Growing up does not necessarily mean you have to give up playing in dollhouses, as artist Heather Benning discovered when she found a semi-derelict house in Redvers, Saskatchewan in Canada. Working as an artist-in-residence in the town, Benning converted the house into a human-scale dollhouse, complete with cut-away front. Giants to move the human-sized dolls around not included in box.
Figures from Nationwide show that house prices have dropped 1.5% from June last year, the biggest fall in three years. The average house price is now £165,738. Prices fell by 1% in the UK in the last quarter, although prices in London were up 1% in the same period. The housing market remains somewhat static, but how does this and the driving down of prices affect our tradesmen and tradeswomen at MyBuilder? Let us know whether a stalled market is great for renovations and repairs work or whether the lack of new homeowners is meaning less work overall in the industry.
Photo: Images of Money.
Some of our tradesmen may well be looking at this concrete construction designed by Norwegian architect Reiulf Ramstad and saying ‘nice finish’ or ‘what kind of mix did they use there?’. But most of us will be either wowed or horrified by the pathway, which is sited in a tourist spot in the north of Norway. The path takes you from the road down to the beach, forcing you to meander and take in the vista yet still be excited by the view as you reach the bottom. Take a good look at the detail and tell us what you think.
We know that a good proportion of our tradesmen use their smart phones to access MyBuilder while they are out and about, so this Kickstarter project for a harder-as-nails iPhone case may well appeal to them. With a sealed Gorilla Glass unit that makes the iPhone shockproof and watertight, the TAKTIK system is ideal for tradesmen, as well as for the unnamed member of MyBuilder staff who has already lost three smartphones to the Big White Telephone.
At MyBuilder we know that our system of rating and reviewing tradesmen keeps away the cowboys. But, sadly, we regularly hear of cases elsewhere where cowboy builders rip people off and are simply unable to carry out work to anything like a decent or safe standard. This example in the Daily Mail is a particularly bad one, especially as this headline type makes it sound like the house was actually crying about its treatment at the hands of cowboy tradesmen.
Finding a patch of damp on the living room wall or having a survey come back identifying damp in the basement can be worrying for any householder. Damp and damp proofing are subjects that we hope we never have to engage with and ones that the average homeowner knows little about. After all, most of us will have heard of a damp proof course, but many don’t know whether that is a treatment that can solve our problem or a programme of lessons for builders.
How can I tell if I have a damp problem that requires damp proofing?
Visible signs of damp or mould on the walls, as well as walls feeling wet and cold, are all signs of damp. But don’t panic, as not all causes of damp are complex or costly to repair. It is far better to contact one of our damp proofing experts and get the problem checked than to leave it to get worse. Our review system means that our damp proofing experts can be trusted to carry out the work to the highest standards and undertake only the work that needs doing to deal with your damp problem.
The causes of damp can be broken down into three main categories. These are penetrating damp, damp caused by condensation and rising damp. A damp proofing professional should be able to swiftly identify which one is causing your damp problem. Most of the damp proofing experts registered with MyBuilder will assess your damp problem for free and will then offer you a quote for the necessary repairs.
