Welcome to the Blogs

Below are four simple steps explaining how to replace a radiator. Before you begin however, make sure that you have the following equipment:

• 2 adjustable spanners
• radiator bleed key
• bucket
• drain tray
• large allen key
• pipe and cable detector

Well I’m delighted to have been invited to participate in the Problem Solved Blogs and I hope that you find the contents of the pieces I write over the coming months both useful and informative.

To introduce myself, I am Tim Foley, owner of the website www.kitchensfitted.co.uk and aside from our very popular forum that assists those buying and fitting kitchens and our website articles detailing how to fit a kitchen, we provide and install bespoke quality surfaces nationwide.

With the property market growing ever more unsettled, the more information you can have before taking the leap as a buyer or seller, can never be a bad thing. Fresh out of the box and here to help is Betternest.co.uk, a website which demonstrates a property's potential to be expanded and altered for maximum profit and spatial benefits.

Answering the three main questions on buyers and sellers lips, for a flat rate fee the Betternest Property Potential Report details what space can be added to a property, how much it will cost and the estimated profit made from the alterations.

A dreaded procedure amongst all budding and experienced property developers, acquiring planning permission can sometimes be the hardest part of a project. Following the government’s newly published Planning Reform Bill, out last Tuesday 27th November, hopefully now some of these pains will be things of the past.

In this recent Planning Reform Bill, it states that there will be new relaxed restrictions of the Planning White Paper. This would subsequently allow more households to build loft conversions and extensions without the need for planning permission.

Buying or selling a property?

If you’re looking to maximise the green credentials of your property, make a call to County Estate Management (CEM). It has just launched its Green Vision system – an audit carried out on properties which assesses the environmental impact of the building, and which finds ways in which carbon emissions from the property can be reduced. Waste recycling, heating, cooling, ventilation, energy management, rain water retention and the purchase of electricity through green tariffs can all help to make your property greener.

A consumer unit may need resetting due to a power surge through one of the property’s circuits.

N.B. Before proceeding with any electrical work in your property, click here to read about the current regulations regarding electrical work completed in the home.

Before trying to reset this circuit, check to see if any of the appliances on the circuit are causing it to trip. Unplug all appliances and check to see if they work on a circuit which still has power.

N.B. Before proceeding with any electrical work in your property, click here to read about the current regulations regarding electrical work completed in the home.

Tools and Materials:

A torch, screwdriver, wire cutters, correct amperage fuse wire.

1. Locate the consumer unit which is usually situated near the electricity meter.

N.B. Before proceeding with any electrical work in your property, click here to read about the current regulations regarding electrical work completed in the home.

Tools and Materials:

A torch

1. Locate the consumer unit which is usually situated near the electricity meter.

Handy for all home owners, below is a brief guide to fuse ratings, their amperages and typical uses.

N.B.

And lastly don’t forget to announce you have moved. Remember to tell the following:

• Banks
• Charge cards
• Religious organisations
• Doctors/dentist
• Insurance providers (home, contents & life) / solicitor / stockbroker
• Magazine subscriptions
• Schools
• Post office
• Inland Revenue
• Many utilities require at least two working days' notice.  Be sure to arrange reconnection at your new home.
• Your land line and mobile phone providers.

A few extras to consider on moving day:

• Who has the key to your new home?  Will the keyholder be present when the removals company arrive?  You do not want them standing idle when they could be settling you into your new home.
• What is the exact address?  Ensure the removals firm have the precise address and directions.
• Have you remembered to colour code the labels according to each room on each box?
• Does the removals foreman have your mobile phone number?
• Take final readings of gas, electricity and water meters.

Headache selling your property? Don’t know what mortgage to go for?

Just decorated the bedroom and hating the paint fumes?  Stand a bowl of vinegar in the corner - it will absorb the smell within half an hour.

Turfandstuff.com provides turf, slate, chippings, top soil and more – and you can order your Nordmann Fir trees here at Christmas

If you’re trying to cut back on energy and bills over winter, doctorenergy.co.uk has a wealth of useful gadgets including draught-stopping chimney balloons (from £15.99), insulating paint (from £9.95) and standby savers (from £18.95)

A fun and surprisingly handy website, Yahoo! Answers provides an interactive platform to indulge in one of man’s best virtues; curiosity.

With helpful categories such as the home and garden, health and computers to the more adventurous and opinionated such as politics, social sciences and parenting, Yahoo!

The Practicalities

Moving white label goods:

Having moved house myself quite recently, I’m well aware of just how many things there are to think about. Packing up is a serious mission, but it’s not just the boxes that stack up – there’s all the admin to think about too, and it’s easy to forget something crucial. Launched last Friday, Moveme.com offers a free and tailored service to help make your move easier.

The buying and selling process can be a minefield of vested interests with little or no impartial advice available to the new kids in the playground. But before you surrender yourself to the bullies, take a few pointers from Theadvisory.co.uk. Compiled over the past 18 months, the Advisory offers impartial and well researched advice on a wide spectrum of property-related themes, ranging from tips on home staging to where to find the best mortgage. Better still, it’s completely free of charge.

Before you even reach for those trusty wire cutters, make sure you understand the rules on the installation and maintenance of electrics in your home according to the Building Regulations for England and Wales. To find out more about these regulations, click here to read my blog; to change or not to change? What electrical work can I do in my home?

Replacing a socket

A damaged socket may need replacing due to:

It seems some of the simplest household tasks are costing Brits up to £26* billion a year according to a recent survey compiled by Yahoo!

ReallyMoving.com gives us its tips on how to make moving home plain sailing.

Before the move

If you plan to leave anything behind, ensure this is clearly marked or moved into a designated place so the removals company can prioritise their loading.  Some companies recommend you stick coloured labels onto large objects which designate whether that item is staying or going and into which new room it should be deposited.  A floor plan of each room in your new property, with information on where fur

In this weeks blog post I thought it worthwhile giving you a quick refresher on how to get the best from your estate agent.

The latest survey from Rightmove shows that it’s now taking the average agent 84 days to find a buyer. That’s up from 64 days in April.

This week: getting prepared for winter

• If you can’t afford new curtains this winter, add a look of luxury to tired fabrics with tasseled, chord, beaded or rope tiebacks – Collybrook.co.uk has an excellent selection.
• Arrange to have the chimney or flu cleaned. Blocked residue or birds' nests can disrupt ventilation and endanger your health.

Over the last few months, I've been trying to juggle a professional life, young family and my search for a new home. It ain’t easy – particularly as the majority of estate agents don’t work past 6pm, and are only otherwise open on Saturdays. But Black & White can help. A property relocation agent, it will search the entire market for you, arranging and accompanying you to viewings, arranging evaluations and instructing solicitors, and alleviating a huge amount of stress.

Hot on the home design calendar this coming month is the annual Grand Designs Live London 2007 (8-10 June 2007). Crammed full with over 650 exhibitors, it gives you access to six shows for the price of one, with GRANDInteriors, Build, Gardens, Kitchens, Bathrooms and The Design Shopping Arcade bringing you the best and most innovative designs around. And Grand Designs Live is offering to give away a pair of tickets to the first 25 Really Useful readers who send their contact details to iwanttobe@granddesignslive.com before 5 June 2007.

ReallyMoving.com gives us its tips on how to make moving home plain sailing.

Talk to a selection of removals firms:

Invite the removals estimator (or removals surveyor) to your home to give an accurate estimate to move your belongings.  The removals firm need to see everything that you plan on moving, to enable them to generate a meaningful estimate.  Don’t hide boxes in the attic or potted plants in the garden shed, and then produce them on the day of the move.

Ask the estimator to con

I am very happy to announce we have a great new blogger on our books; Debbie Davies of Todhunter Davies, the specialist furniture makers.
Here to give us her pearls of wisdom on how to get the best out of your furniture, Debbie will be revealing hints and tips to make any nooks or crannies in your home work for you.
 
From everyone here at ProblemSolved, welcome to the site Debbie. And to all the users, keep your eyes peeled for what Debbie has to say next on all things furniture. Enjoy.

Hi, my name is Debbie Davies and with my husband Bob, we are the proprietors of the specialist furniture maker, Todhunter Davies.

Founded in 1993, Todhunter Davies has steadily expanded to meet the growing demands for the best in furniture manufacture and design. We have accomplished this by only using the very best timber, veneers, granite and glass to produce our products and by employing highly skilled and experienced joiners, cabinet makers and polishers.

One for the people who spend most of their time away from a computer, Shoot is a handy website designed to help gardeners of all experiences and commitments, manage and improve their out door spaces.

Providing a helping hand at every stage of your garden’s lifecycle, Shoot allows you to create a personal garden diary from which you receive monthly emailed care reminders with hints and advice specific to your plants

With a new season upon us we’re all looking for the latest looks and trends to ensure our home stands out from the rest. Being bland just doesn’t cut it and interior experts Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister teamed with Ambi Pur, experts in home fragrances, have a few things to say to ensure you keep ahead of the game:

“This autumn sees us mixing traditional and modern themes throughout the home. Aye, even in the kitchen!

ReallyMoving.com gives us its tips on how to make moving home plain sailing.

Tools list:

• Newspaper
• Cloth or kitchen towel
• Plunger
• Wrench
• Approx. 30cm length of thick wire
• Household bleach or disinfectant

Firstly, try to dislodge the blockage with some vigorous action with a plunger:

N.B. Before starting, place newspaper on the floor under and around the sink just in case of unforeseen spillage!

1. Block the overflow of the sink by stuffing it with some wet kitchen towel or a damp cloth to prevent any loss of pressure when you start plunging.

Firstly every home owner should have a pipe repair clamp (see below for stockists). It is the quickest way of stopping a water leak from a burst pipe as it doesn’t require the pipe to be drained before it is fitted. Perfect for saving the day when someone has got a little DIY hammer and nail happy!

Heather-Joy Crawford, marketing director of Adamsez gives us her tips on installing a new bath.

Installing a bath:

It depends on where the bath is positioned, if it is freestanding you will need to have the pipes routed under the flooring and also need to consider how they will look when exposed between floor and bath – not many of the lifestyle imagery shows the reality!

Heather-Joy Crawford, marketing director of Adamsez gives us her tips on how to find the perfect bathing partner for your bathroom

Material:

This is one of the first things you will need to consider before even looking at shapes or sizes. There are basically two main options – cast iron or acrylic. The former can be cold to the touch, hard to keep clean, expensive, incredibly heavy, and the colour is often faded by sunlight or harsh cleaning materials. The latter, if poorly made, can be unstable, noisy and scratch easily.

Breaking free from the confines of the fitted kitchen, today’s modern homes are embracing freeform modular units that put the flexibility back into kitchen design.

Keep your eyes peeled this month for Which? Magazine and its essential guide, Develop Your Property. Aimed at the thousands of people in the UK looking to make a serious long term investment in their property, this covers extensions, conversions and renovations. The best methods to secure finance, what the typical costs might be and how to project manage the critical details. The Which?