The emphasis of having a single bathroom in a home has been eroded by the presence of en-suite bathrooms and showers in the master bedroom and perhaps many other bedrooms in the typical Irish home. Now a large common bathroom can serve as a relaxation room in which you spend downtime, almost like having home spa indeed. Luxury fittings and therapeutic aids can transform your plain old bathroom to a distinct leisure area in the home.

We are not of course just talking about IKEA – many suppliers of furniture sell in flat pack form- and with the recession, you are less likely to get help from supplier delivery men who just drop it and go. Complicated  flat pack furniure such as kitchen units require professional help in putting them together unless you are a very good handyman. Bathroom and bedroom cabinets are simpler but can still can cause endless annoyance.

With the development of flat pack furniture, a whole new industry has mushroomed in Ireland overr the last few years – companies offering to assemble your flat pack furniture on site at your home. We had an example recently where we purchased new bedroom and conservatory furniture, all in flat pack form. Not having hands to bless myself and with sad experience from past disasterous attempts, my wife took the sensible precaution of calling one of these assembly companies to do the necessary. A day later, a crew appeared from a compay called North East Removals and with little fuss and great speed had all our pieces put together in jig time. They even took away the packaging and charged a very reasonable price ranging from €20 to €40 per item depending on size and complexity. It took all the hassle out what were great bargains in the first place. However, if you are not competent and you try to assemble it yourself, the good feeling of having got something for a big saving quickly evaporates and the inevitable domestic shouting match begins.

Do yourself a favour. Hire a flat pack assembly firm. North East Removals cover Dublin, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Cavan and Westmeath. There are other firms located in all major cities throughout Ireland.   To locate them, look up Find a Professional Ireland and save yourself trouble and possibly your marriage!

Privatization of public utility services benefit the consumer enormously.  Take for example the demolishing of the ESB monopoly on providing electricity to Irish homes. Now suddenly there are several providers in the market, such as Airtricity and Viridian, offering lighting and heating tariffs that are up to a third less than the ESB were giving to their captive customers. The same happened when Telecom Eireann (later the much hated Eircom) was told to stand up and face the cold winds of  private sector competition. Soon telephone charges were tumbling down as a variety of cheaper packages hit the market.

Financial Ireland, a website that compares and examines issues in the consumer sector, reckons that savvy consumers can save up to 40% by, say, shifting their home heating provider.  It says that de-regualtion has effectively passed power from the government to the consumer. Money Ireland, another online analyst, states that is is only a matter of time before companies such as Bus Eireann and Irish Rail will succumb to private sector competition. The days of the indifferent and inefficent semi-state body are numbered, it seems.

This year prices for gas oil (derv) and kerosene are somewhat lower. The recent collapse of the property market in Dubai has also triggered a fall in wholesale price which, if it continues, will shortly be reflected in the consumer price in Ireland. Gas prices have fallen a little, but with  only two players in the market, Bord Gais and Flogas, don’t hold your breath on getting good value.

As of today, Bord Gais was selling at 4.85c per kwh as against Flogas at 4.42c per kwh. The best price per litre of kersone available today was 51.9c and for gas oil 54.4c. Our advice if you are buying oil products, do so now as world prices are likely to rebound.  

You can also get electricity off  Bord Gais and get savings on that of up to 14% compared to ESB – that is the claim of Bord Gais anyway. If you have both gas and electricity,  it could make more financial sense to go with Bord Gais for both fuels depending on usage. Airtricity is now another alternative to the ESB and Bord Gais and it may be worth checking them out. Savings really depend on the domestic activity in the home; whether you are a large family, small family, lots of teenagers, older couple on their own and so on.

Many people have Aga or other brands of ranges in their kitchens which may heat water as well as cook and consideration will have to be made for this when calculating your needs. The anount of people who use the bathroom or shower in a home can be a big factor in the cost heating the home for the year. Solar panels will only heat a small amount of water.

Check around – there is value to be had by doing so.

RTE programme Frontline exposed the truth of the awful planning decisions that led to thousands of homes being built on flood plains in the madness that was the property boom. No account seemed to have been taken by the county councils and borough councils of the consequences down the road of covering flood plains with concrete.  These bodies employ engineers to advise them of such risks in planning applications. Did they ignore their advice or were the engineers complicit in going along with the decisions?

The local elected county councillers do not have the power to grant planning, but they have, and had, the authority to rezone lands that were grossly unsuitable for building houses or commercial developments. What is the future for those thousands of householders and businesses now ruined because of the flooding? Do they clean up and wait for the next one?

Whilst those who have their homes and businesses insured this time will be compensated, you can be sure that the insurance companies will not renew their policy next time, as their area will be deemed a flood risk.  This leaves unfortunate home owners unable to insure their property and unable to sell it because nobody will buy, and no bank will give a mortgage on a flood risk home.

The financial implications for these people are catastrophic. The neglience lies with the local authorities for allowing these disasters to happen. They are to blame  in two ways. Firstly, over the years, they have failed to maintain and dredge the waterways in their areas and secondly, they allowed building on flood plains and low-lying areas against all common sense advice.

It is time for those whose homes and businesses are destroyed to call in the lawyers and start suing en mass.

Many people in Ireland make a common mistake in overvaluing their house and undervaluing their contents. If the house next door sells for say €500,000, the neighbour insures theirs for the same amount. The value of the house and the cost of replacing it are two different things. The latter is far less than the sales price. If it burns down tomorrow, the site remains to be built on again and the cost of construction would be to the order of €250,000. So you are paying the insurance company an unnecessary premium of whatever it takes to cover €250,000. You should only insure what is re-instatement value. If in doubt ask a builder or quantity surveyor for this price before paying your premium or check Insurance Services Ireland for free advice on the subject.

Come the end of November, every house competes to put up the most neon in a vain attempt to create a domestic Las Vegas in the suburbs and countryside of Ireland. As the years passed and more money was available everybody added to their stock each year and no light was left unused, no matter how awful. The brighter the better seemed to be the motto.

Apart from the garish ugliness of it all, Ireland seemed determined to become leader of the carbon emissions race in their haste to light up their homes and offices for the festive season.

The recession in 2009 should be enough to put off any further purchases of lighting but will the enthusiasm and the neighbourly envy permit homeowners to actually not put any lights? People are struggling to pay their mortgage and put food on the table, so the excesses of Christmas lighting should with common sense be abandoned. 

Why not figure out how much you spend on such nonsense and give half to Focus, the organization for the homeless in Ireland, and keep the other half for 2010. Everybody will be better off!

Unfortunately, in areas with a history of flooding, many home owners are unable to get insurance cover. Those that are now affected for the first time may have difficulty in renewing cover when it falls due or more likely will face a stiff increase in premiums. What has occured is a national disaster and should be treated as such by government. Immediate aid is needed in the worst affected areas. It is needed now, not after a national debate on the matter. Suggestions that €10 million will be dispensed to the needy and should alleviate the damage are wildly off the mark. This will take hundreds of millions to remedy without dealing with the underlying cause.  

Insurance Services Ireland, a leading online advice website, predicts that the current estimates of damage are only preliminary- flooding is still occuring and more rainfall is forecast. It urges policy holders to notify their broker or underwriter immediately after an incident, even though the full extent of the damage may be impossible to ascertain at that point. A second incident of flooding as a direct result of high water levels from the first incident is considered one event by all insurance underwriters, so don’t hold off informing your broker or company.

On a more practical point, they say all contents should be moved upstairs or, if possible, in the case of single storey buildings or ground floor apartments, moved to storage or friends houses in the event of repeat flooding.

An issue for another day is the amount of homes in Ireland that cannot get cover because flooding history. Surely a national scheme could be devised that provides some cover for those whom the insurance companies ignore as too high of risk.  We would welcome your opinions.

Household retailers, kitchen manufacturers and anybody supplying consumer goods or services make fortunes in the lead up to Christmas because consumers insist on having something for that day that could easily be purchased at any time of the year for much less. That’s including the finance companies and credit card providers who delight in seeing you buying something for more than you should pay for it.

Think about it.  Do you really need that sofa because Auntie Mary is coming for Christmas dinner? She will be gone the day after and then the sales start!  Wise up! For clever consumers, Christmas is the time not to buy anything of expense.

This site will cover all areas of the home and garden in Ireland. We will cover all the areas  from the kitchen, the bathroom, and  the conservatory to the issues of home heating, attic conversions, effective lighting and the latest in garden news, equipment and events.

We live in changed and dramatic economic times and these events are having a negative effect on our ability to make the improvements or changes we wish to make in our homes.  All our budgets are curtailed by the job losses, wage decreases and the general insecurity that a poor economic climate brings with it.

However, all clouds have a silver lining and the down turn has provided exceptional value in home and garden wares. Indeed, it fair to say that we were all ripped off in the good times and we are now experiencing prices that should hve been the norm back in the decade.

Here we will give you impartial advice on everything to do with home and garden, whether it is maintenance or that special improvement project. We will also provide you with prudent advice on how to finance the items and improvements you plan.