house Archives - Page 12 of 14

Three top tips to track down perfect tradesman

June 27, 2017 by Mandy

Finding a reliable, trustworthy tradesman is one of the most important – and sometimes difficult! – parts of undertaking home improvements. The number of complaints about unsatisfactory home maintenance and improvements to the Office of Fair Trading is rising, leaving consumers in despair. Whether you need to rebuild your home from the ground up, renovate a living room or just a quick repair on a leaky sink, it’s important that you make sure you’ve found someone who you can trust to do the job. Here are a few tips to find the perfect tradesman that won’t leave you high and dry.

Ask to see their qualifications

Most tradesmen are required by law to carry a licence that verifies their credentials. If they’re an electrician or gas fitter, then they’ll also be required to register their details on a government database. Their licence can be revoked if they’ve breached building regulations, so it must be current. Many tradesmen will list their licence details on their website or business card, so do your due diligence and chase this up. If they haven’t provided any details, then be sure to enquire. If they’re uneasy about providing a licence number or give you an excuse (i.e. it’s still being processed, or they don’t have it to hand), then this is a huge red flag.

Agree to a quote

Some of the most contentious disputes between a tradesman and a dissatisfied customer come down to a misunderstanding about costs. Before a tradesman begins work, make sure you have both agreed to a written quote. Once it has been set down in writing and agreed to, then your tradesman by law cannot increase the cost. Some customers confuse a quote, which is legally binding, with an estimate, which has no protections. An estimate is what the tradesman thinks the job will cost and doesn’t account for unrealized expenses. Make sure you are clear when talking with your tradesman that you want a quote for the job rather than an estimate, and if he’s uncertain to provide a quote for a simple job, such as installing a fitting or retiling a bathroom, then consider taking your business elsewhere. If a tradesman is unreliable, or adds unexpected costs, report them.

Verify their past work

A tradesman might provide excellent testimonials they’ve collected themselves, but it can be difficult to verify these. If you’re looking to undertake an extensive job, then ask your tradesman to provide contact details for former customers who have provided positive reviews. You can also do some research yourself. There are many review sites online you can check, and many newspapers and government databases have online archives, so you can search to see if they’ve had previous trouble with regulations or the law. There is a lot of information to be gleaned from a Google search, so get typing!

When it comes to hiring a tradesman, there are numerous pitfalls that could leave you and your family out of pocket. If you’re struggling to find the right person for the job through traditional outlets, then you can find a tradesmen online through a service like Plentific, which ensures all tradesmen are certified to perform work and will also guarantee their services for added peace of mind.

How to Ensure that Your Home is Warm and Comfortable

June 19, 2017 by Mandy

Is your home as warm and comfortable as it should be? Unfortunately, for one reason or another, many homes are not as energy efficient as they should be or they don’t generate enough heat to keep residents warm. This is something that can have a serious effect on people’s health and well-being, as well as affecting the condition of your home. Below are some of the ways you can change this situation and ensure that your home is warm and comfortable.

Invest in a High-quality Heating System

The heating system installed in your home will usually determine just how hot or cold your house is. Investing in a reliable, safe heating system will allow you to quickly warm your home when you need to and spread the heat evenly around your house. A good way to do this is by purchasing electric radiators from companies like Warm Rooms, which not only serve a practical function of producing heat, but also come in a range of attractive designs to compliment your home.

Insulate Your Home

If you live in an older property, your attic and walls may not be insulated properly or the insulation installed when your home was built may not be as effective as it once was. In this situation, you need to call in a professional company to assess the situation.

Local energy rating companies are available that have the tools and experience required to carry out an energy efficiency audit in your home. They can check each room in your property and identify areas where your home could be losing energy, as well as areas that are not being heated properly.

The result of these energy rating checks will determine whether or not you need to install additional insulation. If this is the case, you will need to hire a company that specialises in this type of service and in some situations, it may be the energy company that carries out the audit, that does this work too.

Windows and Doors

A large amount of heat and energy escapes through the windows and doors of a home. Older windows and doors are not designed to be as energy efficient as their newer counterparts, so you may need to change these fittings. This can be a costly exercise, but the long-term energy savings you make and the increased comfort should compensate for this cost.

Set Down Rules and Regularly Check Your Home

As a homeowner, you need to take some responsibility too and ensure that your home stays warm and that it’s a comfortable place to live. You should carry out regular checks of your heating system, ensure that all your radiators work properly, keep doors and windows closed when the heat is on and keep an eye out for signs of damp and other problems associated with a lack of heating in your property.

Every homeowner wants their home to be a warm and comfortable place to live. However, this is not always the case for many people. To address this situation, you should take into account each of the tips listed above.

On the Market: DIY Repairs You Should Make Before Selling Your Home

June 19, 2017 by Mandy

Selling a home can be a frustrating process: you have to find the right agents, figure out the pricing you’re willing to settle for and spend money on repairs to make your house perfect for prospective buys.

The good news is that there are actually a few things you can do around the house to get it ready for sale that won’t cost a lot and that won’t take a lot of time to complete. These repairs can really make a difference to potential buyers, helping you sell your house quickly no matter what the market looks like. Here are three important repairs to consider before putting your house up for sale.

Make Your Home Feel Welcoming

The first thing you want to do is make your house look inviting to prospective buys from the moment they pull up to your house. This is called “curb appeal” and it’s as important as any other first impression in your life.

That means you need to spend some time on landscaping and the exterior of your home. You don’t have to go all out and plant a bunch of new trees, shrubs, and flowers, but make sure that the plants you do have are healthy and trimmed. A few annuals are a great way to add color to an otherwise drab yard and make it look more inviting.

If there are any paint or siding problems, get those fixed immediately. No one will consider buying your home if they pull up and see chipped paint or missing pieces of siding. It’s a relatively easy fix and you can find all of the tools you may need on websites like RS Components.

Update the Lighting

Once people enter your home, they will be looking for things that they like, and having outdated lighting is a big turn off. Fortunately, however, it’s also one of the easiest things to replace.

Research a few interior design magazines and find out what people like with their lighting. Then make a trip to your local hardware store and find a style that works, but don’t spend too much. Once you find a style that you think will work, it’ll only take a few hours at most to update all of the lighting fixtures in your home, creating a more up-to-date and inviting space.

Clean, Clean, Clean

You may not immediately think of cleaning as a “repair,” but it really is. A dirty or messy house has just as much of a negative impact as a cracked foundation or a bad roof. So make sure there aren’t clothes or toys or any other clutter laying around when people come over.

Cleaning is also an opportunity for you to start packing. You can start to get things ready for your move and you can decide what items you want to keep and which items you can throw away, making your move a little easier when the time comes.

These simple things will make your house sell much quicker.

Flooring Styles That Will Make Cleaning Up After Your Family a Breeze

June 15, 2017 by Mandy

Kids can create big messes, but when you combine a bunch of school age children or toddlers with pets, light colored rugs and a terribly busy schedule, you are going to get nothing short of a disaster. That’s why forward thinking moms know that it is easier to keep their home clean when the they own the perfect type of flooring. Even if you don’t like the look of linoleum tiles, you can have a flooring installation expert come in and recommend something that can quickly get wiped clean without breaking your budget. Consider how hardwood floors would work in your living room instead of carpeting that has to be vacuumed on a daily basis. This is how you can choose a suitable flooring style that will make it possible for you to keep your home clean around the clock without sacrificing style.

Different Flooring Styles for Different Rooms

Ceramic tiles almost always compliment bathrooms, but they can also work very well in other rooms in your home that get plenty of use. If your children are still making a big mess at the dinner table, you may want to have tiles installed there so that staining does not become a long-term issue. In your children’s bedrooms, you might really benefit from hardwood floors as they will only need to be refinished once in a decade or so. You can put down mats or rugs on top of them to help protect your children from tumbles as well as protect your hardwood flooring.

Minimizing Your Cleaning Schedule

With certain types of flooring, you have to really work hard to keep it well preserved. Carpets need to be stain treated, vacuumed and then steam cleaned so that they stay in great shape. If you’re an active mom, it can be difficult to find enough time just to make dinner seven nights a week, so the idea of using your spare time to scrub carpets is likely not all that appealing. You should choose a flooring style that only needs a single cleaning method. Not only will you be able to clean up dust and crumbs in a few minutes, you won’t have to dread scheduling your next deep cleaning treatment.

How Much Is New Flooring Installation?

A lot of moms deal with constantly cleaning their existing carpets merely because they anticipate that professional flooring installation is going to be costly. Now, there are some people who are pretty handy and are capable of putting down their own hardwood floors or vinyl flooring strips, but the majority are smart to go to a licensed contractor. You will need to pay your flooring contractor for labor, but you can also get a good deal by choosing discounted materials. It could be that choosing a beautiful but discontinued brand of flooring could make the entire cost of installation go down substantially.

You can use a dishwasher to cut down on much of your required housework and drop your clothes off at a full service laundromat if you don’t feel like folding the laundry. Unfortunately, short of hiring a house cleaner, the floors are going to need to be scrubbed, mopped, swept and vacuumed if you want your house to stay clean. Make things a bit easier on yourself by choosing family friendly flooring.

4 Fun Games That Turn Cleaning With Kids Into Fun

June 2, 2017 by Mandy

Do you need help cleaning? Do you want to teach your kids how to pick up after themselves? You can marry these ideas with a bit of strategy. You need to make cleaning fun for your children! Here are four fun games that turn cleaning with kids into fun.

The Sack Game

Image via Flickr by wuestenigel

Is your house a mess? Picking up is something kids hate to do, and you probably agree with them. Still, you can persuade your children to do it by turning the process into a game. Give your kids an empty sack. Tell them that the goal is to take stuff off the floor that doesn’t belong there. Then pay them a quarter for every item they have in their sacks at the end of the game.

You should also offer bonuses when your kids do a particularly good job. That way, you’re using positive reinforcement to make your children neater. They’ll earn more when they do a better job. So, it’s an introduction to capitalism, too!

Fun With Colors

Another way to get your kids to pick up their stuff is the color game. Tell them that you want to play, and then describe the rules. When you say a color, the kids have to pick up something with that color. As a parent, you can rig this game. You know which junk you want picked up, so keep saying those colors until your kids grab them. Just like that, they’ve won the game. Meanwhile, you have a cleaner floor!

The Ticking Clock

A countdown clock has a strange effect on people. It makes them work faster for fear of not finishing a task before the timer expires. You can take advantage of this behavior while teaching your kids how to clean.

Tell your kids that they have to clean up their rooms by a certain time. If they finish the job satisfactorily enough for you, they get some sort of reward. You can make it money, a treat, or something that the kids pick for themselves. Then, start the timer and watch them go. You’ve given them incentive to clean their room.

Have a Chore Draft

Something else you can try is turning the cleaning of your house into a schoolyard game of picking teams. You and your kids will write a list of chores. You should pick some that are less fun than others. Kids like things that let them interact with their toys, even when they work. They hate anything that involves garbage or the bathroom, so add those to the list, too.

Then decide who gets to pick first. As the adult, you should use your selections for the harder chores. For example, you want to take care of wiping down the walls and fans. You need to reduce the allergens in your home, so you should pick dusting. After everyone has a few chores, grade the draft to see how everyone did. Who ended up with the hardest chores as opposed to the fun ones?

You love playing with your children. You also want a clean home. Using the four tips above, you can achieve both goals!