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Posts Tagged ‘wind<’
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
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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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It may not feel quite like it yet, but with the Winter Solstice passed on December 21st, the days are getting longer and Nature has already begun to react. Plants have increased their growth in accordance with the available ambient light, and already bulbs are  gently stirring beneath the snow.
Some, come on Gardeners, it’s time to brave the chilly UK weather and start helping Nature to get going once again. Alternatively, you’re due to get those Gardening Quotes in time again!
- The Vegetable Garden. Order seed potatoes and plant out garlic cloves in pots. Dig the earth over for asparagus plantings. Mmmm – that sounds really good!
- How about an Orchard? The right time for planting trees is when the sap is down. If in the City, find a London Gardener while their rates are reasonable still.
- The Flower Garden. Remove fallen leaves. Cut down and compost annuals. There’s just so much to do, including taking hardwood cuttings of your favourite plants.
 How about a Few More Roses? Dig deeply to prevent root stock from shooting, and then plant in rich organic matter. Remember to support with stakes in case the high winds come.
- And Finally the Greenhouse. If the weather’s inclement you may like to Find a Gardener to clean inside and outside, and check the insulation. After that, you just need to do weekly visits and tidy up.
Don’t be surprised if the neighbours gawk at you out in your garden in your winter woollies. They’ll be jealous in the Spring though! There’s no need to tell them either about the wonderful Gardeners on Mr-Skill. For now at least, it’s a secret between you and me! And it’s all free too … when it comes to finding the perfect tradesperson of your dreams.
Tags: annual, asparagus, bulb, chill, compost, cut, cutting, deep, dig, find a gardener, flower, Garden, gardener, gardening quotes, garlic, green house, greenhouse, growth, inside, Insulation, leaves, light, london gardener, nature, orchard, organic, outside, plant, potato, potatoes, react, root, rootstock, rose, snow, spring, sprout, stake, support, tidy, tree, vegetable, weather, week, wind, winter
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Roofers lay tiles loosely over each other in an overlapping pattern, and hold them in place with edging fascias, and special tiles cemented in place along the ridges. If these ridges fail, then there is a possibility of a strong wind lifting sheets of roof tiles with disastrous results. This fairly common problem usually begins as roofs settle after the first few years, and  the rendering beneath the ridges separates.
This is not a job for an amateur with a bad head for heights. In fact, we strongly recommend that you Find a Roofer to do the following work for you instead.
• Identify which ridge tiles have worked loose. This could be just one, a few, or the entire ridge, and the solution varies accordingly. If you can remove the loose tiles without disturbing the adjacent ones then this could save you time and money, although it is unwise to take chances and end up with a patch job.
• Obtain a supply of replacement ridge tiles. Remove offending ridges, set them aside and carefully chisel the loose rendering off the roof tiles beneath. You can leave a small residue of old rendering behind, provided that this is firmly attached.
• Soak the replacement ridge tiles and the supporting roof tiles with clean water until they have taken up a slightly darker hue. This ensures that they do not suck the moisture out of the new rendering, and weaken it.
•  Loose fit a new ridge tile, make a chalk mark on either side of it, and set it aside again. Lay two generous lines of suitable tinted rendering within the chalk lines. Press the ridge tile gently into place and remove any surplus rendering with trowel and damp cloth. Repeat the process as necessary along the entire ridge, remembering to close in the ends of the last ridge tiles if you replaced these too.
• A competent London Roofer will always check carefully that there are no cracks or holes showing anywhere on the ridge. This is because a strong gust of wind can blow rainwater through a tiny hole into the roof space below with surprising force, and form damaging pools on ceilings.
Should you decide to get a Roofing Quote on Mr-Skill, then we would be delighted to put you in touch with several rated tradesmen working in your area. We know you will be satisfied with the price and quality of the bids that you receive, and we wish you well with your roofing project too.
Tags: chalk, check, chisel, competent, crack, disturb, fascia, find a roofer, gust, hole, lift, london roofer, loose, loose fit, mark, moisture, overlap, press, rain, remove, rendering, repeat, replacement, roof, roofing quote, separate, settle, soak, tile, water, wind
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Posted in Carpentry & Joinery on Sep 24
Oftentimes the simplest things are the most enjoyable. Like a small child playing with a paper boat in a stream, or a couple walking hand-in-hand along a river bank. To me though, the gentle sound of a bamboo wind chime resonating gently in the garden is the best sound of all. The good news is that these delightful inventions are so easy to make, that there’s no need to Find a Joiner this time at all.
•  Obtain some lengths of bamboo from the hardware shop or garden centre. These need to be dry so that they resonate nicely, and be of different diameters too.
• Cut different lengths of bamboo from each source. There are two principles here. The diameter affects the depth of resonance or tone, while the length affects the pitch. Remember to ensure that there are no segments within the length you cut, or else the sound will not travel between the ends.
• Knock the lengths of bamboo together gently to check results. You can even tune them by adjusting lengths. Some pieces will work better against each other – these are the ones you need to juxtapose as some do at better London Joining Firms.
• Finish off your bamboo pieces with shaped lower ends like organ pipes. This is done by removing one-half of the last inch or so and tidying up. Some say this affects the pitch. Others like me just think it just looks better that way.
•  Drill holes through the top ends for the hanger-strings. Remember to make these parallel to the bottom detail, so that these all present the same by facing outwards. Attach the strings ensuring they are of the same length, and tie the ends together neatly before hanging the set in an appropriate place that will catch the wind.
• Obtain a spreader disc of an appropriate diameter, and notch it deeply to receive the hanger strings. Set this in place between the strings and hey-presto you have a wooden wind chime. Finally, secure the strings to the spreader disc with hot-melt glue.
How’s that for a bit of fun for a Sunday’s home entertainment. And you don’t need Carpenter Quotes either. Although Mr-Skill is a serious business that matches clients and skilled tradesmen, we also like to give good ideas away. You can decorate your bamboo wind pipes any way you want. Did you notice how easy it is to rearrange the pipes.
Tags: adjust, bamboo, build, carpenter quote, chime, cut, decorate, diameter, drill, easy, end, find a joiner, finish, Garden, garden centre, gentle, hand, hardware shop, juxtapose, knock, length, london joining firm, make, notch, pitch, resonance, resonate, segment, simple, spread, string, test, tone, tune, wind, wind chime
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Posted in Cleaning Services on Sep 13
As the late summer cools to autumn and the windy days arrive, it’s time to clean off the barbeque and store it away for winter. But using caustic oven cleaners is so old-fashioned these days, and  they just make the barbeque rust all that sooner too. So how did the old folks cope in days before all those aerosols? I doubt they even thought to Find a Cleaner.
• For starters, they cleaned their cooking surfaces regularly, and that’s half the trick. After all, fresh grease is a whole lot easier to get rid of, than burned-on, encrusted dirt.
• They had simple, practical tools too. These invariably included a stiff wire brush, hot soapy water, and rags to wipe the cooking surface. You can use paper towel nowadays, as long as it’s recycled!
• The old folks also didn’t leave the dirt until the morning when it had gone cold and yucky. In fact cleaning the barbeque was as natural to them as washing up the plates, and they never, ever needed to get a Cleaning Service Quote.
• Start by wiping the cooking surface with a warm, soapy cloth – you’ll be surprised how much dirt comes off that way. Loosen any stubborn bits with an old table knife that’s not too sharp, and finally scrub away with the wire brush and a little oil.
• Finally, wipe the grill surface clean with a fresh cloth or paper towel, leaving a light coating of oil behind to prevent the rust from taking hold.
What a pleasure when you wheel out the barbeque next summer. All you need to do is burn it off, and you’re ready for the pork sausages and the steaks. It’s almost as if you had had a visit from a London Cleaning Firm. Did I mention that you can Find a Cleaner on Mr-Skill Right Here?
Tags: autumn, barbeque, burn, caustic, clean, cleaning service quote, cold, cooking, encrust, find a cleaner, grease, knife, london cleaning firm, oven, paper towel, rag, regular, rust, scrub, soap, store, summer, surface, tool, warm, water, wind, wipe, wire brush, yucky
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In the good-old, bad-old days, as the older generation of London Roofers still likes to say, roofs were simple, easy going things with single pitches and only chimneys to seal around.  These days things are noticeably different – every hip, and every pitch and every valley represents a challenge for heavy rain, not to mention the mini-bali inset gables that are all the rage at present.
Waterproofing is intended to create a barrier to prevent rainwater from entering a roof and damaging the ceilings and furniture beneath. When it falls directly from above, the design of tiles and cappings is often sufficient to make sure it runs away. Problems arise though when the a gale is driving the water into every crevice, and this can get a lot worse after a cowboy roofer stomps all over your roof while cracking tiles.
It is a wise idea to Find a Roofer on Mr-Skill from time to time, and to ask them to check that everything is still in place, and that nothing needs repairing. This is especially valid in the case of tiled roofs, because tiles are heavy, timbers do settle, and cement under ridges does crack loose over time.
 If you are buying a house, and the one that you are considering has a flat roof, then my advice is to avoid regular Roofing Quotes and to buy something else with a simple pitched roof instead. This is because water inevitably collects on flat surfaces in pools, and will eventually find a way through. The only technique I know of avoiding this is to re-seal a flat roof long before the covering starts to deteriorate. In the greater order of things, flat roofs are cheaper to build, but cost more to maintain. Beware the buyer.
The most important thing of all is to be careful about who you allow to go up on your roof. Urban legend is full of stories of unscrupulous roofers who create work for themselves up where a homeowner never goes. This is where Mr-Skill comes in. Our reputation depends on the honesty and integrity of our roofers, and we intend to keep our good name intact by screening them carefully.
Tags: barrier, break, cap, capping, ceiling, check, chimney, covering, crack, crevice, direct, find a roofer, flat, gable, gale, gutter, hip, inspect, leak, london roofer, maintain, pitch, proof, quotes from roofers, rain, ridge, roof, roofer in London, roofer quotes london, roofers London, roofing quotes london, sag, seal, settle, storm, tile, valley, water, waterproof, wind
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Take Care of Your Roof
A roof is almost like a second skin. It protects us from the rain, the heat, the snow and sleet. When it fails though, we have just our own skin left, and that can be a miserable business on a cold, wet rainy night. The moral of my story is that you need to look after your roof.  The easiest way is to get a few Roofers Quotes from a convenient place like Mr-Skill and choose the roof specialists that appeal to you. When they arrive, remember to discuss the following ponts in detail.
o Is the roof covering intact and well attached? Tiles, sheets, thatch and all other roofing materials need firm fixing. If not, you will have leaks, and worse still a gust of wind might even carry a section of roof away.
o Are the ridges still in good condition? Roofs settle over time and ridges sag. They are not just decorative either – lose a ridge and your roof opens up to the sky.
o What about the fascias at gable ends? These are not simply decorative. They also protect the timbers at the roof ends from wind and rain.
o  My old friend who still does the occasional Roofing Job in London reckons that hips and valleys are the areas to watch out for most. Hips are secondary ridges. Valleys carry double water and need thorough flashing too.
o Points where chimneys and vent pipes penetrate a roof can be problematic as well, especially on the upper side if flashing fails. Remember, water going through a roof is moistening timbers and will eventually pass through your ceiling down into your home.
Do not wait until your roof starts leaking unexpectedly on a cold, wet winter’s night. Get Roofing Quotes from Mr-Skill. Get peace of mind too. Sleep well at night. A well-built roof is like a faithful spouse or partner. Look after both, as well as you possibly can.
Tags: attach, chimney, covering, fascia, find a roofer, flashing, gable, heat, hop, intact, leak, loose, ridge, roof, roofer(s) quote(s), roofers London, roofing job london, roofing quote(s), sag, sheet, skin.rain, sky, sleet, snow, speciaslist, thatch, tile, timber, valley, vent, wind
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We get into the habit, do we not, of spending all the day at the office, or doing chores indoors at home? At weekends we are are so busy shopping that the only time we spend outside is mowing the lawn and raking leaves. Things were not meant to be like this, and its time to make a change.
I had a friend who worked with professional gardeners in London once. He told me that a  quiet place to sit outside a City home could add the same value as a new bathroom. I do not know about that though, but it still sounds like a good idea.
First, we need to find a shady spot outside away from the sun’s rays – ozone depletion is a worry, and we must take good care of our skin. There is no point in trying to find a gardener to plant an instant tree. We want satisfaction now, and not at a huge price either. If you do not have a tree, then why not an umbrella? At least, that way you could read outside on a peaceful rainy day.
The furniture needs to be robust enough to withstand wind and weather. This cuts the choice down to cast-alloy or wood. To my mind, wood looks better in a garden and is cheaper too – but will you maintain it properly?
Enough of work and thinking about landscaper quotes, let’s sit out in the garden. Shall it be breakfast at eight, canapés for lunch or a barbeque in the evening? You will find me in the garden, just relaxing with the birds.
Tags: alloy, aluminum, alumunium, birds, find a gardener, find a landscaper, furniture, Garden, gardener quotes, gardeners london, iron, landscaper quotes, landscapers london, mowing lawn, place to sit, rain, rainy day, raking leaves, relax, relax in garden, shade, shady spot, sitting outside, storm, tree, umbrella, wind, wood
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