Category: Home Sweet Home

Tips and tricks for do-it-yourself’ers and hobbyists.

My Home Is My Castle – How To Soundproof your Home – Part 1

Posted on by Alfred Austin

joiner and road worker working digger in background woman holding her earsThe expression “My Home is My Castle” captures like no other the importance of having a home and what this means to the people who own such a home as well as the people who live in it. A home is a source of comfort, of cherished memories, and of accomplishment and pride – and it is a source of strength. You can rest and recuperate at home and you can enjoy the peace that surrounds you in your own four walls.

If it weren’t for the noise, that is.

Noise is all around us. Sometimes it seems there is no escaping it. Noise can cause countless complaints and illnesses – ranging from sleep disorders,  to high blood pressure and a variety of other stress related conditions.

And it’s something that is set to keep the courts busy –  nocturnal rows with rowdy neighbours, clashes with local establishments, local businesses and local authorities are keeping millions of people awake at night and stopping them from getting a good night’s rest. It’s no small wonder then that many people who are thinking of building a house show a keen interest in ways of making sure that their home is insulated against the hustle and bustle around us and that they are eager to stop their newbuild from turning into a home from hell.

Read More

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

You don’t need a dehumidifier – or do you?

Posted on by Alfred Austin

Dehumidifier next to easy chair in front of bookcase in elegant roomDehumidifiers don’t necessarily come top of many people’s shopping lists. Why should they? There are probably dozens of more desirable things that you would sooner spend your money on and there are scores of far more urgent purchases which you or your family think you should make.

Or are there?

Perhaps you first need to know what a dehumidifier can do and what affect it can have on your indoor climate in order to understand why you and every home or office should have one.

A dehumidifier is more than just an electrical appliance. It can transform the climate of your home, workplace or office – almost instantly. This may seem like a mild exaggeration, but you would be surprised to see just how much moisture a dehumidifier like the TTK 30 S can extract from the air in your room, bathroom, cellar, walk-in wardrobe, basement or holiday home in the short space of only 24 hours. A bucketful. That’s right – up to 10 litres of water in only one day. It is this excess moisture that lingers in the air which can not only damage your possessions and property, it can seriously affect your feeling of well-being and even your health. Read More

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

How to Create the Right Climate for Your Prized Orchids

Posted on by Alfred Austin

Orchids are among the most popular and widespread flowering plants in the world. Their often tall, slender stalks, their exotic and extravagant form and their delicate petals and magnificent colours inspire and fascinate orchid lovers and growers around the world and fill the hearts of those who share their passion and pleasure with wonder and awe.

Orchids are most commonly found in the tropics of South and Central America and also in Asia. For the Aztecs they were holy, which is why they grew them in their splendid antique gardens, and for Confucius, the wise Chinese thinker and philosopher, they embodied grace, purity, beauty and elegance.

close-up shot of pink orchidBut there are several hardened species which can flourish as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Antarctica. Of the 30,000 or so different species of orchid known to man there is a small number which are deemed especially collectable. Rothschild’s Slipper, an orchid that takes as long as 15 years to grow, can fetch prices upwards of 5000 US dollars per stem.

Most hobby gardeners would not be willing to pay such a considerable price for a single example, but they are prepared to invest quite substantial sums in order to be able to nurture their passion. Read More

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

Time to say goodbye to a heating myth or two – and save £££s on your next energy bill !

Posted on by Alfred Austin

Finding the best way to heat your house has become somewhat of a science nowadays – of course you want it to be nice and warm, but isn’t that easier said than done when you consider how prices for natural gas and heating oil have gone through the roof in recent months? And what about the moisture content of the air? If the relative humidity is too high then there’s a real risk of mould forming – mould that can seriously affect your health and damage your possessions. Too low and you can quickly end up with dry, itchy skin, chapped lips and a sore throat and a barking cough to go with it.

What many people do not realise, however, is that you can actually save yourself a tidy sum and more importantly perhaps protect yourself, your family and your property if you are prepared to say goodbye to one or two popular myths which are commonly associated with heating and ventilation: Read More

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

There’s just no way to overcome a deep-rooted prejudice – is there?

Posted on by Elena Kramer

Overcoming deep-rooted prejudices against craftsmen by using professional equipment

The craftsmen among our readers will know what I mean when I say that some of their customers still have some pretty outdated preconceptions with regard to their craft. But who on earth was this one particular craftsman – so unreliable, so clumsy and so inconsiderate – that even today craftsmen of all trades are still having to suffer the consequences?

When people call a carpenter, a painter or a tiler, they already have an image in their mind’s eye of utter chaos, noise and dirt and a total invasion of their privacy. Good service, respectful behaviour and up-to-date equipment are often not among the first things that cross the customers’ minds when they think about a craftsman’s pending visit … But this is exactly where you can benefit from this mess! Living up to high expectations is a hard thing to achieve – today’s customers are becoming harder and harder to please. But to exceed all expectations can be so easy when you amaze the sceptics among your customers with involvement, professional behaviour and friendly and accessible manners. And what is best of all: a satisfied customer is much more likely to recommend you to neighbours and friends!

Apart from such obvious things as punctuality, reliability or outward appearance, there is nothing that can make a deeper impression than professional equipment. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune, because even a small investment can make a really big difference. Fumbling around with a folding rule, for example, can be make people look quite inept and it can be time-consuming, too – especially with a customer breathing down your neck while their trying to protect their valued possessions from potential harm. Yet it could all be so much easier: The BD15 laser distance meter can save you a lot of trouble and your customer from becoming a of bundle nerves. And one there’s another thing you can be certain of: whenever you use a state-of-the-art folding rule 2.0 you are showing your customers that you are keeping up with the times!

So no matter when or where the myth of the unreliable craftsman evolved – it’s about time to do away with it for good. But who am I telling … your customers will know that already!

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with , , | Leave a comment

Don’t let the cowboys take you to the cleaners

Posted on by Alfred Austin

don't trust any rogue assessor for thermographic reports

Contracting a company to carry out a thermographic survey makes good financial sense. And as far as saving the planet goes, it shows that you do care about the amount of energy that is being wasted while you are heating your home and that you would like to do something about improving your eco-credentials – as well as just saving some whales.

A thermographic report can tell home owners and tenants alike just where the weak spots in the insulation of their homes or flats are and what measures need to be taken to stop the precious energy from simply seeping out through walls, doors, roofs or windows into the atmosphere and beyond.

Which is where the cowboys come in…

Just like in any other branch, there are countless companies or small firms operating in the energy-saving business that do not have your best interests at heart. In fact they have next to no interest at all in assessing just how much energy you are losing through poor or inadequate insulation or building or structural flaws and what steps need to be taken to right what has gone awfully wrong. This is because rogue assessors – just like rogue builders or rogue traders – have one thing which they lack apart from experience in the field and proper conduct – and that’s a conscience. These crooks, and we really must call them by their real names in order to safeguard those who need to be protected, are not interested in saving you money or providing you with a fair service. They are only interested in lining their own pockets and maximising their profit. Often at a staggering cost to you.

According to the VPB, an organisation comprising private home builders and house owners, there are, unfortunately, more than just a few rotten apples in the barrel. The black sheep they identified have much in common. The most popular tricks of the trade include performing thermographic surveys in conditions which render the results worthless and carrying out measurements without the necessary expertise that enables the user to correctly interpret the findings and propose the required recommendations. Strong sunlight, fog or persistent rain, for example, can distort the readings acquired using an infrared camera no matter how sophisticated the technology. And by saving on software which supports or substantiates otherwise conclusive findings, many a fraudulent contractor is robbing himself – and you – of the means that would allow them to provide an uncontroversial report which shows the true situation – and the steps that need to be taken.

So if you are planning on contacting a contractor, look out for the telltale signs that distinguish the respectable ones from the rogues and make sure that you do not fall prey to false promises or fraudulent offers.  A cowboy assessor – just like a cowboy builder – can cost you much more than you had ever banked on.

Which is why you may decide to hire an infrared camera yourself. For as little as €39.00 a day. Complete with operating instructions and the advice you need to make sure that you are choosing the correct camera for your own individual application.

Or call us on +49 (0) 2452 962 120 if you would like us to send one of our specialists round. They are all certified according to DIN EN 473!

Don’t get caught out by a cowboy. Go with the good guys. Go with Trotec.

Posted in TKL, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

What is an Energy Pass?

Posted on by Tim Austin

What is an Energy Pass

As of January 1 2009, any house that is sold or let in Germany must under new legislation have an Energy Pass. These same regulations apply to any extensions or major changes that are carried out on the property concerned. What some people don’t know: the EnEV 2009 energy conservation guidelines have actually been in place for new houses since 2002.

So if you are planning on selling your house or letting out your property in the near future, then you have to count on being asked to provide legitimate proof that your house, flat or apartment conforms to EnEV 2009 guidelines in the form of the new Energy Pass.

The pass shows buyers and tenants how energy efficient a building is, thus giving them a clear idea of the energy costs they can expect and the type and the extent of modernisation which would have to be carried out.

This information includes:

  • Exact details on the energy costs you can expect
  • How this particular object compares to similar objects
  • Which modernisation measures are recommended

And here’s something else that you as a tenant or house buyer should be watching out for: the recommendations regarding the type and extent of the modernisations to be carried out on the object in question are just that – mere recommendations. It is therefore crucial that you as a potential tenant find out when these recommendations are going to be put into practice and when you can count on paying lower energy costs. And as a buyer it is equally important to know which costs for carrying out the recommended modernisations could be coming your way.

There are two Energy Passes:

The Energy Requirement Pass: How energy efficient is a building? This pass includes an analysis of the building substance as well as the central heating system and shows which energy requirements the house has. This Energy Pass is for new houses.

The Energy Consumption Pass: This pass is for all other buildings. It tells you just how much energy in the form of heating and warm water was consumed during the previous three years. This pass is also particularly useful for house owners and property developers who can highlight the object’s strong points if the energy consumption is low and inform their clients of the prospective costs which additional modernisation measures would entail.

So it would seem that the Energy Pass will not only help you to save energy – it will help save you unnecessary trouble too.

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

Prices for chimney sweep services soar

Posted on by Tim Austin

Chimney sweeps probably perform one of the oldest occupations in the world. The profession can be dated back to the 12th century when the first chimneys were built to draw the smoke from roaring fires out of ancient castle fireplaces. The growing number of towering chimney stacks and clay chimney pots which popped up across the country in the 18th and 19th centuries during the time of the Industrial Revolution turned chimney sweeping into a very popular profession. But only when the chimneys were built to be big enough for a man to pass through did the profession lose the disreputable image which it had acquired during Victorian times due to the abhorrent practice chimney sweeps had of sending small boys up dangerously narrow chimneys in which they frequently got hopelessly stuck and sometimes even suffocated.

Nowadays a chimney sweep is often considered a symbol of luck: in parts of Great Britain they are extremely popular at weddings where they are thought to bring the bride luck. And in Germany small pipe cleaner chimney sweeps in pretty little plant pots are often given as a gift on New Year’s Day.
Prices for chimney services soar

But not everybody can count themselves quite so lucky: the “Gebührenverordnung für Schornsteinfeger”, the new act regulating the fees which chimney sweeps can charge for their services, has resulted in a price increase of up to 60% for a third of all households in Germany. And although according to the media portal “Der Westen”, the changes, which have been in place since January 2010, will not affect the other two thirds of all families, this will come as small consolation to those who will have to dig considerably deeper into their pockets when the chimney sweep comes knocking at their door.

For those affected the new legislation will prove to be a bitter pill to swallow. These additional costs come on top of the costs which members of health funds are already having to pay for an ailing health care system, and with an imminent rise in VAT looming on the horizon some families will be looking for other ways to cut their household budgets and save money on other essentials.

For example electricity. But here’s where we can help. You can literally knock £100s off your electricity bill by switching off certain appliances like set-top boxes, hi-fi systems and DVD recorders at night instead of just switching them to stand-by, and also by identifying – and eliminating – the true electricity gobblers in your home.

An energy meter from Trotec will provide you with just the information you need to unearth these nasty little culprits. Information including the exact amount of energy each of your appliances is consuming and just how much that relates to in hard currency.

And with a bit of luck you will end up saving more than you had hoped for.

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment

Mould and how to prevent it – 5 golden rules for tenants

Posted on by Tim Austin

How to prevent mould

For many home-owners and tenants living in apartments or flats there is one sight which causes them great discomfort and fills them with utter disgust – mould. Yet mould is not only unsightly, it can quickly become dangerous and trigger allergic reactions or make a house’s or flat’s occupants very ill. All the more reason then to prevent mould from occurring in the first place and to find out more about what causes mould and what can be done to combat it.

One of the biggest causes of mould is the difference in temperature between the cold outside walls of a building and the heated rooms inside. That’s why the best form of insulation is insulation which is applied to the outside of the building. As a home-owner you can do something about it: you can carry out modernisation work and fix exterior cladding to the outside walls – as a tenant you can’t. This is why we have compiled a list with 5 golden rules designed to help those who in such cases cannot help themselves simply because they are living in rented accommodation and therefore unable to take the necessary steps that would make mould less of an issue and more a thing of the past.

Rule No. 1:

Do not put any furniture up against outside walls or the corners of outside walls.

If you are unable to follow this rule, because you are pushed for space and wouldn’t know what to do with certain pieces of furniture, then try to make sure that there is at least 10cm between the outside wall and the piece of furniture in question.

Rule No. 2:
The rooms in your flat have to be evenly heated.

This includes bedrooms which many people insist on not heating, because they believe that they will then be able to sleep better when they go to bed. This may be the case, but turning the central heating right off is going to give mould the chance it needs.

Rule No. 3:
Open the windows at least twice a day.

And when we say open, we mean open. Not just a crack, but wide open for about 5 to 10 minutes. This gives the air enough time to circulate. The stale, used air goes out and the fresh, hopefully clean air comes in.

Rule No. 4 :
Make sure that bathrooms are aired properly after a hot shower or hot bath.

This is sometimes much harder than you might first think: some windows are simply too small to be adequate and some bathrooms have no windows at all. In such cases a dehumidifier is just the right device. It extracts the moisture out of the air and creates just the right indoor climate.

Rule No. 5:
The relative humidity of a room should not be higher than 65- 70%.

It can be a little higher – along the walls, for example, where it can be as high as 80%, but this is an exception. If you’re looking for a way to measure the relative humidity, try one of our thermohygrometers. They are designed to do just that.

Oh, and by the way… If you are having an earnest problem with mould in your flat, then you are generally entitled to hold back some of the rent. This is, however, a sword which can cut both ways: landlords often try to turn the tables on tenants by claiming that the mould is a result of gross negligence on the part of the tenant who has not been airing the flat adequately.

Do you have or have you had problems with mould in your apartment or flat? Write to us and tell us about it. Or let us in on your secret if you have any other useful tips or golden rules which you would like to share with your fellow readers. We would love to hear from you.

TROTEC. For a better world.

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with , , | Leave a comment

Better safe than sorry

Posted on by Tim Austin

A dropped dehumidifierMoving house is a traumatic experience. It comes, as the saying goes, third only to bereavement and divorce. It is understandable then that many people, especially elderly citizens, who are unable to carry heavy boxes and furniture or cannot afford a removal firm, and younger first-time movers who are flying the nest try to get all the support they can by enlisting the help of family and friends to lighten their burden and prevent the costs of moving from spiraling.

But stop! If you don’t want to end up being the friend in need at the end of the day – and splitting with friends or family because of a broken mock Ming vase, a smashed computer or a dropped dehumidifier – then it often pays to have a word with your insurance company first in order to clarify whose insurance covers any breakages or damage that occur as a result of you being kind enough to help a friend or family member to move house.

Interestingly there is in fact an insurance company that does cover such damages – no, not Lloyd’s of London in this case but the AXA insurance company, which sells a special policy designed to take a great weight off your mind and not make you have to rely on another insurance company’s gesture of good will.

So prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Ring, write or talk to your insurance agent before you agree to help out when somebody thinks the time has come to move house – and visit our website and learn more about our over 600 strong selection of machines , devices and equipment in and around the fields of dehumidification, industrial and construction heating, indoor climate control and infrared thermography and see what we could have done for your family or friends in their old house and what we can do for you in yours.

Posted in TROTEC, Home Sweet Home | Tagged with | Leave a comment