DIY : How to hang wallpaper

Which tools to use:

• paste (use the strongest available recommended on the wallpaper)

• bucket

• sharp knife (like a trimming knife)

• pasting brush

• dry hanging brush

• seam roller

• pasting table (they're cheaper than you think!)

Planning

As wallpaper will look the best when hung according to the layout of your room, it is important to determine where to start wallpapering before anything else. If you're going to wallpaper above the fireplace, you must start here. Find the middle of the fireplace and decide whether you want a piece of wallpaper on each side or whether you want this to be the middle of your first piece. If you don't have a fireplace, or you're not going to wallpaper it, you should start on the wall with the main window, working away from the window on either side.

This will ensure the pattern will be the same either side of the window. Although this might cause an overlap in another area of the room, it will look better around the window. It will also prevent joins showing up more than necessary. As both sides of the wallpapering will have to meet somewhere, make sure it's in a less conspicuous corner (for example, the corner behind the door). This will give a much better finish than when you start at one end of the window and wallpaper all the way round.

How to get started

Draw a plumbline to ensure the wallpaper will hang straight. You can hang a weight from a piece of string to mark the plumbline. Measure the height of the wall, adding about 100mm. This will help you hang the wallpaper, and after hanging, you can trim the excess paper.

Cut the paper with a sharp knife, for example a trimming knife. Now cut the next piece of wallpaper, making sure the pattern aligns with the pattern on the first piece of wallpaper. Then, after you've hung the first piece on the wall, the third piece can be cut, aligning the pattern again with the second piece, etc. This is the best way to prevent any major mistakes in cutting the paper!

Paste the first piece by (on one side) overlapping the edges of the table with the wallpaper. This will prevent paste from getting on your table on this end. Starting at the centre of the paper, work the paste to the overhanging end of the paper. Then move the paper up and hang it slightly over the edge at the other side of the table. Now paste this end of the paper. Carefully fold the pasted end of the paper before moving along and lining up the paper. This will help soak the paste into the paper and prevent any paste from sticking to your carpet! After pasting the other end, fold the end neatly to the already folded part, aligning the edges. Let it soak for a while in order to make the paper easier to work with and it will also ensure a better adhesion to the wall. While this is soaking, you can paste the second piece of wallpaper. Make sure however, that you keep an eye on the soaking times.

To hang your wallpaper, make sure you only unfold the end of your wallpaper that will reach the ceiling. Start hanging it along the plumbline. Make sure you do leave an overhang, so that you can trim along the ceiling later. While you're hanging the paper, smooth it by using your dry hanging brush. Work towards the edges of the paper. Now you can unfold the bottom end of the paper and press it slightly against the wall, pushing any air bubbles out to the sides. You can now trim the overhang with a trimming knife. The following pieces can now be lined up to match the pattern. It is best if the paper overruns slightly to the other wall. As the walls hardly ever will join at a straight angle, this will prevent any gaps. You will then have to double-check the next wall by drawing another plumbline. Now continue papering the wall.

A few obstacles you'll always come across

• Doors. You'll be very lucky if your wallpaper matches up at your doorframes! Most of the time you will have to cut around it and nice and neat too. Here's how to do it: If you come up to the door, just start hang the wallpaper like you would normally. Gently feel the position of the frame through the paper and mark where the frame has to be cut out from the paper. Start cutting in towards the frame from the paper that covers the doors and which will be discarded. That way you have the least chance of getting it wrong. Get rid of most of the discard paper (so you can work better) and trim the wallpaper neatly around the frame.

• Sockets and switches. Always turn the electricity off if you want to work behind the socket or switch. Identify the shape of the socket/switch behind the paper, and cut, starting in the middle, towards the edge of the paper that needs to be removed. Loosen the socket or switch, cut away the excess paper and neatly fold the rest behind the socket/switch.

• Light fittings and other circular objects. Again lightly feel the shape of the object through the overhanging paper. Cut from the centre of the circle out to the edge of the shape (so that it will look like a pie-shape) and fold the paper away. Trim away the excess paper.

Top tips for a better finish

• Nothing is more annoying than having to fish your brush out of the bucket and getting paste all over your hands. There are now brushes available that you can hook on the rim of the bucket, leaving you with clean hands.

• Make sure you check your paste when you hang vinyl wallpaper, as vinyl has difficulty sticking to itself.

• To remove air bubbles, it is very important to work quick and neat. Make a small incision in the air bubble when the paper is still wet, apply some paste behind it, and carefully smooth the paper over.

• Always be careful when you use the seam roller. Whereas it might help you smoothing the edges of your wallpaper, it also might smooth your pattern if you're not careful! It can also leave a sheen on certain paper, so practice on a test bit first, to establish the amount of pressure it allows you to use.

• Don't get paste on your table! It can be difficult sometimes to get wallpaper paste off the front of your wallpaper, so be careful.

• In order to reduce the amount of off-cuts, it is sometimes better to use two rolls at the same time to align the pattern of your wallpaper.

• It is not advisable to use a roller to apply paste to your wallpaper, unless the paper is really thick. If it's too thin, your paper will stick and roll around your roller.

• Turn off radiators in the room you want to wallpaper, especially if you have to wallpaper behind them. The heat from the radiator is likely to dry out the paper too quickly, leaving it to come off the wall.

TIPS Matching Sand and Cement Mixes

Quite often it is necessary to cut out damaged bricks from a wall and while it is relatively easy to match the bricks, matching the colour of the sand and cement, or mortar, is no easy task.

There is no science involved in matching a sand and cement mix to that of your existing wall or property, its just a question of trial and error and even a little research is necessary sometimes.

There are many many types of sand and each type will produce a different colour mortar when mixed with cement. Your property may have been built from a local sand or it may have been imported by a developer who got a great deal from a quarry further afield.

If your house is relatively new it may be worth talking to the local builders merchants to see if the development was built using materials ordered through them. You can try to contact the developers or even the actual builders. Life will certainly be easier if you can track down the sand used.

If you can, all that remains is to match the cement content. This is easy enough and involves getting a small cup or other receptacle and measuring the sand accurately. You then make up several mixes starting at 3 sand to1 cement. Then 3½ to 1, 4 to 1, 4½ to 1 and so on. Do not go past 6 to 1 or the mix will be too weak for ordinary brickwork. Wait until your mini mixes have dries and use the mix closest to the colour of that in your wall.

If you cannot locate the sand then talk to the builders merchants and even the local quarry to find out how many local building sands there are available. Ask if you can have a small sample of each and do the experiment above, but with all the different sands. Its boring and time consuming, but if you do not want your repairs to stand out like a sore thumb, it has to be done!

Some mortars are artificially coloured with a cement dye. This makes the permutations endless. It is important to mix the dye into the cement before you add the water. Dyes are available in a variety of colours from all builders merchants.

We suggest you make up a table, similar to the one below, to keep track of the different mixes.

DIY : Change a Door Handle

This is a very simple project. Even if there's nothing wrong with your doorknob, you might want to upgrade to one that's easier for people with disabilities to open.

Before you buy a doorknob, though, take off the old one and take it to the store for comparison. Also make sure you know whether your doorknob goes on the right or left side of the door. To remove the old knob and install the new, just follow below steps.

Materials:

Lock set with key and screws

Flathead or slot screwdriver

Power drill

Safety glasses

Steps:

1. The toughest part is getting the old doorknob off. If your doorknob has screws on the cover plates, remove those to loosen the old knob. If not, look for a slot on the side of the handle that has a little piece of metal sticking out. Then use the key from the new doorknob to push in on the metal -- that will make the doorknob pop loose (Figure A).

2. Pull off the doorknob to reveal the plate below. Look for a slot in the plate along the seam where it butts against the door. Wedge a slot (also known as flathead) screwdriver in the slot and then give the plate a half twist to pop it off.

3. With plate removed, you'll see the screws you should remove with a power drill (Figure B).

Safety Alert: Always wear safety eyewear when using a power drill.

4. Remove the old latch by taking out the screws with a power drill or screwdriver (Figure C).

5. Screw the new latch in, setting the screws by hand first and then tightening them with a power drill.

6. Place the knobs themselves, set the screws by hand, and finish by drilling. Don't overtighten the screws or you'll bind the doorknob.

7. Test the key and make sure the door locks properly.

Some Related Q & A :

Q: I'm painting the trim around my doors. Would it be easier with the doors off the hinges? How do I remove them?

A: It's a whole lot easier to paint with your doors off the hinges, and you should take your doorknobs off, too. There's a hinge pin running through the center of the hinge, which you should remove with an old screwdriver. Take all three hinges off and then carefully remove the door.

Q: My kids have caused damage by slamming the doorknob on the wall. How can I prevent this?

A: There are actually a couple of solutions. Try one of those springy doorstops that screw into the baseboard of the wall and keep the door from opening all the way and hitting the wall. There are also doorstop contraptions that attach to the top of the hinge pin, for places where you don't have a baseboard on the wall the door is hitting.

Q: My bedroom door is hard to close. I have to really slam it. Any suggestions for solving this problem?

A: That means the door is either too wide for the door opening itself, in which case you need to plane it, or that the latch plate is sticking out too far. Or it could mean that the strike plate needs to be adjusted.

TIPS About PVC-U Double Glazed Windows

About PVC-U Double Glazed Windows

This is an excellent, highly insulate material, which benefits from little or no external maintenance. It is readily available and well tested and is usually the lowest cost option of all three materials. It is mainly seen in white but also available in Mahogany and Oak woodgrain styles. PVCu is by far the most popular material for windows and doors today. There are many well-proven PVCu extrusions available. Problems with discoloration are virtually unheard of and most suppliers will warrant against this. The design of the windows varies from company to company. Here are a few of the main points. You may like to raise them with your supplier.

Internal or Externally glazed windows

Most PVCu systems will now give you this option. As a generalisation Internally beaded windows (where the glass is held in from the inside) are considered more secure and burglar resistant. That said there are a lot of satisfactory externally beaded PVCu systems about - many of which feature either internal wedge gaskets or a "double sided" tape which holds the external bead firmly in place. You should investigate this particular issue with your supplier.

Thickness of PVCu walling?

Most PVCu systems for window and door construction are "multi-walled" with internal reinforcement by means of either Aluminium or Galvanised Steel box section. Wall thickness can vary from system to system - most are around 3 - 3.5 mm thickness. Generally speaking the "thicker" the walling - the stronger the section. Ask your supplier for an example section and enquire if the frames are fully reinforced. Note also that the greater the number of internal walls - the greater the strength.

Depth or thickness of frame

Actual depth of frame extrusion varies from as low as 50 mm to a number at 70 mm and above. Most are in the 60 - 65 mm region. Clearly this does have an effect on the structural strength of your replacement window or door. This is especially worth bearing in mind when comparing prices. It would not for instance be fair to compare the price of a conservatory built using a 55 mm depth of frame with a window made using 70 mm depth of frame.

We bring the points above to your attention purely to give you a feel for the sort of questions you should ask a potential supplier. The above is by no means the whole story, and there will be varying arguments one way and the other.

Here is a short list of PVCu systems companies supplying extrusion for the manufacture of PVCu windows and doors in the UK. These include Rehau, Veka, Spectus and Synseal.

For some, however, PVCu lacks authenticity when it comes to the more traditional designs. It is not acceptable to planner for use on listed buildings and not popular with planners in conservation areas.

Coloured Frame Options

What colour do you want? You name it and today you can almost certainly get it. Standard colours for PVCu and aluminium are white, whilst for hardwood it is a natural stain option such as mahogany, walnut or light oak. You can, however, have hardwood already primed in green, cream and teak plus a whole host of options to your specification. PVCu in mahogany woodgrain and cherry oak woodgrain styles is also increasingly popular. Additionally, both PVCu and aluminium can be specially coloured in red, blue, green, black and orange! (and that's just a few of the options!)

The above only really touches the surface on some of the options available. Your supplier will be pleased to give you a more detailed specification.

This article is about PVC-U Windows (also referred to as upvc, pvcu and pvc windows). Other materials used for windows include Aluminium and Timber / Hardwood For more information on Double Glazed replacement windows visit Windows Today http://www.windowstoday.co.uk/ Buyers Tips - Top Design Tips In this section we introduce you to some very important but often overlooked issues when choosing window designs. Regrettably we find that quite often some aspects of window design are not discussed at the buying stage. These aspects can often turn out to be very important to the buyer.

One such issue is "equal sight lines"

When manufacturing most modern replacement windows it is normal for there to be smaller areas of glass wherever there are openings (sashes) fitted. Where the frames are fixed the glass area will be larger. This "unequal" site line is quite normal and acceptable to most people.

However on a lot of older properties (and indeed some newer ones) it was more common to have an equal sight line. (i.e. you would not be able to tell from the outside which windows opened and which did not.) Fitting "dummy sashes" or "dummy openers" into the frames created this "equal" sight line.

As you will see from the photographs above the windows can have a considerably different appearance dependant on whether or not they have equal sight lines.

Equal sight lines are not for everybody - indeed some will not like the overall "bulkier" appearance. However there is no doubt that for some types of property this will be a "better bet". It is also a very good alternative with Georgian and Leaded Light window designs as it allows you to have rectangles / squares that are more equal in size.

Having equal site lines adds to the overall cost of your replacement windows and for this reason many people do not favour this approach. That said -- it is still a worthwhile consideration in our opinion.

Another possible alternative is to consider having "vertical equal sight lines". With this approach fixed windows are always above fixed windows and opening windows are always above opening windows. Ask you suppliers for more information on this if this is unclear to you.

Another design issue that is often overlooked is whether to use black gaskets or white gaskets on your white PVCu windows.

Black coloured gaskets are the norm with most companies and are widely fitted. In the past white gaskets had not been favoured as it was not always possible to get a "matching" white and it was not also possible to offer a "colour fast" guarantee. This has now changed and more and more companies now offer both alternatives.

We feel white gaskets are a good alternative - especially on "panelled" doors.

This photograph shows a panelled door design with black gasket. It would have looked better with a white gasket.

An alternative to white gaskets are "low profile" black gaskets which are very slim and less obtrusive.

One disadvantage of white gaskets reported by some people is that the gasket will often appear grubby and show up the dust/dirt. This may be an important consideration is you live close to a major road network etc. (Or don't fancy cleaning too often!)

Whatever your choice we do especially recommend white gaskets on white PVCu panelled doors.

Consider your Neighbours

When replacing windows it is sometimes worth considering the effect of your changes on the overall appearance of the street or road where you live.

For instance if you and your neighbour both agree on a style for your windows the overall effect can be considerably better if you both agree to use similar designs. It doesn't matter if you both use the same company or even have the work done at the same time.

Sometimes using "conflicting" styles or designs "side by side" will spoil the appearance of the neighbourhood. As can be seen in the photograph below using similar designs on both of these porches has added to the visual appearance for these two neighbours.

TIPS to prevent flooding around the house

Actions to prevent flooding around the house

With global warming and the resulting climate changes, flooding is increasingly becoming a problem. Often the ordinary householder thinks there is nothing they can do to protect their property - but now there is !

This page will help you gain a better understanding on how floods can damage your property and how products can help you in the event of a flood in your area.

Basements

If an Antiflood Barrier has been fitted, the chances are that seepage will not effect your basement, however this cannot be guaranteed. Seepage through the ground is a gradual process and is subject to a lot of variables, such as:

• Has your basement been adequately tanked? If not, what is the porosity of the ground?

• Do you have cracked or damaged drains?

• There are many, many more factors that can also take effect.

Suspended Floors

This is the same as with basements, with the exception that the area beneath the floor is unlikely to have been tanked. A sump situated roughly at the centre of the house could be used in conjunction with a pump to remove any collected water. It would, however, not be advisable to set the sump too deep as penetration through the water table could occur and this would not be good in the long term.

If you do decide to install a sump, as with many building projects, it is recommended that you use a professional to complete the work.

Air Bricks

Over the years, ground levels around external walls tend to rise. Maybe a patio or pathway has been built higher than the recommended 6 inches below damp proof course level? Whatever the reason, you may find yourself with a potential water entry point. If the Antiflood Barrier has been fitted, air bricks will usually be protected.

There are, however, other factors that need to be considered: If rainwater or run-off were to collect inside the barrier, can it be pumped out quickly enough in relationship to the height of the air brick? If in doubt, consider using a device designed specifically for this purpose.

Drains

Drains are a major problem during a flood as they cannot cope and will therefore fail to work. Here follows a brief outline of protection systems that you can install yourself.

If you have installed the Antiflood Barrier, water from the outside will be greatly reduced if not stopped completely. The next step is to tackle the drains in order of priority. The lower the drain in relation to the floor level the greater the need for action. These levels will always be affected in relationship to the flood level and will change inside the barrier only if and when water is discharged via the WC, bath, basin, sink rainwater.

Manholes

It is usually possible to put a plug in the manhole to stop backfeed from mains sewers etc. You can also use the manhole as a collection sump inside the barrier It is advisable to employ a redundancy brace to ensure the plug stays firmly located in the drain. This ensures that if the bung is not located correctly or tightened sufficiently, it will not be forced out by backfeed pressure. A simple piece of 6" x 2" laid in the channel will usually suffice.

Gullies

If your gullies are connected to the main drainage or tank, as the flood advances the water will come out of the gullies in relationship to the flood level. Therefore all gullies need to be sealed, although this may not be necessary if you have plugged the main drain as above. There is a range of automatic backfeed gullies but they can fail & make the whole barrier system pointless. Some products are manufactured to deal with this problem.

Sump

If you cannot use the manhole as a collection sump, a series of sumps will need to be fitted inside of the barrier in order to dispose of seepage and rainwater should the need arise. These sumps can be fitted with automatic pumps to discharge water and a manual pump can be supplied should the electrical supply fail.

Bath

If you have a bath situated on the ground floor then that would be the next affected point of entry. Logically, the lower the discharge point, the lower the seepage. Some products will seal most drains, including showers and washing machines. Once again this will not be necessary if the manhole is plugged.

WC

Next the ground floor WC. The same advice as "Bath" applies. Washing machine stand pipes, basins, sinks and so on.

Airvents

Air vents should not be an issue if the barrier system is fitted, however there are some products which can be installed where it is impractical to erect the barrier.

Ground Seepage

There is always the possibility of ground seepage. The severity of this seepage is not calculable as the volume of water seepage is governed by a great many factors. It is possible to slow down the seepage but first you have to know where it will occur and why. If your premises are of a modern construction, it is most likely that after the foundation brickwork had been built, the builders filled the void around the brickwork with all kinds of rubbish. This is a potential problem as this filled void is very seldom compacted and, as such allows the water access to a greater height in relation to the ground level, than that of compacted ground. The answer is to cover the area around the edge of the property with paving properly sealed to the walls. In some cases you may well want planting areas. These should be excavated down to the foundation slab and filled with compacted earth.

Garden soakaways are usually constructed away from the property and should be well outside the barrier. However, these soakaways are of numerous designs and can give easy access to the inside of the barrier via the drain outlet. If the property is on a soakaway ensure the drain is plugged within the barrier.

Modern drains are back filled with shingle or similar. This is also a potential entry point for water. Regardless of how much seepage you get, there is usually a pump that can cope with it.

Now you can do something to stop your home flooding and inevitably ruining your furniture -and possibly your life!