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Posts Tagged ‘prepare<’
The Royal Horticultural Society seems endlessly full of good ideas to make Britain even lovelier. This year, it’s inviting the nation’s schoolchildren to commit to sowing wildflowers as their contribution to the Golden Jubilee. Right now they’re inviting applications  from kids for free packs of seeds. This is what to do with them, after they arrive.
- Find a site where you’d love to see summer come alive, with a riot of poppies, marigolds, chamomile, cockles and cornflowers. The best place to sow them would be moist, wind-free, and benefiting from four hours of sunshine a day.
- If the area you choose is full of weeds and stones, you may wish to Find a Gardener here to prepare the soil for you this mid-March. If the quality of the earth is poor, ask them to dig in some well-composted material or a balanced fertiliser while they’re at it.
 Dispose of any weeds that appear in the weeks that follow. The ideal sowing period is mid-April. Sow later than that, and the young plants may shrivel in the heat of summer. The society’s seed packs are good for 10m2. Stick to that – enjoy this great show of colour.
London Gardeners recommend placing a scarecrow in the middle of your field to keep scavenging birds away from seeds.
Now that would make an interesting weekend project, would it not?
Tags: april, chamomile, children, cockle, colour, compost, cornflower, fertiliser, find a gardener, flower, gardening quotes, kids, london gardeners, march, marigold, moist, poppies, prepare, project, R.H.S., RHS, royal horticultural society, scare crow, scarecrow, seed, site, sowing, stone, sun, weed, weekend, wide free, wild, wildflower, wind
Posted in Gardening & Landscaping | Comments Off
Posted in Carpentry & Joinery on Jan 25
I was in an antique shop in London the other day, admiring some really lovely pieces of old furniture and wondering how they got their finishes so smooth. Later in the day I met up with an old London Carpenter friend of mine in a listed City pub. As he ran his hand over the gleaming wooden counter, he let a few trade-secrets slip.
• Wait for a windless day while you prepare a suitable work-place out of the sun
• Assuming you’ve prepared everything properly and that your work-piece is completely dry, give the varnish a proper stir for at least five minutes if not longer.
• Strain the varnish through a silk stocking to get rid of any remaining lumps.
• If you feel a call of nature coming on take that break now, as you are going to work through to completion.
• Moisten the best quality brush you can lay your hands on in the cleaning solvent the varnish manufacturer recommends (this prevents the brush from clogging up).
•  Apply the varnish evenly with a series of long firm overlapping strokes. Do not return to touch-up. Never scrape the brush across the container – it is this action that creates the bubbles.
• Don’t fiddle with your work afterwards and mess it up. Allow it to dry naturally for twenty-four hours before checking in an inconspicuous place.
That sounds like good enough advice for me and I might no longer need to Find a Carpenter for those smaller jobs. However if I decide to re-varnish the wooden staircase in my home the wife is always nagging me about, I think I’ll rather go for Carpentry Quotes on Mr-Skill instead. It’s just so much easier, and inexpensive allowing for the savings on my own time.
Tags: antique, apply, brush, bubble, carpenter, carpentry quotes, clog, container, dry, fiddle, find a carpenter, finish, furniture, london carpenter, lump, moisten, naturally, overlap, prepare, scrape, secret, smooth, solvent, stir, stocking, strain, stroke, sun, tip, touch up, varnish, wind, wood
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Preparing the exterior walls of a house or bungalow for painting is an onerous task that few private homeowners attempt. Does that sound too much for you too? No worries. We can help you Find a Painter who’s been rated by other customers already.
When he or she arrives they complete the preparation of the outside as summarised below. That’s assuming they don’t find anything exceptional, that they did not anticipate when preparing their Detailed Painting Quote. If they do, they’ll negotiate in good faith.
 Cast an eye over the structure to make sure there are no cracks that might admit water and cause damp. They’re likely to report any structural concerns they may detect too, although that’s not the job you’re paying them for.
Clear out and close-up any gaps with rendering. They’ll work elsewhere on the building for the next few days while the fresh plaster dries.
Remove all flaking or damaged paint using a combination of hand-scrapers, sanders, power washing and chemicals. Attend to any mould or fungus.
Discuss the best paints to use and the colours that you like and are practical too. When that’s done they can begin apply the paint.
I was chatting to my old friend a retired London Decorator who has a thought on anything and everything. I just can’t understand, he said, why so many folk try to paint outside in winter, when it makes so much more sense to do the inside then.
Mr-Skill provides a FREE service to UK customers requiring the services of a Painter / Decorator, or for that matter any other Skilled Person. They pay to list with us after we have checked them out. That’s the only money that ever changes hands as far as we are concerned. We make not a penny more from it, no kidding, so all this is FREE to you with our compliments. Isn’t it nice to know that you can still get good service like this today?
Tags: bungalow, chemical, clear, close, colour, cracks, damaged, damp, decorate, decorator, exterior, find a painter, flaking, fungus, house, london decorator, mould, paint, painter, painting quote, plaster, prepare, redecorate, remove, render, sander, seal, structure, wall, wash, water
Posted in Painting & Decorating | Comments Off
Moving between homes is traumatic enough without being involved in a moving scam too. The difficulty is that most us move seldom and have little experience. Follow these suggestions and increase your prospects of a seamless move. Find a Mover on Mr-Skill and you virtually guarantee it.
•  Don’t choose the first person who walks in through your front door, and be put off, not impressed by a smooth act. Start by asking standard questions on the phone about professional registration and how many years in service. There’s a lot more to a successful move that accepting the cheapest Removal Quote.
• Your next step is to pay a visit to your shortlisted moving firms at their local offices. No Local offices? We suggest you move on because buying local means getting local support in time of trouble too. There’s little point in dealing with a London Moving Firm unless you live in London or are moving there.
Look out for the following warning signs as you make your visits:
• Shoddy premises and dirty vans and trucks
• Phones ringing unanswered off the hook
•  No decent reception and waiting area
• No license displayed and no advice about insurance
• A firm that offers to quote without visiting, on the basis of the number of rooms involved
When the representative comes round to quote ask detailed questions about what exactly is included. Do they supply packing materials and what exactly do they pack? Do they load your goods into their vehicle, and do they deliver them and unpack them at the other end in the right rooms? You’ll soon find out why removal quotes vary so much.
When you have chosen your removal firm (and we have many good ones listed here), our advice is to leave them to get on with it, and to try to stay out their way. Leave one member of the family to answer any questions they may have. The rest of the family should be elsewhere preparing their new home. That’s how you Find a Mover and have a successful move.
Tags: cheap, choice, choose, deliver, difficulty, dirty, experience, find a mover, guarantee, home, insurance, licence, load, local, london moving firm, material, move, mover, moving, office, offload, pack, phone, prepare, professional, question, quote, reception, registration, removal quote, removalist, remover, scam, select, service, shortlist, suggestion, support, truck, van, visit
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
Posted in Cleaning Services on Aug 15
Did you know that you can Find a Housekeeper right here on Mr-Skill? That’s right! We supply a range of  services that may be far wider than our competition, but what’s more all our Housekeepers are also rated too. If you are a busy person with more things to do than you have fingers on your hands, or hours, why not consider engaging a Housekeeper instead.
o Housekeepers do far more than simply cleaning up your home (although ours do this superbly well too). They also become almost like a second skinbooking as they intuitively learn what you require.
o If you share the information with them, then they could also help you remember memorable dates like an important birthday or a critical anniversary. You will love the way that they unobtrusively slip you a note in the morning, reminding you to buy that card.
o  Good London Housekeepers are also sensitive to cultural and religious values, and adapt readily to arranging special diets too. They can even set out your clothes according to the requirements of the day!
o Just imagine what it could be like to come home at the end of every day and find your home prepared just the way you like it. If you are going out in the evening, your clothes will even be laid out for you, and the details of your bookings confirmed.
Does this make sense? Of course it does. You have a garden service don’t you? And you call in the painters when the place needs redecorating too? So why not outsource the nitty-gritty of daily living? You can get rated Housekeeping Quotes right here.
Tags: anniversary, birthday, booking, busy, butler, card, clean, clothes, confirm, cultural, date, day, decorating, diet, engage, find a housekeeper, fingers, Garden, home, home help, housekeeper, housekeeping quotes, inform, intuitive, learn, like, london housekeepers, note, paint, prepare, rate, religious, remember, require, sense, sensitive, service, share, time, valet, wide
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Posted in Plastering & Drywall on May 17
When people built new homes in days gone past, especially right after the Second World War ended they seldom realised how long their work would last. Walls were not quite as damp-proof  as they are today, and plaster mixes were not quite as adhesive either. The result is often mouldy cracking rendering falling off in places. Where this is bad, the whole lot must come off so that you can Find a Plasterer to start all over again.
o Proper preparation is half the battle won when it comes to applying rendering, and this is why some tradespersons will not even quote for Plastering Jobs in London until the old covering is chipped away. They know of many possible sins beneath the surface that may even double the time a plastering job can take.
o First cover the floor from edge to edge with a tarpaulin or thick plastic sheet, and tape this thoroughly in position. Large pieces of rendering may come down in single pieces, and you need to protect the floor. Moreover the last thing you need to hear is the sound of something scrunching beneath the sheet directly on a polished surface.
o  Take safety precautions before you start. Wear eye and face protection to avoid harmful chips and dust. Wear heavy duty gloves and boots and make sure that your tools are in good order too.
o Start at the top of a wall and have a plan of what to do if a large section or rendering comes loose. Work slowly and carefully making sure that you remove all remnants as you go along. If you do not, then you will have the worst bit left over just as you thought that you had finished.
After the last piece of plaster is removed you can tidy up and get Plastering Quotes from Mr-Skill, secure in the knowledge that your preparation is good, and that you have saved yourself a tidy sum of money, hopefully had some fun and learned a few new useful tricks and skills along the way.
Tags: adhesive, boot, build, built, careful, chip, cover, crack, damp, dust, eye, face, find, find a plasterer, flake, floor, glove, hide, job, plan, plaster, plasterer london, plasterer quote, plastering job London, plastering quote, plastic, preparation, prepare, protect, quote, render, sheet, slow, surface, tarpaulin, time
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Hedges are far better than wire fences and ugly concrete walls. They also add a touch of countryside to grungy UK city grime while making space for birds to nest in too Trimming them is easy thanks to  modern power tools. In fact, now that I think about it, I could not find a single reason not to plant a hedge, especially since Mr-Skill makes it so easy to Find a Gardener. Here is what you need to do.
o Choose what to plant. Indigenous is robust, and hawthorn popular because the plants are so cheap. Other options include blackthorn, field maple, guilder rose and hazel. All these flower in summer too, which is exactly what you want.
o Decide when to plant. If you can, buy the plants out of season when they are cheap and let them acclimatise until planting time. This is between October and Christmas for light sandy soils, but after the Festive Season if you have heavy clay.
o  Prepare the ground. Dig it over and get rid of weeds or work them in. Leave a layer of mulch on top to discourage new ones and help Mother Nature and her earthworms to do their work.
o Set out your plants and protect them too. In wintertime, the hares and rabbits are hungry and they will dine alfresco off your hedge unless you fence them out. Tender shoots also do not like frost. At an appropriate time plant out your hedge. Remember to add spiral guards to keep them growing straight and tall, and frost protect them until spring.
Did I stimulate your interest? Good. The world needs many hedges. They can be hard work planting-out though, and you my have other things you need to do. No worries then. Get a Gardener Quote on Mr-Skill instead. Could life be simpler? Or the neighbours be more jealous?
Tags: bird, blackthorn, christmas, clay, country, dig, earth, fence, find a gardener, find a landscaper, flower, frost, gardener london, gardener quote, gardening london, gardening quotes, ground, guilder rose, hare, hawthorn, hazel, hedge, landscaper london, landscaper quote, landscaping london, landscaping quotes, maple, mulch, plant, prepare, protect, rabbit, sand, set out, shoot, spiral guard, summer, wall, weed, worm
Posted in Gardening & Landscaping | Comments Off
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