It can safely be said that the majority of cars have on as their shoes used tires, either we can argue the expensive price of new tires or the relative affordability of foreign used tires. Regardless, tires are usually overlooked and taken for granted generally by their car driving owners. Ever thought about and realised that virtually a little black square just about the surface area of a chalkboard eraser or thereabout makes contact on the black top? Well yes! No matter if you’re driving a lemon or as we…
Read MoreCategory: DO-IT-YOURSELF
Air conditioning sizing and maintenance
Well I’m not that old…honest…but it seems that every year that passes by, the place gets hotter compared to say when I was in school. Anyway, I want to engage readers on air conditioning this time around. The most popular type of air conditioning system for domestic use is the split or window type, [central air conditioning is more for commercial applications]. Now you may not care how air conditioning works; only that it does. I don’t blame you, but you need at least to know how to take care…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Home Energy
By: K. Anthony Bissoon So the last time, we went through some calculations for you to see what your energy consumption looks like. The entire aim of that exercise was for you to see how much energy you use, how much money you spend and with the development of better habits, eliminate or at least trim down wasting energy and by extension your money. Now when I say habits, I really mean habits, a lot of your energy wasting habits have become so ingrained in you over the years that…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Home Energy
By: K. Anthony Bissoon Hello! So this is continuing from where we left off the last time. We had started on carrying out a simple home energy audit by your-self. By calculating how much energy you consume, where and how, you will be this much closer to saving and being smarter about your energy use. So the first thing I need you to do is to make a list of every item that uses electrical power in your house, including every appliance, every light etc. Fill them up in a…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Home Energy Audits
By: K. Anthony Bissoon Best wishes for the New Year!! Welcome back to Do-it-Yourself, where we help empower you in getting things around your home done yourself where possible, saving you time and money and helping you to a safer more comfortable home. It is most usual for everyone to splurge around the holidays, I figured that now would be an opportune time to start a series on energy audits, given that you will most likely have just paid your most expensive energy bill, and of course, the New Year…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Safety and Christmas lights
By: K. Anthony Bissoon You are probably busy now decorating your home for the holidays, most likely a good part of your decorations will be of the electrical kind whether it be lights or otherwise. Although Christmas decorations add to the cheer and atmosphere of the season and sets the scene for enjoyment with your family, it would be prudent to remind yourself of the potential dangers associated with these kinds of decorations. More so than before, the market has been flooded by mass produced, inferior quality, non-certified and non-standard…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Painting for the holidays
By: K. Anthony Bissoon The holidays are around the corner, and I bet that you are already looking at the house, eyeing the old paint and either thinking about a completely different colour or touching up… Considering professional painters tend to be on the pricey side, it may be well worth it to do it yourself, given time, some elbow grease and working smart, you can have a professional quality finish. Speaking of quality, you shouldn’t skimp on money when it comes to buying paint, buying low quality paint may…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Fixing drawers
By: K. Anthony Bissoon In this installment, we will be looking at a fix for stuck and wobbly drawers in your kitchen, or closet, or bathroom, or even in your office. Most stuck drawers are as a result of the drawer runners being misaligned. Sometimes they are installed misaligned or because of wear may need some slight adjustments. Tools and materials • Screwdriver [get both Phillips head and flat] • Mini spirit level • Bradawl for marking out Difficulty level: Easy 1 Leave the screw in the inside of the…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself – Fridge and Freezer Maintenance
Anticipating that coming around the Christmas season now and you will probably be stocking up the fridge and/or freezer with all sorts of foodstuff, I figured a good idea will be to look at maintenance of these critical pieces of kitchen appliances, cause lets’ face it…where would we be without our fridge? Basically, a fridge is a heat exchanger, meaning; it constantly tries to extract heat from inside the refridgerated space and dump it outside. It achieves this feat through the use of a refridgerant. The refrigerant starts off as…
Read MoreDo-It-Yourself
So…you’re cooking with gas…I mean LPG So after being handed the responsibility of detaching and installing cooking gas cylinders by my mother, (she has this irrational fright that if she touches the gas cylinder of fittings, it will either spontaneously combust or explode in her hands), I took the time to show and explain to her how to take off the regulator, put it on and check the hose and fittings to make sure we have no leaks and that it’s in good shape. Now I figure, it’s a good…
Read More