Guides for jobs around the house

A page is listed here only once it is published. A guide is general information about a job. It is not a quote for a house.

All published pages

Every page published in this section is listed here, grouped by the trade named on the page. A page is added when it is published. This list is not a price list.

Jump to: Bathroom fitters · Builders · Carpenters · Electricians · Flooring fitters · Handymen · Heating engineers · Landscapers · Painters and decorators · Plasterers · Plumbers · Roofers

Bathroom fitters

1. Bathroom Installation: What to Settle First

   Installing a bathroom in Cheshire is usually not a planning application unless it is part of an extension. The fan and electrics still need a line.

Builders

1. Garage Conversion: What to Settle First

   Converting a garage in Cheshire is often internal, so planning permission may not be needed, while building regulations normally still apply.

2. How do you choose a stonemason for a house?

   Choosing a stonemason near Crewe or Nantwich starts with the job: a repair, stone cladding, or a listed wall. What the quote should name.

3. Roof Insulation in Cheshire: What to Ask

   Roof insulation in Cheshire is a choice between a layer at ceiling level and a layer on the slope. Ask which rooms are included and what is left out.

Carpenters

1. How to Hang an Ordinary Internal Door

   How to hang an ordinary internal door in a frame that is already there: measure, hinges and a door that closes. Fire doors and outside doors are separate.

2. Shed Repair: Fixing Roofs, Floors, Doors and Rot

   How to repair a garden shed: finding the cause, fixing a leaking roof, rotten boards and floors, sticking doors and the base, and when to get a carpenter in.

Electricians

1. Electric Shower: What to Ask First

   An electric shower needs an electrical quote and a plumbing quote. This guide lists the questions and gives no fitting steps.

2. Home Office Ideas: Permission and the Room

   A home office in Cheshire may not need planning permission if the home stays a home. This guide covers the room, a garden building and sockets.

3. Rewiring a House: How the Job Runs, Stage by Stage

   How rewiring a house works from the householder's side: the inspection, first fix, second fix, testing and certificates, and how to get the house ready.

4. Wiring a Plug: Who Should Do It

   A damaged plug or a new circuit is an electrical question. This guide says what to look for, and it does not print a wiring sequence.

Flooring fitters

1. Carpet Installation: What Happens on the Day

   What a professional carpet installation involves, from the survey to the last threshold, and how to get the room ready so the fitter can do the job properly.

2. How to Lay Carpet in a Small Room Yourself

   How to lay carpet yourself in a small, square room: gripper, underlay, rough cut, stretch and trim. Stairs, seams and large rooms are fitter jobs.

3. How to Lay Laminate Flooring in One Room

   How to lay laminate flooring in a simple room: check the floor, plan the rows, leave the gap the maker asks for, and finish the doors and edges neatly.

Handymen

1. How to Put Up a Curtain Pole Straight and Firm

   How to put up a curtain pole: measuring the width and height, finding a safe place to drill, choosing fixings for the wall, fitting brackets level and hanging.

2. TV Wall Mount Installation: How It Is Done

   TV wall mount installation explained: choosing a bracket, checking the wall, finding cables and pipes, fixing it level, and when a socket needs an electrician.

Heating engineers

1. Radiator Fitter: What the Job Includes

   What to ask a radiator fitter to include: the radiator, the valves, the pipework and any approval. Gas work on the boiler stays with a Gas Safe engineer.

2. Underfloor Heating: How to Plan the Install

   How to plan an underfloor heating installation: wet pipes or electric mats, who connects them, what the floor finish does, and which approvals to ask about.

Landscapers

1. Astroturfing Near Me: Finding a Local Installer

   How to find a local astroturfing installer in Cheshire: what to put in your job, the questions to ask about the base and drainage, and how to compare quotes.

2. How to Install Artificial Grass, Step by Step

   How to install artificial grass: clearing the old lawn, building a firm base, laying the membrane and grass, joining rolls, fixing edges and adding infill.

3. How to Lay a Patio: Base, Bedding and Joints

   How to lay a patio: planning the layout and falls, digging out, building a compacted sub-base, bedding slabs on mortar, cutting safely and filling the joints.

Painters and decorators

1. How to Take Wallpaper off a Wall

   How to get wallpaper off a sound wall: soak, score or steam, and when to stop because the plaster or a textured coating is the real problem.

2. How to Wallpaper a Straight Wall

   How to hang wallpaper on a straight wall you can reach from the floor: plumb line, paste, booking and joins. Stairwells and stripping are other guides.

3. Painting New Plaster: What to Do First

   How to get new plaster ready for paint: drying, dust, the first coat the tin describes, and what to ask a decorator. No mixing ratio is printed.

4. Upcycling Furniture: How to Start a Piece Safely

   How to upcycle furniture: choose a sound piece, clean and repair it, check for old lead paint, prepare without spreading dust, then paint or finish it well.

5. Wallpapering: How to Plan the Job

   How to plan wallpapering before any paste is mixed: pattern, lining, where the first length sits, and which surfaces to leave to a decorator.

Plasterers

1. Artex Ceiling: How to Deal With It Safely

   How to deal with an Artex or textured ceiling: why testing comes first, the options of painting, covering, skimming or removal, and which trade to hire.

2. Plasterboard Ceiling: What to Arrange First

   How to plan a plasterboard ceiling, what planning pages say about replacing one, and why texture and overhead access come before boarding.

3. Plastering Repair: Cracks, Holes and Hollows

   How to describe a plaster repair, when a patch is enough, when the coat has lost its key, and what to do before anyone disturbs a textured finish.

4. Skimming Plaster: How to Set the Job Up

   How to prepare a room for a skim, what a plasterer does on the day, how long decoration waits, and what to write so quotes match.

Plumbers

1. Blocked Sink: What to Tell a Plumber

   A blocked sink is waste that will not leave the basin. This guide says what to write in the job, and how that differs from a trickle or a garden puddle.

2. Shower Tray: What the Fitter Should Confirm

   Fitting a shower tray is about the waste, the level and the edge. This guide gives no fitting sequence, and it is not the electric unit.

3. Toilet Flush Button: What to Look At

   What to look at when a toilet flush button in Cheshire sticks or does nothing. This guide has no repair steps and no price. It says when to stop.

4. Toilet Repairs: What to Ask a Plumber

   Toilet repairs cover the pan, the flush and a leak at the base. This guide says what to describe, and it does not tell you to open the cistern.

Roofers

1. New Roof Installation: What the Quote Covers

   Installing a new roof in Cheshire, such as on an extension, is a structural design. This guide says what the quote must cover. It is not a building method.

2. Roof Replacement: How to Brief a Roofer

   Replacing a roof covering in Cheshire is a specification and an approval question. This guide says what to ask. It does not tell you to strip a roof.