Clean up with a new bathroom; It's the best time to do up your loo with a suite for just pounds 299.

Byline: Donny Sheriden

The bathroom is the one room in the house you need to get right - because you can't simply shut the door and pretend it doesn't exist.

So if you are on a budget and think you can't afford to do up your bathroom, then you're wrong.

The white Sorrento bathroom suite from Wholesale Domestic, tel [phone], costs just pounds 299 and that includes the taps, toilet seat and plugs.

So where do you start? Ideally you don't want to move anything around. Keep the sink, bath and WC exactly where they are, that way the fitting costs will be at their cheapest and you could probably do the job yourself. All you need to do is turn the water off and remove the bathroom suite.

A top tip is if you can avoid removing the wall tiles then all the better because tile adhesive is so strong it will pull the plaster from the wall and, if you have plasterboard, chances are they will be damaged beyond repair.

The next stage is to tile the walls and the cheapest tiles around are plain white ones. You may think a white bathroom suite and white tiles is all too much but all you need to do is use a coloured grout. Use grey grout with white tiles and the room will look fantastic.

Flooring can seem expensive but the actual area in the average bathroom will be around three square metres. Be practical when choosing flooring - try to use a waterproof product such as Karndean vinyl. This is easy to lay and maintain plus it comes in different effects like tiles or wood and it's a lot softer and warmer underfoot than tiles. Avoid carpets in bathrooms, as they are just not hygienic.

Heating and ventilation are very important factors in a bathroom. Condensation is a problem as there is so much hot water going around. As far as I am concerned, the best way to remove condensation and keep the place dry is to simply open a window. Extractor fans help but nothing beats natural ventilation - it's as simple as that.

Heating is best supplied in the form of a heated towel rail, which can be picked up from around pounds 100 but a standard radiator for a bathroom is a fraction of the price of a towel rail.

Once all of that's out the way, it's time to fit the suite and that should not be a problem for you. If you have to get someone in then it should only be a couple of hours work for a qualified plumber to fit.

Another good tip is to line the bath in plywood and tile around it - this looks that bit more expensive than bath panels.

So for around pounds 600 it is possible to have a completely new bathroom.

DONNY'S LITTLE HELPER - Silicon-be-gone I'm always being asked about removing silicon. The quickest and easiest way is to apply the gel formula over existing silicon, then peel it away and wipe down with a damp cloth. Don't put up with dirty, mouldy silicon - it looks bad and ruins the whole look of a bathroom

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: Draper 42-piece and bit set screwdriver all you need - drill That is basically a 42-bit set for your cordless and it only and hand-held drivers All costs pounds 9.78 from Toolstop. in one fulfilled your needs you box, allowing handy your shed to de-clutter for more important things.

I need a child-proof kitchen dresser

QI want to buy a very robust piece of furniture for my kitchen. My three kids pulled the face off the drawers on my dresser.

A Good quality furniture is made from solid wood. A quick inspection of the joints is all that is needed. Open a drawer and where the face of the drawer meets the sides there should be dove-tail joints. This is where the different sections of wood meet. If the drawer is flat against the sides, it will have been screwed together and won't take the hammering that dove-tail joints do. Quality will cost more.

Q Part of the back wall of my blonde sandstone house has fallen off and what's left is crumbly. How can I fix it? A Wire-brush loose sections of the stone until you get to a solid base. Then form a key by using an angle grinder to cut shallow grooves in the sandstone, PVA the sandstone and build out the face of the stone with mortar. Allow this to dry, paint the face of the mortar with blonde masonry paint then dash the wet paint with blonde kiln-dried sand.

Q My garden fence is rotting at the bottom. Over time soil has built up and it touches the ground. Can I fix this and how do I stop it happening again? A If the bottom of the fencing planks are rotting, there is not much you can do but replace them. Use pressure-treated timber and keep the new fence planks 100mm from the soil. However, if the fence is mainly in good condition, drag any soil in front of it back and plant low-level shrubs to hide the base of the fence.

Q My ornate cornice is damaged around my bay window. Who carries out this kind of work? A Ornamental plasterers are hard to come by locally. Contact Classic Cornice Design Ltd, Unit 29, 3 Campsie Road, Kirkintilloch G66 1SL. Tel: [phone]. They have over 26 years experience of restoration work to cornicing.

QI need to replace a fire door. What constitutes a fire door? A Fire doors have different ratings and are specified by building control. Their function is to hold back a blaze until the fire brigade arrive. The doors have intumescent strips which swell under heat to seal the door and brushes hold back smoke. They also come with closers and you should never wedge a fire door open.

QI broke a chunk off the corner of a wall while moving furniture. How do I fix this with a nice, neat edge? A Get an angle bead called a thin coat bead, which is a straight piece of mesh metal. Cut to size using tin snips, then run fast-set plaster up both sides of the corner and stick the bead on to it. Once it sets, give it a light sand then apply a second coat. This will also reinforce the wall from future knocks.

Logging in for flaming good times

A fire log is great to have in the garden at this time of year. The real flame burning up from the log and the orange glow given off really adds to the Guy Fawkes atmosphere.

One small log will burn for two to four hours. All you need is a cut log from a local wood then leave it to dry indoors for a couple of weeks. If you can't get one from a wood, garden centres stock dried logs but you really don't have to spend a penny. Remember to act responsibly and burn the log from a safe distance, on the ground away from other objects that may catch fire and keep a bucket of water handy just in case. Once the log burns out leave it to cool before handling it.

1 Measure your log and cut the base of it so it can sit flat on the ground. Drill a hole with a 20mm drill bit down the centre of the log.

2 Drill around 3-4 holes down the centre of the log around two thirds of the way down, until you have a single hole of around 40mm.

3 Use a chisel to remove any loose parts from the base of the hole.

4 Once the centre hole has been drilled out, place the log on its side and drill another 40mm hole to meet the base of the centre hole.

5 Cut 20mm from the top of a candle, put the log in a sheltered spot to let the candle burn. Sit the candle to the back of the hole.

6 Let the candle burn down to the bottom and by this time the wood within the hole will start to burn.

7 Once the fire is established, move the log to the centre of the garden where it is safe to burn. When air passes up through the log a large flame will come out. Here, the flame looks like a dancer.

TOP TIP: Size is not overly important but the larger the log, the better the flame

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