Home Improvements — Colin’s Corner
Colin has been building, renovating and improving homes for over two decades. This is his part of the site — the place to come when you want straightforward, practical guidance on anything from a small DIY job on a Saturday morning to a full-scale renovation that has been on the to-do list for rather longer than you would care to admit.
Everything here comes from direct experience. Colin has worked on every type of residential property imaginable — new builds, Victorian terraces, semi-detached suburbia, period cottages and everything in between. He has done the jobs, made the mistakes so you do not have to and developed the kind of instinct for what works and what does not that only comes from years of doing things for real rather than writing about them from a distance.
Brickwork & Masonry
Whether you are repointing a garden wall, rebuilding a section of damaged brickwork or trying to understand why your chimney breast looks the way it does, Colin covers brickwork and masonry with the kind of practical detail that makes the difference between a job done properly and one that looks like it was done on a Friday afternoon. Understanding mortar mixes, dealing with weathered brickwork, working with different brick types and knowing when a wall is structural and when it is not — it is all here.
Plastering & Rendering
Plastering is one of those skills that looks deceptively straightforward until you actually try it — at which point most people develop a profound respect for anyone who can produce a flat, smooth wall consistently. Colin covers plastering and rendering from the basics upwards — patching and repairs, skimming over existing plaster, dealing with damp patches before they ruin a new finish and understanding the difference between the various types of plaster and render and when each one is appropriate.
Tiling
A well tiled bathroom or kitchen is one of the most transformative things you can do to a room. A badly tiled one is one of the most noticeable. Colin covers floor and wall tiling in full — surface preparation, setting out, adhesive selection, cutting, grouting and all the corners, edges and awkward details that catch people out when they are following a tutorial that glossed over the difficult bits.
Carpentry & Joinery
From fitting skirting boards and architrave to hanging doors that actually swing properly, building stud walls, installing shelving and understanding how timber behaves in different conditions — Colin covers the carpentry and joinery side of home improvement with a builder’s eye for how things fit together and why getting the basics right makes every subsequent job easier.
Extensions & Loft Conversions
Adding space to a home is one of the biggest investments a homeowner can make and one of the areas where bad decisions made early can prove very expensive later. Colin covers extensions and loft conversions from the planning and preparation stage through to the structural work involved — helping homeowners understand what is actually involved before they commit, what to look for when choosing a builder and what the process looks like at every stage from groundwork to roof.
Roofing
Most homeowners never think about their roof until it gives them a reason to — at which point they tend to think about very little else. Colin covers roofing maintenance and repair with the emphasis on helping homeowners understand what they are dealing with, what can be safely inspected or addressed from the outside without getting up there, and when a roofing professional needs to be involved. A well maintained roof is one of the most cost effective things you can do for a house. An ignored one is one of the most expensive.
Flooring
Solid wood, engineered wood, laminate, vinyl, tiles, concrete — the range of domestic flooring options has never been wider and the range of advice about them has never been more contradictory. Colin cuts through the noise to give homeowners a clear understanding of which flooring types suit which situations, how to prepare a subfloor properly before laying anything, how to deal with uneven or damaged floors and how to fit the most common flooring types to a standard that will last.
General DIY & Repairs
Not every home improvement job is a major project. Sometimes it is a door that has dropped, a window that will not close properly, a crack in the ceiling that appeared overnight and needs investigating, or a garden wall that has been leaning at a concerning angle for longer than anyone wants to admit. Colin covers the full range of general DIY and household repairs — the jobs that do not fit neatly into any single category but need doing properly all the same.
Planning & Preparation
The most common reason home improvement projects go wrong is not that the work itself was badly done. It is that the preparation was inadequate, the planning was optimistic and the budget did not survive contact with reality. Colin writes extensively about the planning and preparation side of home improvement — how to scope a project properly, how to budget realistically, how to choose materials that will do the job and how to avoid the most common and most expensive mistakes before the first tool is picked up.
Browse All Home Improvement Articles
All of Colin’s articles, guides and tutorials are below. Use the categories to find what you need or browse through at your own pace — there is something here whether you are a complete beginner picking up a screwdriver for the first time or an experienced DIYer looking for guidance on a more ambitious project.