Replacing Windows and Cost – Low cost/Big Gain

Many people know that their homes are looking tired. Spring cleans and the lick of paint aside, the quickest and simplest way to completely change the look and feel of a home with minimal amount of fuss and cost is to replace the windows and doors.

The doors and windows of a property take up a substantial amount of space in the exterior walls, so it stands to reason that by upgrading these items, the overall appearance of the house is uplifted.

How to choose New Doors and Windows

When choosing doors and windows, it is essential that the home owner consider the things that are most important to them where these things are concerned. Do they want the windows to be an imitation of a certain style or era? Should they be made out of a certain material to blend in? Perhaps the doors should contain a lot of frosted glass in order to allow light into the hallway, or the opposite. By making a list of the traits that each window and door should have, owners can begin their search for the correct ones according to their budget.

There are a number of places to buy windows and doors from vendors offer to fit the items as part of the service, whilst others simply supply the goods with no follow up. One of the easiest ways to start looking for companies is to use the internet. By entering a simple search term like “new doors and windows”, thousands of options are presented in seconds. There are many sites that do not have a physical address that the customers can go to. If dealing with a site like this, customers should be absolutely sure or guarantees and warranty’s as they will not have the luxury of viewing any items before they buy.

How to fit

The simplest option for fitting doors and windows is to get a professional to do it for you. That way the work will be guaranteed and you can have peace of mind that the job has been done properly. After all, an ill fitted door or window can be hazardous on many levels, not least of all for injury and/or burglary.

As mentioned, the window and door company should be thoroughly researched in order to make sure that they are full insured etc. before fitting the items.

For those who decide to fit windows and doors themselves for whatever reason, researching how to do the job in books, on the internet and by asking people who are able to advise on the subject is a must.

New doors and windows can do wonders for the aesthetics of a house but there is also the benefit of the fact that an updated house will be more valuable on the property market. Also, replacing the doors and windows is a great step forward for conserving energy within a home, lessening the carbon footprint of a household whilst at the same time cutting down on energy bills.

This guest article has been brought to you by Sunsquare Skylights – Pioneering skylight designs and always aiming for the highest possible specification since 2004.

Colour trends for 2013

Dulux Colour Futures™ from AkzoNobel have gathered trends from all sorts of industries such as design, interiors, and fashion as well as social trends, economic trends and have come up with the upcoming trends for the coming year, through their international research they have selected a range of colours they think will be in trend throughout 2013.

Colour palettes and colour moods for 2013

The colour theme is being called ‘Connections’ as this is the

“one dominant influence or idea which inspired us to create the five colour trends”

Quote from ColourFutures™

The theme consists of the following five colour palettes and colour moods:

• Collective Passion
• Switching Off
• The Art Of Understanding
• Home Factory
• Visual Solace

What is to colour for 2013

The colour of the year 2013 is……. 90BB 09/186 (also known as Indigo Blue).

“Like the dreamy ocean landscapes hidden from everyone but deep sea divers, this colour gives us a sense of tranquillity and stability which is very restful. It’s a big and benevolent colour which combines the trustworthy nature and evocative elegance of robust blue.”

Quote from ColourFutures™

You can see more of this years colour schemes here:
Dulux Trade website or here:
http://www.colourfutures.com and download the Colour Futures book(PDF).

Paint Calculator

If you would like to use the colour of the year (90BB 09/186) or any other colour you need to buy and need to work out how much you need to buy, use our FREE Paint Calculator.

How to wallpaper

When it comes to wallpapering you must prepare the walls properly first otherwise the paper will not adhere well to the wall, cracks, missing plaster, rawl plugs and filler will show through. Getting the preparation right is very important and around 90% of the job. Once you have removed any old paper, filled and sanded down the walls and sealed any new plasterwork, you are ready to begin.

Choosing your wallpaper

Before you buy your wallpaper you will need to measure the walls of the room, or just one wall if you are just doing a feature wall. We have a wallpaper calculator that is quick and easy to use to work out how many rolls of wallpaper you need. This how to wallpaper guide is supported by Wallpaper from The Range.

Tools for wallpapering

You will need some tools to wallpaper well and to make you life easier, the following tools are what you will need.

• A paste table
• A clean bucket
• Wallpaper paste
• Rolls of wallpaper
• Paste brush or a roller
• Rolls of wallpaper
• Wallpapering brush
• Pasting brush or a roller and tray for paste
• Clean water
• Sponge or clean cloth
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Step ladder
• A knife or sharp scissors
• A plumb line

Getting ready to hang the first sheet

Once you have gathered everything together and prepared the walls for wallpapering check your rolls of wallpaper, make sure none are damaged, check to make sure the batch numbers are the same and the shade is the same on all rolls. If they are not the same you can either change them for the same batch or shade codes or work out how many you have of each batch and use these on the same wall, you can get away with different batch numbers or shades codes by using them on an area that doesn’t show or just on a different wall as the light falls differently around the room. Ideally all number should match.

Next mix your paste to the manufactures recommendations, unless your using ready mixed paste of course. Set up your pasting table and take the first roll of wallpaper, unwrap the roll and unroll a length onto the table, familiarise yourself with the pattern and look for the repeat if there is one.

Now take the plumb like, measure out from a corner 2cm less than the width of the sheet of paper, mark the wall then using the plumb line mark a vertical line down the wall.

Hanging the first sheet of wallpaper

Measure from the ceiling to the top of the skirting boards, cut a length of paper off the roll allowing about 5cm at each end to trim the top and bottom of the sheet. Lay the sheet of paper of paper face down on the clean paste table, apply your mixed wallpaper paste onto the back of the sheet from the centre to the edges, make sure the edges are well covered. Concertina fold the sheet and then allow to soak in accordance with the manufactures instructions. Once the paper has soaked for long enough take the top of the sheet and align it with the plumb line you made earlier. Take your wallpapering brush and smooth out the paper and pushing out any air bubbles, start from the centre and work out to the edges.

Once the sheet is smoothed out you will need to trim the top and bottom of the paper with either a sharp knife of a pair of scissors. Now wipe down the paper ensuring you remove all paste from the face of the paper. Wipe down the paste table surface and dry, now paste your next sheet of paper.

Now cut and paste the second sheet of paper and butt the edge up to the first sheet, work the edge down, smooth out as before and wipe the surface, continue doing this until you get to a corner.

Wallpapering around an internal corner

When you come toward a corner, measure from the edge of the last sheet hung to the corner, do this in several places. Take the widest measurement and add 2cm to it then cut a sheet of paper that width. Paste the sheet, once soaked hang as described before but this time wrap around the extra paper around the corner.

Now you can take the other half of the sheet you just cut, or a new sheet (depending on pattern) and measure it’s width. Mark with a plumb line that width from the corner a vertical line. Paste this sheet and then align it with the plumb line and work into the corner allowing it to overlap the paper you have turned the corner with, use a border or vinyl to vinyl adhesive to stick down the edge in the corner.

Wallpapering around a door or window

I recently wrote a post about wallpapering around a door so won’t go to it in detail here, but what I will say is always make sure that you have a straight plumb line as you come out of papering around the door or window as if it isn’t straight you will have problems with the next run of paper!

Papering around switches or sockets

The easiest way is to take switches and sockets off, but DO NOT DO THIS unless you know what you are doing, you should never mess around with electricity! So to leave them on and paper around them, switch off the power, paper over the switch or socket, you an see where the edges of the face plate are, from the centre cut to the corners of the face plate. Now carefully trim the flaps you’ve just made but leaving enough to tuck behind the face plate. Now unscrew the face plate just enough to get the paper behind, carefully ease the plate through the hole in the paper, you will find the plate moves a little so it’s easy to tuck the paper behind, just be careful not to tear the paper.

Screw the face plate back on, wipe the paste of the switch with a damp not wet cloth or sponge, then dry. Now turn the power back on.

You should now have beautiful wallpapered room.

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