Imagine stepping into your bathroom in the morning and its cold and wet outside. The floor is warm – no horrid cold tiles on your bare feet. There is welcoming warmth in the room and to finish to experience – your towel is both warm and dry. This all sounds like a dream – how we would like our bathrooms to be.

All of this is actually achievable. It is all so simple – simply install underfloor heating and add a towel warmer or rail.

Underfloor heating is a modern, economical and silent form of heat distribution. It comes in packs which are available as Electric or Warm Water systems. Electric packs are available as mats or loose cables most of which can be tiles straight over. Warm water systems are designed for use with an existing heating system.  Both types of heating come in packs that are suitable for your room size. Just measure your room size and order the pack most suited. Timers and thermostats complete the packs, some of which are included and some you need to choose and order separately. They can be fitted under different types of flooring, eg tiles, wood, laminate and carpet. Just remember that both of these systems should be installed by a competent installer or registered tradesperson.

Towel warmers and rails are available in many different styles. There are some simple and classic styles right up to some imaginative and stunning room features. Obviously the size of your bathroom will play a part in the size and style of your towel rail. The ladder style is the one you may have seen in bathrooms before. These rails and warmers are becoming very poplar especially as there is now such a wide choice available. They warm and dry your towels and are a source of heat in the room. Most come as chrome finished but an alternative of white is also available.

One more item that I have discovered will finish off this warm morning experience is the clothes warmer. This is a plug in clothes hanging rail and it not only will keep your suit beautifully uncrumpled, but fantastically warm and free from damp.

All that is left is to wish you lovely warm mornings on our Irish cold damp ones.  If you’d like to know more just call us on 041 981 1860

Now that things have settled down a little, we’ve had time for some email marketing which we’ve just completed. If you didn’t get our newsletter just send an email to marketing@redbird.ie and we’ll happily add you to the list.

In the next few weeks we have a very exciting marketing plan which you are bound to hear about if you listen to the radio. Our newsletters will be replicated online and we have some special offers to announce.

Apologies for the absence but stay tuned!

 I recently posted about our new treehouse and pretty much the same day Barack and Michelle put this in their garden

Malia and Sasha's New Swing

Jack & Aaron's New Swing

If nothing else it proves that the President Obama does indeed read my blog (which I’ve always suspected).

I was planning to post about our new outdoor, heated, olympic sized swimming pool but I think I’ll keep that to myself now! 

Imitation I suppose is the sincerest form of flattery! 

PS Mr. President, I’ve no idea how much you paid for this swingset but I could have cut you a deal…you have my number!

My wife and I had been thinking for some time about getting one of those garden activity centres (swing and slide) for the 2 boys.  

The plastic ones in Smyths were shite! The real ones were available from many Irish companies but started out at €1500 for the most basic.  So I drew a sketch and worked out the materials needed.

Carpenter arrived, so I sent him with €300 to get timber (pressure treated, decking timber). 3 days later and he had made this. 

Treehouse

It didn’t take a whole lot of imagination really but the quality of work is second to none. The swing will be added just as soon as the postman delivers a connection piece from Germany.  Its the bit that will connect the horizontal bar to the vertical legs.

The slide was an old one that we recycled however we’ve searched and they’re €100 to buy.

In total we’ll have spent about €900 on this. Its equivalent to buy is at least €2000.  Redbird isn’t selling these but we certainly can supply VERY talented carpenters (and plumbers, and brickies, and roofers, and you get the idea!)

What we do to ensure backup files is:

1. Email them to our Gmail account
2. Back them up on our second PC
3. Back them up on a 500GB disk drive

About this time last year I looked at Online backup.  2 companies told me that an engineer would have to call to install the software and thereafter it would be online. All companies wanted at least €50 per month. Sure I only have a few Gigabytes!

This morning, I read The Tuesday Push, 5 minutes later, I’d signed up to PutPlace with a trial account, downloaded and installed software and started my first backup.  For others it might be par-for-the-course but for me (I’m a builder!) it had the Wow factor.  How can something that’s caused me a headache for so long suddenly be so easy!

Well done PutPlace!  I’m converted!

Now, anyone wanna buy a 500Gb Disk?  One careful owner. Only crashed once!!

Last week we started a simple, straighforward job of dividing a room, 10 metres across and installing a single 32 inch door in the middle of it.  From the very start we were on fire, the stud partition and door frame was completed by 3pm on day one, it was slabbed and skimmed on day 2, second fix carpentry on day 3 and days 4 & 5 were spent FULLY redorating both of the new rooms.

The last brush stroke was applied at 4pm on Friday and we finish hoovering and washing floors at 5.30pm!  On saturday morning I went back to see the finished work and with an objective eye I just knew that it really was the perfect job!

PS. 99.5% perfect, I forgot to photograph it!

How to Build a Birdhouse

1. Prepare the pieces of wood. Align them as shown in Figure 1.�
   

   Birdhouse Plan

2. Tap the nails into position at the joints. Then, apply waterproof glue along the joint edges.
3. Butt and glue the two bottom sides together as shown in Figure 1.
4. Glue and nail the back section to the bottom sides.
5. Glue and nail the inside supports; see Fig. 1 for positioning on the back.
6. Drill a hole in the front section with the 1 3/8″ (4.1 cm) hole saw, making sure the top of the hole is 2″ (5 cm) down from a corner (see finished photo for details). Use a 1/4″ (.63 cm) bit to drill a hole for the dowel perch, 5-3/8″ (14 cm) below the bottom of the larger entrance hole. Sand the edges smooth, and sand all of the other inner parts of the bird house before nailing down the front.
7. Glue and nail the front to the bottom sides and the inside supports.
8. Position the roof sections so that they meet but do not butt at the top. Glue and nail the roof sections into place. Notice how the roof overhangs at the sides.
9. Glue the 5″ (12.5 cm) dowel in the channel between the roof sections to complete this joint.
10. Sand all of the surfaces.
11. Glue the 3″ ( 7.6 cm) dowel into position as a perch. (This perch may be eliminated as birds do not need perches and it may in fact allow a predator a place to launch an attack on the nestlings.)
12. Stain or paint your birdhouse’s exterior to your liking! (Keep in mind that lighter colors attract less heat.)

Things you’ll need

• Hammer
• 1/2″ (1.25 cm) finishing nails
• Waterproof glue
• Sandpaper
• Drill with 1-3/8″ (4.1 cm) hole saw and 1/4″ (.63 cm) drill bit
• 1/2″ (1.25 cm) plywood in sizes shown in Figure 1, for two bottom sides and two inside supports
• 1/4″ plywood for two roof sections, each 7″ (17.5 cm) x 5″ (13 cm)
• 1/4″ (.63 cm) plywood for the front and back sections, each 5-7/8″ (15 cm) square
• 5″ (12.5 cm) length of dowel to finish the top
• 3″ (7.6 cm) length of dowel for bird perch (optional)
• Bird-safe paint or stain (optional)

Thanks WikiHow

Dear Builder,

I would like you to build me a house.  There will need to be some changes to the plans that my architect drew up.  

I’ve decided that instead of just 3 bedrooms there’ll need to be 5, if you could reduce the bathroom by 2 ft this should give you enough room to squeeze them in.  I’ll understand if you need to “jiggle” the walls a little. You can agree the finer points with my wife although bear in mind I haven’t yet told her about the additional bedrooms

On the ground floor, I’d appreciate if you could build in a separate home cinema. Our friends in Ballina, Co Mayo have one if you wanted to go over and see it.  I’m fairly certain that with some imaginative thinking you can kit this out without impacting on the quoted price.

Speaking of the price, whilst we were happy with the original price you quoted, we’ve seen the news and know that inflation is going our way so can you adjust your quote downwards by 10%.

Its now nearly February and as you know, my sister is getting married in April.  I’ve already told her that she could have her reception in our new home with a Marquee in the garden. I don’t want pressurise you too much however we will need the landscaping completed and for the garden to have a “mature” look.

I realise that you must be thrilled at getting this job and I’m sure you and your men are “chomping at the bit”.  We’ll see you on site in the morning!

PS  Just spoken to our neighbour-to-be, he works nights and has asked that you don’t start work until 11am each day. I told him that this wouldn’t be a problem.