Built in wardrobe storage dimensions

While everyone has a unique storage requirement, there are standard guidelines that work in general to meet your overall storage needs. To hang long clothes such as coats and dresses, you will need to consider a much larger full-length hanging space. The height of the hanging space should be usually measured at a maximum length of five feet and three inches. For foldable items such as sweaters, t-shirts, jeans, shirt, hats and handbags, you should plan to create shallow shelves and drawers that measure around one foot by one foot and ten inches. The shallow shelves will prevent the pile of clothes from falling over and turning into a messy heap, which is the case with fitting deep shelves within your built in wardrobe.

Make sure that the depth of your wardrobe is at least two feet, in order to hold a full-sized coat hanger that is complete with clothes hanging on it. If possible, ensure that the wardrobe height reaches up to the ceiling, so that you take full advantage of the vertical storage space available to you. You can store everything that you don’t need at the moment, or stuff for which you can’t find any other place, high up int the vertical storage area of your built in wardrobe.

Hanging storage space

You should plan for hanging storage space in two areas of your wardrobe, one above and one below. You can resolve the access problem associated with reaching a hanging space above with the help of wardrobe lifts and weighed hanging rails that enable you to pull the hanging rail down with the help of a central rod.

Drawers and shelves

Add order to your storage space with the help of a variety of drawers and shelves. You can purchase these from any home store and fit them in your built-in wardrobe. Ensure that the drawers are shallow to offer you easy access. Consider labelling them or having a see-through front, such as translucent acrylic or glass so that you can easily recognise what is stored inside them. Remember to allow room for garments that are not used every day, such as sports equipment and skiing clothes.

Shoe storage options

You can have sliding pull-out shelves at the base of your built in cupboard to store shoes. You can also store them in hanging fabric units. Dirty shoe pairs can be stored in their original boxes or in clear plastic boxes that are properly labelled.

• The best gardens provide interest through all four seasons of the year. Achieving this does require some research, so that something is happening at all times. You should aim for flowering plants and trees in spring and summer, colourful leaves and foliage in autumn, and strong structure in winter.
• Different gardens will suit different plants. Every garden has its own type of soil, and you need to choose plants that will flourish in your garden's environment. Remember to also consider how much light your garden gets, as some plants need a lot of sunshine to survive. 
• Too much of the same thing can make for a boring garden. Diversity is the key here, and you need to aim for a mixture of plants, trees, shrubs and flowers. Many people forget that, whilst flowers are beautiful when they're flowering, you need foliage for the months when the flowers aren't out. 
• Continuing on with foliage, deciduous trees and shrubs tend to provide colour and variety in a garden. But it's important not to forget to plant some evergreens, as these will keep your garden colourful and provide structure over the winter, when nothing else is flowering. 
• Before you plant anything, don't forget to research what the eventual size of a plant will be. Otherwise you run the risk of plants growing into or overshadowing each other. 
• If you like a look of unity in your garden, a simple tip is to try layering your flowerbeds as you plant them. Simply plant your beds in three rows, with the tallest plants at the back and the shortest at the front.
• Whilst perennial plants look gorgeous, they only have a very limited blooming time. Try planting plenty of annuals, which will fill any gaps created in the garden when the perennials aren't flowering.
• Remember that your garden needs to look as good from inside as it does when you're sitting in it! This is particularly important in the UK, where you're likely to spend quite a lot of the year staring at the garden through your windows!
• A garden doesn't just have to be about plants and flowers. Walls and fences add structure to the garden and, as they are already there, don't cost any money to add. If you have the budget though, you could also consider things such as laying patios or decks, or creating an arbour in your garden.
• Try not to forget that anything you do in your garden – be it planting or building – will need to be maintained. If you're new to gardening, it's probably best to start off with a low maintenance garden. You can always add to it as you gain more confidence. 

Whether you have a small or large garden, you can fix this problem with a proper garden design plan and ideas that helps you maximise the beauty of your garden throughout the seasons. From spring to summer, autumn and winter, you can design your garden to reflect the essence of the four seasons.

Spurt colour with spring

The long and warm spring days are ideal for creating a burst of colour in your garden. Line your garden beds and window boxes with a chorus of colours including rhododendrons, azaleas, alliums, primroses and hostas. Ensure that you have provided enough trellis, vine or ornamental support for your climbers. Position tender shoots to grow sideways and not merely upwards, so that you will benefit from flowers along the length of the shoot not just at the top. You should feed rhododendrons and camellias with sequestered iron to prevent their leaves from yellowing.

Let summer bloom at its brightest

With the heat at its highest levels in summer, the myriad flower colours take on a pastel shade. You can choose to plant a plethora of flowers in the summer, or opt for a garden plan that relies on six or seven perennials and one annual for colour and texture in summertime. The bright and cheery flowers that you can celebrate summer with include sunflowers that can be grown in a sunny spot and don’t use up much space. Colourful geraniums and begonias that can be grown in baskets, and numerous shades of peonies, gerberas, roses, crocosmia

Draw allure in autumn

There are numerous tender and hardy perennials, shrubs and climbers that you can grow in your autumn garden. Right from September and October and through to early November, you can plant dahlias, osteospermums, fuchsias, pelargoniums, gazanias and cannas. This charming collection of shrubs, perennials and bulbs are to be admired for their ability to withstand torrential rain, shortening days, equinoctial gales, insect attacks and minimal light levels, to provide colour well into the frosty autumnal season.

Winning over in winter

While winter surely poses a huge challenge in enabling you to achieve year-round interest in your landscape, you still have some choices. The colours white, grey and brown dominate the landscape in this season and are dotted by evergreen trees and shrubs. You can plant red osier dogwood, which has an attractive reddish bark that makes for an eye-catching winter scene against a backdrop of pristine snow. Other distinctive barks include betula nigra, betula utilis and other white-stemmed and hardy birches with peeling, cinnamon-coloured bark on the trunks. Other options include 'silver fern’, a decorative relative of the bramble, pennisetum alopecuroides, whose foxtail plumes look stunning after a frost, and miscanthus sinensis, whose feather-like plumes seem ethereal when backlit or encrusted with a light rime of frost.

There are a number of benefits of plumbing in underfloor heating.  Radiators have to be very hot before heat is transferred to the air, and even then there are pockets of the room which are cold or colder.  With underfloor heating, the warmth is evenly spread giving a constant temperature and have the added bonus that there are no radiators which creates more space in the room.  Water for underfloor heating need not be so hot before it is transferred to the system, so is energy efficient and cost effective.

Underfloor heating can be installed under most surfaces including stone and wood.  However, if the flooring is carpet, the heating will be less efficient. Whatever the demands of the interior design, whether it is timber, stone or tiles, plumbing in underfloor heating makes good economic sense.  

There are kits available on the market which include push fit plumbing parts and pipes.  These can be connected directly to the boiler or a single radiator to provide the hot water through the pipes. You will need to do some research to calculate how much pipework you will need to get the optimum temperature for the room, but a good plumber will be able to help with this prior to doing the installation.  You can reduce your energy bills even further by having a wood burning stove as the boiler, as opposed to gas or oil.

Underfloor heating is ideal in bathrooms and kitchens as floors dry quicker. Stepping out of a nice bath on to a cold tiled floor is not a pleasant experience, but if you have underfloor heating, the floor will always be warm.  Rooms which may not be used very often such as conservatories can also benefit from underfloor heating as the temperature remains constant so that if you do want to use the room, it is already warm. 

Plumbing in underfloor heating will save you money in the long run and is always worth considering. A reputable plumber will be able to help, but once you have worked out what you need, the installation process is very easy.  

Advances in Assessing Damage

Before any repair work begins, advances in damage assessment prevents the need for excavation in many cases. Thanks to CCTV drain surveying — where a camera in the drain sends live images to a monitor — damage can be assessed without having to dig the area up. As well as its other functions of ascertaining where blockages are located and surveying for when planning new drains, CCTV is perfect for showing in detail types of drain damage.

What type of damage can be repaired?

Most types. Non-excavation technology is such that nowadays it is possible to repair anything from a small crack in an underground pipe to more extensive damage such as fractures caused by subsidence, damage caused by the invasion of tree roots right up to a collapsed sewer.

Non-Excavation Drain Repair Techniques

CIPP (Cured In Place Pipe): the ‘standard’ lining system that may (as with some other techniques) be given some kind of special name or branding depending on the drainage company.

A polyester felt liner is impregnated with resin and introduced to the damaged section of drain. It is then moulded securely in place using water or air pressure creating a new pipe within the existing, damaged one and left to cure.

How long curing takes will depend on the temperature at the time of repair and the type of resin used for a particular application. In some cases, a drain liner could be installed, cured and ready for use the same day. Compare this to the possible days of disruption more traditional excavation methods cause.

Deformed Pipes: a re-rounding tool is used to restore a pipe to its original shape. After this, it is usual to re-line it as per the CIPP method described above.

Brawoliner Method: basically a re-lining technique like CIPP, it is especially effective in small diameter (50 to 225 mm) pipes, and/or pipes with multiple, sharp bends. A textile liner — akin to a large elasticated sock — is affixed to the pipe with resin and left to cure.

Patching: instead of re-lining an entire section of drain, a specific area of damage can sometimes be repaired with a fibreglass mat coated in epoxy resin. Once pushed into place, it is left to cure and bond directly to the pipe wall.

New Pipes: new sections of plastic pipe can be installed without the need for excavation. Existing pipes are ‘re-formed’ using a special tool, then sections of pipe are inserted thus enabling a drain to be completely replaced. This technique could be a major help on planning drainage — for example, if you ever needed to upgrade your existing drains due to heavier use such as when extending the property (possible increased drainage requirements).

Many specialist drainage companies offer non-excavation drain repair services using the latest techniques as outlined above.

Preparation prior to pressure washing

Keep your house safe from the blast of the pressure washer. Shut all windows, doors and put away garden furniture or anything that will be in the way of the water jet from the pressure washer. Turn off all other sources of electricity that can come in contact with the pressure washer.

Handling the washer

As the pressure washer uses a powerful force to spray water, you should be exercise great caution while handling it. Avoid pointing the nozzle at others, or aiming it at lights and meter boxes when washing your exteriors. Use a hose with a diameter of 5/8 inch to supply water to the washer, as the half-inch diameter of a standard garden hose will not permit this.

Achieve the correct pressure level

Your washer’s pressure setting is important in ensuring a proper cleaning. Maintain around 2500 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure to clean your exterior walls. Going above this limit can cause your masonry coating to come out. Moreover, a higher pressure could damage any wood siding on your exteriors.

Commence pressure washing

Start washing your walls by setting the machine at a low pressure level of 1500 psi. Use a nozzle that produces a wide fan of around 25 degrees. Begin aiming the nozzle at the top of a wall, slowly moving the dirt down the vertical surfaces, and not backwards into the spots that you have already washed. Slowly increase the pressure to 2000 psi, but reduce it when you move the nozzle closer to the wall, and avoid spraying the doors and windows with the stream of water.

Pressure washing with a cleaning solution

While you do not require a chemical cleaning solution to pressure wash the grime off your exterior walls, you can add a mild liquid soap to the pressure washer to make your walls cleaner. Ensure that the soap is eco friendly, especially if you have plants surrounding your exteriors. When using a cleaning solution to pressure wash, start by spraying the cleaner at the bottom of the surface, and work your way upwards. In this way the cleaning solution will evenly spread all across the wall and properly clean the surface. You should not set the pressure washer above 1500 psi when using a cleaning solution. You should also use a low impact, 40-degree wide nozzle to spray the water.

Carpets in office get a lot of wear and tear, and, as in  domestic situations, harbour bacteria, dirt and grit which is not necessarily visible to the naked eye. Carpets harbour dust mites which can cause respiratory problems and aggravate asthma sufferers.  It is advisable therefore to get carpets deep cleaned or steam cleaned by a professional carpet cleaner on a regular basis.  A deep clean gets to the roots of fibres, removes stains and spills, and leaves the carpet looking pristine. Steam cleaning can be done on a Friday evening so that it has time to dry over the weekend. Cleaning spills and stains as they arise will help keep carpets looking fresh and extend their lifespan.

Commercial cleaning companies have all the necessary equipment to carry out the cleaning. They know many tips and tricks to keep your office looking great, and have heavy duty industrial cleaners which really get down to the nitty gritty of cleaning. Professional office cleaners also know the best products and detergents to use without affecting or aggravating any health problems your staff may have. If you are the office manager in charge of maintaining the premises in good condition, you will need to negotiate a contract which outlines what is expected of the cleaning company, ensure that costs include cleaning products, and of course the fee. It is worth getting references when hiring a cleaning company as well as carefully considering the security of the premises, especially as the work will be done out of hours.

Keeping your offices and meeting rooms clean and tidy will create a good impression to visitors.  Your workplace will look more efficient if it is clean and fresh than if there is a lot of dust and has a general feel of neglect. First impressions count, and if the office is dusty and dirty, it will not create the right image for your company.  If clients visit your premises, you will want to be sure that they are clean and well maintained.

Water-based latex paints

The most commonly used paint, latex paint uses water as a base and is practically odour-free. Being water-based this paint is quick drying, can be easily washed off with water and is quite environment friendly. The limitation with latex paints are that it cannot be applied in temperatures below 10 degrees centigrade, as the finish will reveal brush strokes in the final coat. Moreover, you should not allow this paint to freeze during and a few hours after application until it fully dries, as its protective abilities will be severely compromised. In order for the latex paint to perform well, it is important to ascertain the type of binder that it contains. It should contain a 100 percent acrylic binder, and is generally sold as acrylic latex paint. Using an acrylic binder prevents the latex paint from splattering or chipping, and helps to hold the colour and gloss well.

Alkyd paints

Alkyd paints and generally the paints of choice for professional painters to use on interior trims, doors and cabinets. This paint is quite durable, dries with fewer brush marks and is stain resistant. Moreover, if you use a high-volume, low-pressure paint spraying device to skilfully apply alkyd paint, it delivers an exceptional finish. However, this paint has an overpowering smell, and must be applied with proper ventilation.

Specialty paint types

While latex and alkyd paints are commonly used to paint houses, several other specialty paints can be used to address various needs. Elastomeric paint was originally manufactured to apply over exterior cracked masonry like stucco. This thick paint demonstrates rubber like qualities that can bridge over small cracks and stretch along with the surface.

Direct to Metal paints is an industrial grade exterior paint that can be used with good effect on various types of metals. For a super tough paint finish, opt for epoxy paint. This two-component interior paint is also chemical resistant and can be used just about anywhere you need a durable finish, including your shed and garage floors and walls. If you have wood floors you can use urethane floor enamels for a perfect finish. This shiny paint is very hard and scratch resistant, and offers all the positive attributes of oil base enamel. It can be effectively used to paint over painted patio floors too.

• The first thing to do after a party is to try and dissipate the party 'smell'. And the easiest way to do this is to open the windows, and to leave them open while you're cleaning the house. 
• The savvy party-thrower uses plastic cups and plates at their do, which saves a ton of time the following day as they can just be chucked straight into the bin. 
• Take a rubbish bag and gather up rubbish, and cups and plates (if disposable). Make emptying the ash trays a matter of priority, as much of a party's smell  can come from the ashtrays. Half filled cups are also another problem. Get these out of the house as quickly as possible.
• If you didn't use plastic utensils, get the glasses washed and put away as a matter of priority, as they are fragile and can easily be smashed during cleaning.
• Before you start doing any actual 'cleaning', check that nothing has bee broken or damaged beyond repair. 
• Wipe any hard wood floors with a damp mop. However, you should also check that there are no stains on the floor. If there are any, they should be cleaned with a recommended cleaning supplies. Don't forget to keep an eye out on the walls as well.
• It's also a good idea to start vacuuming those floors. For a thorough clean, move the sofa, armchairs and tables so that you can vacuum underneath them. And don't forget to vacuum in between and underneath the cushions of the sofa, as this is a notorious place for collecting dirt. 
• Spilled drinks create sticky surfaces. Use some good quality domestic cleaning products to ensure that you clear up the patches with ease.
• Unfortunately, toilets are often a casualty in a party situation! To make sure that they're thoroughly and hygienically clean, you'll need to give the bowl a good scrub with a long handled toilet brush. Make sure that the brush is then left to soak in a bleach solution to kill germs. Pour bleach round the toilet bowl, leave for a few minutes, and then scrub again.
• For the toilet handle and seat, warm soapy water should be enough to restore cleanliness. You can also buy throwaway wipes, which disinfect the toilet seat, and can then be flushed away.
• Unfortunately, a good party is often accompanied by fairly free flowing alcohol, which often ends up on surfaces! Red wine stains are seen as particularly tricky to deal with, but can be dealt with fairly simply. Hopefully, at the time of spillage, someone will have had the common sense to blot the worst of the stain up. The stain should then be soaked with soda or sparkling water, and blotted again. After this process has been repeated, sponge with soapy water and the stain should be gone.

Prepare your upholstery for steam cleaning

Vacuum the furniture to get rid of any surface dust before you commence steam cleaning. Do not remove the upholstery cushion or arm covers to clean them separately as it may ruin the backing or cause the upholstery to shrink. Vacuum the crevices at the base of the armrests and couch, as well as the back of the upholstery furniture. A lot of debris accumulates in this area and affects the quality of the steam cleaning.

You will need to purchase a cleaning solution specifically formulated for upholstery furniture. If you have used a steam cleaner in the past, you should add an anti-foaming solution to prevent the formation of additional suds that can form as a result of the earlier cleaning solution having dried on your upholstery.

Treat stubborn stains

Pre-treat the stained areas with a commercial stain remover specifically formulated for upholstery fabric, before you begin steam cleaning the furniture. Commercial stain removers work quite well to remove urine, ink and vomit stains. Prior to application, it is advisable to test an unobtrusive spot on the upholstery with the stain remover, to ensure that the stain remover will not cause any damage the fabric. Use a tissue to blot the troubled area with the stain remover and let it work for 10 minutes. Stain removers are generally effective on fresh stains and may not really work on old upholstery furniture stains.

Steam clean the upholstery furniture

Start by running an upholstery brush over the fabric. Set up the steam cleaner based on the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Pour water, the steam cleaner solution and/or anti-foaming solution in the machine and let it warm up. When the cleaner heats up to the recommended levels use broad, even strokes to move the upholstery attachment over your furniture just as you would use a vacuum cleaner. Clean one section at a time, and ensure that you cover the entire upholstery furniture with the steam cleaner

Dry the upholstery well

Once you have finished cleaning your upholstery furniture, let it air-dry. You can also position fans around the upholstery to speed up the drying process and reduce the chances of mildew forming on your upholstery.