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Halloween is coming and today we travel to New York to see seven haunted houses, mysterious places to be scared. The legend and the history are mixed sometimes with the spectacle and in these places everything is prepared so that our hairs stand on end … Refrain delicate hearts.
Nothing worries a homeowner more than the sight of emerging DIY problems. Luckily, we have a useful guide to help you diagnose and fix any issues that emerge with your windows.
Draughty windows
You’ll immediately know if your windows have a problem with a draught, as you’ll feel the temperature change or see the curtains move. The causes are likely to be weatherstripping that has come loose, or the window design itself. The best solution is usually to choose a modern insulated window or to replace damaged weatherstripping and replace it to reinforce the airtight window seal.
Leaking windows
These can lead to real damage in the house if they aren’t fixed. Water can come in behind the drywall without you even realising, leaving signs such as wallboard discolouration along the sill, paint peeling off the window frame, rotting wood and mould growth. The solutions here will most likely require a window replacement, but in the meantime, you can run a humidifier to take excess water from the air. New caulking around the window exterior can also provide a temporary fix. Make sure you check the window’s warranty in case you still have cover.
Failing window cranks
Most windows that use a crank handle will do so without issue, but very humid summers or severe winters can lead to problems with over-tightening. Use the crank handle sparingly and don’t force the window to shut tightly if it seems to be resisting. Instead, leave a little gap and apply grease lubricant to the mechanism after cleaning the window track itself. Otherwise, you may need to replace the crank entirely, but this shouldn’t be expensive.
Fogging glass
If the seals on your insulated glass fail, then condensation can build up and make your bay windows cloudy. Over time, this will lead to rotting. If your windows are still in warranty, contact your window installer for a possible replacement. Find out more at: https://www.firmfix.co.uk/windows/bay-windows/.
Rotting frames
Wooden windows look beautiful and will perform extremely well when installed correctly and maintained, but they can rot if they aren’t looked after. You may be able to replace a rotting section of wood if you are handy with DIY, by cutting out the rotting section and adding a new patch section. Otherwise, get the entire frame replaced by your local window company for a long-lasting finish.
One of the most important pieces of storage equipment that those within the food industry will invest in is undoubtedly a refrigeration unit.
These days many caterers and retailers are opting to use commercial cold rooms rather than traditional fridges or freezers. An article in Green Cooling suggests that the benefits of a cold room include increased space, lower cost and better energy efficiency. Cold room shelving can also be purchased at an extreme level suitable for huge retailers such as supermarkets to store large volumes of chilled foods. But what are the other benefits of investing in this sort of cold room shelving?
Avoid cross contamination
One of the best things about a cold room is the increased shelving space that allows for a better organisational system than a normal fridge or freezer. This won’t just help you to maintain an efficient layout but it also reduces the risk of cross contamination which is caused when bacteria from certain foods (mostly meat) is transferred onto other food products.
Mobility and construction
Cold room shelving is very easy to construct and many units come with wheels attached to the bottom making them easily mobile. Moving shelves around to suit your needs is far easier than having to re-arrange all of your stock. Many modern shelving units are also height adjustable which makes customisation to your needs even more achievable,
Maximise storage
A cold room is generally a lot larger than a fridge or freezer and this additional space comes with a number of cost-effective benefits. It means that you can order food in bulk to store, which usually means you will get a cheaper deal. Running one large system is also often a lot more cost-effective than running several smaller units in terms of energy and repair costs.
Large establishments such as major hotels, restaurants and supermarkets often have little choice but to install a commercial cold room (https://www.fridgefreezerdirect.co.uk/cold-rooms/integrated-cold-rooms) but even smaller businesses may learn to appreciate the space and money saving benefits that they can offer.
Easy to clean and maintain
Spillages and mess can easily occur with so much perishable food present. Thankfully, cold room shelving is often made of very easy-to-clean material such as stainless steel. This durable material is also resistant to the extreme temperatures of a cold room.
When it comes to cuisines from overseas, us Brits are becoming increasingly more confident and adventurous in both eating and cooking them ourselves. While curries and pasta dishes have been popular for many decades, these days we are becoming bolder and looking for more flavoursome, exciting and challenging cuisines to either cook at home or try while dining out.
But what hot cuisines from afar do you need put on your bucket list?
Greek
A Mediterranean diet has long since been hailed as the key to a long and healthy life. Greek cuisine manages to combine good health with fresh, zingy flavours such as hummus, tzatziki and yoghurt based dressings adorning meat and salad dishes. Greek cheeses such as feta and halloumi are also rocketing in popularity with consumers.
Korean
Korean food places emphasis on using fermented ingredients which, at first glance, might not always sound too appealing. However, the rich, decadent flavours in dishes such as kimchi are undeniable and also extremely good for friendly gut bacteria. The combination of oriental food and spices along with toppings such as eggs and rich sauces is unusual but delicious. So give Korean food a whirl, you won’t be disappointed.
Middle Eastern
Food from Persia, Syria, Jerusalem and Iran tend to combine warming spices with a hint of sweetness. Meatballs and lamb with chickpeas and freshening herbs like mint and coriander are commonplace.
Moroccan
Packed with warming spices and often in easy-to-cook one-pot dishes, Moroccan food could be a perfect thing to try now that the weather is turning. Moroccan food often favours a long, slow cooking process with foods such as stews or tagines which makes for succulent meat and rich flavours that are easily achievable at home or in commercial combination ovens (https://www.247cateringsupplies.co.uk/catering-appliances/commercial-ovens-and-ranges/combination-ovens ). A report in Health and Fitness Revolution also highlights the health benefits of several ingredients used widely in Moroccan cooking such as chickpeas, dried fruit and couscous.
Portuguese
Portugal is a popular holiday destination with Brits so it’s unsurprising that many holidaymakers are bringing their favourite recipes home with them. Portuguese cuisine is a real treat with smoked sausage, rich desserts and deli-style platters full of cured meats and tasty cheeses all being very popular. Coxinhas are also a must-try dish.
As autumn gets well underway and a noticeable chill appears in the air, the natural inclination is to shift to heartier meals to sustain you. Luckily, there are plenty of satisfying seasonal ingredients available that will taste their best at this time of year. Even better, choosing food that is in season allows you to be more environmentally aware.
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Game season
Various types of game are in season in October and these can form the base of many tasty meals. Pheasant can be roasted and accompanied by a range of root vegetables, or turned into a terrine. Grouse and partridge may also be at their best at this time of year.
Vegetables
With Halloween fast approaching, there is no doubt pumpkins are one vegetable that experiences a surge in popularity at this time of year. Pumpkin can be used in sweet or savoury dishes, from a soup starter to the American favourite of pumpkin pie. Its cousin, butternut squash, is also in season and can make a tasty accompaniment to a variety of dishes when roasted.
Celeriac might not look like it, but it is closely related to celery and has a similar taste. Try roasting or mashing it. Other vegetables in season at this time of year include radicchio and its cousin chicory, beetroot, Swiss chard, cabbage, kale, swede, turnip and a wide range of different wild mushrooms.
Fruit
If you want something to accompany the seasonal meals you provide in your restuarant or bar, post mix suppliers such as https://empireuk.com/ can supply a range of draught soft drinks. You may also want to try fruit juices based on those fruits that are in season.
Summer berries may have faded, but others fruits are just coming into their prime. Apples can be eaten fresh from the tree, used as an accompaniment to pork or added to a fruit crumble. Quince also flourishes from October to December, and plums are another versatile fruit that can be used in anything from a jam to a dessert.
Elderberries are not a good fruit to eat undercooked, let alone raw, but they can be added to muffins and puddings. This kind of cooking can reduce their flavour, but their colour can add a bright spot to pickles and chutneys. Other berries that are available at this time of year include blackberries and cranberries.
If you own a rental property, it is up to you whether you let it furnished or unfurnished. Some landlords like to fill their properties with beds, sofas, tables and even ornaments, while others choose to leave them completely empty. Which option is better when renting out a property? Let’s look at this question in more detail.
In reality, both options come with their own benefits. Here is more information to help you decide.
The benefits of letting an unfurnished property
One of the main benefits of letting an unfurnished property is that tenants are more likely to stay for longer, as moving is more expensive and complex.
It is also likely that your tenants will be happier with their own furniture, as they can choose the style and the colours. It means you are not responsible for looking after the furniture – if anything gets broken, it doesn’t affect you and you don’t have to worry about general wear and tear.
The benefits of letting a furnished property
One benefit of letting a furnished property is that it saves money for the tenants, as they don’t have to worry about buying furniture. It also means it is easier to let the property, as there are lots of tenants who are looking for a furnished home.
You will still own the furniture when the tenants leave, so you will be able to offer it to potential future tenants.
The benefits of letting a partially-furnished property
Many landlords partially furnish their homes with essential items, such as beds and sofas. This means that tenants can move in right away, even if they don’t have furniture of their own, and can add extra furnishings to make the home more personal and unique.
If you decide to let a furnished or partially-furnished house, property inventory software could be beneficial. This makes it much easier for you to keep track of your items and is available from providers such as inventorybase.co.uk.
Think about insurance
It can also be useful to think about home contents insurance. You don’t need to do this legally, but it will benefit both you and your tenants.
This will protect your assets in case of damage, so you don’t need to worry about forking out for new furniture if there is a disaster.
One of the most important aspects of any clinical trial is ensuring the safety of participants. This means there must be clear channels of communication between clinicians and patients. A new mobile technology aims to assist in this process and more generally improve the speed and efficiency of clinical research.
New Technology
Parexel International Corporation is a biopharmaceutical firm based in Boston. It is currently looking to develop mobile and wearable technology to assist with clinical research and drug development. Recently, it announced a range of new products as part of this endeavour, all based around the Perceptive Cloud platform.
One notable new product utilises Microsoft’s Azure App Services. It will allow clinicians and healthcare teams to receive data from patients in a quicker and more efficient manner. This in turn should alert them to any immediate threat to the patient’s safety, and therefore reduce the possibility of serious injury or death to patients. As there are strict rules around the conducting of clinical trials in the United Kingdom to ensure patient safety, this is an important step.
Other technological improvements include an expansion of Parexel’s available platforms. Both Clinphone and DataLabs (an electronic technology for data capture) will be able to connect with Parexel’s patient sensor. Artificial intelligence may also be able to help the sensor transfer data and predict patient adherence during trials. Any technology that can assist in adaptive phase 1 clinical studies, such as those carried out by https://www.richmondpharmacology.com/specialist-services/adaptive-phase-i-studies, will be a welcome way to improve research quality.
Other Research
Another way in which Parexel has researched the potential of wearables in clinical trials is in collaboration with the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. They aimed to combine their expertise, whether clinical, logistical, regulatory or technical, to study how wearables could speed up the drug development process.
Digital technology is becoming an important focus in life science research. Parexel is not the only company to experiment with mobile and wearable devices or artificial intelligence. One start-up at UC Berkley recently announced a collaboration with Sanofi to use artificial intelligence to search through studies and find those that are most relevant to pharmaceutical companies and their stakeholders.
At the Bio2018 Conference, many experts expressed the hope that collaborations between life science companies and digital companies could lead to further improvements in data collection and study efficiency.
There is something luxurious about a Christmas hamper, but with luxury comes expense. Here is a look at how you can achieve the same results by making your own, even if you’re on a tight budget!
Do it yourself
The first thing you need to do is decide what receptacle you’ll use to hold the gifts. If you are planning on making several hampers, consider bulk-buying baskets as this works out to be much cheaper than buying them individually. If you prefer, you can buy kits to make yourself.
Do your research
Take a look at some of the big names in hampers and look at the gifts that are included. Go online and research some price comparisons. Remember to consider weight as this will have an impact on your delivery methods. If using your local post office in Penzance or same day courier Manchester, it’s worth weighing this up! Cheese straws, for example, are much lighter than jars of jams or conserves!
Personalise your hamper
A homemade hamper is a very personal gift that shows the recipient you went the extra mile. You can tailor your gifts to the person you are making the hamper for. Bespoke and creative, you may even save enough money to use a courier service to deliver it. There are so many around, all eager for business, from choices in Manchester such as (http://allaboutfreight.co.uk/same-day-courier-service/same-day-courier-manchester/) to Malvern. Plan ahead and start early by adding a few items to your weekly shop.
Questions, questions, questions!
Our advice is to have a plan. What is your theme? This doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. For example, your chocolate-loving niece will be delighted with a hamper full of her favourite sweet treats. What is your budget? It’s important that you stick to your budget. To keep the cost down, you can always make some of the items yourself, such as jams and biscuits.
Think creatively
Although hampers traditionally come in wicker baskets, you don’t need to stick to this. Other suggestions include decorating a cardboard box, which you can pick up free from any supermarket. Alternatively, wooden crates, metal baskets or even fruit bowls from your local charity shop will suffice.
The extra mile
To keep everything in place, use shredded or crepe paper and wrap it in cellophane.
When there’s a need for an adhesive that will give a very strong, permanent bond, most people reach for the structural adhesives. These are usually made from thermosetting resins, but the resins require either a hardener (curing agent), a catalyst or the application of heat.
Polyurethanes are mega-strength thermosetting elastomers, and they are also counted as structural adhesives. Let’s look at the six main types of structural adhesives, so that you can choose the best one for the job.
1. Epoxies
Epoxies are highly versatile and provide strong bonding with plastics, glass and metals. They’re the most widely used structural adhesive https://www.adhesives.org/adhesives-sealants/adhesives-sealants-overview/adhesive-technologies/chemically-curing/two-component-(2-c)/epoxy-adhesives). When they have cured, they’ll resist chemicals and temperature extremes, with high cohesion and very low shrinkage. Widely used in industrial applications.
2. Acrylics
Acrylic adhesives are often called reactive acrylics, to distinguish them from other acrylic resins used when pressure is a key factor. Starting as thin liquids, they can form very strong bonds through the polymerisation process. Acrylics are designed to cure, even in room temperature air, in a matter of minutes or hours. You’ll recognise an acrylic adhesive through its pungent odour – some love it, some can’t abide it.
3. Anaerobic acrylics
These only cure when there’s no air in or around the resin. They mainly consist of (meth)acrylic monomers and are widely used where there’s a requirement for a metal bonding adhesive (www.ct1ltd.com/product-applications/metal-to-metal-adhesive), particularly between tightly fitting metal joints. They can augment the seals on joints or threads, or provide a hold when assemblies are being mechanically joined.
4. Cyanoacrylates
These are the famous “super glues”, beloved of practical jokers everywhere, because they bond and cure in seconds. However, they need moisture to start the polymerisation process and aren’t brilliant at resisting moisture or heat.
5. Urethanes
Polyurethanes give a tough bond and because they are flexible, they are widely used to bond materials such as foils, films and elastomers. They have good adhesion to sheet moulding materials and perform well at low temperatures. However, you need to apply a primer to get them to bond effectively to metals.
6. Silicones
These adhesives have outstanding heat resistance and are able to bond to polyethylene and fluorocarbons. They are used either as pressure sensitive formulations, or as solvent solutions.
Moving house can be a stressful time. Whether you are employing a removals company or hiring your own van, it is likely that you will have boxes to pack. There are many issues to consider in packing boxes – take a look at the guidelines below.
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Is Moving Really Stressful?
There has been much research done into the effects of moving house on the individual and how it ranks in the list of major causes of stress in the life of an adult. The following article is a useful insight into this subject: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/online-estate-agent/reduce-stress-moving-home/.
Boxes and Packing Materials
1) You can buy boxes from your removals company. To save money, gather boxes from friends, family and supermarkets. However, it may be quicker just to buy boxes, as they will be of a uniform size and stack in a more logical way in the van. Here’s a guide on choosing the best removals company.
2) Packing materials are easy to improvise. Look at the fillers that comes with packages if you order goods online. Newspapers make excellent fillers, as do blankets and towels.
3) A golden rule is to pack your treasured glass and china in boxes on their own. Cushions and pillows can act as protection. If you are really concerned about your fragile items, this is the one aspect of the move that you could consider spending a little more money on by paying the removal firm to pack these items for you.
Consider using a man and van Slough to assist in your next move. You can find more information at https://www.uk-tdl.com/man-and-van-slough.html.
4) To save time in the whole packing process, long before your moving date is fixed, consider having a major declutter of your house or apartment. It is incredibly time-consuming to pack items which will remain in boxes at the other end because you don’t actually have any use for these things. Clothes can be taken to charity shops, as can books and DVDs. Do you really need all those unknown electrical items and extra cables? If you have a garden shed or garage, it is likely that you will have accumulated many unused items over the years.
5) Finally, remember to label your boxes. You can specify rooms and which floor of the house you need each box to go to. You should carry in your own car vital documents such as passports and property papers.
