Getting outdoors is great for everyone but often the weather can stop us from really enjoying ourselves. Here is where a garden shelter can create the perfect outdoor atmosphere.

Primarily garden shelters provide shelter from either the sun or rain. Most shelters will do both. Patio Awning are really good garden shelters as you can choose to have them out when you need them and put them away into a nice and tidy cassette when you no longer require it. This is all done at the press of a button so it makes things really easy.

Patio Awnings are generally designed for providing shelter from the sun however they can be also used in light rain. Generally the angle of the awning should be greater than 14 degrees which will allow the water to effectively run off the Awning. This stops water pooling on the fabric which will lead to damage. You can use you Awning with less pitch than this, however you will need to be even more vigilant to stop water pooling.

Of course, Awnings are the best at sun protection as, using a quality Awning, the fabric will have UV protective properties so, as well as blocking the glare and heat from the sun, you will also be protected from the harmful rays of the sun.

Patio Awnings are limited when you want to be outdoors in heavier rain or if it is too windy. In the circumstances your Awning would have to be retracted.

An alternative to the Patio Awning is the Veranda or Patio Roof. These are permanent structures that consist of a roof that is mounted onto two columns. The Patio Roof can be made from either glass or polycarbonate and it will give you all year round garden shelter. Verandas can be combined with a special type of Awning, generally used for exterior conservatory roofs, which will also offer you sun protection when needed. You can also combine screens around the side of the veranda, enclosing part or all of the open sides. Screens of this nature are designed for keeping the sun out without cutting the light however, using the Zip screens that are becoming more and more popular, will also stop virtually any wind from interfering with your outdoor living!

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By using the correct shading systems you can enjoy outdoors and keep your home cool even on the hottest of days.

Awning for home

Awnings are a great type of shading system as they offer shade to sit under as well as room shade. They are easily extended or retracted at the push of a button and can be fully automated. A high quality Awning will offer excellent protection for the harmful UV rays of the sun and often extremely large outdoor areas can be protected.

Awnings will stay looking pristine as when not in use, they retrace back into an aluminium casing that protects the fabric and the mechanism for the harsher weather conditions.

Window Canopies.

These are similar to the Sun Awnings, however their primary aim is to stop the sun from getting into a window and are rarely suitable for sitting under outdoors. Sun Canopies are generally drop arm awnings or Dutch canopies and they cover usually around 50% of the window. This allows you to still see outdoors and enjoy the view whilst blocking the majority of the sun.

Again these retractable Sun Canopies can be fully automated to work when you are not at home, keeping your home cool and your furniture protected from the damaging rays of the Sun.

Sun Screens

These are a type of external roller blind. They cover the window completely and offer protection from the sun whilst not blocking the light. Often you are able to see right through the fabric so your view is not ruined. The special type of fabric reflects heat before it even hits the window glass thus keeping temperatures really low. Of course carpets and furnishings are protected as well.

Sun Screens can often withstand stronger winds that Sun Awnings or canopies. This makes them the ideal solution for full automation, keeping your home cool when you are not at home.

Zip Sun Screens offer the added benefit of zipping up at the sides. This allows you to bring the screen down, open the window or door and let a nice cool breeze come in, without the heat and without unwanted insects getting into your home as well!

Conservatory Roof Blinds

These are designed to block the heat before it even gets into your conservatory. Conservatory Roof Blinds use the same fabric as the Sun Screens and reflect heat but still allow in the light.

Often people who own conservatories have found that they simply could not go into their conservatory even on a mildly warm day as it was simply too hot. The Conservatory Roof Blind allows you to use your conservatory even on the hottest of days.

Again, Conservatory Roof Blinds can be fully automated using a sun and wind sensor to ensure that your room stays cool even when you are out.

Often these products can be expensive to buy, however the changes to your lifestyle can be well worth the investment and often these products will add significant value to your property if you decide to sell it.

Appeal to different people
While your idea of the perfect garden might be one that’s completely paved, you must remember that your garden needs to appeal to all, and as such you should consider the different uses people may have for it. A patio is always a good idea, but large uncluttered areas of grass make ideal areas for children. A glass veranda and some patio furniture makes a nice outdoor dining area, and it’s things like this that will sell your property.

Plan for the whole year
Your garden needs to look attractive all year round – it’s no good having a fantastic haven in the summer that’s reduced to a dead wasteland in the winter. Although winter shrubs may not have the same visual impact of summer flowers, but they will keep your outdoor space green in the summer months.

Plan your time well
Keeping tabs on your garden throughout the year will mean that there’s never too much to do, and will make your life easier. In the Spring, plant seeds, remove weeds and prune trees and hedges, maintain and water blooming flowers and lawns in the Summer, plant bulbs and compost leaves in the Autumn, and keep any paved areas tidy and maintained in the Winter – the cold can play havoc with slabs and other stonework.

Build extra storage
The tidier your garden the better – and for those with limited interior space, a shed or metal storage unit represents extra storage space that might be lacking in the house, and give people somewhere to store bikes, lawnmowers and the likes that they normally wouldn’t be able to.

This article was written by Chris Spann from Moneysupermarket.com.

An online poll asking who is better at DIY – men or women – has erupted into a fierce battle between the sexes. The poll is featured on the home improvement and DIY website www.lets-do-diy.com. And the huge response it has generated seems to indicate that the most explosive area for gender conflict has shifted from the traditional battleground of driving ability to DIY.

The website’s editor, John Burry, says: “We thought asking if men or women were better at DIY would provide lets-do-diy.com with a little light relief, but both sexes appear to have very strong views on the subject.”

Hundreds of visitors to the site have voted, but the battle is raging at its most fierce in the website’s forum where dozens of comments have been posted.

“Everyone at lets-do-diy.com is surprised by the strength of feeling expressed in the forum,” says Mr Burry. “Both sides of the debate have put their case with amusing anecdotes and scathing attacks on the DIY capabilities of the opposite sex.”

He continues: “On a serious note, the poll clearly suggests that today many more women are undertaking home improvement projects and consequently DIY is no longer the predominantly male activity it once was.”

To date over eight hundred people have voted in the poll with the division of opinion currently standing at 54% to 46% in favour of men being more proficient at DIY. But with the poll running until the end of March, the final result is far from clear.

To see how the poll stands at present visit www.lets-do-diy.com

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Up until a couple of years ago the garage door market had several different key companies supplying and installing garage doors. Control boxes were often unique to the individual companies. Some included battery backups and alarm systems as well as the standard remote controls.

Most of these systems relied on quite an old technology for the safety aspect of the doors. Infra red beams or photo cells. These little devices were generally sat about 1 ft up from the floor of the garage door, in the opening. They send an invisible infra red beam from one side of the garage door, to the other. If the beam is on anyway broken – i.e the car is in the opening of the garage or someone is standing under the door – the door will not close. If the garage door is closing and the beam is broken, perhaps a cat or child is walking into the garage, then the door will stop and reverse.

Some beams only used a single box on the one side of the door and reflector to reflect the beam back to the unit. In my opinion these were not as good as the sender and receiver style I was refferring to above.

In fact, if you have an old roller door that is stuck open then check you do not have an obstruction – even a spiders web or dust or dirt on the lense can prevent the garage door from closing as the garage door thinks something is in the way. Genreally a damp cloth will resolve this.

Now, I have been discussing this in past tense because a couple of years ago new regulations came into force. These rergulations meant that any roller garage door would now have to use a pressure sensing bottom rail strip on the final slat of the door. Whilst, in my opinion, this is totally unnecessary as the beams did a good enough job here – it is now the law. This created a huge problem for manufacturers as it meant that somehow the bottom slat of the door would have to be connected to the control box.

In teh past this has been achieved with a curly cable, mainly on industrial doors. Who would want these ugly cables in their garage? And what’s more they are problematic and are likely to get tangled and result in the garage door no longer being able to close – great for security!!!

Well it seems to me now there is one key manufacturer of a system that most garage door companies seem to be using. I am reluctant to mention their name on this blog but if you really wanted to find out then just google it. I have been trying to search for an alternative for some time but it would seem they are the only competition about – they really have cornered a market.

What makes their system different is that they use the safety edge bottom rail on their garage door systems. This has a transmitter on the bottom slat that communicates, wire free, with the garage door control unit. If you are buying a garage door in the UK then you will almost certainly have this type of system installed.

As great as it sounds – it still comes with issues of it’s own.

To be continued……………………..