Britons are collectively planning to spend £4.5 billion on home improvements over Easter, with many hoping to add value to their property, a survey showed today.

The average person will spend £181 on DIY projects during the Bank Holiday weekend, rising to more than £200 among people in London, according to research by The Co-operative Bank.

Nearly a third of people said they were planning to carry out work in a bid to add value to their property, while 28% wanted to improve their current home because they could not afford to move.

But 16% of people said they were planning a DIY project so that they did not get bored, 13% want to make their home more environmentally friendly and 9% want to create more space for their expanding family.

Homeowners are most likely to carry out work on their garden and lounge at 18%, followed by the main bedroom at 17% and the kitchen at 15%.

But while 33% of people will be painting and 29% will be gardening, 12% of people planning home improvements will be buying new furnishings.

Terry Jordan, head of mortgages at The Co-operative Bank, said: “In the current economic climate with the slowdown in the property market, people are not moving house as much as before.

“Instead the research clearly shows that people are looking to make improvements to their existing homes in order to add value and better their living space.”

:: Onepoll.com questioned 3,500 people during March.

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:: Polystyrene ceiling tiles are unsightly and old fashioned, but removing them isn’t much fun, so be sure you want to. Once you’ve started scraping them off, you can’t just stop.

:: Make sure you have a stepladder tall enough to enable you to reach the ceiling without stretching and straining, as this could be dangerous. The ladder should always be placed on a flat, stable surface and the floor should be protected from falling debris, unless you’re planning to replace it.

:: You’ll need a stripping knife to scrape off the tiles. One with replaceable blades is a good idea because you can change them when they become blunt. Be careful about damaging the ceiling underneath, especially when the blades are sharp, as plaster can be very soft and prone to gouges.

:: Once you’ve removed the tiles, you’re left with the problem of the adhesive underneath. You can continue scraping this off, but it will be easier if you use a hot air gun to soften the adhesive first. Scrub any remaining adhesive off with an abrasive sponge dipped in solvent thinner.

:: Be very careful when using the hot air gun, as, again, you don’t want to damage the ceiling – or yourself. Play safe by wearing protective gloves, glasses and a dust mask and remember to ventilate the room. You should also wear something like a shower cap on your head to protect your hair from the falling tiles and adhesive.

DIY NEWS BULLETIN

:: DIY is enjoying renewed popularity because of the recession, according to a survey by online trades and services portal MyHammer. It found that 85 per cent of those questioned would rather make improvements to their home than sell up in the current economic climate.

More than half (58 per cent) of those surveyed said they were planning or doing home improvements, and more than two thirds (69 per cent) said it was because they have to stay in their current home for longer than they originally thought.

The study found that the hardest hit are the over 56s, with 92 per cent saying they must improve instead of move. Following the fall in house prices, many of this age group are stuck in their current homes, whereas before they’d have been able to downsize and use the profit from the sale towards their retirement.

:: B&Q has teamed up with shutter specialist The California Company to offer made-to-measure shutters on its website. The online service guides you through every step of the process, from selecting and measuring to ordering and DIY installation.

You can enter your exact opening sizes, choose from a range of designs and the number of panels for each window, then select a stain or paint and the finishing touches. Free shutter samples are available and there’s a choice of elm or poplar wood and a variety of stains, ranging from cherry to honey oak.

All the shutters are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) accredited, which means that the wood has been sourced from independently certified, well-managed forests or other controlled sources. Prices start at £175 a square metre – see www.diy.com/shutters.

ASK THE EXPERT…

Q: What’s a good DIY way to get privacy on my lower windows without having net curtains?

A: Plain frosting film is inexpensive and easy to fit yourself (decorative film tends to be much more expensive). If you want something less permanent, bottom-up blinds work like upside-down roller blinds (from the windowsill up) on a pulley system, so you can control how much of your windows you have covered. These blinds can also be installed quite easily by DIYers, but they’re not cheap. Another (fairly expensive) option is shutters, some of which come with installation included and some of which are designed for DIY installation, but they will reduce the light coming into the room.

SEASONAL TASK…

Easter’s coming up, the traditional start to the DIY season, and if you’re staying at home, why not use the long weekend to do a meaty home-improvement project? Plan ahead early so you’ve got everything you need to get on with it and don’t have to brave the bank-holiday shopping crowds.

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Childhood sweethearts Stanley and Christine Buck have created a model of a 1950s town to remind them of “happy times”.

The retired couple, of Whittlesey, Cambs, have spent much of the past 20 years crafting the MDF replica.

The 1:24inch scale model features a variety of places that hold memories for them, including the coffee shop in Greenford, London, where they met in 1957.

Mrs Buck, 68, said she and her husband, a 75-year-old former factory worker, had spent thousands of hours on the project.

“I used to do it all day, as well as the housework,” said the mother-of-two, who has nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

“I’m the artistic one and he makes the buildings.”

She said the model, which is 24ft in length and 2ft deep, was based on 1950s architecture and fashions.

“It’s a collection of buildings we’ve known or that remind us of places that we’ve been to,” she said. “We get pleasure from looking at it. It has memories for us.

“It’s more about the period than any particular place.”

The cinema where they went on a date is included in the town centre model, along with houses, flats and shops.

The couple, who celebrate their golden wedding next year, have welcomed visitors from neighbouring counties to view their work, which is stored in a garden shed.

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I think this looks a bit like a Shepards Hut but without the wheels

Henley Offices Compact Maxi Room
Now £7857.66 Was £9299.00 Save £1441.34

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Grout can become discoloured over time with mould, cooking splashes, shower gel and shampoo residues taking their toll. Before you consider replacing the grout, try scrubbing it with sugar-soap or grout-cleaning spray and then, if necessary, use grout paint to make it white again. If this doesn’t do the trick, and you can’t live with the grout as it is, you’ll need to rake it out and replace it.

You may also need to replace grout if it wasn’t applied properly in the first place, if it has cracked and deteriorated, or you want a different colour. If you’re responsible for applying it poorly, make sure you do it right this time or get a tiler in. Removing grout is not a particularly nice task – it’s boring, repetitive and hard work – so don’t undertake it lightly.

Mould is usually black, but if you have brown mould on your grout, this may mean that water is getting in behind the tiles and penetrating the joints. If so, you’ll need to find – and remedy – the cause of the problem before regrouting, or get a plumber to.

You should use a grout rake to remove the grout, which is a small tool with replaceable blades. You’ll need to remove at least 2mm of the old grout (preferably 3mm) for regrouting to work, but it’s important not to scratch the tiles in the process or you’ll have to replace those as well.

Raking out the grout involves moving the rake from side to side and up and down along the joints. Unless you have tiled recently, the grout will be set hard so this will take some effort. Once you’ve raked out the grout from the whole tiled area, you’re ready to clean out the joints and regrout.

DIY NEWS BULLETIN

The new Dremel Driver gives you precision, control and power thanks to a variable-speed trigger and a T-handle design, yet it measures just 12.5cm, enabling you to work in tight areas where other screwdrivers won’t fit.

The driver is perfect for medium and light-duty DIY drilling and driving work, including mounting pictures on walls, installing lock sets and assembling flat-pack furniture (there are even two IKEA bits included in the kit).

Powered by a 7.2V lithium-ion battery, which ensures it’s lightweight, the Dremel Driver has a variable speed of 0-300rpm and an electronic brake, so it stops exactly when you want for maximum precision.

It also has a linear rmp ’ramp-up’ for extreme accuracy, especially at low rpm, and Longlife Electronic Cell Protection. This safeguards the battery from burnout, overheating and full depletion – there’s no ’memory effect’ so it should always be ready to use.

The Dremel Driver comes with a charger, eight driver bits and detachable storage so you can keep the bits to hand. It costs around £55 from DIY stores or online at www.dremel-direct.com.

If you’re planning to lay a wood floor any time soon, check out the seven new brushed and stained oak floors recently added by Kahrs to its Linnea Narrow range.
The floors include white-stained Oak Blanc, Oak Cloud and Biscuit, mid-toned Oak Honey and dark-toned Oak Amber, Coal and Coffee. Each board has a multi-layer construction comprising a wood-veneer surface, high-performance HDF core and wood-veneer bottom layer.

All the new floors have a brushed surface and stained matt lacquer pre-finish and come with a 12-year guarantee for surface wear. They’re also straightforward to fit – the company’s Woodlot(R) joint system ensures that gaps are minimised throughout installation and for the lifetime of the floor. To find out more, see www.kahrs.co.uk or call 023 9245 3045.

ASK THE EXPERT…
Q: I’ve got some blown plaster in my hall – what should I do about it?

A: You really need to replaster, or preferably get a plasterer to do it – plastering is hard for DIYers to get right. If you’re not putting any weight on the plaster, such as coat hooks, you could try papering over it with lining paper or wallpaper, which should keep it in, although this isn’t the ideal long-term solution.

SEASONAL TASK…
The weather’s being unseasonably nice so get out into the garden, if you have one, and do any DIY you can out there, whether it’s sawing, sanding, stripping, painting or assembling something.

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