DIY No-Slip Dog Feeder

I am a compensated 3M-sponsored blogger. Opinions re my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me.

I’ve been meaning to do this project for years.

Ever since Charlie was a puppy, she’s had a bad habit of turning her bowl over while she eats. She seems to be endlessly amused by my frustration with it and the dog food strewn all over the floor. After lots of adventures with her running a ceramic cereal bowl into the wall and chipping it, I went out and bought some new stainless steel bowls. But I knew from past experience that I would rather just go ahead and solve the root of the problem as well.

The plan: build Charlie a new DIY dog feeder with feet that wouldn’t get pushed or tipped over so easily. I ran out to the store and came back with my supplies:

Materials Needed

• 12″ x 24″ poplar board
• 3 – poplar strips to cover the sides
• 3 – pre-primed stair balusters
• straight ruler & measuring tape
• 2 – dog food bowls with a lip edge (I think these were the large size)
• pencil
• razor blade scraper (to get the stickers off the wood)
• 1/2″ Forstner bit
• jigsaw
• clamps
• sandpaper
• wood glue
• wood putty
• stain (if you so choose) and a poly you like
• (sponsor) Scotch® Non-slip Gripping Pads

I’m not going to include a cut list here, because it’s going to vary based on the size of the bowls, the height of the feeder that you need to customize for your dog (here’s a good example of how you figure this out), and plain old aesthetics. But my legs wound up being about 15″ each, and I ripped the entire board down to about 10.5″ wide just because I didn’t want there to be large strips of wood in front or behind the bowls in the finished result. Customize to your liking!

1. Cut holes for each bowl

(Hey, that rhymes!) First, I flipped the board to the back and used a pencil to trace along the outer lip of the bowls (as you can see in the supply pic above, they both had a small lip that would help hold them in place). It’s going to take some measuring if you’re as much of perfectionist as I am, but I tried to get each bowl to have equal spacing on the sides, middle, and edges. Then, I hand drew the lip a little further in, which would provide enough of an edge all around the bowl for it to rest on. A Forstner bit is an easy way to drill a pilot hole (dealer’s choice for a spade bit instead if you don’t have one of these), and then I used a jigsaw to cut out each hole. It wasn’t exactly perfect, but that doesn’t matter much…

2. Cut and add the legs and edges

I used the table top in the middle of my kitchen for the majority of this project since it was level and easy to just leave something to cure on it. First, I cut the primed balusters to about 15″ and then glued them in place for legs. Once they were dry, I flipped everything over to right-side up and clamped wood strips to all four sides to make the top look a little more dressed up. See? Pretty.

3. Fill, Sand, Poly

To fill in any gaps of the edge pieces, I used a little wood filler and sanded the whole top down. I’ll admit, I was kind of lazy and didn’t bother to paint the pre-primed legs because they already looked fine, but I did add some high-performance water-based poly to the top to help bring out the grain a little more and protect the wood from sloppy water bowl abuse. It wasn’t until later that I added more stability to the bottom left and right side, but I mainly did it for aesthetic reasons (see photos below). You can leave it without, or cut more lengths of the balusters to make the sides look more mid-century.

4. Add non-slip gripping pads to the base

The whole point of this project was to keep Charlie from shoving this thing across the floor, so I was glad to have Scotch® Brand as a sponsored partner on this project. The Scotch® Gripping Pads seemed perfect to add to the base to keep it from sliding across the floor in case an overzealous pooch decided to play with her food. I was sure I was going to need the largest size, but I wound up using the medium ones instead.

They come as a pack, but they are easy to separate and stick on the bottom of the legs and the middle support of the base on both sides.

I used a total of six, but I can add more if I need to at a later point.

5. Done!

Once things are all flipped over and dry, it’s ready for dog food and related furball messes.

From the front:

From the side (because why not):

It was a nice day outside and I’d already been working on the bar area in the kitchen, so I temporarily placed the new stand near the sliding glass door. I won’t be keeping it over here, but Charlie was plenty intrigued. She’s been eating out of it without a tipping incident ever since.

Yay for happy endings!

Project created by Sarah Fogle of The Ugly Duckling House for Scotch® Mounting and Fastening

The post DIY No-Slip Dog Feeder appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/diy-no-slip-dog-feeder/

Fall Bonfires (and Getting Rid of a Stump)

My house currently smells like a campfire, and I am very, very okay with that. <3

If you caught the post on Friday (which if you haven’t entered the giveaway yet, go on and do that and then come back… I’ll wait.), the back yard has pretty much been filled in, leveled (as much as an unskilled DIYer can), and is ready for next steps. And believe me, there are a number of plans in the works! I’ve been sketching ideas to my heart’s content, and I’ll share some of those plans with you later this week.

But before I can really get started on some of this, I needed to do some more clearing. Namely, I needed to address the overhanging branches that were coming over from the rear fence and work on the remaining stumps that couldn’t be ripped out using the backhoe.

For clearing out yard debris, I mainly rely on (and recommend, so these are affiliate links) the following tools:

• A battery-powered reciprocating saw (for the big branches) with a serrated blade (usually it says on the packaging that it’s good for pruning)
• Large loppers for overhanging branches
• Small pruning shears (for clipping the larger stuff down to manageable sizes for the fire)

Now that it’s October, we’ve finally entered an allowable burning season in my county. So, I’ve been getting rid of all of my yard debris in a fun way with a temporary burn area. Since most of the yard is still bare dirt, it seemed like good, safe timing to take care of all of the things I ripped out from the backhoe project without a lot of risk to neighboring yards (though just to be safe-ish though, I did create a perimeter with lots of that leftover scalloped edging you know I hate). I’ll admit, I’m not the poster child for fire safety (though I am more careful than seasons past when my ex lived here! — and wow, would you look at the difference in pine straw now that those trees are gone?), but I’m also working outside while all of this goes on, so nothing is left unattended.

This burn spot is helping get rid of the stump I mentioned in the last post — try as I might on that backhoe, the root system on this particular set of trees was just too thick and extensive. Even though the tree removal guys did a decent job of grinding down stumps, I still had plenty more under the dirt once I started leveling things out. I could rent a stump grinder (and will if this ultimately doesn’t work), but I have heard about burning a stump and thought it might be fun to experiment.

My neighbor was the one who recommended that I try to burn it out, which is basically win-win for me since I have plenty of things to burn (and I offered to him to just throw extra debris from his yard onto the pile as well, since he’s always such a help for my projects). I’ve been watching a few Youtube videos for tips, and here’s what I’ve been applying thus far:

• Use a hammer drill to bore holes a couple of inches apart along the stump and roots. You’ll want to use a spade bit or similar and go as deep as you can, but since I didn’t have an extender for my bit, I am just boring deeper after each fire (which is a lot easier to drill into once burned)

• I’m using cheap, regular vegetable oil to pour into each hole and let it soak (I love it when regular items can be used in DIY!). This oil has been in the back of my cupboard for way too long anyway, so I’m getting rid of something I needed to chuck to begin with. This helps the burn, though for faster results, it’s recommended to let it soak for a lot longer (a month or so) than I’ve been doing.

• After the first burn, I bought an inexpensive bag of charcoal and just let that burn on top of the stump.

So far, things are going really well, though I don’t have high expectations that this will be quick. I’ll have an update for you guys after the first few burns and report back. But, it’s also not expensive and gets rid of lots of my yard debris, small pieces of scrap wood, etc. in the process without a lot of extra work, so I’m enjoying it quite a bit. If only every project would go this pleasantly, right?

The post Fall Bonfires (and Getting Rid of a Stump) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/bonfires-at-the-udh/

Leveling the Backyard – Part 3 (And a Giveaway!)

Disclaimer: So many, many thanks to Compact Power Equipment Rental for sponsoring this project. You guys seriously rock. And now I’m going to have a new back yard because of you! 100% of these words are my own.

Ok, so the backyard leveling project — can I take a moment just to be glad this is off my to-do list? Not the physical part of the project itself — but the act of writing everything down and finally publishing these before and after photos. And THERE’S VIDEO. After more than six years of blogging about the house and its transformations, it’s amazing how integral these recaps are to my sense of completion.

And since this one also includes a giveaway for one lucky reader, I think that’s pretty awesome!

If you weren’t following along in August (or just not paying that much attention — which is fine, we all have those moments and I forgive you), I did something that I never really thought I’d ever get the chance to do: I spent an entire week in the driver’s seat of a backhoe from Compact Power Equipment Rental and leveled out my yard. It was one of those projects that has been on my wish list ever since moving into the UDH, but because of time, expense, and a complete lack of experience in literally moving the earth to my will, I put it off. Doing the math on how many cubic yards of fill dirt I’d need, the logistics of how dirt is even going to get distributed, who I’d need to call, whether I’d need approval from the county or whatever, how long this might take, etc. — the list just went on for reasons not to think about this yet. Each little detail seemed so intimidating, and I’ve never really had a picture in my mind what things would look like once finished… making it all that much easier to procrastinate.

But I promise you: you can definitely, totally do this. I did. And it was awesome.

So, let’s get to it:

I covered back in this post how the whole thing suddenly came about, especially some of the things I needed to cover before the equipment even arrived: why the sinkhole existed in the first place, how I decided on the right equipment, what to do before you dig in regard to buried utilities, finding fill dirt, and the delivery. After day one, I did a Facebook Live post about my thoughts so far, and you can catch that here.

In the second post, I covered a little more about what the yard has looked like in previous years, the other projects that had to be done before I could tackle this one, how I tricked my friends into giving me free labor (I kid… sort of), and learning how to use the equipment. I did another Facebook Live video then, too.

All caught up? Good. Because when I last left off, things were starting to look really different, and I was finally standing in a part of my yard that I’d never stood before (that sinkhole was dangerous, so I generally avoided it).

It took many trips from my driveway to the back yard to distribute the dirt (low power lines prevented the trucks from driving back further), but after days 2 and 3, I was making significant, visible change, especially to the back left corner:

Starting on Thursday morning, it took about two full days of work to get the entire first huge truckload of fill dirt moved into the yard. For my neighbors, watching me ride around on this thing, scoop up dirt, and carefully navigate to my back yard proved to be a sight to see. One guy walking his dog grinned from ear to ear and gave me the thumbs up; kids getting off the school bus were thoroughly confused.

After trying to compact the sandy fill dirt (lowering the bucket in the front along the ground seemed to do the trick), I realized I’d probably need some topsoil so that I could help establish grass. According to my neighbor, I didn’t want all of this work to get eroded away from rainfall, and grass would help it stay. I called up the soil guys to get a second load, and that’s where I ran into a snag: they were closed as of Saturday afternoon and wouldn’t be able to deliver until Monday morning. Wop, wop. I was pretty disappointed, especially since I was expecting a whole crew of my friends to come over that evening to help move more dirt around, and that essential piece was now missing. We made it work by having them start on all of the roots left over from the pine tree removal from last year, and they all seemed to really enjoy it!

Sunday was rather boring since I was merely trying to get things compacted and level and scoop up remaining dirt off the driveway (the ONE area where it seemed super easy to get everything compacted well, which I didn’t want). I also filled in another sunken spot in the front yard that would make mowing easier in the future, and dug up the rest of the plants that I wanted to clear out. The pile was laughably huge… all of that was in my yard?

I also piled everything up since I didn’t want to have a repeating sinkhole problem; the whole issue was created back when the house was built because of buried debris just like this, so I was cautious to remove and separate every large branch, root, and bush I could find, and only leave compacted dirt behind.

Finally, the topsoil arrived, and I finished things off with distributing the remaining load. Insert “that’s what she said” joke. I did a final Day 5 Facebook Live video too.

Charlie was… a little uncertain with what had all happened. I pretty much gutted her bathroom, which I can understand is quite a change! She seems to love how much more of the yard she can explore now, though.

Once my rental was over, it was time to arrange for pickup. All I had to do was hose the equipment down and fill the fuel back up, and it was ready to go. (Sniff. I’ll miss you!)

I’d like to take a minute and just acknowledge that for some of you guys, this might not even look like the most amazing transformation to ever happen to this house. But I assure you, after the last couple of months of being able to walk around my entire yard instead of having to avoid the giant pit behind that tree, believe me: this is big! And the most amazing part was that once I had this part solved, I suddenly found the inspiration for what the rest of the yard will look like. I started drawing plans!

I basically Kevin Costner-d my way to an actual plan for the back yard’s design; until I finished it, the ideas would not come. It’s been a couple of months already, so the pine straw is coming down and I’m full of ideas. I can’t wait to get started on all of the other things. My favorite part? The overgrown back corner is now going to be the perfect spot for a shed:

At CPER’s request, I combined most of my experience into a short video for Youtube, along with some video footage of me in action. If you can’t see the embedded video below, just click over here (and subscribe if you’d like to see me do more vids). I also uploaded the Facebook videos to a single playlist so that you can watch them all in one place if you wish.

Here’s the before — a craggy, scraggy mess:

And here’s the after: aerial view! As things were leveled out, it became clear that there was still one “ground” stump that wasn’t going to budge (it was WAY too large). So, I’m going to use it as a burn pile for a little while to see if I can get rid of more of it, and then begin the next few plans. :)

The yard still has a slight slope, but that was the plan all along since I didn’t want to interrupt or change the flow of water as it drains from my yard to my neighbor’s; I’m pretty proud of myself for keeping that intact.

I also started growing some grass seed, but it’s going to be a longer process to get it all green again. Still so much left to do. And finally… the giveaway…

Giveaway Alert!

And now, one of YOU guys gets to win your very own rental! With how big of a difference this project is going to make on my future backyard changes, I’m thrilled that CPER was willing to let someone else try this out for themselves. They have lots of options for rental equipment, so it’s a choose your own adventure situation, up to a value of $500. Here are all the details:

• PRIZE: One equipment rental of your choice from Compact Power Equipment Rental, up to $500
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: 1 (one)
• LOCATION: US residents only. They rent their equipment out of select Home Depot locations (cities listed below), so that should cover most of you guys just fine. But should it be the case that you don’t live inside their delivery range, they are happy to provide an alternative prize, such as a Home Depot gift card of equivalent value. So even if you don’t see your city on this list, you should enter!
• HOW TO ENTER: As usual, let’s keep it simple, and make me laugh! Use the Rafflecopter widget below to mark that you’ve left a comment (yes, I’ll check), and answer this question for entertainment’s sake: What’s the funniest or most embarrassing thing your neighbors have ever witnessed you do?
• GIVEAWAY ENDS: Friday, October 29th at 11:59PM

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Again: many, many thanks to Compact Power Equipment Rental for sponsoring this project!

The post Leveling the Backyard – Part 3 (And a Giveaway!) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/leveling-backyard-part-3-giveaway/

5 Outdoor Christmas Decorating Tips For Your Home

Are you thinking of decorating the exterior of your house for this year’s Christmas holidays? It’s a trend that’s been growing for some years now, and new innovative lighting designs can be used to great effect to give your home a special and unique Christmas feel.

A few words of caution though, before you let your creative juices run away with you: safety is paramount.

First, electricity needs to be handled with respect. Make sure the lights you wish to install are specifically for outdoor use, and don’t be tempted to overload your electrical sockets – it’s dangerous and can cause a fire. LED lights are best, not only because they are more energy efficient and need less wattage than traditional incandescent bulbs, but also for their beautifully clear, crisp light output. 

Secondly, putting up and taking down outdoor Christmas lights on a building comes with a fair degree of personal risk. Are you working off a simple household ladder? If you do, make sure it’s in good condition and a stable position on a firm and flat surface. Also, it’s advisable to always work in pairs, so you have someone assisting you – two pairs of hands are safer than one. For high roofs, rooftops or other elevated areas, ladders are unlikely to be the right solution. You may be better off hiring a scaffold platform or tower, or even a cherry picker. The last thing you need this Christmas is a nasty accident.

With the essential safety concerns addressed, are you ready to add some festive fun and magic to the outside of your home? Here are 5 design considerations and decorating tips to help you make your home truly Christmassy.

1.       Highlight the building’s architectural features

When installing lights to the front elevation of your house, always start at the centre and work your way outwards to the sides. Look at interesting architectural details of the building to see what can be highlighted in the design scheme. Gables, rooflines, chimneys, arches, windows or similar features lend themselves particularly well. 

Combine horizontal and vertical features to achieve the perfect balance. Rather than covering the entire house in lights, perhaps pick out the roof outline up to the gable peak and down again, then highlight the front door outline to create a simple yet effective festive aesthetic.

2.       Create a professional, three dimensional effect

Whatever you do, it needs to really impress, especially at Christmas – so don’t skimp on lighting; the thicker your lighting garlands are, the more effective the result will be. Use large, bright LED bulbs spaced properly and evenly, every 30cm or so, and include cutbacks so that your house doesn’t appear two dimensional. Make sure the length is just right; you should have a bulb positioned right at the top of the apex, and no overhanging lights at the bottom – otherwise it just looks messy.

3.       Don’t forget to decorate your trees

Beautifully decorated trees add impact, especially when they frame the house. There are two techniques you can use to light up your trees in the front garden. Spiral/canopy wrapping encircles the entire tree (perfect for conifers), while trunk & branch wrapping highlights the main branches and emphasises the structure of the tree (ideal for deciduous trees). Both can look wonderful, as can mixing and matching the two.

4.       Classic white or colourful fun?

Whether you go for the traditional Christmas favourite all-white look or have fun with some on-trend colour is entirely up to your personal taste. This year, one of the popular colour schemes to emerge is a very festive combination of red, green and white. Then again, other colour contrasts can work well too – try silver and gold, or green and blue perhaps, to create an effective and unusual wow factor for your Christmas home.

5.       Add extra decorations to set the scene

For a bolder look, you can give your front garden a Christmas theme with the addition of festive characters – Father Christmas, reindeer, snowmen or penguins, angels and stars, or a nativity scene? The shops are now full of inspiration, with all kinds of fun characters and wonderful light designs to choose from – go and have a look.

Finally, complement your outdoor Christmas light display with some lush greenery to add an extra festive touch to your exterior decorations. Evergreen wreaths or garlands (either real or artificial) can be trimmed with ribbons, ornaments and lights to provide enchanting accents for windows and doors.

Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer working alongside a selection of companies including MC Property Maintenance, who were consulted over this post.

from Home My Heaven: UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.homemyheaven.co.uk/2016/10/5-outdoor-christmas-decorating-tips-for.html

Master Bedroom: Celing Fan or Luxury Light?

How to Make a Good Impression to Potential Buyers During Your First Open House

The way you hold an open house plays a critical role in determining the value of your home. Without the right preparation and plan, you can easily send potential buyers out the door. If this is the first time you’ll be setting up one, here are some of the things you can do to make a very good impression.

Enhance your home’s curb appeal

Your driveway and walkway are as important as what’s inside your home. Since they are the first areas that your potential buyers can see, you have to make sure that they are in top shape.

Freshen up your landscaping by removing dried and dying plants. It’s also a good idea to re-do your exterior paint, particularly if it’s already peeling or extremely faded. If your front and garage door are already showing signs of wear and tear, now is the right time to get them replaced.

It can also help if you can clean your gutters. In case your home’s siding is filled with dirt and grime, you can pressure wash it. A fresh new welcoming mat can make a big difference, too.

Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure that your driveway is clear. You don’t want anything there that can obstruct the view of your home.

Clean your home

This is probably the most important thing you need to do if you want to create a good impression to your potential buyers. A home full of clutter isn’t only visually unappealing, but it can also make your property lose its value. It might even discourage people from buying your property.

Start off by removing most of your personal items from your home. It should be as sparse as possible even before you set it up on the market. Take away as much furniture as possible and leave only those items that you think can boost your home’s aesthetic appeal.

Remove all stains from your walls, mirrors and silverware. You want your home to be as pristine as it can be. If there are hard-to-remove stains, it’s a better idea if you can reach out to the professional carpet and upholstery cleaners in your area. They have the tools, materials and skills to remedy stubborn stains without the risk of damaging your household item.

Let more light in

Whether it’s natural or artificial light, you want your home to be as bright and illuminated as possible. This is to help your potential buyers get a good view of your home’s layout and floor plan. You can open up all your curtains and make sure that all light bulbs are functioning well prior to their visit.

Prepare some refreshments

This is probably one of the most overlooked things when it comes to preparing for an open house. Although not a necessity, offering something for your visitors to eat and drink can help make a good impression. It doesn’t have to involve complex and expensive food items. It can be as simple as serving freshly baked cookies and glasses of cool lemonades.

Add accessories if you can

You don’t need tons of accessories to highlight your home, but adding them where they matter can make a big difference. This includes adding vases of flowers and scented candles in your living room. You can also add extra storage spaces in your bathroom to organize your toiletries and towels.

It’s a good idea if you can replace any broken faucets and cabinet handles, too. You can decorate your kitchen with decorative bottles filled with spices and oils. You can also use recipe books and glasses to add character to the room.

Assemble your furniture

You might be keeping your furniture the way they are for convenience and comfort. However, for open houses, you might want to consider moving them around to maximize your space.

Stage your furniture so that people can move around without bumping into things. Take away large furniture, such as sectional sofas. Make sure that there’s plenty of room for them to walk around but avoid pushing all your furniture to the wall. You want to create a focal point, such as a large window or your fireplace.

Depersonalize your home

Tuck away your family photos as they can be distracting for your potential buyers. As buyers can also look into your cabinets and storage spaces, it’s a good idea to empty them out or organize their contents. Seeing them overflowing can create the impression that your home doesn’t have enough space to keep things neatly tucked in.

Remove your toothbrush and towels from your bathroom. You should also consider clearing your kitchen countertops , especially if you have tons of appliances there. You only need to have the essentials to emphasize your kitchen’s functionality.

from Home My Heaven: UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.homemyheaven.co.uk/2016/10/how-to-make-good-impression-to.html

5 reasons you need a glass staircase in your home

Glass is becoming a hugely popular material for use in interior design as well as part of modern architecture in general – and there are a whole host of reasons as to why this is the case.  Not only does glass bring a touch of luxury to any home or commercial building, but it is also superb for increasing a sense of space and for maximising light – and more and more homeowners are making the leap to installing glass staircases in their home.  But why is this?  We have a few reasons as to why you may consider a glass staircase or series of balustrade installations as part of your new-look home.

Versatility

The flexibility and lightweight nature of glass allows for some truly fantastic bespoke creations – meaning that it’s often a manufacturer’s favourite material to work with.  Glass, unlike wood or metal, is much more open to being formed, shaped and designed in any way you see fit – making it a fantastic choice for a truly unique staircase.  As the staircase is often the first thing many people see when entering your home, you’re going to want to make a spectacular and unique first impression!

Durability

Many may perceive glass to be brittle or incapable of providing for such regularly-used structures as staircases – however, this simply isn’t the case.  Toughened glass is more robust than ever, and with manufacturing allowing for scratch and damage-resistant glass in recent times, it’s becoming more and more of an attractive choice for staircase installations.

Space Creation

The main benefit of installing glass in your home is an aesthetic one – after all, the look of glass walls, glass balustradesand staircases can hardly be equalled!  Further to this, the transparency of a glass staircase allows you to create more space within your home than you could ever imagine – it’s a clever illusion that can really transform the atmosphere in a room almost effortlessly.

Easy Maintenance

Glass staircases are, of course, the easiest to maintain – as they’re not only wipe clean, but are often made of toughened glass to lessen the risk of any long-term damage or scuffing.  Compared to carpeted or wooden staircases, glass models are surprisingly low-maintenance and certainly pay for themselves long term.

Light and Eco-Friendly

Glass staircases are by far the kindest to the environment in their manufacture and composition alone, and in addition to this, they’re extremely lightweight – while at the same time remaining durable and extremely hard to damage.  Taking both of these factors into account of course means that glass staircases are easy to disassemble and can be completely recycled once they’ve lived their course – but why would you ever want to remove a staircase that looks so good?

For more information on having a bespoke design – or to order your own glass staircase or balustrades, contact the team of experts at Elysion on 01629 820030 who are versed in years of the design, manufacture and installation of interior and exterior design solutions for homes and business throughout the UK.

from Home My Heaven: UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.homemyheaven.co.uk/2016/10/5-reasons-you-need-glass-staircase-in.html

10 benefits of having underfloor heating

While you may be aware of underfloor heating, you may not know just what it’s all about.  Why are so many people taking it upon themselves to switch from a standard radiator system to underfloor warmth?  Here are just a few benefits that new underfloor heating users experience regularly.

Direct, instant heat

While traditional radiators connected to a boiler may take considerable time to heat up and even longer to fill a room with warmth, underfloor heating is instantaneous and direct, meaning you’ll get warmer, quicker.

Easy to set up and install

While many plumbing and heating systems of old were considerably difficult to master in terms of maintenance and installation, underfloor heating’s pipework is relatively simple to handle – while it’s recommended that you arrange for an electrician or plumber to connect you before switching on, the pipework can be handled with relative ease.

Versatile options for installation

You can choose to have your underfloor heating supplied via your electricity supply for electric underfloor heating, or via a manifold and a water heater or boiler in your home.  This means that you can be assured of a working system based upon facilities you already have in place.

You can control heat remotely

With certain systems, you can decide how hot your room gets with either a thermostat or a remote panel, meaning that you can have simple, user-friendly control over your heat resources at all times.

You can install underfloor heating in a single zone…

If you only need the one room or facility heating on a timer basis, you can do so by installing a ‘single zone’ system.  This means that you’ll only ever be putting energy and cost into warming one room in your home for a certain amount of time.

…or you can install it in many zones

Alternatively, if you’d like several rooms in your home to benefit from underfloor heating, you can opt for a multi-zone system – meaning that each and every part of your house can benefit from direct, radiant heat.

You can choose which rooms heat up, and when

The beauty of using a smart thermostat or remote control for underfloor heating is in its ability to give you complete access to your entire heating network.  If your kitchen needs to be heated early on a morning, this can be programmed easily – while you can choose to keep the rest of your home cool when none of the rooms are in use.

It’s cost-effective long term

The long-term savings experienced by underfloor heating users are considerable – as you only ever need to heat the rooms that are in use, and as it takes less time for a room to warm up, you’ll spend less time and money on deploying such heat – therefore, your bills will be considerably cheaper than if you are running a more basic system!

It’s ideal for conservatories and garages

There may be rooms in your home or extensions where standard radiators may not be able to reach – meaning that an underfloor heating system can be very helpful in ensuring that even your most remote rooms can benefit from warmth.

There’s always someone on hand

While underfloor heating may be getting more popular, and while the process of setting up and laying down pipework may generally be considered fairly simple, the age of the internet has allowed for numerous video guides and walkthroughs to be set up to ensure that you will always know where you are when installing for the first time.  In addition to this, any good and reputable underfloor heating supplier, such as UK Underfloor Heating, will be able to give you all the assistance and knowledge you need remotely, making for a far less stressful set-up and maintenance procedure than with a standard heating system. If you are looking for more information on underfloor heating types and if you will be able to get it, please call UK Underfloor Heating on 0800 232 1501.

from Home My Heaven: UK Home Improvement Blog http://www.homemyheaven.co.uk/2016/10/10-benefits-of-having-underfloor-heating.html

Just Keep Digging

2016 projects seem to have a theme at the UDH: dirt. Digging it up, moving it around, or buying a whole bunch of it… I have subconsciously picked a theme and have been running with it for months. The upside, at least, is that shoveling and using a mattock gives me quite the leg and butt workout — so if you’re looking to enhance your yard and skip the gym, I think this is a pretty good pick.

This past week, the majority of my time has been spent indoors working on a few blog design clients (life of a freelancer — things area always different week to week!). But every now and then, I took a break to dig at the side of the house. The goal was to get around 4-6 inches down into the garden soil and set up the frame for the concrete pad that will serve as the landing spot for my outdoor trash bin. I’ve been watching a few Youtube videos on how I’m going to accomplish this, but the general idea is that once I know a little bit more from hands-on experience, I’m going to pour another, larger slab in the back yard to begin the shed building project. (This post contains affiliate links; for more, see my disclosure page.)

The first inch or so turned out to be pretty easy to dig out, but eventually, I had to whip out my mattock and use it to break up large chunks of the red clay so commonly found in Georgia. The upside, if there is one, is that it’s already pretty well compacted without me having to do much else… but the downside is that it puts up quite the fight when you’re trying to move things around.

After multiple rounds of hacking away and digging out the dirt, I also ran into another enemy that plagues this house: more freaking roots. I did get a lot of them out when I rented the backhoe in August, but their tendency to — you know, stay buried in the soil — of course resulted in a few extra that I didn’t find in time to get more heavy-duty assistance.

Once the roots were clipped or dug out of the ground, I wound up with enough space to start planning the wood frame. And see? No need to compact that much since the soil is as stubborn as the homeowner writing this post.

I had some scrap lumber in the garage and used it to chop down two 2x4s to create something that’s around 3 feet wide and 5 feet long,. In doing so, I also made sure that the area was dug deep enough before screwing the frame together.

Getting the frame square and level required using some new tools I picked up at Harbor Freight: corner clamps! These were cheapos but if I were to start doing more woodworking (like cabinetry), I’d recommend getting something a little more professional grade (I might eventually also get the Kreg one, but it’s not a priority right now – if anyone owns them and has an opinion on if they’re worth the money, I’m all ears!).

Once the frame was squar(ish), I placed it back in the designated area and checked for level. I couldn’t help but laugh and the fact that without even trying, the whole thing was perfectly level! The thing is though, I wanted the slab to have a slight slope so that it would be easier to wheel the trash bin on and off the pad (not to mention, to keep water/rain runoff sloping away from the foundation of the house).

Once the slope was rectified, it was time for next steps: staking the frame into the ground (so that it doesn’t bow out when the concrete is poured) and adding some all-purpose gravel to the base. Guess which one I decided to do first, even though I should be doing the stakes first? The more fun thing? You betcha.

The frame is pretty square as it is on its own, so the stakes are really just going to be reinforcement. And it turned out that I opted not to purchase them on my last trip to the store, so I just went ahead and added the gravel anyway. This was after two bags, but I think I might need to add a third. According to the videos, I’ll need to compact the gravel a little.

Since I forgot the stakes, I think I’m going to make some of my own using some scrap wood left over after making the frame for the wood screen that will go next to this pad. I’ll cut them down and use my miter saw to add a 45-degree point on the end.

Hurricane Matthew stopped me at this point (didn’t want to pour a slab if it’s going to rain), but this week looks to be nice and sunny, so fingers crossed that I have the energy to mix several pounds of concrete and have something to show for ya soon. ;)

What’s your goal this week?

The post Just Keep Digging appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/just-keep-digging/