What is the difference between apex and pent sheds?

You are more likely to recognise apex sheds because they are more traditional in having a pointed roof shape. Pent sheds, are just as popular though and you can recognise them because they have a flat roof with a relatively small slope which makes the rainwater drain away of one side of your wooden shed.

While you might think this is a very small difference and the shed is basically just a shed, the outcome to your choice can make a vast difference to the look of your garden as well as the way that you are able to use your shed.

Controlling the rain

A wooden shed doesn’t like water, but it is always going to rain in Britain so it is best to make sure that your garden shed is well protected and doesn’t let’s rain inside causing damage to the goods you are trying to store. Equally important, is your shed’s ability for the wood to not take in water itself, because wood against damp eventually rots and then your garden shed will collapse.

Thinking about the location of your shed

When you are considering the final location for your shed, this might make the decision for you about choosing an apex or a pent roof shed.

One of the main reasons for choosing an apex shed, is the ability for most people and even tall people to stand in the middle of the shed and be able to reach all around it to select the items you want to use in the garden. This extra height makes the shed extremely usable, whereas in a pent shed you may not be able to stand on one side of the shed without bending. This might be okay when you’re 25, but not such an excellent factor when you’re 75.

Although there are as many pent sheds in gardens as there are apex sheds, it is the apex variety that is seen as the more traditional choice and therefore expected in a garden. They blend in and match very well with most house and garden styles.

Apex sheds do give you the opportunity to house tall and awkwardly shaped items as the roof shape allows you to store items that are larger than your door space. The apex shaped allows you to move the items in and out much easier than a pent roof wooden shed, which means you have easy access to whatever it is you’re trying to hide.

Because there is more space in the higher area of an apex shed it will give you the feeling that the room is lighter and that there is more space to work in and store goods.

You will need to give great thought to the purchase of your garden shed and if an apex shed meets all of your requirements, particularly looking good in your garden, you know which shed style you will be looking for.

Adding log cabins save you from moving home

While house prices remain quite unpredictable and with the housing market hardly moving at all, the easiest solution to finding more room in your garden is to find log cabins that match your specific requirements.

The addition of this style of garden buildings is quite easy to locate, purchase and install. If you buy a log cabin that falls within your local planning restriction rules, you can install a new model quite quickly, without having to wait for the local authority to grant your wish and give you permission.

Log cabins are relatively easy to install for moderate DIY people. The process will be far simpler if a least two people are involved, which is a necessity really when you consider the nature of health and safety. This saves money from employing tradesman which can be better spent on the log cabin itself, perhaps giving you a better model than you expected to order in the first place.

Garden buildings sit on a firm base

The early part of the process you need to complete before delivery of your log cabin is to provide an extremely firm and level base, which the log cabin will sit on.

This is to ensure that the log cabin will be able to sit in a steady position with a strong structure. They are usually made of tongue and groove joints, which is an extremely strong and hard wearing method of joinery. These garden buildings are perfect for keeping poor weather conditions to the outside of your new log cabin. Because the wood is joined together so well, the buildings are extremely well insulated, even in the colder months.

You can find log cabins in a variety of styles and sizes so they can suit every garden. There are even models that will sit in the corner of your garden and still look as endearing as the larger models, but make excellent use of tight space if you have a small garden.

There are some touches that you can add to your log cabins that will make sure that they add sufficient space to your garden and make them extremely usable. Double glazing is an option that many people ask for, to further insulate the building and solar panels can provide electric power.

These types of garden buildings are extremely spacious inside, and you should perhaps try to order the largest model that you can, as long as it’s within your budget, to give you the opportunity later, to use your log cabin in many different ways that you may not already have thought of.

The price you had paid for the log cabin will almost certainly be repaid many times over by the good use you put it to and by adding to the overall value of your home when you sell up and move on.

Your extra garden room space can be enjoyed across the summer months as you would expect, but with a little heating and lighting, they can become versatile usable spaces across the colder, winter months.

The real reasons for needing extra space in your home

Many people choose to work from home. This can save you from the time, effort and cost of travelling to and from your home and your workplace, but invariably, because of a source of interruptions, it is often difficult to work effectively from home. Garden log cabins give you the opportunity to be close to your home, but far enough away so that you can avoid all of the noise and the hustle and bustle from your family and visitors to your home.

Log cabins make great home offices because you can choose from a range of sizes, shapes and styles that match your requirements.

Some people take the use of garden log cabins even further and instead of using the new room as a home office; it is used as a beauty salon or a hairdressers, or any other business that can be run effectively from home.

Moving your gym

Where it is difficult to find space in your home for your treadmill, yoga mat and work-out weights, it is easier to turn your choice of garden log cabins into a home gym. This gives you the advantage that you can have all of your equipment set out all the time and establish a range of variable workouts, rather than having to drag the treadmill out every time you want to use it in the corner of a bedroom.

A log cabin home gym can save you paying monthly or annual outrageously high gym membership fees so that when you have finished paying for your new equipment, you will be financially, ahead.

A home gym located in a garden log cabin will also give you the opportunity to exercise more often, rather than having to find the time to drive to your gym, exercise and then return home or go off to work.

Adding music to your ears

For budding musicians, a log cabin in the garden is a perfect place for you to practice your art. A drum set or a saxophone might not prove to be the most family friendly instruments you could choose to practice in your home, but if you soundproof a log cabin, even your neighbours won’t become annoyed with you.

As you become more adventurous, you can use your log cabin as a space to hold music classes to teach other people how to play similar instruments.

While you are contemplating art in your garden log cabin, you can extend these thoughts by using your new space to be able to paint art, carry out a range of jewellery related hobbies or turn the room into a quiet massage area.

Thinking carefully about the reasons you need to add space to your home will direct you to find high-quality log cabins here where you can select the perfect make and model for your requirements, now and in the future.

Many people worry about getting the fence posts into exactly the right position so that the fence panels will fit perfectly. Of course, if the fence posts are placed in the wrong locations, adding complete fence panels won’t be easy, but if you are adding feather edge fencing to your garden, it won’t really matter if the fence posts are out by a few inches because you can just buy shorter or longer wooden supports between the fence posts.

How to install your fencing easily

Whether you are going to use concrete or wooden fence posts, is a personal choice. There are advantages and disadvantages to each but, it’s the way they are fixed to your ground the matters more than anything because they form the base foundation of any fence panels that you add to your garden. If the original support for your fencing isn’t strong enough, you may have to repeat some of the tasks to make sure it can stand up to the wind and the driving rain of the British weather.

Using a fence post spike is one of the easiest ways to prepare your garden for wooden fence posts. You can install a fence post spike in minutes and many can provide you with easy alignment of your fence posts. They are painted with a powder coated finish so that they are long-lasting and can give you long-term protection against rusting and deterioration.

Instead of the old-fashioned method of digging a substantial hole, which might be through stones and previous concrete, into which you’ll be pouring concrete around your fence post and all the time trying to ensure that the fence post is perfectly in alignment with placement to receive fence panels, you will simply drive the fence post spike into the ground so it’s ready to take your wooden post and tighten the whole unit.

Strength is required

To add fence posts spikes to your garden, you will need a considerable amount of strength to drive the spikes into the ground. Some of them go between 2 and 3 foot into the ground. You might need to hire help or see which strong friends you have that can help you with this part of the operation.

To save damaging the top of your new fence post spikes, it is recommended that you use a piece of wood that is slightly larger than the top of fence post spike, but strong enough to take blows from a sledgehammer, to help put it in place. You’re going to need to check the spike after every three or four blows to make sure that it is still level across the top and vertically straight. At this stage it is easy to rectify a misalignment of the spike by tapping it on the side and as the fence posts spike enters the ground deeply, it will hold its position more easily allowing you to add wooden fence posts soon after and install your fencing easily, to complete the job.

One way is to focus on your worktops, cupboard and floor – the kitchen’s canvas – and design around this. Of course, your choice of sink, lighting, white goods and much more is still important so use more information to help you design your kitchen for inspiration.

Start with worktops

Laminate counters with wood or granite effects are popular because of how inexpensive they are, but these counters definitely do look cheaper than the real thing. Wooden counters are perfect for creating a rustic or traditional kitchen, but over time they can become damaged by stains or water and are easily scratched.

Granite worktops have been considered a luxury in the past, but because of its soaring popularity their price has actually fallen due to more companies now supplying them. This natural material is versatile and can be used to create a modern, contemporary kitchen or something more classic depending on the choice of colour.

There are numerous benefits: they’re easy to clean and therefore hygienic, resistant to impact and weight making them kid-friendly, and they simply look better. Plus, installing granite counters may actually make you money in the long-term as they add value to your home.

Next pick cupboards

The type of cupboards you want will depend on the size of your kitchen and whether you have access to a larder or other type of storeroom. Smaller kitchens will want to employ space saving cupboards that make the most out of those nooks and crannies you can’t usually reach. Opt for light colours as these help open up small kitchens.

If your kitchen is big enough don’t bother with the space saving cupboards – they’ll actually just make your kitchen more cluttered and you’ll end up with out of date food and masses of utensils you never use. Instead focus on choosing a colour to complement your worktop – the larger space means you’re free to be bolder with your selection, so feel free to go for a darker shade if you want something more sultry.

A quick, simple and fairly inexpensive way to make any cupboard more impressive is by changing the handles. This can really give your kitchen a bit of extra personality and stop it from looking like it has come right out of a show home.

Finish with floors

Last but not least pick your flooring. While perhaps not as important as counters or cupboards, your flooring can transform the aesthetics of your kitchen and you should as consider how it will need regular cleaning. Laminate flooring is easy to clean and can transform the aesthetics of your kitchen – for the worse.

Tiles on the other hand come in practically limitless designs and can help you achieve an up class contemporary, traditional or transitional kitchen, while also being easy to keep clean. Once you’ve decided on these three elements you can now fill in the missing pieces to make the kitchen of your dreams.

One of the best places to live in the UK in terms of the cost of your mortgage appears to be Stoke on Trent. This borough, historically famed for its for pottery, boasts an average monthly mortgage payment of just £303 and an affordability rating of 13.5 per cent, making it a relatively cheap place to live and over 2 per cent more affordable than the national average.

Compare Stoke’s monthly payment figure to the nearby city of Manchester and you’ll find a difference of more than £100. The people of Manchester pay around £437 a month on average and have an affordability level of 18.4 per cent.

This is a trend echoed in many of the UK’s larger cities, with mortgage payments rising in the northern cities of Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne. In cities in the south of the country it’s a similar story, with the highest mortgage payments unsurprisingly being found in the city of London, where average costs are now £637 a month.

However, despite the £200 increase in monthly payments when compared to Manchester, London’s mortgage availability is just 0.5 per cent greater, highlighting the differences in wages and cost of living between the two cities.

The city of Cambridge has the greatest amount of income spent on mortgages, at 20 per cent of a household’s total earnings. Here the average monthly payment is £593.

Moving westwards into Wales and you’ll find relatively cheap housing in Cardiff and Swansea. Cardiff boasts an average monthly payment of £445 and an affordability level of 15.2 per cent, while those in Swansea pay £385 with an affordability of 15.4 per cent.

For more information check out the below interactive infographic:

Visit Barclays for more details about our mortgage research, or to find out more about Barclays mortgages.

Underfloor heating systems, nowadays, are essentially one of two types, “wet”, warm water systems or “dry”, electrical systems. Wet systems feature a system of pipe work, buried in screed or running beneath the surface of the floor, through which warm water flows, imparting heat to the floor surface as it does so. Dry systems operate on the same basic principle, although the resistance of a wire, in the form of a heating cable, or mat, to electrical current is used to create the heating effect. In either case, the heat imparted to the floor is released, by convection and radiation, to the room above across the entire surface area, so underfloor heating systems can operate at lower temperatures than traditional radiator systems.

Electric Underfloor Heating Features, Benefits & Considerations

Electric underfloor heating is, of course, completely hidden beneath the surface of the floor, which can open up new possibilities with regard to the placement of furniture, interior design, etc.. Aside from being intrusive and unsightly, conventional radiator systems also tend to heat the air at the edges of a room first, which rises to heat the space immediately below the ceiling before falling into the body of the room. In the case of underfloor heating, however, optimal positioning beneath the floor surface allows thermal energy, or heat, to be slowly absorbed by other surfaces in the room above, which, in turn, become secondary thermal emitters.

Thus, not only can the air temperature be maintained at a lower temperature – up to 2°C lower, in fact – than in a room heated by radiators, but the temperature is even throughout the room and there are no draughts. Furthermore, the transmission of heat from the floor is up to 15% more efficient than that from radiators, reducing energy consumption and your overall effect on the environment.

In the days of yesteryear, a fireplace may well have provided the primary source of heat in a home. Nowadays, with the advent of modern heating systems and underfloor heating, in particular, the fireplace has become more of an architectural focal point than a source of heat, in many cases. There is no reason, however, why a fireplace, functional or otherwise, cannot be combined with electrical underfloor heating. Indeed, underfloor heating, rather than radiators, may allow placement of a fireplace in the first place and, if the fireplace is functional, the two systems can be used individually, or together, depending on your heating needs.

Curtains are dead. Keeping your room stylish and clean-cut means people are turning to blinds as a contemporary alternative to traditional window coverings. With such a wide range of blinds available, it’s not hard to see why.

Venetian blinds

The classic look of venetian blinds never falters. Their simplicity is in their design, and whether wooden or aluminium, their contemporary appearance can match any decor. Open or closed, wooden venetian blinds add that natural touch into any room, particularly kitchens or bathrooms and Hillarys Blinds have perfectly matched that classic design with a modern, simplistic twist.

Roller blinds

A common misconception of roller blinds is that their one function is to shut out the light. But with various patterns, shades and colours available, roller blinds can actually be the starting point for the design of any room. Letting light in can be just as important as keeping it out so keeping it simple and stylish, roller blinds can be the focal point of a room, matching furniture and wall colours alike.

Roman blinds

Simplicity is at a premium with roman blinds. Available is a variety of bold patterns and vintage designs, roman blinds combine functionality and style perfectly. They can match the style of any room, whether it’s a bedroom, dining room or kitchen full or charm. Maximising the natural light can make or break a room, and roman blinds can meet all the requirements.

There are a number of things that ought to be considered before buying a hot tub. First, before heading to the shop, make sure to measure the area in which the hot tub is to be placed and write down these figures for reference at the hot tub shop. There’s no point trying to guess what the measurements are when in the shop and buying a tub only to find that it doesn’t fit when it is brought home will be very frustrating.

When choosing a spot for the hot tub, make sure to select a space where it will be easy to drain the water. Additionally, there should be an electrical outlet nearby, so that extension cords don’t need to be used. Those who are buying a hot tub specifically to relieve muscle tension should consider a unit that includes a jet water spray for different areas of the body. The warmth of the water itself is great for easing sore muscles; however, the jet water sprays are great for targeting specific muscle groups.

Make sure to check what kinds of options and controls come with the hot tub. Certain features such as temperature control and water functions can make all the difference. When comparing hot tub units, it is important to look at the model’s filter function; it should be able to clear out bacteria and debris in the tub, as even minuscule particles can cause allergies and skin irritations.

It’s essential to choose a hot tub that is hygienic and easy to keep clean. On a similar note, look for a hot tub that comes with a cover, as this will help to prevent the accumulation of debris and dirt when the unit is not in use. Certain deals on hot tubs will include a free cover, or one at a reduced price, so it’s worth asking the sales person about this.

Take for example coffee table books focused upon present day photographers and their works. To place that in a room weighted down with Victorian chairs and tables would make the book appear to be nothing other than uncomfortable. Yet, a home these days is not simply a showpiece, it is where a family studies, relaxes, plays. While in the more distance past families did all of that, many also had help by the way of servants or housekeepers to make things look as if nobody ever ate, slept or worked in the house. In this age, we are the cleaners, the fixer uppers. Nobody is going to swoop in and conceal the evidence of daily acts families participate in together and individually throughout the house.

There were also homeowners with places that were steeped in architecture from a century gone by who designed interiors in juxtaposition to the era in which the structure resonated. A classic Tudor home became the container for acrylic chairs and mirrored chest drawers. Some did in fact create fascinating set ups, but I know I for one was always slightly uncomfortable with the contrast. When I walked inside, after approaching a massive structure with turrets or gingerbread detail, I could not get over an expectation of finding antique couches and cabinets.

Now, we see that no matter what the face of the abode looks like, people are leaning toward mingling the different styles of furnishings by choice. No longer is the selection dictated by a need to make things work, instead it has become the preference of some without limitations of established architectural accents. The blend of the traditional with the modern is not where it ends, the warmth element is of great importance as well. This style fusion allows owners to insert their own personality, and that of their families into the space. It is not a simple formula of combining Rocco with Modern furnishings, as personal flair comes in to play a significant role. I expect this is what appeals most to those engaging in the approach to décor.

The additional benefit is that without the need to have everything “just so” purchasing furniture is made easier. You can avoid having to confirm each lamp, and wardrobe are from the same time period. Considering how limited many of us are when it comes to time to dedicate to decorating, this is a major relief.