Feb 03
Natural floorboards shrink and expand with the seasons. This means the best time to fill the emerging floorboard gaps are when they are at their largest.
Through the past months central heating systems may have caused traditional floorboards to shrink opening up wide gaps. These gaps can let cold draughts intrude into rooms making them cold and uncomfortable as well as increasing heating bills.
Now, when the gaps are at their largest is the best time to fill them. DIY gap fillers like papier mache and glue are not able to withstand the movement of the wood and will eventually drop through the gaps. As DraughtEx is very flexible it will expand and contract within the floorboard gap leaving you with peace of mind for years to come.
The same flexible properties also allow an easy installation in a wide range of gaps. Old Victorian houses often have wooden floorboards with strongly varying gaps. Our three different versions of DraughtEx will allow you to cover a gap range of 1-11mm width. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to receive more information or visit our website www.draughtex.co.uk
Jan 18
If you are planning on taking on the DIY challenge of laying your own carpet, you need to gather as much advice as possible and we have several projects which will provide all you need to know.
Firstly you need to have measured your floor accurately before ordering your carpet – take a look at our measuring floors project for guidance if you have a tricky area to measure. This is a good time to sort out any creaky floorboards you may have with floors or stairs. Again this is not a quick job but if you can remedy the squeaks, it will be a job well worth doing!
Before you actually start laying the carpet, make sure you have hired or bought a carpet knee kicker to stretch the carpet, as well as a carpet bolster and knee pads.
You then need to install your gripper round the outside of the room, followed by laying your underlay within this area. There is help and advice on different types of underlay available and how to lay underlay on our project page.
When you have your gripper and underlay down, you have the task of actually laying the carpet. As it says in our project page on laying a carpet, when you roll the carpet out, make sure if there is any pattern to the carpet that it is square to the walls. Then follow the instructions and take your time. This is definately not a task to be rushed, as mistakes could be costly!
There is also a project page giving step by step advice on laying stair carpet, which is quite a tricky job to get right, but a good skill to gain!
Nov 25
With extended family and friends staying over during the festive season here’s a quick guide to what’s best for your sleepover needs. When a property is topsy turvy from home improvements, space saving furniture is one idea to minimise disruption.
With children in mind a single foam chair bed is made especially for little people; when it’s time to sleep, this sleepover solution flops out into a single bed and is a chair when storing during the day.
For more than one child another favourite is the popular foam sofa bed, which as the name suggests, is a small sofa during the day and can flop out within seconds to a bed suitable for two small children up to the age of 5, depending on size.
With adults to accommodate, look no further than a traditional futon. The futon base can be solid pine or a metal action futon. Consider the depth of mattress when buying a futon, mattress range from a 9cm depth to a luxury 14cm thick futon mattress. Look for a cotton drill cover as these will be available in a range of modern and funky dyed colours.
With a price to suit every budget from divan beds to guest beds, the Comfy Living online store has the perfect sleepover solution for everyone to enjoy, with free delivery to mainland UK on everything!
DIY Doctor fans are entitled to a limited 5% discount on any item on the website www.comfy-living.co.uk simply enter the code DIYDOCTOR at the checkout. Offer expires 11/12/11.
