When people are considering ways to boost the value or appeal of their home they often look towards wooden flooring to do the job. Something as simple as changing the floor in your home can make a massive change in the impression you leave potential buyers or tenants. In fact 58% of estate agents agree that homes with wooden floors are more profitable than ones without. Wood flooring is a stylish, eco-friendly option and its aesthetic appeal is attractive to many homeowners and landlords alike. Known for its durability and individual characteristics, it offers a modern and traditional look all in one.
Wooden flooring, particularly real wood flooring, is an eco-friendly, natural and sustainable resource which is very durable. If maintained correctly, a hard wood floor could last a lifetime making it an economical option in the long term. The longevity of a wooden floor depends on how well it is looked after, how heavily it is walked upon and not forgetting the all important factors of whether you have children or pets. But even with all the factors considered, wooden flooring is a lot more hardwearing and forgiving than carpet can ever claim to be. With the added benefits of stain resistance and scratch resistance, any signs of an accident or spillage can easily be removed with little effort.
Wood is also a hygienic choice compared to carpet which can host up to 100,000 dust mites per square metre. For those with allergies or respiratory conditions such as asthma, wooden flooring offers a hygienic and easy to clean surface which can easily be vacuumed or brushed to remove most if not all signs of dust around.
Posted by admin on July 29th, 2010 :: Filed under
HomeTags ::
Decorating a property,
Real wood flooring,
Wood flooring
If you are a new landlord to the flat – houseshare industry there are many services available to you in order to ensure that everything is done correctly, none more so than a chartered surveyor who can take you right through from aiding you in buying the property to renting it out, via advice on renovations.
From the outset, a chartered surveyor is capable of appraising the cost and condition of the house or flat that a new landlord may wish to buy and typically they work within a specific area, so they are up to speed on local issues that may affect the price of the property. A chartered surveyor can also put into action the paperwork required to obtain planning permission and any renovations that the property may require after purchase, such as turning a three bedroomed house into a five bedroomed house in order to maximise profits when renting the rooms out. There are different types of chartered surveyors in Essex for example, but they should all be registered with The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) which is their expert body.
Employing a chartered surveyor can at times be expensive, however this is subset because they are able to provide a qualified judgement on any important issues and in the long run can save a landlord thousands of pounds as well as being able to access products and details which no one else would be able to obtain easily.
As mentioned previously, there are a number of chartered surveyors around and many of them are online. Therefore finding one is as straightforward as searching for Chartered Surveyors Essex or the town or county nearest to the indivial looking for one, alternatively any estate agent should be able to suggest a regional surveyor or the RICS‘ website also offers a lookup function to find qualified surveyors in a specific location.
Once the building is in shape a surveyors work doesn’t neccessarily have to end there. Many of them can also offer legal advice on maximise profits from the property and even advise on tenancy law which can be extremely useful for any new landlord.
Posted by admin on June 30th, 2010 :: Filed under
UncategorizedTags ::
Chartered Surveyors,
Chartered Surveyors Essex,
Flatshare,
Houseshare,
New Landlords
If you’ve made the decision to move into a new house or flatshare it can be a stressful time. There are many things to consider such as organising and packing your belongings, finding helpers for the big move, booking time off of work and changing the address on your car insurance, bank accounts, registering with a doctor and so on. But with prior planning these needn’t become a stress.
If you are moving out of a flatshare then one of the things to do is contact your existing landlord and tell them of your plans to move. This should be top of the priority list as undoubtedly you will have a minimum notice that you will have to give them. As soon as a moving date has been arranged it would be advisable to take a few days off of work either side to avoid having to do everything in a rush. Even if you don’t have a lot of items to move, you’ll be surprised how heavy boxes can get, so it’s worth enlisting a few friends to help on moving day.
Once you have done this it’s time to start organising for the move. One thing that you will require is packaging supplies such as cardboard boxes and bubble wrap to protect your possessions and avoid any damages or breakages. If you are on a budget you could try getting some boxes from local supermarkets, although their durability may be questionable and ask your friends to save all their newspapers as this can be a cheap way of wrapping your things up to protect them. Once you have your cardboard boxes and other packing supplies, then you may wish to start packing your things up early as undoubtedly you will find things that you no longer require and want to throw out, sell on eBay or drop off to a charity shop.
Before moving its worth compiling a list of the companies that have your personal details that you will have to inform of your change of address. A quick list to get you started includes your bank including any loans and credit cards that you may have, car insurance, store cards, DVLA for your driving license, mobile phone contract and gym memberships.
Posted by admin on June 17th, 2010 :: Filed under
UncategorizedTags ::
Bubble Wrap,
Flatshare,
Houseshare,
Moving,
Packaging Supplies
Are you or your house or flatmates desperate to make some extra money for the summer so that you can pay your rent whilst making the most of the sunshine at festivals, down the pub and on holiday? Here’s our quick guide to some interesting jobs that you may wish to consider:
Bar Work
Good old fashioned bar work down your local pub. It can be antagonising seeing everyone out having a good time, but there are two bonuses, one you are working and so you are not spending any money and two you aren’t the one making a fool of yourself because you’ve had one or two too many.
Telemarketing Services Company
If you’re confident on the telephone and are forever being told that you could sell snow to the Eskimos, then perhaps this could become a lot more than a summer job. There are regular office hours and for the duration of the day all you have to do is phone up potential customers and do a bit of lead generation …although it probably harder than I make it out to be.
Glitter Christmas Cards
Don’t laugh. There is serious money to be made from this if it hasn’t been moved abroad because of cheaper workforces. For the day you have to stand at the end of a machine either filling it up with blank cards that require glittering or stand at the other end ensuring the glitter has been baked on correctly and put it into a box.
Agency Work
In your nearest town or city there are probably an abundance of job agencies with summer jobs available for you. Why not take a walk down there with your latest CV and see what they can do for you?
These are just some ideas for you to make money so that you can make the most of the time that you have off. Give it a go, who knows you may find your next career out of it!
Posted by admin on April 26th, 2010 :: Filed under
UncategorizedTags ::
Bar Work,
Flatmates,
House mates,
Making Money,
Telemarketing Services Company
Christmas and New Year now seem a thing of the past, but that can only mean one thing… Summer’s coming! Maybe a little optimistic, with such bleak weather outside, but it’s something for you and your house mates to look forward to – festivals, relaxing in beer gardens and the odd summer barbecue in your back garden.
So what’s the recipe for the ideal summer barbecue? Plenty of food, plenty of drink and plenty of friends, all true. But one addition that often gets over looked is a gazebo. These are ideal for when you and your house mates want to duck out of the summer sun and get some shade during the day, keep the food dry should there be a sudden down pour and somewhere for you and your house mates to chill out as the sun begins to descend. The good thing about them is that with the pop up gazebo, is that they are easy to assemble as well as being compact when folded away so they can be stored away until you decide to throw another barbecue. If you are planning to host a number of barbecues of have a lot of guests, you might wish to consider a commercial gazebo, the reason being that these are slightly more heavy duty and robust.
Posted by admin on February 18th, 2010 :: Filed under
HomeTags ::
Commercial Gazebo,
Gazebo,
House mates,
Summer
Sharing a flat? Can your internet handle it!
When you move into shared accommodation either a flat share or maybe student accommodation you have a number of factors to think about when it comes to your computer and broadband usage. Even if your household only has one computer you have to decide who gets to use it primarily, perhaps for work purposes, college purposes or for personal use.
If you are sharing a flat with someone then you more than likely will have separate computers, however you do not need to have separate internet connections. It is possible for you to have the one broadband setup and both computers be able to use it simultaneously, there are in fact 3 options you have when it comes to this.
The easiest and most common in today’s world is to use a wireless router, you basically set it up near the phone line and all of your computers can connect wirelessly and use the broadband connection. The main benefit of this method is that both computers do not have to be turned on.
The more traditional method is to connect each laptops to your router using a LAN cable, this will also allow both of them to use the internet at the same time. This also has the benefit of not having to have both computers turned on.
Another method that is not very common in today’s world is to connect one computer to the router/internet as the host, then create a local area network between the computers to allow the other one to access the internet via the host. This means that the computer acting as the host will have to be on at all times if the other one intends on using the internet.
You should always consider your bandwidth/usage if you plan on sharing an internet connection, ensure that you have enough each month because you would hate to overuse the internet and be faced with a hefty bill at the end of the month.
Posted by admin on October 16th, 2008 :: Filed under
HomeTags ::
Flat Share,
Home,
House Share,
LAN