Planning Permission Tips UK - Loft Conversions in UK Properties - Do They Add Value?
April 30, 2008
We get a great many requests to view the potential of Loft conversions. This type of extension has remained fairly popular since I first started designing property & is perhaps even more in demand now than ever before - especially in dense urban areas where the alternative choices for that fourth bedroom are somewhat limited.
Now, the popular press would have you believe that they do not add value or have limited appeal. However, that blanket broad brush, slightly disrespectful opinion does not ring true for most of our clients. So what is going on? As always, the devil is in the detail - the detail in this respect is mainly focussed on two primary areas:
1. DESIGN and 2. DESIGN.
It’s just like the location, location location slogan for house values & desirability. Fortunately, the planners have got to grips with a lot of loft conversions these days & they now have a great more control of schemes that a few years ago could have been built under Permitted Development. This means that they have encompassed ‘good design guides’ in an attempt to stamp out the ugly full width box dormer that turned a beautiful victorian semi into a something that looks like a car sized packing crate trying to escape from a neighbours roof.
House Plans ? Research Is Key
April 29, 2008
When you think about building your new home consider your needs and your lifestyle. If you are newlyweds your choices will be different from a couple who is ready to retire and is looking for a smaller home. The lot may affect the type of house and its placement.
If your lifestyle is such that you plan to entertain frequently, you might want to consider including a formal dining and living area that is separated from the family’s living area. If you just plan on having a couple of friends over for a dinner and conversation, then you might want to eliminate the formal dining area and create a simple dining area that can be used by your family and your guests.
Is your lot large enough to allow you to build your house and still be able to expand in the future? Will you need an extra room for guests or extra living space for aging parents or future additions to your family? It is imperative that you keep all of these possible concerns as you choose your lot and your house plan.
For A Pleasant Smelling Home
April 29, 2008
If you’re anything like me and the scent of something pleasant can instantly lift your mood, then a house that is pleasant smelling will be a constant lift-booster. Here are some ways to do it.
1. As far as possible, keep unpleasant smells away from the house or at least away from the main living areas. Ask family members to leave smelly shoes outside. Ban smoking in your house. Make sure the toilet door is always closed. Empty the rubbish bin frequently.
2. Use sweet-smelling products while cleaning. Put talcumn powder on the carpet before vacuming. Put a drop of your favourite essential oil in buckets of water used to clean the floor. Make up your own cleaning products and add some of your favourite smells.
3. Keep a candle or an oil burner in every single room and use them. Burn some incense sticks.
4. Keep clothes sweet smelling by putting slices of soap between them. Add a drop of your favourite essential oil to the laundry.
5. Open windows as much as possible through the day. Plant flowers or sweet smelling shrubs near windows so that their scent carries indoors. Keep a vase of fresh flowers in the house.
House Plans ? Where To Start
April 28, 2008
You have found the perfect lot on which to build your new home. Now you have an abundance of decisions to make. Where will the house sit on the lot? You will have to decide this based on the total square footage of the house. What kind of features are you hoping to have. These are the things to consider, storage, a laundry room, a home office, a bathroom downstairs, a full bath upstairs, and a family room.
Consider the future? Are you just starting out and planning a family? Do you need a guestroom for visitors? Flexible house plans are probably the best option for you. You don’t want your house to end being too big in the future. If it starts getting small, make sure you allow for expansion if necessary, and make sure it is according to your local zoning laws.
How does the house plan you have chosen fit on the lot? If the lot is deep and narrow you don’t want a shallow and wide house plan. Where will you place the house so that you get the maximum exposure to sunlight in the morning and in the evening? Make sure the windows are where they are supposed to be.
How to Use Do-It-Yourself Toxic Mold Test Kits
April 27, 2008
VANCOUVER, CANADA. Many homeowners, landlords, renters, property managers, business owners, and employees want to know, and need to know, the precise identities of the various toxic mold species inhabiting their home, rental property, or place of work, according to Phillip Fry, Certified Mold Inspector and author of the mold book Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing, and Remediation.
To identify correctly toxic mold species, take these two steps: (1) use do-it-yourself mold test kits to collect mold samples during a thorough and complete building mold inspection and investigation; and (2) send the collected mold test samples to a mold laboratory for mold analysis and mold species identification.
Testing Visible Mold Growth
If a resident or occupant sees mold growing on a wall, ceiling, floor, heating or cooling duct register, or any other surface, he can scrape mold particles off the mold growth area onto the sticky surface of the opened mold test kit.
During such scraping of the mold growth, the tester needs to wear rubber gloves and a full-face respirator mask with organic vapor filters (such as the 3M brand from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety store) to protect against toxic mold exposure.
Vacation Break for Electrical Machines
April 26, 2008
Are you overloaded? Have you become a part of the highly stressed modern working environment? You may need a break - a vacation, a change in environment, a change of pace…
Similarly, machines can be overloaded too. Those that were designed for a particular system are often pushed to their limits when new requirements emerge.
Just like the final straw that breaks the camel’s back, electrical machines too, can reach their breaking point. If there is no vacation for them, they will burn.
Fuses and circuit breakers are designed to stop the current in a circuit before any damage can occur - create a vacation or a break for them.
A circuit breaker is one of the ways to prevent motors (or other electrical machines) from burning due to overloading. All electrical motors produce heat when running. At the time of a fault, this heat builds up at a much higher rate than it can be dissipated. This can result in damaged equipment, fire or even explosion.
The electrical protective device like the circuit breaker is designed to de-energize the circuit before this heat level becomes dangerous.
There are basically 2 means of activating a break - thermally (heat) or magnetically.
Putting Passion Back Into Home Decorating
April 25, 2008
For most people, they can count the times they redecorate their homes in a lifetime on one hand. It’s a shame because this is not because they don’t have great ideas about how they want their homes to be, but that the thought of redecorating brings the following obstacles to mind:
- Where to put up if I am renovating?
- I have accumulated a lot of furniture and household items, how in the world can we integrate them with this ultra modern design I am interested in?
- We have spent all that money doing up the place when we moved in and now we have to do away with it? What a waste.
- It’s one big financial outlay!
But our tastes change, moods change over time. New notions inspire us even after we completed our renovations. Is there a way to invest in our homes in a flexible, relaxing and manageable way? To be able to afford stylish home transformations year after year?
Yes! This does call for a whole new way of looking at home renovations, not as a singular large-scale undertaking but modular projects that keeps the design process fluid and fun.
Modular transformations: Where to start?
Choosing Blinds For Damp Atmospheres
April 24, 2008
There are some important things to consider when choosing blinds for the kitchen and bathroom. The conditions in these rooms vary somewhat from the rest of the house, so it is important that care is taken to choose suitable blinds. Hence, it is not just the aesthetic appeal that is important, but also the durable and maintenance of these window treatments.
When it comes to designing the appearance of a bathroom or kitchen, it is a common mistake to apply the same rules to these rooms as the other rooms in the house. The practicality is that the both the bathroom and the kitchen have different requirements to just about any other room. Consider hot showers and baths, or boiling kettles and simmering saucepans. This creates a hot damp atmosphere that the window blind will have to be able to cope with. Not only must the blinds be able to provide the necessary appeal and avoid privacy, but also be able to withstand the conditions. That is why you get blinds and then you get kitchen blinds and bathroom blinds.
Carbon Monoxide Can Be Deadly–Early Detection Monitors Make It Easy to Protect Your Family
April 24, 2008
If you burn gas, kerosene, or wood in your home to produce heat for cooking or warmth, you need to monitor the level of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is odorless and can easily build up to dangerous levels. Ordinary carbon monoxide detectors don’t sound an alarm until certain levels of carbon monoxide accumulate in the air. New monitors show the amount of carbon dioxide in the air at any given time, so you can take action well before levels reach the danger zone.
HOW CARBON MONOXIDE GETS INTO THE AIR IN YOUR HOME
Carbon monoxide is the major toxic combustion by-product that is created when gas, kerosene, or wood is burned to produce heat for cooking or warmth. Other combustion by-products include formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, nitric acid, and vapors from various organic chemicals.
Carbon monoxide and other combustion by-products are produced when fuels do not burn completely. All fuel-burning appliances need air for the fuel to burn efficiently. When a generous supply of fresh air is available and the fuel is burning properly, there is little danger of poisoning. But when there is inadequate ventilation or the appliance is not operating properly, carbon monoxide is produced and can gradually overcome and even kill an unsuspecting bystander.
Spring Chores at the Cabin
April 23, 2008
Whether you live in your cabin year round or it’s been closed up for the winter, it’s time for spring cleaning. It’s hard to get motivated. We’d all rather be out playing in the sun and enjoying the spring after the long cold winter. I thought I would share my “to do” list and some helpful tips to get you started so we can both get the chores done.
I like to start with my fireplace. Hiring a local chimney sweep is not always possible in very rural areas such as we live. I have a heavy 25′ chain that works very well. From the roof I remove the spark arrester then slowly drop one end of the chain down the chimney, holding onto the other end. Slowly rotate the chain so it rubs firmly against the inside of the chimney. Keep swirling the chain for several minutes, pull out the chain, clean the spark arrester with a soft brush and replace the arrester. Keep in mind 2 things: 1. make sure the pitch of your roof is safe to stand on and 2. Your chimney must be straight with no elbows for this technique to work. If the pipe has an elbow use the chain technique then disconnect the pipe at the elbow to clean it with a wire brush and remove the ash and pitch. Reattach the pipe. All that’s left is to clean the inside of the fireplace or wood stove, remove all the ash and pitch residue that has dropped from the chimney cleaning. I use oven cleaner, a Teflon scrubby then window cleaner on the heat tempered glass when the pitch has built up that awful amber film. My wood stove gets a new coat of black stove polish too.
