Getting up the stairs can be challenging if you are elderly, suffer joint pain or are differently abled. Many people choose to create a bedroom in a spare room downstairs, but for some, this isn’t possible because they still require access to the bathroom.

A good solution for limited mobility is to instal a stairlift. This means you can still access the upstairs of your home and use any bedrooms and bathrooms.

A stairlift works from a battery pack which produces enough power to get you up and down the stairs. It travels slowly so you feel secure and safe.

If you have noticed the smell of damp, or you have black patches or mould on your walls or ceilings, this could be due to water penetration.

The bricks of your house walls generally allow moisture to drain away on the outside. However, if the walls are damaged in any way, then water can get through cracks in the bricks or pointing and cause damp problems in your home’s interior.

The solution is to repair any part of your exterior that is damaged and then treat it by either waterproofing the bricks or applying waterproof sealant.

If you have a garden, it’s nice to be able to make good use of it. You can enjoy barbecues in the summer and sit outside in nice weather during the spring and autumn.

Making your garden look nice doesn’t cost a fortune and a lot of the work you can do yourself. Creating a patio or different levels with walls and paths can be achieved if you have the time.

If your loft doesn’t have adequate ventilation and there’s moisture in the air it will lead to condensation.

Condensation can eventually turn into problems like mouldy patches, or wet or dry rot. If you have a condensation problem, you’ll need to know how to stop it.

In this guide, we’ll advise you about the costs of putting a stop to the condensation, what affects those costs, how you can keep costs down, what’s involved in fixing a condensation problem, how to find a roofer and what questions to ask them.

Finally, we’ll answer some of your frequently asked questions.

If you don’t have ventilation in your home the moisture in the air can’t escape. The humidity and moisture can eventually cause problems like damp and mould.

The solution is to have a well-ventilated home, and one way of providing ventilation, is to instal air bricks in your property.

Air bricks are made of plastic, terracotta or cast iron. They look like a standard house brick, but they have holes in them that provide ventilation.

You can install air bricks through a solid wall or a cavity wall, which is two walls with the cavity in between.

If you are thinking about doing some work on your home, whether it’s a conversion or an extension, you might need to use an architect.

Architects can draw up plans for your projects and give you advice about making the most of light and space.

They also know all about your local authority’s planning laws, so they will be able to advise you who you need to contact and what you should do.

In this guide, we’ll show you how much it costs to hire an architect, what affects that cost, how you can save money on architect’s fees, how to find and hire an architect and what questions to ask them.

Demolishing a house can seem fairly brutal, but is sometimes the most necessary and easiest way for homeowners to get to work on building their ideal home.

Demolition doesn’t always involve getting rid of the entire house either, sometimes a certain aspect of the house may need to be demolished to make room for a new extension or conversion.

Our guide provides a comprehensive look at demolishing a house, including how much this service is likely to cost, what can affect the cost of demolition, the best way to save money and how to find a professional demolition service.

Underfloor insulation will help to reduce heat escaping through the floor and stop cold draughts from coming up through the floorboards. It’s easier to insulate your floor if you are replacing it, but insulation can also be retrofitted.

Insulating your floor will make it more comfortable underfoot and you’ll also save money on your heating bills. The energy-efficient insulation will mean you don’t have to keep turning up your thermostat to keep warm.

If you’ve just had a conservatory built, or you live in a home with high ceilings, you’ll know that these rooms are hard to heat. The solution could be to lower your ceilings.

If you drop the ceiling height with a false ceiling, you will notice that the room is warmer. You might also need to turn the thermostat down, making a saving on your heating bills.

You might also want a suspended ceiling to hide wiring or ductwork from an air conditioning system or you want to be able to reach pipework and wiring easily in your kitchen or bathroom.

If you want to add the wow factor to a room, a wallpapered ceiling can give you just that. You can make a high ceiling appear lower and a low ceiling appear higher.

It’s nice to use patterned paper when you are keeping the walls plain and it’s the perfect way to hide a less than perfect ceiling.

In this guide, we’ll show you how much it costs to wallpaper your ceiling, what affects the price, how you can save money, the advantages and disadvantages of a papered ceiling and we’ll answer some of your frequently asked questions.

If you want to give a room a feeling of space and allow more natural light to enter your home a vaulted ceiling could be the solution.

The design and creation of a vaulted ceiling can give you the chance to open up unused space. As well as being used in main downstairs rooms they are often used in loft conversions.

The cheapest way to incorporate a vaulted ceiling into your home is via a new build or a conversion.

Suspended ceilings – also known as false and dropped ceilings – are moving from the industrial sphere into the residential one. Although they are still most commonly found in industrial warehouses and complexes, more and more homeowners are opting to instal a suspended or false ceiling in their property.

Not only can a suspended or false ceiling look incredibly modern and stylish when installed correctly, but they can also offer homeowners a chance to hide a more unattractive ceiling that may be stained or blemished.

Ceiling cladding is a type of decoration for the ceiling of your home and has increased in popularity over the last few years. This type of product can be made from a variety of products such as wood or vinyl, but a lot of ceiling cladding is made from uPVC which is a type of plastic.

Installing ceiling cladding in your property is both functional and can add to the aesthetic appearance of your house.

Our guide examines ceiling cladding, including how much cladding costs, what affects the cost of installing ceiling cladding, how you can save money on ceiling cladding and the best way to find a tradesperson to help you instal it!

Ceiling tiles and panels are the products used in both industrial and residential buildings to cover the ceiling. Ceiling tiles and panels are particularly popular in office buildings but are becoming used in the home more and more with the rise of the suspended ceiling.

Ceiling tiles are typically made from mineral fibre or plasterboard with speciality tiles made from metal, glass or wood.

Our guide covers ceiling tiles and panels in more detail, including information on how much this type of ceiling material costs, what affects the cost of installing ceiling tiles or panels, how you save money on this product and the best way to find a tradesperson to help you with the installation of ceiling tiles or panels!

Asbestos was used in materials to build homes between 1930 and 1990. It wasn’t known then that disturbed asbestos was a danger to health.

If you have a home built within this time frame and you haven’t made any structural changes, it’s unlikely that any asbestos present will do you harm. However, if you are planning to demolish or refurbish part of your home, it is sensible to have an asbestos survey before you carry out any work.

There are two types of asbestos survey reports. One is an asbestos management report. Residential householders can obtain this report to find out whether they have asbestos in the home.

Damp is a very common problem for homeowners across the UK. A damp and timber report evaluates your property, reports back on the condition of damp within your home and gives possible solutions to rectify it.

A damp and timber survey will be completed by a qualified professional and their specialist tools to survey your property.

You may be asked to provide a damp and timber report by your mortgage company if you’re planning on selling your house. This is a standard request and nothing to be too concerned about.

A wet room has become a popular feature of many homes in the modern era, due to the practical advantages installing one gives your property and residents. Installing a wet room is not a job that can be easily DIY-ed as there as so many different elements to ensuring your wet room is installed correctly, from tiling to pipe installation to water leak prevention.

The differences between a wet room and a standard bathroom aren’t always clear. A wet room is a type of bathroom that usually contains a shower with no threshold.

Ceiling roses are an affordable way to hide away messy wires from your lighting and to make the ceiling look more attractive. They are especially popular in period houses with high ceilings, but they can highlight your lighting choices on low ceilings too.

You can buy ready-made ceiling roses in a variety of styles, or you can have them hand-made with a design that’s unique to you.

In this guide, we’ll tell you about the costs of installing a ceiling rose, how they are installed, what affects the cost, how you can save money, how to find and hire a ceiling rose installer and the questions you should ask them.

Maintaining the outside of your property is just as important as maintaining the inside. If you want your property to look well cared for then you’ll want to:

• Look after your driveway or garden
• Clean up any rubbish that gets swept in from the road
• Keep windows clean
• Keep the front door clean and paint it if necessary

However, if you think your front door has seen better days then it’s a good idea to replace it with a new one.

Sometimes it’s the small details that give your home its stylish appearance.

Take architraves for instance. Can the material that fits around your door have a bearing on how the room looks?

It’s the same for skirting boards. Do you have dark or light wood around the floor? Should you have a picture rail that runs around the top half of your walls or instead have a dado rail along the middle of the wall?

If you live in a busy area that’s difficult to park in, you might want to consider building a driveway or using your current driveway to park your car.

Off the road, your car will be safer and a parking space on your drive could add value to your property.

To use your driveway, you will need to drop the kerb on the pavement outside your home so you can drive your car in and out of your property.

If you’ve found problems in your home due to subsidence, you’ll need to get it repaired before there’s further damage. Many subsidence problems are covered by your home insurance, but there may be things you have to pay for too.

In this guide, we explain the costs of subsidence repairs and what other costs you may have factor into your budget. We advise you about the different methods of treating subsidence and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

You can also find out the best way to find and hire a subsidence contractor and what questions you need to ask them.

Do you need more space at home, or do you want your home to be open plan? The easiest way to create extra space and light is to remove a wall from a room and create a new open-plan space.

An open-plan lounge or kitchen will make your home feel larger and also give you more space when you’re entertaining. If you decide to remove a wall the only thing you must consider before starting any work is whether or not it is a load-bearing wall.