Find a Shop Fitter you can trust in Wells-next-the-sea.

If you’re building a connected home, a smart thermostat allows you to change the temperature in your home. And not only do several smart thermostats come with touch screens and a user friendly interface, but they’re also compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and other voice controlled personal assistants. So how does a smart thermostat work? Let’s have a look!

Generally, smart thermostats are connected to the home’s Heating and/or Air Con system via C wire (common wire). Homes that lacks a C wire (especially older homes) will have to install one first before getting a smart thermostat. The C wire is a crucial element in the installation process as it works mainly to wire your smart thermostats into the Boiler system without tampering with the wiring for the other appliances in the house.

The smart thermostats comes with some special temperature setting which you can access by connecting them to your home’s WiFi. These include:

• Mobile Control

Most smart thermostats are specially designed to enable users to control the temperature of their home from the comfort of their couch or car via their unique mobile apps. This feature is just perfect if you particularly like getting the perfect temperature in your home without having to get out of bed.

• Humidity Controls

Although, the humidity of your home can not really be adjusted with a smart thermostat but you can always stay on top of it by monitoring it or setting an alarm on your phone to go off when the humidity changes.

• Geofencing Feature

With a smart thermostat, you can choose the particular times of the day you want it in action. This feature enables you to go on impromptu travels without having to worry about your energy bills - some smart thermostats come with the geotracking feature which determines when you’ve left the house and adjusts the temperature of the home accordingly with your energy usage in mind.

Most people want to connect solar panels to a battery when they’re not at home all day to use the electricity they generate, or generate more than they consume over a day. Solar batteries are a great way to maximise the savings on your energy bills since you can use every unit of electricity you generate.

If you want to connect your solar panels to a battery, the best – and safest – way is to ask an MCS-registered company to do it for you. They’ve had lots of training and hold qualifications in handling electricity and installing solar batteries, so they will be able to recommend the best battery for your solar panels and for the among of electricity you use. Some of the brands they might recommend include Tesla, SolarEdge and SolaX, but there are many more to choose from. If you want to send electricity to the grid from your battery to receive Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments, it’s also worth leaving installation up to a registered installer. This is because you might not be eligible for payments if your battery wasn’t installed by an MCS-registered company.

However, if you do want to have a go at connecting your solar panels to a battery, it’s worth finding out whether your system is ‘storage ready’. Most relatively new systems will be, since batteries are becoming more commonplace. If your solar panels are storage ready, they will have an inverter that can easily have a battery added to it. If this is the case, then you should be able to buy the solar battery you want and follow the manufacturer's instructions to install it.

But it’s worth remembering that electricity is extremely dangerous when handled improperly. If you don’t get the solar battery connected properly and something goes wrong, it could cause a fire or you could electrocute yourself. If a fire breaks out due to your battery, it’s unlikely that your home insurance company would pay out since you connected the battery yourself. That’s why it’s always worth speaking to a registered installer to install a solar battery storage system for you.

It can be quite tricky knowing the right time to purchase and fit an air conditioning system, however if you get the timing right, this can go a long way to help you save both time and money. It’s important to note that different individuals usually have varying needs - like it it’s possible your existing unit just broke down during the summer months or you’re carrying out some renovations during spring.

In general, there’s the need to put a couple of factors into consideration in order to make sure you AC installation is a hassle free experience. The best time to install an air conditioner is actually before the construction of the house. Several high set homes do not possess the space to fit fully ducted air after building. And even if there’s space, accessing the ceiling and down into the floors can be pretty expensive and difficult.

Installing an air conditioning unit earlier would mean less plaster would be required later down the road. A good air conditioning installer or HVAC expert should also advice you on the best location for the unit in order to help you maximize cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Most importantly, if your AC unit is built into your house’s design, you’ll be able to save more money in the long run. However, you may not be able to fit a unit when constructing or renovation, therefore choosing the right time would be a question of, when is the right time of the year.

Generally, choosing a month in the off-season is actually a much better time to fit an air conditioner, but ensure that it’s the right time. Overall, the best time for an air conditioning unit installation is autumn when the demand is at its lowest. Since retailers are usually overstocked with units after the summer months, you can get yourself some nice discounts

Several individuals think that the the way their air conditioning system works is simply by pumping hot air out of their homes or offices, blowing a cool air in return. This is absolutely wrong! The hot air is, in fact, cycled back in as cold air and this process continues until the thermostats gets dropped down to the required or set temperature. The air conditioning system manages this in a similar way to how the refrigerator manages to stay cold and of course, excluding the insulated box.

The short and simple answer to the question of what gas an air conditioning use is Freon. This is a non inflammable gas which is subjected to the evaporation process over and over again in most refrigerators to keep the temperature at a low level. This same process is repeated in air conditioning systems. Now let’s take a look at how the Freon gas is incorporated in AC systems.

The cold Freon gas is firstly compressed by a compressor in the air conditioner. The gas is then combined with a little quantity of oil in order to lubricate the compressor. When Freon gas is compressed, the pressure is increased which makes it incredibly hot. It then moves through a couple of coils which works to lowering the heat and turning it to liquid. This Freon liquid will then be transmitted via an expansion valve which causes it to cool down until evaporation takes place. The outcome of this is a low pressure cold Freon gas which is then transmitted via another set of coils allowing the gas to collect the heat and lower the air within the room.

The air conditioner now filters the air and clears out the dust, smoke, pollen and other kinds of air pollutants. The system also absorbs excess liquid from the air too which it uses to cool down the system and pump it through a hose.

Moving house sounds exciting, but on the real sense, we don't actually know how to begin. There is no choice than to begin anyway because you are moving to a new house. Most times we hire a removals firm in advance, not to mention pack all your belongings. So, how to pack up your house for relocation and make sure you don’t forget something in the process.

The major excercise is Packing Supplies You Need (PSYN).

No matter the number of boxes you have lying around, they all contain all necessary properties. One should not over the fact that purchasing boxes is a very important part of the whole excercise. If you have any spare plastic boxes, you can pack your fragile and valuable items in them. Alternatively, provided you have the time to search for free moving boxes, there are plenty of ways to obtain them. These little guidelines will give successful ways you can get your boxes all packed up;

1) Begin Packing Well in Advance

Take note of the number of boxes available for the operation. However, it's advisable to start tart the process earlier than most people think. For example a large house should take abt two months for packing while for small house a month can enough. Not the real time for packing though, but at least you got the idea.

2) Start with Rooms and Items You Use Less Often

Firstly, starting packing processes from least used from is advised. Seasonal items you’re currently not using such as garden tools, coats, and Christmas lights are perfect examples of items you can pack before you handle everything else. When packing stuffs, it makes you select and set aside the useful ones and get rid or donate the other. Therefore sorting is part of the major excercise in other to avoid some unnecessary loads for relocation.

3) Declutter and Donate

Like said earlier, sorting is the major excercise here, give away some unwanted properties as charity or get rid of them by burning them or selling them off. There is also eBay, so your options are plenty. If you have friends helping you with your move, ask them whether they need anything you’re planning to sell.

4) Do Not Exceed the Limit of 30 Pounds per Box

This is important when you moving abroad. You might get a back injury or one of the boxes might not be able to withstand the weight when moving it. Pack light items in large boxes and heavy items in small boxes. This packing tip alone will save you a great deal of pain… literally.

5) Use Plastic Bags for Spillable Items

It's best to pack little of the amount of liquid substance in a plastic bag so as to be easier for mobility, pack bottles of unscrewed cap. Afterwards, place a plastic bag over the neck of each bottle and screw the caps back on, It's a simple as that (winks).Zip the bag and secure it with packing tape. That way, if your bottle opens by accident, its contents would remain in the plastic bag.

There are a wide range of household rubbish and wastes you can put in a skip. But unfortunately though, paint cans and leftover paints isn’t one. Furthermore, not only is a liquid paint restricted from skips and landfills, but they are also banned by the council. Frustratingly, because it’s hazardous to the environment and blockages it can create in the pipe, pouring paint right down the drain is never an option as well. So what then is the best way to get rid of your leftover paint? Surprisingly, you have quite a number of options which we’ll share with you.

• Is the paint unused and unopen? For unopened paints, you can simply return them back to the seller either for an exchange or for a refund. Obviously, this will require a receipt and if unavailable, then you might want to consider the other options below.

• Is it just little paint leftover? Since it has been specifically banned from skips and it’s just a small amount of paint, you can get a bit creative with the disposal method. Simply get a cardboard or other papers, paint it with the remaining paint and dry it out. Once dried, you can then dispose the cardboard or paper alongside other permitted wastes in the skip.

• Is it a large amount of paint? For large amounts, you can contact some of your friends or family who might need it to get the paints off your hands. If you are unable to dispose any or all, there are online platforms like Freegle or Freecycle where there are people willing and ready to get leftover paints in large quantities.

• Is it unusable? If positive, then the giveaway option is completely neutralized. The best bet here is to leave your paint out to dry if it has gone past its usable days, then take it to a household waste recycling centre.

Click here to learn more about skips.

A bathroom is not only a pretty big investment, but also one that requires thorough planning and consideration before the work can be kick started. This is a task all homeowners will all have to go through at least once and even more so when things break or become worn too terribly to consider repair. As a result, when it comes to fitting a shower you can be sure to dig a bit deep into your pocket to start and get the project over the line. In general, the cost of your new bathroom tend to vary based on the shower installation company or plumber you choose to hire, your location, the materials required, the type of shower and other furnishings chosen and more. In this post, we aim to give you a good insight into the shower fitting pricing so as to help you help you make informed decisions moving forward.

Generally, a standard shower usually costs within the range of £100 to £120 for installation and this usually takes about 3 hours to complete. For an electric shower, you should expect to incur within the range of £100 to £150 on the plumber and a similar price range for the electrician as well. And for the shower enclosure, you can expect to pay within the range of £150 to £250 for the labour and it’ll take up to 4 hours to complete. You’ll also factor in the taps,tiling, underfloor heating, extractor fan, bath, basin and toilet.

Overall, for a complete renovation of your shower, you can expect to incur within the range of £3000 to £5000 with the average duration of the job being 10 days. Meanwhile for a standard installation (only for bathroom fixtures), this will often cost within the range of £2000 to £2500 with an average job length of around 5 days.

If you’d like to hire a residential architect, but have limited funds, there are several things you can try to reduce their quote.

Firstly, you don’t necessarily need to hire them for project management – you could just ask them to do the design. This will mean you’ll have to do some extra donkey work, but you could choose between finding a cheaper professional to do your project management or simply doing it yourself.

There might also be other architectural services that you can cut down on. Some professionals offer extras like landscape, interior and detailed joinery design. If you can do without any of these, this will help to reduce the overall cost.

You could also think about scaling down your project. Lots of residential architects work out their fees as a percentage of the total construction cost of your project. Lower the cost of this, and your fees might go down too.