Home » Archives for STEVE THE HANDYMAN

Author: STEVE THE HANDYMAN

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.

Things You Need to Succeed as a Female Plumber

Plumbing might seem like a male-dominated field. However, women are entering the industry to prove that they can be just as good plumbers, if not even better ones. Deciding to become a female plumber is an excellent decision. It allows you to break stereotypes and do something technical for a change.

If you have just started your journey towards becoming a plumber, you have come to the right place. It is important that you understand that there are plenty of female plumbers who have excelled in their line of work, and so can you. There is a lot that you can learn to have a successful career.

Stable Support Network
Anyone who starts their apprenticeship will need a support crew that motivates them and listens to them. They should validate your feelings of discrimination and be just as enraged on your behalf. Work with a stable support crew that goes out of its way to mentor you and believes in you 100 percent.

Even if you feel like quitting or that you cannot go on, the support crew should be there for you. Your parents and partner can be a part of your support crew as they are most likely to believe in you and help you achieve everything you put your mind to.

The fact is that your support crew is very important when starting your apprenticeship. As you continue to work as a licensed plumber, you will find that the group will grow over time. They will help you get through difficult times and push you to show the world that you are just as good as any male plumber. Thus, you would be able to focus on the bigger picture rather than stay mad at how unfair things can be.

Read a Motivational Book
Another thing that will help you succeed as a female plumber is reading a motivational book. All you have to do is read at least a page of the motivational book before you get going. It will help you get in the right frame of mind when heading to the site.

A devotional book that is geared towards working women will motivate you to keep fighting and to not give up no matter how tough things might seem at present. All you have to do is read a page every morning before you head to the classroom or work.
There are likely to be some pages that you can read more than others as they would enable you to believe in the impossible. The last thing you want is to give up, which is why you have to make reading an empowering book every day a habit. Otherwise, you would struggle to make it as a female plumber.

Now, you can even turn to the Bible for inspiration or any other holy book. Besides this, you could find a book that features a compilation of motivational quotes. It is also a good idea to read blogs such as She’s Empowered and Steel Heels to build yourself up. The Joy of Plumbing is a great book that you can also read to ensure that you do not lose sight of why you decided to become a plumber in the first place.

Mental Strength
Many women think about becoming a plumber. However, most of them worry that they do not have the physical strength to get the job done. Even though physical strength is necessary for plumbers, there are countless overweight or even underweight tradesmen who have no trouble performing their work.
The fact is that if a woman can give birth, there is nothing that she cannot do. You have the strength to take on every type of work. The only strength you need to push through when it gets tough is mental strength. It will help you succeed as a female plumber.

There is no denying that you will experience self-doubt from time to time. Things would only get more difficult when you encounter tradesmen who tell you that you cannot do the job. Hence, you must build mental strength to ensure that you do not entertain doubt.

In addition to considering the gas safety certificate cost, people tend to hire individuals who possess the mental strength to take on the job.

Perseverance
Lastly, you need to ensure perseverance to make it through difficult times. The truth is that mental strength and perseverance go hand in hand. Both are essential for succeeding as a female plumber. Only when you are able to persevere through tough people, tough jobs, and old thinking patterns, and discrimination can you expect to make a name of your own.

Perseverance will give you the strength to become stronger and not let anyone get under your skin. As you continue to persevere, things that used to trouble you would not even bother you in the slightest.

Conclusion 
Working as a female apprentice will be hard as it will test your endurance and push you to acquire new skills. However, once you get your license, everything will start to fall into place.

Take advantage of our advice to become a successful plumber. Do not let stereotypes define you. Always remember that there is nothing that you cannot do

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.

 

Installing a gas boiler flue inspection hatch

flue inspection hatch installation
Stages of the installation of a gas safety inspection hatch

Gas flue inspection hatch installation for gas safety

Do you have a condensing gas boiler or planning to have your existing boiler replaced? Well, the chances are your boiler may be situated away from a wall in the center of a room. If this is the case and your flue is above ceiling level, or in this case boxed in, then your going to need a gas safety inspection hatch fitted. Why? Because carbon monoxide is being expelled through your boiler flue and that flue needs to be inspected regularly to make sure there are no breaks in any joints. If the flu became damaged and leaked gases unchecked then there could be a risk of fatality from carbon monoxide poisoning.

A safety hatch similar to the one I installed enables a Gas Saftey engineer to carry out checks to the flue during an annual service and inspection to comply with Gas Saftey regulations. This particular hatch had to be installed using an angle grinder to cut through the existing tiles to provide the opening for the hatch and then a wall board saw to cut out the plasterboard underneath where the tiles had been removed. The hatch was then stuck to the face of the tiles with silicone.

 

Adapting euro ⅜” tap connectors to uk ½”pipework

⅜">½"-tap-tail adapter
⅜” to ½” tap tail adapter to use with taps supplied with European tap tails.

hansgohe 70 tap and schematic
Hansgohe 70 tap and schematic

Fitting a tap with European ⅜” tap tails

So as a plumber and handyman the jobs I get asked to do can be varied and wide ranging as you can imagine, and sometimes the job throws up curve balls and presents you with something unexpected. I give you the Hansgrohe 50 focus tap. Now on the surface this may look just like an ordinary basin mixer tap, but when you take a closer inspection you’ll notice the flexible tap tails that are supplied look a little different. That’s because UK pipe sizes as some of you may or may not know are typically ½” feeding a bathroom basin tap; but this tap has a ⅜” connection typically used on the continent. “How’s that going to work?” I hear you cry! Well it just so happens there are ½” to ⅜” compression to male BSP adapters available to reduce the 15mm pipe connection down to fit the hoses, they are available from all good plumbers merchants, and worth stocking a few pairs just in case this problem pops up. Next time you visit your plumbers’ merchants ask about these fittings.

 

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.