Your DIY and home improvement questions answered
Want to get your head around DIY basics, learn expert tips and tricks, pick up design tips or get some great ideas on ways to improve your home? You’ve come to the right place.
Here’s a list of the articles you’ll find in this section:
- Are you asbestos aware?
- Nearly half of the UK’s handy homeowners do not realise that asbestos was used as a domestic building material as recently as the 1990s, according to research from the British Lung Foundation (BLF). So, if you think it might be present in your home, what should you do? The charity has some tips for you.
- How to keep DIY projects on track
- Everyone’s heard horror stories of DIY projects gone horribly awry – the bathroom that remains untiled for a year or more, the building work that gets horrendously over budget. What can you do to make sure this doesn’t happen to you? Read on here.
- Our top 10 tips for buying power tools
- Are you thinking of buying power tools for the first time, or maybe upgrading your existing collection? Or perhaps you’ve got them in mind as the ideal present for the DIYer in the family. Either way, it may seem like a maze out there, with an immense range to choose from. Read on here.
- Electrical safety: what you need to know
- Ever since January 1 2005 in England people carrying out electrical work in their homes have had to follow new regulations to ensure they are not putting themselves or others at risk. Read on here.
- DIY: Getting a little help
- There’s a tricky little job that’ll make all the difference to your home – and you’ve been meaning to do it for months. But you’re worried about making a mess of it, or maybe you just don’t have time. The solution is to call in a handyman or woman – but that can be worrying too. Read on here.
- DIY factsheets: a round-up of useful resources
- We’ve done the work so you don’t have to – at least when it comes to finding DIY help and advice online. Here’s a handy checklist of retailers offering advice, inspiration, factsheets, brochures, tech guides and useful little conversion widgets. Read on here.
- Useful organisations
- Looking for some help and advice when it comes to DIY and home improvements? There is a huge range of industry bodies, regulatory organisations and advice groups that may well meet your needs. Most have informative websites, accreditation schemes for traders or retailers or even telephone helplines – check out our to find out what is on offer.
- Winter building maintenance tips
- The most effective way to prevent winter property problems is really simple – do a bit of maintenance. In the article below, leading interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen gets together with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) to remind homeowners to get the basics right – and then have fun. Read on here.
- Council tax revaluation – the facts
- In 2005 the value of every home in the country was set to be reassessed to calculate new council tax payments. The changes were set to come into play from 2007 and many people were concerned that any home improvements they carried out could have an impact. So, what happened? Read on here.