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Posts Tagged ‘winter<’
Spring has “sprung”, well at least according to the weather people. Clocks will advance an hour at midnight on the last Saturday of March. Suddenly, we will view everything in a better light – literally! And that includes our precious lawns that have survived another cold dark winter with little or no help from us.
It’s time to make amends. Although lawn mowing may seem a long way off, we do need to prepare the grass for those delightful months ahead. Of course, if this all sounds too strenuous, you could always find a gardener on Mr-Skill, and then sit back and enjoy the benefits.
What You Will Need
- Large garden fork, weeding tool and hose pipe
Weeding
Weeding is an important aspect of lawn care. Just as the grass is starting to grow, so too are the weeds in the lawn. They affect the appearance of the turf, showing up as dark green clumps in an otherwise-perfect lawn. Weeds also compete with the grass for water, and can prevent nutrients from reaching and feeding the roots.
Removal is fairly simple. Use the weeding tool to prise the weed and its roots out from the soil. Early spring is the right time to do this, because weeds will not yet have formed seeds.
Aerate and Fertilise
Using the garden fork, spike the soil with a downward motion, going as deep as you possibly can. Now, jiggle the fork back and forth, by placing your foot on the metal fork head and your hands on the fork handle and stem. The more you spike, the better the aerating action. After you finish, you can fertilise according to the supplier’s instructions.
Sowing Seeds and Watering
Scatter your preferred grass seed, again according to the instructions. Then water the area using a hand-held hose with adjustable nozzle. Water regularly until the spring rains take over, and a lovely lawn will greet you.
Our London Gardeners have one tip for every avid lawn enthusiast – now’s the time to check your mower and have it serviced. Isn’t it great to see promising signs of life in the trees and grass again?
Tags: clocks foward, daylight, daylight saving, fertiliser, find a gardener, fork, Garden, gardening quote, green grass, lawn, london gardeners, perfect lawn, roots, seeds, sowing, spike, spring, summer, turf, water, weeds, winter
Posted in Gardening & Landscaping | Comments Off
There’s nothing quite as annoying as having a badly-fitting outside door, especially on a winter’s day when there’s gale outside. It’s amazing how much harder central heating has to work, and what this costs. Don’t just sit back and accept this. Either Get Door Fitting Quotes on Mr-Skill, or have a crack at it yourself.
 Draught-Proofing Strips – The handiest solutions are the rolls of sticky-backed foam that hardware stores all sell. The upside is that the result is instantaneous. The downside is they soon wear out. At best, this is a cheap stop-gap measure.
Sealing Door Bottoms – Gaps at the bottom of doors are a common problem where tiles have replaced a thick-pile carpet. You could try a draught-excluder, although in my experience these don’t always work particularly well. My advice would be to Find a Door Fitter and ask them to attach a matching piece to the bottom of the door. That way the problem should go away, permanently.
While You’re At It - Check out other suspect areas by holding a burning candle near the letterbox and keyhole. Flaps and keyhole covers become sticky and it’s in human nature to adapt to almost anything. It could be an idea to check all the other doors and windows too. You never know what’s there until you look.
 Safety Warning – When I mentioned that I was writing this, my friend the London Door Fitter who hangs out in Charing Cross whistled sharply. I think I may have mentioned him before. Don’t make the place completely airtight, he grumbled. Air still needs to move around the house especially when your central heating and gas appliances are working.
This information comes to you with compliments of Mr-Skill. That’s the matchmaker website that connects customers with tradespeople. Use us with confidence anytime you like. We only recommend first-class craftspeople whose rates are reasonable too. You can trust them to get the job done properly.
Tags: airtight, appliance, bad, bottom, carpet, cheap, door, doot fitting quotes, draught, exclude, find a door fitter, fit, foam, gale, gap, heat, key, keyhole, letterbox, london door fitter, outside, roll, tile, window, winter
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Did you know that the roots of trees can sometimes spread to 2½ times a tree’s height, and that the moisture they draw out from clayey soil can cause the earth to heave? Miss the point of this and plant a tree close by your house, and you’re inviting cracking and subsidence. Rather Find a Landscaper on Mr-Skill who knows what they are talking about.
 If you have heaving clay, and like to garden around your your house then the following may prove useful:
- Avoid the problem in the first place by NOT planting strongly-growing trees like poplars, oaks and willows near to buildings. Plant shy-growing flowering shrubs instead. These may not get tall enough to foul your gutters either.
- If you inherit a tree that’s not grown too big already, then you could try what some London Gardeners still call pollarding. This involves pruning it back annually to keep it smaller. Remember, there’s a ratio between tree height and the spread of roots.
- Don’t leap out of the starting blocks and get a Gardener Quote to chop a tree down the moment you spot subsidence.
 Trees take a long time to grow, and the problem could be the clay itself. An alternative could be to cut the roots back, and see whether this helps first.
- If all else fails and you are forced to cut down a tree, then seek advice from your local council first, because it might be listed and require permission to remove. Chop down deciduous trees in wintertime when the sap is low. You’ll find the job far easier when there are no leaves.
Chopping down a tree sometimes seems like an attack on nature, and the birds that nest there. Don’t try to do the job yourself because tree-felling is definitely dangerous. Use a Gardener on Mr-Skill instead. And finally, please do plant a suitable replacement tree further down the garden.
Tags: Building, chop, chop down, clay, crack, dangerous, earth, fell, find a landscaper, flower, Garden, gardener quote, ground, grow, gutter, heave, height, house, london gardeners, oak, plant, pollard, poplar, prune, ratio, root, shrub, shy, small, soil, spread, subsidence, tall, tree, vigorous, wall, willow, winter
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With winter upon us – and a freezing one at that – many people across the United Kingdom are experiencing problems with their guttering. These can include gutters filled with ice collapsing, and nowhere for water to go when the thaw comes. Is it possible to prevent this? Well, we can’t prevent a blizzard, but we can Find a Roofer to take preventative action for us.
 These are some of the things worth considering when you are busy getting Roofing Quotes.
• When snow gathers on a roof it should thaw gradually without causing problems. But, if you have heat build-up above your ceiling then it might melt all at once, blocking gutters that then freeze up. Two things to do. Check your ceiling insulation, and make there’s provision for any heat to escape.
• Ensure the water entering your gutters can flow smoothly through the down-pipes. This means cleaning them thoroughly twice a year (before and after winter) and testing them from time to time.
• Matt, my London Roofing friend swears by heat tape you can stick along the gutter. Personally, I don’t feel that this is necessary provided you keep them clear.
 • Snow guards can provide an extra line of defence, especially if you live up in the north, and they can help keep the gutters clear in summertime too. In fact, I strongly recommend them.
Hopefully you did this already and your gutters won’t come crashing down from the weight of ice this winter. Please do be careful about venturing on the roof yourself to clear excessive snow. It’s just not worth taking risks.
And that’s where Mr-Skill comes in. Did you know that you can Find a Gutter Man right here who’ll clear your blocked gutters promptly, as long as it’s not actually snowing? All our trades come highly recommended too, and rated by our customers. What’s more, you pay nothing for our services.
Tags: blizzard, ceiling, clean, clear, collapsing, down pipe, find a roofer, freeze, freezing, gutter, gutterman, heat, heat tape, ice, insulate, london roofing, melt, roofer, roofing quote, snow guard, test, thaw, ventilate, water, winter
Posted in Roofing, Gutters & Drainage | Comments Off
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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Winter is upon us, and without a doubt we’re in for a long cold one to add to Britain’s woes. But at least we can keep our gardens going despite the frost by doing a few simple things. That way we’ll all be smiling when Spring blossoms bloom again.
- Protect tender plants on open ground and those trained up walls with fleece-covered frames sold at garden shops. You can
 make your own too, by sandwiching bracken leaves or even straw between two layers of chicken wire for use on frosty nights. You might need to Find a Gardener to do this for you though, because the wire mesh is harsh on hands. While one of Mr-Skill’s Gardeners is at it, ask them to cover your bulbs with a thick mulch of manure or compost too.
- Keep the roots of evergreens frost free by mulching around their bases, and move pots of tender plants inside to the conservatory. Crowns of tree ferns and their trunks are easily insulated with fleece or hessian stuffed with straw. You can protect the heads of palms and cordylines by drawing their leaves over them with twine. If you do not have the time to do this properly, why not get a Gardening Quote on Mr-Skill instead?
Recovering Plants from Frost
 If your plants do get frosted this does not mean that they are going to die, although you do need to take remedial action to reduce the damage.
- Protect frosted plants from morning sun to prevent them from warming up too rapidly. If they’re potted move them to a shady spot, otherwise cover them with black plastic bags. When Spring returns cut off the damaged branches to encourage new growth. After you have done that, remember to feed them with a balanced fertiliser to give them the extra boost they need.
- Even better move tender frosted plants to the greenhouse, and plant them out again after the frost is over. Chances are that they will recover sooner than you thought. In fact they might even bloom earlier in Spring.
Our London Gardeners are particularly adept at protecting the exotic plants from frost that City people keep on their balcony – often in pots that are far too large to move indoors. You’ll find them and all other kinds of UK tradesmen listed on Mr-Skill for virtually every postcode. Why not surprise yourself with the discovery that quality workmen can still be found.
Tags: balcony, bracken, bulb, chicken wire, climb, compost, conservatory, cordyline, evergreen, exotic, fern, find a gardener, fleece, frame, frost, frosted, Garden, gardening quote, greenhouse, head, hessian, leaves, london gardeners, manure, mulch, night, palm, plant, plastic, pot, protect, root, shady, straw, sun, tender, treefern, trunk, winter
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Misting or fogging in double-glazed windows is quite common in older homes where the guarantee has expired. Owners often put up this, because it is a cosmetic problem that they feel is not worth the money to repair. As a London Window Fitting Expert I’m often asked what causes this irritating problem, and I thought others might like to know why too.
 Some condensation is natural in the space between two glass panes, because of the difference between outdoor and indoor temperatures. In earlier days this drained naturally away. These days another plan is put in place in the interests of thermal efficiency.
- The moisture-absorption material used instead is known an silica – that’s the same stuff as the tiny white balls found in little bags and shipped with electronic goods.
- This silica is in the separation bars that keep the double-glazing panes apart. You’ll find them right up against the inner window frame. The idea is that the silica absorbs the moisture in winter months, and dries out again in summer.
- Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and sometimes the silica becomes water-logged in less
 than five years. Most double-glazing is guaranteed for ten years though. If you are lucky enough to have the original warranty then you may have a claim.
If you are unable to prove the claim and want your unsightly problem solved, then I suggest you Find a Window Fitter to do this for you. Many people prefer to have a drain hole inserted instead, because this is half the price of a complete Replacement Window Fitting Quote.
The window fitter who contributed this advice is listed on Mr-Skill. Like our other skilled artisans in all UK trades, he has a reputation that goes back for years, and he is registered as required by law too. Please contact us in the event that you require Professional Window Fitting Quotes.
Tags: absorb, cause, claim, condensation, cosmetic, double glazing, find a window fitter, fog, frame, glass, guarantee, hole, home, indoor, insert, log, london window fitting, mist, moisture, money, old, outdoor, pane, price, repair, silica, spacer, summer, temperature, thermal, warranty, waterlog, window, window fitting quote, winter
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Posted in Cleaning Services on Oct 12
Outdoor garden furniture bears the brunt of weather when left outdoors throughout the year, and if neglected soon loses its showroom gloss. This is especially true in larger cities where airborne pollution can be quite severe. In fact I know of several London Cleaning Services who make a living out of dealing with the consequences.
 It is not always necessary to request a Cleaner Quote on Mr-Skill though. Regular attention along the lines below can help avoid unnecessary expense, assuming you have the time available and the will to do it.
• Wash wooden furniture that has been coated with exterior grade varnish with soapy water and then rinse it clean. If possible store it in a dry place for winter or at least wipe away accumulations of rainwater regularly. Once a year apply a proprietary cleaner followed by a protective coat.
• Machine-wash fabrics from cloth chairs and hammocks using a gentle wash cycle. Stretch the cloth back into position before completely dry, to avoid it shrinking.
• Clean aluminium, wrought iron and mild steel frames with soap and rinse. Coat metal furniture with a protective coating, or else it will definitely rust.
•  Umbrella covers need machine washing and the frame joints need lightly oiling too. As with chair seats, refit the covers before completely dry.
• Remove acrylic seat-covers and wipe them clean, using a bleach solution to remove any mildew. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes before wiping clean again.
• Clean wicker furniture using water under pressure from a hose or pump, using soap if necessary. When dry, the application of a paste wax will restore the shine.
A lot of work perhaps for something we may not use every day, and that stands idle in the winter. Why not get a Cleaner Quote from Mr-Skill instead? Then you can put your clean outdoor furniture away for winter, and have it ready to use again in the spring. Now that makes sense.
Tags: acrylic, aluminium, attention, chair, clean, cleaner quote, cloth, coat, dry, expense, find a cleaner, frame, furniture, Garden, hammock, london cleaning service, mould, oil, outdoor, pollution, protect, regular, rinse, shrink, soap, stain, store, stretch, summer, time, umbrella, varnish, wash, water, winter, wood
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Before the first winter rains arrive, it’s time to catch up on the outstanding jobs. Do you have a broken or a missing downpipe on your house? If so, you can Find a Roofer on Mr-Skill to fix it up for you. Did you know that we review all our tradespeople personally, and  that they could come in up to 30% cheaper than prevailing rates?
If you had the time and energy, you could also do the job yourself. Here’s what you would have to do:
o First identify the guttering system on your house, and pop down to the hardware store to buy the bits you need (a digi-pic could prove handy here).
o Make sure that your ladder is in first rate condition, and that you have a mate available to hold it steady for you. If not, rather avoid injury and get some Roofer Quotes instead.
o Remove the old downpipe and set it aside to take to a recycling depot later. Clean the interface point on the gutter thoroughly, and double-check for any other damage while you do.
o Assuming the old downpipe brackets are still in place and reusable, offer up the elbow-piece into the gutter and  tighten the bracket around it. Makes sure it fits well, because believe me, this is where a leak is most likely to occur.
o Assemble the other sections of the pipe, working from the top downwards and attaching the brackets as you go. An old pal of mine named Ray, who works for a Roofing Firm in London, believes in dropping down a tennis ball as he goes along, just to make double-sure there are no stoppages.
o Finally, attach the bottom elbow to the pipe to drain the water away from the house, and hey presto, the job is done!
That could take the better part of a Saturday afternoon and you might have other plans in mind? No worries, simply Click on Mr-Skill, and we’ll sort everything out for you instead.
Tags: assemple, bottom, bracket, broken, buy, cheap, clean, downpipe, drain, elbow, find a roofer, fit, gutter, injury, job, ladder, leak, leaking, missing, photograph, rain, roofer quote, roofing firm in london, rusted, safe, safety, spares, steady, system, tennis ball, tight, tool, water, winter
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Posted in Handyman Services on Apr 18
Every weekend is an opportunity for a handy person to find tools and sort out all the irritating things that spouse has  been complaining about lately. It can be more efficient to do similar jobs on the trot instead of searching endlessly for things. If your partner runs of patience and you run out of time too, then there is no need to stress. That is because Mr-Skill is on standby to help you Find a Handyman.
o Dripping taps are a great source of irritation and can wake the family up at night. Why not lay in a stock of washers, dig out the spanners and tackle the whole lot as a project. You will be popular too, because everybody will appreciate the change.
o Now that the worst of winter is over, it is time to oil squeaky hinges and sticky locks. These days, oilcans have turned into aerosol cans that end up  spraying in the wrong direction. I for one agree with a Handyman in London I met the other day who still swears by his can of light machine oil.
o Why not fix all the rattling windows and doors too. If yours are wooden then they could warp. If uPVC, the rubbers could be worn or cracked. Door and window seals are not expensive, and in no time at all your home could be airtight and snug again.
How does that feel for a productive Saturday? No more dripping taps and no more squeaky hinges and sticking locks. With the house all snug again, my guess is that it is time to be rewarded with a traditional Sunday lunch at home. No cheating though. We would hardly be suggesting you get Handyman Quotes from Mr-Skill while spouse is out with Mother.
Tags: aerosol, door, drip, find a handyman, handyman london, handyman quote, hinge, irritate, job, lock, machine, oil, reward, seal, snug, spanner, spouse, tap, time, tool, warm, warp, washer, weekend, window, winter
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