Julian Cassell's DIY Blog

Asbestos safety is a topic that needs to concern all homeowners, as the wrong type of asbestos exposure is a serious health risk. However, with any material that is potentially dangerous to health, as long as we all know what dangers are actually presented by that material, then it becomes more straightforward to deal with it in a safe way. Many of us have asbestos present in or around our homes, and the key thing to remember is that in most cases, it only starts to present a health risk once it is cut and/or disturbed. read more »

A thorough home buying inspection is an essential step in the process of buying a new home. I tend to do quite a number every year, for friends or family, and below are a selection of my best tips for assessing a potential new house. Before exploring the list below, there are a few general rules for that first visit; remember to make notes, take a tape measure, ask questions, and above all take your time. You’ll clearly have at least one more viewing if you think you’ve found the house of your dreams read more »

How to plant plants, shrubs, or even trees is a topic which can be simplified to a basic technique that can be applied to most planting situations in your garden. Fundamentally, you follow the same procedure whether you are dealing with a small bedding plant, or a much larger tree. If you are worried about the ground conditions, don’t be, as soil doesn’t need to be incredibly rich for the majority of plants to thrive, but it does need to be well drained, contain enough organic matter to stop it from drying out, and to encourage natural organisms. Below are my main considerations when deciding how to plant up a garden. read more »

Laying turf is the quick way of creating a lawn, and your next option if you don’t want to go down the lawn seeding route. Laying turf will be a more expensive option to seeding, but many people feel that is a price worth paying for such an instant result. Good preparation of the soil is still vital for laying turf and the sequence below picks out the main principles you should look to follow. read more »

Lawn care and maintenance is a subject that most of us start to think about in early spring, and the autumn, as these are the optimum times for seasonal work to be carried out on your lawn. The following post provides a number of points you need to take into account for some simple but effective lawn care. Maintaining a lawn really doesn’t need to be a full time occupation, so try following these few principles to make your lawn look better than ever. read more »