DIY & Building

Pilkington’s energiKare Glass Reduces Fuel Bills And CO2

Pilkington’s energiKare Glass Reduces Fuel Bills And CO2

Pilkington, developers of the world’s first self-cleaning glass are launching a new glass called energiKare, which will help home-owners reduce fuel bills and their carbon footprint.

energiKare has been specifically designed to cut energy loss from the home and is twice as efficient as standard double-glazing, meaning homeowners save between £80-£100 off annual heating bills.

The new glass reduces the net heat loss from windows, by allowing more heat from the sun in through the window (known as solar gain) and in turn reducing the amount of heat loss from inside the home.

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Read more about : Building Services, Windows

Home Energy Efficiency Made Easy At B&Q

Home Energy Efficiency Made Easy At B&Q

B&Q’s extensive new range of energy efficiency products make it easy to help limit your impact on the environment and make savings on your home energy bills this winter, by taking small steps to effect big changes.

Wrap-up Warm – Over a quarter of your home’s heat is lost through your loft, so insulation makes good sense; with new innovations and buy one get one free on all rolls of insulation, there’s never been a better time to think about insulating your home.

B&Q stocks a variety of loft insulation products including:

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Read more about : DIY Advice

Louis Poulsen’s Pure And Unpretentious Flindt Lamps

Louis Poulsen’s Pure And Unpretentious Flindt Lamps

The Flindt collection is a result of a partnership between Louis Poulsen Lighting and Christian Flindt – a young Danish designer who has, through his original and highly expressive design expression, quickly made a name for himself in Denmark and internationally.

The new collection of home lighting – two pendants and a floor lamp, display a refreshing and novel idiom in innovative materials; the utterly simple geometry uniting with a high degree of visual complexity.

The dual shades consist of a cylinder and a truncated cone, both woven in matt white vinyl string; the weaving technique creates a three-dimensional, transparent style and the patterns change when the lamp is viewed from different angles.

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Read more about : Home Lighting

Renovation Survey Reveals A Planning Black Hole

Survey Reveals A Planning Black Hole

The renovation generation is in danger of falling into a planning black hole, according to research carried out by Architect Your Home, a leading supplier of architectural services for the UK residential market.

The survey revealed that a staggering 74 per cent of homeowners were not sure of, or didn’t understand, the planning regulations that would affect the renovations they were currently planning, or carrying out to their properties.

The research also revealed that one in 10 homeowners had already started a renovation project, without first getting planning permission and a further seven per cent would be tempted to start a project without first gaining permission.

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Read more about : Building Services

Powergen Invites You To Take The Energy Challenge

Powergen Invites You To Take The Energy Challenge

UK residents are being recommended to take Powergen’s Energy Challenge, which can cut up to £160 a year off their energy bills* and reduce their carbon footprints. (Takes just 15 minutes.)

Powergen, which is part of E.ON, one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies, is asking people to take the simple challenge by visiting their website.

The Energy Challenge site provides an-online-shop that enables people:

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Read more about : DIY Advice, Web Sites

Ikea’s Glansa Lighting Collection For Christmas

Ikea’s Glansa Lighting Collection For Christmas

Ikea’s Christmas 2007 Glansa lighting collection leaves no gloomy corners indoors, let alone gardens and balconies; with chandeliers, drapes, stars, light chains and hanging decorations, creating the right festive setting and mood.

With a winter that lasts 4-5 months and a need to lighten up their homes, the Swedes have always valued and cherished good lighting and employ candles and lighting decorations to create a very cosy and inviting atmosphere.

The Glansa Lysa lighting pictured here, has a snowball theme and includes a huge chandelier (90cm white £99.50), hanging lights/drape (48 bulbs- indoor, assorted colours £16.99) and a light chain (48 bulbs –outdoor white £16.99), which you can put on the ground.

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Read more about : Christmas Decorations, Home Lighting

Domia Lite Provides Affordable Home Automation

Quality Manhattan Style Living From Nolte-Kuechen

Domia Lite is a simple home automation solution, enabling control of lighting and other electrical home appliances at the touch of a button.

The system is an uncomplicated plug and play system, which doesn’t need any rewiring; it is RF based, which allows it to communicate with each individual module from a distance of up to 30 metres.

Controlled by a range of remote controls and motion sensors, this system offers a wide range of possibilities:

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Read more about : Home Automation, Home Lighting, Light Switches, Security Lighting

Menu’s New Lighthouse Series Of Oil Lamps

Menu’s New Lighthouse Series Of Oil Lamps

Menu, the design company has introduced a new oil lamp series called Lighthouse, which features a newly developed oil burner that really lights up the night with an intensified flame.

Christian Bjørn took inspiration for his new table lamp range from the Scandinavian summer twilight, contrasting the gentle forms of the white porcelain with the intense, vibrant light; The Scandinavian coast has a rich supply of lighthouses to show the way in the night.

The effective Lighthouse oil lamps evoke pictures of people on voyages and stories of far-flung places and create an ambience that can be useful outdoors all year round.

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Read more about : Garden Lights, Home Lighting, Table Lamps

Accessible Architecture From Architect Your Home

Accessible Architecture From Architect Your Home

Architect Your Home has turned architecture into a commodity that is more accessible to the consumer.

Thanks to the company’s menu of services, people can pick and choose the services that suit them and their project, thus enabling homeowners with varying budgets to get access to affordable ideas, advice and drawings in a pay-as-you-go style.

As part of the initial session, clients will receive advice on planning and building regulations, likely costs, pitfalls and their budget. Customers can then involve the architect as much, or as little as they like during the project.

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Read more about : Building Services, Home Interiors

Ikea’s First Boklok Housing Development In The UK

Ikea’s First BoKlok Housing Development In The UK

In the first couple of hours, dozens of people interested in securing a home on the UK’s first BoKlok housing development, visited IKEA’s Gateshead store to apply for the much sought after properties.

They obtained information about the different homes on offer and the application form that could qualify them to acquire a BoKlok property at St James Village in Gateshead.

Once the application forms are submitted, BoKlok will begin the process of allocating the homes, which will involve interviewing people who meet the necessary criteria,

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Read more about : Building Services, North East England