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Posts Tagged ‘equipment<’
Posted in General Building on Apr 30
 Even if only performing simple tasks when working at your home, a general builder needs to have a clear understanding of all of the home construction processes. This must include the basic building structure through the laying on of electrical, plumbing and even heating and ventilation systems too. Moreover, your general builder must be able to read and interpret blueprints, and should be able to calculate dimensions for each room t00.
The scope of the work could include building your home from scratch, but a skilled general builder should easily be able to assist with renovation work and smaller projects as well. So if you are looking to find a general builder, there is no better place to start than right here on Mr-Skill.
Things to Watch For 
When requesting a general builder quote, don’t be shy to ask these important questions, and make sure they get properly answered too:
- Does the person you are considering have the all-round skills that they will need? If they don’t, they may end up sub-contracting certain tasks, and this could be dangerous as you would be dealing with unknown people.
- Do he or she have a thorough understanding of all interior and exterior building materials?
- Are they at ease with kitchen and bathroom fittings, including lights and switches?
- Do they have a comprehensive set of equipment including power tools, and do they know how to use them correctly?
Sign a Contract
Be sure to draw up a contract with your general builder. This agreement needs to cover the specifics such as start date and time, agreed costs, supply of tools and materials, and so on. Ask too about penalties, should the builder run over the agreed time schedule – this prevents unfair delays due to things beyond your control that could include deliberate time wasting too. Remember to add an arbitration clause to cover disputes and disagreements. Any good builder will be quite willing to sign a fair contractagreement
Accreditation
One of our expert London general builders is very proud of his workmanship, which has come at the cost of extensive training and apprenticeships too. He advises that you should check that your builder is properly trained and has the experience to finish the assignment satisfactorily. Don’t be shy to ask for certificates of registration – the last thing you want is to become some cowboy builder’s training ground!
Tags: accreditation, apprenticeship, arbitration, blueprints, building materials, contract, equipment, exterior, fair, find a general builder, general builder quote, interior, London general builder, penalty, plans, power tool, registration, training
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Posted in Electrical Work on Apr 02
Children and teenagers are tomorrow’s people. It is with their safety in mind that we present some straightforward safety tips in your bathroom and kitchen.
Caution: If you have any faulty electrical equipment or appliances, rather find an electrician to check for problems. Fiddling with gadgets ourselves is all fine and dandy, but just think about the consequences of getting it wrong. Electricians take several years to qualify, and there’s a good reason for this – they have to learn a lot, and then put their knowledge into practice throughout their working lives.
Child Safety
Be sure to dry your children thoroughly after bathing or showering, and before they approach anything electrical in the house. Water and electricity are a lethal combination. Teach your kids to keep drinks far away from any electrical appliances. It’s also a good habit to teach your youngsters to switch off appliances at the wall socket, whenever they are not in use.
Keep electrical appliance cords out of the reach of your children too, particularly for hot gadgets such as kettles, irons and hair dryers. And, never keep a charger plugged in without connecting to the actual appliance – kids love to explore and may regard a dangling cable as a tasty item to put in their mouths!
Kitchen Safety 
One recipe never to be followed is water and electricity…this combination will prove stunning, and may even turn out fatal. When you plan your new kitchen, ensure that sockets and switches are located a safe distance from water sources such as the sink. If you are thinking of a quote for electrical work, make sure the drawings include safe distances between water outlets and plugs or switches.
One of our London Electricians suggests you make sure your heavy-duty appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers connect through a fusible-link switch. This should be above the worktop surface, so that you can switch on or off quickly in emergencies.
Some Definite No-Goes
- Never use any electrical equipment or switch with wet hands.
- Don’t wrap power cables around an iron or a kettle while still warm or hot
- Always unplug an appliance from the wall socket when cleaning it.
- Unplug irons and kettles when filling them with water.
- If bread sticks in your toaster, don’t stick metal objects inside the toasting compartment to dislodge the bread. Switch off all kitchen appliances when not in use.
Tags: appliance, bathroom, children, cord, dishwahers, electrical safety, electricity, equipment, find an electrician, hot, kettle, kitchen, lethal, london electricians, power cable, quote for electrical work, safety, sink, switch, washing machines, water, wet
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Posted in General Building on Mar 26
Apart from looking very nice, a new bathroom can play a significant role when it comes to selling your home and achieving a good price. Bathrooms are not that difficult to spruce up either, so long as you plan carefully, and have all your ducks in a row.
First, decide if you need to find a general builder to do the job for you. Then, you should set a budget by listing everything that you have to buy. This should include all the sanitary ware such as new toilet and cistern, hand basin and cabinet, bath and shower cubicle, tiles, and a wall cabinet with mirror. Don’t forget tap fittings, extractor fans and a new combination light and ceiling heater. Towel rails, as well as other finishing touches can come later once everything else is finished.
Planning
- Draw up a copy of your new bathroom layout, and work out a budget too.
- Choose your new bathroom fittings from your preferred dealer. Remember to agree a delivery date before paying.
- Decide when you are going to start the job and warn the general household.
- Unless you have two bathrooms, allow for the time your bathroom will be out of commission.
Project Advice
- Make sure you have everything you need, including tools and safety gear.
- Isolate the water supply to the bathroom under renovation.
- Remove old bathroom tiles and fittings.
- Make good with any repairs needed to the subfloor and walls – fill plaster cracks for example and attend to any damp. If you discover things you did not expect, consider getting a general building quote instead.
- Prepare and repaint any wall area that you are not planning to tile, making sure the paint is suitable for bathroom use.
- You’re now ready to install your new tiles and fittings – imagine your new bathroom looking like this!
Oswald is a wild old sage – he’s one of our favourite London general builders. He has been refitting bathrooms for longer than most of us would guess, and he says that provided you are reasonably handy, renovating your bathroom yourself is possible. One word of caution though…once you have started it’s all about commitment. So plan the event carefully before starting!
Tags: add value, bath, bathroom refit, bathrrom renovation, cabinet, ceiling heater, ceiling light, damp, equipment, extractor fan, find a general builder, fittings, floor, general building quote, handbasin, London general builder, new bathroom, Plumbing, renovate bathroom, sanitary ware, shower, subfloor, tiles, toilet, tools
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Posted in Handyman Services on Feb 20
It’s surprising how many enquiries we receive about attaching things to walls. While this is the perfect job for a Handyman, it’s quite simple to do yourself. That’s provided you have the right equipment and safety gear. Should you decide to have a go, then these are the seven main things to watch out for.
Safety Tip
 A London Handyman will always have a strong ladder, an assistant and a modern electric drill to help him do his work. If you don’t have the same, please don’t even try to do the job.
- Always use a sharp masonry drill bit that’s slightly undersized for the wall plug you’re installing. You can always make it larger afterwards, but you cannot make it smaller.
- Before you drill, consider what might lurk inside the wall. Never drill directly opposite an electric box, or in line with a water pipe. Remember to check outside the house too.
- Re-check your measurements carefully before you drill. If the item you are fitting has more than one attaching point, fit a single one initially. Then you can level it and mark the other points.
- Make sure the drill is at right angles to the wall before you press the switch. Are you wearing safety goggles? Drill bits occasionally do snap.
 Have a friend hold a vacuum cleaner extension pipe in position to suck the dust up before it covers everything.
- Drill through the plaster on the standard setting before you switch to impact. Never force an electric tool. Use it in ten second bursts and do not let it overheat.
- When you are finished, lay the drill down somewhere safe, and unplug it from the wall.
Do you think that you could do the job yourself and avoid the cost of Handyman Quotes? Many people do.
Many others prefer to Find a Handyman on Mr-Skill instead, and get on with other more important things in their lives.
Tags: accessory, assistant, attach, bit, brick, careful, check, drill, dust, electric, equipment, find a handyman, glasses, goggle, handyman quotes, impact, ladder, level, london handyman, masonry, pipe, plaster, plug, right angle, safety, shelf, switch, television, vacuum, wall
Posted in Handyman Services | Comments Off
At Mr-Skill we like to recommend that our customers review their heating requirements in the height of summer when they can afford to have an outage without getting cold.  The heart of every home is of course the furnace, and even the best of these cannot last for ever safely. When I was involved with a Gas Fitting London Firm some years ago, I began to wonder whether it’s not a case of the British going soft as opposed to their furnaces not working properly any more. No worries, our foreman always said, who needs to be cold these days.
Cheap of course is never cheap, or wise when it comes to gas equipment. The trick is to install the furnace that’s right for your own requirements – here are some criteria to consider:
o Find a Gas Fitter to work out the size of furnace you require in terms of output. After all, it makes no sense to pay for capacity you may never use. If you are going green like me, use the opportunity to determine your home’s heat loss factors too. You could save a deal of money down the years if you no  longer have to turn the panels on in summer.
o Some modern gas furnaces have condensers that convert energy that might otherwise be wasted into what amounts to free heat for your home. Trust me, when the North Sea Gas runs out we are going to start paying for alternatives through the neck. Plan for that change now.
o Buy your new gas furnace from a reputable firm, preferably local with after-sales service and good spares availability. It makes absolutely no sense to save a few pounds up-front, only to buy your self a bucket-load of troubles down the line.
At Mr-Skill we hope that these few ideas will hold you in good stead, when evaluating the Gas Fitting Quotes we hope you get from us too. Stay warm next winter, and thanks for visiting.
Tags: alternative, boiler, capacity, cheap, condenser, criteria, energy, equipment, find a gas fitter, furnace, gas, gas fitting London, gas fitting quotes, green, heat, heating, heatloss, loss, money, problem, replace, reputable, service, size, spare
Posted in Plumbing, Heating & Gas | Comments Off
During the incredibly cold weather over Christmas and New Year everybody’s central heating systems and gas effect fires were maxed (and many probably still are) while the cooker worked overtime preparing roasts and curries. Unfortunately  not everybody knows what to do when a gas related problem occurs, usually after a long period of poor maintenance. If you are in any doubt at all about the safety of your equipment then you are urgently advised to find a Gas Fitter on Mr Skill.
As a homeowner or landlord you are responsible by law for the safe functioning of the gas fittings and appliances on your property, and are required to ensure that these are checked annually by a Gas Safe Registered Installer. Tenants are obliged to cooperate and to admit a Gas Repairperson whenever their services are required.
Each year people in the UK die unnecessarily from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by improperly installed or maintained domestic gas systems. You cannot see, taste or smell it, yet it could kill you after just a few hours exposure. Symptoms of poisoning include headaches, difficulty in thinking clearly, and feeling tired and sick.
 If you suspect a problem …..
o Extinguish all open fires and cigarettes
o Switch off all heating and cooking appliances
o Open all doors and windows
o Consult a doctor at once
o Find a Gas Fitter registered with Gas Safe.
The best and only way to play safe in the long run is to get Gas Fitter quotes on Mr-Skill, and ask them inspect your home every year. Never try to do the inspections yourself – gas is too dangerous to take chances. Rather concentrate on enjoying a good sleep at night with no worries.
Tags: appliance, carbon monoxide, Central Heating, cigarettes, CO, cooker, cooking, doctor, doors, equipment, find a plumber, fitter, fitting, gas, gas fitter, gas related problem, gas safe, homeowner, installer, landlord, maintenance, plumber london, plumber quote, plumbing job london, plumbing quote, problem, safety, see, smell, symptoms, system, taste, windows
Posted in Plumbing, Heating & Gas | Comments Off
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