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When your driveway is suffering from depression, it becomes unsafe for driving (a danger zone) and ugly - no homeowner wants that! Unfortunately, most driveways won’t hold flat for long as they tend to develop cracks and potholes pretty quickly. Here, we are going to take you through how to fill asphalt driveways’ depression so as to ensure the sinkholes in your driveway poses no threat to you or your loved ones, while also beautifying your property. The approach to be used depends on the intensity of the depression. If its only a few cracks and holes, this can easily be repaired with some equipment. But if otherwise is the case, then calling a reliable professional will be your best bet. In this article, we’ll show you how to repair dips in your asphalt driveway relatively quickly.

✓ Pick a date with warm and sunny weather. This is because if you work in a cold weather, chances are the materials will freeze and hence, unusable. So find a day when the temperature will over 50 degrees Fahrenheit and below 80 degrees Celsius and when there would be no rain. We’ll advise a day between May to October.

✓ Prepare the area. Remove all loose stones, soil, dirt as well as vegetation from the holes. Once done, you can then proceed to washing the area with a pressure washer or sweep with a broom.

✓ Apply a thin mixture of asphalt to the area. Use a flat stirring stick to coat the low driveway area with a thin mixture of asphalt.

✓ Tamp the asphalt repair mix. Purchase the right kind of asphalt to repair the driveway. Fine aggregate asphalt mixture is more suited to filling small holes, whereas the coarse aggregate is more suited to filling larger holes. Apply layers ( about 2 inches each time) of the asphalt repair mix to the sunken area and use a shovel to give it a smooth finish. Once done, simply make the area smooth and protect it with a piece of plywood. Do not walk or drive on the area for a couple of days.

The answer is yes! Houses whose external walls have been insulated are more valuable than their uninsulated counterparts. And not only does it add to the value of a home, but also significantly reduces the amount of electricity consumption. This is a major turn on for potential investors which implies a greater demand and ultimately, a higher price. The real estate market is a very dynamic one which can be hard to predict at any particular time. The frequent changes in price are usually down to factors beyond the owners’ control, but if you’re looking to put up your house for sale in the near future, it would be a wise decision to consider ways in which you can increase its value. While renovating each room can be on the expensive side, a great solution would be insulate the external walls.

An insulated house is one that is well secured against the harmful impact of extremely high or low temperature, humidity and other atmospheric factors. Hence, the reason why a house with external wall insulation has a greater value which you would not want to miss out on. What’s more? You’ll get a great thermal insulation with the top notch materials like foamed polystyrene, high quality renders, mineral wool or polyurethane.

With an external wall insulation, you know the transaction will always be favourable on both ends. You get to smile to the bank, while the buyer also gets to enjoy great value for every penny spent. To employ the services of a reliable external wall insulation expert, simply conduct an in depth research from family and friends, online and other sources. Go through their online reviews and ask questions to become more familiar with the process and its value-adding potentials.

Before the commencement of any project, it’s always best to get an estimation of the cost. However, determining the cost of an external solid wall insulation is not the easiest of tasks as it relies on varying components such as the insulation materials to be used, labour cost and installation as well as the type of decorative finish to be incorporated. And depending on your choice of insulation material, some may need some adhesives while others may require some fixings which also contributes to the differences in price. As a result, the determination of the material cost alone can be tricky and even more so when various materials cover varying areas.

With that in mind, the cost of external solid wall insulation generally ranges between £80 to £100 per square metre2. As a result, a small flat can cost from £6000 to £9000 whereas a large detached house can have a price ranging between £21000 to £23000. To earn back your investment in terms of energy bill savings can take a couple of years, but it’s surely worth the try as there are several other benefits associated with installing an external solid wall insulation system. What’s more? Another huge factor that can influence the cost of your system is also the amount of work that’s required, how easy it is to be accessed by the installers and lots more

If you’re looking to cut down on the cost of your external solid wall insulation, then the best time for an installation might just be when you’re having another decorating or building project done such as fitting a new roof, window painting, installation of solar PV panels and more. This way, you’ll be able to spread the cost and have a greater value for each penny expended.

How To Convert Your Loft Into A Room

The loft is the space on top of a home that’s most often ignored by home owners due to having to consider the space’s configuration, the lighting as well as energy efficiency. However, when successfully converted into a room, it can serve several purposes which would even add more value to your property. So how can you convert your loft into a room? Let’s have a look.

• Take Into Account The Size Of Your Loft

The size of your loft is a major determinant of the type of room it can be converted into. A small-sized loft there’s a chance it can still be converted into an extra bathroom or home office while bigger lofts can be converted into an additional bedroom. The minimum head height is 2.3m, if your loft is lower than this, you’d have to get a planning permission to detach some parts of the room for extension.

• Include A Skylight

When a loft is poorly designed, the room become dark, shady and airless. Adding a skylight to your loft will let in fresh air, deliver better ventilation and more light.

• Insulate Your Loft

Loft insulation will not only prevent heat from escaping through the roof, but also lead to an improved energy efficiency which ultimately helps you save up on your heating bills.

• Use Modern Colourization

When you use bright, neutral and modern colours to paint your loft, you’re adding that elegant look to the space. As a result, the loft looks a lot more attractive and comfortable by the time you’re done with the conversion.

The conversion of your loft into a room can be a very tedious task if you wish to do it by yourself. We’d recommend you employ a seasoned professional for help in order to ensure the best results and also to avoid making costly mistakes.

It’s often said that a garage conversion can take anywhere between 1 week to 1 month, depending on the size and scope. But many standard conversions without any plumbing can take as little as 5 days. Your contractor will be able to tell you exactly how long your garage conversion will take.

Are you looking to pebble dash your house? This is a cool way to add a stunning new look to your home or property while also adding to its resale value should you wish to sell later on. The list of the benefits goes on, however one thing that most home and property owners would like to know before starting such a project is exactly how long it’ll take to complete it. If you’re also having similar thoughts, then you’ve come to the right place! In this post we’re going to give you an insight into the duration of pebble dashing a house. Let’s take a look!

First and foremost, just like any other home improvement project, the duration of a house pebble dashing project is affected by a number of variables. These variables include the size of your house, the company or contractor hired and lots more. In general, a house pebble dashing project should take within the range of 3 to 14 days depending on the size of your home. It should be noted that you’ll have to pay the workers on a daily basis. Most labourers will charge within the range of £140 to about £160 per labourer per day. And you should expect to have at least 2 labourers to work on your house’s pebble dashing project per day. On the other hand, the more labourer you have working on your project, the more you’re going to pay on a daily basis but this will also significantly reduce the time frame it’ll take to get the project over the line.

How To Repair A Pothole In Gravel Driveways

When the integrity of your gravel driveway is impaired not only does it have a negative impact on the curb appeal of your property, but also makes your driveway a danger zone. If your driveway needs to be repaired, you’d simply have to grab the bull by the horn and get it done - the sooner, the better to avoid the problem getting worse and to have your beautiful gravel driveway back as soon as possible.

The major cause of potholes in driveways is usually water, when it gets trapped beneath the surface of the driveway. Therefore, you may also want to enhance the drainage in the area as part of your repair. The repair process is quite simple for confident do-it-yourselfers, but if otherwise, then calling in a reliable professional will save you some time and extra money that can result from possible errors. So how do you repair gravel driveway potholes?

✓ Prepare the area. This involves removing all forms of debris from the pothole. To achieve this, you can rake, shovel or brush the loose stones, soil and other debris from the pothole.

✓ Fill the pot hole. Make use of a coarse gravel to fill up the pothole to a depth of about 3 inches beneath the driveway’s level. Upon the filling, simply tamp down the coarse gravel using a commercial tamper or any available homemade option. Once done, the final 3 inches to the surface of the gravel driveway should then be filled up with gravel which perfectly matches the colour and texture of the remaining driveway.

✓ Compact the patch. To achieve this in an easy and fast way, simply run your car’s wheel up and down over the repaired spot gently a couple of times. This will be enough to compact the patch and seal the pothole.

Sand is a very important element in bricklaying as far as a mortar mix is concerned. Generally, the quality of the sand is the major factor determining the quality of a plaster mix or mortar mix. It’s recommended that the sand should have enough ‘fines’ (- 75 micron material) to get a good plastic mix with a water content that’s less than 350 litres/m3. Generally, a mortar mix or plaster mix is made within the range of one bag of cement to 200 to 300 litres of damp sand.

Apart from experience the next best indicator of the quality of sand is a field test. In other words, if you do not have the required training or experience in bricklaying, the best bet to determine the amount of sand for a good quality mix is by carrying out a field test. Let’s have a look!

• Get about 50kg of sand and air dry it.

• Scoop 25kg of the sand, 5 kg of cement as well as litres of water ( with 1 litre and 1.5 litres of the water in different containers).

• Mix the cement and sand to form a smooth, uniform and consistent colour.

• One after the other, mix the the sand - cement mixture in the three quantities of water. Do this until you’re able to achieve a mix that’s workable enough to use as plaster.

With that done, you should take note that if 5 litres of water is sufficient then the quality and quantity of the sand is perfect. If you’d require 6 litres of water to get a mix workable as a plaster, then both the quality and quantity of the sand is average. However, if you’d need 7 litres of water to get a mix workable as a plaster, then the quality of the sand is poor. Any requirement of water above 7 litres implies a very poor quality of sand.