, a ridge beam or wall plate that will be fixed to your house wall and glazing bars that will connect between the ridge or wall plate and eaves beam. All components should be supplied factory cut, marked and pre-drilled ready for fitting and apart from trimming the guttering to size there should be no need for you to cut any of the roof components. The roof layout plan will enable you to identify which component and which glazing panel should be fitted in which position. Where the conservatory joins the house you will need to fit lead flashing to form a weatherproof seal.

3) FINISHING THE CONSERVATORY INSTALLATION

With the conservatory walls and roof installed your next task will be to glaze the roof. If you have chosen polycarbonate roof glazing this is a relatively simple task and involves placing the glazing into position and knocking on the PVCu cappings to form a weather tight seal. The roof plan will indicate the required position of each panel. If you have chosen a glass roof the process will take longer due to the additional weight and nature of the material.

Budget DIY conservatories may be supplied with the windows and door factory glazed but made to order conservatories are generally supplied with windows and doors unglazed. Not only does this help to ensure that glass is not broken during the installation process but the windows are generally supplied much longer to provide slimmer sightlines and there could be health and safety issues if the frames were supplied glazed due to the considerable weight of a glazed window.

Most windows and doors are now internally beaded using a “knock-in” glazing bead and the glazing process should become relatively easy once you have glazed a couple of apertures. Glazing packers are used to support and pack the glass so it is square in the aperture and the glazing bead is knocked into place using a rubber mallet. If you are glazing during cold weather it is a good idea to emerse the glazing bead in warm water which will help make the bead more flexible and easier to position. Your installation guide will detail the exact process used.

Finally, silicone sealant will need to be applied to all joints in accordance with your installation guide and the internal PVCu trims will need to be fitted to the roof eaves beam, ridge beam and glazing bars.

Your new self build conservatory should now be structurally complete and weather tight ready for the finishing internal touches.

You will find much more information on installing a DIY conservatory by visiting our web site.

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For those that don’t know an access panel is also known as a panel door. There are several different types such as wooden access panels, plastic recessed panels, recessed, non fire rated, and fire rated panels just to name a few.

There are different varieties to choose from depending on the job that needs to be done. Access panels come in a variety of sizes and can be customized to fit different needs. They can be used for a variety of applications such as plaster and drywall, and are also used to provide roof access, plumbing fixtures, pipes,cables, special enclosures, and ceiling spaces as well as many others. Access Panels are generally made of plastic or metal and generally mix in with the interior decor, and come with one of two standard frame options: A beaded frame or a picture frame. A beaded frame is used in jobs where the surface is not yet finished. A picture frame is where the solid flange sits on the surface of the wall (or ceiling) and it covers the cut edge of the hole. It’s also used when the surface has already been finished.

Access hatches are used two different ways. Let’s talk about the first one: below ground. Access hatches are designed to provide access to surfaces below ground, below surface and below floor installations. They are commonly known as trapdoors. The hatches are typically used in areas such as on the sides of houses (usually storage space or shelter from weather such as a tornado) storm drains, ventilation shafts, sewer pump stations, water treatment plants, monitoring wells, fuel storage pits, waste water treatment plants, collection pits, de-icing control facilities, gas valve vaults, electric vaults, telephone vaults, water valve vaults, water meter pits, and industrial plant pits just to name a few. They’re typically made of aluminum, cast iron, or steel. The second way an access hatch can be used is the total opposite of the first one. Many buildings with flat roofs have hatches that provide access to the roof. You can see those on ships and sailboats. They provide access to the deck.

In closing, you now know the differences between access panels and access hatches and what their general uses are for.

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Are you looking for help on how to connect wind power generator to house? It’s quite tricky job, isn’t? If you read this article, I will give you advice on how you can do it. I don’t need to tell you how expensive electricity prices are today, so I think you are a really smart person, if you are considering using this system for your home. Ok, let’s get started.

Connect Wind Power Generator To House

I assume that you already have the kit built, because I am not going to talk much about it. However, if you are still in the process of building one, then I will give you little info. You can get the parts for the kit from any DIY store, or you buy them from the Internet. Have a look on eBay, Amazon and other online shops, and I am sure, you will find great deals.

Now if you are going to connect wind power generator to house, then I would advise you to use instructions. I believe you don’t want to make any mistakes or get in trouble, when connecting everything, so it’s a good idea to use a professional guide with instructions, like Earth4Energy. It’s not expensive, and I would suggest you to get it.

I actually used that guide myself, when I first thought about producing my own electricity using wind. That guide, it’s no just about how to connect wind power generator to house. It has tons of information about solar energy, how to build a windmill, how you can save money on electricity and much more. I bought it few months ago, and I don’t regret for my decision for a single second, because I am really satisfied with the guide. I believe it will be very useful for you as well.

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