Email: hello@practicalwomen.co.uk

Tel: 07490 764877

considerate professional tradeswomen

practical advice & help for your home

New Kitchen in St George

New Kitchen in St George

New Kitchen/Electrics in St George

The customer wanted a re-model of their very damp, and quite dark, kitchen.

Local builders, Stepping Stones Building, carried out the structural work, including installing a new window looking out onto the garden, bricking up a doorway and removing a chimney breast.

This gave the customer much more space for the kitchen layout they wanted.

The customer has maximised the available space. Choosing a standalone fridge-freezer rather than built-in, gave them more food storage space. They also decided that a freestanding washing machine would give greater capacity. An integrated dishwasher was installed next to the sink.

The cooker hood was ducted through the outside wall. The ducting was boxed in and additional feature downlights installed in the ducting.

The customer wanted different lighting options in the kitchen, so chose downlights recessed in the ceiling over the worktops, with feature pendant lights over the sink.

Matt Grey Kitchen cabinets, Ceramic Sink & Oak Worktops were supplied by Howdens Kitchens.

Fitted Wardrobe in an Alcove

Fitted Wardrobe in an Alcove

Floor to ceiling wardrobe in Southville

The client originally had a pine standalone wardrobe that did not make full use of the floor to ceiling height provided by the alcove, which limited what she could store in this space.

She had done some research and found some pictures online of what she wanted so this was a great start for us, as it gave us a good idea of the style of storage she wanted.

The client was after a simple contemporary design that maximised the hanging space for clothes, so we designed and built two units that provided a top box with doors, and a larger bottom box with doors for two hanging rails.

We made a handle template and cut holes in the doors for the chrome pull handles.

The wardrobe carcass and doors were made out of moisture resistant MDF and fitted with soft close hinges and prepared with two coats of undercoat, so the client could paint it the colour of her choice.

Alcove Cabinet in South Bristol

Alcove Cabinet in South Bristol

Fitted TV Alcove Unit in Bedminster

For this project the client wanted a bold coloured cabinet built into the alcove to sit the TV on and provide space underneath for DVDs.

We fitted shaker style doors with soft close Blum hinges and ceramic handles that matched the colour of the flowers in the fireplace tiling.

 

The unit was built using moisture resistant MDF, undercoated and finished with two top coats of Proud Peacock by Dulux.

A cable hole was made at the back of the unit so cables could be hidden behind the TV.

The handles were sourced from Amazon.

A Decking Project in Redland

A Decking Project in Redland

This project was carried out in collaboration with a client who wanted to salvage and reuse as much material as possible. They wanted to create a more wildlife-friendly garden, work with us on the project and keep the budget in check.

Nearly 15 years after it had been built, the client’s timber decking was starting to deteriorate. Some of the main joists, which made up the supporting frame structure, were badly rotten, as were the decking boards, which were falling in, very slippery and unsafe.

There were three areas of the garden laid to decking at different levels, with some surrounding fencing, screening and garden sheds that were also at the end of their life. We decided – to minimise disruption and give the client access to some parts of the garden during the demolition and build – to tackle one decking area at a time.

To give the client control of the budget we staggered the heavier and more skilled project tasks to the client’s schedule so they could do some of the lighter and easier tasks in between. Importantly, this give them time to reflect on the progress and decide how to evolve the project in the direction they wanted.

This allowed for some flexibility during the project, to tackle unexpected things like replacing a rotten perimeter fence post, and to allow the client time to consider the use of the space to allow more planting for a wildlife-friendly garden.

About 60% of the joists were salvaged on the lower and middle decks and all boards replaced with new. As the sheds and screening were removed and the space opened up the client reclaimed this area for planting, and the highest level of decking, once removed, exposed some sound joists that, once cut, made perfect raised beds for a new wildflower planting area.

How to re-pressurise a Boiler

How to re-pressurise a Boiler

How do I know that my boiler needs re-pressurising?

In most cases, you will suddenly discover that you have no hot water or heating, and your boiler is not working.

There are many things that cause a Boiler to stop working. Most of them will require an engineer to come out and repair the fault. However, by far the most common issue to stop a boiler working is a drop in boiler pressure. This is something that you can rectify yourself.

In fact the pressure on your boiler is something that you really should be aware of and check on a regular basis. If the pressure is constantly dropping and you are regularly having to re-pressurise your boiler, that indicates that there is an underlying problem, and you should call in a Gas-Safe Engineer to investigate and rectify the problem.

How do I read my Boiler Pressure?

Most Boilers have some kind of pressure gauge on them, which gives you an indication of the boiler pressure. They usually have a helpful Green section which indicates a safe operating pressure, and a  Red section, which indicates that the pressure is too high or too low. They also often have some lines, to indicate a normal pressure. The needle should be slightly above this normal level, or, on some dials, between 1 & 2.

If the needle has fallen below 1, (or the line),  then the boiler pressure is too low and needs to be increased.

If the needle is in the high Red section, your pressure is too high. The boiler should rectify this problem itself by dumping (usually very hot) water out of the system through a Pressure Relief Valve. You may see this happening on an outside wall of your house. If this does happen, turn the boiler off and call an engineer.

Pressure Gauge

Pressure Gauge

Pressure Relief Valve

Outlet pipe

How do I re-pressurise my Boiler?

If you’re lucky enough to still have the manual that came with your boiler, the instructions will be found there.

Failing that, there is a lot of information on the web to help with re-pressurising your boiler. Each make (and sometimes model) of boiler is different, so it is not possible to give a one-size-fits-all explanation.

We thought that it would be more helpful to provided a series of links to different makes of boiler below for you to find your own model and instructions and follow them yourselves. We have also posted links to some useful videos:

 

Older style Worcester-Bosch Boilers have a slightly awkward Filling-Key system. This video shows how to operate it.

 

View Video

 

Newer style Worcester-Bosch Boilers have an Internal filling system, which is much easier to operate. This video shows you how it works:

 

View Video

Viessmann Boilers have some help on their website. Here’s the video guide to repressurising:

 

View Video

 

A list of Viessmann Error Codes and their meaning. In most cases, you should call a Gas-Safe Engineer:

 

Error Codes

The most common Vaillant boilers are the Eco-tec range. There are numerous different sizes and models. This video will explain how to repressurise them.

 

View Video

 
A list of Potterton Error Codes and their meaning. In most cases, you should call a Gas-Safe Engineer:

 

Vaillant Fault Codes

Potterton & Baxi Boilers are extremely similar. On a Potterton Boiler you may get the error code: E119 to tell you that the pressure is low

 

View Video

 

A list of Potterton Error Codes and their meaning. In most cases, you should call a Gas-Safe Engineer:

 

Error Codes

A video to show how to repressurise an Ideal Boiler:

 

View Video

 

Ideal also have a useful information page on their website which gives support for lots of different issues:

Ideal Support

 

Ideal Fault Codes

Baxi don’t give a lot of help on their website, but this video shows how to re-pressurise their boilers:

 

View Video

 

A list of Baxi Error Codes and their meaning. In most cases, you should call a Gas-Safe Engineer:

 

Error Codes