North Leeds Plumbing & Heating – Home Improvement and DIY Advice

The way we live and work has undergone a revolution in recent years. With the improvement in communication technologies, our ability to work from just about anywhere has been hugely improved.

This change in our working practices has meant that more and more people now have the choice to work from home. The practicalities of such arrangements should be considered carefully before any firm decisions are made, because working from home brings with it a few issues.

The main problem encountered by homeworkers is the lack of space in which to carry out their work activity. Rather than trying to fit themselves into an already cramped home environment, many homeowners choose to build garden office buildings in the grounds of their home.

There are many benefits to a garden home office, such as peace and quiet away from the distractions of family life, no commuting and no bills for renting office space. Add to that a positive improvement in your work/life balance and a therapeutic working environment, surrounded by trees and flowers that will enhance your productivity.

Outdoor lights can provide security as well as make the garden a more pleasant place to sit in during long summer evenings. It is quite easy to fit these and you just have to take a few extra precautions, as always when dealing with electrical matters.

Make sure that you get a light fitting that is suitable for use outdoors, because obviously not all of them are. This applies even if the light will be mounted in what you consider a sheltered spot.

When you have picked the spot for the light, drill through the wall using a heavy-duty drill fitted with a masonry bit. Drill this hole from the exterior of the wall and angle it slightly upwards so that water cannot enter your house when it rains.

From the inside, feed the flex through the wall to the exterior, and then connect the light to the junction box using rubber-sheathed 1 sq mm flexible cable.

Back on the inside of the house, take the cable to the connection point of your choice. At this point, you have to double check that the circuit you are going to connect it to is isolated. Once you have verified that, connect the light up either via an indoor lighting circuit or a fused spur leading off the ring main.

If connecting to an indoor lighting circuit, run new twin and earth cabling between the new switch position and the junction box. Connecting to a ring main spur is a more complicated process and you may prefer to call in a professional electrician to do it for you.

Many DIY beginners struggle to get used to the different types of screws and screwdrivers; so many of them look the same, and yet only one type of screwdriver will work effectively to remove screws properly or insert them securely.

The easiest screws to recognise are those with a sunken head, often with a distinctive and recognisable pattern that can only be used with a very specific Allen or Torx screwdriver.  Even amateurs can identify these quite easily, even if they do not have the right screwdriver in the house.  Slotted heads can also be very easy to deal with, as long as you match the width of the slot on the screw head with the width of the blade on the screwdriver.  Screws with a slotted head are most commonly used in carpentry and furniture-making, although modern flat-packs tend to prefer crosshead screws.

Crosshead screws are the most difficult to identify and can lead to a lot of frustration, particularly when the screwdriver seems to match but keeps slipping out of place.  Phillips are the most common type of crosshead screw, but there are also Posidriv screws, which can look very similar to the untrained eye.

The easiest way to tell the difference is to look for a second smaller cross within the larger, making it look as though there are eight points rather than four; this is a Posidriv screw and will require a specialist screwdriver. Never be tempted to try and force a Posidriv screw out or in with a Phillips screwdriver as you could end up damaging the head of the screw, rendering it useless.  To make it more complicated, there are different sizes of each of these screws types.  There are, however, screwdriver kits which come with a variety of attachments to suit different types of screw and different sizes.

When choosing blinds for the bedroom you have so many choices available to you, from brightly coloured vertical blinds to pretty roman blinds, to bold roller blinds.  So what makes roller blinds the ideal choice?

The biggest advantage with roller blinds is the colour choices, their ease of installation and the fact that you can buy them as black out blinds.  Blackout blinds are perfect for bedrooms, the blinds fit neatly into the window opening, covering the entire area in the evenings and blocking out the light on those early sunny mornings.

Easy to fit

These roller blinds can be made to fit using easy instructions, from cutting the blinds to trimming the roller section.  This ensures the blinds you choose will always fit perfectly into your window space. They come in a wide range of sizes, so homes with large window openings can still enjoy the dark and warmth that the blackout roller blinds offer.

When they are closed, they offer a seamless and elegant design filled with colour and when open, they offer the natural morning light you would want to beam into any bedroom.

Most central heating systems rely on a constant flow of water around the house, from radiator to radiator. This usually works very well but sometimes one or two radiators remain cold, or only heat up on the bottom half, while the rest of the house is nice and warm.

The reason for this is usually a pocket of air that has got trapped in the radiator, and that can easily be released by using a special key to ‘bleed’ the air out. Air usually gets into the central heating system naturally, through the action of the boiler pump.

Never bleed radiators when the heating is on, as you may end up with more air being pumped into the system. Once it is switched off, take the radiator key, a dry cloth and an empty bowl to deal with any drips. Open the valve at the top of the radiator and let the air out before tightening it up again. It is best to check the boiler’s water pressure indicator afterwards, as the pressure may have dropped and need topping up.

It is not uncommon for bathroom taps to need replacing after years of use. Whether the tap is leaking or the homeowners simply want a new and polished look, this do it yourself project is pretty easy and affordable. The first thing to do when replacing the tap is to turn off the water beneath the sink. There should be water valves under the sink, but if not, turn off the main water supply.

Next, remove the handles of the existing tap. This is done by removing the cover at the top of the handle and removing the screws located in the handles. There should be a nut at the base of the tap stem, holding the entire unit in place. This will also need to be removed. Now, the entire tap can be removed.

Clean the surface before installing the new tap. The new unit should have springs included. Install the spring with the smaller side facing up and push the new unit on top of the spring. This may take a few tries to get it lined up evenly. Once it is in place, replace the stem and the bonnet nut and tighten. The original handles can be used again, or new ones installed for a completely different look. Updating the handles alone will provide for a nice and clean look.

Once the new springs are installed, the tap should not leak and the handles should work appropriately. When the repair is finished, turn the water supply back on and test for any leaks. If there are leaks around the handles, the spring may not have been positioned correctly and this will require removing the hardware and installing again. For leak prevention, use plumber’s tape around the threads of all nuts and bolts in the fixtures.

When fitting a new door handle, the first step is to drill a hole for the latch, usually about a metre up from the base of the door. Mark its position on the door’s edge.

Hold the latch in position at the centre of the door’s edge and use a pencil to trace around it.

Use a drill bit that is designed to cut into wood and slightly bigger than the latch, allowing thereby enough room for the latch to be fitted into the hole. Measure carefully the depth of the hole that will take the latch. You can do this most effectively by holding the drill bit against the latch and mark the actual drill bit with masking tape at the point where it will stop drilling.

Next, use a wedge to keep the door steady and begin drilling the hole for the latch into the side of the door to the correctly marked depth, and use a chisel to get rid of any wood debris.

Insert the latch next, and mark its position after making sure it is perfectly level. Use a chisel for marking the pencil outline before chiselling out the recess, then press the latch in to see that it is flush with the surface of the door.

Holding the latch in position on the outside of the door, push a pencil through the latch’s hole and mark it where the handle spindle will be inserted. Then drill the hole and clear debris from it before sliding the latch into the door, attaching the door handle and adding the latch plate.

Garden rooms are small rooms constructed in a back garden, away from the main building. They are usually made of wood, cedar being the most common, with aluminium windows and patio-style doors. They typically measure anywhere from 3m x 3m to 10m x 5m, and are usually between three and five metres high. Under permitted development rules, a garden room will not normally require planning permission, but be sure to check with your local council’s planning department, as planning rules can vary between local authority areas.

The Advantages of Garden Rooms
Garden rooms are heated and insulated, so they allow you to sit out in your garden in all weathers. This may not sound attractive when the weather is cold but miserable, but on days when it is sunny but chilly a garden room allows you to admire your flowers or watch visiting birds and animals without catching your death of cold.

How to Install a Garden Room
If you have sufficient space in your garden, and you feel that a garden office would be an attractive addition to your home, a quick Google search for “garden rooms” will reveal a host of companies willing to design and install a room to your specification. Waiting times are usually around the two-week mark, and most companies will do all the work for you. Be warned, though, garden rooms don’t come cheap. Even a three metre by three metre room can cost almost £11000 and a top of the range ten metre by five metre room can cost upwards of £25000. This is a lot more expensive than a glass conservatory, so you might want to consider whether it is worth the extra cost. However, the popularity of garden rooms shows that a lot of people believe that it is.

There are a number of common nuisances that assail any lawn, but there are effective ways of dealing with all of them to ensure that it remains a neat, green and healthy space for you and your family to enjoy during the summer.
 
Worm casts can be unsightly, although they don’t actually cause the grass or turf any harm. Use a powerful worm-killer at about six ounces for each square yard and water it well in. When the worms come gasping to the surface, simply collect and dispose of them. The best treatment times are spring and autumn.

Anthills are a special nuisance on sandy soils and there are various methods of controlling them. The special problem here for gardeners is that they loosen the soil around roots so that the grass withers and dies, and they also spread greenfly between plants. As anthills also disfigure the lawn, use an anti-ant powder along the runs and the places the ants congregate, and liberally dust the entrance to a nest.

Moss on a lawn can result from poor drainage, over-acidic soil, low fertility, shade and cross-mowing. There are several chemicals on the market for controlling moss, but if the growing conditions are not improved it will simply reappear.

Hormone-selective weed-killers are, unlike lawn sands, absorbed into the body of the unwelcome plant and kill it in a few weeks. This is a more thorough and permanent means of getting rid of weeds than by pulling them up, when the stems may snap and the weeds persist.

In the case where an airlock is suspected of being the cause of a blockage of water to a tap, the air will need to be forced from its trapped position.  Airlocks usually result from poor design of the plumbing in a low-pressure or storage-cistern fed system.  Pipework in such a system should never be run uphill and then downhill because air will become trapped in the high pocket.  No water will be able to pass if the pressure is not sufficient.  Air should always be allowed to rise and escape through a cold feed or tap outlet.

Expelling trapped air from the high points in a poorly designed system will allow water to flow, so the problem will normally occur again only when the system has been drained.  If you did not install the system yourself, when you drain it you will likely not know whether or not it was designed well until you try to refill it; the problem, however, is that once you refill the system and determine that there must be trapped air, you have no idea where the high point is.

Try first to connect a hose to the open tap and give it a good blow.  If this does not work, join a small section of hose pipe to join up the low-pressure tap outlet to the high-pressure mains water tap outlet, as this may force the air from the high point.  This is a trick often used by plumbers faced with the same sort of problem.