Builders Archive
Hall lighting The most important thing about lighting hall and stairs is to ensure there’s enough light to be able to move around safely. High levels of general lighting are recommended and it’s particularly important that the lighting on the …
Ceilings In a narrow hall or landing the ceiling, although the same height as other ceilings in the house can seem unusually high. It’s partly the narrowness that gives the feeling, but the tall walls of the stairwell can add …
A new staircase A new staircase is normally installed as part of a major renovation to provide access to a new floor of the house or when a staircase is moved. Existing stairs rarely fall into such disrepair that they …
HALLS AND STAIRS Converting understairs Staircases take up a surprising amount of space. The housebuilder’s way to put some of this to use is to enclose the understairs area to form a cupboard. But all too often the cupboard under …
IMPROVEMENTS ROOM BY ROOM HALLS AND STAIRS In many houses the hall is no more than a passageway from the front door to the foot of the stairs and the doors to downstairs rooms. It’s difficult to make gainful …
Laying foam backed carpet Step-by-step Step 1 Line the floor with strong brown paper or several layers of newspaper to prevent the foam backing sticking to the floor— otherwise it may disintegrate if you try to take up the carpet …
Carpet laying One wrong cut and a large expanse of carpet could be ruined, so if you’ve spent a lot of money, on a Wilton or an Axminster for instance, you might think the cost of paying a professional …
Laying wood flooring The different types of wood flooring Generally, adhesive is used for fix- lay mosaic panels with adhesive, how are laid in different ways – and this ing thin, pre-fabricated panels on to secret-nail a strip floor and …
Floors: ideas for platforms Changing the level of a floor can be an effective way of demarcating an area for a specific purpose, a dining area in an open plan living room for instance. Changing levels usually means a platform …
Wiring new lights If you intend to make dramatic changes to an existing lighting system with lots of new lighting points and new switch positions, it’s probably better to install a whole new circuit than to try to adapt or …
