It’s been an entire year since we took ownership of our allotment plot – and what a crazy fast year it’s been! We knew having an allotment was going to be a challenge, being complete novices to growing fruit and veg and not forgetting the fact we also had a newborn on our hands too! But now we’ve completed our first full year, I thought I’d share a little bit about what we’ve learnt so far and what having an allotment is really like.

Taking a little step back though, here’s a reminder of how the plot looked when we took it on in July last year (2020):

When we took the plot on, it had been abandoned for some time and was completely covered in weeds. There was also a lot of rubbish on the plot, old carpet, rotten wood, tons of plastic (ugh!), a broken poly-tunnel, you name it.

We spent a good 4-6weeks last autumn clearing the plot and then we covered it using some heavy-duty landscaping fabric to keep the area weed-free for the next several months, so we could start our growing journey properly this spring. You can see more photos and read more about everything we did to our allotment plot last year here.

When spring arrived, we slowly started to get to work. Grant spent some time setting up a poly-tunnel (we planned to use this mostly for storage as it was MUCH cheaper than buying a shed and unfortunately hadn’t managed to find one secondhand) and I started sowing seeds in the conservatory.

When it was warm enough, we uncovered the landscaping fabric and started marking out our vegetable beds using a string line and some pegs (photo below). As we were on a budget, we felt this was a better option for us rather than building beds which we really couldn’t afford with the high price of wood at the moment. Our ‘string beds’ worked to some degree and I think would be a good option for testing layouts BEFORE building any beds – but a string line alone definitely wouldn’t work for us in the long term and we still plan to eventually build some beds.

After our ‘beds’ were done, we started to plant our crop out. I suppose this is where the real challenge began! We lost a fair amount of crops (peas, sprouts, and carrots were completely wiped out!), we struggled to keep the weeds at bay and we also struggled to find time to overhaul and re-design the plot in such a way to make it as low-maintenance as possible. Things like creating paths, so we didn’t need to de-weed as much would have been INCREDIBLY useful, but with a very young baby, time to do all these things just wasn’t on my side.

We did have some great successes too though. We kept the asparagus we inherited with the plot alive and DAMN it tasted good! We also grew lots of sweetcorn which WASN’T eaten by rats (apparently a real problem at our allotment site!) and we had bags and bags of potatoes, courgettes, and beans. In fact, you could say we had a little too much.

All in all, it was not a bad first year I’d say. And we learnt A LOT!

Our First Year With an Allotment: What We’ve Learnt!

Maintaining an Allotment Takes SO MUCH TIME

Having an allotment really does take SO MUCH time. No, it really does. I never expected having an allotment plot to be quick or easy in any way, but it’s still a lot more work than perhaps I initially imagined.

The weeds at our allotment grow FAST. Our garden at home is relatively weed-free and those that do grow, are slow. At the allotment, weeds THRIVE! New weeds appear daily and they grow like mad. If you’re not keeping on top of them, they take over really quickly.

Most people at our allotment site say they need to come down a minimum of 2 days a week to keep on top of everything – that’s not just weeding either. Having an allotment is definitely a hobby that requires a lot of free time.

You can see how quickly our ‘paths’ turned to weeds below in a matter of weeks.

Watering an Allotment is a CHORE

Even things like watering is a job and a half. We’re very fortunate as we have access to water at our allotment site (I know some locations have nothing at all!) and our plot is also quite close to the water point too. However, even though we are one of the closest plots to the water – going back and forth to refill the watering can, really does take quite some time! In summer, we needed to come down every other day to water, so watering can really become quite a commitment on its own.

Pests Eat EVERYTHING

Okay so I’m being a bit dramatic, but yes, your crop will get eaten! Obviously, we knew lettuces would be eaten by rabbits and so on, but birds will attack certain crops in their young seedling stage and even things like rats can be a problem too.

We only had 2 mesh covers when we began growing, so not covering enough of our crop was possibly one of our biggest initial mistakes. Next year, we’ll be covering a lot more of our crops for sure!

Coverings Need to Be Easy-to-Remove

Grant built a frame for our beans and covered it in netting, but in such a way so that the netting couldn’t easily be removed and meant we couldn’t get access to de-weed. I did point this out to Grant at the time he was covering it, but he assured me it wasn’t such a problem. Nope, it was a problem.

Some plots use large ‘cages’ that can easily be taken on/off crops – but this seems to only work if you have somewhere to move the cage to. A simple net placed over bamboo sticks and weighed down seems to be the most popular option, taking up less space when not in use and easy to remove/recover – so we’ll probably do more of this next year.

Sowing Seeds Directly Into the Ground

Another big mistake we made was not marking out the areas where we’d sowed seeds directly into the ground well enough. It’s a fairly rare occasion to find BOTH Grant and me on the plot at the same time. Often I would pop down and do some work then a few days later Grant would pop down.

On more than 1 occasion, I’d sowed seeds directly into the ground and added some short bamboo sticks to show where these rows of seeds were. Whether it was forgetfulness or ignorance, the site of my sowed seeds ended up being either trampled or hoed over, removing any growth.

At this point I should say, we didn’t have any beds or paths marked out, so the whole area was just soil – and quite frankly we found that really hard to properly navigate. Having a defined path, in the end, stopped up trampling our own crops, but next year, I still think we need to mark out the areas where we’ve sowed seeds into the ground, in a better and more obvious way.

12 is NOT the magic number

I mean, nobody ever said 12 was the magic number. Being complete notices at growing fruit/veg, I had no idea how many of each crop we would need/want. So I just did 12. Of everything. Turns out 12 courgettes is absolutely ridiculous unless you’re feeding a family of 100. And 12 onions isn’t exactly going to last long.

I think we now have a better idea of what we need and how much fruit/veg you can get from one plant. I’m sure getting those numbers exactly right is still going to be a learning curve for us for some time, but I imagine this is probably an unavoidable lesson to learn for most people – you’ll almost always have too much of one thing and not enough of another. Experience can only teach you the perfect numbers I guess.

Having an Allotment is Incredibly Social!

I obviously expected to chat to our allotment neighbours, but actually, you end up chatting to EVERYONE! I wouldn’t say our allotment site is small either. There really is a great community – people wave as they come/go, everyone is keen to lend a hand (or tool!), or offer advice when needed and we’ve even been given a few plants too.

Being on maternity leave and generally not seeing many people or going anywhere, I have thoroughly enjoyed just CHATTING to people at the allotments. Everyone is so friendly, and it makes a really lovely vibe!

The negative to the social aspect, is that this in itself could prevent us from getting so much done. Sometimes I’d just need to quickly get IN-and-OUT and I’d stop for a quick hello which would turn into a 20-min chat and before I knew it, I had to ditch my allotment plans, quickly water as much as I could and leave as fast as I could. I guess this is probably my own fault though!

Allotment Life With a Baby – It’s a Challenge!

This one is probably pretty obvious, but I’m going to mention it anyway.

In those early newborn days, Dylan slept like an angel at the allotment and we got SO much done. As we started to get into a slight sleep/feeding routine, I’d pop him in the pram for a nap, walk to the allotment and get tons of work, it was amazing.

But somewhere between 4-5months any outdoor noise seemed to wake him and pram naps just didn’t work, I’d spend all my time rocking the pram with a grumpy baby who’d randomly woken up from the tweet of a bird in the distance. So I stopped going to the allotment during nap time. But at the same time, I also didn’t want to go when he was awake either, as I’d feel bad with him just being sat in the pram and as you’d expect, he would get grizzly fairly quick without your full attention occupying him.

So for a good 3 months or so (somewhere between ages 5-7 months), I was unable to do very much at all. It just wasn’t possible to de-weed/sow/do any proper work on the plot, so the only thing I managed was a daily walk to water before bedtime.

Dylan is now 9 months (where are the months going?!) and he now sleeps really well outdoors in his pram again, so I’ve been able to get a little more done again in the last couple of months. But the future is unpredictable and who knows how things will be in a few months from now!

Despite Everything, “Life Finds a Way”

Like the great Jurassic Park quote, despite some inconsistent care for our crop, it still managed to find a way to survive. We didn’t offer nearly enough tomato feed to our tomatoes or trim the plants nearly enough. We left our polytunnel unwatered during an incredibly hot period for more days than I’d have liked and nothing we did was perfect. But, despite all our growing mistakes, many our fruit and vegetables still survived. I’m sure we could have got MORE crop, or BETTER crop had we done things differently, but what I’m trying to say is, despite our imperfect approach, life somehow finds a way to keep going. You can make all the mistakes and chances are, you’ll still get something at the end.

Our First Year Growing with an Allotment – Overall a Success

So as I said, we weren’t successful with everything we grew this year – we lost ALL the peas, ALL the sprouts, and ALL the carrots. But we did really well with others – leeks, sweetcorn, and potatoes. Others we had hit/miss success – the onions grew beautifully but some rotted at the very end.

It’s definitely been a learning curve! We’ve learnt when to sow seeds for each plant, when to harvest, the types of problems each plant encounters etc, but there is still MUCH more for us to learn and of course the problems we have next year may be completely different to this years.

Despite losing a fair amount of crops and having mixed success with others, we were still really happy with what we did produce. I mean, we could have come out with nothing and that would have been a real disaster!

Our Plans for Next Year

Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to get as much work done to our plot as we’d have liked this year. We had originally planned to build some beds, but the crazy cost of timber held up back on that. Recently we’ve managed to find some secondhand/leftover wood to use as beds, but just haven’t had the time to build anything, so that’s on next year’s to-do list.

We’ve also recently picked up some free pavers locally, but they’ve all got massive globs of mortar on the bottom which need removing so they can sit flat on the ground. And, we also want to redesign the front section of our allotment, which we didn’t use at all this year.

So basically, lots to do, as always! I’m looking forward to next year though – I think we’ve learnt a lot and will be better prepared in many ways, although, it’s going to be VERY different with a TODDLER running around and I don’t think we can prepare for that!!

Anyway, I hope this shared some of the realities we faced on our first year with an allotment and perhaps a few things to expect if you’re signing up for one. Any tips/advice are always welcome – as I say, we’re VERY new to all this and still have A LOT to learn!

And if you want to follow our allotment journey in real-time, don’t forget you check us out on Instagram at @kezzabeth_blog too!

The post Our First Year With An Allotment – What We Learnt appeared first on Twits Guides.

HALL-E-LUJAHH we finally have electricity in our victorian cellar! This has been such a long time coming, I can’t even tell you! We probably finished working on the basement back in April/May of last year (2020) and then spent the rest of the year simply waiting and saving until we afford to move forward.

Back in December, just a couple of weeks before Christmas, we finally were able to have this job completed! The day had come where we would no longer have to enter the basement by torchlight, we weren’t going to unexpectedly be hit in the face by a cobweb, and for the first time EVER, we could put away all those trawling extension cables. The basement was finally going to actually be USABLE.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which allows me to receive a small commission if you visit a link and buy something on my recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products I have bought or used myself. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*). This blog is part of the eBay partner network and the Amazon Associate programme.

It was a celebration for sure! But not too much of a celebration as unfortunately the electricians we hired didn’t do a great job and there’s quite a lot we now need to re-do. Some of their work isn’t even compliant with current regs and the certificates they provided mentioned work they hadn’t even done. Yep, it really was just a BAD experience. It’s not often we hire tradespeople, but somehow we just seem to be jinxed when it comes to electricians.

Some of the non-electrical work, such as running the conduit, we could have done ourselves and NEARLY did – but given that I was 8 months pregnant at this stage, we decided to pay the electricians to do it. Their work is unlevel, unfinished, sloppy. They even ran out of conduit and instead of buying more, smashed holes in the ceiling to run it through the joists, despite the fact we specifically WANTED it in conduit. Oh and have I mentioned the broken light they tried to pretend they didn’t know about? Even though it was in 2 pieces and they’d gone on to install it on the wall. Ugh.

Basically, it wasn’t a great job, BUT the good news is – it’s all fixable. It’ll take a bit of time, effort and money of course, but it’s not the end of the world. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

So anyway, with the negative stuff aside, let’s take a look at the positive stuff – we now have LIGHT and POWER in our basement!! So I thought I’d do a quick little post showing you our new cellar lighting and the style we’ve gone for.

And doesn’t it look GOOD?! We’ve basically gone for a quirky underground industrial vibe using low wattage wall lights to create a dark and moody atmosphere. As these rooms have no natural light, it was really important for us to get the lighting right down here. Essentially, it would set the entire ‘feel’ of the room.

Our ceilings are also fairly low down here, so we knew ceiling lights wouldn’t have worked in this space. The great thing about wall lights though, is that they also act as a decorative feature. Being right at eye level, they’re unmissable. I also like how they often focus the light (ie up-lighting/down-lighting) and they create a lovely ambient light. The opposite to something like spotlights, which are discreet and provide more practical lighting.

With a tight budget (and the fact we required A LOT of lights – 13 in total!), I searched high and low for the best bargains I could find for our cellar lighting. All of these lights above are from eBay – From top left to bottom right:

We have, however, also opted for some additional brighter lights in the two rooms where we need more practical lighting. One of these rooms will become a DIY workspace and the other, an office. There’s still quite a bit of work to do, but you can get a rough idea of how the office will work below.

For some extra task lighting in these rooms, I picked up a quirky cage light from a local antique centre for £25 which I’ve hung with a cast iron bracket from eBay* (eBay affiliate link) and some outdoor-rated bulkhead lights from Electrical Direct at £10 each. Both these rooms have the option to be a bit brighter (less moody!) for when we’re wanting to do work in here.

As for sockets and light switches, we’ve opted for these industrial metal-clad surface mounted ones, bought from Screwfix. We have 13 sockets and six light switches, which sounds like a lot but it’s really only 2-3 sockets and 1 light switch per zone (plus one at the top of the stairs!).

We’ve also used plastic industrial-style conduit to hide the cables running along the walls. We would have loved to used galvanised metal conduit to match the sockets, but the price of this was drastically more expensive and would have cost hundreds extra. We just couldn’t justify spending that much on essentially, a bit of tubing.

You’ve probably also seen that we’ve added some electric radiators down here too. These were also purchased secondhand via eBay, but they’re the Haverland XR series, a brand which you can find at Electric Radiators Direct. I’ll review them in time, but so far, we’re happy with them!

The final electrical thing we’ve added down here is our dehumidifier, which is a low-energy ElectriQ Smart Dehumidifier from Appliances Direct. We purchased this back in March 2020, but haven’t been able to use it in the basement as we’ve had no power down here. Again, I’ll do a full review of this eventually and let you know how well it’s working for us in time.

(Flamingo lamp was another secondhand buy from Facebook Marketplace, but you can find these new at Graham and Green here.)

And that’s our newly lit basement and our new cellar lighting! There are a few things we still need to add – some lights on the stairs for example, but right now I can’t tell you how amazing it is to just be able to finally use this space and literally turn on a light and walk down the stairs. It’s changed the entire feel of the space and made each area FEEL like it has the potential to become a proper room.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have already seen a sneak peek of our new DIY storage zone down here too, which I’ll be sharing soon.

So, let me know what you think – is our dark moody basement your kinda vibe?

*This post contains affiliate links where an asterisk (*) is used.

The post Our New Cellar Lighting – Installing Electric To A Victorian Basement appeared first on Twits Guides.

It’s been a while since I’ve featured the kitchen on the blog and more shockingly, it’s been FOUR YEARS since it’s been installed! I know – where has the time gone? If you aren’t familiar with our kitchen renovation, you can read all about the work we’ve done here.

Now we’re four years on from installing our kitchen and the worktops (you can also read about our DIY worktop installation here), I’m collaborating with Worktop Express to share an update on our worktops and how they’re holding up. Although this post is sponsored by Worktop Express, please note that we purchased the worktops ourselves.

It’s probably worth mentioning that we also purchased from Worktop Express in our previous home and the worktops we used in Grants parents kitchen renovation were, you guessed it, also bought from Worktop Express too. You could say, we’re happy repeat customers, so this post will partly be a bit of a Worktop Express review too.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which allows me to receive a small commission if you visit a link and buy something on my recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products I have bought or used myself. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*).

Why We Purchase Our Worktops From Worktop Express

I get asked this a lot, considering our kitchen itself was from DIY Kitchens whom also stock kitchen worktops. Simply put, Worktop Express* has a much bigger selection of wooden worktops and in my opinion, at more competitive prices. Whether you’re looking for a simple worktop on a budget or have a much higher budget for a more luxury showstopper variety of worktop, such as their premium solid surface* and FENIX range*. Worktop Express offers something for both ends, and of course, there’s a whole bunch of options if you’re somewhere in the middle too!

The other reason we particularly love Worktop Express is because of their bespoke worktop cutting service*, saving time and money on installations. It makes DIY installations MUCH easier and means you don’t necessarily need to pay a carpenter to fit your worktops. By using this service, your worktop can arrive pre-cut to the exact size you require, with all holes and cutouts (like for a hob, tap or sink!) already done for you.

We used this service ourselves, as even though we’d probably be capable of making these cuts, the bespoke cutting service cost less than buying a router (which we still don’t own!) or the necessary router jig to make those cuts. It also took the stress out of doing it ourselves and the possibility of it going wrong.

It also goes without saying, now being a customer three times over, we also really rate the quality of the worktops too! All the worktops and upstands we’ve purchased over the years arrived straight with no bowing, splits or cupping.

We also really like that Worktop Express deliver their worktops themselves using their 2-Person Home Delivery Team into a ground floor room of your choice. This means your worktops are handled and stored correctly, which may not be the case if they were simply handed over to a third-party courier. Their delivery prices are also really reasonable too at just £25 for the first worktop, and £15 extra for each additional worktop (price capped at 4 worktops) and what’s more, most are available for next-day delivery too!

Our Ash Worktops Four Years on: Now Vs Then

We picked an ash worktop from Worktop Express* for our kitchen as we wanted quite a traditional look, something similar to oak, but a little lighter. Ash perfectly fitted the bill – a slightly lighter wood than oak, but at the same time has a very similar grain to it. Price-wise it was also one of the more affordable woods Worktop Express offer, starting at £150 for 2m lengths, which was only a tad more expensive than oak, but much cheaper than some of their more exotic woods!

So how is our worktop holding up after 4 years you ask?! Can wooden worktops really stand the test of time? I won’t lie, wooden worktops do require a bit of maintenance from time to time, but I’ll talk about that shortly. For now, let’s take a look at some ‘now and then’ comparisons and hopefully these photos will speak for themselves!

As you can probably see, there really isn’t much change in our worktops at all! I know some of the colours on the worktop look a bit different between the two years, but this is actually down to the time of day/light of the room, not the worktop itself. I would say some of the grain is a little less prominent in some of the 2021 photos, but the worktop is actually due a re-oil soon, which would re-enhance those details!

There are a few little imperfections which I’ll talk about below, but on the whole, it looks pretty much as good as it did the day we purchased it, don’t you think?

Do Wooden Worktops Stain?

Wooden worktops can stain, especially from particular spillages like curry sauce or red wine, however, as you can see from our worktops we have absolutely no stains whatsoever!

I’m typically quite “on it” with spillages, mopping anything up as soon as they happen, but we have had parties where beer or wine has been sat on the worktops overnight and it’s still sponged off the next day, albeit sometimes with a bit more of a vigorous scrub.

We also get quite a lot of oil splatter from the hob too and this has never caused any staining, even if it’s not wiped until several hours later. As long as your worktop is protected with an oil protectant, stains shouldn’t be a huge problem, although I would still say it’s good practice to clean up any spillages as soon as you can.

There was one very slight section of ‘damage’ to our worktop, which was from our coffee machine, where the drip tray had overfilled and leaked. This was annoyingly right after we installed the worktop and before we had built up a decent barrier with an oil protectant. The water from the leaking coffee machine had been sitting underneath out of sight, so we hadn’t noticed for a few days. This left a small patch of darkened wood, which I sanded back and re-oiled. You now wouldn’t even know there had ever been any damage as it’s been repaired pretty darn well. Can you spot it?

Are Belfast Sinks and Wooden Worktops a Good Mix?

One thing I get asked a lot is whether I regret installing our wooden worktops with our Belfast sink. The assumption is that wood and water don’t make a great combo and because the wood is exposed around the perimeter of a Belfast sink, it means any splashes from washing or running the tap are likely to land on this wood and therefore is more exposed to water and potential water damage!

I can only speak from my own experience but we’ve had absolutely ZERO issues with water and the edge of the worktop around the sink. It’s worth mentioning, that we specifically installed a drip groove to the underside of the worktop, which you can’t see, but acts as a ‘break’ in the wood. This means any water that splashes against the edge will drip straight off. Without this, there’s the potential for the water to run along the underside of the worktop (i.e it doesn’t drip off) and could soak into the worktop causing marks/water damage. But as I say, we have had absolutely no issues and I don’t even wipe the edge at all! The photo below shows the drip groove on the underside of the worktop before we had installed the worktop.

The other thing to be mindful of is any splashes around the tap itself. Turning off a tap with wet hands will usually result in water dripping off and sitting on top of the worktop. As this water has nowhere to run off, it leads to standing water which can eventually lead to watermarks, so this is probably the only thing we are quite cautious of. When I dry my hands, I dry any water on the worktop too. It’s not a huge task and perhaps not something you need to do religiously, but it’s baked into my routine and something I do every time I wash and dry my hands. As you can see, we have absolutely no watermarks or water damage.

When we purchased our worktop, we opted to add drainage grooves alongside our Belfast sink, which are designed for drying wet pots and allowing water to simply ‘drain away’. I have to say, as fab as they look, we absolutely never use them. I simply don’t find they drain quick enough and do in fact, lead to water standing on the worktop for too long, which I think with daily use, would eventually lead to black watermarks.

So instead, we use an absorbent drying mat. Unless you absolutely soak the mat, it typically stays dry on the underside, keeping the worktop free from water damage. Once the pots are dry, we then hang this up on the oven to dry and reuse the next day.

I think unless you were to re-oil the drainage grooves regularly, they would probably be the first part of a wooden worktop to shart to show its age and have that ‘used’ look. I love the appearance of them and have no regrets having them cut onto the worktop (for the visual look!), but turns out they just aren’t for us when it comes to actually being used as a draining board.

Wooden Worktop Maintenance

If there’s one thing to note about wooden worktops, it’s that they’re most likely going to need a bit of maintenance from time to time to keep them looking at their best! This doesn’t mean you need crazy DIY skills or need to hire a carpenter out every year. The maintenance we do is really quite simple and barely takes any time at all!

I plan to do a full blog post documenting this in more detail, but in a nutshell, I simply re-oil once a year with some danish oil (I use Rustins Danish Oil*, as recommended by Worktop Express). I don’t typically give the worktop a deep sanding for this, I just clean it down and reapply. It’s probably good practice to give a light sand every few years if your worktop needs it, otherwise, when it comes to regular maintenance, I wouldn’t bother! (photo below from 2018)

When we first bought the worktop, I re-oiled the surface more frequently as new wood will need more treatments to build up its ‘barrier’. I also made sure to re-oil around the sink twice a year for the first couple of years thereafter. Nowadays, I just do this year with the rest of the worktops, as I simply don’t think it needs any extra oiling, however, you may find yours needs more than this.

You’ll know when your worktops need re-oiling as water droplets will no longer ‘bead up’, or you might just feel your worktops looking a bit ‘dull’ visually. How often you need to re-oil depends on how much use your worktop gets, as well as the type of cleaning products you use (degreasers will typically strip oils away over time and vigorous scrubbing will also wear away the oil), but I would say re-oiling once a year should be the bare minimum.

Wooden Worktops from Worktop Express: Would We Recommend?

I absolutely LOVE our wooden worktops and would 100% recommend to anyone who wanted that traditional look to their kitchen and doesn’t mind a bit of maintenance now and then to keep them looking at their best!

The good thing about wood and its maintenance though is it means you CAN repair most damage and at a DIY level. You can sand back most surface stains or light water damage and with a bit of work, rejuvenate the surface completely. With other materials, like laminate or even stone, repairing damage isn’t so easy and often does require a professional.

If wood and its maintenance isn’t for you, then I completely recommend taking a look at solid laminate worktops from Worktop Express* (not to be confused with regular laminate!) which is super durable, heat resistant up to 220 degrees and is low maintenance. This would personally be my second choice when it comes to kitchen worktops and we actually used this at Grants parents house, again, ordering via the bespoke cutting service from worktop express. I think these worktops are perfect for rentals or holiday lets where you can’t always guarantee the maintenance of the worktop.

I do, however, also recommend considering wooden worktops as a great option for desktops, benchtops or other areas of the home. The fact you can resand and rejuvenate makes it the perfect material for these uses. I know more and more people are now working from home, so if that’s you and you’re after a quick set-up, a wooden worktop with some simple trestle legs looks great and is super practical too.

If you’re interested in seeing more of what Worktop Express offer, then please click here to view all their different worktops and don’t forget – you can order some samples here to check out the quality for yourself too!

So those are my thoughts on wooden worktops in the kitchen. I’d love to know if you have any tips, experience or advice to share. Just leave a comment below! And as always, please feel free to get in touch with any questions I may not have covered as well.

Happy Kitchen-Planning!

This blog post was sponsored by worktop express, however, as explained, all worktops have been purchased with our own money.

*This post contains affiliate links where an asterisk (*) is used.

The post Worktop Express Review – Our Kitchen Worktops 4 Years On! appeared first on Twits Guides.

*AD: This post is sponsored by Electric Radiators Direct.

If you’ve followed this blog for a long time, you’ll know we don’t have gas central heating, but instead, use electric radiators (and of course, not forgetting our amazing log burner too!). The decision for this was mostly due to the fact we couldn’t afford to install a boiler when we first moved in, but as time has gone on, it’s become a decision we’ve chosen to stay with and I’ll explain some of our reasons for this later in this post.

Back at the start of the year in our ‘renovation plans for 2021‘ post, you might remember how I mentioned how we needed a new electric radiator for our smallest bedroom (soon to be Dylan’s room) after buying an electric radiator years back that simply didn’t cut the mustard. So when Electric Radiators Direct asked if I wanted to review Ecostrad’s new iQ Ceramic WiFi radiator, of course, I said YES!

As far as experience with electric radiators goes, over the last several years we’ve tried a fair few different brands, models and designs. Did I mention our old house was electrically heated too? Some have been good, some not go so good. But after nearly a decade of electric heating, I can definitely say I now know what makes a good electric radiator!

Ecostrad iQ Ceramic WiFi Radiator: An In-Depth Review

I’ve been trying out the new Ecostrad iQ Ceramic WiFi Radiator for the last few weeks and I’ve got to say, I’ve been pretty impressed! Sometimes I feel like ‘WiFi-ready devices’ can be a little unnecessary – I mean, I’m not totally convinced smart fridges are all that useful just yet, but when it comes to being able to control individual electric radiators through WiFi, it’s brilliant.

But, this radiator isn’t just brilliant because of its super-swish WiFi feature, it’s also really efficient at quickly heating a room, has a surprisingly clever sensor mode and its heat-retentive technology even saves you money!

Stylish, Simplistic Design

So let’s start with the first thing I look for in a radiator – STYLE. Yes, I’m one of those people who will definitely disregard a product if it’s going to ruin the decor. The design of electric radiators has come along in the last few years and this one definitely doesn’t disappoint!

The Ecostrad iQ Ceramic Electric Radiator is slimline, sleek and simplistic in design which I think, makes it quite modern looking. The touch-screen control gives the radiator an additional high-end designer feel to it and I also really liked the fact that it’s located on the top of the radiator, discreetly out of view when looking at the radiator front-on.

Size-wise this radiator is much smaller in both width and depth compared to others we’ve used. But at the same time, it actually has a higher KW output (1.5KW would you believe?!). It’s space-saving and perfect for smaller rooms or where you’re short on wall space. For both style and practicality, it’s an all-around win from me.

Lightweight and Easy To Install

The second thing I look for with electric radiators is the ease of installation. Electric radiators aren’t the cheapest to buy and when you have to hire an electrician to fit them at the same time, the costs can really quickly mount up! This radiator plugs straight in. No extra costs, no extra hassle.

Unlike oil-filled radiators which weigh an absolute ton (if you have very old electric storage heaters – you know what I’m talking about!!), this radiator is lightweight and can easily be lifted by one person alone, making installation MUCH easier. The radiator even comes with a template that shows you EXACTLY where to drill for fixing the brackets to a wall. It literally takes the guesswork out of measuring up and fitting to the wall and means you really don’t have to be a DIY expert for this job!

You can see how the template works in the photo below – our radiator is a 1500W and I’ve positioned the brackets in the locations marked for drilling.

Tips for Positioning Your Template

One thing I will say though is that the brackets aren’t located centrally on the radiator. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to want your radiator centrally located on a wall, or central underneath a window. If you position the template slap bang in the centre of a wall, unfortunately, your radiator won’t be.

It is, however, really easy to figure out how to position your template so your radiator is central and so I thought I’d share a few quick tips for doing this, in case it helps anyone reading this!

1. Find the centre point on your radiator and draw a small pencil line on the top of the radiator (you can rub this out later!)
2. Then hold your paper template against the back of the radiator making sure to align the drill holes against the slots on the radiator.
3. Holding your paper in position, transfer that pencil line onto the top of the paper template. This is the centre point of your radiator.
4. Once you’ve marked the centre point on your wall (or under a window) you can align the template on the wall, match up the pencil line with the centre you’ve marked on the wall. THIS will ensure your radiator is central.

In total, it probably only took around 10 minutes or less to complete this job. It was SO much quicker and simpler than needing to measure out the location for each bracket individually.

If fixing to the wall isn’t for you, you can also buy separate feet for the radiator to have it freestanding. This can be useful for moving the radiator between different rooms, which is ideal if you don’t want to buy multiple radiators, which can be particularly cost-effective for rooms that perhaps get very little use!

Ceramic Technology

The Ecostrad iQ Ceramic Radiator has a ceramic core that is not only fast to heat up but also heat-retentive, meaning it stays warmer for longer and even continues to release radiant heat for some time after it’s been powered off. This energy-saving technology helps to cut down on the overall running costs, saving electricity, saving you money.

I genuinely found this electric radiator heated up the room much faster than what we’ve been used to which is amazing, because let’s face it, if you’re like me, when it’s cold you want the space to warm up as fast as possible!!

WiFi Controlled Via The Smart Life App

One of the best things about this radiator is that it can be controlled straight from your phone! However, unlike some other electric radiators, it doesn’t require any additional ‘hubs’ which normally plug into your router and are additional extras to buy. The Ecostrad iQ Ceramic Radiator is smart-ready without the extra faff, no hub, no additional costs. You download the Smart Life App, input your router password and away you go.

There was virtually no set-up needed as the app even recognises a radiator close by, so all you need to do is name your new radiator, so if you have multiple radiators, you know which is which.

The app is SO easy to use, even if you’re not very technological, you really can’t go much wrong. You have the option to turn it on and off, change the temperature, switch between the 5 different modes (more on that in a bit!) and set up a 24/7 schedule.

There’s a couple of clever extra settings you can turn on, like open window detection which basically allows the radiator to detect a sudden drop in temperature and turn it off to save wasted energy. And there’s also a child lock setting that allows you to essentially ‘lock’ the radiator so it can’t be adjusted manually on the touch-screen control. I think we’re going to need that one in a few years!

The interface is super simple and there’s not too many buttons, controls or options which I liked as sometimes I think it can all become a bit confusing if there are too many controls. At the same time though, the app still has everything you need from it! The Smart Life App also works with other smart devices, for example, certain smart light bulbs or smart sockets – so you can essentially have all your WiFi devices controlled from the same app, which is super handy.

There’s also the option to use the app with Alexa or Google Home and activate each radiator through voice control. We don’t have either of these though, so I haven’t tested how this works personally – but the option is there if that’s your kinda jam.

For us, having a WiFi radiator in a baby’s room has been SO useful. Although Dylan isn’t sleeping in here just yet (he’s only 12 weeks old!), being able to turn the heat up or down without entering the room, I think, is going to be game-changing!

Of course, the app also allows you to control the radiator when away from home too, although unfortunately, I haven’t been able to give that much of a test – you can thank lockdown mark 3 for that! I imagine it’ll come in handy for all the times I forget to turn the radiator off when leaving the house though and I think it’s going to be great for pre-warming the room before returning home.

5 Different Modes Including a Clever ‘Sensor’ Mode

On the app, you have 5 different modes to choose from; Comfort, Eco, Anti-Freeze, Program and Sensor Mode. Comfort simply allows you to set the temperature for maximum comfort, all the way up to 30degrees. Eco mode is very similar but should be set to a lower temperature, for example, you might select this mode when the room isn’t in use during the day, but you still want to maintain a bit of heat.

Anti-Freeze is the mode you would choose through winter when the radiator isn’t in use. The temperature is set at 7degrees to prevent the radiator from freezing. This feature would be particularly useful for an outbuilding or if you’re away from the home for a prolonged period during the winter months.

Then there’s the program mode, which allows you to set up a 24/7 programme – I reckon this one would be particularly useful if you have a regular working/homelife routine.

And finally, there’s a sensor mode, which essentially uses a motion sensor to detect when the room is occupied. When unoccupied, it slowly steps the temperature down to save money and energy. And if no motion is detected for 24 hours, it then switches to the anti-freeze mode (set at 7degrees), effectively turning the radiator off.

I’m not going to lie, I was slightly dubious about how well the sensor would work, but it actually did work! It recognised when I was in here playing with Dylan and slowly stepped down in temperature when I wasn’t. This mode basically saves you money without you even having to think about it!

One thing I will say is that Dylan’s room isn’t massive and it’s a nice rectangular shape. If the radiator was poorly placed for motion detection, or used in an awkward ‘L shaped’ room, I don’t know whether it would always detect that motion. I also can’t say whether this mode works for overnight use (when sleeping!) as currently, this room isn’t occupied at night to test. But, from how we’ve used it so far – it definitely works! When you think about it, it’s such a simple but clever addition.

This is probably the mode I would be most inclined to use, as you pretty much don’t need to do anything in terms of controlling the radiator. If you forget to turn the radiator off when leaving the house, it doesn’t matter because the radiator already knows to turn itself down! You don’t need to worry about having a good mobile signal to access the app, and it doesn’t matter if it takes you 12 hours or more to realise you’ve left that radiator on. The radiator detects the room is unoccupied and has already done the job for you. It’s completely effortless heating, saving you money without you even noticing. I’ve got to say, I think it’s pretty genius and one of the stand-out features about this electric radiator for me.

100% Efficient and Energy Saving

Electric radiators are 100% efficient. That means every bit of electricity is turned into heat, with no energy lost (unlike gas boilers which are often only 75-95% efficient). Electric is also renewable energy and if you choose a renewable energy supplier, there are effectively zero carbon emissions. For me, that makes electric radiators all the more appealing!

I also really like the fact you can control the temperature of each room individually with electric radiators, unlike gas central heating which often has a single thermostat to control the whole house.

If you live in a house with rooms that aren’t used daily, only heating the rooms there are in use can save energy and help to cut down your overall bill. This is why I think the sensor mode on the Ecostrad iQ Ceramic is so great.

For us, electric heating also means we can achieve that recommended 18degrees sleep temperature in a babies room, whilst at the same time, have a radiator set to a much lower temperature in our own bedroom, which is how I like to sleep – COLD.

Running Costs

This is always a tricky one to review because what it costs for me, won’t necessarily cost the same for you. You need to bear in mind running costs vary depending on the output (kW) of an electric radiator, the size of the room, how well insulated the room is (for heat loss etc), how hot/cool the temperature is that day, as well as how much your energy costs per unit. All in all, please don’t take these figures as exact measurements, just as a very rough example.

On our energy tariff (current to April 2021) this radiator cost 24p per hour to run. However, the radiator doesn’t run for a full hour as it turns off once it reaches your chosen temperature. Starting at 16degrees, it took somewhere around 30 minutes for the radiator to reach the temperature I’d set at 19 degrees and turn off. It only turns on again when the radiator starts to drop in temperature, meaning on average for us, the first hour cost around 14p and subsequent hours cost anywhere between 2-6p depending on the time of day / external temperature.

As I say, you may find this radiator costs more / less than these figures in your own home, this is just what it’s costing for us currently. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that we are now in spring (despite those frosty evenings!), so I would expect those figures to potentially be slightly higher during winter.

I calculated these figures using a smart meter, turning off all other electrical devices for the day (except the fridge, obvz!)

Any Negatives?!

I genuinely have very little to say! If I’m being completely picky, my only complaint is that unless you’re able to use the radiator next to a socket, you are most likely going to need to run an extension lead as the cable is only 1.5m long.

I would also say it’s worth remembering electric radiators shouldn’t be covered, so you might want to think twice about installing underneath a window if you have any long curtains. This isn’t a problem for us but does mean you might have to be more selective about positioning.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, if you can’t tell – I think this radiator is fantastic! For me, I’m all about style, saving money and having something that actually works. The Ecostrad iQ Ceramic Electric Radiator does all three! You can buy this radiator from Electric Radiators Direct, where it’s available in 5 different sizes depending on square footage of your room. There’s a handy calculator on their website to help you identify the right size for your room!

For 10% off, use the code KEZZA10 at checkout – valid until the end of the month!

So I think that’s everything! I hope this Ecostrad iQ Ceramic Wifi radiator review was helpful and if you have any questions, do let me know below. As you can see, we still have a fair bit of work to do in Dylan’s new bedroom, so you’ll see more progress in here coming soon!

*This post was sponsored by Electric Radiators Direct. All words, views and opinions are my own and cannot be bought. Thank you for supporting this blog.

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Well, hello! It’s been a while since I’ve properly posted on here. For the last 9 months, I’ve been growing a baby in my tummy and 6 weeks ago we welcomed our little guy into the world. So, I thought it was about time I introduced you to our new little apprentice. Meet baby Dylan!

He was born a chunky 7lb 13oz and was delivered via planned c-section after turning himself breech at 38 weeks. Clearly, he was just too comfy in there!

We’ve been enjoying lots of newborn snuggles, many sleepless nights and lots of nappy changes, haha! There’s certainly been some ups and downs along the way, but we’re thoroughly loving our new little family of four (including the dog here, obvs).

I know everyone seems to love a birth story, but I’m afraid I don’t have much to share. It was all a bit of a blur, to be honest – one minute I was having a cannula put into my hand (which went wrong and saw my hand double in size), the next minute I was being cut open and seconds later a midwife was grabbing Grants phone announcing they were about to deliver the baby. I genuinely wasn’t prepared for how fast everything happened!

The team who delivered him were absolutely amazing and having had zero experience with the NHS before (and also having never been in hospital before), it really made me appreciate just how lucky we are here in the UK.

Six weeks on, I can’t say I’ve mastered any aspect of mum-life yet. We still haven’t got him used to sleeping in the bedside crib (however he LOVES sleeping in a stationary pram, go figure), I still regularly get wee’d on during nappy changes and as for breastfeeding, well, despite every effort to make it work, it just isn’t happening for us. But, even with all that and, all the worry and all the sleepless nights, I’m still loving it!

DIY has been on the back burner for a while, but we already have a list a mile long ready and waiting for us and I’m sure we’ll be returning to the tools pretty soon. I mean, we’re going to need to sort a few things before this little guy starts crawling! And let’s not forget, we still need to make him a room of his own too.

So that’s it really, I just wanted to pop on and share this little guys arrival. Hopefully he’ll be bashing in nails and helping with the reno real soon… ah, one can hope

The post Meet Our New Baby Apprentice! appeared first on Twits Guides.

Needless to say, 2021 isn’t going to be a huge year for renovating now we have a baby in tow! However, we do still have a few things we’d like to achieve. At the start of every new year, I generally share our plans for that year, so I thought I’d still do the same this year, albeit a little later than usual!

We’re hoping to start back on the DIY real soon, so hopefully, this is what’s in store for 2021!…

Baby Room

We didn’t have any plans to furnish/decorate a baby room before the baby arrived, but at some point in the next six months, it’s definitely going to be on the agenda.

The room in question is the smallest bedroom – and if you’ve been a reader here for a while, you might remember us ‘renovating’ this room back in 2015/2016.

The wallpaper has been stripped, the walls (mostly) repaired and we’ve even sanded the floorboards in there and re-instated an original victorian bedroom fireplace.

However, there were some things we didn’t complete. For example, the floor-to-ceiling cupboard is full of old leaky water tanks (3 of them!), the electric radiator we bought for this room has never worked (we even had it replaced and it’s still unreliable!), the skirting boards haven’t been finished and basically, the whole room is going to need a bit of an overhaul to make it baby-friendly.

I haven’t really got a ‘theme’ or style in mind for the room yet, so I’d better start thinking as I’m sure the months are going to speed by!

Basement

Our main focus for 2021 will be the basement, as it was for much of 2020 as well. We’ve already spent months stripping back the walls down here and saving to have electrics put in (which is now DONE FYI – more on that soon!) so we can finally begin properly putting the room back together. I’m talking about decorating, furnishing and giving the rooms their purpose!

I wrote a blog post last year explaining how we plan to use the rooms, which you can read here, although our plans have slightly changed since then.

There are four rooms in total and since we aren’t made of money, it’s going to continue being a slow process – but now we have electrics down there we can at least finally begin to move forward and actually use the space. I’m so excited about this one and we’ll have lots of DIY builds hopefully coming your way! Although don’t get too excited, we’re certainly not planning on ‘finishing’ the basement in 2021.

Living Room Alcoves

I think this has been on the to-do list for about 3 years, but it definitely needs doing this year. At some point, we’re going to have a crawling baby around the house and having copious tools/materials sitting around on the ground floor won’t be ideal.

The plan is fairly simple – two cupboards on either side of the chimney with shelves above. Once this is done we can finally unpack all our DVDs/Games/Books which have been in storage boxes for the last 7 years!!

The Allotment

A new one to add to the list this year, the allotment! Last year we spent weeks de-weeding and prepping the ground for winter – this year we’ll be building raised beds, creating a new layout and hopefully, growing some veggies!

It’s going to be somewhat difficult to get the building aspect done pre-spring with a newborn baby in tow, so I think this will become a bit of a solo project for Grant. Maybe a good excuse to get out of the house though, haha!

I’m hoping we can start off growing our veggies in the conservatory at home, so I won’t need to visit the plot as much in the beginning. Hopefully, by the time the baby is a few months old, we’ll have worked out a good system.

And that’s it! There’s a few smaller projects left to finish, like the pond, but this list would be a mile long if I listed all those! Let’s hope 2021 is going to be a much better year than 2020 – which I’m sure everyone is wishing for.

A very belated Happy New Year!

The post Our Renovation Plans for 2021 appeared first on Twits Guides.

Every year I write a list of projects we’d like to achieve within the next 12 months and at the end of the year I look back at how successful (or not!) we were in achieving them.

Last year we set ourselves four main projects (you can read the original blog post here), which included:

• Fully renovating the basement
• Finishing the garden path
• Wiring a series of new sockets in the living room
• Creating some DIY alcove units in the living room

This year I’m pleased to report we’ve managed to achieve 3 out of 4 ‘items’ from our list! Which I think is pretty good going considering 2020 was a strange year…

THE BASEMENT

OK so, the basement isn’t actually fully renovated, but it is fully stripped back and pretty much all the prep-work has been achieved.

We spent months at the start of 2020 stripping paint, cement slurry and all kinds of other muck from the brickwork. There was literally bags and bags of the stuff!

We also installed a new basement window, sanded back some of the original wood panelling above the stairs, opened up a fireplace and generally spent hours cleaning and scrubbing the entire space down. It took FOREVER!

The rooms may not be finished down here, but the worst of the work is at least done, so I’ll celebrate that! We also now have electric installed to the basement – but I’ll talk more about that soon!

THE POND

Say what now? Yes, this was not on the list for 2020, but it did actually tackle the bullet point for ‘finish garden path’. This was such an impulsive DIY that definitely wasn’t on the original garden plan! I dunno what happened really – one day I just decided a pond was a great idea and then spent around 4-weeks trying to decide whether or not I should go ahead with it. As you can see, we did indeed go ahead with it!!

This DIY isn’t something I’ve documented on the blog (yet) because it’s still not quite finished, but you’ll notice the garden path is now GONE, so that’s at least a job ticked off the list! Again – I’ll share more on the pond soon I promise!

ELECTRICS IN THE LIVING ROOM

Whilst we had the electrics in the basement put in, we also had an electrician wire in some new sockets in the lounge too. Grant did all the prep-work himself, chasing out the sockets and notching out the joists, so all the electrician had to do was wire everything in.

After years of extension leads, I can’t tell you how great it is to finally have sockets in the right locations! We even have a new (secondhand) electric radiator in the lounge too. It’s the best-looking electric radiator I’ve found to date and I’ll be reviewing very soon!

We still need to patch the walls in here, but it’s a step in the right direction and something we’ve waited years to be able to do!

THE ALLOTMENT

Technically not a renovation project, but I felt like it needed a mention anyway! 2020 was the year we got an allotment and spent hours clearing our new plot ready for winter.

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to grow a lot in 2020 (other than some lettuce and carrots) as we’d missed most of the growing season, but we have big plans for this space in 2021 and I can’t wait to share soon!

And that’s it for 2020! Unfortunately we didn’t get round to the DIY alcove units, but there’s always 2021 right?!

How did you get on with your renovation list this year?

The post 12 Months of Renovations – What We Achieved in 2020! appeared first on Twits Guides.

If it wasn’t obvious from the image above, our biggest project yet isn’t actually a renovation project, but in fact, a baby!

Yes, I’ve been growing a tiny human for a while now, the due date is getting crazily close, I’m already on maternity leave and I felt it was about time I shared this major life news with you all.

It still seems somewhat unreal, but I guess soon we’ll be trying to work out how to change nappies and wondering whether we’ll ever sleep again. It’s definitely going to be a learning curve, and yes, I’m somewhat terrified!

I’ve waited some time to share this news for a whole bunch of different reasons, but at some point I decided I just wanted to make it through to maternity leave first.

My job isn’t exactly pregnancy-friendly – it’s fast-paced, involves being on your feet all night, constantly lifting, bending and quite frankly, knackering on the old knees/back at the best of times. In the end, every shift felt like an endurance test just to make it through the night and my back has genuinely never hurt so much!

I’ve been counting down the weeks and now I’m out on maternity leave, I finally feel like I can relax, take it easy, and actually celebrate and enjoy pregnancy. This will also be the first time since I was 16 that I’m not working over Christmas week and I can’t tell you how excited I am for that!

If you follow me on Instagram you might have also noticed that DIY and renovating have been pretty non-existent over the last several months. Being pregnant has definitely meant there’s been less and less I can do as the months go by, and if you followed the work we carried out at the allotment, you might have noticed it was Grant doing the bulk of the work – thanks, Grant!

This year has also been a funny one though, and so pregnancy hasn’t been 100% to blame for lack of progress. Unfortunately, we just haven’t had the money for the renovations we’d planned to do.

We’re both really fortunate to have key-worker jobs (thankfully giving us job security throughout 2020), but as Grant hasn’t been able to car-share like usual this year, our petrol spending has been something like 5x higher each month. A significant rise we weren’t prepared for at the start of 2020! Grant is also earning a little less too, but I’ll explain more on that next year.

Of course, both of these things are nothing compared to the financial struggles others are going through right now, but it has meant we’ve had to re-evaluate our budgets and put less money into the DIY/renovation fund.

And alongside that, I know lots of you might be wondering what’s in store for the nursery/baby’s room too, but unfortunately, there isn’t one! This may be somewhat controversial as I’m told I will never have time to create a nursery once the baby arrives, but it’s the route we’ve chosen to take.

We’ve obviously spent quite a lot on baby supplies this year (albeit we’ve mostly purchased secondhand) and although we’d planned for this, spending on decorative furnishings or a whole room a baby won’t even appreciate, didn’t really seem like a priority to us right now. Especially given some of the other renovation plans we haven’t been able to achieve.

The baby will be sleeping in our room for the first six months anyway and we simply feel that there are far more pressing jobs to deal with, before decorating a nursery. So I’m afraid there will be no baby room updates anytime soon!

You can, however, see the room which we hope to turn into a nursery below. It’s *mostly* been renovated anyway, but we’ll need to sort out the leaky water tanks in the cupboard, finish fitting the skirting, patch the walls where we’ve installed sockets, replace the electric radiator (which never worked – I don’t recommend!!) and then make room elsewhere in the house for the spare bed, desk and my PC.

On the whole, though, the room is nothing like it was when we first moved in and requires re-decorating and re-furnishing, rather than full-blown renovating. You can see all the work we’ve done to the room over the years here.

As for the future of our DIY home renovation, well I’m sure it’s going to be slower than it’s ever been before. I have no doubt we’ll continue to have less money moving forward and even less time as well. Everything will become a huge juggling act – but we’re in no rush, there’s no deadline and this isn’t a race for us. Our house is definitely a labour of love and I’ve always said that it’ll take as long as it takes. So there are no plans to stop DIYing anytime soon, don’t worry!

It’s been almost 10 years since Grant and I bought our first doer-upper and it’s been 10 long years of constant renovating ever since – with nearly 7 years in this house alone! I know we’ve worked bloody hard over the years and I know we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep pushing through.

Our house may still be far from finished, but our lives now are more than anything I ever thought we’d have 10 years ago. We’ve learnt to live amongst the chaos and having spent years slowly building a home, we’re incredibly grateful for every bit that is done.

So whilst it’s certainly going to be a juggling act trying to continue with our renovations whilst raising a baby – I’m pretty up for that challenge! I’m not saying it will be easy, but we’ll evolve somehow!

So that’s an update on our life news for you all. 2021 will be a very different year for us and things are gonna change slightly around here – but I hope you’ll continue to stick with us on the slow lane and who knows, maybe there’ll even be some baby orientated DIYs along the way!

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Renovations in our old victorian basement cellar have begun, and although it’s very slow progress, this is a project I’m so excited to develop! So far, we’ve stripped back the walls, opened up the fireplace and we’ve even added in a window.

We’ve made great headway, but we still have plenty left to achieve before it’s anywhere near usable down there. One question I’ve been asked a few times over the last few months is how we’ll be tanking/damp-proofing the basement.

The answer is, we’re not. So I thought I would write a post and explain why.

Before I start though, I just wanted to say that I am certainly NO expert when it comes to buildings or building work in general. However, there is A LOT of free advice on the internet (not all good advice, I might add!!) and lots of different platforms you can learn from.

About 7/8 years ago when we were in the process of selling our previous home, my eyes were opened around the questionable work within the damp-proofing industry. I spent hours reading information from experts and watching YouTube videos calling out damp-proofing techniques that just don’t work in period homes.

I know this may all sound like a bit of a conspiracy theory against damp-proofing – but I’m going to share what I’ve learnt over the years and hopefully, it will at least make you think twice about certain techniques and to weigh up the different opinions before jumping down the “we need to damp-proof X-Y-Z” route.

I’ve also linked some great sources at the end of this post where you can find more information about damp/breathability in old homes.

Period Houses are Made with Different Materials

Not all buildings are built the same way. You’ve seen cottages built in a collection of various sized local stones right? And you can tell the difference between period bricks and modern bricks? These materials are all slightly different. A bit like card, paper and kitchen roll, so to speak. Same same, but different.

Some bricks are softer than others and likewise, some mortars are softer than others too. Yes, it’s all mortar and it all holds your house together, but the exact ingredients and ratios might be different.

In period buildings, traditionally when it was built, the mortar was made from lime. As was the plaster, any exterior renders and even the paint. All lime-based products! And what makes lime special? It’s porous, making it breathable.

Breathability in Period Buildings

When victorian houses were built, they were designed for that era. They had chimneys to house coal fires to keep the house warm, cool cellars for storing food and even the single glazed draughty windows provided the ventilation a house needed. What seems like poor choices in a world of modern technology, was probably once upon a time, clever design ideas.

And that breathable lime I was talking about? It allowed moisture IN and OUT of the building structure. Whether that’s in liquid form, or as gas, it meant there was a balance of intake and evaporation. A natural equilibrium and the ability for buildings to “breathe”.

To put this into context for you, it would mean any internal moisture from drying clothes or cooking, for example, would penetrate the lime plaster and then simply evaporate back out. External moisture too, such as from rain would do the same. It would enter the lime mortar (or render) and then evaporate right back out.

Those draughty windows and warm coal fireplaces acted in favour of this natural drying cycle and because of these breathable materials, water was never trapped within the building. Which meant, these old buildings did not typically have damp problems.

Any moisture within the building had an escape route.

The Problem with Modern Cement, Gypsum Plaster and Damp Proofing Paints on Period Buildings

Modern houses are built very differently from period buildings. They’re built with much harder bricks, they’re designed to be waterproof, highly insulated and with zero draughts. Basically, the exact opposite!

The materials they’re built with, like cement, prevent moisture from getting in or out and are NON-breathable. In theory, this may sound great, BUT when combined with period materials or within a period home, it simply doesn’t work and instead, traps moisture within the building.

Remember I said some bricks are softer than others? If you replace lime mortar with a cement mortar, not only will you be trapping that moisture within the building itself (as it no longer has an escape route), but it will also cause those softer bricks to deteriorate. You’ll often see this where the face of brick has crumbled away (known as spalling).

Similarly, if you cover lime mortared bricks with gypsum plaster or certain modern paints, (like weatherproof masonry paint which is non-breathable), you’re disrupting that same natural balance and again, trapping moisture.

These materials simply weren’t designed for old buildings and don’t work well when used with traditional materials.

Check out this video to see a real example of the effect of cement on period bricks.

What Does Trapped Moisture Lead To?

So I’ve given you a couple of examples already, but let’s break it down further:

Damp Patches

Where moisture cannot escape, you’ll find damp patches. This might be from condensation within the home or water trapped on the outside of the home. Where it would once upon a time have simply evaporated away, it’s now stuck within the very fabric of the building.

Peeling Paints

Many modern paints are also non-breathable. Ever seen a Victorian house covered externally in peeling paint? When moisture wants to get out, it will find any possible way to get out. In time, the paint will flake and peel away from the surface. This is a particular problem with masonry paint.

Spalling Brickwork

One of the worse effects of trapped moisture is spalling bricks. As I mentioned previously, this is when a brick is deteriorating. Usually, the face of the brick will burst off and eventually, the whole brick will crumble.

This often happens specifically when moisture within the brick freezes (and expands as doing so), therefore breaks the brick. Over time, spalling bricks allow more moisture to penetrate the brick, creating more problems. Eventually, these bricks need to be replaced and many over a large span can even become a structural issue.

What About Damp-Proofing Treatments?

There is a vast amount of different damp proofing treatments available and each work in different ways, but essentially, they act to prevent moisture from entering a building. However, if you’ve read the above, you’ll know this has a similar effect as cement and doesn’t FIX the issue, it simply traps water, or masks over it until the moisture can find a new route to escape.

Many believe the whole damp proofing industry is a con and I’ve read some debate that there is no such industry in certain countries across the world. Rising damp, in particular, in a greatly debated topic.

I could write a whole blog post on the topic, but there is evidence to suggest that many damp proofing treatments simply don’t work in period homes and that they weren’t required in the first place!

There are many reasons for damp, including the external ground being too high, leaking gutters or drains and of course, things like cement being used in period homes. These issues are often overlooked when damp-proofing is advised.

The Importance of Breathability In Basements and Cellars

If there was one place in your house which is GUARANTEED to have moisture within it – it’s probably going to be the basement or cellar. It’s underground after all.

So naturally, that moisture on the outside penetrates through to some extent. Your first thought might be “how can we STOP this moisture from getting in?” and more likely than not, your cellar or basement will have evidence of previous attempts at stopping it.

Maybe you have bitumen or another kind of damp proofing paint slathered across your walls? Or maybe it’s been concrete rendered? Maybe those draughty windows and the original coal hole have been blocked up?

Unfortunately, these methods have probably done very little to help the situation, and if anything, they’ve made it worse, simply trapping that moisture and saturating the brick, rather than allowing it to escape.

A big problem with a basement having moisture trapped within its walls, if that the basement is the very foundations of your home and dampness in a cellar can also lead to rotten floor joists in the rooms above too.

The Problem with Tanking

Tanking is a form of waterproofing and has many different forms. From liquid cement slurry which acts almost like render, to plastic sheet membranes forming a barrier around the wall, the list goes on.

The problem with all those methods? It still traps moisture within the walls. And the problem with being underground is that it’s almost like creating a swimming pool around the outside of your house.

Sure it may keep the damp from displaying itself in your basement for some amount of time, but the problem is, your house is now sat in that moisture. Eventually, the bricks will saturate in moisture, deteriorate, spall and crumble over the years. You may start to find damp patches in the rooms above as moisture fights its way out, destroying joists, timber floors and other woodwork in its route. And worst yet, that higher moisture level, in time, will simply make your basement wetter.

So What ARE We Doing to Prevent Damp in our Cellar?

Our plan is pretty simple. Instead of focussing on keeping moisture OUT, we plan to work WITH it, just as our home was originally built to do. This basically means putting the cellar back to the way it was built.

Remove ALL Non-Breathable Materials

You’ll know we’ve already removed as much waterproof coating as possible from our basement walls. This includes cement slurry, bitumen paint, masonry paint etc. This will allow the walls to breathe again and for the moisture to escape.

Improve Ventilation and Air Circulation

Ventilation and good airflow is key to keeping a basement dry. You’ll know our basement had ZERO ventilation and we’ve already tried to improve that slightly by reopening the bricked-up window and reopening the fireplace. This will allow fresh air into the basement and to some degree, the open fireplace will allow a route for air to move out of the basement.

This certainly isn’t fool-proof though and in an ideal world to improve circulation, we’d add a mechanical ventilation system to guarantee good air movement. At the moment, we’re not doing this – but we’re mindful of this being an option should we encounter moisture issues.

It’s worth noting that adding a load of external vents does very little for damp, it simply allows cold air in. Ventilating a basement and then circulating that air is two separate issues.

We could also add vents in the floorboards of the rooms above (nice decorative ones of course!), but again, this is something we’ll consider down the line should we need it.

Install a Dehumidifier and Radiators

On top of ventilating and circulating, we’ll also be adding a dehumidifier to collect excess moisture (again, this will allow us to manage moisture rather than prevent it) and some radiators too. This will replace cold air with warm air, which is also a key element for keeping a basement or cellar dry.

You can get mechanical ventilation systems which will warm cold air at the same time as removing moisture and providing air flow, however, these systems are quite pricey, so for now, we’ll just be using radiators and a dehumidifier.

Use ONLY Breathable Materials

Finally, we’ll be using traditional breathable materials, such as lime mortar, lime paster, quarry tiles (made from clay and are breathable), lime wash and/or clay paint. All of which will allow moisture in/out.

Will that make our basement dry? Hopefully, yes – it’s all a bit of trial and error, but we’ll certainly find out and I’ll keep you posted!

I know some houses which have a serious damp problem in their cellar basements often use additional pumps/drainage systems to manage moisture, but debatably amongst many experts, tanking should very rarely ever be required.

Word of Caution Around the Word “Breathable”

The last thing I wanted to mention on this post, is that I highly recommend thoroughly researching any products you find which claim to be “breathable”.

The problem is, as more people are understanding the need for breathability within period homes, more companies are launching “breathable” products. Great, you’d think! Except, HOW MUCH a product is breathable may greatly vary.

Imagine buying a ‘pork’ sausage, which is only made up of 5% pork. If the sale of meat was unregulated, it could claim to be pork even with just 5%. But compared to a 95% pork sausage, it’s not really a match, is it?

Some breathable products are just like that. According to experts, the term ‘breathable’ is currently unregulated and HOW MUCH a product is truly breathable may greatly differ. A product that claims to be “breathable” may not be nearly breathable enough.

My advice is to research well, find reviews and invest in longstanding reputable brands known for their traditional materials.

For more information, please read this in-depth article.

Read What The Experts Have To Say…

So there you have it. Everything I’ve learnt about period buildings and breathability over the years. Don’t take my word for it though, check out some of these sources for more information/advice on damp and traditional lime products:

• Peter Ward YouTube Channel (This is a FANTASTIC place to start with educational videos and lots of scientific research behind ‘damp’ in old buildings) This video in particular covers cellars and how to keep them dry.

• Heritage House – If you want to hire Peter (as mentioned above) to survey your damp problems, this is the website to go. There are also lots of written articles and advice to follow on there about all kinds of different building works on older homes.

• GreenSpec – Another great website with advice around insulation, ventilation, damp and maintenance of old buildings.

• Mike Wye – Lots of great videos for DIYers if you want to learn how to use lime based products!

• Lime Green – More articles, videos and information on all things ‘lime’.

• Cornish Lime – Recommended to me by an Instagram Follower (thank you @house_on_the_border!) this company sells lime products, has great online articles and even offers training days if you want to learn how to DIY with lime.

• Earthborn Clay Paints – Clay paint is breathable and comes highly recommended for use with lime-based products. Check out their blog for more information!

• Linseed Paint – Linseed paint is recommended for preventing trapped moisture within woodwork which may contribute to rot. Particularly, this is recommended for external woods which many would use “waterproof” coatings.

A Little Roundup

Well this turned out to be one LENGTHY post didn’t it?! I hope I haven’t rambled too much and you can make sense of my poor written skills. If you have any information, advice, articles, experts you’d like to share – please do leave them in the comments below for others to see/read.

As I said at the beginning, my opinions and knowledge on this topic has come from research and learning through others (namely those mentioned above!) – I certainly don’t claim to be an expert, but I do want to use this little space on the web to talk about this topic of breathability and hopefully help you find information for advice for your own renovations.

So I hope this was helpful and please do share anything extra you have to add below!

The post Why Your Cellar Walls Need to Breathe (And Why We’re NOT Tanking) appeared first on Twits Guides.

*AD: This post is part of a paid partnership with Bosch Home & Garden.

Back in July, we took on an allotment plot after putting our names down on a waiting list last year. I shared a little look around our new allotment soon after, although admittedly, it just looked like one crazy overgrown mess! A few months on, we’re now clearing the space out and preparing our new allotment plot for winter, so of course, I thought I’d share our progress with you.

Over the summer months, we didn’t do much to the plot, although we did clear out two beds and sowed some lettuce and carrot seed. Surprisingly, we successfully managed to grow both(!), although admittedly, the carrots were a little on the small side.

Other than that very small harvest, we’ve done nothing else to our plot. Although, I actually think this was probably for the best as it’s given us more time to think about the space and we’ve actually changed some of our existing plans, like keeping the original raised beds.

As the weather’s become colder, we thought we would prepare the soil and general area for the frosty winter’s months, especially when we really wanted to make sure that we could make the most out of the allotment next year! This is where the Bosch 18V range really helped in getting everything ready as we needed a good range of cordless tools!

Anyway, I’ll share more of our plans towards the end of this post, but here’s a little run-down of everything we’ve done over the last month to get this allotment ready for winter! Although this post relates to a disused overgrown and abandoned plot, I think these steps will become the basis of the winter prep we’ll do yearly.

Preparing an Allotment For Winter

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which allows me to receive a small commission if you visit a link and buy something on my recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products I have bought or used myself. Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*).

Clearing and De-weeding The Allotment

If it wasn’t already painfully obvious, the first thing we needed to do, was de-weed and clear out our new allotment plot. As our plot is fairly sizeable, this actually took A LOT of work.

We pulled out most of the longer weeds by hand and piled them up in a corner of the plot, where they’ll eventually be transferred into the compost bin.

For tougher weeds or shorter weeds which weren’t as easy to remove by hand, we used a hoe to dislodge them. This is one of the original tools we found in our garden when we first moved 6 years ago. Finally coming in handy!!

This job in itself probably took a good few afternoons of work and some serious backache! We had a mass of nettles to contend with (I left that job for Grant – lucky him eh?!) and a crazy amount of rhubarb, which had roots the size of an elephants trunk!

Trim Back Borders and Pathways

At the sides of our allotment (and also the back), we have grass pathways, which are communal paths to allow for access for the other surrounding allotment plots.

These paths are jointly maintained, although as you can see – we’ve been letting the team down with our overgrown edges!

This is something we’ll need to keep on-top of moving forward, but it’s also definitely a job that needs to be done before going into winter and leaving the plot for the next few months.

Bosch very kindly sent us an ART 23-18 LI cordless grass trimmer to use for this job, which made very quick work of it! The trimmer is really very lightweight and also quite compact for storage, which I was really pleased about, considering our garden shed is rather small!

At the same time though, the cordless grass trimmer also extends to fit your perfect height, so there’s no bending over when in use.

The trimmer is battery operated, making it PERFECT for use away from the house in an allotment like this – The POWER FOR ALL ALLIANCE is one of the largest cross brand 18V battery systems of leading manufacturers worldwide and allows you to interchange batteries from a range of product from a number of different brands. No cable. No limits. You can take the 18 V battery from your vacuum cleaner and have it power all of your gardening tools on the allotment! Save money, save space and protect the environment!  

If you want to read more about the benefits of the POWER FOR ALL ALLIANCE including the founding members Bosch Home & Garden, check out this post for more information.

We’d never used a trimmer before but were really impressed with how easy it was to use. Being lightweight meant we never got arm strain and our plot neighbour even commented on how quiet it was compared to his petrol trimmer. A full battery lasted around 30minutes, which was more than enough time for tidying up these edges.

Removing and Repairing Rotten Beds

Initially, we’d planned to reuse the wooden beds we’d inherited with the plot and just replace those that were desperately rotten. However, after some of our wooden beds went missing (presumably someone thought the plot was abandoned and helped themselves), we decided that actually, we may as well replace the whole lot.

We figured it would probably be less work in the long-run this way, although we won’t actually be building new beds until next year.

Removing the old beds was really easy to do using the Bosch AdvancedRecip 18 Reciprocating Saw which we’d also been sent to try. This was another one of the tools compatible within the Bosch POWER FOR ALL range that meant we could quickly interchange the battery that we’d been using for other tools on the project. 

The Bosch AdvancedRecip18 itself is really useful for all kinds of demolition work and can be used on a range of materials from wood to plastic to metal and you could even use on branches if you have any trees/bushes too!

Instead of having to unscrew the wooden beds, one screw at a time, we simply just chopped straight through those screws with the saw, leaving tidy clean cuts and no sharp screw ends to accidentally stand on.

The saw went through all the materials we cut really quickly, so much that this whole job took just minutes!

Whilst we were ripping apart the raised beds, we also decided to remove the old broken poly-tunnel too. Again, Grant just cut the poles apart, using the same saw and same blade. It saved us having to manually dismantle the frame and actually, I think some of the poles now cut down to a more manageable size could come in handy around the plot next year!

Whilst we had the tools out and to hand, we also repaired the compost bin, which was looking a tad wonky, using a Bosch Uneo MaxxCordless drill. We removed the compost inside the bin to do this (more on that in a bit!) and simply re-enforced the bin with a piece of wood across the top. Hopefully, this will keep it secure until next year when we plan to move and re-build it entirely!

Removing Excess Rubbish

Speaking of rotten beds and other rubbish, our allotment plot was covered in it! Amongst the weeds, you’d find plastic bottles, old carpet, broken tubs, food packaging, old gloves, you name it. It was an absolute MESS.

Whether you’re cleating out a new (abandoned) allotment plot or not, it’s always a good idea to remove excess waste before winter. We probably did around 3/4 skip runs in total – mostly getting rid of old carpet! Our poor car.

Emptying or Turning the Compost Heap!

We were really fortunate to inherit a compost bin along with our plot and a pretty sizeable one at that! We’d planned to simply turn the compost heap to aerate it, however, we quickly realised the compost pile was actually ready for use.

According to a neighbour, the bin hadn’t been emptied in about FOUR years! We had enough compost to cover the whole plot with around a 2-4cm layer, which felt like A LOT of compost. Poor old Grant was shovelling for hours! I had great fun trying to get the artiest snaps of him flinging mud across the air though.

As we added the compost, we also tried to level the ground out using a rake, filling in any dips and low points as we went. It’s obviously not perfect, but a whole lot better than it was!

Once we’d removed the compost from the bin, we could turn in all the new waste we’d collected from pulling out weeds. The bin very quickly soon filled back up and hopefully in a year or so we’ll have some new compost from it!

Adding Manure

As well as adding compost to the ground, we had also planned to add some manure as well.

Unfortunately, the farmer who delivers the manure said it would be a six-week wait, as he was so busy right now. Given it would be December by this point, we decided to leave adding manure this time around.

Of course, we could have bought bagged manure from a shop, but it would have cost considerably more. We at least know for next year that we need to put our order in earlier!

Covering The Ground with Heavy-Duty Landscaping Fabric

Slowly but surely our plot went from being an overgrown weedy mess to being cleared, levelled and with fresh compost added. We could finally see the area in which we were dealing with!

I know, it looks HUGE and I guess, it is. In total, it measures around 9m by 15m making it bigger than our garden, which is just crazy.

To save ourselves backache and having to re-clear weeds again in a few months, we’ve covered the plot in heavy-duty landscaping fabric. This is the same stuff we’ve used underneath gravel and our DIY scaffold decking, which you’ve probably seen me bang on about time and time again.

The difference between heavy-duty fabric and the basic cheaper fabric is that it won’t tear. Unlike sheet plastic, it’s permeable and will let water through, meaning you won’t end up creating a mini bog too! It’s not the cheapest to buy and we spent around £50 on fabric for a plot this size – but we can re-use the fabric year after year, so we felt it was an investment worth making.

To lay the landscaping fabric down, we used galvanised garden pegs every 30cm or so, to keep it from blowing off in harsh winds.

Of course, if we had raised beds on our plot we would only need to cover those, not the entire area like this! I know some people prefer to use carpet or cardboard to do this, but having seen how the existing carpet faired on our plot, we weren’t so keen on that. And we also felt cardboard would just be a mess to remove next year.

We can, however, re-use some of this fabric next year when we make little paths in-between the beds, so it will certainly come in use again.

Anyway, that’s it! Our plot is now clear and ready for winter! Bit of an improvement from the before shot, huh?

There are a couple of other jobs to complete, like trimming back the asparagus and berry bushes, however, they’re not quite ready for trimming yet, so that’ll be something we’ll pop back and do in the next month or so!

Our Allotment Plans for Next Year

I am SO excited for next year and the next growing season. We have a whole list of vegetables we want to grow and we’re planning to create an entirely new layout as well. I won’t get into too much detail at this stage because you never know – we may change our minds!

BUT to give you a little idea of our current rough plans here’s a little peek:

We’re complete newbies to growing our own fruit/veg, so I’m sure we won’t be 100% successful at growing everything, but as long as we’re learning on the way, then it’ll be worth it!

I hope this post was useful if you’ve taken on a new allotment and have no clue where to begin – we totally feel you! I’ll be sharing more allotment content next year, or you can always follow me on Instagram for real-time updates too!

Until then, I think I’ll be resting this poor back

The Bosch Home and Garden tools I used for this project were the:

For DIY inspiration, visit the AllAbouDIY webpage – all tools are available on the Bosch Heroes website.

*AD: This post was part of a paid partnership with Bosch Home & Garden.

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