The AnswerBank Articles

Sisters DIYing It For Themselves

In any normal UK home there are always a few DIY jobs that need to be done. It may be that a wall needs painting, or a shelf needs to be put up or maybe a light-fitting has to be changed. DIY, like barbequing, has traditionally been seen to be in the domain of the man of the house. However, now it seems that women want...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

DIY Spending Rockets

As many of us are feeling the pinch perhaps moving to a new home is not an option. So more and more of us are fixing up our existing homes to make them a nicer place to live. As a nation of DIY lovers it is no surprise then that we are spending more on our homes than ever before. Spending on DIY in the UK has rocketed ...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Green Fingers Can Put Thousands On the Value Of Your Home

Tidying up a scruffy garden can add as much as £8,600 to the value of your home claims new research, but most people are missing out by failing to exercise their green fingers. Two thirds of homeowners missed out on the premium when they moved home last year, passing up a potential £5.9 billion in total. Th...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Weigh DIY Carefully

Many people find they cannot afford to move house but would like a change, some may turn to DIY to make improvements. All DIY projects may prove equally challenging to the novice handyman, but some are liable to add a good deal more to your home than others new research has revealed. A fitted modern kitchen is most lik...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Insurers Issue Call To "Design Out Crime"

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called for new regulations to "design out crime" in new properties. This would benefit up to 400,000 homeowners in the first year alone and save the economy £3.2billion over the next 20 years. The ABI estimated that simple measures such as burglar-proof doo...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Students Targeted By Thieves

Students should ensure that their personal items are insured under the contract of their house insurance, warn experts. Research by a well known insurance firm has shown that student theft is a rapidly growing phenomenon with stealing on campuses across the country costing £126 million a year. Nearly half of al...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Water Leaks 'Cost Britons £1.8 billion'

Spring is typically the time of year when unseasonably warm spells are interspersed with cold snaps; being the peak time for domestic leaks. When temperatures drop below freezing, frozen water within pipes expand, causing the pipe to swell and crack. Once this thaws, water can leak from the cracks, causing considerable...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

DIY Benefits 'Not In Kitchens And Bathrooms'

People looking to add to the value of their home may be interested to hear that a bathroom or kitchen renovation is not necessarily the best way to go about it, a finance company has claimed. In fact the top three modifications homeowners opt for - combined - would not increase the value of a home by as much as an esta...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Police Offer Home Security Advice

Police have launched a new campaign to raise awareness among homeowners of opportunistic thieves during the summer. The force's burglary figures showed that a third of all incidents were recorded during the summer months during the last financial year, meaning many local residents will have had to claim on their home i...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Redecorating 'Higher Priority Than Legal Changes'

When viewing prospective new homes, many of us are shocked at the apparent taste of the current owners, but we are always able to look past the awful wallpaper to the true value of the house. However, it seems that we cannot live with the old decor for long and redecorating is one of the first things we do on moving in...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Bedroom 'Most Important In House For One-In-Four'

An Englishman’s home is his castle they say. Well it seems that in that castle many of us think one of the rooms we spend the least amount of time in is the most important. A quarter of people in Britain consider the bedroom to be the most important room in their house, according to new research. Findings from ...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Toddlers Costing Homeowners Millions In Damages

We love them dearly, of course, but children can cause much heartache. Not least of which when they have inadvertently knocked over mum’s cup of tea or broken the TV remote. Apparently this is a much bigger problem in UK homes than first thought. Parents in the UK pick up a combined bill of £122 million ea...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

UK Households 'Full Of Unfinished Business'

Whether it is putting up that shelf, fixing that leaky tap or something more adventurous it seems that our houses are full of DIY jobs that are half finished. The research revealed that 1.7 million households have been living with an unfinished DIY or home renovation project for more than two years with bedrooms accoun...15:36 Mon 24th May 2010

Have you got a mouse about the house

Mus domesticusYou have Well, lucky, lucky you! No wonder Walt Disney chose this sweet, shy, moustache-twitching little furry fellow as his inspiration for Mickey Superstar. And we've all been00:00 Mon 25th Nov 2002

Tell me about the yucca plant, please

The yucca is a succulent, tree-like plant native to southern North America, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean - in other words, the hot bits! It thrives in drought and blossoms with creamy clusters00:00 Tue 23rd Jul 2002

Building a garden wall

With summer coming, now is the time to get to work in your garden. A new wall can make all the difference, whether it is used to separate your property from your neighbours or as an internal feature.00:00 Tue 30th Apr 2002

With the temperatures rising should we be starting to think about the garden pond

A. This isn't the time to start clearing out debris or changing the water, that should be done in late autumn or early winter when things are dormant. But the pond is starting to come alive now00:00 Sat 20th Apr 2002

Is solar heating just for the environmentally conscious or is it viable for most households

A. While we are dragging well behind many of our European counterparts (there are 60,000 homes in Holland that generate electricity by way of solar panels, for instance) solar heating is no longer00:00 Sat 20th Apr 2002

Is Chelsea the biggest flower show of the season

A. No, although it can certainly lay claim to being the most famous, probably in the world. The biggest is actually the Royal Horticultural Society's Hampton Court Flower show. It is held at the00:00 Sat 20th Apr 2002

Why has bamboo become so popular in our gardens

A. The first bamboos came back to this country with the planthunters and merchants who opened up the Far East, particularly Japan and China. The early introduction commonly made their way on to00:00 Thu 21st Mar 2002