Home Sweet Home

Cutting tiles Mark out and cut tiles to fit (see Skill class on marking and cutting tiles). The cut tiles can then be laid individually around the perimeter as needed.

Grouting Once all the tiles have been laid, allow the adhesive to set for 24 hours before grouting. The recommended grout is a cement-based material with additives to ensure a certain water resistance and ease of use. Grout is designed to fail should tiles expand with age; the idea behind this is that grout is easier and cheaper to replace than tiles. On floors, it is common to use the adhesive as the grouting medium as well because it is normally grey and won’t show dirt as easily as white or coloured grout. (more…)

Once you have the plan in mind, you can turn your attention to the colour and style of your bathroom.

Your choices are almost unlimited and while your final selection boils down to personal taste, there are a few general guidelines.

To some extent, the bathroom is a place where you can indulge your decorative whims, but try to ensure that its decor — and the budget allocated — is in keeping with the rest of the house. (more…)

Any materials used in the bathroom must be smooth, moisture resistant and easy to keep clean. Flooring materials must also be antislip for safety.

It’s important to choose materials that will provide long service and help to create a bathroom

Which looks and feels good to use. (more…)

Before phoning the plumber consider the following — you can’t take the mountain to Mohammed, so Mohammed will be charging a call-out fee to come and look at the mountain, after which he will charge you a bit more to fix the mountain. After 5 minutes you may realize that the mountain was in actual fact a very insignificant little molehill, easily taken care of yourself, if only you’d known.

The molehill could take on various forms: a leaking tap, a blocked toilet or a blocked drain, all of which you will be able to fix if you follow our detailed instructions. But there are a number of mountains best left to the plumber. These will include a burst water pipe (possibly caused by over-eager digging in the garden), a water pipe that accidentally connected with a power tool near the bathroom or kitchen (caused by over-eager drilling) or an old geyser that is on the blink. (more…)

Bathroom

Why is cleaning the bathroom always the worst? The stains are the pits — once they are there they stay, so don’t let them. Use these concoctions to get rid of them, clean regularly and keep the stains away.

Toilet bowl

Most old toilet bowls have stubborn stains that, regardless of how may litres of bleach you’ve poured in there, still remain. With a gas mask securely tied over your mouth and nose and industrial strength gloves on your hands, mix 5 cups of bicarbonate of soda with 1 cup of caustic soda. Sprinkle the mixture in the bowl and leave for half an hour. Give it a quick scrub with the toilet brush (you DO own a toilet brush, right?) and flush. (more…)

The days when a bathroom was bleak, cold, and unimaginative are gone.

It has not been too many years since the miracle of indoor plumbing, with hot and cold running water, became a common convenience in most homes in this country; but the history of bathrooms goes back many centuries.

Although bathrooms were found in early Egyptian palaces, it is the palaces of the Minoan civilization (1700-1400 B.C.) that provide the earliest well-preserved examples of bathrooms. They are remarkable both for careful structure and for an advanced system of water supply and drainage. (more…)

The filter system is the only absolutely essential pool equipment. It enables you to use the initial water supply over and over again, adding only enough to make up for evaporation, backwashing, and splash- out. An efficient filter mixes sanitizing chemicals and cleans the water by filtering out unwanted debris. A good filter, plus normal chemical treatment and vacuuming, will guarantee that your pool remains sanitary and attractive.

The size of the filter is determined by the amount of water the pool holds. It must be able to filter all the water in a reasonable time. Too small a filter will be over-taxed and fail to keep the pool clean. Too large a filter, on the other hand, will be needlessly expensive to install and operate. Residential pools of 800square feet or less usually require only one filter tank to completely filter the total volume of water in the pool in 8 to 12 hours of continuous operation. (more…)

Basements

The first place to look for that extra living space you need is your basement. Bright, cheerful colors and well-chosen, durable materials can work miracles in this often neglected area of the house.

Basin Stand

A piece of wooden furniture designed to hold a washing basin. The basin stand originated in England in the mid-eighteenth century. Thomas Chippendale included some in his design book, and the form remained popular through the Hepplewhite and Sheraton periods and even beyond. With the introduction of modern plumbing, the need for basin stands disappeared. Most of them stand 30 inches high on three legs that support a molded ring into which a porcelain wash basin can be fitted. Some have space for an urn for water and a cake of soap. (more…)

Quick-sew Curtains

The newer trend is for a simpler style of heading, often with the fabric just tied or threaded on to a pole, or wrapped around it. With so many good- looking tie-backs and hold-backs available, the curtains don’t even have to draw in the conventional sense — the fabric can simply be hooked back out of the way.

Curtains like these tend not to be so full, with the advantage that they use up less fabric, and — best of all — they often require little sewing beyond the side seams and hems. They also make more of a feature of the pole itself, so it’s a good chance to try out some of the decorative poles. Quick to make and very adaptable, they are particularly good for small rooms where too much fabric would look over-fussy. (more…)

The Western world is geared to consumption on a massive scale. Powerful and seductive advertising campaigns attempt to generate the need to possess the latest products and styles. We continue toconsume valuable and irreplaceable resources at an ever-increasing rate, with seemingly no real regard for the inevitable future when those resources will be unable to meet demand. And high consumption on the part of those in the richer countries of theworld leaves poorer nations still poorer. We are locking ourselves into a future crisis.

Our homes are part of this system and they reflect these values in the way we build and live in them. They are wasteful and inefficient not only in their design but also in the way in which we maintain them. (more…)