Courses, Attics and Painting

Courses, Attics and Painting

I've recently returned from a Home Maintenance course in the UK. It provided me with the basics to look after a house including painting, tile fixing, basic electrical and plumbing among other things. The Instructors are brilliant and it was worth the trip. There are DIY night classes in Dublin but my work schedule means I could easily sign up and miss half the classes. It was handier just to take a weekend and get it all done in one go!

You can check out their website here:
http://thebtc.co.uk/brochure/home-maintenance-courses/

Fly to Gatwick and either rent a car or arrange a taxi in advance. They can arrange B&B accommodation within walking distance of the center. The B&B I was in provided breakfast and evening meals and were very welcoming.

I've been busy recently doing painting outdoors and getting the attic properly insulated. It's slow going but it's great when you make some progress. I found Coolmine Decor great for helping select the right paints and very knowledgeable. Local builders providers also have a wealth of experience and expertise on hand. As long as you don't ask too many idiot questions!!

One thing I learned on the course is that there's a lot of detail that goes into things. Having an experienced builder teach us meant we got a chance to try things and get useful critique and tips we might not otherwise find out until it was too late! He mentioned a few online places to use and others that are well known to avoid! It was a very hands on class so you got to try things yourself and understand the process and see the results.

The training center do other courses like fitting a kitchen. I'll probably return at some stage but closer to when I'll need the skill so I don't forget what I've learnt!

For now I'm still gathering materials and just starting the task of putting them to use. The advice I give to myself is don't rush and everything takes time. I can always think of more stuff I need each time I prepare for a job and could spend every day going down to the hardware store to pick up more gear! I've deliberately decided to hold off and limit my trips otherwise I'd be both broke and driven mad. With no tools to start with I'm just beginning to get on top but there's always more materials you think you might need to consider.

I'm nearly done with updating all the light bulbs to LED. The kitchen has 8 x MR16 Halogen downlights with old drivers attached. I'd hoped to replace them with some LED downlights and completely replace the fittings but the LED ones are not as bright as I'd hoped, I got two samples and I'm glad I did. One requires a larger cutout and the other has a style I'm not happy with. As a friendly Electrician said you'd be better off replacing the fitting with GU10 to feed the LED bulbs at mains voltage and removing the drivers altogether. That would also offer me the chance to pick from a wider range of bulbs, use the same downlighter fittings and cutout. Think I'll take him up on that. The existing halogen aren't great and I'm hoping for a much brighter experience once I'm done.

I think the next trip will be the Self-Build show in Citywest in September to talk to people there. Might see you there!

Mould - dust or colony?!

Mould - Dust or Colony?!

I recently took a Mould expert around to a friend's house to try to resolve a long standing health issue with one of the occupants. They suffered from frequent sore throats, dizzyness and other symptoms. After exhaustive medical investigations I was interested if there was any mould / spores that could be the cause?

I kept skeptical as I'm trying to build a house, so everything looks to me like a building issue and I was aware of SHS / Sick House Syndrome. But, having an independent specialist come in would be useful.

This journey began a few months ago when I purchased a viable mould kit from the same company. This I placed around the house and found the highest concentrations around the bed of the affected person. This prompted me to invest in an expert to pay a visit.

So, did we find mould, yes. Lots of it!!

He noted inside humidity was over 65% in the bedroom whereas outside was 55% during a quick check. The air vent was blocked and there was an ensuite with no window, just a fan although the shower was not used.

He identified at least 3 types of mould in the following locations:

Bedside locker - both the side of the locker and the rear of the drawers
Under cistern and below sink in ensuite
on ceiling above toilet
on bottom of picture frame
on backpack
rear of curtains
on the ensuite door

There was a new bed and that was clean but within a year it also would have been affected

What was surprising was how he found it. I would have discounted what he showed me as house dust but there are subtle difference to be aware of:

House Dust doesn't settle on vertical surfaces
House dust doesn't form colonies, it lays down an even layer
using a microscope app on your phone to zoom in can show more detail
a flashlight was used to show up the mould but make sure you use it along the edge of the surface, not directly at it to see the make up of the mould

The cause was high humidity and low air changes.

The resolution:

• Unblock air vent, use rockwool if necessary to allow some air in and kept a bit of warmth
• Dehumidifier
• Air rooms daily if possible by opening windows
• get humidity stabilised

The bedside locker was a case in point, dust doesn't cling to vertical surfaces very well and the mould was a light coloured brown, the same as the wood, not easy to spot but if you spend 10-12 hours in the room you'll know all about it!

The ensuite door had what looked like spots of talcum powder but was in fact mould - the magnifying app helped there.

The picture frame looked like dirt or dust but the mottling was in fact a signature of mould and how the colonies form.

The backpack is like ones I've seen stored in attics for years, mottled and area of discolouration, best to bin it!

The treatment process is to wash curtains etc with detergent, get an Anti-Mould spray to clean down and dry the surfaces. Nothing major and monitor the humidity and air quality to make sure the problem goes away. The locker when cleaned can be varnished with something to protect against moisture.

Note that north facing rooms, poor insulation or other factors may create different concentrations / risks so get an expert out if needed to verify and take action.

Hopefully this might help someone else figuring out why a friend keeps getting ill, get a GP to look first but if it reoccurs, maybe it's the environment, and the person's reaction to that.

Worth looking into.....

There are many Anti-Mould products out there, but recognising mould is the key, then you can do something about it!

Renting improvements

Renting improvements

While I'm waiting on news regarding the site I hope to build on I've been pursuing improvements to the house I'm renting. I got permission to swap out the front / side security lights with LEDs and found a very diligent Electrician who replaced them. They are very impressive, perhaps not quite as bright at the old 400W halogen but cover a much larger area. They recommend leaving them on when triggered for 20 minutes to give them a long life. They were slaved to an existing PIR, I might have replaced that but wanted to keep the cost down. The landlord reimbursed me but it's worked out great and is a welcome upgrade.
The previous lights were very old and giving out. I tried to replace the bulb out of the one I could reach and open myself but didn't insert the bulb properly but time for a replacement was already due. The rear ones are still working away so will leave them for another time, hopefully someone else's problem by then!

I had a problem with an alert from one of the Argos / Kiddie Smoke & CO2 detectors last week. I installed two, one per floor years ago. It turns out this indicates a fault. They are meant to be replaced every 5 years it seems and these are just beyond that. I'd tried changing the batteries but that didn't clear the fault so it was only when I checked the manual I realised. Keep those manuals!!
I had difficulty finding a replacement set, Argos only do separate Smoke and CO2 detectors now. I did find them again on Amazon from a company called "Landlords Direct" and they have a 10 year Lithium PP3 battery included. they are up and functioning now although they don't "speak" so if you hear them it won't tell you if you're going to choke or burn to death, just get out!!

I've been reading up on push to fit plumbing and think there are a few improvements here I could make. One is regarding saving water in the toilets here. Perhaps with a "Delayed action inlet valve" so fresh cistern water isn't immediately added to the water flushed down the loo.
http://www.thomasdudley.co.uk/bathroom/cistern-components/hydroflo-part-4-float-valve.html
There is also a hippo which reduces the amount of water held in the cistern if you have really old Loo's like I have (Pre-2001).
http://www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk/buyhippo_eu.html
Small changes but might be worth asking for permission to install.

We have a noisy pipe in the attic, particularly when I flush the loo. This is due to over demand on the pipe. The fix is to reduce the pressure / slow the water if you have a valve in the attic on that pipe you can partially close. The article below is great for helping to understand what diameter of pipe should be used:
http://www.johnhearfield.com/Water/Water_in_pipes2.htm

Finally the push to fit solution I was investigating is this:
http://www.wavin.co.uk/web/solutions/potable-water/plumbing-systems/pushfit/pushfit-hep2o-26.htm
Very easy to spec, buy and install! Something I can do finally! Screwfix also stock them!

So, interesting learning over this last weekend and a few small project I could start to investigate for when I'm bored!!