Info - Restoration courses
April 16, 2007 by kotoman · 3 Comments
One of the reasons I’m planning to get my hands dirty with this renovation is because I can see myself doing this to the next 2 or so houses we move to. The best way to save money is to do a lot of the grunt work myself. Trail and error is one way but I feel it can be a false economy as mistakes will cost. So getting someome to teacher me the right way first time, sounds like the right plan. So here are a few courses the times dug out. If you know of any more then please add them to the comments.
— Start with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB: 020 7377 1644, www.spab.org.uk ), which offers Homeowners’ Weekends, on everything from damp-proofing to listed-building consent, from £140.
— If sole plates and studwork are a mystery, then try the three-day course in timber-framing organised by Essex County Historic Buildings and Conservation department (£205; 01245 437672, www.essexcc.gov.uk ). They can also teach you how to repair a flint wall, while a workshop in wattle and daub should help you to mug up on neolithic housebuilding techniques.
— If you are serious about your stonework, the Building Crafts College (020 8522 1705, www.thecarpenterscompany.co.uk ) in Stratford, east London, runs evening classes for £17 a go. The Orton Trust (01536 711600, www.ortontrust.org.uk ) has three-day courses in traditional masonry and modern stonework for £145: if you don’t know what a quoin is before this, you will once you’re done.
— If you want to get down and dirty, Abey Smallcombe (01647 24145, www.abeysmallcombe.com ), near Exeter, offers a day’s instruction on everything to do with building in cob for £95.
— Some of the most popular restoration courses — with homeowners and conservation officers alike — are those that deal with using lime mortar. SPAB runs a range around the country; Mike Wye & Associates (01409 281644, www.mikewye.co.uk ) offers one-day courses from its base in Devon for £70; and Calch Ty-Mawr Lime (01874 658249, www.lime.org.uk), in Powys, offers a one-day “anyone can do it” course for £92.
— More prosaically, you could improve your plastering skills with 10 weeks of lessons at Lambeth College (020 7501 5478, www. lambethcollege.ac.uk ) or on a weekend course with Gold Trowel in Essex (£240; 0800 783 1450, www.goldtrowel.org ).
Online extras:
To access a full list of over 20 SPAB courses from long straw thatching to eco-efficiency then visit: SPAB
West Sussex Weald and Downland open-air museum (01243 811 363, www.wealddown.co.uk ) run a highly popular five-day course in timber framing from scratch (£450), so if sole plates and studwork are as yet a mystery, this will show you where to start.
The Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust (01726 68654, www.csbt.org.uk ) has a wide variety of courses that deal with cob buildings.
If you’re brave enough to tackle the roof, then The Builder Training Centre in Croydon (0800 389 277, www.buildertrainingcentre.co.uk ) runs intensive five-day courses in roof construction (£450) and tiling (£350). If you have a thatched roof that needs attention. Essex County Council (details as above) run a two-day introductory course to long-straw thatching (£150). Meanwhile the Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust (details as above) runs a one-day course that examines the options and techniques for roofing and cladding buildings with wood.
Meanwhile iIf your demands are more esoteric, there will be a course to fit. Should your desire be for a traditional flint wall, Essex County Council (details as above) will oblige with a three-day, hands-on course (£205). I
www.listedpropertyshow.co.uk
source: Timesonline
Facts - Home information packs (HIPS)
March 20, 2007 by kotoman · Leave a Comment
June 1st sees the HIPS becoming obligatory. Here’s an idiot guide to it.
All Home Information Packs must contain:
- For new properties, copies of warranties and guarantees
- Any guarantees for work carried t on the property
- Standard searches (that is, local thority inquiries, plus a drainage and water search)
- An energy performance certificate
Leaseholders must also provide:
- A copy of the lease
- Their most recent service charge unts and receipts
- Building insurance policy details and payment receipts
- Copies of any regulations made le landlord or management
company - The memorandum and articles of association of the landlord or management company
Where appropriate for leasehold properties, a new home warranty will also be required
The following documents may be included in the Hip but are optional:
- A home condition report, based on a professional survey of the property
- Other guarantees and warranties
- Other searches
For more information go to http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/home.aspx
Gadgets - The future for TV’s
March 12, 2007 by kotoman · 2 Comments
The way we enjoy music and movies is changing rapidly. Instead of listening to CDs, many of us now choose to play music in the house through an iPod-based speaker system, or - if we want to be really flash - through a dedicated music server available from companies such as Living Control, ‘Imerge or Sonos.
Very soon the same will happen in video. Already, hard drive devices such as Sky+, which will store hours of TV programmes, are proving popular alternatives to video/DVD recorders. But that’s not all. Companies like Kaleidescape are now selling hard-drive devices that can store your entire DVD movie collection on a unit not that much bigger than a PC tower. Just click on the cover image of the film you want to watch and it will play at the touch of a button. It’s even possible to store your favourite scenes and watch them — a bit like setting up a play list on your iPod. Video servers are increasingly popular with custom installers carrying out hi-tech makeovers for rich clients. However, with an average price tag of between £15,000 and £20,000, they’re still beyond the means of the vast majority of people.
Nevertheless, the days of owning massive collections of disks (both CDs for music and DVDs for film) are coming to an end. That’s great news for those with limited storage space and also for those who don’t want to take up shelf space with disk clutter.
And although initially people will still need to own the actual disks to ‘burn’ (record) movie content onto their hard drive, this will change with the latest IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) technology which lets you view and download TV programmes and movies directly from the internet. For example, Sky Sports Broadband (skyscape.sky.com) already offers highlights of sporting events such as UEFA Champions League, Premiership football and boxing over the net while the BBC (who provides an internet-based ‘listen again’ facility for much of its radio content) has been trialling an interactive media player (iMP) which will let you watch the latest BBC programmes on your PC. Similarly, the Sci-Fi Channel has added full ‘webisodes’ of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who to its online video on-demand line-up.
So what are the implications for home-builders and renovators? On a basic level it means that it’s a good idea to make sure you have a cable or telephone point installed near to where you want to put your monitor/TV screen. However, you should also think about the type of set-up you want. While it goes without saying that any type of TV display should be HD ready (look out for the logo), you also need to decide how you might want to access the internet to watch video over the web. One option is to buy a flat-screen TV with a PC input (most of them now have one).
Alternatively, you could opt for one of the latest Media Center PCs which combine PC and built-in TV tuner complete with Sky+ type recording functionality. Designs are getting better all the time and it’s even possible to buy all-in-one units, like the £2,000 32″ Elonex Lumina, which are little bigger than a conventional flat-screen display.
Finally, for those who want to watch their TV and DVD recordings without cable clutter, Sony is introducing LocationFree TV this summer. Combining small LCD screen and decoder device, this clever little set-up works by streaming all of your content over a broadband internet connection so you can watch TV/DVDs wherever you are — in the home or anywhere in the world. We’ve sure come a long way since the BBC transmitted its first ‘high-definition’ broadcasts from Alexandra Palace exactly 70 years ago!
