DIY Daddy's blog

Home Security: Padlock

Ensuring that your home is safe and secure is essential for your peace of mind as well as the safety of everyone that lives in the house. Home security can be expensive affair in some cases but there are alternatives available. There are many home security devices on the market that are battery operated and fitting them yourself can be easy and quick.

Most home security systems also known as burglar alarms use sensors that detect movement or a magnetic contact plate that will set off the burgler alarm when the connection is broken. The most common movement sensors are known as Passive InfraRed Detectors. These detectors work by detecting the movement of a heat source.

What is a ground source heat pump? I didn't know until the other day when I was watching Kevin McLeod on Grand Designs. A ground source heat pump is an environmentally friendly heating system for your home! The ground source heat pump basically uses a buried ground loop that transfers heat from the ground into a building. The pump uses the earth as a heat source collecting natural heat from the earth and using a long water filled loop network of pipes transfers this heat to your underfloor heating system.

Ground Source Heat Pump Benefits

• The system does not require any external fuel and can heat a whole building, however you will need a large area of ground to house the system
• Installing a ground source heat pump can be expensive but this will pay off in the long term as you off set against your heating bills the main benefit is that you will be heating your house in an environmentally friendly way

DIY Focus Home Insulation Tips.

Home Insulation: Pink Home Insulation

As winter is approaching it is time to think about how well your house is insulated. The average house loses a massive amount of energy in the form of lost heat, just to give you an idea of how heat is lost I have given a quick breakdown below.

• 35% through the walls of your house
• 25% through the roof
• 25 through doors and windows
• 15% through the floor

Ceramic floor tiles are an ideal floor covering for both kitchens or bathrooms and can also be used in conservatories and high traffic areas like hallways. There are also a few benefits of having ceramic tiles, they are easy to clean and they are very durable.

So in this post you may have guessed I am going to go over how to lay ceramic floor tiles.

DIY Tools you will need for laying floor tiles

• Notched Trowel or Spreader
• Tile Cutter or Diamond wheel cutter
• Grout Spreader
• Spirit Level

DIY Materials you will need for laying floor tiles

• Floor Tile Adhesive
• The Floor Tiles
• Plastic Tile Spacers
• A Damp Sponge
• Floor Tile Grout
• Flexible Sealant

Buying floor tiles

Tiles are sold in packs and the size of the tiles and the number of tiles in a pack will determine the surface area that the tiles will cover.