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Home Renovation Guide: Heating, Gas Safety, Plumbing, and Electrics

Everyone loves being a homeowner. It is one of the biggest live achievements that many adults love to celebrate. You surely would have heard the name of house warming parties; a party was thrown for buying or building a new house. Like everything, after owning a home, you also need to invest in its maintenance.

The question is, what do homeowners need to maintain? The home renovation and maintenance include heating, gas safety, plumbing, and other electronics. It is essential to seek professional advice from a certified person such as a gas safe register engineer. My uncle recently told me the cost of getting the gas safety certificate in London.

Checklist for Your Home Renovation

• Inspect your overall house and see what needs renovation.

• Keep an eye on your bank account and do some budgeting.

• Make sure that you fulfil all the requirements of the neighbourhood.

• Make a design of how you want to renovate your home.

• Plan a timeline in which you want to renovate your home.

• If it’s a huge home, you can hire a contractor for it.

• Get insurance before you renovate your home.

• Check on the weather update, as summer is the best time for renovation.

Analyze and Update the Pipework of Your Home

The heart of every home is the kitchen. On the other hand, the bathroom is also essential for your home. Whenever you are looking to update your home’s pipework, keep both of these places in your mind.

Access the quality of your pipes and establish their precise location in the house. You should also check the lead for any poisoning. Now, if you want to change the lines, you can look at a variety of options you can get new pipes.

Moreover, while buying pipes, lookout for the best material. Plastic is famous for several reasons; they are less likely to freeze, doesn’t rattle, and has a smoother surface, improvingwater flow and pressure.

To add to it, plastic is lighter, and plastic plumbing is less intensive and is, therefore, cheaper to fit. However, some installers still prefer working with copper because they can bend the pipework around a room rather than being restricted to straight pipes and push fittings.

Check the Heating System of Your House

After checking the pipework of your home, comes the number of the heating system. Most of the houses come with gas safety certificates. However, if the certification is about to expire, ensure that you get a home inspection done by a gas-safe register engineer.

One of the main costs of renovating your home is getting a new boiler. The life expectancy of a typical unit is around 12-15 years, depending on the use and how well it is maintained. If you think your boiler needs replacement, we advise you to contact a heating specialist.

Moreover, a certified engineer will also access future needs, like the potential for underfloor heating or extra radiators, which could affect the location of your boiler and flue in your home. We advise you to clean your existing parts before installing a new system.

Before you go for it, you must find out about gas safety check costs in your area to make an informed decision. Fixing the heating system of your house can save you a lot of money.

Check Your Electronics

Faulty wiring is one of the most common causes of electrical fires in the home, so it should be a priority if a property has not been rewired for more than 25 years. These electronics may be sucking out all of your house’s energy and giving you heavy bills.

You can replace your electronics with energy-efficient appliances. Nowadays, wirings come with PVC coating. On the other hand, old-school cable wiring is covered with rubber and toxic. So, first things first, upgrading your wires and electronics is something about your house needs.

However, if you cannot afford complete renovation, providing existing cabling is sound and can carry any additional circuits or loading. In some cases, it may be possible to update your current system by adding a modern consumer unit and upgrading the earthing and bonding, but after speaking to a professional.

Make Your Home Tech-Friendly

The last tip and an important one is to include some tech-friendly gadgets in your home. For example, you can get dimmer lights, saving you a lot of money in the longer run. You can also get some carbon detectors or ring the camera bell to save you time and hassle to open the door.

Moreover, you can also get updated radiators depending upon the aesthetics and functions of the room. Several other electronics can be reviewed as well.

We also want to tell you how you can get the correct radiator. It is good to work out the British Thermal Unit requirement for your home. It shows how much energy is required to heat space and can be matched to the output of a radiator.

The main models of radiators are mentioned below:

• Standard provides the highest heat output and can be selected as single, double, or triple panels.

• Vertical radiators are attractive models that provide a valuable alternative for places with premium clear expanses of wall space.

• Cast Iron takes more time to heat up but can retain heat longer than some radiators.

• A towel heater is a good option for bathrooms and kitchens.

• Electric can be an option where water pipes are not easilyaccessible.

Conclusion for Home Renovation Guide

Now that you know the four handy tips for home renovation, you can use them for home renovation. Home renovation can be exciting and highly soothing if you plan it right and know what to do.

We have mentioned the tips that will help you look the right way with all the extra guidelines. The main renovations that need up-gradation are the exteriors, interiors, wirings, electronics, heating system, and the house’s pipework.

Once you have upgraded your home, prepare yourself for the value increase of your house and an added benefit. That’s all from our side. Let us know about your valuable feedback in the comments.

Author Bio:
Shoaib provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing. He occasionally writes articles for gas safety certs.

Covering stains with paint

painting-over-stains-large
The stages of stain treatment with before and after photos for comparison

Pipe smoking stains at the Frasers’

How can you succeed covering stains with paint? As you can see from my pictures of a recent decorating job I did in Orpington, tobacco smoke can have a serious effect on your paintwork, not only wood paint but also emulsion as well. The tar from the smoke will, if heavy enough, bleed straight through fresh paintwork leaving a nasty brown streaky effect on emulsion and my decorating job at the Frasers’ in Orpington was a classic example of this. There are a few products on the market which will cover, or prime the stain well enough so that the tar is well and truly sealed and won’t permeate through the paints pigment. For this particular job I used a product called Zinsser Cover Stain which I highly recommend, it’s not only a stain covering paint but also a fantastic primer. As you can see from the before and after shots above it did a remarkably good job of covering some very yellow paintwork.